What's Good #16 (January 2026)

published 2026-01-31 | tags: #whats-good

Portugal Work Trip

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

During the flights to and from that work trip I watched Pluribus.

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

I also played Dispatch 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...?

What If...? 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

I played The Beginner's Guide on the recommendation of Jacob Geller.

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)

OMSI hosts a Studio Ghibli Film Festival 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

This was a suggestion by Chris Appelhans, one of the directors of K-Pop Daemon Hunters, from Animators React. 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)

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.