A new watch and a tiny jacket
Plus, I finally finished a game!
I'm back! Apologies for the months of silence, I took an unofficial summer holiday and then got married immediately after. Now I'm on a monthlong honeymoon! So I'm feeling fresh, optimistic about life, and yadda yadda, all that lovey-dovey stuff. But you're here for cool sh*t, so here it is!
in this issue:
🔑 Beams Boy MA-1 keychain
⌚ Timex Retroware Digital
🎮 James Bond 007: First Light
🔑 Beams Boy MA-1 keychain
Okay, story time. Many moons ago when I was a lot younger, I thought Lupe Fiasco was the coolest dude on the planet. I still do, but back then even more so. I remember going to see him perform with The Roots when I was fifteen at my first concert ever and noticing that he had a small teddy bear hanging off a keychain. I never found out what they were but even then I knew just by looking at it that it was out of my budget. So I did the next best thing. When I got back home, I grabbed an old ninja teddy bear that I got in a McDonald's Happy Meal a few years before and poked a hole right through its head.
I wore that thing on my keychain all throughout high school. It was the talking point that led to my first new friends at the school that I transferred into, and was the only thing I owned at the time that made me feel even remotely cool. While I still don't see myself spending hundreds on a keychain, I have found more and more of these fun little keychain accessories popping up all over the place. The one that most recently caught my eye is the MA-1 keychain from Beams. It's a cute little bomber jacket on a keyring that has a fully functioning zipper and everything! I don't think I'll attach it to my actual keychain, but my new goal is to put one of these on every bag I own just for fun.
⌚ Timex Retroware Digital
Timex blesses fans of the Ironman watch with special editions every now and then, including the Hodinkee limited edition version I picked up a few months ago. But it doesn't typically get an entire redesign. That's exactly what happened here. Not only did it get a new badass redesign but they kept everything that makes the Ironman a great watch.
It's still tough with useful features like an alarm and chronograph, but now it's a bit larger at 46mm. Had I not just splurged on the Hodinkee LE this would probably be on my shortlist, but instead I'm just glad that it exists. I would love to see this kind of retro future design come to more of Timex's offerings.
🎮 James Bond 007: First Light
I'm probably a little late to this but if you're a fan of James Bond or the 007 franchise at all, I think playing the new First Light game is well worth your time. It's the first game in a long time that I actually finished, which is saying something since I usually end up ditching campaigns halfway through in favor of the latest FC or NBA 2K. The gadgets, the sneaking around, the sarcastic back talk. It's everything you love about Bond with some clever easter eggs hidden throughout.
The story is just okay but that doesn't take away from the action that makes this game so fun to play. I've always been the kind of player that likes to sneak around and remove obstacles by stealth and this game has that in spades. But every now and then it leaves you with no choice but to just run up and straight up Rambo the situation and those parts are some of my favorite gameplay moments. All things in balance.
