Matthew Rossi

My spouse and I are going to see Spider-Man: Brand New Day this weekend, a date night and the first movie I’ll see in a theatre since 2020. I won’t pretend I’m not nervous — COVID left marks on my soul that have never really faded and the realization that many people living around me would be perfectly happy to let me and other people with risk factors die instead of doing simple, harmless things like wearing masks or getting vaccinated.

Still, I want to see Spider-Man do Spider-Man things. And at least I know he’d wear a mask to keep me safe, if he were real.

I like Devil Dinosaur. I’d like to see him on Sanctuary.

Before you get worried, I do not have fatal insomnia — I do sleep for between two to four hours a night. Most nights closer to two, admittedly. It means I spend a lot of time in the middle of the night playing video games, and I have been for a long time now. I played the original Diablo on PlayStation, Xenogears, several of the Silent Hill games, the various Doom games. Even the Dino Crisis games. In a real way, if I could sleep normal hours, the past 20 years of my life wouldn’t have looked anything like it has.

I still wish I could sleep more than I do.

Here are some things to keep in mind about whether or not we have to start having memorials to Suchomimus, the Spinosaurid that has recently been in the Dinosaur loving news because a recent paper indicated that Cristatusaurus and Suchomimus may in fact have been the same animal. Why does that matter? Because if they are, then Suchomimus — the animal with more complete fossils — would become Cristatusaurus because it was named first and in taxonomy the first described specimen has naming priority.

 

With the Lord of Hatred expansion, I think it's fair to say that Diablo 4 finally has a story that feels complete.

On June 24, 2006 I completed a quest that began in a Molten Core raid. I stood in a baking hot Seattle (technically Kirkland) back yard and married Julian, who came down from Canada and began the long, strange trip that has brought us to this day. We saw the Warcraft movie together. We stood in line for four expansions, and leveled together for decades. 20 years later, I am still Busbandon and they are still Gwifelor.

Thank you, Julian, for all of it. I love you.

Look, life is crazy now and I have no idea if we’ll still be around this November. But if we are, I know that I’ll be playing Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee Remastered, and for a brief moment. I’ll be Godzilla.

Y’all talked a lot about chips, so don’t be disappointed that this Queue is mostly about that. And about Red and his hunger for dinosaur flesh.

I’m fishing.

In a video game.

I have never been willing to do this. Diablo 4, I think you’ve broken me.

As y’all can see in the above screenie, Lilith likes to claim we need her to stop Mephisto. After several hundred attempts to kill the Echo of Lilith on Torment 8 (I’m handily clearing Torment 9 content otherwise) I don’t think we do.

I’m really willing to take a chance on this.

I am far from a good Diablo 4 player. If you want a talented player, Liz Patt has you covered. What I am is bizarrely and ridiculously tenacious. And, occasionally, I am lucky at the weirdest times. For example, I am wearing Tyrael’s Might, it’s updated for Lord of Hatred but it’s still a really great breastplate. I got it when I turned in my War Plan and Tyrael threw a bunch of loot at me, which included his breastplate.

The next Belial run I ended up on, the chest had El’druin, Sword of Justice in it. All I need are a pair of weird Angel tendrils and a hood and I’m basically cosplaying as the guy, and it’s making every time I turn in a War Plan kind of awkward.