Tag Archives: Video Games

VPL’s The Game Awards: A Semi-Unserious Year in Review

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© The Game Awards

It’s that time of the year. No, I don’t mean the holidays. Every storefront and radio channel in existence is full enough of cheer that I’m sure I don’t need to add some more jingling bells or flickering Hanukkah candles into the mix. Here at VPL, our end-of-year celebrations are always retrospective, looking back at all of the reads, good listers and naughty listers, that filled the past 12 months. But I wanted to put a little spin on tradition, as I am wont to do.

Besides the holidays, December brings my favorite online awards show to kick off the season of all the silly award show bingo games and “who got snubbed” arguments. The Game Awards are usually low-stakes for me because I never have a horse in the race, but this year with media and player darling Clair Obscur: Expedition 33  coming in like it’s Return of the King at the 2004 Oscars, it’s tough not to get swept up in the hype. So, I’m bringing the hype to VPL with our own 2025 Game Awards. I’ve polled our staff across the system to gather our top-tier games (board games included, because why not? The holidays are for tabletop gamers anyway) of 2025, where the awards are made up, but still very much deserved. If you’ve got your bingo sheet ready, let’s get into it!

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Snow More Stress: A Guide for a Lazy Night In

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Alright, I know there’s not much snow outside, but let’s imagine there is to set the scene: It’s a freezing winter night, one that’s enveloping us with blinding flurries, and you’re driving behind a long line of traffic over black ice that’s camouflaged by fresh snow. The absence of both the sun’s blazing rays and the moon’s dim light are why it’s so dark outside despite the time just ticking past 5 p.m. Condensation fogs up your windshield as you’re barely inching your way home. Annoyed yet? You might be if you’re not a winter person — although I’d find it hard to imagine anybody being fond of driving on slippery roads. The only thing to do after a long day like this, which I can almost promise you will come very soon, is to take it easy and decompress!

Three smiling snowmen with red toques on in the snow. Photo by Myriam Zilles on Unsplash.
Photo by Myriam Zilles on Unsplash

I found that the year zoomed by quickly — too quickly, as if each month was obscured by some sort of motion blur — to the point where I wish I could find more time to enjoy the little cozy things in life, and more importantly, to not avoid the need to relax. But you know the saying: There’s no time like the present. In this post, I’ll be assembling a range of recommendations and activities about different topics that I find relaxing, ones that I hope you can also quietly revel in to unwind — before we’re eventually, and too quickly, catapulted into the new year. I don’t think we should feel guilty about occasionally having a lazy day; dedicating some time to doing a whole lot of nothing is a great way to recharge your batteries! Let’s think of it as athletes having a rest day, shall we?

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Vampires, and Werewolves, and Frankenstein (Oh My!)

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It’s that time of year again; time when the warm, long nights and the smell of barbeques in the air give way to the impending cold as we say goodbye to summer and get our first warning bells that winter is coming (unfortunately no relation to the endless wait for George R.R. Martin’s next book, but since there might be a few of you I accidentally led on, have this meme). It’s the time when all the heat-averse people start breathing sighs of relief, and I start grumbling about the cold as I prepare to hide for six months in the safety of the indoors. But I promise this is not a post about how best to hibernate, because in between the end of summer and the worst season of the year, we have the second-best season. October. Spooky Season. Halloween! And, most importantly, the season when all the quality horror movies and TV shows are slated to come out (give or take a few weeks).

I’m sure I’ve mentioned Mike Flanagan’s work (The Haunting series, Midnight Mass, Doctor Sleep, and others) countless times. He’s always been my mainstay every Spooky season, but since he jumped the Netflix ship to join the crew of Amazon, I’ve needed something else to look forward to as the weather starts turning. So, as a huge fan of Guillermo del Toro, when I heard that he’d be taking on Mary Shelley’s classic gothic novel Frankenstein in his next film, I was actually okay with the inevitable end of summer. But since I missed my window to see it at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival (my wallet thanks me, though my heart does not), and I’ll have to wait until it gets its day in theatres or pops up on Netflix, I need to tide myself (and those who’ve had their interest piqued) over in the meantime. Thankfully, October also happens to be a season when classic monsters are never out of style. So, gather your plastic fangs and bedsheets because we’re going on a tour of vampires, werewolves, and Frankensteins (oh my!), and the many adaptations they’ve starred in.

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