Week 36, 2024

As I have recently bought myself an iPhone 15, I decided to redeem the three free months of Apple TV+ offer that comes with it. Admittedly, I did it less than one week prior to its expiration date: I wasn't going to redeem it at all because, you know, I've got so many streaming services on my plate right now, but...

While navigating in the Apple TV+ app on Sunday I noticed it has a lot of Peanuts content, including all Classic Peanuts cartoons. As a kid during the 80's, I grew up watching a lot of cartoons on TV, among which Peanuts always had a special place in my heart, so... I couldn't resist. And now, thanks to the powers of streaming, I can rewatch all of the episodes in order (or almost, as I noticed the order in which Apple TV+ has them organized is not quite the same of their original air date). Still, very happy to be able not only to watch the classic episodes, but also the specials and the newer series. Fun ahead.

I don't know how many of you are into aviation, but, well... I am. This week I came across the Mentour Pilot YouTube channel, created by Petter. He presents his point of view on aircraft related subjects from inside the airline industry, and produces very well crafted video content. His video that I came across and made me follow him was his recount of the incident involving a TACA Airlines Boeing 737-300 on May, 1988, and how he managed to land after an amazingly troublesome scenario. Take a look if you felt that curiosity itch.

While still at the aviation topic, I must say I was also happy to learn that the host of one of the most amazing Brazilian aviation-specialized YouTube channels, Aviões e Músicas (that's Portuguese for Airplanes and Songs, by the way), Lito Sousa, decided to launch his very own podcast, named Lito Lounge.

For the debut episode, which I have already watched, by the way, Lito talked to Sérgio Sacani, who is a geophysicist scientist and also a prominent science communicator, who owns the Space Today blog and also hosts a podcast himself, Ciência Sem Fim. They talked for about 80 minutes, and it was amazing.

I came across wonderful news this Friday, except maybe for the productivity of my future self: according to Mac Stories, Balatro+ is coming to Apple Arcade on September 26th!

Balatro is one of my current favorite games on Steam, and knowing it will be available at the Apple Store via Apple Arcade is both amazing and scary for me. Amazing because it means I can play Balatro regardless of being near my desktop computer, and scary because like it happened with Apple TV+, I redeemed 3 free months of Apple Arcade, which, initially, I had no intention of renewing, so far as yesterday, when these news came out.

I'm on a personal argument with myself right now, regarding keeping or cancelling a lot of the services I subscribe to — streamings like Max, which I've recently cancelled and subscriptions like Arcade included. Balatro+'s launch could weigh in against canceling Arcade, at least for some time. But that's still to be decided.

As I've mentioned Balatro, I should better mention Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblers, as well. I've purchased myself a copy of the game this Saturday, after watching some gameplay videos on YouTube, and have already played it almost 3 hours straight.

Some people will say D&DG is a copy of Balatro, but the game had been in development way before Balatro was announced, and, to me, the only similarity is that they're roguelike deckbuilders where the decks are based on common playing cards. Based on. Both games focus on existing games, Balatro on poker and Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblers on blackjack, but each one has their own mechanics, and both are extremely fun. I'm sure I'll accumulate many and many gameplay hours with it... 😅