Anime Interest Index: Summer 2023

The numbers aren't getting much higher!

Backyard Baseball 1997-2003 review

The original 2D Backyard Baseball on the PC is actually split up into three different games. The first one, released in 1997, is the one everybody knows and loves. The selection of characters are all original. The second game, Backyard Baseball 2001, uses the same graphics as the first. However, it also includes bug fixes, custom character creation, an updated baseball animation, and a selection of real life players to choose from. The third game, Backyard Baseball 2003, is almost identical to the second one. The big difference is the graphical upgrade to a higher resolution. Because of this, you'd expect the third game to be the best version of the three. Except there's one problem: Every voice and sound in the third game was re-recorded, and I don't like it! It sounds like a cheap knockoff of itself, leading me to prefer the 2nd game over the first and third ones. However, from a gameplay perspective, all three are essentially the same, so it doesn't entirely matter which version you pick up for yourself. I'd recommend the 2001 version.

CAPES DECADE LIST, MY FAVORITE ALBUMS 2015-2024

 We’ve come full circle. Five years ago, on my OTHER blogspot account, I put out a poorly written list of carefully considered choices for My 100 Favorite Albums (and singles and EPs and stuff) of the 2010s. And now, here we are again, back on Blogspot, a platform that isn’t even possible to subscribe to via email, and I’m putting out another 10 year reflection on new music. Music culture from my perspective has not shifted much from 2020 to now, considering I’m mostly into indie and electronic and rock music. I can whine all about how indie and rock music are freaking deeeeaaaad! But these are scenes that have been largely drying up since the beginning of this 2015 to 2024 time period. A real massive genre shift happened in the hip hop scene, which experienced a huge boom from 2015 to 2019 (and then died down again from 2020 onwards). As you might know though, I’m not largely involved in following new hip hop releases, so don’t expect any notable opinions from me within that genre.