Samantha Puc's Blog, page 2

Stephanie Cooke wants to be the comics industry’s Ms. Frizzle

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Candy Is Dandy Gets Scholarly About Sweets

It’s hard for me to pick a favorite candy bar, though my go-to answer whenever someone asks is Reese’s Fast Break. I love the salty peanut butter, sweet nougat, and sna...

Game Thoughts: My Little Scythe Is a Family-Friendly Take on the Scythe Engine

My Little Scythe box front from Stonemaier Games

Stonemaier Games has yet to produce a board game my family doesn’...

Game Thoughts: Rolling Hills: Make Sushi, Make Friends

I’ve gone on record several times as loving a simple, straightforward management sim, and Rolling Hills: Make Sushi, Make Friends is an easy, breezy gameplay experience. You play Sushibot, a rounded-corner, square robot who arrives in the sleepy town of Rolling Hills under the auspices of opening a bustling new restaurant in a hopping, populous area. When you arrive, you find out the mayor lied to you and the town is mostly held up by himself and his three kids, who run the three other businesse...

Books I Read (and Loved) in Spring 2024

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I truly don’t know why it took me so long to get into audiobooks, but listening to titles through Libro.fm and Libby has hugely transformed my reading habits. When I was in the hospital for two weeks, I listened to nearly a dozen audiobooks while I played games on my Switch, texted friends and family, and did exercises in my room. I loved feeling like I could both take in a story (something I love doing, but can’t always manag...

So, I Had Emergency Spine Surgery

The first time I injured my back, it was my first day back at work after a camping trip with my ex. The urgent care doctor said I’d likely pinched a nerve, prescribed me ibuprofen and rest, and sent me home with a note. The pain came and went for a couple weeks before disappearing and I eventually stopped thinking about it, especially after an MRI ordered by my primary care physician didn’t show anything abnormal.

It didn’t occur to me when I suddenly developed chronic hip pain during a cross-cou...

Book Thoughts: Loving, Ohio

This post contains affiliate links. See the affiliate disclaimer here . Warning: This post contains discussion of suicide, murder, religious trauma, grief, and cults.

Teenagers in Loving, Ohio are disappearing… and no one knows what’s happening to them. Sloane, Elliott, Cameron, and Ana walk alongside fear and grief as they try to finish high school in one piece, all of them with unbearable knowledge weighing them down. Sloane’s boyfriend, Jesse, recently died by suicide before he was meant to lea...

Is Happy Wife Happy Life the Queer Relationship Advice Podcast We Need?

Kendahl Landreth and Jordan Myrick photographed by Lee Jameson

Your next best dining experience might be a comedy ...

The Secret Histories of Nerd Mysteries Co-Hosts Have Revitalized the Show with MaxFun

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Game Thoughts: Escape Academy

My partners and I absolutely love playing puzzles games together, especially mystery games that are either written or presented as “escape rooms in a box.” We recently played through Escape Academy’s main game via Xbox Game Pass and both available DLCs (“Escape from Anti-Escape Island” and “Escape from the Past,” both of which we purchased digitally).

This 1-2 player game tasks you with solving a series of increasingly difficult and dangerous puzzles to graduate as fully trained Escapists, but y...