Newsletter Update - Birthday Edition

Updates from the Newsletter

Birthday Week

So, as of the publication of this newsletter, it’s my birthday, and we are in my birthday week. I will keep things a bit light this week as I want to use my time after work to mostly play Avowed and potentially watch some movies. However, that doesn’t mean I won’t have something for the week. On Thursday (March 13th), I’m releasing my review for Balatro, a game I finally got to play. This will be a different review than the ones I usually do because of the type of game it is, so it’ll be a quicker read. As you will see in my review, I liked Balatro enough to release an addendum article to my Top 10 Favorite Games of 2024 on Friday (March 14th). Next week, I’ll release my 1983 Strachey’s List, looking at gaming’s most important games of that year and the next part of my History of Gaming series. So I hope you look forward to those coming up.

The Return of Side Vault on April

I started a series in 2023 for any of my newer readers called the Side Vault. It’s a way for me to write about anything non-gaming now and then. As a Disney animated movies fan, I was working on a project ranking the Walt Disney animated canon. I stopped after the Post-Rennesiance Era films; I’m bringing it back in April and making it more consistent. I’ll do the Disney Revival and then the recent films to close the project. If you want to catch up on them, you can see the latest article, which has links to the entire series and an explanation of the scoring system.

Podcast Hiatus and New Ideas

So, the podcast/live stream I was doing with my brother on Friday nights (The Reel Lounge) entered a hiatus. My brother is dealing with some burnout and decided to take a break in the content creator areas. The hope is to be back in around mid-April at the earliest to early May at the latest. Either way, I enjoyed doing those as it gave me something to do and some experience with the non-writing part of creation. I’ve been considering doing my own podcast for a while, which takes about thirty minutes to review some of the news in gaming for the week. I’m going to invest slowly in some better accessories in the next few months so I can confidently do it.

I also restarted my Letterboxd if anyone is interested in following me. I’m definitely not a cinephile, but I would say I’m just above a “normie” with movies. After I finish my Disney project, I’m going to go on some watching projects. Plans include a Don Bluth movie project, a Paul Thomas Anderson movie project, a Christopher Nolan movie project, and much more. Just look for me under JM Mendez.

Thank You

My 1UP Vault Substack is doing pretty damn well lately. I’m close to 100 subscribers, and while some may think that’s low, I’m happy and humbled that many people are even interested in reading my stuff. I feel that 1UP Vault will be a part of me for the long term and that I want to expand it in any way I can. So I thank you for the support and hope to deliver. As for my birthday week, I don’t want anything too big, just a calm, solid week, and I'm glad I’ve made it to 36. Thank you all for reading, and remember to be nice to all (except Nazis).

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Be Nice to All