elijah.run - What's Good: 2024

What's good: December 2024

2024-12-27T00:00:00+00:00

"Friend's Art" House Show</h1>

My wonderful wife Lucy had the genius idea of inviting our friends to show their artwork at our home! None of our friends are professional artists, at least not in the medium they were showing, which made the event really fun!
We had a great showing too! Folks shared a variety of ARTifacts:

Photography from a class taken years ago</li>
Sketches from a class taken recently</li>
Stamps they just got into making (all fall-themed)</li>
A poem made for the event</li>
A piano cover many months in the works</li>
I used the deadline to light a fire under my ass to make a small game.</li> </ul>
It was really nice that everybody was able to share a piece of themselves that doesn't come up often and which is usually (at best) just hanging up at their home. It was an open invitation to share a part of yourself you have put time and effort into, but don't usually feel you can brag or show off without it being an "all-eyes-on-me-big-deal" thing.
If this sounds fun you should try it!

Invite your friends to submit art</li>
Collect the art a few days before the event</li>
Install the art in your home; hang on walls, etc.</li>
Acquire charcuterie and wine (make it feel like a fancy art opening)</li>
Enjoy!</li> </ol>
Ubik</h1>

Ubik</a> is a novel by Philip K. Dick which somehow I had never heard of but I absolutely loved.
The premise is that in the far future of... (checks notes) 1992 we have flying cars, regular trips to Moon colonies, and micro-transactions in real life. We also have a way to extend life in a half-living state called Half Life (no relation to physics or the video game), and people with mental powers like mind reading and predicting the future exist -- also people who can cancel those powers out.
The premise is fun and includes a bunch of themes I really like including time-travel-adjacent plots and a dubiously trustworthy narrator.

Ubik was a recommendation from a friend who lent me the book which I really appreciated! It was nice to talk about the book and the next day start reading (as opposed to waiting for the library copy that was a few weeks out). </blockquote>
In the Miso Soup</h1>

In the Miso Soup</a> is a psychological horror novel by Ryu Murakami which I really enjoyed! The way the novel builds tension, then releases it, and then uhh... has an entire third part was very exciting! I don't read a lot of horror but this made me want to get into the genre.

This book was reading for a podcast I follow called Something Rotten</a>. Usually the hosts talk about Video Games, but they clearly want to talk about books so I'm glad they are doing a book-club season! </blockquote>
Absolute Batman (ongoing)</h1>

Absolute Batman</a> is an ongoing (as of December 2024) Batman series part of the Absolute Universe</a>. The other Absolute's do not quite click for me, but Absolute Batman is my jam. Batman is poor and scrappy and Alfred is a bad-ass international spy dude and it all rocks.
The art is by Nick Dragotta</a> who you would remember from East of West</a> -- and yes he can only draw one old man but that's OK because now that old man is Alfred and he looks like a BAMF.
Sonic The Hedgehog 3</h1>

Sonic is the only movie series I actually go to the theater to watch. Not Marvel, not Nolan's films like Oppenheimer, just Sonics 1, 2, and now 3. So trust me when I say Sonic 3 is the best Sonic so far.
As always the film is nothing without Jim Carrey. Don't get me wrong, I love Ben Schwartz but let's be real... this is the only Carrey-being-carrey movie we've gotten since uhh... Dumb and Dumber To? Enjoy the gem (pun intended) that is Jim Carrey as Doctor Robotnik.

What's good: November 2024

2024-11-30T00:00:00+00:00

So. Much. Batman.</h1>
This month a friend of mine shared that they weren't really into comics except for Batman. I have been reading a lot of comics recently (I'll write a post about my backlog journey sometime) and I realized I have never read a batman comic. No joke, just never picked one up. I've played games, watched movies, but never engaged with the source material.
This month I changed that. Let's get into it.
Batman: Year One</h2>

As the title suggests, this is the classic origin Batman origin story. Great place to start if you want to get into Batman.
Batman: The Long Halloween</h2>

This was a perfect follow-up to Year One. It reads more like a noir story and less like a super-hero comic, which I liked.
Also the cape is a character. Not in the literal sense, but visually it is striking.
Batman: The White Knight</h2>

This is more current era compared to the Year One and Long Halloween. It served as an interesting introduction for me to The Joker and Harley Quinn(s).
Toontown Rewritten</h1>

Besides Batman I got into a little MMO called Toontown Rewritten</a>.

Yes. That Toontown</a>. The one from the early 2000's. </blockquote>
Toontown Rewritten is amazing. I have no idea how it got made, but it's an entirely community made, free to play, micro-transaction-free MMO in the year of our lord 2024. HOW??
It is fun, free, and a whimsical experience. You should check it out!

What's good: October 2024

2024-10-31T00:00:00+00:00

October was a pretty good month for my media diet -- so good in fact I was inspired to start blogging about all the good stuff I'm enjoying!
Comics: Rare Flavors</h1>

Rare Flavors</a> is so goddamn good. The pastel colors, history spanning story, and love of it's culinary subject make for a short and sweet story I think everybody should read. In fact I've already given a copy to a comics-loving friend and my comics-loving dad.
I read a lot of comics this month, making a modest dent in my 200+ issue backlog (not including trade paperbacks, we'll get to those... later). My big takeaway from "the backlog" is that Image</a> puts out bangers.
If you're in Portland check out my go-to comics shop: Books With Pictures</a>!
Tech: ScreenZen</h1>

Thanks to ScreenZen</a> I have finally broken my addiction to YouTube, an app I use so much I have been a Premium subscriber since it was called "YouTube Red". I would recommend it to anybody that wants to spend less time on their phone, or in my case just less time on certain apps. And hey it's free and doesn't have ads which feels insane in 2024.
ScreenZen is similar to Android's built-in "digital wellbeing timer" but works better for me because it stops you before you open an app as well as limits your over-all usage. You can set custom timers when an app starts, so you have to wait say 30 seconds before you can actually use an app, as well as per-session timers and sessions-per-day. This hooks into the dopamine loop much earlier so instead of getting a few minutes of excitement first, and then just upping the timer because its like 2 taps (why is it so easy to do that?), you are forced to sit there... waiting... looking at your reflection in the screen... then after 30 seconds admit you were just trying to avoid a few seconds of boredom -- which of course devolves into 20 minutes of scrolling on the toilet -- but that time has passed so do you really need to scroll? No. You're free now. Clean up and get on with your day.
So yeah ScreenZen has been awesome.
Video: Dropout.tv</h1>

Dropout shows like Make! Some! Noise!</a> and Game Changer</a> have become my new "Internet TV" of choice and I love it. The production value is on-par with legacy TV, the talent is talenting, and there's shows for many tastes.
I wouldn't say every show on Dropout is for everybody, I've bounced off of a few of their running series, but if you like comedy game shows/tabletop role-playing games there is something on Dropout for you. They have a wide array of genres and they put out new stuff across a few shows every week. Oh and they have all of the old CollegeHumor skits which is like... infinite internet nostalgia.
Support indie streaming services!
Music: Spotify</h1>
After holding out for about 10 years, I finally caved and started using Spotify and honestly it's been pretty nice.
Once I did the exhausting task of manually importing all of my liked songs from -- don't cancel me -- YouTube Music, the algorithm has a pretty good idea of what I liked. Playlists like Discovery Weekly are a good balance between risky and safe choices, shared DJing is a really seamless experience during events, and best of all I don't feel judged when I have to say "I don't use Spotify, can you just tell me the name of the song so I can listen to it."
It's not all sunshine and rainbows though. I really wish Spotify's performance on Android was better; using the app for more than 20 minutes caused to crash twice during "the great liked songs import". I also still believe YouTube Music has a more comprehensive collection, remix albums like Girl Talk's "All Day</a>" and My Sick Uncle's "500 Days of Wheezy</a>" being notable absences from Spotify.

elijah.run - What's Good: 2024

What's good: December 2024

In the Miso Soup</h1> </p>

What's good: November 2024

Batman: The White Knight</h2> </p> This is more current era compared to the Year One and Long Halloween. It served as an interesting introduction for me to The Joker and Harley Quinn(s).</p> Toontown Rewritten</h1> </p>

Toontown Rewritten</h1> </p>

What's good: October 2024

Comics: Rare Flavors</h1> </p>