An outcome we will see repeated in other countries soon enough: massive shakeups as wave elections bring in neoliberal governments masquerading as Change, who are then ideologically incapable of enacting anything that helps their voters. Happened in the USA during Obama (he maintained a high level a personal popularity, but his party crumbled around him). Happening in the UK and Germany right now.

Canada's next!

Got a bit of time with Zelda: A Link Between Worlds. Slowly working through the 3DS catalogue (it will take the rest of my life at the rate I play games these days).

Good work. This is motivating me to start working on my gutters.

It's a great look for him, honestly.

Skinamarink is unwatchable.

And yet... I do think it's an interesting piece of art, and I don't know what I would change. Those long shots in the near dark evoke the kind of dull fear that you feel being in a situation that you don't understand and doesn't feel right, but also isn't scary on it's face. Weirdly, I think it works better than Heck (which is more overtly frightening, but which I think is too "external" in it's study of the child's distress, and so is less interesting). I saw both of these before I had kids, so I'm curious what my perspective would be nowadays.

I didn't watch The Outwaters because the person who recommended it to me compared it favorably to Skinamarink, and I would rather do anything else with my evening.

I think the re-election of the Trump admin after an interregnum of "reasonable liberal governance" dealt a terminal blow to the idea that American electoralism fundamentally moderates the USA's behavior. And because Trump is throwing shit everywhere, other countries can't help but gain some first-hand experience of the downsides of that situation, and will act accordingly.

Also, the USA's internal cultural landscape is fracturing, and there is no-longer an implicit coordinate between the USA's cultural exports, and the goals of the USA's political leadership. And so, even if the USA remains a cultural export juggernaut (I think it will), that aspect of it's soft power will no longer be such a direct tool for it's leadership. And so I expect that the USA will become a lot more hard-edged in the way it interacts with the rest of the world, simply because the cultural influences will not subtly steer other country's decision making towards outcomes that the USA favors.

My spouse and I play tetris as a way to talk through things. It puts you into the perfect flow state for that, as it engages all the fidgety energy of your mind, clearing the way for conversation. I don't practice or try to git gud at Tetris, because that's not the point for me.

Gotta get as much bike and park time in with the kid before it gets cold! She's been very sweet lately, although still learning some bad habits from the other kids at daycare (shoving, hitting).

Surprisingly true to the book

I've always interpreted the character of the Lorax as being a version of Jesus who didn't have any inherent power to absolve our sins through suffering and death, and so could only save who he could before escaping to heaven and leaving behind a fundamentally doomed world.

I played MGS1 for the first time a couple of years ago, and I thought it slapped. The aesthetics are impeccable, and it's more playable than I thought (though you have to moderate your expectations, especialy for certain boss sequences). The begining sections are good, try it out, and if you're not vibing with it just bail.

A reminder that the right-wing takeover of all American movie makers is happening because Flyboys was such a flop that David Ellison had to pivot away from acting into media mogulry.