That long-awaited week off
8th June, 2025
A week off is a truly wonderful thing, isn't it? It goes in the blink of an eye, though. Last week was the first week off I'd had since Christmas, and I greatly enjoyed it – even when you have a cool job, sometimes you've just got to take a break. It certainly felt all the more valuable because the week before I went was quite intense, as was this week. I was out for a couple of meetings, one of which was a visit to Sega's new office in London to play Shinobi: Art Of Vengeance (you can watch me play that below), Sonic Racing Crossworlds and Demon Slayer: The Hinokami Chronicles 2. The other meeting is one I can't really talk about yet, but it's enough to say that it was the kind of fun one that comes with the territory of having a cool job.
Anyway, back to the week off, which kicked off well thanks to the fact that AEW Double Or Nothing was so bloody good. I knew I had to watch the show after Ospreay and Hangman's promo on the go-home Dynamite, and I'd love to say that the match didn't disappoint, but I'd be lying slightly. The action was utterly compelling throughout, and while that's obviously a lot to do with letting two fantastic wrestlers go out and put on a banger, in large part it was because the story had been expertly built in such a way that there was no clear favourite going in. Of course, you've got to have a winner and a loser and I was backing Ospreay all the way, so that's where the disappointment kicks in. It's not the end of the world, as there's an interesting story to be told in where Will goes from here, and Hangman is arguably the right person to take the title from Mox.
Speaking of, the Anarchy in the Arena match was fantastic in so many ways, but most of all because the Death Riders finally got to show a little vulnerability. But bloody hell, it had everything from comedy spots to sick shit (bloody hell Swerve, stop with the hardcore spots involving your mouth!) to Mark Briscoe looking like he'd survived an explosion. Big shout to Willow Nightingale, who looked like an enormous star and surely has to be in line for some gold soon. Elsewhere, Mercedes Moné and Jamie Hayter had a match that was as good as I was hoping, despite the predictable outcome, and similarly I was expecting that Okada's match with Mike Bailey would be a fairly short and decisive bout, but the match was likewise way more exciting than it had any right to be given that the outcome was never in doubt. Visual of the night had to be Mark Briscoe looking like something out of a horror film during an entertaining war of a Stretcher match with Ricochet.
We also finished What We Do in the Shadows, a show that has been a joy for us as a family over the last few years, and one that I feel ended at the right point as I was just starting to feel like ideas were running thin. I was worried that the introduction of Jerry would be a shark-jumping moment, so it was nice to see how his presence was eventually resolved, and while there were some laughs to be had from Cravensworth's Monster, I can't imagine there was an awful lot more mileage in him than what we saw. Still, I think the overall story of the series – that of Guillermo trying to establish a life independent of the vampires – was the last really interesting one that was left to tell after the events of the fifth series. I'm pleased that they stuck the landing with the final episode too, not least because I'd be hearing about it for months if they hadn't.
It's quite hard for us to find things to watch as a family. My sister can't do anything with crowd noise, and she hates cringe humour – Super Hans is her second-favourite Peep Show character, just behind the kitchen table. I never loved the supernatural stuff she was into, whether that was Buffy in the past or True Blood, The Vampire Diaries and, erm, Supernatural more recently. My mum loves crime drama and my sister is sometimes down for that – she liked The Mentalist but hates Cracker – but I'm generally not. We started watching Knuckles yesterday so we're set for a while yet, and we've still got Letterkenny to finish off too.
I played through Duck Detective: The Secret Salami and had an excellent time with it. It's not the longest game and I've certainly played more mind-bending mysteries, but I did love the overall tone of it. Aggretsuko is referenced on the back of the box, and that makes total sense as the animals live fairly ordinary human-style lives with occasional silliness, like Eugene McQuacklin's bread addiction. The sequel recently came out, but I won't be playing that until the inevitable physical release. Speaking of things I won't be playing, I feel like almost the only person on my BlueSky feed who didn't get a Switch 2 this week.
The biggest thing I had planned for my week off was a trip to London on the Friday, where I met my friend Myst offline for the first time after a decade of chatting online, as well as their partner and a friend of theirs. It was really nice to just give one another a big hug for the first time and then sit and chat in person, but we did some other fun stuff too – we had lunch at Shoryu in Soho before playing games like Bishi Bashi Channel, Jubeat and Mario Kart Arcade GP DX at Las Vegas on Wardour Street. I was leading for a lot of Mario Kart, before getting totally Mario Karted right before the finish line and falling back to fourth place. Of course.
Of course, we were headed to London for the common purpose of seeing Babymetal at the O2. We parted there after a Nando's (spicy, spicy lemon and herb), as I was seated and they were standing. I've never been to the venue before and was stunned by just how efficient it is – I was in and seated very quickly, which gave me time to ponder just how high up the upper level is, as I'll be sitting there the next time I go to the venue. In a word: blimey. I did end up having a nice chat with the person next to me and her friend, both of whom who had their 3DS hardware in the hope of grabbing some Streetpass action.
As for the show itself, it was a great night. I hadn't really kept up with Bambie Thug since Eurovision and I have to consider that a mistake, because it was a good set. However, Poppy was the support act I was more excited about (YouTube told me this week that I'm a top listener of hers, which I hadn't expected). She only did seven songs but covered pretty all the ones I most wanted to hear, including I Disagree, V.A.N., Scary Mask and New Way Out. To be honest though, the only one that was absolutely essential was The Cost Of Giving Up, a song that resonates with me as strongly today as it did from the moment I first heard it, for reasons I can't explain. (Well, I could explain them but I don't care to.) She performed it, and that would have made my night on its own.
But everyone had told me that Babymetal are excellent live, and they weren't kidding. I'd wanted to see them live for a long time, and I'm glad I got to do it this time around as their arena show really is a sight to behold – lasers, pyrotechnics, smoke machines, an elevated stage, the works. There was even a drone flying around getting shots of the group and the crowd. More importantly, it was a great set filled with old favourites (Megitsune, Pa Pa Ya!!, Gimme Chocolate) and songs from the new album (Kon! Kon!, Song 3, Ratatata), with an encore that brought Poppy on and concluded with the fantastic Road Of Resistance. Should you have any interest in the group at all, I highly recommend going to see them live – you're very unlikely to be disappointed. I was a long way from the stage so my photos weren't amazing, but click here if you want to see them.
Though that was pretty much it for my week off, I've come away from it energised. In part that's because of all the cool work stuff, and I'm finally getting back to streaming on Tuesday after a lengthy absence – I'm really looking forward to playing through the original Sakura Wars. But I think it's also because I've broken out of a bit of a rut that I'd been in. I've not really been out much this year, and finally getting out and meeting a friend and getting to a show has done me a world of good. Thankfully, I don't have to wait so long for my next week off and I've got plenty of stuff booked for later in the year, so I shouldn't be in any danger of falling back into it.
