The Beige Moth

Reading/Watching: April 2026

April 12, 2026 Robin VanGilder1 Comment

Alright, time for another check in on what I’ve been engaging with lately.

I do so hate the “consumption” metaphor for reading books, watching movies, playing games, etc. I understand the utility of it, but it does flatten things and makes the process feel more… flat. You consume to fill a hunger for something. There is only one way to interact with any piece of art or media and it is to take it and wring everything out of it. It’s also so… definitive, like are people really getting absolutely everything out of all the media they “consume”?

Engaging with art is such an specific and individual thing, it just feels off to me to analogize it that way. You can rewatch a movie or replay a game and get something completely different out of it, but you cannot “reconsume”.

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The Tainted Cup and the Good Empire

March 29, 2026 Robin VanGilderLeave a comment

Well, after saying last week that I don’t read very much contemporary fiction, I went and tore my way through a book from 2024 in like 5 days.

This isn’t really gonna be a review, but suffice it to say: The Tainted Cup is a real page-turner. I had a really great time reading it! Especially once I got going, the last 300 pages flew by like nothing. Maybe I’m not so allergic to modern stuff as I thought. But the ending really got me thinking about things, and thus I felt the need to get on here and Blog About It.

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Reading/Watching: March 2026

March 15, 2026 Robin VanGilderLeave a comment

Heyo, I thought I’d try something new.

Y’see, I’d like to get back to blogging again, but I always feel like I need either some big, elaborate project (like the Moby Dick thing) or some burning idea that I need to get out of my head. I want to turn writing back into a practice, not just something I do in a rush every now and then. So: I’m just gonna write about what I’ve been reading and watching lately, once a month. A nice, easy schedule. Gives me a broad topic to ruminate on and get some thoughts out of my head and onto the screen.

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Artificial Intelligence and Giving Up on Life

March 3, 2026March 4, 2026 Robin VanGilder3 Comments

Well, it’s been a while, but I am feeling the need to return to my blogging ways, if only to vent my spleen a bit.

Living in the year 2026 is to be assailed by countless stories of gloom and doom day in and day out. Hell, our idiotic and evil president just launched a war with Iran out of nowhere! The horrors are relentless. But there’s one thing that has been wearing on my last nerve for years at this point: so-called “artificial intelligence”.

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Avatar: Fire and Ash: Enter the Bad Indian

December 30, 2025 Robin VanGilderLeave a comment

Jimmy Cameron back at it again!

Well, I suppose he never stopped, really. This movie has been in the works for the last two decades, give or take, using a lot of material shot ages and ages ago. And boy, it really shows, sometimes. I had a lot of fun writing about the last Avatar movie, and I’ve got a lot of thoughts about this one, so let’s get into it!

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Suikoden HD Remaster: The Allure of Nostalgia

July 6, 2025 Robin VanGilder4 Comments

It’s been a while, but I’ve really been mulling this one over.

This is a review, specifically of the version of Suikoden included in the package called Suikoden I&II HD Remaster Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars, available on all modern platforms for fifty big ones. I may review the other half, Suikoden 2, at some point, but I kinda stalled out in it. That one doesn’t have as much juice for me, though it is generally superior in every way. And that’s honestly part of what I wanted to talk about, so perhaps this will serve as a reflection on both.

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Romacing SaGa 2: Personified Empire

June 1, 2025June 1, 2025 Robin VanGilderLeave a comment

Alright, let’s try something else. Again!

Those weekly blog posts weren’t really working for me. I don’t like the pressure of having something to talk about, and then they always felt too big and unwieldy and unfocused. Not the kind of work I can look back on with pride, just kind of filling time, y’know? I don’t like to post just to post. Brings back bad memories of trying to unlock privileges on message boards as a middle schooler by making enough posts, haha.

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Week 2: Hashtag The Discourse

May 12, 2025 Robin VanGilder1 Comment

Well, here we are again, another week come and gone.

I’ve had some ups and downs lately. Trying to stay off of social media while I’m at work, which is nice because it exposes me to The Horrors less, but also makes me feel a bit more disconnected from the world. Kind of a trade off there, I suppose. Been swinging between an newly rejuvenated sense of self-confidence and some regular ol’ depression. I can accomplish anything I put my mind to, but it feels like that doesn’t matter a whole lot, y’know.

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Week 1: What’s Past is Prologue

May 5, 2025May 5, 2025 Robin VanGilderLeave a comment

Alright, let’s try something different.

I want to write more, so I thought I’d get in the habit of posting some sort of regular update on my habits and thoughts. Almost like some sort of log, as on an old timey sailing ship… but rather than being locked in some old wooden chest, it instead lives on the marvellous web of information. Some sort of… web log… if you will. Perhaps we shall come up with a shortened term at some point, if it ever catches on.

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Epilogue – But What Does It Mean?

April 20, 2025April 21, 2025 Robin VanGilder12 Comments

Well, here we are at last.

Friends, we’ve come to the end of the road. After this, there’s simply no more book to read. Oh, I may come around and do some sort of official wrap-up post, sum things up, but I would prefer to leave it all on the field, so to speak. Part of me can’t believe I actually got all the way to the end, much like when I read this book the first time, all those years ago. But I did! Or at least, I will shortly.

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