Tag: Politics

Romacing SaGa 2: Personified Empire

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Alright, let’s try something else. Again!

Wagnas, one of the eponymous Seven

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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This Shit Sucks So Bad, Man

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So, hey. I need to get some things off my chest.

In recent weeks, I have found myself in despair over the current political moment which we are all currently living through. As an American, I was saddened when Trump won a second term, and I’ve been alarmed and feeling defeated and helpless as he’s run roughshod over the bureaucratic state built up over the last two hundred odd years, ripping out the copper wiring and selling it for parts.

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Chapter 132: The Symphony

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Ahh, man, I had a nice vacation.

Didn’t go anywhere, but just… hung out at home, like the old days. Reconnecting with the version of myself who was a layabout in college and when I worked at the market, playing Final Fantasy XIV for hours and hours every day, sinking time into JRPGs, so on and so forth. It’s refreshing, getting away from work and indulging in old pleasures like that. But, it’s time to get back to business.

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Cyberpunk 2077 Review: It’s Mostly Fine

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I am sitting on a motorcycle parked behind a cab that is being controlled by a sentient AI run amok. It is one of many such AI that I have tracked down as part of a long term sidequest involving a sentient AI cab company trying to bring its “children” back into the fold.

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The Delamain AI is subjecting me to an endless litany of warmed-over Portal jokes, using the same kind of voice modulation that GladOS did in that game, over a decade ago. There’s a line about cake, references to testing, it is absolutely awful and I sigh out loud while I wait for it to finally be over. Continue reading “Cyberpunk 2077 Review: It’s Mostly Fine” →

Chapter 81: The Pequod Meets The Virgin

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Enough of this reflection and philosophizing, it’s time for more action!

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I do wonder if Melville was a bit self-conscious in writing this book, aware that he was a bit too heavy on the high-minded discourse, when his audience was expecting more of a rollicking action-adventure yarn. After all, his most successful previous books, Typee and Omoo were more in that vein. Thus, the sudden shift in tone here, to a good ol’ fashioned whale hunt. Continue reading “Chapter 81: The Pequod Meets The Virgin” →

I Read Another Book: Mossflower

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Another one so soon?

Mossflower Woods, by Nova Nocturne – https://www.artstation.com/artwork/oOPgLk

Yes, I’m catching up on stuff I’ve been reading over the summer. This is the most recent book I’ve finished, actually, so it’s a bit more fresh in my mind than the Pelican Brief. This time, the book is one I’ve read before, thought it was a very long time ago, when I was but a small child. My dad used to read books to me and my brother, and Redwall and Mossflower were among them. I read a few of the later entries in the series on my own, but soon fell off, replacing it with Discworld in my heart.

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Police Abolition: A Reasonable Idea

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On its face, police abolition sounds crazy.

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After all, we need police, they help protect us from crime! Their presence in the community helps prevent crimes actively and passively, and they work to solve crimes and catch criminals after they are committed. Well, the problem is that none of that is actually true. The vision of cops that is presented in the media and the reality of their existence in the world could not be more different. Continue reading “Police Abolition: A Reasonable Idea” →

Chapter 57: Of Whales in Paint; in Teeth; in Wood; in Sheet-Iron; in Stone; in Mountains; in the Stars

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You thought chapter titles couldn’t get any longer? You fool. You absolute buffoon. Melville has no sympathy, and is following no rulebook.

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This chapter is kind of a transition into a different mood from the previous two. Instead of a critical survey of art from the learned eye of an expert, it’s of Ishmael as a man reflecting on the nature of art and the world it inhabits. So yeah, I think I can find something to talk about here. Continue reading “Chapter 57: Of Whales in Paint; in Teeth; in Wood; in Sheet-Iron; in Stone; in Mountains; in the Stars” →

Chapter 48: The First Lowering

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Here we go! Time to go kill a god damned sea monster!

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Or, make an attempt, at any rate. It’s really a very difficult thing, taking down such a large and powerful creature. Of course, we humans have made our bones on taking down things much larger and more powerful than ourselves. Perhaps the whale itself is not always the biggest obstacle, though. Continue reading “Chapter 48: The First Lowering” →

Chapter 45: The Affidavit

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Okay, let’s get back into it with a nice, meaty chapter. We’re getting into some interesting metatexutal territory here, blurring the line between Melville and Ishmael.

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Technically, I think this whole thing is just more of Old Ishmael, based on the general tone and tendency towards exhortation and exclamation. But it’s also very much a bibliography slipped into the text itself, and I must say it’s more pleasant to read than the ones you usually see!

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