Category Archives: Culture
Writing in “Chinese”
Lovely story on Language Log about an American prisoner in Japan in the 1980s teaching themselves “Chinese” and using it to send a special message to a member of the consulate staff.
Gathering Crickets
A quiter and calmer approach to playing Ghost of Tsushima. Continue reading
Denser Than a Hockey Puck
Will I ever learn? On a whim, I looked up the lyrics for the Malkmus song Old Jerry and the line “Art is denser than a hockey puck” is supposedly “Heart is denser than a hockey puck”. What nonsense! I’m … Continue reading
Hand in Hand
This was almost certainly unintended, but Shiv’s hand coldly placed on Tom’s as they drove away felt like a negative echo of Mr Darcy touching Ms Bennet’s as he helped her into her carriage.
That Was Close
Phew! That was close. Pretty sure nobody noticed but I just deleted a post in which I questioned the wisdom of a multinational conglomerate releasing a new gaming product. Luckily I remembered that I don’t really care what multinational conglomerates … Continue reading
Skipping Over
I have reached the point with Blue Rev where the songs I used to skip over — Pomeranian Spinster and Tile By Tile among others — are now the ones I skip to.
Net Happiness
It makes me happy to think of the millions of people out there joyously gliding, crafting, cooking, ascending, recalling, fusing, climbing, and all the other things you can do in the new game. If world’s net happiness has been boosted … Continue reading
Halt
While savouring the Roy kids’ final few bouts of sniping and betrayal, I’ve been dipping into the final season of Halt and Catch Fire. I’m struck by the contrast. It builds so much warmth and love for the characters. You … Continue reading
Maya’s Feeds
I may have bitten off more than I can chew. Looking to broaden my reading beyond the same old sites, I went ahead and imported Maya’s OPML file of her wonderful blogroll into my feed aggregator. After a day I … Continue reading
Succession – Spoiled Yet Unspoiled
Having been late to the Succession season 4 party I went into episode 3 knowing what would happen. While I’m sure I would have enjoyed it just a bit more if I had not, the episode was brilliant. It made … Continue reading
That sweetens the memory
A lovely quote from Kogonada on the double dialog memories in After Yang. Continue reading
Exhalation
Ted Chiang’s Exhalation is one of my favourite short stories. Its centrepiece is a meticulous description of the protagonist’s self-dissection of his own brain. It’s a mechanical being (although the word mechanical seems too crude) so rather than blood and … Continue reading