The story below is a work of fiction. I was born after Mom died. The delivering doctor was an Artifice, a high-function, high-powered—and high-priced—android. Mom and Dad only had enough credits to save either Mom or me from the complication. Dad told me, when I was old enough, Mom made the decision without hesitation. The … Story: Imbolc Eve
The story below is a work of fiction. The android sat crossed-legged and scratched at his head—two gestures he had learned from his days of living with real humans, when they were alive. He held one of their bodies in his hand. It didn’t move, just like all the other ones scattered in front of … Story: Artificial
An anime-only special post! Cowboy Bebop Leading with the absolute best! There’s a reason this is rated 8.9 on IMDB, 8.9 on TV.com, 100% and 98% on Rotten Tomatoes, 4.9 on Google, etc. A haphazard crew of bounty hunters try to make it in life and space. They’re not terribly great at their job, they … Sci-fi and Fantasy Movie and Series Reviews, Part 7
It’s a terrible show, but I spotted Stairwell posters in the background of the “Ted Mosby, Architect” episode of How I Met Your Mother. It’s unusual because: 1) I like the band, 2) they aren’t well-known at all, 3) even though they aren’t well-known, it still hard to find any reference to them online, and … Stairwell Posters in “How I Met Your Mother”
The story below is a work of fiction. Her hand was nestled into the crook of his elbow as he lead her down the crowded, powdered-white street. The layered sheets of blurry white specks floated down and the sight of their meandering, parallax paths made the couples’ route a kaleidoscopic adventure. They threaded the needle … Story: Urban Planning
I’ve just published a new design of this blog. It’s not finished, so bear with me for a few days while I tighten things up. WordPress still doesn’t have a robust, native sandbox environment, so sometimes you have to put things into production in order to fix them. More details to come.
The story below is a work of fiction. The aliens abducted the man and placed him into a spartan but comfortable room in the zoo. Patrons of only a few alien races walked by to observe him. When the flow of observers increased, and interest in his presence became more acute, his keepers filled out … Story: Caravaggio Prison
The story below is a work of fiction. The lady kept eyeing her on the train, like yesterday. What is this intruder doing here again, she was probably thinking. Another working woman to contend for her Queen Bee perch, overlooking the morning commute. The paranoid thought life of older working ladies: muggers, ex-husbands, rapists, and … Story: The Second Day of Work
Not my blog, but blogs in general. From a post by an old friend: That’s why I think it can return to the slow and steady blog world, when we realize we don’t need to consume 1000s of bits of content every day to feel full. Open up our bookmarks, or type a URL into … The Return of the Blog
Spoilers, etc. Looks like I was wrong about Rey being a clone, but how it turned out is actually much more conducive to how I thought the film, and maybe the recent trilogy, should have gone. The movie itself was…good. The pacing was unique, at least for Abrams. There were some scenes where it felt … Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Sort of Review, and How it Should Have Gone
Rian Johnson, director of Episode VIII, really painted the franchise’s storyline into a corner. There was a lot of burning away, literal and narrative-wise, what was thought to already be established: “The Force and the Jedi are like this, which isn’t what you thought it was. Heh.” This is the fashion of things after Disney … Star Wars Episode IX Predictions
Consent culture, like everything, has hidden qualifiers. That’s just the reality of language, especially activist language. There’s plenty of forces in modern life that actively work against our consent, like taxes, but very few people would bother to frame that as an actual issue of consent. I suppose there is at least a choice: we … Death and Not Taxes
Posting some more recipes on here for the next few days. This is probably the best virtual place to keep them for me: I won’t lose them and I won’t have to patronize horribly-designed and ad-infested recipe sites. Ingredients 1/2 cup nuts (salted or un) 2/3 cup coconut flour 2 tablespoons psyllium husk powder 1 … Recipe: Keto-Paleo Rosemary Bread
Posting some more recipes on here for the next few days. This is probably the best virtual place to keep them for me: I won’t lose them and I won’t have to patronize horribly-designed and ad-infested recipe sites. Ingredients 1 lb of grass-fed ground beef 1 small onion 1 cup of sliced mushrooms 4 slices … Recipe: Keto-Paleo Hobo Casserole
Posting some more recipes on here for the next few days. This is probably the best virtual place to keep them for me: I won’t lose them and I won’t have to patronize horribly-designed and ad-infested recipe sites. Ingredients 1 Tablespoon of coconut oil (or bacon fat, if you’re the non-vegan version) 1 head of … Recipe: Keto-Paleo-Vegan Spiced Cauliflower
In reality, it does mean something, because meaning requires both a communicator and receiver. It’s more accurate to say Tolkien didn’t intend for the trilogy to be anything other than a story. Not all stories have to be intended to be deep or symbolic; I share Tolkien’s distaste for allegory. With allegories, I’m always of … The Lord of the Rings Doesn’t Mean Anything
At one of my old jobs, someone had left a poorly-worded note in the break room: “coat doesn’t fit. trade?” I wrote this out and taped it up next to it. I almost considered getting it written it up in calligraphy, but I’m not that big of a jerk. Gentlemen of the XX Floor, Is … A Good Sir Story
Design Is [Protopian] Feels a little too much like the UX discipline overreaching itself. UX designers tend to do that anyway, but this seems…extreme. I rarely find futurists compelling, because most of them simply get their predictions wrong. Some get it right, but only in the particulars, like when Kubrick predicted tablets in 2001. But … Links of Possible Relevance, Part 31
As posted on Goodreads. Total dreck! Who greenlighted this book? The author commits every cardinal sin of basic fiction writing: breaking the 4th wall, using the first person, using second person, hand-waving, telling instead of showing, archaic dialogue tags (“said Bilbo”). Some offenses the more advanced reader will notice, like no plot twists or shocking … Review of The Hobbit
Lily and Daisy Toddlers warming to their names Fart blossoms blooming Island-stranded couple’s bottled message: “Don’t bother.” Johnson quickly saluted his smug editor. Yet behind him, Emily seethed. The office editorial was complete.