Tag: ana and din mysteries

Is Any of This Worth It Anymore?

Robin VanGilder1 Comment

Recently, I engaged with two works of popular, mainstream art that both carried with them a message of deep pessimism, which was somewhat unexpected.

One was a book, and the other a movie. One was focused on the leaders and the broad shape of society, and the other was much more grounded, focused on the individual experience. One was a murder mystery, and the other an epic adventure story. Both are very clearly relating to the specific experience of living in America in 2026. I’m talking, of course, about The Odyssey and A Trade of Blood.

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Reading/Watching: April 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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