Author: Zach Archer

Weekly Highlights – September 19, 2022

Weekly Highlights, Written Posts

Highlights of the Week

Smash Ultimate Summit 5 on YouTube:

The only games I enjoy watching competitively are Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and my favorite event for both of them is always the Summits, where some of the best players in their respective games are brought together to duke it out while producing content in a unique environment. The fifth installment of Smash Ultimate Summit delivered on all fronts, with plenty of intense game-five sets and dramatic upsets that made for exciting results and entertaining gameplay all around. I always eagerly await the next Summit and that’s no different for the next Melee one on the horizon!

The Walking Dead on AMC:

So I’ve been behind on the latest season of The Walking Dead for some time now, but this past week I’ve really been making some decent progress towards catching up. For the final season (season 11), they split it up into three parts, each with eight episodes, I believe, with the final part to be released soon. But I had previously only made it into the first part and am now in the second part after watching a few episodes and I have really been enjoying it! At this point I’ve watched through the tenth episode of season 11, and that one especially saw a significant change in the feel of the show and although I’m still behind by several episodes, it has been a refreshing change of pace and I look forward to seeing how things shape up later on!

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild on the Nintendo Switch:

As much as I absolutely adore this game, I haven’t played it since its initial release and sank only about 30 hours into it before leaving it behind for the time being. I had been meaning to revisit it for some time now, in anticipation of the previously unnamed Breath of the Wild sequel (now officially titled Tears of the Kingdom). There was plenty left for me to do in the base game and I never even touched the DLC at all! So I’m hoping to get to as much as I can, but I did start over with a new file because it has been pretty much five years at this point and I figured it would feel like a practically brand-new experience for me at this point anyway! So while I’ve put very little time into this so far, I’m looking forward to reliving the magic of this game again.

Content of the Week:

Survivor: Guatemala Ep. 13 Reaction (The Curse of the Car) – Tarqaron

This was a fun episode to have in the mix! The episode right before the finale can tend to not be one of the most exciting episodes in the world and although the end result of the episode tracks with that, I think there’s a lot of fun character moments and personality to counteract that and make it a memorable episode.

Survivor 43 Pre-Season Spectacular – Tarqaron ft. Rusty

It’s really cool getting to jump back into that modern Survivor mindset with my pal Rusty. Given all of the factors involved in the last two seasons I am cautiously optimistic, but overall know I will have a good time because it is ultimately more Survivor at the end of the day! It was fun doing this draft and going through some weird pet peeves that the cast has.

Now ZACH ranks ALEC’s favorite things! – Tarqaron

Yes, Alec stole my idea for this video because of course he would. It was fun being on the other end of it and I anticipate us having fun with more fun and unique tier list templates in the future as well!

Weekly Highlights – September 12, 2022

Weekly Highlights, Written Posts

Highlights of the Week

Ring Fit Adventure on the Nintendo Switch:

Of all of Nintendo’s “gimmick” accessories, the one used for Ring Fit Adventure just might be the most impressive one yet. I’ve only played a few hours at this point, but I’m already impressed by all of the different ways it is being utilized and I truly believe people should be talking about this game more! Ring Fit Adventure really gets you moving, and not in a “shake the Wii Remote and Nunchuck” kind of way. The game allows you to actually exercise while also giving you a fun RPG story mode to go with it. Especially for someone who is not nearly as active as they should be (like myself), this seems like a perfect starting point for exercising while simultaneously just being a fun game with plenty of content to enjoy! Definitely worth the $70-80 cost if you any of that sounds enticing to you at all.

Big Brother 24 on CBS:

This week of Big Brother was particularly notable because of an entertaining double eviction episode which saw perhaps the hardest working person all season go home without disappointing with his exit in the slightest. It’s always great to see someone fighting until the bitter end and giving us an iconic exit, so I’m thankful for this as a memorable week of Big Brother in 2022.

IT’S MR. VIDEO on YouTube:

So this past week I’ve been addicted to Mr. Video’s Game of Thrones reactions on YouTube. I literally forgot how much I loved the large majority of that show until I decided to start watching his reactions and I have been reliving Game of Thrones in its prime along with him. It’s bittersweet because the last season of the show literally soured me so much on it that I forgot why I fell in love with it to begin with and I tend to forget that it was literally my favorite show of all time for several years. With all that being said, I still have yet to check out House of the Dragons, so maybe that will help to soften the blow taken by how Game of Thrones ended? I’m not sure, I’ve heard good things, but hopefully I can judge for myself soon and you might see that on a Weekly Highlights post here soon enough.

Survivor: Guatemala Ep. 12 Reaction (Scumbags) – Tarqaron

If absolutely nothing else, this episode is worth a watch just to see some of the most iconic parting words in Survivor history. It’s exactly the kind of exit I love to see from someone being voted out on Survivor, and all in all it’s a beautiful blindside to behold.

Alec ranks Zach’s favorite things! – Tarqaron

So every year, Alec and I each get to pick a video, any video, to do in honor of our respective birthdays. So I was tossing around some ideas, mostly centered on reviewing one of my favorite movies or an offbeat movie that we might not review otherwise, but this fun little idea popped into my head and I couldn’t shake it. I put together 50 random things that I love, which included anything from video games to movies to foods to activities, and I made Alec rank them on a tier list just for the heck of it! I thought seeing him have to compare practically incomparable things would make for a fun video and it did not disappoint! And spoiler alert: Alec may have just stolen my idea for this week’s video in honor of his birthday as well, so perhaps still more tier list shenanigans to come!

Weekly Highlights – September 5, 2022

Weekly Highlights, Written Posts

Highlights of the Week

Rob Has a Podcast on YouTube:

Rob Has a Podcast has been my main podcast of choice recently, though there’s almost never a time in the year when I’m not enjoying them regularly, since they are my main outlet for extensive Survivor and Big Brother content on YouTube. I’ve been enjoying their coverage of Big Brother 24 and their daily live feed updates so much that it’s probably actually the case that I’ve spent more time watching their coverage on YouTube than I have watching the actual show they’re talking about. I’ve been enjoying following along as Taran Armstrong in particular breaks down the season and its players in detail along with other fun podcasters.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on the Nintendo Switch:

The Super Smash Bros. series of games has been a constant in my life ever since its inception and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is no exception. In fact, I’ve invested more time in this game than I have in any game I can recall, period. I’ve put over 750 hours into this game to date, and I don’t see it slowing down any time soon. More than anything this game has become my comfort food, essentially the game that I go to as a default and one that is a go-to for when I just want something to keep my hands busy or keep me occupied as I’m listening to a podcast or watching a YouTube video. I’m glad to have it for that and for that reason alone I tend to regularly enjoy it on any given week more than any other one thing that might be highlighted here.

Fable II on the Xbox 360:

I admittedly haven’t put nearly as much time into Fable II this week as I was hoping to, but I just had to highlight the developments which have been made this week. I don’t know what came over me, but I just suddenly had the urge to try out the evil side of being a “Hero” in this game. So I kill a couple of people in the friendly town of Oakvale and next thing you know I get a little carried away and I’ve slaughtered the whole town… I didn’t feel good about it, and, well, ever since there has been a never-ending stream of guards coming from the neighboring towns. So not only did it not feel good and it devoid this town of any meaningful life, but now it’s inhibiting my ability to even play the game like normal. I have yet to play since, but hopefully I can establish some sense of normalcy again and put myself on the righteous path of repentance after all. I’ve always thought about going the bad/evil/renegade routes in these sorts of games but I’ve never been able to go through with it any significant way, and maybe this is why…

Survivor: Guatemala Ep. 11 Reaction (Everything Is Personal) – Tarqaron

This episode wasn’t necessarily the most impactful of the season, but it still made for a fun episode and it was especially satisfying to see Gary calling Judd out at tribal council for “not lying” and seeing Alec’s reaction to that moment.

And now we’re playing TARQARON Mad Libs! – Tarqaron

This was a lot of fun. My brother gave us another great custom-made Tarqaron-related gift to enjoy, and this one being two whole books of Tarqaron Mad Libs will allow us to have a fun series of videos to enjoy as well! It’s always fun being able to reflect on Tarqaron’s history and our hundreds of videos we’ve put out over the years and my brother continues to give us more fun ways to do just that!