elijah.run

What's Good #17

2026-02-28T00:00:00+00:00

Indika</a></h1>

Oh my god. Fuck yeah dude. Video games rock. Ok I guess we're just going to casually play a game that changes how we think of games every month now?
Indika is beautiful, going for a mostly photo-real style to help deliver the grounded story telling it's going for. That story, of course, is that you are a nun who is having a mental breakdown and all the other nuns hate you so they give you a more or less impossible task that you totally abandon. It is hilarious, thought provoking, and well produced in every way.
My favorite detail of the game is noticing how things are constantly getting... slightly... bigger... until they're like... impossible.
Also the level with the rotated mirror rooms blew my fucking mind. I literally had to put my Deck down and put my brain back together.
It's like 4 hours. Just play it.
Solitaire(s)</a></h1>

Through a bunch of coincidental timings I found myself feeling very lonely in January. I was traveling for work where I wasn't super friendly with my co-workers, a few friends were moving on and I would see them far less, my other friends were busy or focusing on other relationships, you know how it goes.
So somewhat ironically at first, I downloaded the Microsoft Solitaire app for Android and got really into it. I'm not any good at Solitaire (I'm not good at most videogames, so that's not much of a statement), but I do enjoy the different types and how they train your brain to play the game out a few steps. Klondike, Spider, FreeCell, Pyramid, TriPeaks, they all force you to approach the problem of "stack cards good" in different ways.
Then I remembered Zachtronics has a Solitaire Collection and I bought it full price because I was pretty sure this was going to be even better than boring old Solitaire.
And it was!

Sawayama Solitaire (Last Call BBS), which is basically just even harder Klondike (I'm not sure why this is rated the easiest, it kicks my ass every time)</li>
Sigmar's Garden (Opus Magnum) is the most unique not involving cards at all!</li>
Proletariat's Patience (Exa Punks) is fair and I like that the gameplay is a metaphor!</li>
Cribbage Solitaire (Mobius Front '83) is the most inventive of the standard card deck games and is so difficult. It doesn't help that I'm also bad at Cribbage.</li>
Cluj Solitaire (Molek Syntez) is my favorite for it's minimalism in visuals and audio design.</li>
Kabufuda Solitaire (Eliza) really forces me to look at patterns and pay closer attention than I usually do in a card game.</li>
Shenzhen solitaire (Shenzhen I/O) is OK but for some reason hasn't grabbed me.</li>
Fortune's Foundation scares me. It is brutally difficult.</li> </ul>
I appreciate the genre of Solitaire a lot more now and will probably continue to invest time into a previously overlooked genre.
Strange Pictures</a></h1>

This spooky mystery was an xmas gift that I went into totally blind. The cover page was enticing but I really didn't know what to expect.
Each chapter tells the story of a mystery which , spoiler, are all connected. It offers a good balance between short stories, each chapter it it's own mystery, and the over-arching narrative, trying to figure out the throughline.
Orange World and Other Stories</a></h1>

I am starting to realize that I love magical realism.
I grew up thinking of myself as a sci-fi kid, but the more I read stories that more or less ditch the tech in favor of magic -- set in the modern day -- the more I think "dang that's cool I want more of that".
Specifically keep thinking about the Storm Rustler. A beautiful story of an old man obsessed with proving he still has it in him to raise one more story to wreck havoc on the world. And yes, all of that is literal and makes perfect sense in the context of the story.
Shell Game</a></h1>

Shell Game is a podcast about a human, Evan Ratliff, taking AI hype at face value and putting it to the test. I can send an AI to go to a meeting and take my place? Challenge excepted. AI is going to take all of our jobs and there will be a 1 person unicorn startup? Let's get cracking.
He pushes technology, and frankly social situations, beyond what you or I would be comfortable with, and juuuust up to their breaking points. It results in a very informative show about what AI and and cannot do, and super entertaining too.
Shell game is an interesting podcast in 2026 because as you listen to it you can feel it getting dated. He's building things that have been solved dozens of ways by even more companies but he's doing it before they are. It'll be a wild podcast to listen to once the Generative AI boom/bust has settled as a snapshot into the questions we were asking and the ways we were trying to use this tech while it was being developed.
In This Economy? How Money and Markets Really Work</a> (Audiobook)</h1>

I am a fan of Kyla Scanlon from TikTok and YouTube. She has a great way of talking about Economics that meshes well with my own opinions -- which basically boil down to "the system is broken, but the solution is human focused policies, not to burn it all down." She understands how economics works (duh, she is very smart) but is very good at consistently tying that back to how the economy is people and how it should be for people and why it is failing to fulfill that need.
Was this a fun book to listen to? Not really, but it was way better than the economics textbooks I've read so definitely a good resource if this topic is of interest.

Solitaire

2026-02-25T00:00:00+00:00


Through a bunch of coincidental timings I found myself feeling very lonely in January. I was traveling for work where I wasn't super friendly with my co-workers, a few friends were moving on and I would see them far less, my other friends were busy or focusing on other relationships, you know how it goes.
So somewhat ironically at first, I downloaded the Microsoft Solitaire app for Android and got really into it. I'm not any good at Solitaire (I'm not good at most videogames, so that's not much of a statement), but I do enjoy the different types and how they train your brain to play the game out a few steps. Klondike, Spider, FreeCell, Pyramid, TriPeaks, they all force you to approach the problem of "stack cards good" in different ways.
Then I remembered Zachtronics has a Solitaire Collection</a> and I bought it full price because I was pretty sure this was going to be even better than boring old Solitaire.
And it was!

Sawayama Solitaire (Last Call BBS), which is basically just even harder Klondike (I'm not sure why this is rated the easiest, it kicks my ass every time)</li>
Sigmar's Garden (Opus Magnum) is the most unique not involving cards at all!</li>
Proletariat's Patience (Exa Punks) is fair and I like that the gameplay is a metaphor!</li>
Cribbage Solitaire (Mobius Front '83) is the most inventive of the standard card deck games and is so difficult. It doesn't help that I'm also bad at Cribbage.</li>
Cluj Solitaire (Molek Syntez) is my favorite for it's minimalism in visuals and audio design.</li>
Kabufuda Solitaire (Eliza) really forces me to look at patterns and pay closer attention than I usually do in a card game.</li>
Shenzhen solitaire (Shenzhen I/O) is OK but for some reason hasn't grabbed me.</li>
Fortune's Foundation scares me. It is brutally difficult.</li> </ul>
I appreciate the genre of Solitaire a lot more now and will probably continue to invest time into a previously overlooked genre.

In This Economy?: How Money & Markets Really Work by Kyla Scanlon (Audiobook)

2026-02-20T00:00:00+00:00


Kyla Scanlon shows up regularly in my video feeds, across both TikTok and YouTube, so when I saw she wrote a book -- thanks to a Hank Green interview -- I requested it from my Library on Libby. I was pleasently surprised to see that she read the book, which as a personality I trust I appreciated her giving voice to her words; it lended an air of credibility.
The economics in the book are solid, at least to a normie economics nerd like myself. I appreciate that, similar to the Marketplace radio show/podcast a running theme of "The Stock Market is not The Economy, People are the Economy", focusing on how the economy fails people but how it can serve people better.
Over all I think it's a sold introduction to economics for folks looking to get into the topic. It is a little dense compared to other pop-sci-type books, but much much much lighter than actual economics textbooks.

Shell game

2026-02-20T00:00:00+00:00

Shell Game is a podcast about things that aren't what they seem, which in both cases are AI agents acting like real human people. The show is funny and shocking with the hosts willingness to push things just a bit further than most people would for the sake of journalist rigor.

I think everybody should listen to this podcast. It does a perfect job of describing the AI landscape as it is with all of it's strengths and limitations without any of the hype that clouds the conversation. If you keep hearing about AI and think it'll steal your job or fizzle out (or somewhere between those extremes) check this out, it will ground you I promise.
In Season 1 the host, Evan Ratliff, creates an AI "clone" of his voice and wires it up to receive phone calls. He then plays the most chaotic neutral game ever: let the bot talk to customer service folks. He escalates the game from there to scammers, work meetings, friends and family, and the entire time he's sharing these calls in podcast form of his voice but not him so you have to really listen to figure out if this is the robot Evan (it usually is) or real Evan.
One fun side-effect of listening to this show is that I am better at identifying the "tells" of a robo-voice. Even if it sounds convincing and has responsive converstaions, the latency and "what a weird way to say a normal thing" word choice is a dead giveaway. Of course tech is changing and my keen sense of what a robot sounds like will probably be out of date in like... a week.
The other side effect is that I have started to sound like the robot voice just a little bit. It's like when you listen to an audiobook and start to think in the reader's voice; that happens to you too right? Right?
I have finished Season 1. I will update this post when I complete Season 2.

Indika (2024)

2026-02-09T00:00:00+00:00

Indika is a hard game to describe because on paper, it's a game about a nun failing to deliver a letter and having a reckoning with god... but that's missing like 95% of what makes Indika a great game.
The stunning visuals make the mental breaks that Indika experiences hit so much harder than a more impressionist art style would impact; one of the few times that "good graphics" actually is worth necessary for a game.
The game is very... gamey. From the 8-bit mini-games breaking up each act, to the omni-present points in the top left of the game -- the only UI element visible for most of the game, to the chip-tune music playing most of the game. For a game about a nun, this feels like a "gamers game".

Orange World and Other Stories (Karen Russell, 2019)

2026-02-08T00:00:00+00:00

Orange World is a series of... mystical realism(?) short stories.
I listened to the audio-book of Orange World and thought it was exceptional. The voice actors for each story played their characters very well, enhancing the experience.
A few stories I enjoyed:

Bog Girl, about a boy's first love in a world where people are way too ok with necrophilia.</li>
A story about a tornado rustler raising his last storm.</li>
A woman in post-flood south-eastern USA who can echo-locate like a bat.</li>
A demon blackmailing a new mother into giving it breast milk like a little freak.</li> </ul>
I haven't read much of her work, but based on this I'd say Karen Russell is a great author. I'm excited to read more of her stuff.

Strange Pictures (Uketsu, 2022)

2026-02-02T00:00:00+00:00

I don't read much psycological horror/thriller but this was a gift and I figured why not.
What I liked about this was the feeling of putting the pieces together yourself between stories to connect the dots. It made me feel like a real detective! Even if it was definitely feeding you that narrative...

What If...? (2021 - 2024)

2026-01-31T00:00:00+00:00

I watched Seasons 2 and 3 of What If while rowing this month. It's a super silly show with very low stakes and a pretty good and consistent pace, making it easy to row to.
I do wish it kept going after season 3. I could basically watch this show forever, in the same way I can watch content like TikTok forever. It scratches an itch, it's fun to watch, but honeslty I couldn't tell you what happened in any of the episodes...

What's Good #16 (January 2026)

2026-01-31T00:00:00+00:00

Portugal Work Trip</h1>
The company I work for, which employs around 300 people, organized a company-wide gathering at Portugal for the first week of January this year. The company truly is global and remote so Portugal was just as good a place as any for visas and cost reasons.
The trip was fun and I enjoyed visiting Portugal. We went on a bike tour on the waterfront, toured a castle's grounds, and I fucked off for a few hours to take pictures at the Zoo.
It's not the trip I would have organized, and I ended up getting the flu on my way home, but it's always nice to see a new part of the world.
Pluribus</h1>
During the flights to and from that work trip I watched Pluribus</a>.
If you like sci-fi, think hive-minds are an interesting narrative device, and/or you are interested in the impact of LLMs on society, Pluribus is worth watching.
Dispatch</h1>
I also played Dispatch</a> on my Steam Deck during those flights, which I really enjoyed.
The characters are really fun, the world is rich, and the gameplay is a huge pain the ass -- I was so bad at it.
What If...?</h1>
What If...?</a> was my rowing show this month. The 30 minute episodes were easy to follow, exciting, and zero stakes -- perfect for a quick row. A great "turn your brain off" show.
The Beginner's Guide</h1>
I played The Beginner's Guide</a> on the recommendation of Jacob Geller</a>.
Some games change how I think of games, what a game can be even, and this is one of those. Games can be an idea, part of a conversation, less than perfect.
Of course for ideas you want to like... sell, you probably want that level of polish (that the game as a whole has), but the vignettes within the game are all very focused, very minimal, and yet totally functional.
This is probably not the intended takeaway from the game, but I don't care. I feel invigorated by the revelation that I can just make a game that says one thing and fucks off.
Spirited Away (IMAX)</h1>
OMSI hosts a Studio Ghibli Film Festival</a> every year where they screen many Ghibli films on their big screen.
Spirited Away is by far my favorite Ghibli film, although I've only seen probably 1/3 of their entire catalogue, so I was excited to see it on a big screen for the first time. The film is beautiful and if you live in Portland you should see any Ghibli movie at OMSI.
The Tale of The Princess Kaguya</h1> This was a suggestion by Chris Appelhans, one of the directors of K-Pop Daemon Hunters, from Animators React</a>. I am slowly making my way though all of the Ghibli movies and I hadn't seen this one yet.
I really enjoyed the art style, and the story was... nice. I like movies that don't have a forced happy ending and this worked for me.
I also think it's a great toddler movie because it is very low stimulation. Surprisingly good before-bed movie, although 2 hours was pushing my toddler's attention span -- even for movies.
Zoloft (Generic Version)</h1>
This is going to get personal, feel free to skip this section if you don't want to hear about depression.
For a few months now I have been operating at a sleep deficit, causing a growing anxiety, short-temperedness, and feelings of depression. I am able to functionally take care of my kids, work, exercise, and even do my hobbies, but just barely. I feel like I am always on the edge of losing my grip on things, like something will slip out of my grasp and I will have to sacrifice something core to myself to continue another day.
Unfortunately with two little kids there is not much I can really do to fix the root cause, at least not for a few years.
My wife took SSRIs for her post-partum depression and it worked very well. She convinced me to talk to my therapist and doctor about trying it out, so I did.
I was initially concerned that anti-depressants would "change me". Either make me hollow, or happy but fake, or a robot, or some other black mirror plot-line. Thankfully I was wrong.
For me, the experience of taking this drug has been feeling like myself from a few months ago when I could get plenty of sleep. I am in a better mood, less anxious, more able to crack jokes and play with my kids. I don't feel perfect, but I am able to weather this storm life is throwing at me without being a woeful curmudgeon. I still don't have enough time in the day to do all the things I want on top of my obligations, but I am at peace with that, which is just as good for now.

The Beginner's Guide (2015)

2026-01-29T00:00:00+00:00

I think this was a Jacob Geller recommendation. That guy has such great taste.
The Beginner's Guide is a ~90 minute game exploring creativity, obsession, and burnout among other things.
It also subtly shifted what I now think a game can be.
It's easy when you grow up playing polished, AA or AAA games, and even polished indie games, to think that every game needs to check a bunch of boxes. It needs at least consistent art, writing, a menu with settings, a huge laundry list of features just to be "a game". While The Beginner's Guide has all of those things, the mini-games within the game do not, and yet they are totally playable.
I feel freed to create... really rough games. Games that just drop you in, execute on one very narrow idea, and end. I'm excited to run with that and get the creative juices flowing.
As an aspiring game designer that is a very exciting idea. Just make a game that delivers on the idea, you don't need to make a product.

Pluribus (2025)

2026-01-09T00:00:00+00:00

During some travel in early January I downloaded and watched Pluribus knowing very little about the show, just that it was made by Vince Gilligan which is enough to get me on board.
I really enjoyed the deep dive into what it would be like to "live with a hive mind".
I also really enjoyed the tact that the story had in it's critique of LLMs, although I think those critiques go beyond LLMs which I appreciate.
Once scene in which a culture is erased in a very clinical fashion was really interesting and brilliant writing.
The show is written in such a way that a lot of it can be seen as critiques of modern problems, like LLMs, but "in the fiction" enough that in 10 or 20 years I think it'll be worth re-watching as those same devices will likely feel like comments on new modern problems. Good writing. Good story telling.

Dispatch (2025)

2026-01-04T00:00:00+00:00

I was a fan of the TellTale "The Walking Dead" game whenever that came out. I initially ignored Dispatch though because honestly I just have enough games to play. Thankfully, a friend of mine played and really enjoyed Dispatch so I was pressured by my FOMO to play too.
The characters are great, the voice acting is fun, and the "gameplay" parts are really challenging (for me).
The biggest endorsement I can give is that if a sequel is announced I will pre-order it. I never pre-order games.

The Boys (2019-2016)

2026-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

I started this backlog project mid-way into watching The Boys, so this will only go over seasons 3, 4, and 5. </blockquote>
Season 3 (2022)</h1>
I really like the show (so far). The visuals are insane, the characters get themselves into crazy shit that is unlike anything I've seen on screen before. My only gripe is that main characters have a hard time dying so I never worry about the consequences for what's happening. Sitcom logic is a-ok, but it makes the evolving story feel more stagnant that I would have liked.
Solder-boy the stand-in for "classic patriotism" in contrast with modern (Homelander) patriotism works well.
Homelander not only surviving but coming out somehow better after all the heinous shit he does this season is a great Trump allegory and honestly I am really dreading (in a good way) the stuff he's going to get away with the next two seasons.

The Entropy Centre

2025-12-31T00:00:00+00:00

I have mixed feelings about Entropy Centre.
On the one hand it does scratch the "Portal" itch very well, copying and then building on top of the Portal series with test chambers, cubes, and a gun that doesn't shoot bullets.
Buuuuut puzzles do not have The Sauce. They aren't atrocious but they're not nearly as fulfilling as I would have liked, oscillating between too easy and "wtf?". Puzzle design is difficult and while these are passable and get the job done demonstrating the mechanics, it's certainly not on par with my memory of first playing Portal/Portal 2.
The game uses the tropes and design of Portal to get the player up to speed quickly on some interesting puzzle mechanics, but does not in my opinion live up to Portal in most ways. The writing, the physics, the mechanics, the secrets -- the polish and execution is solid but not Valve-level.
All that said it is very impressive that this was largely written, designed, and implemented by one person (Daniel Stubbington)!
If you're looking for Portal 3, this isn't it, but it's a good placeholder.

What's Good #15 (December 2025)

2025-12-31T00:00:00+00:00

Between the holidays and some personal struggles this month I wasn't able to finish as many things as I would like, so I don't have as much to share as I would have liked. Next month though I should check off a few half-finished projects so we'll start the year off with a bang.
Priestdaddy</h1>

I read this on the repeated recomendation of Jacob Geller, one of my favorite creators on the internet who I gladly support on Patreon. A beautiful narrative autobiography written by a poet, meaning the pros are so goddamn vivid and imaginative I had to stop and take a breather every few pages just to process what I had read. I laughed, I cried, a had a think. Good book.
Godzillas</h1>
This is it! We're done watching all of the Godzilla movies!
I am so happy to have done this project and to have shared it with some friends. I have enjoyed watching not just Godzilla evolve over 70+ years but seeing movies evolve over that time too.
I'll write a dedicated post about Godzilla before too long, so let's wrap this up.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters</h2>

Continuing where Godzilla (2014) this movie rocks. It's got tons of monsters even digging deep for kaiju like Rodan!? What a legend.
The writing isn't perfect, but as far as CGI spectacle movies go this is incredible.
Note: I think this gets a bad reputation because American audiences don't like the story structure -- but my hot-take is that this perfectly updates the classic Godzilla formula for a 201X audience and the old movies just also kinda sucked. In a lovable way of course.
Godzilla vs Kong</h2>

I'm not entirely sure why Godzilla gets top billing in this movie because it is clearly a Kong film. He's the main character and most of the story beats follow him. Which is fine, but you know... my boy is GZ, let's give him equal screen-time.
Godzilla Minus One</h2>

A wonderful modern echo of the classic 60's era Godzillas, calling back to many tropes like:

A scientist has a long-shot idea for how to kill Godzilla that is only taken seriously after literally nothing else works.</li>
Godzilla is finally defeated when Japan builds some crazy long-shot industrial thing.</li>
There is a "boat guy".</li> </ul>
If I were to re-watch the pantheon of Godzilla movies I would probably watch this after watching some of the 50's/60's era films before they got too silly. That seems to be the era most of the references/echos are from, but I watched them so long ago at this point most of it went over my head.
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire</h2>

I really wished we had ended with Minus One, but I guess we gotta end it with the actual latest entry, not just the one I wish was the latest.
Godzilla x Kong really is Godzilla vs Kong 2. A very similar cast of (human) characters with a bunch of new monsters that to my knowledge are not in any prior/older Godzilla flicks.
Similar to the current (?) run of American Godzilla films, it's a totally passable spectacle film but doesn't hold a candle to what Japan is doing with it.

Media Mono-Tasking

2025-12-25T00:00:00+00:00

I, like many people in 2025, have a looooong list of games, movies, tv, and books that I want to enjoy sometime between now and death.
Some tools I have created to deal with this problem include a backlog</a>, and a monthly reflection on what I enjoyed</a>. These both help me focus; I either finish a piece of media or I give up entirely. None of this "Oh I started five books and two shows and a dozen games this month" no: either finish what you started, or basnish it to the shadow realm; there is too much good stuff to drag a bunch of half finish stuff around too.
Between work, taking care of the kids, walking the dog, keeping the house tidy, eating, sleeping, keeping up with friends, and exercising I have ~1-2 hours of "me time" per day to spend on whatever. In the past I woud mindlessly scroll for hours after work and on the weekends, but I had to lock that shit down</a> pretty quick after having a kid; life's too short to waste perfectly good free time.
Ok here's the thing: between What's Good and The Backlog I feel ok about my media focus, but I think I can do better. I still find myself starting games I never finish, starting a book on the 1st of the month that's barely half way done by the end, and mindlessly scrolling the one app I didn't lock down yet-- am I really scrolling Libby?
The Proposal</h1>

Do One Thing at a Time. </blockquote>
If you start reading a book, watching a show, listening to a podcast, whatever, that's the only media you consume until you either complete it or abandon that forever.
Not one book at a time, or one movie at a time, but one thing at a time, across all media.

Start a movie? You cannot stop half way through and listen to a podcast while you do dishes.</li>
Start a videogame? Git gud or you're gonna get really bored.</li>
Start reading a book? Get cozy af because you're locked in.</li> </ul>
Of course you can go about your life eating and sleeping and working, but the only media you can consume is the thing until it is done or you call it quits.
Done is subjective, but you get the idea.

Roll credits on a movie.</li>
Finish the last chapter in a book.</li>
Finish a season of television.</li> </ul>
It's not quite that simple</h2>
I mean you totally could just do that, but you'd spend a lot of time driving in silence because you started playing Elden Ring and it's good but you're really bad at souls-likes.
And honestly truly doing one thing at a time is like the Jain vegetarianism</a> of media diets, it's the most intense version.
I propose, and will personally strive, for a more moderate version which is going to use the following categories to guide our media decisions:

Active Media: (Videogames) media that requires your participation.

Solving puzzles, shooting zombies, stuff like that.</li> </ul> </li>
Active Visual Media: (Books) media that requires your attention.

You don't need to solve puzzles, but you do need to flip pages.</li> </ul> </li>
Passive Visual Media: (Movies/TV/Videos) benefits from attention.

The media will move on without you, but you should be keeping up.</li> </ul> </li>
Passive Media: (Music/Podcasts/Audiobooks) you can put it on in the background.

This is "Doing the Dishes" stuff.</li> </ul> </li> </ul>


I'm going to call these "Media Moods" because "Media Situations" feels clunky. You totally can do these based on mood, it's just simpler to describe situations that limit what you can do rather than the more fuzzy what you want to do. </blockquote>
For each of these moods I would pick a single piece of media to engage with. Any time you are in that mood, you are reading/watching/listening to that thing, until that thing is done.
For example:

While I am rowing I finish a movie (passive visual) I started yesterday.</li>
Later I am cleaning up the house, so I finish a podcast (passive) I stared that morning.</li>
In the evening I play a puzzle game (active) I have been working on for a few days.</li>
Until I decide my brain is tired and I want to do something else, so I read this month's book (active visual).</li> </ul>

Yes, I am drawing an arbitrary line between "Active" and "Active Visual" for convenience; you could totally merge those to simplify things even further. </blockquote>
This means that you have some choice of media based on your circumstances, but there is still a prescriptive framework around what you should be doing media-wise to avoid getting easily distracted.
This is not for everybody</h2>
It goes without saying, this is a framework for burning down a backlog. Even more so, it is for people who have very little time to burn that backlog, and they need to squeeze every minute out of their days to make any progress on that project.
If you don't have a backlog, or you already have a healthy way of handling your backlog, this is probably not for you.
It's also not compatible with like... roommates. You should definitely make an exception to whatever your media backlog dictates if it means having a good time with friends and/or family. Don't be weird about it please.
This is a thing I am trying</h2>
It would be awesome if I could say this is something I've been doing for a year and it's worked flawlessly -- but no. This is just a thing I am starting and trying in hopes that it will improve my backlog burn rate.
And if it doesn't we'll learn something too. Either way, I'll keep you posted.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire

2025-12-20T00:00:00+00:00

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is a totally passable Godzilla movie following very closely in Godzilla vs Kong's steps as far as visuals and story telling go.
Where it differs is in introducing a new (to me) cast of Kaiju that as far as I can tell are completely original to this story -- unlike the last few entries that pulled from the classic monster cast with Ghidora, MechaGodzilla, etc.
The story and acting fell a little flat for me, but the visuals are undeniably incredible, so for the specticle alone I would watch it again.
My only nit-pick about the visuals was that there is no sense of scale, most of the monsters might be huge or just normal animal size it's hard to tell, but the fight scene at the end actually did a good job of selling some scale well which I appreciated.

Sinners

2025-12-14T00:00:00+00:00

I took a break from Godzilla</a> to watch Sinners and was pleasently surprised with the whole thing. Not that I thought it wouldn't be good -- literally everything I heard about it sounded amazing, just that I didn't go in knowing much specific about it at all.
I knew it had Michael B. Jordan -- twice-- but beyond that I wasn't sure what I was getting into.
I really liked the southern setting. The characters felt fun and unique, the music was incredible the whole way through, everything and everybody looked so good! From sets to costumes to special effects every frame really was a painting in this movie.
I also really liked the contrast between most of the movie having an "invisible special effects" visual and the end scene which has some of the silliest gore and blood effects I have ever seen. It's not quite Evil Dead silly but I did laugh out loud at how absurd it looked, which helped sell how chaotic it moment was!
Over all great movie: great atmosphere, fun story, hot people. No complaints.

Godzilla Minus One

2025-12-11T00:00:00+00:00

In contrast with the dynamic fast pace of Shin Godzilla</a>, Minus One felt contemplative. The pacing forced you to experience the hardships of the main characters, notice their growth and recovery, and empathize with their trauma as it came back at the worst times.
If I could do it again, I would watch Minus One after Godzilla Raids Again, or somewhere in the group of 60's-era Godzillas. It pulls from those heavily, like having the inventor scientist, or having a "boat guy", and having the solution to a problem be coming together and building the impossible.
Unlike those early Godzilla entries, this isn't propaganda for the Japanese government; instead this story champions people's collective action and rejection of the government's status quo. In that respect this is very similar to Shin Godzilla, injecting a youthful critique of the establishment into (ironically) one of the oldest film series still around.
Minus one rightfully holds the place as the highest rated Godzilla movie ,even beating out the 1954 original which has 70 years of nostalgia propping it up. I can't say it's my personal favorite, but it's easily in the top 3 and should be required viewing for all movie buffs.

Godzilla vs Kong

2025-12-11T00:00:00+00:00

Gozilla vs Kong (vs MechaGozilla) feels like a direct continuation of Godzilla: King of the Monsters</a>, weaker in some respects and stronger in others.
Pros:

As a neon-stan, the color scheme is incredible.</li>
The fight in Hong Kong is epic.</li>
MechaGodzilla looks badass, and the team-up is fun.</li> </ul>
Cons:

A weaker cast than King of the Monsters</li>
Not enough monsters, especially compared with King of the Monsters</li> </ul>
Somewhere in the middle:

The story and acting just felt sillier</li>
Wow they really ran with that "Hollow Earth" thing</li> </ul>
Over all a totally pleasent way to spend 2 hours, but also not a "must watch".

Godzilla: King of the Monsters

2025-12-06T00:00:00+00:00

This is a sequel to Godzilla (2014) with many of the same characters and similar visual language carrying over, clearly starting an American Godzilla franchise.
While I liked the last Godzilla in the series, for it's sense of scale and delivering on visual effects Godzilla has always deserved, this one felt shallow, scattered, and formulaic.
Here's the thing though... I think that's intentional. Viewed from the lens that this is a modern American interpretation of specifically the 60's era Godzilla films I think this nails it:

A scientist who is done dirty holds the key to fixing all of our problems.</li>
Not one but TWO people make the ultimate sacrifice.</li>
There is a single comedy relief character.</li> </ul>
It also faithfully references the classic 50s/60s films:

They drop an "Oxygen Bomb"</li>
Not only do they have the big hitters like Godzilla, King Ghidorah, and Mothra but they threw in Rodan!?</li>
They clarify that King Ghidorah is from space.</li> </ul>
Nobody else got those references but I DO! I JUST WATCHED ALL OF THE GODZILLA MOVIES! I GET ALL THE REFERENCES!
So yeah, we've come a long way from Godzilla (1998) barely referencing it's original canon to now very much honoring not only the lore but even the formula of the classic Godzilla movies. I think that's cool.
I'm not saying it's a good movie. Kinda the opposite actually; the 50's and 60's Godzilla movies were bad. They were campy as hell, but they were not good movies. So while this movie is also bad I think that it's a faithful-to-the-original kind of bad which is at least interesting.
All that said, the movie ends with basically Boston being nuked and I like... I might be too dumb but I don't know what that means metaphorically speaking. What does an American Godzilla movie where a major American city gets destroyed... mean? Email me if you know the answer.

Priestdaddy (2017)

2025-12-02T00:00:00+00:00

I read Priestdaddy (Patricia Lockwood, 2017) because Jacob Geller</a>, a really good games critic and essayist I follow, has suggested it at least four times in different mediums (Videos, Podcasts, Bluesky). It got to the point where I had to admit "Yeah this dude that I respect really likes this book, I guess I should read it." So I did. Like Geller I think you should read this book. It is beautiful, interesting, informational, and heartwarming.
Priestdaddy is so good. It's an autobiography written by a poet so even throw-away lines describing a van are the most vivid descriptions I've ever encountered. Every word is plucked from the aether and perfectly fit with the ones before and after creating a beautiful mosaic beautiful in the small and in the large, like a fractal. As you can probably tell it also inspired me to like... try writing more interesting pros.
It also taught me a lot about Catholicism. Not in the way a documentary teaches you about something, but in the way your childhood friend does; in bouts of lore dump and then long periods of subtle hints and vibes. For example Lockwood will explicitly tell you the structure of the church hierarchy, who reports to who and how they get there, but then spend the latter half of a chapter alluding but never going out and saying that a priest is a predator. It feels like I am conversational in a language but only have ~100 words in my vocabulary; I have the accent and the vibe and the important details but am immediately out of my depth five sentences in.
I should point out this book is not pro-catholic. I wouldn't say it's quite anti-catholic either, but it certainly wants to paint a complete picture of the church and like... a complete picture of the modern catholic churn doesn't exactly look good.

What's Good #14 (November 2025)

2025-11-30T00:00:00+00:00

Peak, Jusant, and Sky the Scraper</h1>

I played these three games that all kinda float around the theme of "climbing".
Peak is a wonderful co-op climber where you help your buddies get up to the top of a mountain that really is trying to kill you. My highlight is the wacky physics and the proximity chat which never fails to entertain; hearing your best friend's yells "Oh no oh no oh noooooooo" get rapidly quieter as he falls off a ledge is just the funniest shit.
Jusant is a beautiful, dense, and interesting world. Climbing this giant pillar mesa thing is really fun and has some genuinely interesting climbing puzzles. It also tells a beautiful story with, as far as I can remember, zero spoken words.
Sky the Scraper is two games in one: an arcade window cleaning game and a very stressful life management simulator. You spend like a minute cleaning windows and it's really fun and challenging, then you spend like five minutes responding to texts from your mom about how sad she is that you haven't visited in a while, then you go for a walk. The arcade minigame is really fun though so it's worth it.
Elechead and Öoo</h1>

Elechead is a cute platformer puzzle game with a strong core mechanic explored in ~2 hours. The core mechanic is that you are a little battery-headed robot that turns surfaces on and off by touching them. Believe it or not there's a good number of puzzles that fall out of that mechanic and this game has most of them!
Öoo is a cute platformer puzzle game with a strong core mechanic explored in ~2 hours... wait we just did this. Anyway the mechanic is that you place and blow up bombs to get around! Öoo is very cute and the puzzles are challenging. I did feel Öoo was a bit more polished, so it's cool to Takahashi's skills getting even better.
I love that these two games are short and sweet, but not so short that they leave ideas on the table. They explore the mechanic they set out to do and do it well.
I had never heard of the creator of these two games, Nama Takahashi, but I am a fan of their work and will keep tabs on them going forward. I could play "Cute character has this one weird trick you won't believe!" forever.
Mission Impossible: Dead & Final Reckoning</h1>

I am still rowing with Tom Cruise</a> and finished the Mission Impossible series this month. The AI enemy was a little on the nose and honestly it would have been such a good twist if there was no real AI and it was just classic espionage double cross something something -- but alas Mission Impossible played it straight to the end.
That'll do Tom. That'll do.
(Defunctland) Disney's Living Characters: A Broken Promise</h1>

The final part of Defunctland's two-part series on Disney's Animatronics/Living Creatures was really spectacular. A four+ hour documentary about animatronics, digital puppets, and a ton of really cool stuff!
Defunctland is one of the artists I support on Patreon and I think you should do the same. They publish like two big videos per year, a podcast, some miscellaneous goodies. It's not a lot of content, it's certainly not _consistent_c content, but goddamn it is good.
Two Sleepy People</h1>

I'm not on TikTok anymore, but when I was I followed Baron Ryan. I liked his style and appreciated that he stuck to it, sharpened his craft, and perfected it in little bites.
I was skeptical that he could deliver on a full length project but he (and a really good team) delivered! I laughed, I cried, I enjoyed the twists and turns.
This is a genuinely good movie and if you get a chance to see it you should.
Support indies.
Zootopia 2</h1>

Uhh... and then go see Zootopia 2 because it's fun.
I was a huge fan of Zootopia. I'm not a furry or anything, but I am whatever you would call a furry for buddy-cop movies and Zootopia delivers on the genre.
I admit the sequel didn't have the same spark as the first one, but I suspect it'll grow on me with repeat viewing (legally required when you have two small children). Honestly there are many worse fates than watching Zootopia a couple dozen times.
Godzillas</h1>
Shin Godzilla</h2>

Oh my god yes yes yes yes yes. Dude this is so good. Like I can tell you how and why but I promise it's just good. Go watch it right now. I don't care if you already watched it today, go watch it again!
Ok now that you're back, let's review:

Got pacing on lock. It's like West Wing meets... Godzilla.</li>
The CGI looks incredible. They really sell the scale in some of these shots.</li>
The ENDING SHOT. No spoilers, go watch it again.</li> </ul>
The Anime Trilogy</h2>

The Anime... were not as good as Shin. Which makes sense, nothing is as good as Shin (for now), but they did do some interesting stuff!
The trilogy follows humans who were forced to leave Earth because the Kaiju took over or something. They leave, come back, and fight Godzilla. You... you probably could have figured that second part out from the premise.
Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters</h3>
Planet of Monsters was the weakest of the three for me. The Animation style was hard to adjust to, but by the end I was enjoying it. They're able to do things visually that they simply could not get away with in a live-action Godzilla on a reasonable budget like explosion simulations and good looking space ships.
Also the twist after they defat Godzilla was... classic.
Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle</h3>
City on the Edge of Battle actually worked for me. The characters has time to grow and develop, it almost felt more like Aliens. The final scene was super epic and the movie's take on Mecha-Godzilla was trippy.
Godzilla: The Planet Eater</h3>
The Planet Eater was the most psychedelic of the bunch, almost leaning into cosmic horror stuff. Battling inner daemons manifested as uhh... Kaiju destroying the real world. Cool stuff!
Over all I would say the Anime trilogy is fun but not great. Get baked and enjoy the pretty visuals and you'll have a good time.

Godzilla: Planet of Monsters/City on the Edge of Battle/The Planet Eater (2017-2018)

2025-11-27T00:00:00+00:00

In 2017/2018 Toho Animation released a trilogy of anime-style CG animated Godzilla movies and they are EPIC.
The series starts with all of Humanity on an intergalactic spaceship exploring the galaxy looking for a habitable planet after Earth was taken over by Kaiju. Humanity ends up returning to Earth like... immediately and tries to re-colonize riiight after they beat Godzilla.
Planet of Monsters</h1>
First the bad:

Characters motivations felt flimsy. Humanity goes back to Earth almost immediately with no real reason to, and once at Earth entertains the idea of leaving again despite promising evidence that they can stay.</li>
The core cast did not have time to develop so I didn't feel attached to anybody.</li> </ul>
Now the good:

The visuals were stunning and clearly demonstrated why this story had to be told as an anime and not a live action Toho production.</li>
The scale of Godzilla is really stunning. Not quite in the same way as in Shin or Godzilla (2014) but it is more of an epic "Yeah he's really THIS BIG".</li> </ul>
City on the Edge of Battle</h1>
This was my favorite of the three by far.

I finally felt connected to the core cast and cared when they were in danger!</li>
The core concept of (spoiler) Mecha-Godzilla being a replicating nanobot AI thing was a fun twist on the character.</li>
The ending battle was just the most epic battle shit I have ever seen.</li>
The Gundums were sick as hell flying around.</li> </ul>
Over all this felt a bit like Annihilation in that it was about people exploring a pretty inhospitable planet that wanted them dead -- except the threat here was more... Kaiju shaped.
The Planet Eater</h1>
Planet Eater was the most... interesting of the bunch. The threats in this movie felt more abstract, in addition to being literal Kaiju. (Spoiler) King Ghidorah was a really fascinating take on the character, bordering on an Eldritch horror. And of course battling your inner deamons is always a good way to quickly resolve an impossible situation, so that was fun.

Over all I am glad this was a trilogy. It gave the story time to develop the characters and setting resulting in a story with a lot of breadth.
If you are considering watching this I would say you should turn your brain off and enjoy the visuals and don't take the story too seriously... in case that wasn't obvious.

Elechead (2021) & Öoo (2025)

2025-11-25T00:00:00+00:00

Elechead and Öoo are delightful, short, and sweet puzzle platformers by Nama Takahashi. Both have a strong core mechanic that is explored well.
They are short at ~3hrs each, but offer some rewarding hidden/extra puzzles if you want to stay in the world a bit longer.
They also follow the golden rule of puzzle games:

Don't distract from the puzzle. </blockquote>
Levels were focused, had a good learning curve, but consistently challenging.
My only critique of Nama Takahashi's games so far is they require reflex-solutions more than I would like. In general if you know what the solution is you should be able to execute on it, but reflexes/timing is a barrier for some players. That said the reflex requirement are really scant and often when I found myself trying a reflex solution there was a less-timing-sensitive solution I was supposed to do instead.

Sky the Scraper (2025)

2025-11-25T00:00:00+00:00

I have to admit I haven't gotten very far in this game, but I am calling it and wanted to record my thoughts.
The arcade mechanic of scraping windows is really fun and you get into a rythm pretty quick. It's challenging and rewarding and has a good difficulty curve.
The bit, as the description text hints, is that a big chunk of the game is spent between those arcadey games managing your life, texting people, etc.
As far as game design goes that is brilliant. I genuinely feel exhausted every time I'm between levels just managing my life and it's not even that bad! I don't have to get groceries, I just need to read what my manager sent me.
That said, I really just want to play the fun part (duh) and I wish there was a way to skip past or auto-advance the plot. Not because that life-management gameplay is bad but because it's just really time consuming in a game where you reset quite often... or I did because I kept failing missions.
Over all a really good indie game with some interesting mechanics in an interesting package.
I do wish the Steam Deck support was better. Menu interactions leave something to be desired.

Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning/The Final Reckoning (2023/2025)

2025-11-22T00:00:00+00:00

As part of rowing with Tom Cruise</a> I watched the (allegedly) final two Mission Impossible flicks. The premise was a little on the nose, but if you just ignore the AI stuff it's a great mcguffin story with some amazing action set-pieces.
If you like action movies these are (still) worth watching!

Jusant (2023)

2025-11-19T00:00:00+00:00

Climbing has never felt so good. (Well it felt pretty good in Breath of the Wild but I haven't played more than an hour of any Zelda game so I can't say for certain.)
The game is of course beautiful. It is the best kind of eye-candy and I suspect it'll age really well, except for the Unreal Engine ray-tracing fuzzyness but that's kind of an aesthetic if you let it be.
I appreciated how concise it was, with room for exploration. I only saw probably half of the side rooms to explore and if I played it again would get a totally different experience.
The vibe is also so chill. In a world where everybody wants your attention and it feels like every screen is yelling at you, it's so nice to have a low-simulation experience where you just... climb with your lil blob-dog.
My only critique is that there is a lot of stuff in the world and you can't interact with nearly any of it. I would have loved to pick up a vase or sit on a chair. I'm going to explore every square inch, and little "We know you're going to click this" acknowledgements go a long way.

Peak (2025)

2025-11-03T00:00:00+00:00

Sam and I played peak pretty consistently every week for ~2 months and it's really fun!
I like that the game is somewhat random with the map resetting daily. Every time we played it was different, but we had the option to go back and try again with the same track.
The key feature is proximity chat, so if you are talking to your friend and they start to slip and fall you can hear them slowly fade away before they cut out. Priceless.
I'm excited to revisit this game every few months as they add fun additions and improve quality of life.

Shin Godzilla (2016)

2025-11-02T00:00:00+00:00

Ok so I know I've said some of the other Godzillas were good and they are -- each Godzilla is good in it's own way -- but Shin Godzilla is just categorically good. Not "Good for a Godzilla" movie, not "Good for a 1980s monster movie" just a really good movie.
That 10 year hiatus between Final Wars</a> and this really paid off.

The pacing is impeccable, feeling at times like a West Wing episode with just how much happens in dialog alone.</li>
The visual effects are perfect, selling Godzilla's scale in a way that we haven't seen in a Toho production before.</li> </ul>
I have no idea what the story is behind this movie but I am so glad it exists. It doesn't feel like any other Godzilla movie, it looks so good, and it is firing on absolutely every cylinder!

I guess it does feel like other Godzilla movies in that they do invent a novel interesting thing to finally kill Godzilla, but that's only a similarity on paper. The actual moment to moment story telling, camera work, visual language -- all of that is totally different from anything I've ever seen in a Toho film.

Voyager-19 (2024)

2025-10-31T00:00:00+00:00

I was house-bound on Halloween because I was sick and I have two little kids. Instead of watching a scary movie I decided to play a short scary game and found Voyager-19</a> in my backlog.
The most concise way I can describe Voyager-19 is to say that it is Iron Lung</a> in space. Which if you haven't played Iron Lung, means:

Controlling a claustrophobicly small vessel.</li>
Navigating an existentially horrifying and spooky map.</li>
You can only see the world through photographs.</li>
Clunky controls that add to the stress.</li>
Your character is left for dead.</li>
PS1 graphics aesthetics.</li> </ul>
Voyager-19 differentiates itself in a few ways:

Your resources dwindle over time forcing you to make shitty trade-offs.</li>
The interface degrades over time adding to your strain as a player.</li>
In space (duh)</li> </ul>
If you like short spooky games this is a great way to spend 40 minutes!

Godzilla (2014)

2025-10-30T00:00:00+00:00

I liked it! And honestly it wasn't half bad; I think the Rotten Tomato score is ~75 and that feels right.
Two things I especially liked:

The camera work felt grounded, a-la Pacific Rim's camera work.</li>
An unmatched sense of scale with 2014 era special effects.</li> </ol>
In general this felt like Godzilla + Cloverfield + 2010's era disaster movies (think: 2012).

What's Good #13 (October 2025)

2025-10-30T00:00:00+00:00

No Kings Part II</h1>


It was really difficult to capture the scale of the protests, so I chose this pretty picture instead. </blockquote>
My sisters and step-mother visited from Chicago for a weekend and while in Portland we went to the No Kings protest. We grew up going to protests during the George W. Bush era so this felt like a totally appropriate family activity.
The crowd felt massive, stretching tens of blocks around the city. People were in inflatable costumes, I saw some good signs, and felt politically energized. I also wish I had brought the kids. I was worried about safety, but in practice it was totally civil.
Proximate, Dead Letter Dept., Without a Dawn</h1>

Jacob Geller came out with a great video about these three games</a> which I highly suggest you watch. The bit that these were such short games hooked me and inspired me to play them before watching the essay to sort of "do my homework before class".
This was a neat exercise that I don't usually have the opportunity to do. Most videogame essays I watch are about sprawling series that require hundreds of hours and a crazy high skill level</a> to even see the stuff the author is talking about, fair enough have interesting thoughts about the topic. I'm in my dad mode phase, I don't have time to play every Dragon Age game -- I barely have enough time to watch your 6 hour 40 minute video on the series Noah</a>!
So I was happy to have a (roughly) 3 hour block of games to get through and be "caught up" before watching this latest Geller essay. And it was totally worth it! All three games were appropriately spooky for, you know for October, and I even had thoughts about the games before hearing a smart man talk about them.
Proximate was the first one I played and my favorite of the bunch. The mechanic of interacting with the world through a layer of abstraction felt very "meta"; you interact with this game world through a keyboard and mouse and screen, so adding another layer of abstraction builds on that. Also the sound design made me pee my pants a lil.
Without a Dawn was the next one I played. I didn't really connect with the story and felt frustrated with the lack of choice present in the game. I know that's sorta the bit and there's narrative meaning there but like... it wasn't for me. The shader effect was very cool though.
Dead Letter Department was the last one I played and at first I didn't "get it". I followed instructions, chose the edgy dialog options, and got a bonkers ending after ~2 and a half hours of gameplay. It was weird and spooky but then I watched the essay and realized there are lots of endings and lots of ways to try to break the game! Sending yourself letters, different choices, lots of room for player creativity that I was so on auto-pilot I didn't realize were there. It almost felt like the environmental choices in Spec Ops: The Line, but in a spooky glitch grunge package.
Godzillas</h1>
This month we hit the 2004 - 2014 hiatus which is huge! We're finally in what I would call the "modern era" of Godzilla.
Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla</h2>

Main takeaway: lots of explicit death in this one. Never really addressed, but you definitely notice the change in mood.
Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.</h2>

This is just a mech film with Godzilla. Also lots of people explicitly dying, weird theme.
Godzilla: Final Wars</h2>

You probably haven't seen this one yet, but you should!
This is the first Godzilla movie in a very long time that I am suggesting to friends and family.
It's like The Matrix + Power Rangers + Godzilla in one whacky package!
Godzilla (2014)</h2>

I liked this one!
The camera work was grounded which really sold the scale of Godzilla in ways never seen before -- I can say that because I've seen all the other ones!
It's like Cloverfield + 2010's era disaster movies + Godzilla in one exciting package!

Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025)

2025-10-29T00:00:00+00:00

I walked out of Fant4stic (2015) so the bar was pretty low. The cast was totally solid, the story worked for me, the visuals felt fresh for a Marvel movie.
My only critique -- and it's not a negative just a note -- is like... the dialog felt off. Like the direction for every line was "This is the most important thing ever said".

Godzilla: Final Wars (2004)

2025-10-24T00:00:00+00:00

This movie fucks.
Seriously. Odds are you haven't seen this movie yet, and you need to fix that.
It's Anime + Matrix + Power Rangers + Godzilla all in one magnificent package.
I cannot stress enough, you need to watch this movie.

Proximate, Dead Letter Dept., Without a Dawn

2025-10-13T00:00:00+00:00

Jacob Geller</a> is easily my favorite video-game essayist/critic working today. I watch all of his videos, I subscribe to his his Patreon, and I even follow his on-again/off-again podcast "Something Rotten" which is the most thoughtful -- yet "dumb guy" friendly -- critique of games.
So when Geller released his newest video "3 Games / 3 Hours / 3 Cursed Computers </a>" with the context that the three games being talked about each took ~1 hour to complete I was like:

Oh... so I can just play these right now. Before watching the video. I've never done that before... </blockquote>
So I loaded up my cart and bought:
Proximate</a></li>
Dead Letter Dept</a></li>
Without a Dawn</a></li> </ul>
Let's talk about them:
Warning 
Just watch Jacob Geller's video about these games! He is a much better writer than I am. In fact go buy his books and give him money on Patreon! We need to support the Jacob Geller's of the world! #NotSponsored </div>
Proximate</h1>
Proximate was the most mechanically interesting game of the bunch. It's a -- say it with me -- indie horror game that takes place in a sketchy under-sea research vessel. But the bit is you can't see anything, you are forced to use a headset that uses "AI" to describe your surroundings.
This means you have the following data:

What the THING is that AI thinks you're looking at.</li>
A % confidence score for that read-out.</li>
A distance meter so you know how close you are to THING.</li>
A compass so you know what direction you're looking.</li>
A waypoint marker for where you need to go/home base.</li> </ul>
This means while you're technically just staring at the word "WOMAN 48%" you know that woman is probably in a horrific scene based on the "KETCHUP 89%" and "MINCED BEEF 92%" to her left and right.
And honestly this is a genius mechanic. Just like when you read a book and fill in the details with the most horrific version of events, you fill in the details of what you're reading with horrific visuals in far grater detail than the 1-person team could probably achieve otherwise.
The game also ended with a really nice note from the developer and I just love when I play a game by a single person and they end it with "Hey thank you for playing my game and thanks to my family and friends for supporting me". It's really sweet.
Without a Dawn</h1>
Without a dawn is a piece of interactive fiction which has striking visuals and a... fine story. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing bad about the story, it's just compared to the visuals the story felt... secondary.
The visuals are an ascii shader implemented on top of what I think is pixel art that gives it a really unique style and makes what would have otherwise been a really forgettable game into something I'll be thinking about for a while. There are also options for the game like how much shimmer to add to the image, what character set, color scheme, backgrounds, etc. It almost had an "Obra Dinn" vibe but in a pixel art visual novel.
My big gripe with the story is that for most of the "go/no-go" dialog options, the "no-go" option is not real, but rather it just delays the actual choice the game forces you into. Like... literally you choose "stay" and it says some version of "Ok" then you are presented with the same choice again forever. I know that is the authors intent but it makes the presence of the choice feel cheap, like yet another game that railroads your choices, in a really transparent way. I would rather have had the "fake choice" be implemented with some sort of character movement and the game nudging you to move if you are still for too long. But I don't want to dwell too much on comparing this game to a non-existent game in my head -- I hate when critics do that.
This also ended with a little note from the developer and I also thought it was sweet. More games need to do that.
Dead Letter Dept</h1>
I did 1 run in this game and it took me ~2.5 hours so you know... not quite the quick little spooky journey I was hoping for but still relatively short.
The bit for this game, at least in my single run, is that you are a data entry person transcribing writing on letters that the postal service's computers cannot transcribe automatically. As you can imagine there are spooky letters with ominous writing/photos/context around them, environments with (as Geller describes) "The worst vibes", and some really unsettling music. You also umm... fall into madness. At least that was how my run went. Yippee.
The visuals of this, similar to the other two games, has a very degraded digital camera look. The shader work was not nearly as interesting as Without a Dawn, but did it's job. I'm realizing though that I am really just not into the "This game looks like shit and it's hard to see anything" aesthetic of a lot that a lot of indie horror games go for. It works and it's doing exactly what it's setting out to do, but just feels gimmicky to me.
I liked the "typing game" mechanic and was pleasantly surprised at how fleshed out the rest of the world was, walking through the world to commute to work for example. I was expecting more of a "Papers Please" thing where you just "arrive" at work every day but no you actually have to go to work.
I'm sure if I did another run or two I would have more to say since it's a "different every run" type of game but I feel like I got what I will out of it.

... </blockquote>
... is what I thought before I watched Jacob Geller's video! Geller pointed out that you can address letters to your apartment -- intentionally. And you will receive them the next day!
I of course knew this because the game prompts you with a letter with your address on the second day and you receive it on the third morning -- but it never occurred to me that I could you know... lie to the computer.
I did a second run where I sent every letter to myself. I would suggest not doing this as I was promptly fired.
So while there are 10 (I think?) endings I am content with my 2 for now. I don't really need to get all the endings in "Spooky Stanley Parable" right now, but I appreciate it much more after the context added by a wonderful video essay which, I would like to remind you, you should have watched instead of reading this post.

Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S

2025-10-12T00:00:00+00:00

This one felt like the sequel to Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla.
It's also setting in that Godzilla used to be very pro-Japan, and every problem was solved by Japan just being an industry powerhouse. Now it's at least Japan-skeptical with the industrious power being mighty but flawed with Mechagodzilla being a thing that Japan built but which causes about as many issues as it solves.
The only thing I can think of after just watching it a few minutes ago is the after-credit scene is pretty tight.

Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (2002)

2025-10-10T00:00:00+00:00
</video>
Yeah this was pretty fun.
Godzilla against Mechagodzilla felt like a proto-Pacific-Rim in that it leaned into the Mech side of things which was cool! Godzilla has been heavy on the Kaiju and light on the Mechs so this was a nice change of pace.

GMK: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001)

2025-10-06T00:00:00+00:00


Surprisingly this was one of the more interesting Godzillas.
It included a lot of little stories, almost vignettes, in the beginning which was good for pacing. For example

a nurse in a hospital sees Godzilla approaching, thinks it's going to attack her building, then it pivots away... only to have his tail whip and knock the whole building over. </blockquote>
Which brings me to my next point: A lot of people very explicitly die in this movie!
It's very explicit like "That person died" not "That person got hurt, they'll come back in the third act for the credits." So that's interesting.

What's Good #12 (September 2025)

2025-09-30T00:00:00+00:00

Getting 3rd in a Dragon Boats Race</h1>

My main social/physical activity is Dragon Boats. Two or three times a week I bike to the Portland water front and meet up with ~20 other paddlers, stretch, get on a boat, and paddle a big boat around and it's super fun!
Flappy Bird (with rewind)</h1>
I released a game very early in the month called Flappy Bird (with rewind)</a>. It's free to play and runs in your browser so check it out!
Blue Prince</h1>

Blue Prince is a really interesting rogue-like(-ish) mansion builder. This is maybe the first game Lucy and I have played together because she was really interested and for some reason it's not on Switch (!?!?) so she had to play with me on the Steam Deck!
We played for ~15 hours together, which is impressive given that this is the first time we've played a videogame together. The puzzles are really interesting and I genuinely felt like I got something new out of every run, unlocking new info every iteration.
Now for the less good parts... I had to quit well before we were done. My stamina for long games has never been strong and when every run is 30-60 minutes and only produces maybe one piece of information in a game that has no clear path to completion... I start to existentially question if this is the best use of my time. On top of that a lot of the game presents what are, in my opinion, red herrings; dates that aren't the solution to a puzzle, props that are just for decoration, a third thing. A good puzzle game has very little on top of the mechanics of the puzzle, and those things that are "just set dressing" should be clearly messaged as such, but in this game everything feels like it's saying "Look at me! I'm a clue!" and it's exhausting.
Over all, if you like puzzle games you will probably enjoy Blue Prince. It's especially good for couples who want to play together as there is a lot of room to brainstorm and discuss strategy! The randomness can be frustrating, but if you are used to rogue-like elements it won't be that bad. If you've had a bad run in Balatro it's no worse than that.
Everything Must Go</h1>

I listened to the audiobook version of Everything Must Go</a> by Dorian Lynskey this month and enjoyed it! He does a good job of covering a lot of the breadth and history of "end of the world" stories without you know... being a massive bummer.
Gotham City: Year One</h1>

Gotham City: Year One</a> is a straight up good noir story that happens to be a prequel to Batman. If you like the Noir genre you'll enjoy this read.
Batman: Hush</h1>

Batman: Hush</a> reminds me a lot of Batman: The Long Halloween</a>. It spans over 12 issues, hits on most of the star villains, and has some twist at the end that it's building up to. I prefer Long Halloween, but Hush was a solid story with an interesting romance plot and taught me a bit more about the character(s) of Robin than I expected to learn.
Godzillas</h1>
Godzilla T-Shirt</h2>

I commissioned a t-shirt! I had the idea for a shirt with a kickass Godzilla collage on the front and a "band tour" list of all Godzilla movies on the back. Coincidentally Blake Hester, of Something Rotten Podcast</a> Fame -- among other things, designs t-shirts and announced on Bluesky that he was accepting commissions. I slid into his dm's and he accepted the project! A few weeks later I had the designs, found a local printer (willing to print copyright material) and got a small order! I'm sending this to folks participating in the Godzilla weekly movie thing, but I have a few extra so if you're interested email me at godzilla@elijah.run (yes that is a real email that goes to my inbox).
Godzilla 1998</h2>

Here's a controversial statement: Godzilla 1998 is pretty good. It's not a good Godzilla movie, it's more of a Jurassic Park/Aliens knock-off, but it's a really good knock-off! The jokes land, it's not distractingly 90's in it's you know misogyny, and the practical effects hold up really well.
Godzilla 2000 Millennium</h2>

Godzilla 2000 Millennium felt... off. Like Toho was going through the motions on this one. The story was uninspired re-using a surprising number of elements from previous films like space ships that turn into Kaiju and the Defense Force trying yet again to kill Godzilla even though that has literally never come close to working since the first movie.
Godzilla vs. Megaguirus</h2>

My only takeaway from this is that using a BLACK HOLE to kill Godzilla is the most metal weapon used in these movies to date.
Also the camera work is generally closer to the action which is a nice change from previous titles. The fights feel more intimate as a result.
GMK: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack</h2>

I liked that there were a lot of little vignettes in this movie.
Also a weird theme of people dying. Not like... maybe off-screen dying, there's a lot of people standing around, then a giant tail swiping or foot stomping them. Not dark, and rarely addressed explicitly, but definitely notable.
The Backlog</h1>
I also started a project called The Backlog</a>. It's the public version of a private backlog I've kept in Obsidian for a few months now, but I figure to build the habit of writing I would start publishing the little notes I jot down after I finish something.
I am already overwhelmed at the number of games and tv shows I want to watch...

Batman: Hush (2003)

2025-09-26T00:00:00+00:00

Another great "meet the classic villians -- with a twist" Batman series. Similar to "The Long Halloween", maybe one notch below on the tier list.
The ultimate bad guy is a complex mastermind and a good addition to the roster and I am excited to read more stories with him included.
The romance between Batman and Cat Woman is... interesting. I like that a romantic relationship a new type of relationship for Batman which forced him to be vulnerable. Did that relationship have to be romantic to achieve the same vulnerable result? Probably not. Was it worse because it was romantic? Honestly no. It was fine.

Toddler Dad

2025-09-17T00:00:00+00:00

Mike never considered himself an especially clean guy. He wasn't messy, but he certainly wasn't a neat freak. But when Mike had two kids, a toddler and a newborn, he found that his shoulders would tense and his breathing would shorten when the house was just a little too cluttered.
Now even with a supportive spouse/co-parent two little kids is no walk in the park -- and walks in the park are harrowing if you forget snacks. So Mike was used to staying in motion most hours of the day, from getting up at 6am to chasing the toddler at the park and rocking baby to nap until finally putting them to bed at 8pm.
But even with a quiet house (ignoring the noise machine that had probably outlived it's usefulness) Mike couldn't relax because just enough was out of place that he couldn't quiet his mind. So before kicking back and cracking open a cold seltzer water he did a cleaning pass at each room, picking things up off the floor, hanging up coats, sorting shoes, and either washing or putting away dishes.
Although Mike hadn't taken a dance class since he was in middle school, when he thought it would get him closer to a girl, he would glide from room to room waltzing left and right, round and round. He would reach a sort of state between calm flow, checking things off his list, and terminator targeting and eliminating enemies if his psyche.
This was how he ended most days; picking things up until he felt at ease. Maybe just the act of picking things up was good enough, maybe it didn't even matter how clean things got, just that he had left things better than he found it. After a day of work and family time, sometimes Mike just needed 10 or 20 minutes to himself and that was all it took to fill his cup.
The end.

🐦 flappy bird (with rewind)⏳

2025-09-01T00:00:00+00:00
</source> </video>

free (in-browser): popgame.itch.io/flappy</a></li>
tools: bevy</a> (engine), avian</a> (physics), blender</a> (visuals)</li>
developed: july - august 2025, released: september 2025</li> </ul>
Around June of 2025 I decided to focus on making many small games by copying existing ideas and adding a fun twist. Flappy Bird</a> came to mind as a simple game to start with, and because I was playing Braid, Anniversery Edition</a> the idea of using rewind in some way came about naturally. I was especially interested because rewind seemed easy to implement given the limited mechanics and I was genuinely curious if it would make the game more or less fun.

about

2025-08-31T00:00:00+00:00

Hi 👋. My name is Elijah and you're reading the "about" page on my website!
A bunch of "I" statements:

... live in Portland Oregon with my wife, two kids, and a dog</li>
... write code and press buttons in the cloud for a living</li>
... graduated from Oregon State University -- go beavs</li>
... write little videogames games in Rust with bevy</li>
... take and develop film photographs</li>
... paddle on a dragon boat team</li>
... talk about my cargo bike a lot</li> </ul>
My riff on Barack Obama's actual twitter bio</a> would go something like:

Dad, husband, platform engineer, rustacean. </blockquote>
contact</h2>

Email me: root@elijah.run</code></li>
Ping me on Bluesky: @elijah.run</code></li> </ul>
What's Good #11 (August 2025) 2025-08-31T00:00:00+00:00 Hmm. This looks different... did the website get a haircut? Lucy's fancy film digitizing thing</h1> Lucy bought a scanlight</a> for digitizing film negatives. At first I thought this was a waste of $150 since we had a totally fine LED lightboard that cost like $20 from Amazon. Boy was I wrong. The scanlight webpage (linked above) is very thorough about how it works, so I won't go into that -- something something a good light mixture and no LED lines. So I'll just just show you a side-by-side of the same picture digitized using the scanlight vs a cheap LED lightboard: left: scanlight. right: cheap lightboard. Note the reds on my ear come through a lot better on the scanlight. </blockquote> And here is a zoomed in version: left: scanlight. right: cheap lightboard. Note the lack of vertical lines where the LEDs are on the lightboard. </blockquote> I definitely thought these scan lines were just an artifact of like... how the chemicals were put on the film -- nope! That was totally just an artifact of the lightboard and there are better options. Braid Anniversary Edition</h1> I really wish more people played this game. At ~2 hours Braid is a nice indie title with some really good puzzles. Braid respects the player's time by having no filler; each level explores a new idea and teaches the player something new. At ~17 hours Braid: Anniversary Edition is the most comprehensive videogame commentary every created. I'm serious this goes into every level, every little decision, explores ideas they didn't do and even makes those into little interactive levels. It also includes ~25 NEW LEVELS that are hard as fuck. It's also beautifully crafted with amazing painted moving backgrounds! If you like puzzles games, you should play Braid. If you are interested in how games get made, you should play the Anniversary Edition. Comics</h1> Superior Spider-Man (2014)</h2> Doctor Octopus body-swaps with Spider-Man, then Doc-Oc's body (with Peter Parker inside) dies! It is also a good reflection on having empathy for your enemies. But right before he dies, Peter Parker (as Doc-Oc) instills the "With great power..." speech to Doc Oc (in Peter Parker's body) and it works! Doc Oc/Superior Spider-Man tries to be a good guy and honestly in many ways succeeds. Crime is going down, he's got time for friends and family, things are great. But of course Doc Oc's criminal tendencies start to seep through and by the end Spider-Man is kind of a super villain with henchmen and everything! Superior Spider-Man is a big comic book. Like the compendium I have is thick with ~40 issues wrapped up into one book. Superior is not an objectively good story, but for a main-line Spider-Man it's exceptional. The current run of Amazing Spider-Man is still referencing things that happened in this run over a decade ago. And honestly the bar is so low for Marvel stories, I was blown away at the complexity of this run. Kaiju Score</h2> What can I say, I like Kaiju. This is a heist that takes place during a Kaiju invasion/attack. It's a very sugary heist story, meaning it stretches that itch but doesn't do much else. Which is ok! The Nice House on the Lake</h2> Wow this was a sleeper for me. This is such well executed mystery horror and I am here for it. It's the kind of story that begs you to pay attention to details, flip back between pages, and put clues together. That said if you just blast through it like I did you'll still enjoy the twists and turns. Not All Robots</h2> Not All Robots is a good reflection not only on the obvious themes of automation, but also how a post-scarcity society can be bad if the means of production is owned by an elite few. I'm not sure why, but it also felt a bit like Alan Moore's "Top 10" comic... take that with a grain of salt though. I really have no idea why I got that vibe. Movies</h1> 17 Pages</h2> 17 pages is the best demonstration of bias I have ever seen in media. You are told one side of a story, then surprise there is a part 2! You start that second part thinking "Well there is no way I'm going to be convinced of... hmm... that's actually a compelling point..." I have been subscribed to Nebula for a few years because I'm not nerd video essay YouTube. It really depends on what you're interested in if Nebula "pays for itself" especially since most of the videos are on YouTube, so if you have YouTube Premium, or you use an ad-blocker, it's a similar experience. That said, if you are interested in seeing this, subscribe for a month and watch it. On top of being a well constructed documentary (Bobby Broccoli always does good stuff) this had improved visuals and production value. I'm excited to see what BB does next! Weapons (2025)</h2> Weapons is on par with Get Out in instant modern horror classics. I gasped in appropriately loud a few times in the theater and I felt uneasy most of the movie -- in a good way! The story telling device of each chapter focusing on a different character was really good at setting up mysteries and then paying them off. Bullet Train</h2> This was one of the movies I've been watched while rowing and it is so fun. The action is really well executed, the characters are fun and quippy, and the intensity is well paced. Similar to "Fall Guy", I love original action movies like this that are little action capsules. Godzilla vs King Ghidorah</h2> This is the first and possibly only Godzilla movie to use time travel, and for that I have to put it near the top of Godzilla movies. Definitely not S or A tier but solid B or C+ tier. They do a time travel, get rid of Godzilla, but then -- say it with me: Aliens Mind Control a Kaiju. Well not Aliens, this time it's humans from the future, but same diff. So to fight this new kaiju threat we have to bring Godzilla back by nuking a dinosaur. This is a very silly one. Worth the watch. Godzilla vs Mothra (1992)</h2> The real monster is Climate Change. And the REAL monster is us for making Climate Change. The special effects with the... Fairies(?) is much improved! I love watching the history of budget special effects evolve throughout these movies. Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla II (1993)</h2> I'm just going to share my stream of consiounce notes I took during this film: So there's an giant Kaiju egg in a hillside that gets discovered when a storm does some erosion. Unlike previous eggs this does not get turned into an amusement park attraction but is instead studied for science. During said science they piece together that the egg glows red when it is scared, and it is not scared when a specific female scientist is around. Yes this is a Mecha Godzilla movie. Anyway Mecha Godzilla and Godzilla fight. Mecha loses. The egg hatches and apparently this is a baby Godzilla -- but this is not Manilla, this is a different vegan baby Godzilla. The anti Godzilla airplane is brought back after being shelved previously, both decisions being pretty haphazard. They study baby Godzilla and find a second brain in it's butt, and extrapolate that Godzilla also has a butt brain. So they decide to fight Godzilla again with Super Mecha (Mechagodzilla + the airplane) but this time aim at Godzilla's butt. They almost win, but then Rodan -- did I mention Rodan is also here? -- flies in, dies on Godzilla, turns into energy glitter, causing Godzilla to go super sayan totally destroying Super Mecha but conveniently not the crew because screen cast doesn't die. </blockquote> So yeah... not perfect but pretty fun. Godzilla vs SpaceGodzilla (1994)</h2> Growing up I played an awesome fighting game where you played as different Godzilla Kaiju. It may have been "Godzilla: Save the Earth" or one of the other games in that series. I distinctly remember playing as Mechagodzilla, Godzilla (classic), and my favorite character: SpaceGodzilla! The Kaiju felt so distinct in their fighting styles and it was (to a 9 year old's sensibilities) a kickass fighting game. Anyway Space Godzilla was a total snooze fest for me save for one awesome mech scene at the end. My notes include: Everybody is super chill around baby Godzilla.</li> Baby Godzilla is way better designed than Minilla (Son of Godzilla).</li> If the entire Japanese Defense Force can't take down Godzilla why does one man on an island think he can...</li> SpaceGodzilla's origin is from way back in Biollante??</li> OK the mechs combining is awesome and very Power Rangers.</li> </ul> Next month: Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)</li> Godzilla (1998)</li> Godzilla 2000: Millennium (1999)</li> Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (2000)</li> GMK: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001)</li> </ul> What's Good #10 (July 2025) 2025-07-31T00:00:00+00:00 2 Year Birthday Party</h1> This month one of my boys turned two and it was fun! We threw a block party -- which is apparently just a thing you can do!? Fill out a form, pay a fee, print some signs that say "Road Closed" and you're set! Apparently we also know somebody that knows somebody that got us a friggen FIRE TRUCK WITH REAL FIRE FIGHTERS to show up. I will never love anything as much as a group of little boys love fire trucks. I spent nearly an entire roll of film just capturing the excitement. Despite being brutally hot at over 95F -- it was a blast. We had pizza, gelato, and a splash pad. The kids didn't mind it was so hot, and a bunch of people showed up! Books</h1> When the Moon Hits Your Eye (2025)</h2> Another very fun Scalzi romp in which the moon turns to cheese and the world goes through an existential crisis. My favorite part was two short stories toward the end: The first is about losing somebody you love and saying final goodbyes.</li> The second is about the pain of creating/writing/etc but the regret of not doing so.</li> </ol> These both stand up on their own for me as solid stand-alone short stories and touch very little on the whimsical premise of the novel. Fun characters, solid premise, quick read. How to Talk so Little Kids Will Listen (2017, Audiobook)</h2> As mentioned above, I am responsible for a two year old boy which is... challenging. Thankfully I have read this book and now I have TONS to tools to help! I recommend this to anybody with, or about to come in long term contact with, a very young person. The book prioritized recognizing, acknowledging, and leading with feelings which so far has been really effective! Kids are having a tough time, just making sure they feel like you know where they're coming from leads to a lot of good communication. I have started using this script and it is shockingly effective: (Kid having tantrum) Dang. You really want to do X. X is really fun and you love doing it! I also want you to do X! The problem is, we need to do Y because of Z. (Kid magically gets better) </blockquote> Try it out! Games</h1> Kentucky Route Zero (2020)</h2> After years I have finally finished KRZ and like... wow. I love it. It's an amazing game in so many ways, but also challenging like a dense novel. The world is rich and imaginative and full of mystical realism. It's clearly crafted with love and feels like a work of art in a way that so few games achieve. If haven't yet, you should take a trip to The Zero. You won't regret it. Split Fiction (2025)</h2> On the totally different end of the spectrum we have Split Fiction! My friend and I played this as part of our co-op games we play every week. If you've ever played a Hazelight game (It Takes Two, A Way Out, Brothers) you know what you're in for: Solid game design, interesting co-op puzzles, and just one or two infuriating platforming levels that I JUST CAN'T GET RIGHT DANGIT! My favorite part: they saved the best for last. That's right you're going to play an entire amazing game and then they're going to BLOW YOUR MIND in the last 20 minutes. ... not to hype it up too much. Movies</h1> Superman (2025)</h2> It's solid! Superman fights bad guys, struggles, is superman. Also he's pro-Palestine -- hell yeah! Godzillas</h2> This month we experienced a HUGE jump in Godzilla between the 70s and 80s Godzilla took almost a 10 year hiatus! But he's back and although the movies feel slightly more modern it's the same Kaiju we love at it again. Godzilla vs Megalon (1973)</h3> The hi-light of Megalon was the introduction of Jet Jaguar! A character I knew and who felt very familiar thanks to my upbringing on Power Rangers</a> and Beatleborgs</a>. This was a welcome surprise. Honestly I don't remember much about the Kaiju. Besides that this movie had bitchin' car chases, a crazy house, and continued the running theme of scientists using million-dollar equipment in their personal time. Science was just different in the 50's, 60's, and 70's I guess. Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla (1974)</h3> Mechagodzilla is a classic. When I mention Godzilla folks usually say "Oh yeah like Gidorah and Mechagodzilla". That said... this entry was... mid if for no other reason than THE ALIENS ARE MIND CONTROLLING THE KAIJU AGAIN!!! WHEN WILL THEY LEARN! That said it in the final fight scene Godzilla becomes magnetic and I love that because power creep rocks. Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)</h3> This is a totally forgettable entry BECAUSE THE ALIENS CONTROL THE KAIJU -- AGAIN!! The movie does start with a recap of the ending fight scene from the last movie which I did like. It's a nice way to catch you up on where the story is and makes the movies feel more connected and less like a Kaiju sitcom. ... and then Godzilla (the series) fucked off for 9 years... Return of Godzilla (1984)</h3> This movie was more confusing than anything for me: Godzilla is the bad guy? I thought kids loved him! And he fought off the other bad Kaiju!</li> Wait where are the other Kaiju? Were the last 15 movies even canon??</li> There is a nuclear threat that just... resolves 20 minutes before the end of the movie.</li> The magic solution machine made Godzilla sleepy -- wait didn't they already do that?</li> Godzilla still destroys Tokyo.</li> </ul> It feels like a reboot which I guess it sort of is. The characters mention the original Godzilla movies in the 50s (as events in their world, not movies -- they're not THAT meta) but none of the other stories after that which is fair... it's a lot. Godzilla vs Biollante (1989)</h3> We're back baby. This is a classic Godzilla story if I've ever seen one. Godzilla fights a genetic clone if himself -- but plant! Honestly it just rocks visually: And then ends with this very on the nose message to the viewer... Next month's Godzillas</a>: Godzilla vs King Ghidorah (1991)</li> Godzilla vs Mothra (1992)</li> Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla II (1993)</li> Godzilla vs SpaceGodzilla (1994)</li> </ul> How I use typst 2025-07-17T00:00:00+00:00 This week I re-wrote my resume</a> in typst</a>. Old</a>: New</a>: Can you tell the difference? No? Excellent! Since graduating college I don't write a lot of LaTeX, but so far I prefer typst! 😧 typst is not (just) a better LaTeX</h1> I posted some first impressions on Bluesky</a>: LaTeX being compatible with TeX makes it feel like the C++ of typesetting; a rich ecosystem with lots of bloat. typst not being constrained in that way makes it feel like the Zig of typesetting; smaller ecosystem but a much smoother writing experience.— Elijah Voigt (@elijah.run</a>) July 14, 2025 at 1:25 PM</a></blockquote>

elijah.run

What's Good #17

Solitaire

In This Economy?: How Money & Markets Really Work by Kyla Scanlon (Audiobook)

Shell game

Indika (2024)

Orange World and Other Stories (Karen Russell, 2019)

Strange Pictures (Uketsu, 2022)

What If...? (2021 - 2024)

What's Good #16 (January 2026)

The Beginner's Guide (2015)

Pluribus (2025)

Dispatch (2025)

The Boys (2019-2016)

The Entropy Centre

What's Good #15 (December 2025)

Media Mono-Tasking

It's not quite that simple</h2> I mean you totally could just do that, but you'd spend a lot of time driving in silence because you started playing Elden Ring and it's good but you're really bad</em> at souls-likes.</p>

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire

Sinners

Godzilla Minus One

Godzilla vs Kong

Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Priestdaddy (2017)

What's Good #14 (November 2025)

Mission Impossible: Dead & Final Reckoning</h1> </p>

Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle</h3> City on the Edge of Battle actually worked for me. The characters has time to grow and develop, it almost felt more like Aliens. The final scene was super epic and the movie's take on Mecha-Godzilla was trippy.</p>

Godzilla: Planet of Monsters/City on the Edge of Battle/The Planet Eater (2017-2018)

Elechead (2021) & Öoo (2025)

Sky the Scraper (2025)

Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning/The Final Reckoning (2023/2025)

Jusant (2023)

Peak (2025)

Shin Godzilla (2016)

Voyager-19 (2024)

Godzilla (2014)

What's Good #13 (October 2025)

No Kings Part II</h1> </p>

Proximate, Dead Letter Dept., Without a Dawn</h1> </p>

Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla</h2> </p> Main takeaway: lots of explicit death in this one. Never really addressed, but you definitely notice the change in mood.</p>

Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.</h2> </p> This is just a mech film with Godzilla. Also lots of people explicitly dying, weird theme.</p>

Godzilla: Final Wars</h2> </p> You probably haven't seen this one yet, but you should!</p> This is the first Godzilla movie in a very long time</em> that I am suggesting to friends and family.</p> It's like The Matrix + Power Rangers + Godzilla in one whacky package!</p>

Godzilla (2014)</h2> </p> I liked this one!</p> The camera work was grounded which really sold the scale of Godzilla in ways never seen before -- I can say that because I've seen all the other ones!</p> It's like Cloverfield + 2010's era disaster movies + Godzilla in one exciting package!</p>

Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025)

Godzilla: Final Wars (2004)

Proximate, Dead Letter Dept., Without a Dawn

Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S

Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (2002)

GMK: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001)

What's Good #12 (September 2025)

Getting 3rd in a Dragon Boats Race</h1> </p> My main social/physical activity is Dragon Boats. Two or three times a week I bike to the Portland water front and meet up with ~20 other paddlers, stretch, get on a boat, and paddle a big boat around and it's super fun!</p>

Godzilla T-Shirt</h2> </p>

Batman: Hush (2003)

Toddler Dad

🐦 flappy bird (with rewind)⏳

about

contact</h2> Email me: root@elijah.run</code></li> Ping me on Bluesky: @elijah.run</code></li> </ul>

What's Good #11 (August 2025)

Godzilla vs Mothra (1992)</h2> </p> The real monster is Climate Change. And the REAL monster is us for making Climate Change.</p> The special effects with the... Fairies(?) is much improved! I love watching the history of budget special effects evolve throughout these movies.</p>

What's Good #10 (July 2025)

Books</h1> When the Moon Hits Your Eye (2025)</h2> </p> Another very fun Scalzi romp in which the moon turns to cheese and the world goes through an existential crisis.</p> My favorite part was two short stories toward the end:</p>

When the Moon Hits Your Eye (2025)</h2> </p> Another very fun Scalzi romp in which the moon turns to cheese and the world goes through an existential crisis.</p> My favorite part was two short stories toward the end:</p>

Games</h1>

Movies</h1>

Superman (2025)</h2> </p> It's solid! Superman fights bad guys, struggles, is superman. Also he's pro-Palestine -- hell yeah!</p>

Godzillas</h2> This month we experienced a HUGE</em> jump in Godzilla between the 70s and 80s Godzilla took almost a 10 year hiatus! But he's back and although the movies feel slightly</em> more modern it's the same Kaiju we love at it again.</p>

How I use typst

Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle</h3>
City on the Edge of Battle actually worked for me. The characters has time to grow and develop, it almost felt more like Aliens. The final scene was super epic and the movie's take on Mecha-Godzilla was trippy.</p>

Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla</h2>
</p>
Main takeaway: lots of explicit death in this one. Never really addressed, but you definitely notice the change in mood.</p>

Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.</h2>
</p>
This is just a mech film with Godzilla. Also lots of people explicitly dying, weird theme.</p>

Godzilla: Final Wars</h2>
</p>
You probably haven't seen this one yet, but you should!</p>
This is the first Godzilla movie in a very long time</em> that I am suggesting to friends and family.</p>
It's like The Matrix + Power Rangers + Godzilla in one whacky package!</p>

Godzilla (2014)</h2>
</p>
I liked this one!</p>
The camera work was grounded which really sold the scale of Godzilla in ways never seen before -- I can say that because I've seen all the other ones!</p>
It's like Cloverfield + 2010's era disaster movies + Godzilla in one exciting package!</p>

Getting 3rd in a Dragon Boats Race</h1>
</p>
My main social/physical activity is Dragon Boats. Two or three times a week I bike to the Portland water front and meet up with ~20 other paddlers, stretch, get on a boat, and paddle a big boat around and it's super fun!</p>

contact</h2>

Email me: `root@elijah.run</code></li>`
`Ping me on Bluesky: @elijah.run</code></li> </ul>`

Godzilla vs Mothra (1992)</h2>
</p>
The real monster is Climate Change. And the REAL monster is us for making Climate Change.</p>
The special effects with the... Fairies(?) is much improved! I love watching the history of budget special effects evolve throughout these movies.</p>

Superman (2025)</h2>
</p>
It's solid! Superman fights bad guys, struggles, is superman. Also he's pro-Palestine -- hell yeah!</p>

Godzillas</h2>
This month we experienced a HUGE</em> jump in Godzilla between the 70s and 80s Godzilla took almost a 10 year hiatus! But he's back and although the movies feel slightly</em> more modern it's the same Kaiju we love at it again.</p>