Letters, Black Panther, and Ocarina of Time
So far, my last letter has appeared in Massachusetts and Texas newspapers. My next one will highlight concern about avian flu to make the public-health case for increased federal funding for cultivated-meat research. If you’d like to write your own letters, give this a look:
Anyway, welcome back to (Cell) Culture Talk. Here are some of the things I’ve been playing, watching and listening to lately.
Game — Magic: The Gathering Arena. There’s a new card set out, which is cool. To be honest, though, I haven’t really dug into it yet. I’m still trying to make my Portal to Phyrexia deck work. The current version uses blue mana. It’s not the best, but it’s pretty enjoyable.
I use four copies each of Combat Courier, Automated Artificer, Stern Lesson, Thirst for Discovery, Thran Spider, The Mightstone and Weakstone, Cityscape Leveler, Hulking Metamorph, and the titular card. Hulking Metamorph might be the most important card in the deck after Portal to Phyrexia.
Movie — Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. I really liked it! I’m sure this film faced a lot of unique challenges, given the tragic passing of Chadwick Boseman, but I think director and co-writer Ryan Coogler handled them remarkably well. Letitia Wright stepped confidently into the title role.
Music — The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Hyrule Symphony. OoT is my favorite video game. I think a significant part of what makes the title so great is Koji Kondo’s music. This orchestrated version of the soundtrack evokes tremendous nostalgia for me, but I think anyone might enjoy it.
Sports — Knicks lose to Clippers, 134-128. Jalen Brunson, who should have been an all star, had 41 points. Unfortunately, New York fell apart in overtime. I assume everybody was exhausted. As a side note, I wish the NBA could do something about the endless free throws which consistently finish close matches. It’s so anti-climactic.
Sports — Knicks beat 76ers, 108-97. That was fun. Evan Fournier has been such a pro this season. He was expecting to be a starter, but was removed from the rotation entirely. Still, he never sulked and when the team has needed him due to injury, he’s stepped in without missing a beat.
Sports — Knicks beat Magic, 102-98. New York eked out a victory here. It was humbling for things to be so tough against Orlando, although I hear they’ve been playing better recently. Good luck to Jericho Sims, who, it was announced, will be competing in the upcoming slam-dunk contest.
Sports — Knicks lose to 76ers, 118-109. That was a frustrating defeat, given New York was leading for a big chunk of the game. Still, you can’t be too mad about splitting the season series with a team as talented as Philadelphia. Newly acquired Knick Josh Hart didn’t play.