How’s it going readers?

Another week has gone by and we’re not still not completely unpacked. It’ll happen eventually. Over the weekend, I did go through some boxes and find most (if not all) of my books and have gotten them moved into my office. I don’t have a book shelf yet however so they are just sitting on the love seat that I have in here. I did order a book shelf and it should be here before the weekend. Although, since I have to put it together myself that might further delay the existence of a book shelf in my office. The mountain of books on the loveseat seems to be irritating my cats though because they like to come in here from time to time and lay on it. Anyway, I’ll get around to it. Also, the TV is not yet mounted. I did, however, get it hooked up and hooked my Xbox up to it. Playing video games with the TV just sitting on the floor isn’t optimal though. Looking down at it while sitting on my desk chair isn’t cutting it. The TV mount has also been ordered so once that gets in, I’ll get somebody to install it for me (I’m not smart enough to install a TV mount myself) and that will be one step closer to the completion of putting the office together. Once I get the book shelf up and the TV mounted, the next step is to assemble the movie theater popcorn machine that my wife bought me for Xmas. Other than that, I’ll just need to figure out where I’m going to put all of my Funko Pops and I’m thinking that I might also buy a coffee table of some sort for the office. I’ll have a better idea of what to do with the office once I get the bookshelf and TV taken care of.

Here’s a few kitty pictures for you. Andor, Leia, and Earl.

Earlier this week, my son-in-law and I attended an Anthrax concert. This was the first time I had seen the band since 1991 when they were touring with Public Enemy. They played at a venue in Oklahoma City that I had never been to called The Criterion. Not a bad venue. Kind of reminds me of a smaller version of Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa. Anyway, the show was really good. The opening band was Exodus and they put on a good show. After Exodus, however, the band Black Label Society played. I have to admit that I’m not a fan. I’ve never really been a fan of Zakk Wylde. I always thought that his guitar player ability was overrated. So this portion of the show seemed to drag on forever. On a brighter note, during this performance I started wandering around the venue and bumped into a friend of mine from the band Traindodge. We were united in our meh about BLS so we suffered together. Anthrax put on one hell of a show. I was definitely not disappointed (except for the fact that I thought it went by too quick). I was pleasantly surprised that they played a tune from the John Bush era of Anthrax (“Only”).

Since I’m on the subject of Anthrax, I’d like to talk a bit about the “Big Four” of thrash metal. If you’re not familiar, I’m referring to Anthrax, Metallica, Megadeth, and Slayer. Overall, Anthrax is my favorite of the Big Four. Metallica seems to be the most popular but I enjoy the music of Anthrax quite a bit more than that of Metallica’s. I like them all of course but for different reasons. For instance, in my humble opinion, Dave Mustaine is a better guitar player, technically speaking than any of the guitar players in any of these bands. The only ones that come close to him I think are Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman (R.I.P.) of Slayer. Mustaine is the most proficient I think and writes some really good riffs and leads. That being said, Anthrax are the better songwriters and write the tunes that I enjoy more than any of these others. Also on the subject of the Big Four, Slayer is the only one of them that I have never seen live. Course, now they don’t tour anymore so I’ll never have that chance. Plus, even if they were touring again, it wouldn’t be the same without Hanneman.

Here are some pictures that I took at the show:

Rogue One Radio

This week, we did our first show in our new Thursday time slot (originally, we were doing our live stream on Tuesdays). For this week’s episode, we swung back into our MCU Retrospective series and had a discuss about the Spider-Man films. The tunes for this week's episode came from The 1984 Draft, Melonball, and Fat Heaven. You can catch the video replay on YouTube or listen to the audio on Apple Podcasts below that.

Also, Dave recently did an episode of One Band 5 Songs this week concentrating on the career of Sonic Youth. The episode made me realize that, while I like Sonic Youth and I enjoy some of their material, I would not necessarily say that I am a Sonic Youth fan. Anyway, it’s a good episode. You can go check it out on Spotify here:

Also, speaking of Anthrax, Dave did a really good episode about them back in February 2022. It is actually one of my favorite episodes of his show (maybe even my absolutely favorite). You can listen to that one on Spotify here:

Another good podcast episode was Punk Lotto Pod’s episode about Iggy and the Stooges album Raw Power. The album celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. You can check that podcast out on Apple Podcasts here:

Because I haven’t watched any movies this week, I thought I’d bring back the list for this issue. And since I seem to be on an Anthrax kick this week, why not an Anthrax related list? Here’s a list of my top 5 favorite Anthrax albums.

Among the Living
Sound of White Noise
State of Euphoria
Worship Music
For All Kings

First off, I finished my re-read of Darth Bane: Path of Destruction. I plan to start listening to the audiobook of book 2 of the Darth Bane trilogy (Rule of Two) as soon as it comes available.

I’ve also been re-reading the Ultimate Spider-Man run. Other than Dan Slott’s legendary run on Amazing Spider-Man, the Brian Michael Bendis’ Ultimate Spider-Man run is my favorite Spider-Man run. Speaking of Spider-Man And Dan Slott, I am also caught up on that limited series that I spoke of in issue #37.

This week’s track is (according to Last.fm) my most listened to tune of the week. Considering I’ve been on an Anthrax kick lately, the artist doesn’t surprise me but I had not realized that I had been listening to this John Bush-era song so much this week.

That’s it for this week kids. Have a great weekend and remember to BE MORE KIND!

The Otter Limits

Unpacking, the Big Four, and a List