Updates Weekly
I asked ChatGPT to write its own Onion-style article with the same title as what I published yesterday.
Make your own judgement on how it did, and continue on if you’d like to read my thoughts.1Disclaimer: I commit the cardinal sin of explaining a joke later on in this post.
Continue reading “Review: ChatGPT’s Satirical Ability”That’s right, I’ll be the first to put down my foot and say The Lord of the Rings is actually really good.
Continue reading “The Lord of the Rings is Good”I went to a show by the Secret Improv Society this past weekend, which performs in an odd theater building near Union Square. It’s only the second time I’ve been to a professional improv performance, and I was struck by how special the experience is.
Continue reading “Intimacy of Improv”At my friend Jack’s wedding a few weeks ago, someone showed me Joel Haver. He’s an independent filmmaker, working mostly on YouTube. He does a short film every week, with his animations making the biggest splash. However, his live action work is fantastic, with dry humor that sits perfectly with me. After binging his work over a couple of weeks, I sat down last weekend and watched one of his several feature-length movies, Pretend That You Love Me. It’s a very different style, yet beautifully done. I recommend any of his work, but I’d suggest to start with his animations, then choose a few live-action shorts that catch your eye. You won’t be disappointed.
I adore Mario Kart. I first played Double Dash at a friend’s house in elementary school. Soon after, my older sister was gifted a Nintendo DS and I would ask to borrow it as often as I could to play Mario Kart on it.1Also, Guitar Hero DS; we bought the fancy button attachment and “pick” stylus. As a young kid, I never got the hang of five buttons, so that version of Guitar Hero really worked for me. Once I moved to San Diego, I gifted myself a Nintendo Switch and have put hundreds of hours into Mario Kart 8. The first set of Booster Pass courses came out a couple of weeks ago, and I really want to talk about them.
Continue reading “Mario Kart 8 Booster Pass”Erin and I are working on tighter budgeting, eating out less, all that good stuff. We’ve been pretty good since coming home after Christmas. Going out to eat has become something we plan and budget for; it should be an event, not an excuse to not cook on a lazy night.
To that end, for Valentine’s weekend, we booked ourselves two dining experiences.
Continue reading “Extravagant Dining”I finally bought a couple Subtle Notebooks from Cortex Brand. I won’t go into their whole deal; I’d like to just focus on this particular product.
I’m a notebook hoarder. I’ve always enjoyed having journals around, with different shapes, paper types, and cover styles. Admittedly, many of these are still blank, or only partially filled. Some of them have a specific use-case that has run its course (or has been extensively delayed), while others are too nice, too boring, or just don’t feel quite right for some things I have in mind.
I’ve had a few cheap moleskin notebooks I bought for work, and they have been slowly filled with notes, bits of math, and quick reminders. They’ve been great. However, my others have been languishing. I’m not a huge fan of lined paper for general note-taking, and it feels wrong to use, for example, an Italian leather journal gifted to me by my sister for random notes during a podcast.
Yet, I still bought two subtle notebooks after I saw my fiance had one. Its stitching makes it lay flat incredibly well, the cover is a pleasing soft-touch, and it has dot-grid paper which has become my favorite type over the past five years, eclipsing my previous preference for blank. After a few weeks of sitting on my desk, untouched, I finally decided they would be my writing journals. I would sketch out ideas, make any notes, or be a receptacle when typing into a computer doesn’t feel quite right.
It’s worked perfectly in this role. I’ll walk around with it in my backpack, and leave it open on my desk. While it’s a bit on the expensive side, and I can be reasonably served by other products, the fit and finish is superb, in particular the thicker paper that works with any pen I use, and how well it lays flat. So, the increased price is worth it to me, given how slowly I move through notebooks. If you’re in the market, give it a shot.
I recently discovered the Tin Can Bros, which I would consider an offshoot from StarKid Productions, the makers of, among other things, A Very Potter Musical.
It’s exciting to come across more genuinely hilarious musical theater. I’m no musical buff, but I enjoy comedy with a modern twist. Anything by either group is worth a watch. They remind me very much of what my friend Tim Radermacher’s style, and I love having more of that in my life. And if you’re not a fan of musicals, check out their Wayward Guide video series.