What I Got Into - October 13, 2024
I’ll have to think of a better thing to call these posts, although I like how it conjures images of me rooting through trash cans like a raccoon. Nothing to report in games this week since I’m pretty much playing the same stuff.
Websites
Hey, it’s a new category! Believe it or not, I’m still finding these - maybe more now than I have in years.
Toy Theater
I’ve been slowly rolling out kid-safe web privileges for my son, and this one came up through Kiddle. I’m blown away at the quality of this website, hosting dozens of educational games made by a team of artists and designers. Apart from an ad on the side there is absolutely nothing tech-predatory about this website. If you’re a parent (or just an adult using the internet in 2024) you will recognize how rare a website like this is.
KidsMenu
Not a new find, but a good pairing with the link above. You may notice I’m not very trusting of what tech has in store for kids. This is a Windows shell replacement that starts a user account with only the software you want your kids to use. Again, you would not believe how hard it is to find a tool like this online. This was released in 2011 by a dad who’s just as grouchy as me. The developer no longer offers support, but I found it incredibly simple to set up, and my son loves having the freedom to tinker.
Movies
Bodies Bodies Bodies (Reijn, 2022)
Very fun horror comedy that I missed when it came out. It’s probably best I saw it now, when everything sounds truly old (as opposed to dated in its time). Stylistically it owes much to the GOAT Spring Breakers, but it’s doing its own thing too. Each character archetype plays beautifully off one another, like a balanced RPG system. For the most part restraint is shown in the sneering parade of Gen-Z therapyspeak, although one long and overly indulgent scene almost toppled it for me. Overall it’s a great screenplay with spot-on casting.
Books
I stopped by PCX in Philly on Saturday - the first I’ve been able to attend - and was blown away by the presence. Between limited time and wrangling my son, it was a little overwhelming to see everything on offer, so I had to skip a lot. I made a bunch of hasty purchases and shared a few brief, fevered chats with other creators, the kind that tend to energize me for comics the rest of the year. Wish I could’ve stayed longer, but it’s fantastic knowing this kind of thing exists in my back yard.
Hypermutt (Alex Hoffman, 2022)
I’ve only begun reading through my pile of PCX books, but this one is a standout. It’s rare that I’m blown away by the freshness and technical craft of someone’s cartooning while also loving what they have to say. I hear this will be published by D&Q soon, but the collected minicomic is a real treasure in my hands.
Cometbus #59: Post-Mortem (Aaron Cometbus, 2020)
Picked this up at The Beguiling in Toronto last month. Cometbus is like a warm bath for me, and this latest is really hitting, as a look back on the punk institutions that survived or (mostly) died, and the optimism Aaron stubbornly mines from their remains. With each year of web rot, my own optimistic scene years continue to disappear without even a physical trace. This book gives me a sense of what I will soon be mourning and struggling to preserve.
Music
What riches in Philly this weekend - I was able to catch some of the RoxYunk Porchfest on Saturday. This event is better every year (though I might be biased because I can walk to it). Blocks are made car-free, everyone throws out their chairs, coolers and bounce houses into the road, and the neighborhood lights up with music played live from porches and van trunks. I didn’t catch the names of these bands - I was kid-wrangling once again, and none of the acts were really my style. But I’m pretty sure that wasn’t the point. The fact that, like PCX, it was completely free to wander in and out from, just stresses the joy and handmade community feel of Philly life.
Forever (Charly Bliss, 2024) My darlings are back, but I got around to this one kind of late. I only recently learned that lead guitarist Spencer Fox was a child actor who voiced Dash in The Incredibles, and it’s got me thinking (as clearly the band is doing) about age and a long career in art and the possibility of hitting people more than once at various times in your/their lives. Age inevitably becomes part of what your art is about if you’re being honest, and I love that CB continues to lean into that with full hearts.
Food
If the long weekend wasn’t enough, Mike and I were still craving a fancy night in. We made up a charcuterie board from all the tastiest things in the fridge, while excitedly discussing possibilities for our 10th anniversary next year.
we’re freakin’ married ova heah
Mike’s not vegan, but he’s spent this decade cooking beautiful things for me, and we have a lot of fun optimizing the vegan ingredients in our house. We both agree Bored Cow milk is a game-changer. They ferment the whey in a lab, no cows involved, and it really does taste better than anything so far. (Muscle Mer Says: Decent macros, too!) I found a single serving in a grocery store fridge, and was excited to discover it’s also sold in shelf-stable cartons. According to Mike it whips up into buttermilk very easily. As of typing this I’m digesting the very best pancakes.
Dev Log: October 9, 2024
I’ve been waking up hours before dawn more than I’d like. Having trouble finding stillness in the dark, thinking about ways to improve Smart functionality in my home, inventing situations where everything I cherish goes wrong… I’m gonna go ahead and blame those Liquid Death cans with the “microdose” of caffeine, yeah okay.
the author, moments before relieving the babysitter
In my restless hours I end up at my desk, picking at the neglected corners of my work. I finally took a deep breath in Sourcetree and merged my current work’s branch with the main source, which I haven’t touched in a month. I’m embarrassed to admit how much this simple act frightened me. Source control can’t be as safe as it seems, can it? (Before this, for years, I was syncing Dropboxes across devices. What do I know about safety?)
I’ve had no desire to write this week. That’s fine for now - there’s plenty of other things to do. Yesterday I jammed through a dozen art assets that, while not the most urgent, will (I think) help the game to tell its story during the testing process. It’s hard to feel the full effect of the writing when you’re looking at stick drawings, placeholder portraits, or characters who can only face front while walking. Since I’m working near the end of the game, this is my first time really appreciating Soren’s winter backgrounds as more than just files in my folder. They are enchanting, and deserve my best treatment.
But I do need to write soon. Everything at this point in the game feels cathartic or like some kind of goodbye. A lot of it is still a first draft and needs my attention. It’s possible I’m spinning my wheels, not wanting my connection to this world to end. Or I’m just circling slowly around the madness that facilitates writing, a process I really can’t predict or control.
Either way, I’m waiting to feel a way about something that needs to get done soon. I trust the process - urgency has always been a great motivator. Any time I’ve ever luxuriated in the Time it takes to Write, I’ve let good ideas go rancid. Better to feel that heat on my back, the tinge of desperation that makes love and creation and other risky endeavors feel like living.
What I Got Into - October 6, 2024
I’ve recently exited a particularly long phase of no new inputs: periods where my curiosity for the work of others is drained. It’s not always a bad thing - I’m often fixated on and being productive in my own work - but it eventually feels bad and must end. Following this I’m always ravenous. Here’s some of what I’ve enjoyed this week.
Movies
Tetsuo: The Iron Man (Tsukamoto, 1989)
Mike and I kicked off our October horror movies with this depraved metal fuckfest, and were not disappointed. One of those movies that creates a lot of “ah, that’s where [successive act] got it” brain synapses, but also pure enjoyment in its own right. Disgusting and mercifully short. Check it out!
The Bird With the Crystal Plumage (Argento, 1970)
Messy little giallo from early in Argento’s career, and (so I’m told, by experts) formative to the genre itself. Lots of babes screaming as the knife enters from a black leather hand. A few great “here’s what we think computers probably can do” scenes.
The Nightmare Before Christmas (Selick, 1993)
I was obsessed with this movie for a year in college. Then I lost my taste for it until I had kids in my life, and beautiful early-autumn nights to watch it outdoors. There are so many places the movie falls short, yet it’s so original and painstakingly assembled that it truly doesn’t matter, like the most wonderful kitsch object in your home. The image of the tubby corpse-child, eyes stained with tears, wailing “there goes Christmas!” got a howl out of me and the other parents.
Books
The Big Sleep (Chandler, 1939)
The right book removes the whole chore of reading and is pure pleasure. This is just what I needed in my slow start back to reading. Lawless mugs, conniving broads, and a classic 30s mystery, all painted on a sprawling California roadmap. I’d like to follow this one with The Long Goodbye because I like not making choices.
Games
Case of the Golden Idol: The Lemurian Vampire DLC (Color Gray Games, 2023) Just slurping up the last meager drops of this game before I sit dormant and wait for the sequel. The DLCs were diminishing returns, getting far too convoluted and requiring you to collect words like “to” and assemble essays from 50 different conversations and notes, but castaway-era Zubiri Kerra was my boyfriend and I had to see it through for him.
Judero (Talha Kaya, 2024)
Occasionally I buy a game just to hand it to my brother and watch him play, and Joe came through on this one. It’s such a joy to see a game of such blood and tears reach completion. Although I can’t comment on the gameplay, aesthetically it’s a strange and soulful return to the lost art of stop-motion assets, in the vein of The Neverhood. Wonderful voice acting and delightful movement.
A Space For the Unbound (Mojiken, 2023)
Been playing this with my son on weekends for a while. So far, lots of impossible-to-flub fetch quests and puzzles that have me feeling bored. For a point n’ click beginner though, it’s just what the doctor ordered. The graphics are beautiful and the UI is intuitive and fun. My son loves that you can pet (and name) every cat you encounter.
Starting a new paragraph to say: I’m trying hard not to blame every game praised for its “great story” for not actually having one; players’ expectations in this area are simply not high. But can I get a game with a good story ova hea?
Return of the Obra Dinn (Lucas Pope, 2018)
I’m a miserably inattentive player - especially at the end of the night - and it took me about 90 minutes of fumbling about before I actually understood the loop of this game. Now I’m freshly addicted and loving it, and already anticipating how sad I’ll be when the book is filled in.
Music
Dance, No One’s Watching (Ezra Collective, 2024)
On rare occasions I’m reminded that almost none of the dance music I listen to is made by physical instruments. Ezra Collective is the cure with their breath-hot rhythms, intimate coat room run-ins, and dollar wine-fueled manifestos.
Imaginal Disk (Magdalena Bay, 2024)
Bless these nutballs for such an ambitious follow-up to Mercurial World. I’ve only scratched the surface but this feels like another banger for me. This band does for me what Grimes did the decade previous, and Of Montreal the decade before that. You can’t predict where that love will come from, and isn’t that special?
Devotion (Jessie Ware, 2012)
Cracking this one open for pure nostalgia, it doesn’t dazzle like it used to but the pain is still exquisite. I love that Jessie Ware “went disco” after this one, those albums are lots of fun, but I’ll never connect with her like I did this one year, when I was looking for the desperate bargaining in songs like “Running” and “Still Love Me”, the furied grief of “Who Says No To Love?” and the troubled self-mythology of “Night Light” and “Wildest Moments”. Take me back to my sorrow, only briefly.
Food
At the risk of this being a lifestyle blog, I’ll try to document some of the great meals I’ve had. Food is so much more ephemeral than anything else here, so why not savor it however I can? (Note that if you see it here, it is most likely vegan.)
For our 9th wedding anniversary Mike and I had dinner at Soda Club in NYC. Fantastic pasta tasting menu, including 3 filled pastas that put me out of commission before the last bite. The final dish (the one I sadly couldn’t finish) was my favorite and by far the richest: a ravioli with lemon curd and ricotta. A great experience that I hope to repeat, but I’ll order off the menu next time. Not wanting to make choices gets me in all kinds of trouble.
It was a busy week, and we didn’t manage to cook a special dinner on Rosh Hashanah. Fortunately NY’s Orchard Grocer provided matzo ball soup, Russ & Daughters had the pickle hookup, we picked up a great loaf of challah at Crust back in Philly, and some pomegranates and apples given by a houseguest went great in a salad. Add a few cans of diet Dr. Brown’s Cherry and we were feasting Friday night. Shana tova!