So, That Was Some Downtime...

So it's been a while since I updated this site. Actually, it's been a while since I updated any of my sites (with Castlevania: The Inverted Dungeon sitting sad and forlorn). Small breaks here and there for me are nothing new -- I usually take a week off here and there a couple or three times a year just to let my brain relax. But this was nearly a month, just about all of October, without any updates. That's a long time for any sites, but especially for my projects.

There's a good reason for this long break, though: I was sick. Specially, I had shingles. Essentially adult chicken pox, although far more gross and with delightful lingering side effects that knocked me hard on my ass. The actual outbreak of shingles wasn't bad. I felt some tingling on my forehead (yes, I got it on my face, which was it's own kind of hell), and then two days later the rash started. Honestly, I thought I'd gotten poison ivy. I've had that before, so I was like, "hey, just get some steroids, it'll be gone in a week." Haha, not so much.

The thing was that while that initial burst wasn't terrible -- a little itchy, but not so bad I couldn't stand it -- it was the lingering effects that really did me in. This thing knocked me on my butt, draining all my reserves, leaving me completely done. I couldn't really focus all that well, especially not for long periods of time, so it felt like I was just kind of coasting through a haze for nearly a month. I kept thinking, "man, I should work on my sites," but I didn't have the brain power to manage it. Just no way to focus.

For over three weeks I've basically spent every moment (where I wasn't stuck at work) passed out on my couch hoping I'd eventually get energy going to do... anything. Finally in the last week I've started to feel like myself, finally able to really get up and move around and act like a normal human being again. Not to say the after effects are totally gone, mind you, just that the thought of doing things didn't leave me completely drained. It was a rough period of time there, to be sure.

And yes, there are still after effects that suck. Because this is a virus that goes along the nerves as it spreads, it also has fun screwing with those nerves. There's this weird, tingly, dead patch of skin on my face that doesn't really feel much all thanks to the shingles. Eventually it should come back to normal skin but, for now, it's this irritating patch of space that can't feel anything besides tingling and, occasionally, stabs of pain. It is, in short, an absolute delight to deal with.

But anyway, now that I'm back and operating at (mostly) full capacity, we'll be getting back into normally scheduled updates. Regular reviews here, full coverage for Castlevania: Nocturne over on The Inverted Dungeon. I've got a lot of time to make up for, and I want to, so here we go...

In Other News

Since we're taking time right now to do a site check in, I figured I'd touch upon a few quick bits since we're here:

• The SAG-AFTRA strike is still ongoing. Yes, the WGA strike that was going at the same time is over, and we're happy that the writers were able to get a contract that they found fair and equitable. But that doesn't change things for the actors and they need to get their fair deal too. As such, as we were doing during the combined strike, Asteroid G will continue to not cover new movie and TV media as it comes out. We're under an imposed three month black out on all new Hollywood media and will continue to follow that rule until the strike is over. Naturally, if the performers also go on strike against the video game industry, as they've been discussing, we'll extend our rule to new games as well at that point.
• There have been a number of Hollywood deaths recently, some of them fairly prominent (such as the recent cardiac arrest and drowning of Matthew Perry). It's not our habit to comment on Hollywood deaths so we don't plan to write any obits or other notes on those matters. Death is sad, and losing performers, writers, or other creatives sucks, for sure. However I'm really bad at writing meaningful notes on emotional stuff. It's better for everyone if we continue to avoid discussing these matters in detail. Trust us.
• Hey, Suits. Have you seen more and more articles discussing Suits, the USA show about, we assume, dudes in suits. Yeah, we never watched it. Do we care about this sudden glut of Suits news? Nope, and Asteroid G will continue ignoring this show and everything related to it. You're welcome.

And with that, let's get back to our regular coverage. I have things to review and I know someone out there wants to see my opinions. So here we go...