Things I've Enjoyed Recently

Video

2024-11-22

Hank Green crystallizes what I feel is an extremely necessary larger perspective on the unique situation both America and the world at large has found itself in. Touching on the erosion of truth, trust, how populism rises, and what history can teach us about what we are facing, this video is a must watch.

Video

2024-10-25

My favorite documentarian's (who's style is inspired by Jon Bois!) latest series covering the mysterious case of the research lab who cried "energy!", and the dangers of science fueled by belief, a will for results, and a desire for having your name be first. Like all great "Broccumentaries", the series has a gripping pace, regularly putting you on the edge of your seat for what a researcher said at an electro-chemistry convention in the 90s. Last year's series on the absurd rise and catastrophic fall of Nortel is also an extremely good watch.

Story

2024-10-25

The latest horror work by Petscop creator Tony Domenico about an enigmatic screensaver, and the forums surrounding it. I wrote a longer blog post about it here!

Movie

2024-10-04

An animated adaption of Tatsuki Fujimoto's one-shot manga of the same name. I held off on reading the manga to watch the film in the theater, and I'm glad I did! The movie touches on why people make art, and the joy, pain, and emotion surrounding its pursuit. There's a lot to chew on here thematically, and I especially enjoyed seeing the director interview after the movie, where he talked about intentionally leaving artifacts of the animation process in the final work, giving the movie a human feel that the subject matter deserves. Also having read most of Fujimoto's previous work, seeing his linework brought to life on screen was pretty special.

Game

2024-09-18

The latest game from Spelunky dev Derek Yu, alongside a cast of esteemed game devs across the industry under the label Mossmouth. UFO 50 is a joyous compilation of 50 meticulously designed and precision engineered (full size) NES style games, polished to a mirror sheen. This thing is an advent calender of the most innovative and clever game design you'll ever experience, all wrapped in a lovingly crafted metafiction to tie it all together. Special shoutouts to Mortol, Party House, Mini & Max, Bushido Ball and Night Manor, those are some of my favorite games I've played in the last 5 years on their own!

Article

2024-09-16

Ed's writing is consistently able to put into definitive words and stats my own skepticism and fears about the tech industry's toxic, self destructive, purely hype driven, "infinite growth at all cost", "move fast and break things" business model. Obviously at time of writing (Nov 2024) there are much larger existential threats than AI and big tech, but this article was an extremely cathartic read, and will unfortunately still be broadly applicable to how most companies operate for many years.

Movie

2024-05-24

Produced with a shoestring budget, four beaver costumes from China and a passion for 1920's style slapstick comedy, Hundreds of Beavers has very quickly become my favorite comedy movie I've seen. Despite its vintage inspirations, the actual filmmaking is anything but, with extremely clever compositing and rough 2d assets used to great effect. The style of slapstick it employs doesn't just pull from The Three Stooges and Buster Keaton, but 21st century video games. The world map is an homage to Super Mario World, the shopkeeper's theme is a parody of Zelda shop music, and on-screen hud elements and inventories pop up left to right. But it never gets lost in its inspirations, creating a video game-y internal logic that is very much its own. Watching the main character exploit the established rules feels like watching a speedrunner put together all the tricks and glitches at their disposal to slide in a record time. And oh my GOD is seeing an empty mascot suit get flung around SO funny to me.

Game

2024-05-09

Animal Well? Uhhh yeah, this game does I think. A crunchy little metroidvania by Billy Basso and the first game published by VideoGameDunkey's Bigmode, this game runs in a similar vein to games like Fez and Tunic, where there is a surface level to the game, and tons of little meta secrets to be found on a second look. The main game is perfectly delightful, with clever puzzles, fun exploration, and AMAZING sound design. Despite being nothing too revolutionary, it was a fun experience nonetheless.

=== SPOILERS ===
As far as meta secrets go, I collected all of the eggs (consulting a guide for the last few), and got a couple of the secret rabbits. This proved more than enough for me, as anything beyond seems unreasonably difficult to figure out by yourself, and 99.9% of people will just see in a YouTube video after the fact. (Though getting jumpscared by my printer spitting out an origami rabbit it wanted me to fold was a highlight.)

TV Show

2023-??-??

An extremely visceral and lovingly animated depiction of nature on an alien planet, with three extremely gripping human stories wrapped up in it. This is one of the most personally impactful shows I've ever seen. Passed up by HBO Max, and now on Netflix, I dearly hope they get to make a season 2.

TV Show

2022-??-??

The best way I can describe this show is that it uses an at times convoluted sci-fi plot to tell a very human and down-to-earth story. I watched it purely on a whim since I found the cover art interesting, and uncovered a show that struck me in such a strong and particular way, I haven't re-watched it yet out of fear it won't live up to how much I liked it the first time. Later down the line, I would uncover the staff links between this show, and most of my other favorite anime, The Tatami Galaxy, Devilman Crybaby, Ping Pong The Animation and Kaiba just to name a few. Eventually I do want to re-watch this and write a longer blog post about it, since there's a lot to talk about within it.

Album

2022-??-??

Yes the soundtrack gets its own entry in the list! The soundtrack to this anime permanently 180'd my taste in music, and opened up an entire world of Folktronica and Shoegaze to me (check out Mid-Air Thief! I found his music through this OST!). The beach-y synths and mellow guitar licks have made this soundtrack a mainstay of my music collection, and has been on regular loop ever since I listened to it for the first time. I've developed more of a personal attachment to the soundtrack than the show!

Story

2020-??-??

I first discovered 17776 through Jacob Geller's video Cities Without People. What I found was a deeply touching humanist story about what it means to be human, the meaning of "play", time, boredom and a million other things that I struggle to put into words. Jon's writing wraps around me like a warm, equal parts terrifying and beautiful blanket, that just makes me want to cry. Weirdly, I mentally group together 17776 and the manga Land of the Lustrous (HnK), despite their polar opposite tones. Also check out the sequel 20020! While it does stand on its own, do note that the second half of 20020, 20021, has not come out in the 4 years since, and Jon may or may not ever come back to write it.