Club Admiralty Blog

A blog about life in general, in as many languages as I can manage. Ενα ιστολόγιο περι ζωής, πολυγλωσσο - σε όσες γλωσσες εχω μεράκι να γράψω.

TVTime - Year In review

%AM, %b %America/Chicago %2026, %REntertainment, Films, Television, tvtime, YearInReview

Well, here's one final Year In Review. This time from my TV tracking app (which also tracks movies). Some things are still predictable (I watch a lot of MasterChef). Some things are not totally accurate - for instance, I didn't binge WWE Smackdown, but I did mark that I had watched certain seasons (back in the last 90s/early 2000s), which TVTime counted as having watched last January. The first movie I saw was accurate. I thought I'd do a B-Rated movie watchthought last year, but it really fizzled. Too much television to watch, not enough time for movies. Summer feels like a better movie-watching space. Christmas holidays too, but summer for the most part. Interesting that even this year I never watched ANY of the popular shows and movies (seen on the same screen as KPOP demon hunters 😂). Maybe I'll join the trends in 2026 😂

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TV - Tekwar

%PM, %b %America/Chicago %2026, %R1990s, Entertainment, review, Sci-Fi, SciFi, TekWar, Television

Continuing on with my vintage sci-fi binge (this might be the last one for now...until I discover more), today I present to you William Shatner's TekWar.

This series started life as a series of novels written by Shatner, or written by Ron Goulart, who seems to be uncredited and Shatner lending his name to them for exposure/promotional purposes...Anyway, it seems like Shatner, after Star Trek, just needed to stay in the limelight by any means possible, and this was the "any means." I haven't read any of these (yet?) but maybe I'll see if I can find an audiobook version.

I realized that I made a mistake by watching the TV series first, and then the movies. Only later did I realize that the movies preceeded the series as a kind of pilot. Ooops. Oh well. Honestly, no great loss. You end up picking the story up, and the movies then become "prequels" 😂.

So, what's the story about? The story is about an ex-cop (Jake Cardigan...what a stupid name, btw🙄) in a futuristic Los Angeles who becomes involved with "Tek." What's "tek"? Glad you asked. It's an addictive virtual reality drug. Jake was hooked on it, he went into cryosleepe prison, but was brought out 4 years into his sentence by Boscom (Shatner), who wanted him to work for his private detective agency. The series follows Jake as he navigates a world of crime and technology, investigating the drug's origins and fighting against powerful "TekLords". The series is basically about drugs without saying the word drugs. It's stupid...but whatever. The series basically reminded me of the Star Trek TNG Episode "The Game," except a whole series about the universe in which "The Game" exists, and instead of the future it was the present(ish). The most fun thing about this series is playing the "name the actor" game because this series has a lot of Canadian actors who I've later seen in shows like Stargate Atlantis, Earth: Final Conflict, Andromeda, and so on. It was also interesting to see what people thought VR and the internet (which they call "the matrix") was envisioned as.

If you're interested in a two-hour series, movies, books, and video game recap, watch this. It was a fun watch.

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TV - Stranger Things

%PM, %b %America/Chicago %2026, %REntertainment, netflix, nostalgia, review, Sci-Fi, SciFi, streaming, Television

Welp, Stranger Things is officially concluded!

If you haven't seen any of the series...why are you reading this post? I am nor responsible for spoilers ;-) That said, the final season was fine. I think that the show "lost" something by having the final three seasons being release every three years. The first three seasons kind of flowed together, despite the 2018 "break" between seasons 2 and 3, but COVID kind of kneecapped the series with Season 4 being release in 2022, and the final season wrapping up this past December. I really should have rewatched seasons 1-4 before watching the final season, but oh well.

I think that despite the damage done by filming and release schedules, I think Season 5 wasn't that bad. I think that it offered closure to the people who've been paying close attention to the series. I had honestly forgotten about the mind flayer (what season was that introduced again?), so I was quite happy for the little breadcrumbs that the storytellers left to kind of remind the audience of what was going on.

I guess the fans are still annoyed that the main answer to "is Eleven still live?" Well, does it matter? If she's dead, she sacrificed herself for the group (which I guess is something you could see in D&D, so it tracks), and if she's alive, she's living the ascetic life, away from the group, because to reveal herself might bring danger back to her friends who are trying to lead normal lives. I think warrior-monk El has a certain appeal to it, but either ending is fine.

Might need to rewatch the series once I get through some of my other backlog of TV viewing.

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My XBOX Story

%PM, %b %America/Chicago %2026, %Rachievements, Entertainment, PersonalArcheology, trueAchievements, video games, VideoGames, XBOX

Well... as I was clearing up some emails on hotmail (yes, I still use old school hotmail) I saw a notice on TrueAchivements for my XBOX Story; basically a Year-in-review, but for the entire duration of my xbox use, starting with the 360 which tracked achivements.

I don't remember if I've shared this in the past, so sharing (again?) while it's fresh in my mind. The numbers are clearly off. My first achievement was not on the xbox one in 2017 because I had been playing xbox games (with achievements) since 2005(ish). My series playthroughs also seems wrong, I've played all the Mass Effect games, which is true for Watchdogs. I am surprised that Gears of War and Bioshock aren't there (because those are finished too), and I am pretty sure that I've played almost all of the Assassin's Creed games on xbox except for the 3 platformers (played those on PC) and Shadows (need a new xbox for that). I do think that it's true that Assassin's Creed Odyssey is my most played game - I spent over 200 hours on that one.

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PS2 - The Path of Neo | Done

%PM, %b %America/Chicago %2026, %REntertainment, matrix, review, Sci-Fi, SciFi, video games, VideoGames

During the winter break I picked up "The Matrix: Path of Neo" for the PS2. The PS2 is a generation of consoles that I totally missed. I remember playing the PS1 at friend's houses, then those friends went to Sega's Dreamcast for the subsequent generation of consoles, so the PS2 is a total mystery to me. Since this game isn't backward compatible on the xbox (it also shipped on the OG xbox), I thought I'd give it a try on PCSX.

The game seems like an amalgamation of the three original Matrix films. About half of the game is the first movie (the movie I remember the most, by the way), and the second half is the other two. The game features full motion video cutscenes from the movies, which is a good way to remind you of the overall plot, with a variety of missions in-between that are both part of the movies, and are brand new for this game. Some of the missions are interesting, and some are total filler (IMO). Early in the game you end up learning a lot of skills, and in order to do this you need some filler content in virtual dojos, old Chinese houses, and mafia hide outs. I mean, OK, Neo/the player needs some way to learn new matrix skills, "learn kung fu," and put those to practice before you get unleashed to fight the various matrix agents.

There are some questionable choices made. In the second half of the game you are in this weird construct in the matrix (after fighting the Merovingian, I think) where your enemies are giant anthropomorphic ants (grabbed a screenshot). Like, WTF is this? I was fine with the topsy turvy, MC Esher-style construct where down is up, left is right, and doors don't always work (and you need to find your way out), but give us some enemies that make sense!

I did find it funny that the Wachowskis inserted themselves into game, in the form of Atari 2600-style characters, where they tell you that the ending in the movies (Neo sacrificing himself) isn't what you're getting because you do want that big payoff of a big bad at the end of a game. So the big bad that you got was a GIANT Agent Smith made up of smaller Agent Smiths, and scrap metal, cars, debris, and so on from the Matrix. That was a fun battle, and it looked a bit like an arcade style battle.

Overall Thoughts

Despite the questionable filler content at times, this was not a bad way to relive the content of the first trilogy. For days I had Agent Smith in my head saying "Mr. Anderson..." I also really liked that you can play as someone who's learned all the fighting skills in the Matrix and can put those to use. I wish there was a modern day Matrix game. Ah, and the end credit music wasn't too shabby. Overall a 7/10.

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Xbox - Cobra Kai | Done

%PM, %b %America/Chicago %2026, %Rbeatemup, Entertainment, video games, VideoGames, XBOX

Just before I finished my vacation last week, and needed to get back to work, I finished this lil' game. I started this back in August. I started this because I thought it would be a game I could jump in and out of during a very (very very very very) busy term, but in reality I didn't have much of a chance to play around with it too much. Much of my play through happened during the Thanksgiving break and the Winter break.

This was a fun game, which brings back mechanics from old classics like Final Fight or Streets of Rage. Your character moves from left to right through various parts of the city, and explore the story from the views of both Dojos (Cobra Kai and Miyagi-do). Each dojo has its own dojo powers, Cobra Kai being the "red" team with more fire-based attacks, and Miyagi being the "blue" team with more ice/cold based attacks. As you progress you get dojo points that you can use to upgrade your fighter-specific skills, and you dojo-specific skills that are shared by all the fighters of that dojo. Before I caught on to this, I kept upgrading individual fighter's skills in Cobra Kai, but on my Miyagi play through I maxed out all the dojo stuff first.

There are some interesting nods here to other properties, for example the mall cop is named Blartt (presumably after Paul Blart: Mall Cop) and MANY of the special attacks across both dojos are really reminiscent of fighting games like Street Fighter, Sam LaRusso for example seems to have A LOT of Chun-Li style attacks, including the helicopter and bicycle kicks. The final boss was a bit of a slog, but I got through it after failing a few times. Kreese is basically invincible unless you catch him right after an attack in which he pauses and becomes vulnerable. His attacks are M. Bison "inspired" so staying away from him until you can get behind him to attack is the way to beat him...which takes forever...

Plot summary from Wikipedia:

Hawk and Demetri are in the principal's office for the complete chaos that happened all over the valley, while arguing over who's telling the truth over how it all started. The principal tells them that they're both going to get suspended unless they can make their story make sense, and to tell it all the way from the beginning.

Cobra Kai Path:
Hawk starts his story by saying that it all started at the Mini-Golf & Arcade where Miguel got a note and thought it was from Sam telling him to meet her for a date, but it turned out to be a gang of thugs. After Miguel beat up the thugs, they drive away and a map flies out of their car, which Miguel shows to Johnny. Johnny and Miguel conclude that it might be Daniel trying to get revenge for his trauma in high school. They go to Smitty's Diner where they find Kyler. He was following instructions from an unidentified martial artist, saying to come to the diner if he wants revenge on Miguel. Their next destination is the mall because Miyagi-Do was using it as their next meeting spot where they might be preparing another trap, so they go to investigate. They defeat Demetri and a thug named Shawn. Afterwards, a mall cop shows up and captures Shawn, but everyone else manages to escape. They later head to the All-Valley Tournament campus after receiving a falsified tournament invitation. Upon arrival, Cobra Kai defeats Xander and Robby. Their next destination is Weinberg TV Studios where they find Johnny's stepfather, Sid. They learn that he partnered up with Miyagi-Do to make a movie. They then go to the high school, where they defeat Sam.

Their next destination is Oaks on the Beach Club, where they find Trey and get information that he was under instructions by the same martial artist to pass out falsified tournament fliers. Cobra Kai's next destination is the Beach Bonfire where they find Yasmine, who is upset at Cobra Kai for showing up at her party uninvited. They find out that the same martial artist had the All Valley Tournament sponsor her party and only requested for her to appear, prompting them to conclude that Miyagi-do is behind it. The next place they go to is 5th Avenue Bar, where they find Armand and get information on what he's up to with Miyagi-Do, but he tells them that he came to the bar for a business meeting with a buyer to tell him that he wanted to buy the strip mall because he had plans for true karate, but he missed his deal and blames Cobra Kai for it. Cobra Kai heads to the Valley Fest, concluding Daniel was the mastermind and promptly defeats him.

Hawk closes the story by telling the principal that there was an anonymous tip that said that Daniel was the one behind it all because he couldn't get over his traumas from high school, but Cobra Kai put an end to him and Miyagi-Do. Kreese became the president of the All Valley Karate Committee and helped Johnny get back on track and let him run the dojo as long as he agreed to abide by Kreese's rules in showing no mercy, a claim which Demetri objects to.

Miyagi-Do Story
Demetri starts his story by saying that it all started at the Mini-Golf & Arcade where Sam got a note and thought it was from Miguel telling her to meet him for a date, but it turned out to be a gang of thugs. After Sam beat up the thugs, they drive away and a map flies out of their car, which Sam shows to Daniel. Daniel and Sam conclude that it might be Johnny trying to get revenge for losing to Daniel in the tournament. They go to Smitty's Diner where they find Kyler. He was following instructions from an unidentified martial artist, saying to come to the diner if he wants to get back with Sam. They go to LaRusso Auto where they meet dealership rival Tom Cole, learning that was bribed by a local martial artist to trash the dealership and relocate the cars. Their next destination is the mall because Cobra Kai was using it as their next meeting spot where they might be preparing another trap, so they go to investigate. They defeat Hawk and a thug named Shawn. Afterwards, a mall cop shows up and captures Shawn, but everyone else manages to escape. They later head to the All-Valley Tournament campus after receiving a falsified tournament invitation. Upon arrival, Miyagi-Do defeats Xander and Miguel. Their next destination is Weinberg TV Studios where they find Johnny's stepfather, Sid. They learn that he partnered up with Cobra Kai to make a movie. They then go to the high school, where they defeat Tory.

Their next destination is Oaks on the Beach Club, where they find Trey and get information that he was under instructions by the same martial artist to pass out falsified tournament fliers. Miyagi-Do's next destination is the Beach Bonfire where they find Yasmine, who is upset at Miyagi-Do for showing up at her party uninvited. They find out that the same martial artist had the All Valley Tournament sponsor her party and only requested for her to appear, prompting them to conclude that Cobra Kai is behind it. The next place they go to is 5th Avenue Bar, where they find Armand and get information on what he's up to with Cobra Kai, but he tells them that he came to the bar for a business meeting with a buyer to tell him that he wanted to buy the strip mall because he had plans for true karate, but he missed his deal and blames Miyagi-Do for it. Miyagi-Do heads to the Valley Fest, concluding Johnny was the mastermind and promptly defeat him.

Demetri closes the story by telling the principal that there was an anonymous tip that said that Johnny was behind it all because he couldn't get over losing the tournament to Daniel. With Johnny apparently ousted, Cobra Kai turned into something else with Kreese as president of the All Valley Karate Committee with new rules for the tournament. Miyagi-Do stood its ground as one of the valley's best dojos, a claim which Hawk objects to.

True Ending
Daniel and Johnny blame each other for starting this whole mess until Kreese shows up and admits that he was the one who caused the mess and pitted Daniel and Johnny against each other. They decide to team up and fight Kreese together. After they beat Kreese up, Johnny puts him in a head lock with Kreese asking him if he would really do that to his sensei and tells Johnny that he always rooted for him, but Johnny didn't believe Kreese because he only cares about himself. As Johnny plans to finish off Kreese, Daniel tells him not to do it because that would make him no better, so Johnny decides to let Kreese go and they tell him to leave and never come back. Daniel and Johnny were both surprised at how Kreese used their history to turn them against each other like that and surprised that Kreese is still as evil as he always was. Daniel and Johnny decide to call a truce and make sure that this doesn't happen again. The principal doesn't believe one word that Hawk and Demetri are saying. They tell him that it's all true, but the principal tells them that everything's a mess and their best explanation being a retired mastermind veteran with a penchant for chaos sounds more like something out of a book. They keep telling him that it really happened, so he decides to give them detention where they can write their tale on paper. He jokingly says that their delusion would make a good TV show or a video game.

Overall Thoughts

Time played: 1D, 5h, 31m

Achievements: 27/48

Gamerpoints: 590/1000

Percent Completed: 58%

Overall Score: 8/10 - fun game. Would play again. There are more achievements to unlock...

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TV - Automan

%PM, %b %America/Chicago %2026, %R1980s, ABC, Entertainment, review, Sci-Fi, SciFi, Television, Tron

Over the last few years, I've been looking for older sci-fi shows to watch. This is was a short (13 episode) quirky buddy-cop/sidekick series.

Automan is short for "Automatic Man." One of the series protagonists, Walter Nebicher, creates an artificially intelligent crimefighting computer program that generates a hologram (Automan) able to leave the computer world at night and fight crime. The "night" part is important here because the show explains that Automan (and his sidekick "Cursor") draw so much energy, that they can really manifest themselves only when the demand on the grid is low (funny how today the response is "build more power plants" for AI datacenter needs...). Anyway, Cursor is a floating, shifting polyhedron which can "draw" and generate physical objects as needed. The most common forms taken are an automobile (the Autocar), an airplane, and a helicopter (the Autochopper), all of which can defy the laws of physics.

The show is interesting, but Automan's personality is a bit off-putting at times, and the portrayal of certain characters is certainly "of its time."

It seems to me that the graphics inspired by Tron (or at least were limited in the same ways as Tron was). It's interesting to see a "holodeck" without the "deck" part and also before Star Trek TNG. The "Cursor" companion could manifest holograms IRL.

Funny how a cop is relegated as the computer geek into the server room, but these days these geeks also have badges and go out in the field lol.

I think this got cancelled quickly, so it's hard to know what could have been, but the premise is interesting.

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Reddit Year In Review

%AM, %b %America/Chicago %2026, %Rreddit, Social Media, Social Networks, YearInReview

Alright, so it seems like Reddit isn't doing a recapped this year or at least nothing has been announced. Someone has created a Reddit Wrapped where you provide your public username and they produce something with Generative AI, so you know it's all made up, but what the hey - let's have a laugh!

I almost spit my coffee out with this roast 😂: You own a 23-year collection of obsolete mobile phones and a triple-knob macro pad, yet you still haven't found a button that helps you get over a pizza place leaving the plastic on your salami twenty years ago."

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Bluesky Year In Review

%AM, %b %America/Chicago %2026, %RBluesky, Social Media, Social Networking, Social Networks, YearInReview

Bluesky hasn't done an official wrap-up this year (did they last year?), but - as one might predict - someone on the internet has. So, plugging in my public profile information, here's what I got from

I am not sure how accurate this is, but I don't know what to make of these stats... 🧐

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Xbox Year In Review

%AM, %b %America/Chicago %2026, %REntertainment, trueAchievements, video games, VideoGames, XBOX, YearInReview

Next up in my 2025 Year In Review roundup, is xbox. Again, this year, Microsoft didn't do anything official (boooo!!!), but we've got True Achievements to the rescue.

Most notable here is that casual games are less prominent on my account this year since I stopped playing Casual games on my pixel tablet while watching television, so the games here represent just xbox gaming. The totally not surprising thing is that my gaming totally tanked in the fall semester. Last fall was super duper busy and that shows in the stats. Also not surprising, my most active was the winter break (basically this time last year) when I had vacation and nothing else on my plate.