Having watched some 2021 WWDC (Apple developer conference), I wanna talk about irrational consumption. Specifically, the irrational consumption of many computational products. A lot of this has been stewing in my mind for many months, so I’ve decided to take a moment and spill them out as quickly as I can. If you're not interested … Continue reading Irrational Consumption and You: Apple Edition
Disclaimer
It's been a long time since I posted anything on this blog. There are many reasons for that, but it's enough to say that "I've been busy." The last few years have also been a time of deep reflection and absorption of ideas. I have not been a political person for most of my life. … Continue reading Disclaimer
Why I Practice HEMA
I started regularly attending True Edge South, a HEMA club, back in August. For a while I only went once a week, but I've started going as often as I can (which is only twice a week, but that's twice as much as before!) Doing something two times (for a total of four hours, plus … Continue reading Why I Practice HEMA
Master Sword: Additional Thoughts
After looking at several of the weirdnesses of the Master Sword, a couple can be explained as being Japanese influence. For example, katanas have relatively short blades for a two handed weapon, so the Japanese designers may think the longer grip looks right.* Additionally, the katana's tsuba (guard) is usually a round or oval disk, … Continue reading Master Sword: Additional Thoughts
Everything Wrong with the Master Sword
The Master Sword is a gaming icon, but how well does it stack up as a functional weapon?
“Fantasy”: A Useless Label
I had an interesting discussion with a friend today, and I figured I'd share the basic point of it. Basically, I have a bugbear when people act like all the things we call "fantasy" are directly comparable. They are not. Saying that all things that use invented settings are similar is, at best, a useless … Continue reading “Fantasy”: A Useless Label
Why I Read
There are uncountable articles online about why reading is good for you, and specifically about why reading fiction is good for you. I'm not going to repeat any of the empirical evidence or clinical facts about how reading is good (although it definitely does exist). Instead, I'd like to share my own personal experience with … Continue reading Why I Read
AI Art
A while back I saw a video of some Japanese animators trying to do a similar experiment, and both of these experiments have gotten me thinking. When AI can create characters that are human enough, when they can render scenes that are realistic enough, and they can stumble into interactions between these objects that are … Continue reading AI Art
Castlevania Season 1 Review
Castlevania is a pretty big freaking deal for me. I may not be the biggest fan of the franchise, and I may not have played every game (especially not the 3D ones; this franchise did not make an elegant transition from its two dimensional beginnings). Regardless, the 2D Castlevania games are creations that really get … Continue reading Castlevania Season 1 Review
On the Reality of Fantasy
I was wandering around the internets when I came across this quote from Hayao Miyazaki (Golden Times, English translation from RocketNews24). You see, whether you can draw like this or not, being able to think up this kind of design, it depends on whether or not you can say to yourself, ‘Oh, yeah, girls like this exist … Continue reading On the Reality of Fantasy
Todd's Corner 