Nick’s LIFESTYLE Newsletter Vol. 9 No. 1

THIS IS AN INTRODUCTION

Hello again everyone. It's been a few weeks. Oh boy has it been a few weeks. Weeks of terror perpetuated by the government. Weeks of vigilance. Weeks of a stew of sadness, depression and burnout. Weeks of admiring friends with hope and thinking how good that must feel. Weeks of more shoulder rehab and being BANNED from lifting weights. Weeks of having a nutritionist in my life. I hope all of you are staying safe and trying to get through this. Maybe watch that Bad Bunny halftime show. Fucking amazing. That is the America I want to live in.

• I was so close to buying one of these, because it is personally amazing, but then I realized I don't like having things. First Autistic Barbie Doll

• This is a good article, but the infographic 11/10. The Wall Looks Permanent Until It Falls

• I like to think I stay on top of things, but this was a totally new concept to me: Participatory budgeting. Rebuilding two-way trust, city by city. This, along with term limits and representative government, thanks.

• This was very powerful and well designed. As someone constantly trying to balance the desire to read everything all the time, I need constant reminders about these "phantom obligations"

• My once weekly shaking my hands at the youth: The Film Students Who Can No Longer Sit Through Films. It just blows my fucking mind.

• Always love it when one of my favorite podcasts talks about the company I work for. If you are interested in why lawyers charge so much and the effects of privatization of public information, give it a listen. Organized Money: The Monopolists Who Gatekeep the Court System. I gave quite a presentation in library school on this topic in 2010 and nothing has changed.

• In the interest of documenting this terrible time, the next three bullets are about capturing the moment. If you don't want to deal with it, skip ahead my friend.

• This is one of the best videos in the last month to really capture this moment in time. Put together by a video game podcast, if you can believe it. Minneapolis - January 2026

• A big shout out to the Minnesota Reformer. Working hard to earn our money. They are constantly my favorite local news source and I'm a proud member. These are the arrests you’re not seeing

• This was posted a month ago and it feels like a year. Another report from MN from a friend of a friend, a US Citizen

ITEM THE FIRST:

THE AMAZING THINGS OF 2025 (2025 EDITION): 2025 was a year. Boy, was it a year. Every month felt like a year. Every day a week. A year where I really started to feel my age due to pushing my body hard. A year where I consciously pulled back from being the proactive person pulling people together. A year where I shared my burnout. A year where things didn't just spark joy the way they have in the past. However, as always there were some standouts.

BOARD GAME OF THE YEAR: While my interest in board games has dipped a lot, I find it again when I get off the treadmill of constantly learning new games and enjoying exploring older ones. Last year, Melonie and I played 10 games each of Ark Nova and Castles of Burgundy. It was some of my favorite times, actually getting to build up a skill and mastery instead of learn, learn, learn.

2025 was a year of gaming experiences. Two of the best were playing the AMAZING Clank Legacy 2: Darkest Magic. We played with the same group as we did for part one, but with new characters. The story was great, the game just as good and it gave us an excuse to get the gang back together. If you like fun and games, Clank Legacy 1 & 2 are must plays. 11/10 stars up.

The other experience was playing Kinfire Chronicles, which was a very unique experience. It is a cooperative deck builder mixed with a tactics game with a fun story, decisions to make, side quests to complete (or skip), bosses and an epic finale. We had a great group of people playing and the ending was bittersweet, knowing it was the last major game I got to play with one of my favorite people before he fled the US.

However, in the interest of picking a new game to celebrate, I'll give the nod to Star Trek: Captain's Chair. This is a one or two player deck building game where you get to pick one of the 6 (now 15!) captains from all eras of Star Trek, explore planets, build a crew and do cool Star Trek things. I've played this one solo quite a bit, but have played with people as well and it is always fun.

As a runner-up, Spirits of the Wild: Awakening. This is a two player only set collection game that you can pick up at Target for $20 or so. Takes about 15 minutes to play and can be taught in like 5 mins. Just a good, clean game for even a non-gamer.

VIDEO GAME OF THE YEAR: Promise Mascot Agency. I'm normally a year or two behind on playing games, but I bought this as soon as it came out. The premise is that you are a former yakuza who has to hide in rural Japan managing an agency that finds work for mascots, but these are real C-tier mascots, like Pinky the severed thumb, with drama and problems. They even got Takaya Kuroda, who does the voice for the main character in the Yakuza series of games to do the voice of this former yakuza member. Great casting.

Anyway, it is an open world, but not too big. There are side quests, but not too many. There is a weird card battling system, but not complicated. There is this wonderful 80's screen effect during the whole game. The soundtrack is perfect for the game. I was able to 100% it in under 30 hours. I could not ask for anything more in a game. My bias for 80's Japan might guide this, but hey, you can start your own newsletter awards and tell me your favorite game.

Of older games I played that rated a PERFECT 10 for me are:

• Minishoot' Adventures, which is twin-stick shooter meets The Legend of Zelda.

• Prodeus. 1993 Doom meets modern technology. A fast and fun FPS.

• Vampire Survivors. I bought this when it came out in 2022, played it for about 10 hours and had to put it away. Much like the first time I took ecstasy, I knew it was too good, addictive and would make me feel joy unlike any other experience in life. I came back to it this year and sunk about 60 hours in it. Just a perfect game. It should not be fun, but it is incredible. If someone has never played a video game in their life, I would recommend this, Hades and Super Mario Bros. Wonder.

• Metroid: Samus Returns & Metroid: Zero Mission. Both are remakes of older Metroid games and are absolute bangers. Not as good as Metroid Dread, but just a half-step behind it.

• Sayonara Wild Hearts. This is a quick 90 minute game that blends music and gaming in a way I haven't experienced since Rez. Each level is like a vignette about overcoming heartbreak and regaining your self and inner strength while riding motor cycles, sword fights and dance battles while an amazing soundtrack syncs up to the game.

• Astro Bot. If you have a PS5 and don't have this, run and buy it immediately. I had a blast playing this with Melonie. It is my second favorite 3d platformer behind Super Mario Galaxy 2.

SOCIAL EVENT OF THE YEAR: Lance Day Day. It was wonderful having people over to celebrate our dearly missed bud, Lance.

BOOK OF THE YEAR (unmasked author): Mindy Mejia - The Whisper Place. The latest book in Mindy's Iowa Mystery series was an absolute banger, it starts out hot with some new interesting characters and doesn't let up until the grand reveal. One of the best she's done and I can't wait for the next book!

BOOK OF THE YEAR (masked author): Chuck Tingle's Lucky Day. Look, I know nothing I can write here can convince you to read a book, but while Chuck is known for books about topical poundings, handsome living corn and lesbian candy corn butt buffets, his queer horror writing is great. Lucky Day is all about statistics and probability and how they can be manipulated with horrific outcomes. Romance and horror are not so different in that they are both very body driven reactions and Chuck is the master of my body.

These are some of my favorite things in the last year, what did you really enjoy?

ITEM THE SECOND:

THIS IS MY JAM (2025 edition): Another great year to be alive and have my hearing. I knew the song of the year about 30 seconds after it ended, but then 12 November happened and an artist that had not put anything out in seven years just did the mic drop of all mic drops. Welcome back, Robyn. Allie X put another another banger album this year and wow, that Lily Allen album. Right?!?! Without further ado, here are OFFICIALLY the top 30 songs of the year:

1. Robyn - Dopamine
2. HUNTR/X - Golden
3. Chung Ha - Even Steven (Happy Ending)
4. Allie X - Reunite
5. Teenager - A.A.
6. Ai Tomioka - HEART BEAT
7. Chung Ha - Salty (with SUNMI)
8. Sabrina Carpenter - Manchild
9. SUNMI - BLUE!
10. Lily Allen - Madeline
11. Ben Kweller - Killer Bee (feat. The Flaming Lips)
12. PinkPantheress - Illegal
13. Purity Ring - Many Lives
14. Alison Goldfrapp - Hey Hi Hello
15. AILEE [이예진] - Meaning
16. Louis De Tomaso - Don't Let Me Go
17. Oklou - harvest sky
18. Ai Tomioka - Step by Step
19. Gain, 조권 - I Happen to Love You (2025)
20. Oliver Sim - Obsession
21. LISA - Rockstar
22. Itzy - Girls Will Be Girls
23. Junk Fujiyama - Wonder History
24. Dijon - Yamaha
25. Danny L Harle - Azimuth (Edit)
26. Flava D & P Money - Dutty
27. Panda Bear - Defense
28. TOKiMONSTA - Enjoy Your Life
29. Fiona Apple - Heart of Gold
30. Nine Inch Nails - Shadow Over Me

Here is your YouTube playlist for the year.

I was really planning on having a big ceremony for the awards show this year, but then decided that dragging my wife into pretending that my music awards is a BIG TIME EVENT was enough and I should not inflict it on others, so we went and supported a local Mexican restaurant, grabbed dinner and I counted down the list. Melonie took the bullet for you all, so you can thank her for her service.

I can't say that anyone dominated my listening this year and the top 30 is compromised of a good mix of the usuals (Chung Ha, SUNMI, Ai Tomioka) and a bunch of people that have dropped new music for the first time in years (Robyn, Lily Allen, Purity Ring, Fiona Apple, Nine Inch Nails). I had about 140 candidate songs that took about 700 rounds of card sorting to get into a first draft. After a week I thought I had it nailed until at the last minute I pulled a second HUNTR/X song "This is What it Sounds Like" from #6 to OFF THE LIST! In retrospect, I think that songs works because of the movie and the mix in the movie is better.

Other notes:

• Bad Bunny's Debí Tirar Más Fotos is by far my favorite thing he has put out. Solid, cohesive album that is 1000x less mumbly than his usual.

• Purity Ring's self-titled album is super solid and I enjoy it more every time I listen to it.

• I never thought I would enjoy a "jam band" but here I am. Goose's Everything Must Go is just good fucking rock music.

• The Black Dog's Loud Ambient is probably my electronic album of the year. Timeless old school (but modern sounding) techno music. It's like closing my eyes and reading hyperreal.org in 1993.

• I'm having the same feelings about Sabrina Carpenter that I had about Miley Cyrus five years ago. Someone on my watch list now.

• FKA twigs Eusexua + Eusexua Afterglow might be my album(s) of the year, but it is a tough year with a lot of good albums. Ai Tomioka finally put out her full length, but more than half of it is singles from the past three years, so hard to give it my album of the year.

• Other albums that were great: Ben Kweller Cover the Mirrors, Aesop Rock Black Hole Superette, Allie X Happiness is Going to Get You, Nas & DJ Premier Light-Years, The Jack Moves Love Machine, Junk Fujiyama Horizon, Water From Your Eyes It's a Beautiful Place

What stood out for you this year?

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (please mark "ok to print"):

None. I miss your correspondence.

THE HOPE SPOT:

Not a fan of capital punishment, but this is how you deal with coup: Death sentence sought for ex-South Korea leader Yoon over martial law decree.

Also, in words I never thought I would put together... What happens when conductor Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser from the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra is a big wrestling fan? THE BRAWL AT THE HALL is what! He worked with Winnipeg Pro Wresting, they set up a ring in the middle of orchestra hall and they had a the symphony play the wrestlers out to the ring and during the matches. WHAT A WORLD.

The conductor even got involved, the heels opened his shirt, gave him some chops before the babyfaces ran them out of the ring. I wish this whole thing was on the internet.

Gratitudes:

While emailing with BIG TIME BOARD GAME JOURNALIST, W. Eric Martin, I had one of those realizations.

There is a pretty common mythology about the band The Velvet Underground that comes from a interview with Brian Eno in 1982:

“My reputation is far bigger than my sales,” he said with a laugh on the phone from his home in Manhattan. “I was talking to Lou Reed the other day, and he said that the first Velvet Underground record sold only 30,000 copies in its first five years. Yet, that was an enormously important record for so many people. I think everyone who bought one of those 30,000 copies started a band! So I console myself in thinking that some things generate their rewards in second-hand ways.”

Many of my favorite bands have cited VU as an influence. Sonic Youth, David Bowie, Joy Division, R.E.M. and many others. They were one of the first bands to introduce the noise/drone sound, write songs about drugs, alienation, transgender themes and a lot more. Punk fucking rock.

Anyways, GOOD FRIEND OF THE LIFESTYLE Seppy is basically the Velvet Underground of the Minneapolis board game scene. His fingerprints are all over the local scene and have spawned several successful companies and designers. He is a constant presence at game design and game events in the region. He has nurtured many people through the game design process and shown how a scrappy company can run via crowdfunding, well before it became the machine it is now. Some of the bigger companies in the local scene would not exist, or not be at the scale they are without him and the seeds he planted on a generation of people. His games are about unconventional topics and may not appeal to everyone, but prove love in the same way the VU did.

Seppy is punk fucking rock.

If you like supporting local DIY artists, local companies and have the spirit of punk rock in your heart, support Barkane: the RPG you play with your Dog!.

Yes, a RPG you play with your dog.

THIS IS THE END OF THE NEWSLETTER

2025 IS THE YEAR AT ALL STARTED COMING DOWN.

THE DAMAGE IS DONE.

AT LEAST ROBYN PUT OUT SOME NEW MUSIC.

THAT IS ALL.