Spoilers, mmkay? Avengers: Endgame I’m leading off with this for obvious reasons. A capstone to a good run of movies that were very precise and intentional in their cinematic aesthetic and marketing. All of the movies took very few narrative chances, except for this one and its prequel, Infinity War. Nearly ruined by the most … Sci-fi and Fantasy Movie and Series Reviews, Part 4
WARNING: 91 photos on this page. I didn’t get sick this time, unlike last year. I’m going to update this post with more photos after today’s gathering.. Updates added! Forgot to mention two key things: 1 – I participated in a world record-setting effort, for the most number of people spinning a Beyblade at once. … Photos: Tekko Con 2019, Pittsburgh
The story below is a work of fiction. She babysat the one kid who just watched that one animated movie on repeat. The one with the Taylor Swift song in the beginning. That one song that was an obvious ploy by her A&R management to sell to any kind of media that involves New York … Stories on Blogs are a Bad Idea
You’ve been warned: this is a mammoth post. I wanted to get all my exemplary bits of music journalism (if you can call it “journalism”) posted here, for safekeeping. Most of them are from Noisecreep, but the site hasn’t been updated for months, so its demise may be soon Nevermind…it’s still kickin’. Buzzgrinder is still … Ultra Mega Post of Past Music Journalism
I know: privacy, data, spying, advertisements, etc. But Facebook is also highly disrespectful UX for users that aren’t members. See those expertly-drawn red brackets? That’s the only actual content that you can see. The rest is the hero image and the persistent “Sign Up” banner at the bottom. Look, Zuck, I don’t think there’s a … Facebook Is Terrible
The story below is a work of fiction. I notice the short guy that works in my building. Middle aged. Beige yuppie trenchcoat, untied. The hem probably grazes bottom shelves. Not fat; blocky, not stocky. He always orders “hot coffee” at Starbucks, never mentions a size. Unmarried. What does the guy do outside of work. … Story: Coatman
Transcendence A mildly interesting depiction of a human achieving singularity and becoming more or less a really powerful AI, like The Lawnmower Man, though with slightly more realism and considering the practical matters an AI has to accomplish in the real world to make things happen. Might require more than one viewing but it didn’t … Sci-fi and Fantasy Movie and Series Reviews, Part 3
Art, you doing okay, big guy? I get it, though: “small” things can be “massive,” in a technical sense. It would mean they are dense, since there’s a lot of matter stuffed into a noticeably small space (volume). But people don’t use “massive” in that sense when they’re reading a fictional narrative, even when it’s … A Small But Massive Table
Check it out here. With the previous design, I was trying out brutalism with minimalism as combined design aesthetic, and I carried some of that over into this new version. Now it’s a lot less taxing on the eyes as there’s less contrast (though it still meets color contrast requirements for accessibility purposes). tl;dr – … UX Portfolio Redesigned
I got third in the spitting competition at Speculative Faith. It wasn’t even close, but I don’t know how close these things tend to get. As a reward for reading this post so far, you get to look at their past competitions and write up a detailed report for me, please. You won’t get paid, … Bronze Place Is Last Place
I hate having to do this, this “lifting content without attribution” move, but the site I visit for this recipe never stops loading, and sometimes it just crashes Chrome on mobile if I keep it up long enough. So my hand is forced. The original recipe used almond milk, too. If there’s anything worse than a … Recipe: Keto Cinnamon Muffins
My short story made it to the finals in the Spec Faith writing challenge, and you can vote on the round here. My favorite story entry besides mine (c’mon…we all like our own stories the best, by default), this one by TJ Marquis, didn’t make the finals despite being rated highly in the first round. … Be a Guy and Don’t Vote for My Story in the Final Round
Breaking my blog hiatus to point you all to the Speculative Faith’s winter writing challenge. I hate doing these contests, but the writing prompt immediately sparked a complete story in my head. There you have it. Read the other stories before voting, though. There’s some good ones there. Anyone can enter, too, so if you … Definitely Don’t Vote for My Short Story
I go into shoulder surgery tomorrow, so now’s a good time to announce a blog hiatus so I can grab at sanity with my non-dominant arm (the left one). Give me three months. In the meantime, I’ll still be participating in the forums, and pounding out the first draft of my new book, definitely titled … Blog Hiatus, New Book, Telling My Shoulder to Get Bent
Warning: many photos ahead.
Car Error Feedback With most newer cars now coming with digital dashboards, there’s an opportunity to ditch the red engine light and help drivers know what’s going on. I know next to nothing about computerized autos but I’m sure there can be a way to make potential auto issues more well-known and user friendly. Naturally, … Someone Steal These App Ideas
Spoilers, etc. Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann A completely bonkers coming-of-age mecha anime, with all those extreme perspective shots and everything gets bigger and bigger. Similar to FLCL, but there’s an actual story and there’s no annoying music constantly playing. Pandorum Interesting premise and monster origin, though I didn’t think the monster’s “design” was inspiring, merely … Sci-fi and Fantasy Movie and Series Reviews, Part 2
Spoilers ahoy…though this post will be totally uninteresting if you haven’t seen the series already. The Netflix series Lost Song has literal cycles of civilization as its overarching practical plot element. The cycles of destruction and rebirth of the series’ Earth-like planet feature repeating timelines—with repeating people, events, places—that only have a mild range of … Lost Song’s Timelines Explained (Maybe)
Spoilers, etc. The Beyond Surprisingly competent hard sci-fi, with some unusual stylized visions of space—stylized probably because of the low budget. It got low ratings because there’s no gross alien reveal at the end and there’s little action, and some of the performances are wooden. Like every movie, there’s a great twist at the end, … Sci-fi and Fantasy Movie and Series Reviews, Part 1
MREs (“meals ready to eat”) are made for soldiers on the field, in situations where it’s not practical for cooking supplies to be hauled around. One bag has everything needed for an individual meal, even a self-heating bag—though a little water needs to be added for those to work. The main bag itself is waterproof, … I Ate a Military MRE and Wanted to Die