book-review – The Beige Moth

Reading/Watching: April 2026

April 12, 2026April 13, 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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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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Chapter 134: The Chase.—Second Day

March 30, 2025April 16, 2025 Robin VanGilder2 Comments

As we approach the end of this great tome, I find myself in a reflective mood.

Thinking back upon the story as a whole, its many detours and sidequests, and the thrust of its narrative. This past week I even went and read some other criticism of Moby Dick, to refresh my memory a bit. The… pacing of this project has definitely been lopsided, with my having covered more than half the book in the first year, and then slowly grinding out the last bit of it. But that feels appropriate, as Ishmael dithered and delayed in telling the end of his tale, so do I struggle to embrace the entirety of this enormous work with the inadequate span of my typing fingers.

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