T w e n t y S i d e d
This week I’ve been sick, so mostly just sitting on the couch and watching YouTube.
I hope everyone else has been having a better week.
Wednesday Action Log 02-19-25
DM of the Rings Remastered CVI: Boo!
What We Can Learn from Winter Island, and some other horror movies
In an effort to spend less time in my office and more time connecting with my family, I have ended up watching more movies. Just as last week I ended up thinking about existential horror, this week I wondered about expectations. And a few failures, honestly. But the expectations were the big one, and that’s where we will start, with 2024’s Winter Island. Spoilers for the entire movie are contained, if you wish to watch first. As well as spoilers for the 2023 The Boogeyman and 2020’s Behind You, although those are pretty minor. All are free on TubiTV, which is my primary go-to for viewing pleasure. Sorry about the ads, if you’re watching on a TV, tablet, or phone app.
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “What We Can Learn from Winter Island, and some other horror movies”
Wednesday Action Log 02-12-25
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I’ve been to busy to play anything this week, and I forgot to write this post until after it went up, Whoops.
What are you guys playing?
Doin’ Some Life the last few days
I have spent a lot of the last few weeks “being a parent.” I have also spent about half of that time extremely sick with, the best I can tell, a bad cold. Everyone but me complained of flu symptoms (body aches, etc) although that only hit me very briefly. Not to brag, although saying that is inherently bragging, but I handled this about as well as I could handle an illness. It was clear everyone had been/was/was getting sick, so as soon as I felt it coming I started taking NyQuil every six hours. I slept for about 2 1/2 days straight (not in one sitting…the most I’ve ever done from sickness in one sitting was 18 or 21 hours). Following the sleeping, I would take one DayQuil (my spellcheck says I should replace this word with Gayquill, or something like that, which is funny) during the waking hours then one or two NyQuil appropriately. After a couple days of that, I was down to, and currently am, taking DayQuil only if the congestion gets bad…which it hasn’t (gotten worse than it normally is…we live in an *extremely* dusty area.) Along with getting meds for a few other people and making sure they take the medicine, the last few days has primarily been focused on horror movies, house cleaning, and YouTube. And being a parent.
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Doin’ Some Life the last few days”
The Turn of the Millennium; I am Two
I may not have energy for creative writing right now, but I do have energy for non-fiction, which was actually my specialty in college. I’m not going to promise any schedule or series, if there will be one or forty. But, if the inspiration strikes, I do have many amusing short stories from my real life that I’ve meant for a long time to write down.
This one in particular is from 1999, and my first tangible memory ever. Usually someone’s first memory is a mildly amusing but confusing, like being told about someone else’s dream. It just doesn’t hold the same oomph to the people listening as it did the person living it, and really only people who are in the story are interested.
“I’m in the living room, Sesame Street is playing, I have a block in my mouth and I’ve just noticed I have free will.” Good, but just doesn’t fill up a story like something later in life might. That snippet is actually my third or forth memory.
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “The Turn of the Millennium; I am Two”
DM of the Rings Remastered CV: A Subtle Hint
UPDATE: Ah. So THAT’S where the “rocks fall” joke originated!
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “DM of the Rings Remastered CV: A Subtle Hint”
From The Archives:
Quakecon Keynote 2013 Annotated
An interesting but technically dense talk about gaming technology. I translate it for the non-coders.
Secret of Good Secrets
Sometimes in-game secrets are fun and sometimes they're lame. Here's why.
This is Why We Can’t Have Short Criticism
Here's how this site grew from short essays to novel-length quasi-analytical retrospectives.
Batman: Arkham City
A look back at one of my favorite games. The gameplay was stellar, but the underlying story was clumsy and oddly constructed.
The Best of 2017
My picks for what was important, awesome, or worth talking about in 2017.
Fable II
The plot of this game isn't just dumb, it's actively hostile to the player. This game hates you and thinks you are stupid.
Tenpenny Tower
Bethesda felt the need to jam a morality system into Fallout 3, and they blew it. Good and evil make no sense and the moral compass points sideways.
The Gradient of Plot Holes
Most stories have plot holes. The failure isn't that they exist, it's when you notice them while immersed in the story.
Netscape 1997
What did web browsers look like 20 years ago, and what kind of crazy features did they have?
Bowlercoaster
Two minutes of fun at the expense of a badly-run theme park.