Author: valleyreading

Gun Honey by Charles Ardai

My first time reading a non manga comic or graphic novel. It was an enjoyable read and a great noir or pulp type genre. It certainly has the art aimed at a specific audience, when the females are drawn like that you know whats coming and its not Joanna Tan (titular Gun Honey) in a shirt lol. Theres plenty of action, nudity, humour and enough plot to make it work.

I am getting back into noir and these are a fun change of pace and enough plot to keep you engaged. Obvious the typical comic book body standard with stacked women and Herculean, handsome men. I am curious to read the rest.

Its not highbrow but it is highly fun.

3.5/5

FM Kit Creator

For all my life I have gamed and played video games since I was a child playing on the Sega Mega Drive. One of the earliest type of games I had got into was football (soccer) management simulation games. I forget the names now of the very early games I played on Mega Drive, maybe FIFA Manager or Championship Manager but they got me hooked.

Moving on to PC gaming I remember picking up big cardboard boxes containing Greatest Hits versions of Championship Manager 97/98 onwards and that is really the bulk of my gaming. Championship Manager eventually split into two rivals Football Manager and Championship Manager, though the name was retained the quality and game went to Football Manager.

Today there is only Football Manager existing, and it is on Football Manager 2024 (2025 version scrapped for FM 26 due to development issues). The game has a yearly release and despite minimal changes in recent years I have always bought it and played the life out of it, a quick look at steam shows the hours I have put into it, though some hours account for idle time and background. I’d play while I work or do stuff. A huge chunk of my life devoted to the game. A game that is essentially a spreadsheet.

Due to the current two year cycle of FM24 it is feeling a little stale and boring even with updated squads and new matchsim files to play with (a key feature of the series is fan made skin and mods to update the quality of life and cosmetic aspect of the game like kits, badges, profile pics and skins).

I discovered something and I am addicted to it, it is making my own kits for my teams to use in the game. I discovered this site FM Kit Creator and it has blown my mind being able to create my own 2D and 3D kits to use in game. I enjoy using the real kits but its fun to make my own. You can edit styles, patterns, colours, badges, logos and sponsors. The past few weeks I have spent as much time making kits as I have playing the game.

I plan to going forward make new kits every in game season for whoever I am managing, like currently I am managing Liverpool FC and Brazil, so made custom kits for both.

Here are some (mostly Liverpool FC) kits I have made for my game.

The Rabbit Hole Book by Richard Coles, Cat Jarman & Charles Spencer

A fun and enjoyable read, literally 99 little rabbit holes to fall into. Many fascinating and interesting subjects. I enjoyed most and learned about many things I hadn’t known before like the Westminster Abbey effigies.

An enjoyable book to dip in and out of and lots of fun tidbits.

John Boardman On The Parthenon by John Boardman

Short and sweet, a bit different to what I was expecting. I expected a book on the history of the Parthenon, but this is a book on the construction and meaning behind it. Focuses a lot on the importance of the temple and the city of Athens reverence to Athena during the time of its construction. Interesting nonetheless.

3.5/5 rounded up.