“Now” Page Updated
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Enjoy.
Sure, this is only a British bureaucrat, but there’s no reason to think there are other rulers who have the same “tendencies“: It’s not so much that everyone in government is a psychopath, it’s that governments tend to attract psychopaths. It seems like governments are stuffed full of them. No quite off topic is The … Psychopaths In Power
I played Overwatch a few times back when my daughter was really into it, but I don’t know anything about the backstory of any of the characters. Regardless, I thought this was a really well-done short movie. I have a soft spot for “silent” stories—anyone in the world can watch it and understand it, regardless … Video: The Last Bastion
A superchat was left recently for one of Ben’s Suspicious0bservers livestreams. I forget which livestream it was, since he does a lot of them, but I do remember it was from a band’s YouTube account: Something to consider folks: you can’t avoid the truth of this becoming a myth, don’t try to hand down the … The Truth Might Be Mythical
Most everything I’ve read from Vice is either unremarkable or ridiculous nonsense, but that doesn’t mean their writers can have moments of clarity. From “I Had An AI Chatbot Write My Eulogy. It Was Very Weird” (emphasis mine): Machine learning tools like Stable Diffusion and OpenAI’s ChatGPT have been breathlessly covered by the press in … AI Isn’t
This is ordered by ascending order of favorites. Kill Team Kill A platoon in Afghanistan fights a cybernetically-enhanced bear created by the CIA. It had its humorous moments, but far too gory and cartoonish, in the figurative sense, for me to get attached to this. Mason’s Rats An old farmer invests in some high-tech weaponry … Love Death + Robots, Volume 3 Review
Tim at History for Atheists has a video on the supposed catpocalypse (or, if you prefer, the “holocats”) caused by the Catholic church during the Middle Ages. It’s a minor myth, I think because deep down people know it sounds too ridiculous to be true and don’t want to push an idea that might cause. … There Was No Catpocalypse
The Adam Project A pilot on the run in 2050 steals a time-traveling plane and jumps to the past to meet himself at 12 years old. You’d be forgiven in thinking it’s really annoying that Ryan Reynolds plays Deadpool in every movie, because we value versatility in acting. But no one else would be able … Sci-fi and Fantasy Movies and Series Reviews, Part 39
This might be one of my favorite game ending songs in my memory banks. This plays on the post-credits scene, in a truncated form, after you finish the game with the “true” ending, which I assume is the ending canon to the universe. I haven’t played the game but I watched a playthrough some time … Wednesday Humpday Midday Song: Fly To Universe from Phantasy Star Portable 2
Given the plethora of weird items stuffed into stores like Wegmans or Whole Foods, there has to be a Glorbox somewhere in there. I’d be your best friend if you gave me one at any time of year.
Ingredients 1 1/2 lbs of cubed chicken breast 2 tsp olive oil 1 small yellow onion (1 cup diced) 1 tbsp ginger paste 1 1/2 tbsp minced garlic 1 cup chicken stock 3/4 cup diced or stewed tomatoes, drained 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream Spice mix 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper 1 tsp salt 1 1/2 … Recipe: Curry Chicken
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean, Part 2 Jolyne and Co. fight more of the inmates at Green Dolphin Street Prison to gain possession of Dio’s backbone. Not much to say here—it’s part of an entire season, so there’s scant development in terms of moving the overall plot forward. I figured out, after so many episodes … Sci-fi and Fantasy Movies and Series Reviews, Part 38
One of my old usernames I used a lot was jaynumber13. You may now call me jaynumber1067797, because that’s the certification ID for UX Design, granted to me by the Nielsen Norman Group. It can be verified at NN/g’s cert verification page. They do good work, and I plan on taking more courses and work … I Am Now Certified in User Experience Design
Check it here.
Read part 1: How to Create Good Video Game Subtitle UX. Poking through YouTube’s game playthroughs, as well as related things coming up at work, got me riled up to write a follow-up post on subtitle UX. I was watching a short Red Dead Redemption 2 interaction, when I noticed that the subtitles illustrated the … How to Create Good Video Game Subtitle UX, Part 2
I had a much longer post about Amano’s paintings, that involved things with H.R. Giger (they aren’t connected at all, but I made them connected), but I didn’t like how it turned out. It mostly doesn’t matter, anyhow. I would like to post the famous piece Amano made that ended up on some versions of … Terra Branford and Narshe, by Yoshitaka Amano
Video is a extremely poor way of communicating large-scale, scientific subjects that require dialogue for folks to really understand. One, because it’s only a one-way conversation; and two, the more prescient reason, is that aside from a video transcript, the information is not searchable/findable, and if the video itself is disorganized, the transcript is not … The Importance of FAQs
In light of what’s been going on with Twitter and Elon Musk recently, and the endless and exhausting go-nowhere discussions about free speech…from “Free Speech: Neither Real, Nor Your Right” (via Vox Day’s “Free Speech is Anti-Christ“): Free speech is a myth. The keepers of America’s “golden legend” of free speech have been either dishonest … Free Speech Doesn’t Exist, Again
Clotted Cream Ingredients 1 quart of heavy whipping cream (pasteurized or raw, not ultra-pasteurized) Clotted Cream Directions 1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees. 2. Pour all of the cream into a dish and bake for 12 hours 4. Remove and let it completely cool 5. Cover and store in refrigerator for 2-3 hours, or overnight … Recipe: Homemade Lemon Fones and Fam (Fake Scones and Jam), Real Clotted Cream
The Secret of Kells In an isolated monastery in medieval Ireland, and orphan helps prepare for a barbarian Viking invasion, alongside a legendary script illuminator and a mysterious forest fairy. An animated film for children that isn’t from Hollywood, Disney, Netflix, or Studio Ghibli…though it was distributed by GKIDS Films. At first I thought it … Sci-fi and Fantasy Movies and Series Reviews, Part 37
Ben Pike, an old fellow writer from the Buzzgrinder days, emailed me out of the blue with a photo. Here I am at a club in Connecticut (forget the name), probably in 2001, playing for Life In Your Way. I think we had opened for Zao, but I’m not sure. I do remember it was … Photo: Me with a Bandana and Guitar
The Dark Hollow Woods Trail in Oakmont, PA, runs fairly north and south, through a tall, narrow hill with drastic drop-offs. It leads behind a lot of neighborhood houses, down to Plum Creek and Penn Hills Community Park, then back up the hill as you turn and go north again. The trail head starts on … Photos: Dark Hollow Woods Trail
Driving home from the gym and store, it rained pretty hard for about 10 minutes. I was treated to a nice double rainbow afterward, the one rainbow brighter than the one at the Coheed and Cambria show a few months ago. It looked like it was close by, because I could see where it touched … Photos: Double Rainbow
I disliked the Jerky Boys when they were big in the 90s and early aughts. I could tolerate a few minutes of Crank Yankers before getting bored, and it seemed like a lot of it was scripted. I think it’s the crassness or mean-spiritedness of the callers that repulses me with the idea of prank … Video: Dunkey’s Prank Calls
Ghost in the Shell SAC_2045, Season 2 The threat of the posthuman virus and its part in the Sustainable War scenario increases. I had a hard time following the story here, because the animation is way too distracting for me. However, I may have figured out the big reason why Production I.G. went the realistic, … Sci-fi and Fantasy Movies and Series Reviews, Part 36
Ingredients 6 eggs 6 oz cream cheese 1/2 tsp cream of tartar or baking powder Salt and pepper (optional) Directions 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and place parchment paper on a baking sheet 2. Separate egg yolks from the whites and put each into separate bowls 3. Add cream cheese and salt to … Recipe: Keto Cloud Bread
Pardon the grandiose post title, but it is descriptive to the subject at hand. I subscribe to the Kurzgesagt YouTube channel. I disagree completely with their humanist view of the world, but many of their video are excellent at communicating the basics of complex physical phenomena. Their human immune system and the “nuking the moon” … Kurzgesagt’s Human Era Calendar and the Proposed Solar Disaster Cycle
It’s hard to say who the best metal drummer is, but Schalk is one of the best, if not one of the most unique. Besides a lot of what Sean Reinert or Justin Foley did in Red Tide, Schalk was one of the only metal drummers than I know of who incorporated a lot of … Kenneth Schalk Drumming Live with Candiria
Ingredients 2 cans tuna (5 oz) 3/4 cup breadcrumbs 2 eggs Optional: 1 yellow onion (chopped), or 1/2 tablespoon onion powder Directions 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 2. Slather some olive oil on a baking pan 3. Combine all ingredients into a bowl and mash it up with your hands 4. Form into patties … Recipe: Tuna Patties
1. Expanding Earth and Pangaea Theory Here’s probably the least controversial of all three videos, but still very much out there. I posted this because, as someone not knowing much of plate tectonics, it makes as much as sense to me as the orthodox view of Pangaea. The Earth’s expansion here is explained through uniformitarianism … Videos: Expanding Earth, Flat Earth, Tartaria
Some folks have uploaded a few videos of the old band I was in, Life In Your Way, at this year’s Furnace Fest. I’ll post more when I find them. “Reach the End”: “Who I Am”: “Making Waves”: “Growth in Passion”: “We Don’t Believe”: Two different recordings of “Salty Grave.” Love the fanny pack on … Videos: Life In Your Way at Furnace Fest 2022
Not a 15k by accident, like last year. Additionally, this was an actual timed race, so my reputation as a world class runner was at stake. I was able to get 2nd place in my division, the 40-49 year old dude category, and 14th overall for the runners. It was the first year of this … I Ran a 5k Race
Check out the disaster playlist on the Suspicious0bservers channel to get acquainted with what Catacomb Resident is talking about here. There is some conspiracy theory with the science industry involved, but that’s irrelevant to the main point. There is evidence, though I don’t think it’s quite conclusive, of a pattern of cyclical disasters every 12k … Catacomb Resident: Prepare for Doom
I dislike horror, both watching and writing it, so someone can take this premise and run with it. Whether it actually becomes a good story is up to the writer’s skills and drive. Premise: A shadowy MKUltra-type program accidentally produced your typical patient zero of the zombie apocalypse—the traditional mindless, plodding kind. The effect was … Story Idea: Reverse Zombie Apocalypse
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An addition to this earlier post. #5 Unnecessary Stops This one isn’t confusing or dangerous, just unnecessary. Opposing stop signs on the side of the store. The two screenshots are from opposite directions: the top going into the main parking lot area, and one leaving, which routes around the back of the store. On the … Addendum: Stupid Traffic Situations #5
These are all near where I live, and they bother me just a little bit every time I encounter them. 1. Who Should Yield? #1 Car A and B are traveling “up,” I guess is the direction. Car A’s onramp forms a new lane, but he has a yield sign. Why would Car A have … Four Stupid Traffic Situations
After 100 straight wins on hard mode, I think it’s time for me to put Wordle out to pasture as part of my daily morning routine. I was hoping my usual start word of “AUDIO” (lots of vowels) would be the answer of the day, so I’d have a one-guess win in the bag, but … Done With Wordle
My daughter and I went to the August 1 Pittsburgh stop of the Coheed and Cambria tour, at Stage AE’s outdoor stage. Here’s two bad photos of Mothica and Alkaline Trio, respectively: I realize part of it was the sound system/engineering and their tech crew, but Coheed and Cambria had one of the best, most … Photos and Video: Coheed and Cambria, Alkaline Trio, Mothica
I don’t do environment photos on vacation, or photos much at all, but here are two photos and a video from a recent trip to Massachusetts. We were walking the Commonwealth Avenue Mall, and I saw the stained glass of the First Baptist Church of Boston, which faces north and a little west, across Commonwealth … A Few Massachusetts Photos
Ever since Google discontinued its Reader app 2013, I’ve been using Feedly as an RSS aggregator. I’ve had no problems with Feedly: the app and browser versions work well, good interface, minimal ads, they’re not pushy with their enhancements. Despite all of that, and in an effort to find out where I can dogfood icecream* … More Icecreaming: RSS Readers
Though these are recently published, it’s these kinds of videos that made YouTube a goldmine of interesting things. Now the most popular videos are loud and obnoxious political or pop-culture commentators, reaction videos, and mostly-miss-sometimes hit TEDx Talks. Then advertising happened and all grifters stormed in. A guy made a leaf blower from a miniature … A Jet-Powered Leaf Blower and Keanu Reeves
Craiyon is one of the forms of the new AI-driven image creators, started with (I think) Dall-E. It’s interesting to see how these programs interpret the ideas. They sometimes are too literal, or not figurative enough, or some of the words and phrases are ignored or downplayed. The weirddalle Twitter account post some interesting produced … Some Craiyon Images I Made
Anything based on Enlightenment principles, including “human rights,” isn’t courting disaster, it’s slapping the start button on a judgement time bomb. If we want to get to the fundamentals of it, human rights are products of men’s minds, implicit agreements to use force a certain way. The bigger the parties involved, the more complex and … Catacomb Resident: The American Lie
Roosh V posted a bunch of pointers on reading better, and it mirrored very generally some ideas I had in mind already. So I will use his hard work as lazy leverage for my own post, which you are reading right now. 1. Devote a shelf to unread books Most modern households have a bookshelf, … Reading Advice
Cigar acquired: +5 intelligence, +3 motivation,grumpiness and weight gain debuffs removed. A lengthy interview article, most of which I read a few days ago, is now completely lost to me: I didn’t save the URL anywhere, it’s not in my browser history, and I forget the referring page that lead me there. How does that … How Smoking Made People Smarter
Interesting, if only for story fodder, which is in the works on my end. The Gateway Process and the Monroe Institute stuff has gotten a lot of attention recently because of all the holographic universe bejabbering, the popularity of MMPORGs and litRPG with the youngins, The Matrix, and all the official attention on UFO phenomenon. … Video: The CIA On Time Travel And The Holographic Reality – The Gateway Process
There are two Kickstarter campaigns of note, launched recently. Both have already well-exceeded their goals so the rewards will definitely be fulfilled, and there’s plenty of time left to back them. The first is Jon del Arroz’s Overmind. There’s a graphic novel and a sequel prose novel up for grabs: Ayla Rin, Agent of Terra … Overmind, The Adventures of Mongoose and Meerkat 2 Kickstarters
The actual title of this is “The Final Trial: The Champions’ Ballad,” but the game’s title is long enough and I didn’t want to hurt anyone’s attention span. This is a long and ominous-sounding one. It’s a leitmotif: it repeats the previous—I assume “previous,” because this one is titled “final”—trial tracks in the game, and … Wednesday Humpday Midday Song: The Final Trial from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Shaking Them Loose (mirrored on archive.org): Shaking Them Loose 26 October 2021 The single biggest issue for people of faith today is building up faith among other Christians. We have no pretense of telling them where faith will lead them. Our only concern is that they are set free to walk by their own convictions. … Catacomb Resident: Shaking Them Loose
Most of us can intuitively answer the question on what a woman is, based on a bundle of personal past experiences. Yet, some people are lead to believe one needs to be a biologist to really determine what a woman is, or what have you. If you’re confused by that situation, you are probably normal, … What A Woman Is
A relaxing and melodious song from MapleStory, with some nice clarinet action doing the main melody, or at least parts of it. I feel like the easy path would’ve been to use flutes for that, because forests = flutes, I guess. Instead they do some of the background harmony. The entire MapleStory soundtrack is pretty … Wednesday Humpday Midday Song: Ellin Forest from MapleStory
Some quick, amateur photos of the Lord’s handiwork.
Senko no Ronde is a weird game. It has elements of bullet hell/shoot-em-up mixed with one-on-one competitive fighting, with a strange angular (called “isometric” in design terms) perspective. Anyways, this song is typical of the soundtrack on all installments of the franchise: frantic rhythm with “slow,” flowing melodies on top of it. INOJ was one … Wednesday Humpday Midday Song: Assemble from Wartech: Senko no Ronde
Here’s where a lot of people might get tripped up, on both sides of the religion debate. The idea that a religious concept is good for people, but not so much for God, requires a little parsing. The rituals exist for men, not for God. God isn’t pleased with ritual itself, but rather, if anything, … Catacomb Resident: The Necessity of Ritual
Ubisoft made a good move getting a Anamanaguchi, an actual band who does this music normally, to do the soundtrack. The chitpune power pop style fits perfectly with the nu-retro graphics, gameplay, and character tropes of the actual game. The track I have here seems to be a slightly different than the one in the … Wednesday Humpday Midday Song: Another Winter from Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Captain America teams up with Spiderman in a race to find the Infinity Stones before Magneto and his new ally, Drax the Destroyer, do. Those, obviously, aren’t exactly the dramatis personae, but the real ones in the movie are of a certain type. Another paint-by-numbers video game adaptation for kids. Sonic … Sci-fi and Fantasy Movies and Series Reviews, Part 35
I posted about this song a while ago, so maybe it’s time to do it again. I don’t know anything about NieR or any of its variations or sequels, except for the hovering book (I’m not calling it a “grimoire” like the game does). Because of that, I can’t give a whole lot of context … Wednesday Humpday Midday Song: Song of the Ancients (Fate) from NieR
It might be good to point out here that what we think are America’s particular sins, real or imagined, are ultimately irrelevant to the judgment cycle itself. It’s not gays, or that America hates gays, or racism, or lack of universal healthcare, or lack of veteran care, or pollution, or whatever other political scapegoating you … Catacomb Resident: Back to Eden
As the cube drags itself through the drying mud, its path cuts an even sheen into the brown. In later years, when all the water has left for the sky, we can break through the cracked dirt, open it, and discover the blessings underneath.
Octopath Traveler’s “Title Theme” is everything I want to hear in fantasy RPG when you start it up: symphonic, rousing, memorable, dynamic, all stuffed into two and a half minutes. Not to invoke Final Fantasy VI yet again, but that’s one thing that bugged me about its introductory music was that it was too ominous … Wednesday Humpday Midday Song: Title Theme from Octopath Traveler
Futile Philosophy 4 (mirrored on archive.org): Futile Philosophy 4 23 October 2021 If you rely on what your senses and reason tell you, you’ll never understand reality. From our human capabilities, we surmise that nature is totally unconcerned about us, if not outright hostile at times. This is false. Jesus boldly spoke to supposedly inanimate … Catacomb Resident: Futile Philosophy 4
I have no idea what this game is about, other than it’s some kind of space opera involving music as a magic system. This song plays during the final boss battle with a huge ship or robot, after which an entire planet is created. Looks like there are multiple endings for this game, not uncommon … Wednesday Humpday Midday Song: Ra-Ciel Reincarnation from Ar Nosurge (Ode to an Unborn Star)
The subject of the pre-modern view of the supernatural coincides nicely with the most recent post over at History for Atheists, Jesus Mythicism 8: Jesus, History and Miracles. Humean skepticism and falsifiability is so ingrained in how we think that it’s near impossible for even reasonably intelligent people to even conceive that others in the … Catacomb Resident: Futile Philosophy 3
The Polar Express A boy and a group of children ride a fantastical train to the North Pole. This was the first movie ever to use all-digital motion capture, which made for realistic movements in the animated human characters. I’m not quite into that type of CGI—I didn’t like it when Ghost in the Shell: … Sci-fi and Fantasy Movies and Series Reviews, Part 34
I don’t know anything about this game, nor racing games in general, except for one of the Forza Horizon installments I played a while back. I also don’t know anything about house music, which is the overall genre this song belongs to. What is going on with that weird clicky-winding sound? Club music is weird, … Wednesday Humpday Midday Song: Liquid Soul from R: Racing Evolution
A catch-all version of the NPC meme, applicable to any situation your nation happens to be in. A jaydinitto.com original.
What Catacomb Resident is explaining here is similar to Alvin Plantinga’s sensus divinatus, the faculty that senses and processes ideas about metaphysical things as a form of a priori knowledge, just as philosophically legitimate as the physical senses or logic. Our sensus divinatus is damaged by default because of the Fall, since we are tied … Catacomb Resident: Futile Philosophy 2
At least in the two Xenoblade games, the night version of an area’s theme a more somber version of the day theme. Satorl Marsh’s night theme is unique in that it’s a completely different song than the day’s. I don’t play a lot of open world games that have the day/night mechanic, so I don’t … Wednesday Humpday Midday Song: Satorl, The Shimmering Marsh (Night) from Xenoblade Chronicles
Futile Philosophy 1 (mirrored on archive.org) Futile Philosophy 1 20 October 2021 This may be a little too cerebral for some readers. It’s normally pointless to discuss philosophical basics. Most people don’t understand the discussion, and those who do often don’t actually walk by it, and cannot seem to translate it very well for those … Catacomb Resident: Futile Philosophy 1
Game soundtracks sometimes need better titling approaches, like this one here. They could at least give it a generic name like “Overture,” or “Theme from the Origami King,” or “Don’t Let the Previously Minor Henchman Character Fool You—He’s Gonna Add Some Hardcore Emotional Depth Later On.” Whatever. I haven’t played every blessed Mario game out … Wednesday Humpday Midday Song: Title Screen from Paper Mario: The Origami King
Demon Slayer: Mugen Train Tanjiro, his sister-turned-demon, and two other companions, meet (big breath) Demon Slayer Flame Hashira Kyojuro Rengoku on a train and encounter, uh, demons. Though it’s an asterisk achievement, Mugen Train was the highest-grossing movie of 2020 because of you-know-what screwing things up. I’m not familiar with the Demon Slayer series at … Sci-fi and Fantasy Movies and Series Reviews, Part 33
Critical response to the actual game itself is contentious, but the soundtrack is unique in that Masashi Hamauzu—and not the series’ usual, Nobuo Uematsu—was the composer. There’s a lot of moodswinging throughout the song, which I think was used primarily for boss battles or intense cinematic scenes. A good boss battle song will have ups … Wednesday Humpday Midday Song: Saber’s Edge from Final Fantasy XIII
There was a meme image, screenshot from a Twitter post, I saw a while back. It was a woman mentioning the fact that Jesus never told women to cover up but told men to pluck out their eyeballs to avoid sexual temptation. The implication is that the onus is all on men, though the idea … Catacomb Resident: Indecent Exposure
I have a new page up: Now. Enjoy responsibly.
One of my mother’s uncles, Adam Schuch (pronounced “shook”), was a cryogenecist who worked on nukes, post-World War II. I never met him, or I don’t remember meeting him, really. Either way, I found a few photos of him floating around online, and some other textual references to him or his work. Some of the … Uncle Adam Schuch, Cryogenecist
America Defiled (mirrored on archive.org) One thing to note here is that the covenant of Noah and its seven laws were made with all humanity, meaning. A nation (people) following the Noahic laws, even if the nation isn’t especially Christian, could expect some reasonable blessings, because Noah addresses core human behavior and consequences. In other … Catacomb Resident: America Defiled
Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV Nyx Ulric and the Kingsglaive, the special forces of King Regis, protect the kingdom of Lucis and its crown city, Insomnia, from the attacks and deceptions Emperor Iedolas Aldercapt and his military empire, Niflheim. That’s too many unusual proper names for a one-sentence summary, but whatever, because the movie was damn … Sci-fi and Fantasy Movies and Series Reviews, Part 32
A few months after using a static document for the front page of this here domain, I’ve reverted to a standard dynamic page. It looks the same, but without the “this is a static HTML document” disclaimer at the way bottom. I discovered that the WordPress plugins had a hard time updating, I couldn’t preview … Index Page Silliness
I came across this anonymous writer, Catacomb Resident. Much of what he (she?) has posted about aligns closely with my religious beliefs, which are at the same time common and familiar, but rare, and rarely expressed in the same way CR does it. He encourages theft of anything he posts, so I’ll be doing a … Catacomb Resident: Know Him
Ingredients Soup 2 large carrots 1 yellow onion 2 sticks of celery 1 head cauliflower 1 head broccoli 1 tbsp salt (or to taste) 1 tbsp oregano 1 tsp pepper 4 tsp of bullion powder or paste or 2 cubes (chicken or veg) 3 tbsp butter 5 cups water Cheese Sauce 6 tbsp butter 3 … Recipe: Paleo Cheesy Broccoli Cauliflower Soup
Belle (2021) An unassuming Japanese high school student becomes a singing sensation in a virtual reality world, but gets caught up in finding the identity of the virtual world’s mysterious Beast creature. When people talk of of remakes of older stories, in this case Beauty and the Beast, this is the direction movie makers should … Sci-fi and Fantasy Movies and Series Reviews, Part 31
Squatting, as in the Holy Grail exercise move, that is. From the article, “Do You Really Need to Back Squat?”: Watch Naudi’s Video on the Back Squat HERE Watch Naudis Video On how he suggests How to Deadlift [ed. – link is to a private video] While Mike and Naudi have different training methods, their … Squatting Isn’t Everything
The story below is a work of fiction. The morning back at work, to the office. All maskless. My state just said to hell with everything and do what you want, and what we wanted, it seems, is to go back to how it was. Mass normalcy bias hypnosis to replace the other fearful hypnosis. … Story: Quarantine VIII
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean, Part 1 Jolyne Cujo, Jotaro’s daughter, is framed for murder and ends up in prison. As expected, epic Stand battles abound, and it’s fascinating how Shō Aimoto made it this far without the Stand trickery and lore getting stale. The swamp search that lasted a few episodes illustrates an aspect … Sci-fi and Fantasy Movies and Series Reviews, Part 30
Almost. It’s more like The Web Is Fucked. I’m not really up or down on swearing so much, but having harsh language in a post title crosses a boundary with me. Anyways, from the linked site: I’m not saying you should avoid all social media – that shit’s pretty much impossible these days and is … The Web Is Flucked
Love, Death + Robots A series of animated science fiction shorts. As usual, most of these stories were more action and horror than science fiction. Some individual reviews: “Zima Blue” – An enigmatic artist reveals his final piece. This wasn’t just the best of the entire series, but one of the greatest actual science-fiction short … Sci-fi and Fantasy Movies and Series Reviews, Part 29
The Cosmic Courtship, written by Julian Hawthorne (the son of Nathaniel, of The Scarlet Letter fame) was serialized in pulp magazines in 1917, and hadn’t seen print since then until Cirsova Publishing came along and offered it in novel format. It’s considered an early science fiction work, though like all good science fiction it was … Book Review: The Cosmic Courtship by Julian Hawthorne
While watching RazörFist’s stream of the new Halo Infinite game, I realized how not-great the subtitle UX (user experience) was. It ranged from serviceable but awkward, to slightly confusing, to unreadable. Good video game dialogue and subtitle UX should (in rough descending order of severity): Have good color contrast, size, and line length The subtitles … How to Create Good Video Game Subtitle UX
From That Hideous Strength: “Why you fool, it’s the educated reader who can be gulled. All our difficulty comes with the others. When did you meet a workman who believes the papers? He takes it for granted that they’re all propaganda and skips the leading articles. He buys his paper for the football results and … C.S. Lewis on Educated Readers
Order of the PenTriagon is the first of two books about the peaceful aftermath of an alien presence on earth, two youngins damaged by the vaccine deployed worldwide to combat the disease the aliens brought with them, and a prophecy of a future warrior to battle said aliens (I think I got all of that … Book Review: Order of the PenTriagon by Jill Domschot
Cowboy Bebop (2021) Let’s get this out of the way, first: this was bad, to no one’s surprise, but I gave it the ol’ three-episode college try. The original 1998 series was storytelling perfection and accepted as such by a wide margin of viewers and critics, so any kind of reboot is not only unnecessary, … Sci-fi and Fantasy Movies and Series Reviews, Part 28
Ingredients 8oz sugar-free dark chocolate 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper 1/2 cup of Stevia or natural sweetener 1 pinch of salt 1/4 tsp ground pepper (optional) cocoa powder for dusting Directions 1. If your chocolate is in bar form, chop it up into tiny pieces. I’d do it if it’s … Recipe: Spicy Grimdark Chocolate Rocks
Here’s Lynnette with a copy of Pale Blue Scratch. Print books are life. Send a photo of you with the book, or just a photo of the book, send it to me, and I will post it here. Here’s the paperback, but you can also send a photo of the free e-book version on your … Lynnette Got Scratched!
These were taken by Jonathan from Hot Metal Studio for a behind-the-scenes type of story run for Noisecreep, for The Devil Wears Prada’s “Assistant to the Regional Manager” track. It was filmed by Danny Yourd (he had an official crew at the time; sorry, forget the name) at 31st Street Studios in the dead of … Photos: Jay at The Devil Wears Prada Video Shoot
Creed 2 Creed fights the son of his father’s killer, Ivan Drago. Rocky IV was a big staple of my childhood, so it was neat to see Dolph Lundgren in the role again, even though he wasn’t a huge part of this particular movie. I also liked that Viktor, Drago’s son, wasn’t as cartoonishly villainous … Sci-fi and Fantasy Movies and Series Reviews, Part 27
I wouldn’t quite call this exposition as much as it is the backstory for Rosalina, but you don’t know the story’s protagonist is actually her until later. The player is also not required to read the book to understand the world of SMG, since all of that is communicated as the game progresses. Still, it’s … Super Mario Galaxy’s Storybook
Kate sent me this photo of Pale Blue Scratch, Juniper, and Juniper’s formidable whiskers.
That title says “Static Index Page” in Spanish, in honor of it being the Day of the Dead, of Jill getting her blog back up, and of me starting to read her new book. She often posts Mexican music and language, and is Catholic, so it seems like all of these things are related. The … Página de Índice Estático
Spoilers ahead. I will also note that I read Dune many years ago, but have since forgotten much of it. Yes, I plan on reading the series again soon. “DUNE?” More like, “DUDE, call a plumber.” Score: 9/10 The Frank Herbert’s literary sci-fi classic was previously adapted for the large hypnosis machine movie screen with … Review: Dune, Part 1 (2021)