feat: another project reorg
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Devin Haska
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126 changed files with 57 additions and 8 deletions
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---
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title: Astrophysics for People in a Hurry
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author: Neil deGrasse Tyson
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date: 2020-06-01
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isbn: 9780393609394
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rating: 2
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image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/astro-in-hurry.jpeg
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---
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I found it hard to follow at times. It felt like it couldn't decide if it wanted to be a beginners or an advanced book. I have more than a passing fancy when it comes to astrophysics, but sometimes the pure information-dump was just too much. There was a lot of process, and some of it I just plain didn't get. I would still push Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time as a primer into the world of astrophysics (and everything in-between). Still, I feel like it serves as a catalyst for more learning.
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---
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title: Atomic Habits
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subtitle: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones
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author: James Clear
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date: 2019-09-07
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isbn: 9780735211292
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rating: 5
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image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/atomic-habits.jpeg
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---
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Great insight into how habits work and how they start. Ideas into how to break undesirable habits and begin good ones. The latter chapter about making it easy resonated with me. It never occurred to me why trying to start a habit with a difficult task leads to quitting fast. Start simple, aim low, build high.
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module.exports = {
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layout: "layouts/catalogue-item",
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tags: "book",
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permalink: "catalogue/books/{{ page.fileSlug }}/index.html",
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linkTitle: "View book details",
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eleventyComputed: {
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tertiary: (data) =>
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`<p style="--flow-space: 0.5em"><span class="[ text-fadeText ]">by</span> ${data.author}</p>`,
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},
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};
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---
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title: Dare to Lead
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author: Brené Brown
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date: 2019-08-06
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isbn: 9781473562523
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rating: 5
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image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/dare-to-lead.jpeg
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tags: ["leadership", "self help"]
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---
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Really great read. Highlights the importance of empathy and how to develop that skill -- essential not only for leaders but for everyone.
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---
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title: Deep Work
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subtitle: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World
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author: Cal Newport
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date: 2019-12-04
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isbn: 9781455586691
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rating: 2
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image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/deep-work.jpeg
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tags: ["white guy productivity"]
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---
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I don't think the book needed to be as long as it is. There is good advice to be found, but it drags on and on feeling like a "deep work" session in of itself. I was often waiting for it to "get to the good part" in each chapter.
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I also think this book is tailored toward someone who can afford to do these "deep work" sessions, but not everyone has that luxury. Seriously, expecting everyone to have the ability to lock yourself away all day without distractions? That's a tad unrealistic for most people.
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The book did help identify areas where I often engage in shallow work, and I like the idea of bundling that work together in one large go to work through it quickly.
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---
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title: Digital Minimalism
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subtitle: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World
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author: Cal Newport
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date: 2019-05-31
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isbn: 9780525536512
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rating: 4
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image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/digital-minimalism.jpg
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tags: ["white guy productivity"]
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---
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I enjoyed the latter chapters focusing on finding "high quality leisure time". I try to find activities that are creative in the sense that after some time I will have created something.
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---
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title: The Effective Engineer
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subtitle: How to Leverage Your Efforts In Software Engineering to Make a Disproportionate and Meaningful Impact
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author: Edmond Lau
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date: 2019-09-04
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isbn: 9780996128100
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rating: 4
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image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/the-effective-engineer.jpeg
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tags: ["leadership", "software development"]
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---
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Lots of applicable advice here for anyone working in software engineering. I was excited to apply this to my own workplace, but didn't realize it's harder to apply in agency work than in other fields (and when you are not a lead). Still, we managed to recognize areas where we need improvement.
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---
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title: Ego Is The Enemy
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author: Ryan Holiday
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date: 2019-10-21
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isbn: 9781591847816
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rating: 3
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image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/ego-is-the-enemy.jpeg
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tags: ["stoicism", "self help"]
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---
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Confirmed that I'm not the only one guilty of over-planning and under-working. The real results come from work and not planning. Focus less on preparation and dive in. Do the work. Failure is part of the process, but what is most important is how one responds to it.
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Plenty of fun historical anecdotes -- kinda wish the book was mostly that. The message was clear, if a bit sanctimonious.
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---
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created: 2021-08-26T00:00:00.000Z
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title: Peace Talks
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author: Jim Butcher
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image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/jim-butcher-peace-talks.jpeg
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isbn: 9780393609394
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rating: 2
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date: 2021-09-17
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---
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I feverishly consumed the entire Dresden series in a few years ago. I thought it was so cool to see a blend of fantasy and real life that didn't seem to exist (as far as I knew). The writing sometimes felt chauvinistic (Dresden himself even admits as much) but I would roll my eyes and plod on.
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Having finally had the chance to read the next book I couldn't just roll my eyes anymore. Every single female character is always ridiculously attractive, so much so that Dresden cannot think about anything else other than sex (the Winter Mantle is a convenient albeit absolutely stupid excuse in the novel).
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Every major female character is always lusting (or will lust) for Dresden. These sections read like a piece of fan fiction from a nerdy male teenager's perspective (something I would've written when I was 15). The whole White Court seems to exist just so there's an excuse to always talk about sex (especially heterosexual sex). Even worse is that Dresden (rapidly approaching grandpa years, in a human sense) will ogle and comment (privately at least) on women who are pretty close to (or are) minors.
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Another fault is that characters keep referring to recent events that the reader will likely not remember. It's been several years between books, and us readers need a quick primer on the most recent goings-on in the universe!
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Our resident investigator didn't do much of anything. He aimlessly stumbled around for a while until the plot plopped onto his lap. What happened to our plucky detective who went looking for clues? Who did _anything_?
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Spoiler alert: The book ends on a cliffhanger. Yep, we don't get to learn about why anything happened because it's in the second book. Even though every book previously has been a nice package, we get a big middle finger. Should've waited for the anthology that will eventually combine Peace Talks and Battle Ground.
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All that said, I will likely pick up Battle Ground whenever that comes out in paperback. The series has (some serious) faults, but there is _something_ to enjoy here.
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---
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title: Jonny Appleseed
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author: Joshua Whitehead
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isbn: 9781551527253
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rating: 4
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date: 2021-09-09T00:00:00Z
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image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/jonny-appleseed.jpeg
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---
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Absolutely raw and gripping. Very often uncomfortable.
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---
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title: Meditations
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author: Marcus Aurelius
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date: 2019-10-22
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isbn: 9780140449334
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rating: 2
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image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/meditations.jpeg
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tags: ["stoicism"]
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---
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Despite the accolades this book gets from self-help authors, I found it fairly dry and hard to read at times. There are great nuggets of advice buried in between meandering, lengthy passages. Thoughts are repeated often, but I can sympathize here. It's difficult to ingrain a certain way of thinking at first blush, but hammering into one's thick skull can work sometimes.
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The footnotes are a helpful addition -- even translated into modern English it can be hard to tell what Marcus is _really_ saying.
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I plan to revisit the book another time in my life, but as of now I haven't gleaned much after reading so many books that base their ideas on the writings here.
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---
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title: Understanding Comics
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subtitle: The Invisible Art
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author: Scott McCloud
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isbn: 9780060976255
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rating: 5
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date: 2021-09-09T00:00:00Z
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image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/understanding-comics.jpg
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---
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I debated if this should end up in a different catalogue, but it deserves to be in both, if anything.
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If you wondered just how deep the rabbit hole goes when it comes to all things comics, Scott McCloud is here to tell you it goes _deep_. Anyone who may doubt the medium of the comic -- I challenge you to come out without a new perspective reading this. I know I did. I appreciate them so much more now.
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To call it "a book about comics" feels like a disservice. There is so much more going on here about history and the human mind.
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I think everyone needs to read this book at some point in their lives.
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---
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title: The Big Leap
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subtitle: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level
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author: Gay Hendricks
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date: 2020-09-02
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isbn: 9780061735363
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rating: 3
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image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/the-big-leap.jpg
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---
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These days I would style myself as a recovering addict when it comes to self-help books. There never is (and never was) a single trick to turn my life around. I’m increasingly wary of the entire industry, as I’m now certain that not everyone is looking to help people out. I think these kinds of books can be helpful as a springboard, but a lot seem to parrot the same advice, only phrased differently using the author’s writing style. This book largely seems to follow that trend. I’m frankly tired of hearing about how the author overcame adversity when the adversity is so disconnected with what your average person faces. The amount of famous people (read: white billionaires) he’s helped is numerous and wants to remind us quite often. I don’t care. The author loves to use chirpy terms like “Zone of Genius” non-ironically, and it’s very grating. These hokey-sounding terms cause me to view their ideas with increased skepticism.
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Tone aside though, I think there are nuggets of truth buried inside. The “Upper Limit Problem”, or the idea that we self-sabotage when feeling good, rings true for me. I think the notion that we deliberately get ourselves sick is ridiculous (the author recounts a situation where a patient deliberately gave himself laryngitis), but I do notice that I have a tendency to start criticizing myself, or being antagonistic once things get good in my life. It can be helpful to be aware and acknowledge when this happens.
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While the term “Zone of Genius” makes me roll my eyes, I think the concept is solid. The Zone of Genius is described as something in life that always brings you joy, even if it’s considered work (i.e. your job). You’ll always feel energized and ready to tackle problems in this space. It supercharges your brain and gets you motivated.
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---
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title: The Dip
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subtitle: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit
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author: Seth Godin
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date: 2019-05-25
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isbn: 9781591841661
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rating: 4
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image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/the-dip.jpeg
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tags: ["self help"]
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---
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Short book that enforced some positive ideas for me. Don't panic and quit too early if progress is not immediately visible. Incremental progress is still progress -- which is good! Keep at it as long as there is some forward momentum.
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---
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title: The Hate U Give
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author: Angie Thomas
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date: 2020-07-01
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isbn: 9780062498533
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rating: 5
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image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/the-hate-u-give.jpg
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---
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A gripping tale. Especially chilling given the current events happening at the time surrounding George Floyd when I read the book. I could not put this book down and read it at virtually any opportunity. It challenged every previously held belief I had about race and the struggles that black people face every day.
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I've recommended this book to everyone and will continue to do so. I think it's a book that everyone should read, especially white people.
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---
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title: The Skin We're In
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subtitle: A Year of Black Resistance and Power
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author: Desmond Cole
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date: 2020-08-01
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isbn: 9780385686341
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rating: 5
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image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/the-skin-were-in.jpeg
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---
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A pretty damning read on how far Canada has to go on dealing with systemic racism. Like many Canadians, I knew things were bad, but this spelt out how truly bad it is. If the situation in the US was not reason enough to convince me that we need to defund the police, then this is it. While the book was not setting out to necessarily claim this message, that was my own conclusion. The police seemed to be a recurring undercurrent to the issues POC face today.
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Two snippets that really struck me:
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[Ryan Reid fatally shooting Jermaine Carby](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/jermaine-carby-inquest-peel-regional-police-1.3581519)
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> Peel Regional Police officer Ryan Reid was never charged for fatally shooting Jermaine Carby, \[...] during a traffic stop in September 2014. \[Reid] wouldn’t have done anything differently — he said with Carby’s mother and family members in the hearing room.
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[Officer Louie Cerqua on shooting and killing Michael Eligon](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/toronto-officer-who-shot-michael-eligon-feared-for-his-life-1.2448192)
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> With the high stress situation like that, you’re going to resort to your firearm, it’s the only real option you have.
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---
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title: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck
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subtitle: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life
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author: Mark Manson
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date: 2019-05-25
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isbn: 9780062457714
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rating: 5
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image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/subtle-art.jpeg
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tags: ["self help"]
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---
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A book I am always first to recommend to people. It was a real life-changer for me and changed my core values. Actually, I didn't even know what "core values" were before this book! It helped identify what is important to me and what I consider to be my core values.
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---
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title: The Total Money Makeover
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subtitle: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness
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author: Dave Ramsey
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date: 2019-05-25
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isbn: 9780785289081
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rating: 3
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image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/total-money-makeover.webp
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tags: ["finance"]
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---
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Sensible ideas, but the focus was on those who are in debt. Not a lot of useful strategies (except near the end) for those who have already managed to get themselves out of debt.
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---
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title: The Way of Kings
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author: Brandon Sanderson
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date: 2016-08-29
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isbn: 9780765326355
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rating: 5
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image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/the-way-of-kings.jpeg
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tags: ["fantasy"]
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---
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This book finally made me realize what I love so much about fantasy books: the world building. The Way of Kings is no slouch in that department. The story plods along in the beginning (although not too slowly), meanwhile you learn the history of the planet Roshar and its denizens. There's the various kingdoms and cultures (which are detailed), the magic systems (yes, there's more than one!), the mythical Shardblades (and Shardplate)... so much of the world is laid out and it really draws you in. The book seems to be compared to Wheel of Time and I can see it - but it's definitely separated itself enough from its influences to really stand on its own. I'm happy to hear there's only going to be five books in the series, so hopefully Sanderson will get to finish this series.
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---
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title: Dissenter on the Bench
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subtitle: Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Life & Work
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author: Victoria Ortiz
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isbn: 978054497364
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rating: 4
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date: 2021-09-09T00:00:00Z
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image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/dissenter-on-the-bench.jpeg
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---
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I believe this book is meant for young adults (slash teenagers), but as an ancient man myself at the ripe age of 33 I found it very engaging. It's structured in such a way to give context into each of RBG's many important involvements in the law. It will lead with a relevant case that RBG presided (or represented) and then go back in time to explain her history and reason for her eventual involvement. It's educational and fun to read.
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---
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title: What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat
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author: Aubrey Gordon
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image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/9780807041307_p0_v1_s1200x630.jpg
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url: https://www.yourfatfriend.com/book
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isbn: 9780807041307
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rating: 5
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date: 2021-11-28T20:19:44.917Z
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---
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This book in combination with the [Maintenance Phase](http://www.maintenancephase.com) podcast has flipped my mindset when it comes to my relationship with my body. I previously believed that weight was something we all had complete control over and could change with diet and exercise. Anyone who was overweight was not trying hard enough.
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I’ve come to realize that I was incredibly wrong about this.
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I think now I’m fine as I am. I’ll likely never be happy with my body (but I’ll try my best), but I can at least accept that the way I look is… the way I look. It’s who I am. I should not feel ashamed for looking the way I do.
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I don’t want to turn this into a self-flagellation session, but wanted to highlight how I personally felt when reading this book. It brought my lack of understanding when it comes to our bodies and weight. There is a lot of bias built into me from years of being told that “fat = early death”, even though that isn’t (and wasn’t) true. The science behind dieting suggests that most people who lose weight while dieting will eventually regain it. Our bodies want to stay at a set weight, and we cannot control that.
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This book together with the podcast has brought to my attention how far the world has to go when it comes to fat acceptance. We are making incredible strides to accept people regardless of skin-colour, sexual preferences, perceived gender… but there exists anti-fat bias in all their respective circles. I want to be part of the change that says “being fat is not a death sentence.” If I can leave you with one small fact to prove that anti-fat bias exists: how about that in 48 of the 50 US states, it’s legal to deny someone a job because of their weight? Deny them housing, or a seat at a restaurant, or a room in a hotel? All legal.
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---
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title: Why We Get Fat
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subtitle: And What To Do About It
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author: Gary Taubes
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date: 2019-05-25
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isbn: 9780307272706
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rating: 3
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image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/why-we-get-fat.jpeg
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tags: ["self help", "diet"]
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---
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Made me consider trying a keto diet before talking to friends and colleagues who had done the same and every single one had advised against it. Good ideas on paper but I think the diet that is ultimately recommended is unsustainable, which seems to go against the book's message in regards to diets -- find something that can be maintained.
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Diet aside, there is lots of educational content here. Enjoyed for that reason primarily.
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---
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title: Why We Sleep
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subtitle: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams
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author: Matthew Walker
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date: 2019-12-04
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isbn: 9781501144318
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rating: 5
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image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/why-we-sleep.jpeg
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---
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Fell asleep many times reading this, which I believe was part of the author's intent. Incredibly informative in regards to all things sleep. Helpful appendix to summarize the book's contents, and a useful crib sheet to give to others not willing to read the entire book. I feel empowered with new knowledge about sleep and additional reasons to ensure that I sleep more.
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{
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"layout": "layouts/catalogue",
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"tags": "catalogue",
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"permalink": "catalogue/index.html"
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}
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module.exports = {
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||||
layout: "layouts/catalogue-item",
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||||
tags: "game",
|
||||
permalink: "catalogue/comics/{{ page.fileSlug }}/index.html",
|
||||
eleventyComputed: {
|
||||
subtitle: (data) => `${data.author} (${data.year})`,
|
||||
},
|
||||
};
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,17 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: "Monstress: Awakening"
|
||||
publisher: Image Comics
|
||||
author: Majorie Liu, Sana Takeda
|
||||
volume: 1
|
||||
year: 2017
|
||||
image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/monstress-vol-1.jpeg
|
||||
rating: 3
|
||||
date: 2021-09-19T07:28:12.065Z
|
||||
tags: ["fantasy"]
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
The first 75% of the volume is quite confusing. It’s like reading the second or third volume in a series without reading the first. I get starting with a mystery as a hook, but when every second word is something new, I get confused!
|
||||
|
||||
I’m not convinced that comics are the best form of world building, at least through expository dialogue. When several entire pages that are at least half-filled with text, I think there’s a problem.
|
||||
|
||||
The artwork is praised often elsewhere and I must agree - every page (even panel) could stand on its own. Absolutely stunning. The world building on the visual level absolutely nails it. If atmosphere is set within the first few pages and I’m here for it.
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,18 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: "Monstress: The Blood"
|
||||
publisher: Image Comics
|
||||
author: Majorie Lui, Sana Takeda
|
||||
volume: 2
|
||||
year: 2017
|
||||
image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/monstress-vol-2-tp_77ea1f170a.jpg
|
||||
isbn: 9781534300415
|
||||
rating: 3
|
||||
date: 2021-09-20T00:22:01.235Z
|
||||
tags: ["fantasy"]
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
I love the cast of the story. We are introduced to some new characters with a heavy nautical theme. Old Tooth the shark-person looks straight out of the 90s (remember Street Sharks?). The artwork continues to be the main selling point for me.
|
||||
|
||||
Where things falter though has to be the writing (again). There are less mysteries to track and more emphasis on character development, but I’m finding it so dense that it’s hard to follow. It practically requires a wiki open while reading. There is so much to pack into a graphic novel with limited pages. I think the series would do better as a novel if I’m completely honest.
|
||||
|
||||
I can’t get into the story, but Sana Takeda’s art is so phenomenal I want to keep going.
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,11 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: "The Monster Sisters"
|
||||
publisher: "Orca Books"
|
||||
author: "Gareth Gaudin"
|
||||
year: 2021
|
||||
isbn: 9781459822290
|
||||
rating: 4
|
||||
image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/the-monster-sisters-vol-2.jpg
|
||||
date: 2021-09-11
|
||||
tags: ["adventure"]
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,21 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: "Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag"
|
||||
subtitle: PlayStation 3
|
||||
date: 2016-12-31
|
||||
image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/Assassin's_Creed_IV_-_Black_Flag_cover.jpg
|
||||
tags: ["ps3"]
|
||||
year: 2013
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
For an Assassin's Creed game, Black Flag is pretty solid. I was positive I was going to hate the ship parts of the game based on what I played in 3 a year or two back - but actually it's a ton of fun and flows super well. They really nailed the controls on it. There's a good balance of naval and land-based missions to keep things interesting. The game started off very similar to 3 which had my eyes rolling from the get-go, but thankfully things play out much differently.
|
||||
|
||||
It also helps when the protagonist is likable - Connor was just pretty flat overall, but Edward strikes me as a swashbuckling balance of Ezio and Altair - much better character.
|
||||
|
||||
I'd have to rank the Assassin's Creed games as follows:
|
||||
|
||||
1) ACII
|
||||
2) AC: Brotherhood
|
||||
3) ACIV: Black Flag
|
||||
4) Assassin's Creed
|
||||
5) ACIII
|
||||
6) AC: Revelations
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,8 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: Axiom Verge
|
||||
subtitle: Nintendo Switch
|
||||
date: 2018-04-10
|
||||
image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/Axiom_Verge_Title.png
|
||||
tags: ["switch"]
|
||||
year: 2015
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,15 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: Citizen Sleeper
|
||||
subtitle: PC
|
||||
date: 2024-01-27
|
||||
image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/Citizen_Sleeper_cover_art.jpg
|
||||
tags: ["pc"]
|
||||
year: 2022
|
||||
rating: 4
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
I loved the dice system that powered the entire game. It made it feel like you have control over the situation (you can choose where to put your dice rolls), but at the same time none at all (the result is still a dice roll). I especially liked that every choice never felt like a great option. Every choice will inadvertently affect someone or something else negatively. There was never a clear-cut best choice.
|
||||
|
||||
I felt drawn into the universe and atmosphere, and the music provided an immersive backdrop. The music changed depending on the situation, which added another level of immersion.
|
||||
|
||||
A must-play for anyone who enjoys a narrative-focused game.
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,16 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: "Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze"
|
||||
subtitle: Nintendo Wii U
|
||||
date: 2015-04-21
|
||||
image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/DKC5_box_art.jpg
|
||||
tags: ["wii u"]
|
||||
year: 2014
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Another challenging game. DKCTF nails the difficulty perfectly. As mentioned before, every failure feels like it's 100% the fault of the player. The controls are spot on and frankly should be the model for any platformer going forward. There are various control schemes to suit practically any player. My only minor gripe was that the buttons for each scheme were not customizable -- but the default options are fine. Going from the first level to the last is fairly short experience, but in typical DKC fashion the meat of the game comes from replaying levels and grabbing all the collectables. If that's not really your thing then you've still got a solid platformer that should scratch the itch. Visually the game is amazing to look at... I mean just look at this:
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/dkctf.jpg", "", "" %}
|
||||
|
||||
The soundtrack is all aces as well -- composed by the same guy behind the first games - David Wise. It provides a fitting background - intense enough that it energizes you, but not overbearing that it comes the star of the show.
|
||||
|
||||
Whether your looking for a small chunk of platformer goodness, or the whole nine yards - can't go wrong with Tropical Freeze.
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,22 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: DOOM
|
||||
subtitle: PC
|
||||
date: 2017-01-02
|
||||
image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/Doom_Cover.jpg
|
||||
tags: ["pc"]
|
||||
year: 2016
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Doom was an absolute blast. Definitely now one of my favorite FPS games.
|
||||
|
||||
The game is super fast-paced compared to most FPS games released today which is refreshing. Bunny-hopping is a thing and that makes me feel warm and fuzzy. They really nailed the feeling of speed and finesse - you regularly feel like a badass demon-slaying machine. Being able to seamlessly go from shootin' up a bad guy into a Glory Kill and back into the fray feels really satisfying.
|
||||
|
||||
The sound design is top notch here. The soundtrack feels loud and punchy, the perfect industrial underscore to the demon massacre frequently taking place. The sounds of the weapons are equally great - everything from the sounds of the guns firing to switching between gun mods sounds really good. I found myself swapping between mods during the quiet moments just to hear the sounds. So good.
|
||||
|
||||
The collectibles and secret areas turned out to be a really fun side-objective for me. I found myself going for optional content more than I usually would, so much so that when I realized I missed one collectible... I restarted the mission right near the end. Kind of annoying that certain parts of the map do eventually get "locked out" so you can't go back and grab anything you missed, but only a real drag to secret hunters.
|
||||
|
||||
The optional Rune Trials are pretty neat. You're given a simple objective like "kill 15 dudes" or "get from A to B", but they put a challenging twist on it. Something like you've got only 1 HP and there is no way to get more health, or you can only move when you kill something. They offer a nice break from the action while testing your skills. A few times I learned a new strategy too, so you might even learn something.
|
||||
|
||||
There isn't a ton of story here and I think that works out to the game's favor. The name of the game here is demon-slaying and having a blast doing it. They actually managed to get a ton of personality out of the protagonist - despite the fact that all you see of him are his two hands and the occasional boot. You've probably heard of one moment where a character tries to lore-dump you and the Doom Marine just shoves the monitor out of the way and ignores it. There's also a ton of lore to hunt for in the secret spots and other collectibles. It builds up Mars and why they're here - but the best part is that none of it really matters, you can skip all the fluff and still have a total blast.
|
||||
|
||||
I'd highly recommend this game to anyone who enjoys FPS games. I was tempted to drop a few hundred bucks on a new video card just for this game. I know for sure that when I eventually do get a new video card I'll be going back and trying this one again. 100% run!
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,20 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: Fallout 4
|
||||
subtitle: PC
|
||||
date: 2015-12-02
|
||||
image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/Fallout_4_cover_art.jpg
|
||||
tags: ["pc", "role-playing", "action"]
|
||||
year: 2015
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
I ran into two different gamebreaking bugs while playing the game and ended up reloading a save from hours before. I had to replay quite a bit of the game, but in the end it was worth it. Anyone thinking about picking up the game soon I'd be prepared for some annoying bugs - or better yet wait for a few patches first.
|
||||
|
||||
Story and ending wise I feel like things fell short. It was an ending, I'll give it that, but it didn't resolve things very well. There isn't really an epilogue, usually in the older games you'd find out how the different factions ended up after your actions in the game. It's a nice touch and its omission is sorely missed. It cheapens the ending, and makes it feel incomplete.
|
||||
|
||||
The dialog system has definitely been dumbed down. For one thing your choices aren't fully written out (you select "Help" and your character says "Sure I'll help out"). The option you choose in a dialogue choice might not be what you wanted or how you wanted to phrase your response. It also feels like what you say ultimately has no consequence in the conversation. I reloaded my save a few times to explore different options - beyond the immediate response being different, the conversation carried on normally which felt kinda off. The choices didn't cause any actual branching - which I'm pretty sure they did in previous games. Each choice still lead you to every single option more or less.
|
||||
|
||||
The side content is great and I got lost in taking quest after quest for hours. Gun modding is a welcome addition and hope it stays in - although I would like to be able to assemble a gun from scratch instead of modifying base guns (which there are only a handful of). Invincible companions yes - but I imagine many people are like me and consider companion death a failure state, so it's more of a quality of life thing to me. I believe there are ways to make them hostile toward you, which does allow you to kill them if it happens.
|
||||
|
||||
I guess knowing your companion cannot die trivializes tense encounters somewhat... but at the very least companions can get incapacitated and slump to the ground and be useless until the fight is over. Another annoyance with dialogue - there are no checks save for Charisma now. I'm pretty sure there were some options in older games when you had high Intelligence for example...
|
||||
|
||||
Overall, it's a good game. An average Fallout game. For anyone fresh to the series, I think it makes a decent starting point, although if you liked what's inside you'll likely find more depth in the previous games. Pick it up when it goes on sale.
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,8 +0,0 @@
|
|||
module.exports = {
|
||||
layout: "layouts/catalogue-item",
|
||||
tags: "game",
|
||||
permalink: "catalogue/games/{{ page.fileSlug }}/index.html",
|
||||
eleventyComputed: {
|
||||
subtitle: (data) => data.year,
|
||||
},
|
||||
};
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,12 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: Her Story
|
||||
platform: PC
|
||||
date: 2024-01-07
|
||||
image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/Her_Story_store_art.jpg
|
||||
tags: ["pc", "narrative", "simulator"]
|
||||
year: 2015
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
I played this game with my wife and a buddy, and we had a great time getting sucked into this game. We beat it in one night. The way the story unfolded made you really feel like a detective - connecting leads and loose connections to form a whole narrative. The keyword search is very limiting. There are only at most 5 results per search query. It requires you to be specific but not too much. It's a fine line to walk.
|
||||
|
||||
It's very possible to finish this one in an evening, which is a great way to wind down the day and enjoy a great story.
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,16 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: Hyper Light Drifter
|
||||
subtitle: PC
|
||||
date: 2017-01-29
|
||||
image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/HyperLightDrifterBoxArt.png
|
||||
tags: ["pc"]
|
||||
year: 2016
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
I think the best part of the game is its atmosphere and combat. The game contains no text (besides tutorial button prompts) and no spoken dialog. Therefore, the story is largely up to the player to interpret, if they desire. Right from the get-go, you're immediately immersed into the world. The sound design - particularly the soundtrack - draws you in. In moments of quiet - typically exploration - the music is subdued and atmospheric, underscoring your journey in this torn world. As you launch into combat, things pick up a bit... then, when it's boss battle time, additional instrumentation enters - a pumping track gets you energized against a tough foe. The whole soundtrack has a very unsettling feeling, which matches the overall atmosphere of the game. It's a strange world and there's mysterious things afoot. Some kind of corruption is tainting everything...
|
||||
|
||||
The gameplay really shines here. The game is a top-down action game - think Link to the Past. Your basic arsenal is an energy sword and guns - lots of guns. You only start with one, but as the game goes on you'll find more (or maybe you won't, they're all optional). My favorite would have to be the railgun - it requires precision accuracy but feels very satisfying to land hits with. Your bread-and-butter sword combination is a triple-tap in quick succession. There are plenty of upgrades to change things up - one of my favorites is the ability to reflect projectiles with your sword. Definitely reminds me of Link to the Past where you'd reflect Agahnim's projects back at him. Finally you've got a dodge/teleport - a quick shift in any direction. It will let you dodge melee attacks or avoid projectiles, but you're not invincible - so you can be hit mid-dash. All together it provides a simple yet great combat system. Easy to learn, but hard to master. You regularly feel like a master swordsman jumping between enemies and slicing them to bits. The game is also quite challenging - I was reminded of the Donkey Kong Country games with regard to the difficulty - wherein those games are all also challenging but the reason behind every failure (death) was very clear. It leads to an eventual choreographed sequence that looks really cool after you pull it all off. The boss fights were especially great - all of them very different - I think they were almost a game in of itself. I regularly looked forward to the next duel with a strong foe. If you don't mind some spoilers, [here is one of the early boss fights](https://youtu.be/_pKghyb8NS8) - I enjoyed this one a lot (note: I edited out the 10 minutes or so of me not beating the boss...).
|
||||
|
||||
The only negative thing I've got to say with the game's mechanics was that if you died after collecting a bunch of items - you'd have to go back and re-collect everything again. I'm talking like upgrade points or keys, that kind of thing. Minor grievance. Actually one other slightly annoying thing was that the map didn't really have any GPS features - so it never showed you precisely where you were in a given room, which made exploration a little tedious sometimes. I think actually what would fix it is if explored rooms where marked as such - that way I don't end up retreading a lot of ground.
|
||||
|
||||
A recommend to anyone who enjoys a game loaded with atmosphere, or top-down style action games. If you liked Link to the Past, you're sure to find a great game here. The soundtrack alone makes it worthwhile in my opinion!
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,10 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: "Majora's Mask 3D"
|
||||
subtitle: Nintendo 3DS
|
||||
date: 2015-03-01
|
||||
image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/Majora's_Mask_3D_cover.png
|
||||
tags: ["3ds"]
|
||||
year: 2015
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
What a wonderful game. I'll say right now if anyone hasn't played this game, you've gotta pick it up right away! One of the most (if not the most) unique Zelda experiences out there. It's worth noting that Nintendo did change things around, most notably some locations of items and the boss fights. This should only bother veterans really (and only the item location part really), but I have to say the boss fights are improved across the board compared to the N64 version. I've heard mentions that the hints in the Bomber's Notebook are too obvious now but I think that's just some oldschool vets (read: stupid fanboys) making a big fuss over nothing. Unless I specifically remembered something from playing it years ago, I feel like it never gave you the whole picture and you had to suss out what to do. Overall it's a fantastic game and a must-buy for any 3DS owner.
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,14 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: "Mario & Luigi: Dream Team"
|
||||
subtitle: Nintendo 3DS
|
||||
date: 2015-04-18
|
||||
image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/MarioLuigiDreamTeam.jpg
|
||||
tags: ["3ds"]
|
||||
year: 2013
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Whew what a game that was. I would say the hardest M&L to date. A real full adventure. I clocked in at just under 48 hours total. All told that's a pretty good chunk of time for a portable RPG. The formula remains more or less the same as previous games - very action heavy for an RPG. You have to jump and hammer to defend yourself, while timing your button presses to coordinate with attacks. The twist this time is that you get sucked into the Dream World. The Dream World is affected by Luigi, who will lend you all sorts of cool powers as you progress in the game. This leads to two different types of battles - battles in the normal world, and Dream World battles where it's only Mario (with Luigi supporting).
|
||||
|
||||
The writing is spot on here, there were many genuinely laugh-out-loud moments. I've found that every game so far has really expressive animations and sprites. You'll see what I mean when you play it.
|
||||
|
||||
Any fan of the series or someone looking for a challenging RPG can't go wrong here.
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,12 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: "Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor"
|
||||
subtitle: PC
|
||||
date: 2024-01-19
|
||||
image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/Shadow_of_Mordor_cover_art.jpg
|
||||
tags: ["pc"]
|
||||
year: 2014
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
The nemesis system is such a killer feature - it's a shame that Warner Bros. patented the mechanic which prevents other games from implementing their own spin on the feature.
|
||||
|
||||
I was often the victim of my orcish enemies, and would often say "you again!" when I stumbled upon an old nemesis. I would drop everything to try and take them out, which was often not a good idea.
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,31 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: "Persona 3 Portable"
|
||||
subtitle: PlayStation Portable
|
||||
date: 2016-03-16
|
||||
image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/p3p.jpg
|
||||
tags: ["psp", "persona"]
|
||||
youtube: true
|
||||
year: 2009
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
My completion time was somewhere around 72 hours. It's hard to talk about such a story-dense game without spoiling too much - but what I will say about the story is that it's probably one of the best I've ever experienced. The game is likely not for everyone... the playtime alone might turn some people off. I think of it more like a large book - it'll take you a while to get through - but the major plot points keep you engrossed. You get attached to the characters - because of the game length. By the end of the game they are all close friends.
|
||||
|
||||
Games for me don't typically get much of an emotional response out of me... I can probably count the number of times. There were moments of pretty genuine sadness (yeah yeah I teared up), and I even remember getting angry/upset at a particular story development. Any game that can accomplish that I hold in a high regard, and this is one of them.
|
||||
|
||||
Most of the major characters have Social Links - think lite dating-sim kinda system. This is where some of the character development takes place. As you increase your Social Links you increase the strength of that Arcana during fusions. It creates a gameplay purpose to explore the Social Links, but I genuinely wanted to explore them regardless of the gameplay purpose.
|
||||
|
||||
The battle system is not without its shortcomings - it feels a little unforgiving - JRPG to the very core. I still think it's goofy that if the main character is KO'd, the game ends (and there are no checkpoints). Saving often is a must. There were also a few sharp difficulty curves... I suspect my level was too low at that point, but there it is. It's kinda like Pokemon, Shadows have certain weaknesses and resistances (think fire, ice, electricity, etc), and it's up to you to abuse that. Hitting an enemy with an attack they are weak to gives that character another turn - but only if the target isn't already Down (which triggers when they are hit by an attack they are weak to), so you can't get stuck in a loop of free turns. The fun part is that the enemy has access to the same system, so if you're not careful you can get wiped out very quickly.
|
||||
|
||||
I can't end it without mentioning the music. Second to the story, it's top-notch, definitely some of the best I've heard in any game full stop. I have a feeling the music in a vacuum won't have the same impact as when its heard in-game. Regardless, here are a few favourites:
|
||||
|
||||
{% youtube "6jFaoLrLzd4", "Persona 3 OST - Mass Destruction" %}
|
||||
|
||||
{% youtube "e2Gyaqf7EoU", "Persona 3 OST - Iwatodai Dorm" %}
|
||||
|
||||
{% youtube "sFH7O9huUYU", "Paulownian Mall - Persona 3" %}
|
||||
|
||||
{% youtube "yoVn6Eh6rus", "Persona 3 OST: Unavoidable Battle" %}
|
||||
|
||||
If you're looking for an RPG with a top-notch story, this is the one. If you're looking for one with compelling gameplay... keep looking I'd say.
|
||||
|
||||
I can't wait to start Persona 4 Golden, but I think I'm going to give myself a break from RPGs for a while. Next up is Shovel Knight!
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,8 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: Persona 5
|
||||
subtitle: PlayStation 4
|
||||
date: 2017-12-20
|
||||
image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/Persona_5_cover_art.jpg
|
||||
tags: ["ps4"]
|
||||
year: 2016
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,14 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: "Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney"
|
||||
subtitle: Nintendo 3DS
|
||||
date: 2015-04-26
|
||||
image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/Laytonvsaceattorneycover.jpg
|
||||
tags: ["3ds"]
|
||||
year: 2014
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
What a dream come true. Two of my favorite franchises blended into one game! As the title implies, it's Layton and Wright action! If you're a fan of either game series, this one will have something for you. There are plenty of puzzles to tackle, but also plenty of court moments. It feels like it's got something for fans of either series (or both!). The court sequences feature a hint system like in the Professor Layton games, so if court battles are not your forte, it's alright as long as you hunt for the Hint Coins! The story was great. Once it got going I couldn't put it down. This game really felt like a crossover, and not just "Professor Layton in the AA universe" or vice-versa. Yes, Phoenix will tackle puzzles and yes, Layton will be in the court room. Even the music shared that crossover feel, as themes/tropes from both series can be heard intertwined.
|
||||
|
||||
As of this writing, there is a ton of bonus content to go through, including a series of 12 episodes that take place after the events of the main game. Each episode features a new puzzle to tackle
|
||||
|
||||
Fans of either series will enjoy this game immensely, so check it out! Here's hoping this wasn't a one-off.
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,12 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: Shovel Knight
|
||||
subtitle: Nintendo Wii U
|
||||
date: 2016-08-22
|
||||
image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/Shovel_knight_cover.jpg
|
||||
tags: ["wii u"]
|
||||
year: 2014
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Awesome game, totally a passion project for platform lovers like myself. Reminds me of games I'd play years ago but made with today's sensibilities (so no cheap tricks or long slogs of no checkpoints, heh). Every level stood on its own. The game length felt just right to me (about 8 hours), not too long but there's enough there to keep you interested. A lot of the Relics reminded me something you'd find in a Castlevania game (think the spinning cross, or the bone that arcs as you throw it).
|
||||
|
||||
Anyone who enjoys an action platformer should check out this game without a doubt. Plus Yacht Club Games are continuing to update the game - so far they've added the Plague Knight campaign which is really cool! It's a redo of the Shovel Knight base game, although with plenty of twists. Plague Knight himself plays completely differently from Shovel Knight - and to top it off the levels have been changed up to suit Plague Knight's new style. With a new story on top, it's almost like a new game - and it was totally free! Future updates will be free too!
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,12 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: "The Wonderful 101"
|
||||
subtitle: Nintendo Wii U
|
||||
date: 2015-05-15
|
||||
image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/Wonderful_101_box_artwork.jpg
|
||||
tags: ["wii u", "action"]
|
||||
year: 2013
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Here's a game that cranks everything to 11... and then 11 more... _every single stage_. A game that attempts to top itself every time and succeeds wonderfully. Just when you think the game has reached the climax, you find out it's still just the rising action. Fans of titles by Platinum will feel right at home here. Expect a truly challenging game that rewards skillful play.
|
||||
|
||||
The line drawing mechanic can be a bit picky at times, and sometimes they got a little heavy-handed on the minigames. It has a large learning curve too. Still, this is a solid experience for any action game lover. I really enjoyed this one and I hope a sequel is in the works. Also, WONDER RED FOR SMASH
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,10 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: Tomb Raider
|
||||
subtitle: PC
|
||||
date: 2016-08-24
|
||||
image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/TombRaider2013.jpg
|
||||
tags: ["pc"]
|
||||
year: 2013
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
I feel like it did start to get a bit repetitive at times, but only near the end. Lara sure went through some shit, I felt bad sometimes. The optional tombs were really cool - one-off tricky puzzles. They were pretty short though, I think every one was just one puzzle (although I didn't find/explore them all). Something I didn't like very much was the penchant for QTEs - I hate those things. I played it on a PC and the button prompts had an icon instead of the actual button to press (if you play on console, it'll show which button to press). A minor annoyance which lead to some fails - which by the way are excruciatingly brutal sometimes! There's quite a bit of button mashing and it feels weird on a keyboard. All in all though, great game, and definitely planning on getting the next one. Probably on PS4 though.
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,14 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: Vanquish
|
||||
subtitle: PlayStation 3
|
||||
date: 2017-02-26
|
||||
image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/PG_Vanquish_box_artwork.png
|
||||
tags: ["ps3"]
|
||||
year: 2010
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Vanquish is definitely a product of its time. If you don't remember the mid to late naughties in video games, they were rife with cover shooters. Think Gears of War or Uncharted. You're given big open areas with some very inconspicuous cover spots. Vanquish followed the same trend, but to its benefit it at least tried to subvert the genre by changing things up. You can try to play this game like a traditional shooter, but you'll get destroyed quickly. Instead, Vanquish gives you Sam Gideon - an agent from DARPA who has been given the Augmented Reaction Suit. The suit allows you to literally slide around while firing at enemies - and also allows you to enter "AR Mode" (think bullet-time) while sliding. Yes, the [power slide](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXYqv_FS9yk) is a legitimate and viable combat maneuver! It leads to a pretty fluid combat system where you regularly feel pretty awesome effortlessly sliding between enemies and scoring some easy headshots thanks to the slowdown mode. The problem though is that while it's a cool mechanic, it doesn't break away from the feeling that this is still a cover shooter. Maybe back in '07 this would be okay, but playing it in 2017 it feels very samey and not super exciting.
|
||||
|
||||
Again, following the popular trends at the time the game features some heavy cutscene use. It doesn't help that the story isn't entirely interesting, although it's pretty dumb on purpose. Still, it leads you to mashing the skip button because you just want to go back and play the damn game. Auto-regenerating health is another feature of the game - again a very popular choice at the time - but frustratingly there is no representation of your health on the HUD. So you'll be taking some bullet fire, and then suddenly launched into AR Mode (which happens automatically when you reach low health). Wait, was my health actually that low? Then if you're not careful - boom dead. With no actual indication of how much damage you're taking you have no idea how much of a threat some enemies pose. Some are capable of one-shotting you, and then some are firing pebbles at you. It gets very annoying and frustrating at times. Boss battles were pretty fun most of the time, although I can remember one or two that were crushingly hard. Lots of instant-death moves. The sudden jump in difficulty was pretty jarring and frustrating. Still, you can push through eventually, but it can feel frustrating to get near the end of a boss fight and get instant-killed and then forced to restart from the beginning.
|
||||
|
||||
Overall, it's not horrible - a pretty decent game. I think if I played it when it first came out it'd be a total blast, but after years of Platinum refining their craft and the cover shooter finally dying off - it feels like a relic from the past. It's got some very cool moments, but plenty of very dull ones too. Worth checking out if you're a die-hard Platinum fan like myself, otherwise you can probably pass. Maybe check out some gameplay on YouTube, it might entice you.
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,28 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: "Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island"
|
||||
subtitle: Super Nintendo
|
||||
date: 2012-02-26
|
||||
image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/Yoshi's_Island_(Super_Mario_World_2)_box_art.jpg
|
||||
tags: ["snes", "platformer"]
|
||||
year: 1995
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island was released on the Super Nintendo in 1995. It was actually a prequel to the original Super Mario World, and tells the story of how the Mario twins (Mario is the last name, yes) came to be. The premise is that a stork carrying the twins is assaulted by Kamek, who is a servant to the mighty (then a child) King Bowser. In the fray, the stork loses both babies, and Kamek ends up with only Luigi. Mario plunges to his doom, only to land (somehow safely) on top of one of the Yoshis on Yoshi's Island. It then befalls onto the Yoshi clan to reunite the brothers and restore the balance, or something along those lines. The stories for these games (read: platformers) were not altogether that creative back in the '90s. Not that it mattered much really.
|
||||
|
||||
What really mattered was that the game was fun. And fun this game certainly was. You can run and jump, and there's powerups just like before. The bigger differences came in the form of eggs, slightly different jumping mechanics and Yoshi himself (herself? itself?). Now you could float in the air a moment and give yourself a slightly higher jump. You could actually float multiple times in a row to overcome large obstacles too. Just like in Super Mario World, Yoshi can use his tongue to eat up enemies and spit them out, but he can also turn them into eggs. You could collect up to eight eggs and fire them at enemies. Back then, there wasn't two D-Pads (let alone two analog sticks), so the aiming was a little weird. The crosshair would move up and down, and it was your timing that guided the egg in the right direction. Nowadays this system is unbelievably clunky, but back then this was crazy. It was a pretty bold move, but leave it to Nintendo to do it right (more or less). My favorite change has to be the removal of the countdown timer. No longer were you restricted to roughly three minutes per level. Now you could romp and roam about as much as you want. This is great not only to experience the game at your own pace, but allows the player to truly explore and enjoy the intricate design that Nintendo incorporated into this game. If Yoshi gets hit, he will lose Baby Mario and will start to float away in a bubble. A countdown timer starts, and if it reaches zero before Yoshi rescues the trapped Baby Mario, he is swept away by Kamek's toadies. You can increase the timer by gathering more Stars (not like Power Stars, more on them in a bit). Essentially, Yoshi's Island took what was good in Super Mario World, and just made it all-around better.
|
||||
|
||||
The game spans over six worlds, which house eight stages each. Two of them are "castle stages" which house a formidable boss inside. All in all, every world is unique and each stage is completely different from the one before. Many of the stages introduce a new mechanic or gimmick that is reused later and built upon. The eggs are initially introduced as simply ammo to attack your enemies with, but later it's revealed that different colored eggs have different properties when loosed upon the baddies. The Chomp Rock is first there simply to obliterate your enemies, but later you learn that it can find secrets for you, and can even be used as a sort of booster stool. The main power-ups in this game come in the form of transformations. Yoshi can transform into a helicopter, a car, a train, a mole, and even a submarine. These power-ups were pretty uncommon, so when you finally saw that bubble with a car in it, you knew you were in for some fun times. These power-ups were only temporary, but allowed for some creative level design.
|
||||
|
||||
The levels themselves were just so inventive for the time. Each level focused on one sort of gimmick or theme and always kept things fresh. The game used several different themes for all the levels, but every one just felt like its own stage. No two felt at all alike. Each level presented a new challenge and new excitement. On each stage are three different collectables. There were Stars, Red Coins and Flowers. The stars are not like the Power Stars from the previous games, and instead increase your countdown timer for rescuing Baby Mario. The Red Coins are hidden amongst the real coins (veteran gamers may notice that Red Coins are just ever so slightly off-color from regular coins). Flowers are usually in plain sight, but are sometimes hidden in "?" clouds, or in a secret location. Sometimes certain events must occur before a Flower appears. Each of these collectables are added up to form a total out of 100 at the end of the stage. They were entirely optional, but clearly Nintendo put a lot of thought into hiding everything. It's basically another game within the game finding them. Collecting all of the Flowers usually meant better chances at getting the Bonus Challenge, which would (sometimes) net you even more rewards. It gave a little incentive to collecting more goodies, basically. Items you got from the Bonus Challenge could be used later, such as giving you more stars, revealing the locations of all the Red Coins, or turning all the enemies into "?" clouds. Sometimes you'd meet up with your buddy Poochy, your lovable dog companion. He'll move you left or right with incredible speed, and can walk over deadly spikes with ease. Careful though, because once he gets going, he doesn't stop.
|
||||
|
||||
Since there was no more countdown timer, this allowed Nintendo to really play with the puzzle aspect in previous games. Yoshi's Island definitely features more puzzle-oriented levels are a result. Nothing too mind-bendingly hard, but nonetheless challenging. A good example is that plenty of levels will eventually fork into multiple paths. Certain doors might be locked, and require you to find the keys.
|
||||
|
||||
The bosses in each world often utilized a mechanic or gimmick that was introduced in stages previously. The first two bosses focus on the egg mechanics, for example. Later bosses start getting more clever. I don't want to spoil all of them, so I'm only going to mention a few. In World 2, you'll be pitted against a ghostly flower pot. Yes, that's right. You'll be competing with two Shy Guys in order to push the flower pot off the edge. Later on you'll be up against a giant Raven, and you'll have to use your ground-pounds to ram things right up his... well, I'll just leave that there. In another battle, you'll be shrunk and swallowed by a frog. That particular battle left such an impression on me. These are just a few of the many bosses you'll face in Yoshi's Island.
|
||||
|
||||
Reflecting now, I fondly remember various stages from years ago. My favorites would have to be the winter/snow worlds. At one point, a blizzard slowly begins as you move right, and before you know it you're firing down a slope with some skis. Yes, Yoshi goes skiiing! So cool. I remember another stage where you have to pump up a balloon in order to float across. I later found out you can actually ruin the balloon if you jump on too early, thus missing all the coins and other goodies. Not to sound lazy, but I really don't want to spoil too many of the levels for anyone who has yet to play this game. They are just so amazing and I'd like everyone to experience them like I did many years ago.
|
||||
|
||||
Finally, I have to talk about the graphics. Back then, the defining feature of many games would be the graphics. Today that's no exception I suppose, but here it was almost paramount to success. Yoshi's Island is no slouch in this department. One of the key reasons I enjoy this game so much is the graphical style they chose for it. Everything looks like it was created by hand, and more importantly, by kids. It was almost like playing the game form of the drawings you would make when you're younger. You know what I mean, the crazy game ideas we had and what we thought was fun... it was almost like seeing your own ideas come to life, right in front of you. It has such a charming and fun atmosphere about it, it's almost impossible not to like. This was radically different than what games were moving towards, which was an emphasis on realism and looking "cool." By all accounts, this style should've been rejected since it was nothing like the style that was "in" with the kids, but I think Nintendo saw the promise of something like this. It really paid off. I especially adore the backgrounds in this game. I often stop and just admire the scenery in this game. For a game that was released nearly 20 years ago, that has to mean something. The attention to detail is astounding.
|
||||
|
||||
The game itself is full of so much detail it's mind-bogging. Everything in the game appears like it was painstakingly designed and created. People say Miyamoto is a genius, and this game is proof of that alone. It's evident by the butterflies in the foreground as you run across the plains, the birds flying in the backgrounds, the bugs that dart around in the swamp, the sauntering animations of the Shy Guys, the dancing and rhythm of the Tribal Shy Guys, the way the frogs bounce and jump in the background in the swamps, Yoshi's idle animations... even Poochy your adorable animal buddy has some nice touches. If you throw him an egg, he'll usually bounce it back gently, and if he manages to get hold of one he'll become distracted and start playing with it. He'll bounce it up and down with his paw and wag his tail with delight. It's such a little addition but it's just so damn charming. Things like these are just littered in the game, and while they serve no practical purpose, they bring you closer into the world of Yoshi's Island. Before games were even looking close to real life, gamers could already feel themselves involved and drawn into a virtual world.
|
||||
|
||||
I'll always remember playing Yoshi's Island fondly. The first experience of this game is something I'll never forget. The impact that this game had on me is insurmountable. If for only that reason alone, this game is rightfully regarded by me as the best game ever. But not only that, this game has such a high level of ingenuity, design, thought, polish and charm to warrant such a decision. I implore you to play this game if you haven't already. A game of this calibre has not been made since, in my opinion. No doubt there have been many great games since, and probably some (if not most) would argue that this game isn't all that great. For me though, this is it. This is the peak of perfection. Nothing is better in terms of gaming than Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island.
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,9 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: 9/12
|
||||
rating: 5
|
||||
image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/21dcd7ff8bee7ea7122dd755078befbef85978d7ee34af54840833a606d375da90a4f8a295842e8d2b58f4db5dfa6a69859a209e3c346f5f268546110b2b6d45.jpeg
|
||||
date: 2024-02-20
|
||||
url: https://art19.com/shows/9-12
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
What's it like the day _after_ 9/11? That's what this podcast explores. Dan Taberski proves he is a masterful host again and weaves a poignant narrative around "the next day".
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,9 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: A Death in Cryptoland
|
||||
rating: 5
|
||||
image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/adeathincryptoland-podcast-template-lg.avif
|
||||
date: 2024-02-20
|
||||
url: https://www.cbc.ca/listen/cbc-podcasts/904-a-death-in-cryptoland
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Thoughts on cryptocurrency aside, this whole thing is _wild_. Every twist and turn continues to escalate - you'd be excused if you thought this was a piece of fiction.
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,18 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: Boys Like Me
|
||||
rating: 5
|
||||
image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/BoysLikeMe-podcast-template.avif
|
||||
date: 2024-02-20
|
||||
url: https://www.cbc.ca/listen/cbc-podcasts/1035-boys-like-me
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
For those wondering how the modern incel movement starting gaining so much traction - this podcast explores how the movement started and how it has got so far.
|
||||
|
||||
I found this podcast particularly harrowing because I heard myself in it so many times. I used to identify with the incel movement - before it had that name. At the height of Gamergate I was one of those amongst the thousands who believed the feminists were coming for my video games.
|
||||
|
||||
It's so easy to become radicalized because it happens so slowly - it's insidious. There are men out there ready to bring you into the fold, truly terrible and reprehensible people that "validate" your feelings but feed you hateful ideology.
|
||||
|
||||
I can't remember when I got out of the movement. It happened slowly if I remember right. I'd disagree with a small point, and then I found myself disagreeing more until I recognized it for what it was. Nothing but hateful rhetoric.
|
||||
|
||||
It can be hard for a lot of men to reach that point, though. They become so entrenched in their beliefs that they can't think rationally anymore.
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,13 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: Conversations With People Who Hate Me
|
||||
rating: 5
|
||||
image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/Conversations-With-People-Who-Hate-Me-Square-Logo.png
|
||||
date: 2024-02-20
|
||||
url: https://www.dylanmarron.com/podcast
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
A uniquely humanizing experience when Dylan chats with his haters. It's surprising to me how many people backtrack their comments (or at least stand by the spirit and not the delivery). I do think anonymity has this boosting effect in people's willingness to be mean (putting it lightly).
|
||||
|
||||
The second season puts a fun twist on the format where people with diametric viewpoints are put onto a call (consensually) to have a discussion. Sometimes minds are changed, and people seem to want to listen with good faith.
|
||||
|
||||
Honestly we need podcasts like this in a post-pandemic era where "us vs. them" mentality has completely dominated modern discourse online and in-person.
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,14 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: History of the 90s
|
||||
rating: 4
|
||||
image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/history-of-the-90s.jpeg
|
||||
date: 2021-08-25T00:02:00Z
|
||||
url: https://curiouscast.ca/podcast/466/history-of-the-90s/
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
As a bona fide 90s kid, this podcast was made for me. I'm enjoying a trip down memory lane, but also learning so much about the 90s that I had no idea about, or did not learn about at the time.
|
||||
|
||||
## Favourite episodes
|
||||
|
||||
- [Woodstock 99](https://curiouscast.ca/podcast/466/history-of-the-90s/)
|
||||
- [Grunge (Part 1 & 2)](https://curiouscast.ca/podcast/466/history-of-the-90s/)
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,11 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: Hunting Warhead
|
||||
rating: 5
|
||||
image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/hunting-warhead.webp
|
||||
date: 2021-08-25T00:00:00Z
|
||||
url: https://www.cbc.ca/listen/cbc-podcasts/387-hunting-warhead
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
A chilling and gripping history telling the story of how one of the largest networks of CSAM was taken down by tracking its biggest maintainer.
|
||||
|
||||
[Listen to the podcast](https://www.cbc.ca/listen/cbc-podcasts/387-hunting-warhead)
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,17 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: If Books Could Kill
|
||||
url: https://www.ifbookspod.com/
|
||||
image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/if-books-could-kill.jpeg
|
||||
date: 2024-02-17
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
I will follow Michael Hobbes to the ends of the earth.
|
||||
|
||||
## Favourite episodes
|
||||
|
||||
- [The Art of the Deal](https://www.buzzsprout.com/2040953/14286395-the-art-of-the-deal)
|
||||
- [Malcolm Gladwell's "Outliers"](https://www.buzzsprout.com/2040953/11658428-malcolm-gladwell-s-outliers)
|
||||
- [Rich Dad Poor Dad](https://www.buzzsprout.com/2040953/12593204-rich-dad-poor-dad)
|
||||
- [The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck](https://www.buzzsprout.com/2040953/14006961-the-subtle-art-of-not-giving-a-f-ck)
|
||||
How is it that I always fall for the light right-wingers? I still respect the book for the impact it had on me, but Mark Manson has completely lost the plot lately. His second book was not worth the money I paid for it.
|
||||
- [The 48 Laws of Power](https://www.buzzsprout.com/2040953/13887364-the-48-laws-of-power)
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,18 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: Maintenance Phase
|
||||
rating: 5
|
||||
image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/maintenance-phase.webp
|
||||
date: 2021-08-25T00:08:00Z
|
||||
url: https://www.maintenancephase.com/
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
A phenomenal podcast that challenged everything I knew about fatness, dieting, food, and my own relationship with each. I don't say this lightly but it has been a life-changing revelation for me. I devour every new episode with fervor and eagerly consume all their content.
|
||||
|
||||
## Favourite episodes
|
||||
|
||||
- [Dr. Oz](https://maintenancephase.buzzsprout.com/1411126/7857472-dr-oz)
|
||||
- [Halo Top Ice Cream](https://maintenancephase.buzzsprout.com/1411126/7127890-halo-top-ice-cream)
|
||||
- [The Biggest Loser](https://maintenancephase.buzzsprout.com/1411126/7353850-the-biggest-loser)
|
||||
I used to watch this show religiously with my parents. I'd look to it at times for inspiration. Realizing the literal hell the cast when through now is horrifying.
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,6 +0,0 @@
|
|||
module.exports = {
|
||||
layout: "layouts/catalogue-item",
|
||||
tags: "podcast",
|
||||
permalink: "catalogue/podcasts/{{ page.fileSlug }}/index.html",
|
||||
linkTitle: "Listen to the podcast",
|
||||
};
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,11 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: Project Unabom
|
||||
rating: 5
|
||||
image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/313x0w.webp
|
||||
date: 2024-02-20
|
||||
url: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/project-unabom/id1627613321
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
A fascinating podcast that kept me fully engaged all the way through. The presentation is top-notch.
|
||||
|
||||
It also served as a potent history lesson for myself. Try to resist the urge to check Wikipedia and let it unfold as you listen.
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,11 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: The Redemption of Jar Jar Binks
|
||||
rating: 5
|
||||
image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/Jar_Jar_250x250.jpg
|
||||
date: 2024-02-20
|
||||
url: https://www.ted.com/podcasts/the-redemption-of-jar-jar-binks
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
The interviews with Ahmed Best in particular are wonderful. I'm ashamed that I was once a part of the online hate brigade that targeted their ire toward Jar Jar. It's so easy to forget that there is a human behind the CGI - a human behind the character.
|
||||
|
||||
There's a ton of Star Wars history for a Star Wars fan to enjoy, but it's a story that anyone would be encouraged to hear. Dylan Marron is a fantastic host for the show.
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,14 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: Reply All
|
||||
url: https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all
|
||||
rating: 3
|
||||
image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/reply-all.jpeg
|
||||
date: 2021-08-25T00:07:00Z
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
There are too many episodes to this podcast, but I have been shared a few interesting ones from my partner. I was never a regular listener, and have not listened since it [effectively imploded](https://www.vulture.com/article/gimlet-reply-all-controversy-spotify-test-kitchen.html)
|
||||
|
||||
## Favourite episodes
|
||||
|
||||
- [The Case of the Missing Hit](https://pca.st/episode/cc572c51-e2bd-41fe-a138-d4f8ecba3549)
|
||||
This is a real journey. There are so many fun twists and turns.
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,9 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: Running from COPS
|
||||
rating: 5
|
||||
image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/running-from-cops.webp
|
||||
date: 2021-08-25T00:03:00Z
|
||||
url: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/headlong-running-from-cops/id1459118695
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
[Listen to the podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/headlong-running-from-cops/id1459118695)
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,9 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: Surviving Y2K
|
||||
rating: 4
|
||||
image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/surviving-y2k.webp
|
||||
date: 2021-08-25T00:01:00Z
|
||||
url: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/headlong-surviving-y2k/id1464251414
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
[Listen to the podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/headlong-surviving-y2k/id1464251414)
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,13 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: The Flamethrowers
|
||||
rating: 5
|
||||
image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/theflamethrowers-podcast-template.avif
|
||||
date: 2024-02-20
|
||||
url: https://www.cbc.ca/listen/cbc-podcasts/1026-the-flamethrowers
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
I appreciated the host's occasional sense of humour, because the podcast uses real audio from some of the right-wind radio hosts and it can be... vitriolic, to put it nicely. I don't know what to do but immediately laugh after some of the hateful bile these men spew.
|
||||
|
||||
It amazed me how quietly it started, but much like a flamethrower (hey, just getting that now) the power of right-wind radio grew so rapidly.
|
||||
|
||||
Much like any number of problems facing America in the 21st century, it comes back to Reagan.
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,11 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: The New Gurus
|
||||
rating: 5
|
||||
image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/the-new-gurus.webp
|
||||
date: 2024-02-20
|
||||
url: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-new-gurus/id1659385785
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
There is an obsession with finding a guru - a subject matter expert - and trying to learn from them. I should know - I spent a large part of my 20s following the advice of wealthy, privileged white men telling me how to live a fulfilling life. Just wake up a 5am, just meditate every day for 30 minutes, just just just... I hate the word "just" now and treat it like a hangnail.
|
||||
|
||||
Episode 3 in particular resonated with me. There are no shortage of shysters in the wellness and self-help industry promising to be your guru, but lacking in any credentials. The productivity sphere is lousy with them. There is a strange obsession with productivity in the world of white men, and few of them have any regard for someone who has a family has to deal with.
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,13 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: "You're Wrong About"
|
||||
url: https://yourewrongabout.com/
|
||||
rating: 4
|
||||
image: https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/youre-wrong-about.jpeg
|
||||
date: 2021-08-25T00:06:00Z
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
## Favourite episodes
|
||||
|
||||
I find I don't enjoy the podcast nearly as much since Michael Hobbes left the show. But the "classic era" YWA episodes tend to be great.
|
||||
|
||||
- [Disco Demolition Night](https://www.buzzsprout.com/1112270/4815227-disco-demolition-night)
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,13 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
permalink: /404.html
|
||||
youtube: true
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
<section class="[ flow ]">
|
||||
<h1>404 🍞</h1>
|
||||
<p>Couldn't find what you're looking for. But would you like some bread for your journey home? 🥖</p>
|
||||
{% youtube "GQw-aEk05qY", "Call 1800 Tobë ( Bread Ad )" %}
|
||||
<p>
|
||||
<a href="{{ meta.url }}">👈 I have my bread and I'm ready to go home.</a>
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
</section>
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,48 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
permalink: /about/index.html
|
||||
title: About
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Hello! Ahoj! Welcome to my site!
|
||||
|
||||
My name is **Devin Haska** and this is my little slice of the internet I call home.
|
||||
|
||||
Here's a non-exhaustive list of topics you'll find here: web development, music, reading, video games, politics, and intersections of all of the above.
|
||||
|
||||
I really like frogs, like a lot. So I made myself a mascot. They don't have a name yet, but perhaps you can think of one?
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/logo.svg", "A pixel art version of a frog. They are currently unnamed.", "What should we call them?" %}
|
||||
|
||||
## Professional
|
||||
|
||||
I'm currently working at [Metalab][metalab] as a Web Engineer, and I've been working here for 4 years.
|
||||
|
||||
I have a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in Computer Science from the [University of Victoria][uvic].
|
||||
|
||||
Technologies I have focused on in the last few years include:
|
||||
|
||||
- React
|
||||
- React Native
|
||||
- TypeScript
|
||||
- NextJS
|
||||
|
||||
I have a passion for the intersection of development and design. A title I associate with would be **Creative Developer**. I'm happiest when I'm at the front of the front-end, getting into nitty-gritty details with an emphasis on motion. CSS is my homebase (and yes, it's a programming language).
|
||||
|
||||
I try my best to champion accessibility wherever I can. I incoporate accessibility testing tools into my workflow while carrying out my day-to-day work.
|
||||
|
||||
## Hobbies
|
||||
|
||||
I tend to hop from interest to interest, fully engrossing myself and then moving on after a few weeks. That said, I do have some mainstays that I have a regular interest in, such as:
|
||||
|
||||
- Playing video games
|
||||
- Discovering new music
|
||||
- Tinkering with small electronics
|
||||
- Using web dev to make things (hey, you're looking at one such thing!)
|
||||
- Journaling
|
||||
- Painstakingly researching the piece of gear I'm thinking about getting
|
||||
- Reading
|
||||
- Home DIY (building furniture, home repair and upgrades, that sort of thing)
|
||||
- Making pixel art
|
||||
|
||||
[metalab]: https://metalab.com
|
||||
[uvic]: https://uvic.ca
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,23 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
permalink: /blogroll/index.html
|
||||
title: Blogroll
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
<section class="[ flow ]">
|
||||
<h1>Blogroll</h1>
|
||||
<p>A collection of my favourite sites, in no particular order.</p>
|
||||
<p>
|
||||
If you're looking for more cool sites, visit <a href="https://blogroll.org"
|
||||
target="_blank"
|
||||
rel="external noreferrer noopener">blogroll.org</a>!
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<ul>
|
||||
{% for item in blogroll %}
|
||||
<li>
|
||||
<a href="{{ item.url }}"
|
||||
target="_blank"
|
||||
rel="external noreferrer noopener">{{ item.title }}</a>
|
||||
</li>
|
||||
{% endfor %}
|
||||
</ul>
|
||||
</section>
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,90 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
permalink: /colophon/index.html
|
||||
title: Colophon
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
# Colophon
|
||||
|
||||
A little bit of everything regarding how this site was built and its origins.
|
||||
|
||||
## Technology
|
||||
|
||||
The site is powered by [11ty][11ty], using a mixture of [Nunjucks][nunjucks] and [Markdown][markdown] content.
|
||||
|
||||
A large part of this site was based on the principles established in the [eleventy-excellent][eleventyexcellent] starter.
|
||||
|
||||
Markdown is processed using [markdown-it][markdownit]. I am using a few plugins:
|
||||
- [markdown-it-abbr][markdownitabbr] - Adds support for abbreviations.
|
||||
- [markdown-it-anchor][markdownitanchor] - Automatically adds anchor ids to titles (h1, h2, etc).
|
||||
- [markdown-it-footnote][markdownitfootnote] - Adds support for footnotes.
|
||||
- [markdown-it-prism][markdownitprism] - Adds syntax highlighting to code blocks.
|
||||
|
||||
A minimal amount of [PostCSS][postcss] is used as a developer convenience, othwise pure CSS is used. Any utility classes I've created myself.
|
||||
|
||||
Responsive images are generated by [eleventy-img][eleventyimg].
|
||||
|
||||
Media is hosted on [bunny.net][bunnynet].
|
||||
|
||||
RSS is generated by [eleventy-plugin-rss][eleventypluginrss].
|
||||
|
||||
Date formatting uses [dayjs][dayjs].
|
||||
|
||||
Code formatting is applied by [Prism][prismjs] and uses a tweaked version of the [Tokyo Night][tokyonight] colour scheme.
|
||||
|
||||
## Design
|
||||
|
||||
Headings are using the [Anek Latin][aneklatin] font, and the body font is [iA Writer Quattro][iawriterquattro].
|
||||
|
||||
The colour palette is viewable on the [styleguide][styleguide] page.
|
||||
|
||||
Icons are from the [Chunk Icons][chunkicons] set by [Noah Jacobus][noahjacobus].
|
||||
|
||||
Lots of inspiration (and sometimes direct code) from [Every Layout][everylayout].
|
||||
|
||||
## Wonderful Frog?
|
||||
|
||||
I happen to really like frogs, like a lot. I used to have be part of a group called "Wonderful Failure", and happened to really like the adjective "wonderful" so I kept it. It coincidentally still abbreviates to "WF", so I'm keeping the spirit going! As we used to say: "ngu!" or "never give up!"
|
||||
|
||||
## Current URL
|
||||
|
||||
wonderfulfrog.com (2023 - Present)
|
||||
|
||||
## Previous URLs
|
||||
|
||||
My site has changed URLs over the years, and was previously found at the following URLs:
|
||||
|
||||
- devinlumley.com (2020 - 2023)
|
||||
- devinlumley.me (2016 - 2020)
|
||||
- devinwl.github.io (??? - 2016)
|
||||
|
||||
## Licensing
|
||||
|
||||
All text content inside of `src/content` is © Devin Haska - you may not use it without permission.
|
||||
|
||||
Any code (for example, `.js`, `.css`, `.njk`) is published under an [MIT][mit] license - you're free to use it how you see fit. If you feel like attributing me, that'd be swell.
|
||||
|
||||
I've done my best to show where I found any code I did not write myself.
|
||||
|
||||
[11ty]: https://11ty.dev
|
||||
[markdown]: https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/syntax
|
||||
[nunjucks]: https://mozilla.github.io/nunjucks/templating.html
|
||||
[markdownit]: https://github.com/markdown-it/markdown-it
|
||||
[markdownitabbr]: https://github.com/markdown-it/markdown-it-abbr
|
||||
[markdownitanchor]: https://github.com/valeriangalliat/markdown-it-anchor
|
||||
[markdownitfootnote]: https://github.com/markdown-it/markdown-it-footnote
|
||||
[markdownitprism]: https://github.com/jGleitz/markdown-it-prism
|
||||
[postcss]: https://postcss.org
|
||||
[eleventyimg]: https://www.11ty.dev/docs/plugins/image
|
||||
[bunnynet]: https://bunny.net
|
||||
[eleventypluginrss]: https://www.11ty.dev/docs/plugins/rss
|
||||
[dayjs]: https://day.js.org/en
|
||||
[aneklatin]: https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Anek+Latin
|
||||
[iawriterquattro]: https://github.com/iaolo/iA-Fonts
|
||||
[styleguide]: /styleguide
|
||||
[chunkicons]: https://www.figma.com/community/file/1327310800295849271
|
||||
[noahjacobus]: https://noahjacob.us
|
||||
[mit]: https://opensource.org/license/mit
|
||||
[eleventyexcellent]: https://eleventy-excellent.netlify.app
|
||||
[everylayout]: https://every-layout.dev
|
||||
[prismjs]: https://prismjs.com
|
||||
[tokyonight]: https://github.com/folke/tokyonight.nvim
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
permalink: /
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Hello from index.
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,29 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
permalink: /links/index.html
|
||||
title: Links
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
# Find me online
|
||||
|
||||
Other places I have an online presence.
|
||||
|
||||
## Socials
|
||||
|
||||
- [Mastodon][mastodon]
|
||||
|
||||
- [Last.fm][lastfm]
|
||||
|
||||
- [GitHub][github]
|
||||
|
||||
- [Apple Music][applemusic]
|
||||
|
||||
- [LinkedIn][linkedin]
|
||||
|
||||
- [Backloggd][backloggd]
|
||||
|
||||
[mastodon]: {{ meta.social.mastodon }}
|
||||
[lastfm]: {{ meta.social.lastfm }}
|
||||
[github]: {{ meta.social.github }}
|
||||
[applemusic]: https://music.apple.com/profile/wonderfulfrog
|
||||
[linkedin]: https://www.linkedin.com/in/devin-haska-bb90a7253
|
||||
[backloggd]: https://www.backloggd.com/u/wonderfulfrog
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,6 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
permalink: /now/index.html
|
||||
title: /now
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
The /now page.
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
|
|||
{
|
||||
"layout": "layouts/base"
|
||||
}
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,11 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
permalink: /posts/index.html
|
||||
title: Posts
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
<h1>All posts</h1>
|
||||
<p>
|
||||
Browse all of my posts, or narrow things down <a href="/tags">via tags</a>.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
{% set items = collections.post | reverse %}
|
||||
{% include "partials/archive.html" %}
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,74 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
permalink: /styleguide/index.html
|
||||
title: Styleguide
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
<h1>Heading one</h1>
|
||||
<h2>Heading two</h2>
|
||||
<h3>Heading three</h3>
|
||||
<h4>Heading four</h4>
|
||||
<p>Paragraph text</p>
|
||||
<p>
|
||||
<strong>Bold text</strong>
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p>
|
||||
<em>Emphasized text</em>
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p>
|
||||
<strong>
|
||||
<em>Bold and emphasized text</em>
|
||||
</strong>
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p>
|
||||
An abbreviation: <abbr title="Hypertext Markup Language">HTML</abbr>
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<hr />
|
||||
<div class="[ flex ]">
|
||||
<div class="[ size-2 ]" style="background-color: var(--color-primary)"></div>
|
||||
<div class="[ size-2 ]" style="background-color: var(--color-secondary)"></div>
|
||||
<div class="[ size-2 ]" style="background-color: var(--color-background)"></div>
|
||||
<div class="[ size-2 ]" style="background-color: var(--color-surface)"></div>
|
||||
<div class="[ size-2 ]" style="background-color: var(--color-border)"></div>
|
||||
<div class="[ size-2 ]" style="background-color: var(--color-text)"></div>
|
||||
<div class="[ size-2 ]" style="background-color: var(--color-fadeText)"></div>
|
||||
<div class="[ size-2 ]" style="background-color: var(--color-shadow)"></div>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<hr />
|
||||
<a href="#">A link</a>
|
||||
<a href="/">A visited link</a>
|
||||
<hr />
|
||||
<blockquote>
|
||||
<p>A blockquote</p>
|
||||
<p>Here is some more text</p>
|
||||
<p>And even more!</p>
|
||||
</blockquote>
|
||||
<hr />
|
||||
<p>An unordered list</p>
|
||||
<ul>
|
||||
<li>Item one</li>
|
||||
<li>Item two</li>
|
||||
<li>Item three</li>
|
||||
</ul>
|
||||
<hr />
|
||||
<p>An ordered list</p>
|
||||
<ol>
|
||||
<li>Item one</li>
|
||||
<li>Item two</li>
|
||||
<li>Item three</li>
|
||||
</ol>
|
||||
<hr />
|
||||
<aside>
|
||||
<p>An aside block</p>
|
||||
</aside>
|
||||
<hr />
|
||||
<figure>
|
||||
<img src="/assets/images/logo.svg" />
|
||||
<figcaption>A fig caption.</figcaption>
|
||||
</figure>
|
||||
<hr />
|
||||
<div style="background-color: var(--color-surface);
|
||||
border: 1px solid var(--color-border);
|
||||
padding: 1rem">A card-type component.</div>
|
||||
<hr />
|
||||
<div style="box-shadow: 2px 2px 8px hsl(var(--shadow) / 0.34);
|
||||
padding: 1rem">This box has a shadow</div>
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,182 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
permalink: /uses/index.html
|
||||
title: /uses
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
# Uses
|
||||
|
||||
Last updated on **February 19th, 2024**.
|
||||
|
||||
A list of my favourite software, tools, gear, configurations, and everything else between.
|
||||
|
||||
More lists like this are available at [uses.tech][usestech].
|
||||
|
||||
There are no affiliate links.
|
||||
|
||||
## Development
|
||||
|
||||
My editor of choice is [Neovim][neovim], which uses a [very opinionated setup][neovimsetup].
|
||||
|
||||
My preferred terminal is [iTerm2][iterm2] on macOS, or [Windows Terminal][windowsterminal] on Windows.
|
||||
|
||||
Wherever possible I use the [Tokyo Night][tokyonight] colour scheme.
|
||||
|
||||
My favourite font is [Operator Mono][opmono]. I have modified it with [Nerd Font][nerdfont] glyphs to power up my terminal views.
|
||||
|
||||
I use a mixture of [Prettier][prettier] and [ESLint][eslint] when developing my own projects, and encourage teams to use it if they aren't already. It takes code style and formatting out of code review discussions and keeps everything consistent.
|
||||
|
||||
I use the latest version of macOS for my work, but am comfortable doing web development on Windows 11 too.
|
||||
|
||||
My favourite frameworks are [React][reactjs] for JavaScript and [Tailwind][tailwindcss] for CSS. Lately though I find myself gravitating to things that don't require as much tooling. Modern React confuses the hell out of me, and feels like a solution to a problem that no longer exists - JavaScript has come a _long_ way since 2013. For CSS I love utility classes, but get bogged down with the sheer number of them in Tailwind (class name soup is real, but not a reason to avoid Tailwind). I find myself looking toward solutions that work for years to come and introduce as few breaking changes as possible.
|
||||
|
||||
When it comes to mobile development my tool of choice is [React Native][reactnative]. Unlike its web counterpart, the React Native space continues to get better and better. I love using tools like [Reanimated][reanimated] to make fluid and beautiful animations. [Expo][expo] has changed the game and makes development a breeze. There is certainly some magic going on under-the-hood.
|
||||
|
||||
## Gear
|
||||
|
||||
My monitor is a [Dell U3423WE][u3423we] ultra-wide monitor. It has a built-in KVM switch that lets me swap between my work and gaming computer effortlessly. My only complaint is that the Ethernet port is flaky, so I can't use it.
|
||||
|
||||
My keyboard is a [Keychron Q4][keychronq4] with Gateron G Pro Red switches. Right now I have their white PBT keycaps with an OSA style.
|
||||
|
||||
My mouse is a [Keychron M3][keychronm3]. It love it because there is zero branding on the top part of the mouse, and it works very well. It's a cheap, no nonsense mouse.
|
||||
|
||||
My desk is the [Autonomous SmartDesk Pro][smartdesk] with a 53" bamboo top. It's a solid desk, but their customer support burned me pretty hard so I've sworn off the company.
|
||||
|
||||
My speakers of choice are a pair of [Sonos One SL][sonosonesl]s mounted to my walls. They're expensive, but work extremely well with AirPlay 2. And I can seamlessly add other Sonos speakers to my listening experience.
|
||||
|
||||
## Music
|
||||
|
||||
I've tried every streaming service out there that's available in Canada (RIP to [Rdio][rdio], you were the real one), and I've given up and settled with [Apple Music][applemusic]. At least it integrates decently well with the ecosystem.
|
||||
|
||||
I'm one of those weirdos that likes to buy music, so my favourite platform is [Bandcamp][bandcamp] ([for now][bandcamplayoffs], at least). If an artist isn't on Bandcamp, I'll try other online stores like [7digital][7digital].
|
||||
|
||||
Speaking of buying music, I need a way to keep it organized. Enter [beets][beets], which does an amazing job. It ships with a bunch of opinionated defaults that line up with my own opinions, which worked great for me. Can be tweaked and tinkered with to your heart's content.
|
||||
|
||||
I use [Plex][plex] as a media server. It does a fine job with serving music.
|
||||
|
||||
When it comes to playing music from the Plex server, I like [Prism][prismapp].
|
||||
|
||||
I use the [Sony WH-1000XM3][wh1000xm3] headphones. Unparallelled noise cancelling and long battery life. Just wish it could swap devices easier. I've had these for over 5 years and they keep going. One day I might upgrade to a recent model that handles device switching better, but these are great.
|
||||
|
||||
For wired headphones I have my [Sony MDR-7506][sonymdr7506]s. Just plain good sound. I wish they still made the MDRv6, though.
|
||||
|
||||
I use [Last.fm][lastfm] for tracking my music listening history. They've been around for a long time. I find their reports insightful and chock-full of interesting data. I love being able to go back several years and see what I was listening to.
|
||||
|
||||
[MusicBox][musicbox] is a wonderful app for keeping track of music to listen to later. It supports tagging and rating, and integrates well with iOS's Share Sheet. Supports Apple Music and Spotify. You can add songs, albums, and even playlists!
|
||||
|
||||
[Sleeve][sleeveapp] for showing what music is playing. Integrates with Last.fm for easy scrobbling, and syncs my loved tracks on Apple Music and Last.fm.
|
||||
|
||||
## Photography
|
||||
|
||||
My camera camera is [FUJIFILM X-E4][fujifilmxe4]. I find that any picture I take looks great right out of the camera, no tweaks required. There are a lot of fun film options to choose from.
|
||||
|
||||
When I don't have my X-E4, whatever phone I've got is my camera (something something the best camera is the one you have with you). It's currently an iPhone 13 mini, and my only tweak to the camera app is always starting with a -0.3 exposure. Try it out, it makes a noticable difference for me.
|
||||
|
||||
Photo management is all done through [Photos][photosapp] on macOS.
|
||||
|
||||
## Storage and Backups
|
||||
|
||||
All of our media is stored on our [Synology DS218j][ds218j], and served by [Plex][plex]. I have two 2TB drives in there configured using RAID 1 (mirrored).
|
||||
|
||||
Offsite backups are sent to [Backblaze B2][backblazeb2].
|
||||
|
||||
Photos are the exception, and are stored using [iCloud][icloud]. I wish there were an easy way to back up photos to a different technology.
|
||||
|
||||
## Email
|
||||
|
||||
My email host is [Fastmail][fastmail]. So far I've migrated from Gmail to ProtonMail, and then to Fastmail, and then to a friend's mail server, and back to Fastmail. Email is the one thing I want to be as close to 100% reliable as possible. It should Just Work™.
|
||||
|
||||
I use Fastmail's web client on desktop, and the stock [Mail app][mailapp] on iOS.
|
||||
|
||||
## Software
|
||||
|
||||
My favourite pieces of software not mentioned elsewhere.
|
||||
|
||||
For password management I use [1Password][1pass].
|
||||
|
||||
[Dark Noise][darknoise]. I have a hard time falling asleep without some kind of white noise. Beats keeping a fan running all the time.
|
||||
|
||||
[Feedbin][feedbin] for managing my feeds. No matter what anyone has said, RSS is _not dead_. If anything, they are flourishing even more.
|
||||
|
||||
[Reeder][reeder] for consuming my feeds. A beautiful interface with intuitive gestures. It makes reading fun, plain and simple. It also periodically downloads copies of your feed, so connectivity isn't required to read.
|
||||
|
||||
[Ivory][ivoryapp] for consuming Mastodon feeds.
|
||||
|
||||
[Obsidian][obsidianmd] for all of my note-taking. It's cross-platform and supports plugins. Built-in support for wikilinks. I don't have a complex organization strategy for my notes - just a basic set of folders. It's very easy to get caught in the rabbit hole of "best way to organize your thoughts".
|
||||
|
||||
I use the [Template][obsidiantemplate] plugin quite a bit - helps with notes with a common structure.
|
||||
|
||||
The [Actions URI][obsidianactions] plugin integrates well with iOS's Shortcuts, which lets me create a note and populate it with data from a single tap!
|
||||
|
||||
[Figma][figma] for all things design. It's the industry standard.
|
||||
|
||||
[Raycast][raycast] for doing computer-related things. I love using it for launching apps, currency conversions, word definitions, window management, joining meetings, and I'm sure something else I'm forgetting. I couldn't care less about the AI junk, but it does everything else great.
|
||||
|
||||
## Other Gear
|
||||
|
||||
I don't know where else to put these. Things I enjoy using to help organize my life, or maybe just have some fun.
|
||||
|
||||
My favourite notebook is the [Hobonichi Techo][techo]. I use it as a journal and catch-all for life events. It's well-suited to tracking emphera like movie tickets or receipts. I adore the paper - it's a thin, delicate paper with a wonderful texture. It's somehow strong enough to resist fountain pen bleed-through. There is a whole category of accessories and covers to personalize your Techo. They also offer a variety of other notebook formats that all use the same paper. If you're not careful, you'll find yourself dumping money into the hobby.
|
||||
|
||||
My favourite pen is my [TWSBI ECO-T][twsbi] in the mint-blue colour. The transparent style evokes a feeling of nostalgia. I love seeing my ink well full of beautiful colours. I use a fine nib. I find the thickness just right.
|
||||
|
||||
Another favourite fountain pen is the [Lamy Safari][lamysafari]. As a starter pen, you can't go wrong here. There are such a wide variety of nibs and colours to choose from.
|
||||
|
||||
I use a [Fjallraven High Coast Hip Pack][hippack] as my everyday carry. It's just big enoough that I can fit all of my things without feeling cumbersome. I honestly don't know why it took me so long to embrace the bag life.
|
||||
|
||||
For better or worse, I love [AirTag][airtag]s. Makes it easy to find stuff that I often misplace.
|
||||
|
||||
[usestech]: https://uses.tech
|
||||
[neovim]: https://neovim.io
|
||||
[neovimsetup]: https://github.com/wonderfulfrog/neovim
|
||||
[iterm2]: https://iterm2.com
|
||||
[windowsterminal]: https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9N0DX20HK701?hl=en-US&gl=US
|
||||
[tokyonight]: https://github.com/folke/tokyonight.nvim
|
||||
[opmono]: https://www.typography.com/blog/introducing-operator
|
||||
[nerdfont]: https://github.com/ryanoasis/nerd-fonts
|
||||
[prettier]: https://prettier.io
|
||||
[eslint]: https://eslint.org
|
||||
[u3423we]: https://www.dell.com/en-ca/shop/dell-ultrasharp-34-curved-usb-c-hub-monitor-u3423we/apd/210-bfou/monitors-monitor-accessories
|
||||
[keychronq4]: https://www.keychron.com/products/keychron-q4-qmk-via-custom-mechanical-keyboard?variant=40097511669849
|
||||
[keychronm3]: https://www.keychron.com/products/keychron-m3-wireless-mouse?variant=40294351929433
|
||||
[smartdesk]: https://www.autonomous.ai/standing-desks/smartdesk-2-business?option_code=Smartdesk2Business-FrameSmartDesk2_DeskFrame.White,Model.Proframe-Surface_DeskDesign.53x29Classic,DeskTop.NoTop
|
||||
[rdio]: https://www.theverge.com/2015/11/17/9750890/rdio-shutdown-pandora
|
||||
[applemusic]: https://music.apple.com/us/browse
|
||||
[bandcamp]: https://bandcamp.com
|
||||
[bandcamplayoffs]: https://variety.com/2023/music/news/bandcamps-layoffs-songtradr-1235758123
|
||||
[7digital]: https://ca.7digital.com
|
||||
[beets]: https://beets.io
|
||||
[plex]: https://www.plex.tv
|
||||
[prismapp]: https://prism-music.app
|
||||
[wh1000xm3]: https://www.sony.com/ug/electronics/headband-headphones/wh-1000xm3
|
||||
[sonymdr7506]: https://www.rtings.com/headphones/reviews/sony/mdr-7506
|
||||
[fujifilmxe4]: https://fujifilm-x.com/global/products/cameras/x-e4
|
||||
[photosapp]: https://www.apple.com/ca/macos/photos
|
||||
[ds218j]: https://global.download.synology.com/download/Document/Hardware/DataSheet/DiskStation/18-year/DS218j/enu/Synology_DS218j_Data_Sheet_enu.pdf
|
||||
[backblazeb2]: https://www.backblaze.com/cloud-storage
|
||||
[icloud]: https://www.icloud.com
|
||||
[fastmail]: https://fastmail.com
|
||||
[mailapp]: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/mail/id1108187098
|
||||
[techo]: https://www.1101.com/store/techo/en
|
||||
[lamysafari]: https://www.lamy.com/en/lamy-safari
|
||||
[twsbi]: https://www.twsbi.com/collections/fountain-pens/products/twsbi-eco-t-mint-blue-fountain-pen
|
||||
[hippack]: https://www.fjallraven.com/ca/en-ca/bags-gear/backpacks-bags/travel-bags/high-coast-hip-pack
|
||||
[airtag]: https://www.apple.com/ca/airtag
|
||||
[1pass]: https://1password.com
|
||||
[darknoise]: https://darknoise.app
|
||||
[lastfm]: https://last.fm
|
||||
[feedbin]: https://feedbin.com
|
||||
[reeder]: https://reederapp.com
|
||||
[ivoryapp]: https://tapbots.com/ivory
|
||||
[obsidianmd]: https://obsidian.md
|
||||
[obsidiantemplate]: https://help.obsidian.md/Plugins/Templates
|
||||
[obsidianactions]: https://github.com/czottmann/obsidian-actions-uri
|
||||
[figma]: https://figma.com
|
||||
[musicbox]: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/musicbox-save-music-for-later/id1614730313
|
||||
[reactjs]: https://react.dev
|
||||
[tailwindcss]: https://tailwindcss.com
|
||||
[reactnative]: https://reactnative.dev
|
||||
[reanimated]: https://docs.swmansion.com/react-native-reanimated
|
||||
[expo]: https://expo.dev
|
||||
[raycast]: https://www.raycast.com
|
||||
[sleeveapp]: https://replay.software/sleeve
|
||||
[sonosonesl]: https://www.sonos.com/en-ca/shop/one-sl-b-stock-shadow
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,115 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: "2020: In Review"
|
||||
date: 2021-01-09
|
||||
excerpt: A remarkable year.
|
||||
tags: ["year recap"]
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
How do you even begin to summarize the whirlwind that was 2020? What are the Greatest Hits? Here’s a short list:
|
||||
|
||||
- COVID-19.
|
||||
- The president was impeached and nothing happened.
|
||||
- Harvey Weinstein was sentenced.
|
||||
- The death of George Floyd.
|
||||
- The Beirut explosion.
|
||||
- Murder hornets.
|
||||
- Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s passing.
|
||||
- The sucker punch: news of MF DOOM’s passing on the last day of the year.
|
||||
|
||||
When I was young, I always wondered what it would be like to live through a historic event like the Vietnam War, or the AIDS crisis. It feels like I’ve lived through a lifetime of them in the span of a year. And my list isn’t even close to everything that happened in 2020.
|
||||
|
||||
A lot of good things happened this year too:
|
||||
|
||||
- Multiple vaccines for COVID-19.
|
||||
- There might be microbial life on Mars! Water on the Moon!
|
||||
- [The Pentagon released footage of “unidentified aerial phenomena” (read: UFOs!).][ufos]
|
||||
- Working from home had a revolution.
|
||||
- Lots of really cool SpaceX launches.
|
||||
- [That time that air pollution was so low because of the pandemic.][pollution]
|
||||
- Trump lost. And kept losing.
|
||||
- [Italian mayors losing their shit telling people to stay home.][mayors]
|
||||
- [Olive and Mabel by a sports commentator.][commentator]
|
||||
- [Google is being sued by the US for antitrust violations.][antitrust]
|
||||
- We got Season 2 of The Mandalorian.
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/8deaca3a-3ad8-4a2b-9068-b6ea1b7f7ec1.jpeg", "A screenshot of my phone with a news heading that says 'BIDEN BEATS TRUMP'", "A cherished screenshot" %}
|
||||
|
||||
I had to search for both positive and negative events because my brain is having enough trouble dealing with the present, let alone reasoning what happened in the past.
|
||||
|
||||
As for me... well...
|
||||
|
||||
## Work
|
||||
|
||||
When 2020 started, I was only 2 months into my new job. A year later and I’ve dug into the work. This year has been such a fantastic reminder of how fortunate I am to work for my company. There is a clear understanding of the events in the world and an implicit assumption that nobody is at (or even near) 100% productivity. There is a tacit acknowledgement that sometimes people need to take a few hours (or more) off to refocus. They care about the humans behind their work.
|
||||
|
||||
It’s also my first workplace that feels “real” — in the sense that we (the company) have core values that we all believe in, and if we don’t meet them the expectation is that we shore up or ship out. I had a sobering reminder of what that means this year. It was like my first year of university. Impostor Syndrome struck its claws into me quite deep this year, as I felt like I was an outsider/impostor working with such a talented group of people across disciplines. I felt anxious and was certain I was going to be axed once the pandemic rolled in. The opposite could not have been more true. Everyone was there to support me and make sure that I landed with two feet. It was an incredible feeling knowing I was valued.
|
||||
|
||||
I’ve found my groove now after a rocky start. Being surrounded by colleagues who value their work and really truly want to do the best can be an invigorating feeling.
|
||||
|
||||
Last year I was excited to get started in iOS development, and started making a super simple (Magic the Gathering) life counter app. It never got beyond the earliest stages though. Then my work ended up going in a very web-focused direction. Now I’m not so sure I want to even have an app on the App Store as my indifference toward Apple seems to grow by the day.
|
||||
|
||||
On the team leadership side of things, I did get the opportunity to lead a small team in creating a Slack app for a not-for-profit company. That was a ton of fun for multiple reasons, but above all it was my first time seeing something the company made (that I had a hand in) live in the real world! It was a real privilege being able to work on it.
|
||||
|
||||
I spent more time working with GraphQL and I feel like it’s becoming a reliable tool in my belt now.
|
||||
|
||||
Lastly, I finally took the time to learn vim. It was (and still is) an uphill battle, but it’s so rewarding being able to accomplish anything I want using just the keyboard. It’s been a few months and I feel like I’m back up to speed with my mouse and keyboard self. Speed aside, it’s been a ton of fun tweaking my editor to have it _just so_, using things like VimPlug to get some essential plugins. It’s also made me realize how feature-rich vim is by itself and how few plugins I need to get a very powerful editor. I’ve since moved onto NeoVim (nvim) for the plugin ecosystem and have no plans to go back to VS Code.
|
||||
|
||||
## Creative
|
||||
|
||||
2020 was the year of being indoors, so all the more reason to really engage with my creative hobbies. I started up piano lessons again with my previous teacher after a year of sort-of-but-not-really-trying to play on my own and find a jazz teacher. The value of a teacher who understands you and knows how you like to learn cannot be understated.
|
||||
|
||||
I finished a long-standing knitting project (a scarf, but using 2 different colors of yarn) for my Mom. I was proud to finally finish it after starting it last year.
|
||||
|
||||
I mostly kept up with drawing, although I’ve had week-long (or more) periods of no practice. I’m eager to get into working with a teacher, but not sure how well it would work remotely.
|
||||
|
||||
I got busy with some side projects in the coding space:
|
||||
|
||||
- [A static site powered][teabase] by NextJS and AirTable to publish our tea collection.
|
||||
- [A simple API][hltbapi] for querying [How Long to Beat][hltb], integrated into an iOS shortcut.
|
||||
- A (incomplete) [CHIP-8 emulator][chip8] built using JavaScript.
|
||||
|
||||
I was quite pleased that I kept up (more or less) with monthly summaries on the site here. I hope to continue doing that with some shorter form posts in between. I have a few topics in mind I’d like to explore.
|
||||
|
||||
## Mental Health
|
||||
|
||||
As with I imagine the majority of people on the Earth this year, my mental health took a sharp nosedive. I remember feeling off all the time, and how nothing seemed to be interesting or engaging. Not even work got me excited. I’m so fortunate that I had the ability to see a professional to talk about these things and start feeling better. I think it was a case of the [“COVID-19 wall”][covidwall].
|
||||
|
||||
Working through my emotions though, [I did learn some things about myself][octrecently]. I am more aware of how much I value short, actionable tasks instead of large, vague goals.
|
||||
|
||||
I could feel my moods decline when I was paying attention to events unfolding in the US over the year.
|
||||
|
||||
## Playing
|
||||
|
||||
Being at home I got the chance to settle into some games this year. Without a doubt the majority of my time (over 400 hours worth) went into [Animal Crossing: New Horizons][acnh]. Talk about the right game at the right time. It has regularly been my escape from the... **\*gestures at everything\***.
|
||||
|
||||
It also served as a gaming jumping on point for my partner and my parents. Everyone got into it in a big way and it served as a fun bonding activity. We also all got into the same island at once, which was so much fun!
|
||||
|
||||
My other favorite games this year would be [A Short Hike][ash] and [Hades][hades]. I went into more detail with my experience with Hades in an [earlier post][novrecently].
|
||||
|
||||
## Listening
|
||||
|
||||
A notable achievement would be finally organizing my music collection. It’s been something on my todo list for years and I’m so happy I finally got around to it. I’ve been using it happily without issue since I got it running, and it’s super easy to maintain. For those curious [I went into more detail in this post][music].
|
||||
|
||||
Finally I feel like I need to mention [Bandcamp Fridays][bcf]. This was a hidden gem turned into favorite of mine this year. It was one day a month I went a little crazy and bought a ton of music. I’m happy to see the tradition is returning in 2021.
|
||||
|
||||
## Closing
|
||||
|
||||
I’m writing this post about a week into 2021 and if you’ve been following along... 2021 be like “hold my beer”. I’m hoping it turns into a redemption arc, but we’re not off to a great start. Here’s hoping, though. As a great man — Ted Lasso — once said: it’s the _lack_ of hope that kills you.
|
||||
|
||||
[ufos]: https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/27/politics/pentagon-ufo-videos/index.html
|
||||
[pollution]: https://www.insider.com/before-after-photos-show-less-air-pollution-during-pandemic-lockdown
|
||||
[mayors]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxtGJsnLgSc
|
||||
[commentator]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPhpJuraz14
|
||||
[antitrust]: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/12/17/google-search-antitrust-lawsuit/
|
||||
[teabase]: https://teabase.vercel.app
|
||||
[hltb]: https://howlongtobeat.com
|
||||
[hltbapi]: http://hltb-api.vercel.app/
|
||||
[chip8]: https://github.com/devinwl/chip-8
|
||||
[covidwall]: https://metro.co.uk/2020/09/23/how-to-push-through-six-month-coronavirus-wall-13309340/
|
||||
[octrecently]: /posts/recently-10-2020
|
||||
[acnh]: https://www.animal-crossing.com/new-horizons/
|
||||
[novrecently]: /posts/recently-11-2020
|
||||
[hades]: https://www.supergiantgames.com/games/hades/
|
||||
[ash]: https://ashorthike.com
|
||||
[music]: /posts/take-the-power-back-music
|
||||
[bcf]: https://daily.bandcamp.com/features/bandcamp-fridays-2021
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,166 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: "2021 Ranked: Games"
|
||||
date: 2022-01-18T20:52:22.166Z
|
||||
excerpt: All of the games I played in 2021. Ranked.
|
||||
tags: ["rankings"]
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
As we move onto the year ahead that will be 2022 (please don’t be the sequel everyone expects it to be), I always like to look at the past year and see what caught my attention. Let’s look at all the games I played in 2021. Keep in mind these didn’t all come out that year. Meanwhile I’ll rank them all.
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/spiritfarer.png", "", "" %}
|
||||
|
||||
## \#16 — Spiritfarer
|
||||
|
||||
I dig the universe for this game. I think there’s a lot to like. That being said, I found the game far too grindy. The combination of excessive travelling and backtracking killed it for me. I’m going to keep an eye on the studio though and see what else they make.
|
||||
|
||||
___
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/spvtwce.png", "", "" %}
|
||||
|
||||
## \#15 — Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
|
||||
|
||||
It’s the Scott Pilgrim game that everyone loved. Not much else to say. I’m glad it’s getting a port for modern consoles. Personally I think it’s fine, not my cup of tea.
|
||||
|
||||
___
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/sm3dwbf.png", "", "" %}
|
||||
|
||||
## \#14 — Super Mario 3D World & Bowser’s Fury
|
||||
|
||||
A fun Mario game, fine enough. This game came out before Odyssey though, and it shows. It’s not even in the same league. They tried to solve that by including the “Bowser’s Fury” expansion, which does an admirable enough job of trying to make 3D World into a hybrid of Odyssey and Breath of the Wild.
|
||||
|
||||
I don’t like how in order to 100% the game, you need to play every single level 4 times (or play with 4 friends once). I had a hell of a time making a dent in the final level (World Crown), and couldn’t do it. Knowing that I’d have to do it another 3 times just knocked the wind out of my sails. I like to 100% my Mario games, they’re usually a lot of fun to do. Not this time.
|
||||
|
||||
___
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/paradisekiller.png", "", "" %}
|
||||
|
||||
## \#13 — Paradise Killer
|
||||
|
||||
Even though this game has elements of my favourite games, it didn’t grab me in the way I thought it would. I gave up on it pretty quickly, but want to go back and try it again. Maybe something didn’t click right away…
|
||||
|
||||
___
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/gunpoint.png", "", "" %}
|
||||
|
||||
## \#12 — Gunpoint
|
||||
|
||||
I’m an avid follower of [Tom Francis](https://www.pentadact.com) (the developer of the game). It took me a long time to finally sit down and play through the entirety of it (which is about 2-3 hours). I absolutely loved the rewiring mechanic. It allows for a ton of flexibility while fitting within a set of rules. It’s got just the right about of spy flick and film noir mixed together. A perfect amount of camp. For $10, you could do worse.
|
||||
|
||||
___
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/cfb.png", "", "" %}
|
||||
|
||||
## \#11 — Catherine: Full Body
|
||||
|
||||
The game piqued my interest but didn’t grab me all that strongly. I do want to go back and give it an honest shot though. I didn’t get too far in my first playthrough. The puzzle mechanics were brain teaser fuel.
|
||||
|
||||
___
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/godofwar.png", "", "" %}
|
||||
|
||||
## \#10 — God of War
|
||||
|
||||
One of the reasons I bought a PS5 was so I could play games like this at 60 FPS. I will complete this game. It’s a lot of fun. I keep getting distracted right as I’m in the middle of it though, so I keep restarting from the beginning months later. But I will do it!
|
||||
|
||||
___
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/miitopia.png", "", "" %}
|
||||
|
||||
## \#9 — Miitopia
|
||||
|
||||
A surprisingly fun and humorous RPG. I had no idea it was a 3DS port. I spent a surprising amount of time [crafting Miis from Star Trek to Seinfeld](/posts/recently-06-2021) to fit into my whacky universe. And my friends too of course.
|
||||
|
||||
___
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/nmh3.png", "", "" %}
|
||||
|
||||
## \#8 — No More Heroes III
|
||||
|
||||
I first played this at a friend’s board game get-together. Everybody could not handle the wild-ass bullshit that goes on in these games. It’s classic Suda though. I didn’t end up finishing it this year, but I want to go back.
|
||||
|
||||
I’m not entirely sure why they brought the open-world stuff back though. I think the 2nd game made the right call ditching it.
|
||||
|
||||
___
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/sv.png", "", "" %}
|
||||
|
||||
## \#7 — Stardew Valley
|
||||
|
||||
The coziest of couch games. One of my favourite games on the SNES is Harvest Moon and Stardew Valley is that game but better. In every way.
|
||||
|
||||
I had a lot of fun playing this and lost many hours tending to my farm. Something else caught my attention which drew me away, but I’m eager to get back and finish the story.
|
||||
|
||||
___
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/hades.png", "", "" %}
|
||||
|
||||
## \#6 — Hades
|
||||
|
||||
What else can I say that hasn’t been already? The game is fantastic and has even won a Hugo award. If you haven’t, play this game.
|
||||
|
||||
I decided to revisit the game after my initial playthrough and get all of the extra content. I shared my original thoughts in [this post](/posts/recently-11-2020), and [mentioned it again later in 2021](/posts/recently-05-2021).
|
||||
|
||||
___
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/d2r.png", "", "" %}
|
||||
|
||||
## \#5 — Diablo II: Resurrected
|
||||
|
||||
I don’t have a lot of faith anymore when studios announce a remaster or remake of an older game. That being said, I cannot believe how well Blizzard pulled it off. Well, the game part of it anyway. The multiplayer has had issues since it launched, but I have faith they can fix them.
|
||||
|
||||
I am impressed of the dedication their team to get the details right.
|
||||
|
||||
Once I take my rose-tinted glasses though, I can see that even a passionate remaster can’t solve the game’s underlying problems. The end-game is boring. It turns into a months-long grind (if you’re lucky though, it might be shorter). In all the years that I played the game I never got far enough to be considered “in the end-game”, and now that I’ve gotten there… there is nothing left but grinding. Play the same map over and over and hope that RNG gives you what you need. This is typical of the genre, but more recent titles (say Diablo III) won’t make you grind for months. You can wrap up a Season of Diablo III in about a week with casual play.
|
||||
|
||||
In summary: best remaster I’ve seen. But a remaster can’t solve a game’s underlying problems (unless it changes things, which tends to go against the spirit of a remaster). That being said, Blizzard have expressed their intentions of adding new runewords and quality-of-life features. I plan to check those out eventually.
|
||||
|
||||
___
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/ypee.png", "", "" %}
|
||||
|
||||
## \#4 — Yuppie Psycho
|
||||
|
||||
I never expected a 2D, topdown game to frighten me so much. I was unsettled in almost every moment playing this game. It’s balanced well with genuine moments of humour. The levity takes the edge off between horrifying encounters. There are plenty of delightful jabs at office culture while navigating the heights and depths of Sintracorp.
|
||||
|
||||
___
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/metroiddread.png", "", "" %}
|
||||
|
||||
## \#3 — Metroid Dread
|
||||
|
||||
The fact that this game even exists blows my mind. Us Metroid-heads have been hearing the “Dread” name ever since it was hinted at back in Metroid Prime. That was for the GameCube! There have been rumours for years, but nothing materialized. Then literally out of nowhere, a new 2D Metroid title emerges, and it bears the Dread title!! 20 years later we finally got it.
|
||||
|
||||
This game wins my totally-not-made-up-category of “Best Game That I Didn’t Finish”. I do intend to go back, though.
|
||||
|
||||
I like the game and gameplay. The Dread part of the title fits in well as I do dread going up against the EMMIs (a stupid name though). The game is plenty hard without being punishing. It rewards skillful play without requiring it.
|
||||
|
||||
___
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/valheim.png", "", "" %}
|
||||
|
||||
## \#2 - Valheim
|
||||
|
||||
This game got its hooks in me fast and deep. I was sucked in for a month straight. I would eagerly await the end of the work day so I could play more Valheim. I’d spend the whole weekend glued to my monitor. And I got to play it with friends! We made a great castle near the end of the game as we neared the end (of the content at the time).
|
||||
|
||||
The game was in early-access at the time (and is still as of this writing), but as far as an early-access game goes it felt full-featured. Rough around the edges and clunky in spots, but the core experience was enthralling. So much so that [I wrote about it](/posts/recently-03-2021) — [twice](/posts/recently-04-2021)! I look forward to going back once there have been more updates.
|
||||
|
||||
___
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/tgaac.png", "", "" %}
|
||||
|
||||
## \#1 - The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles
|
||||
|
||||
I’ve been a fan of the Ace Attorney series since the DS days. In that time the series has accumulated a ton of “cruft” — backstory, lore, whatever you want to call it. It’s gotten to the point where it’s starting to feel like a Kojima game… ridiculous stories that don’t make any sense.
|
||||
|
||||
Capcom did the best thing they could at this juncture. They threw it all in the bin and started from scratch. A new cast of characters to build with. The core of the game is more-or-less the same: you investigate crime scenes, and defend your client in court. Oh, and topple the country’s government, dethrone a queen, solve a decades old murder, and burn a courtroom down. Which of those are actually true? You’ll have to play and find out.
|
||||
|
||||
What they got right was so much. The Logic and Reasoning spectacular were my favourite sections. They brought a lot of life to the Investigation section of each trial. I wish there were even more! I can tell the designers had a ton of fun in these sections. The spotlights added a ton of flair.
|
||||
|
||||
They’ve absolutely nailed the 3D part of the game in terms of character animation. It feels like the older 2D games but with the flexibility of 3D. They can create dynamic scenes with exciting camera movement. Characters can face each other, or look at spots in the world. It creates a believable world that feels alive and makes the characters spring forth with life. My favourite character without a doubt is Lord Barok van Zieks. Pray forgive the discourtesy for not suggesting the main character.
|
||||
|
||||
I was impressed with the story. Each case felt like it’s own complete arc, but various threads start to tie them all together into one giant, bombastic finish. I didn’t see the conclusion coming, and felt like Ryunosuke when I finally pieced it all together.
|
||||
|
||||
Without a doubt the best music for the entire series. I've been humming various tunes to myself since starting playing the game, and regularly look for "extended versions" of songs on YouTube.
|
||||
|
||||
It’s not only a great game, it’s a great sequel. These days that’s hard to pull off. I hope Capcom hasn’t given up on the series and will give us an all new Ace Attorney game.
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,105 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: A Primer on Canadian Government
|
||||
date: "2021-01-27"
|
||||
excerpt: Canada’s parliamentary system explained.
|
||||
tags: ["canada", "government"]
|
||||
favourite: true
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
In the last four years I’ve learned an awful lot about how the United States’ government functions at a high level, and even on specifics like the House and Senate processes. Meanwhile I’m foggy at best on how Canada’s government functions. I decided to educate myself.
|
||||
|
||||
I will try my best to simplify into smaller chunks and focus on aspects I wasn’t aware of. This is not an exhaustive summary but more of a high-level overview. I’ve linked to the sources I’ve used which provides more information on specific subjects or terms.
|
||||
|
||||
## How is the federal government formed?
|
||||
|
||||
- A general election is held. This is every 4 years but can happen sooner under certain circumstances.
|
||||
- When voting in a general election, Canadians are voting for an individual to represent their constituency (or riding) in the House of Commons.
|
||||
- The House of Commons is the 338 elected members of parliament (MPs) across Canada. There are 338 seats in the House of Commons.
|
||||
- The political party that holds the most seats in the House of Commons is the party in power.
|
||||
- The power is decided in two ways: majority or minority.
|
||||
- Majority power means the party in power holds more than 50% of all seats in the House of Commons.
|
||||
- Minority power means the party holds the most seats, but less than 50% of the total seats in the House of Commons.
|
||||
- The distinction of power is important because a majority vote is required to pass legislation.
|
||||
- MPs in Canada almost always vote along party lines. When a party votes for (or against) legislation, it’s expected every member of the party will vote the same.
|
||||
- Majority power governments therefore can pass legislation without challenge, while minority governments require support from other parties.
|
||||
- The leader of the party in power becomes the Prime Minister.
|
||||
- The Prime Minister, along with their Cabinet and the Governor General form the Executive Branch of government.
|
||||
- The Prime Minister selects members of their Cabinet (ministers) and appointments them to various governmental departments.
|
||||
- The Governor General appoints members of the Senate with advice from the Prime Minister. These senators come from the Prime Minister’s party.
|
||||
- With the Senate filled and the House of Commons members elected, the Legislative Branch of government is formed.
|
||||
- The government is ready to govern.
|
||||
|
||||
## What happens in the House of Commons?
|
||||
|
||||
- MPs spend their time in the House of Commons discussing and debating Chamber Business.
|
||||
- Chamber Business tends to be new bills being put forth by ministers. MPs will sometimes put forward their own bills called Private Member’s Bills.
|
||||
- There is time for MPs to talk about important information in their riding, and raise issues.
|
||||
- The House of Commons has a Speaker whose job is to ensure the rules of the House are followed. Questions and statements are directed through the Speaker.
|
||||
|
||||
## What happens in The Senate?
|
||||
|
||||
- The Senate follows similarly to the House of Commons.
|
||||
- Chamber business for the Senate tends to be bills originating from the House of Commons. They can discuss committee reports, make statements, etc.
|
||||
- Much like the House of Commons, the Senate will debate and discuss bills.
|
||||
- Although they follow the same process as the House of Commons, the Senate in Canada is not known to go against the House of Commons. A bill that passes in the House of Commons will likely pass in the Senate (occasionally with minor revisions).
|
||||
- The Senate has a Speaker that functions like the House of Commons.
|
||||
|
||||
## What are political parties like in Canada?
|
||||
|
||||
- Unlike the US, Canada has more than 2 major political parties.
|
||||
- In modern political history Canada has 5 major parties:
|
||||
- Liberal Party of Canada
|
||||
- Conservative Party of Canada (colloquially known as the Tories)
|
||||
- Bloc Québécois
|
||||
- New Democratic Party
|
||||
- Green Party
|
||||
- MPs belong to a political party, but in rare cases can be independent.
|
||||
|
||||
## How does an idea become law?
|
||||
|
||||
- A written idea becomes a bill.
|
||||
- A bill starts off in a Chamber (the House of Commons, but could be the Senate).
|
||||
- It is put forward and given a First Reading. This serves as an introduction.
|
||||
- Following the reading, MPs debate the bill. This process is the Second Reading.
|
||||
- The bill is then passed to a committee to study and review the bill under scrutiny. This is where amendments are recorded.
|
||||
- The committee then reports back to the Chamber where the bill originated, and notes any amendments. The bill is again debated. Any members not on the committee are welcome to suggest further changes.
|
||||
- Following the debate and after any additional amendments are added, the bill is given its final reading called the Third Reading.
|
||||
- MPs can debate one last time about the final status of the bill. MPs may change their mind in between these stages if they are for or against the bill.
|
||||
- The bill is put to a vote. A vote of more than 50% means the bill moves along to the Senate, where the First, Second, and Third Reading process repeats.
|
||||
- As mentioned earlier, the Canadian Senate rarely goes against what the House of Commons puts forward.
|
||||
- Once the bill passes both the House of Commons and the Senate unchanged, it is ready for the Governor General.
|
||||
- The Governor General gives the bill Royal Assent, and it becomes law.
|
||||
- The Governor General represents the Queen and thus holds ultimate power, but has never withheld Royal Assent in modern politics. This part of the process is ceremonial.
|
||||
|
||||
## Watch sessions of Parliament
|
||||
|
||||
You may be familiar with C-SPAN which offers live streams of US House and Senate sessions. There is a Canadian equivalent called [CPAC][cpac] (Cable Public Affairs Channel) which offers similar programming. CPAC is a privately owned, not-for-profit television service. It’s designed to be an unbiased window into our government at work.
|
||||
|
||||
The [House of Commons publishes their agenda][hocagenda] for the day.
|
||||
|
||||
## Who’s working for you?
|
||||
|
||||
The [House of Commons site has the list][hocmembers] of every elected MP. Each member has information on their roles, any bills they have supported or put forward, how they have voted on matters, and more. It even shows where they are seated in the House of Commons! There are detailed breakdowns on current and past roles, election results, and more.
|
||||
|
||||
## Conclusion
|
||||
|
||||
Keep in mind this was a surface level introduction into Canadian government. There are more details to learn like:
|
||||
|
||||
- What are the rules in the House of Commons? The Senate?
|
||||
- What are the political party ideologies?
|
||||
- What about provincial governments?
|
||||
- What are the requirements to become a Senator?
|
||||
- What is the pathway for a Canadian citizen to become an MP?
|
||||
- How do the smaller political parties pass legislation?
|
||||
|
||||
My hope though is this is enough of a jumping-off point to kick-start the process of learning more and getting involved in Canadian politics.
|
||||
|
||||
## Sources
|
||||
|
||||
[House of Commons Canada — “The Canadian Parliamentary System“](https://www.ourcommons.ca/About/OurProcedure/ParliamentaryFramework/c_g_parliamentaryframework-e.htm)
|
||||
|
||||
[House of Commons Canada — “Legislative Process”](https://www.ourcommons.ca/About/OurProcedure/LegislativeProcess/c_g_legislativeprocess-e.htm)
|
||||
|
||||
[cpac]: https://www.cpac.ca/en/
|
||||
[hocagenda]: https://www.ourcommons.ca/en#pw-agenda-publications
|
||||
[hocmembers]: https://www.ourcommons.ca/members/en
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,40 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: Thoughts on the Apple Watch
|
||||
date: 2019-05-20
|
||||
excerpt: My experience with the Series 3 Apple Watch, 11 months later.
|
||||
tags: ["apple watch", "apple"]
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Since I started going to the gym regularly and kept watch on what foods I ate, I became more interested in monitoring my calories burned during workouts. Initially I thought I should get a Fitbit, but I wasn’t too fond of their lineup at the time. At the time of writing they also _still_ don’t sync to Apple or Android Health. When the Apple Watch was initially revealed I toyed with the idea of buying one, but had yet to come up with a compelling reason to buy it. Given my newfound interest in fitness and health, and that I had given the Watch a few months to bake - it seemed like now (June 2018) was good a time as ever to jump in. I decided one hot day that it was time for me to jump into the world of wearable tech.
|
||||
|
||||
By this point in time the Series 3 was a few months old. They offered both the GPS and cellular models. Given that I always tend to keep my phone on me, I didn’t see any advantage in buying the cellular model. They also require an eSIM card to work, which is an additional charge for carriers here in Canada.
|
||||
|
||||
The setup process is remarkably simple. After a brief initialization process, the Watch screen shows a sparkly cloud background. Your iPhone takes a picture of it, and the process is complete. I couldn’t believe how fast and easy it was to pair.
|
||||
|
||||
One of the first things I noticed while using the Watch is the [Taptic Engine][] (what Apple obtusely calls their vibration technology). It’s subtle but still prominent enough to feel. It’s a small but appreciated detail... something I feel is often under-appreciated in today’s devices. If you’re not sure you can tell the difference - go back to an old iPhone (something before the iPhone 7) and _feel_ and _listen_ to the vibration. Compare it to the Apple Watch or a newer generation iPhone. It’s a night and day difference. The newest Taptic Engine makes almost no sound. It also does a serviceable job at making the Digital Crown (knob on the side) feel more tactile.
|
||||
|
||||
[taptic engine]: https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/watchos/user-interaction/haptic-feedback/ "A developer's guide for how to use Haptic Feedback on the Apple Watch"
|
||||
|
||||
The wrist-tilt detection is generally pretty good, although sometimes it refuses to work. This happens seldomly, but enough to notice. I wish the screen were OLED so that it could be always on. I think it might also save on battery life too.
|
||||
|
||||
The battery life has been great for me - I usually get about 2 days of consistent usage before needing a recharge. I think the expectation compared to other wearable tech might be longer (a Fitbit can go for a week before needing a recharge), but for my use case this is sufficient.
|
||||
|
||||
The Watch will automatically detect when you start working out and is usually accurate. When doing a spirited walk, it will pick up on it within 10 minutes. For more intense workouts (elliptical and stationary biking in my case), it starts a workout within 3 minutes. All Workout app data is recorded to Apple Health so other apps can make use of the data. As an avid Pokémon GO player, this pairs well with the [Adventure Sync][] feature. What this means is that my distance travelled and calories burned are sent to Apple Health and Pokémon GO can pick up on that data. One complaint I have is that there is a limited variety of Workouts available. For example, there are no workouts for strength training.
|
||||
|
||||
[adventure sync]: https://pokemongolive.com/post/adventure-sync "Niantic's explanation of the Pokémon GO Adventure Sync feature"
|
||||
|
||||
Standing detection can be quite spotty sometimes. I’ll be standing completely upright and moving, and the Watch will refuse to acknowledge it. I’ve been sitting down sometimes when it triggers a “you stood up” alert. It has annoyed me enough times that I’m thinking of disabling the alerts entirely.
|
||||
|
||||
I thought it would be great to have all of my phone notifications mirrored to my Watch - available at a moment’s notice, but it very quickly became overwhelming. I ended up disabling all notifications except for phone calls and reminders. I’ve personally grown tired of always giving my phone too much attention, and I found myself facing the same issue with the Watch.
|
||||
|
||||
The interface is good enough for the odd time I’m forced to use it - dismissing notifications, starting workouts, setting alarms, etc. Anything beyond that though is a chore. The “circle grid” is an unpleasant mess. Thankfully, I later discovered that there is a [“list view” option][list-view] for the home screen which works much better. The Digital Crown is used for scrolling the current screen, but being so familiar with a touch screen I don’t see the use for it. Generally speaking, if there’s a way to avoid using the Watch’s interface then I will opt to do that. I’ve found most of the “Watch apps” are near useless. The ones I use the most are the Clock app (for timers), Workouts, Home (controlling lights), and Music (for controlling volume). Since I carry my phone with me all the time, why would I bother using a tiny, cramped interface when I have the full-featured app available right there?
|
||||
|
||||
[list-view]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DVrPJXWV50&t=1m31s "7 Tips Every Apple Watch Owner SHOULD Know!"
|
||||
|
||||
That said, I have found some unexpected uses from the Watch. Firstly, being able to control volume without using my phone turned out to be a handy shortcut. The Digital Crown can raise or lower the volume without the phone needing to be unlocked. I use the Home app as a Watch Complication which works most of the time, but sometimes it refuses to connect to my devices. Speaking of Complications - I wish there were more options available for the stock watch faces. I was hoping to use my Watch as a “super Notification Center” and have tons of information available at a glance. Instead, the most I can seem to get out of it is an icon, an unread count, or a single line of text.
|
||||
|
||||
The [Scribble][] feature is one I see rarely mentioned and under-appreciated. It makes composing short text messages a breeze. You can write letters and short words using your finger. I’ve found it to be generally very accurate. It’s a rare occurrence for me to be without my phone, but it's served me well in a pinch.
|
||||
|
||||
[scribble]: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206907 "Details on the Scribble feature"
|
||||
|
||||
Several months later I’m not using the Watch beyond a bunch of sensors. It does feel like I’m underutilizing the Watch, but at the end of the day I’m satisfied with what I get out of it. I wouldn’t recommend the Watch to everyone. The ideal use case is niche in my opinion. For the fitness enthusiasts I think there’s something to get here, but unless you value data being synced to Apple Health, a Fitbit might be a better option. For those who are already invested into the Apple ecosystem, an Apple Watch may perform better than a Fitbit. Unless you plan to really utilize the various health and fitness-related features of the Apple Watch, I don’t see the point in it. That said, I think it makes for a great piece of tech for the right use case.
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,17 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: Checking In
|
||||
date: 2021-11-24T07:03:52.766Z
|
||||
excerpt: Kept you waiting, huh?
|
||||
tags: ["checking in"]
|
||||
---
|
||||
I’ve dropped my regular writing habit as of late. I wanted to write a quick post to say I’m doing alright. What’s happened recently?
|
||||
|
||||
I saw a documentary called [The Rescue](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9098872/) which was all about rescuing the boy’s soccer team that got stuck in caves that flooded. I expected to enjoy it, but this delivered an unexpected emotional impact. You kinda “know the plot” going into the movie, and yet it’s paced perfectly to unfold the story in a dramatic fashion. The absolute overwhelming joy I felt at the end was incredible. If you have to see one documentary this year (and you should), see this one.
|
||||
|
||||
In other movie news I saw Dune. I hadn’t read the books when I saw the movie. I went in completely blind with no expectations. What I got impressed me. Knowing little of the source material, I thought they brought the world to life. Hans Zimmer’s score (which I have to admit was not mixed well and is awfully loud during the movie). The feeling that the soundtrack evokes fits the atmosphere with perfect precision every time. It transports you to the arid deserts of Arrakis. Eagle-eyed readers might notice I used the word “hadn’t”, which to be clear means I’m reading the first book now. I’m about 30% of the way in, and I’ve almost caught up to the movie. With the announcement of part 2 on the way though it shouldn’t be that surprising. The first book was written in the mid 60s, but is not nearly as dated as I expected (except perhaps [this passage](https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/360106/what-does-this-word-mean-in-this-passage-from-frank-herberts-dune#360112)).
|
||||
|
||||
Going to movie theatres is a strange experience after not being in one for the better part of a year and a half. It’s something I’m getting used to again. I did miss theatre popcorn something fierce though.
|
||||
|
||||
We had insane flooding here in town from a rainstorm. It was enough to knock out an arterial road that we rely on for getting goods into the city. It was difficult to get products into town, and sent some of the population into a frenzy. Panic buying everywhere. It was impossible to get gas for a few days (and we were running on fumes before the rain started). I saw signs in grocery stores limiting purchases of milk and eggs to one per customer. It’s pulled the wool from my eyes that we do not have the infrastructure for a real natural disaster. We need to get better prepared.
|
||||
|
||||
Today was an exciting day for me as I acquired a new [coffee grinder](https://baratza.com/grinder/encore/). It’s a proper burr grinder, and based off my small sample size of one coffee it’s made a huge difference. I’ve been refining my Aeropress method thanks to [James Hoffman’s YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMb0O2CdPBNi-QqPk5T3gsQ). I think short of a full-on espresso machine I’ve found my setup. I did also purchase a pour-over (Hario V60) which I will be trying out soon. It will need practice.
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,18 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: Coming back to vinyl
|
||||
date: 2019-09-14
|
||||
excerpt: Sometimes minimalism goes too far.
|
||||
tags: ["vinyl", "collecting", "minimalism"]
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
This is an update to my post from a few months ago about a cautionary tale into collecting vinyl. I stand by the post, but I wanted to mention that I’m back into the hobby. What happened?
|
||||
|
||||
I believe this all started because of my ruthless quest for minimalism. I don’t mean in the popular sense of owning no furniture like that photo of Steve Jobs, but speaking more in a sense of values. If something isn’t providing me any value, why should I continue to own it? That was the conclusion I arrived at when it came to evaluating my vinyl collection.
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/CB867BB6-6F62-44AC-B1F4-B9B8D290D75C.jpeg", "Steve Jobs sitting cross-legged in his living room with sparse furniture", "Not my idea of minimalism" %}
|
||||
|
||||
After talking with my partner, she said something along the lines of it being okay to collect things. It sounds silly, but that single bit of permission and validation told me that the collection does indeed bring my joy and value. It cemented the fact that the collection is now a part of who I am — it helps define my identity as an avid music listener. Once someone told me it’s okay, it completed changed my perception. Perhaps all I was looking for to begin with was permission to collect them?
|
||||
|
||||
Since rekindling my love of vinyl I’ve once again fallen in love with the hobby. I forgot what an experience it is to listen to a record. It’s even more enjoyable when you have someone there with you. Being able to enjoy a hobby together with someone completely changes my relationship with the collection. It feels like it’s something I can share with my partner and introduce them to new music. We get to hold a physical, tangible piece of music in our hands. We can admire the art. Heck, it even has a distinct smell that I love (don’t judge).
|
||||
|
||||
I’ve also thrust myself back into the music scene again. I’m following more artists and keeping an eye on when things are coming out. I’m excited to listen to new music again.
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,30 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: Give In to Feel Good
|
||||
date: 2020-08-16
|
||||
excerpt: Procrastination isn’t just about laziness, is it?
|
||||
tags: ["procrastination", "mental health"]
|
||||
youtube: true
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Procrastination is something I struggle with every single day. I find it often strikes as critical thoughts:
|
||||
|
||||
- This will turn out horribly, better to not even start.
|
||||
- This will take forever to learn, why not do something fun?
|
||||
- Practicing is so boring and hard, let’s do something easier.
|
||||
|
||||
I used to think that procrastination was because of sloth, or laziness. Now I realize it’s different — it’s negative emotions. Procrastination is how one manages these negative emotions.
|
||||
|
||||
The thoughts I get all the time are like a form of anxiety. I don’t cope well with these emotions. My natural response is to give in now to feel good. I’d rather reward myself over the short-term rather than the long-term. I know that the long-term reward is what I want, and yet I find myself going after the short-term reward instead. It feels good immediately.
|
||||
|
||||
[This thread on Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24120275) prompted my journey into my own procrastination, and [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhFQA998WiA) from the thread helped me look at procrastination in a different way. This was a lightbulb moment for me. To me my source of procrastination is not myself being lazy or uninterested, but being critical. I’m a perfectionist (and I’ve come to realize I don’t like that), and I am plagued by reasons I shouldn’t start a task. This helps me at least identify the problem.
|
||||
|
||||
{% youtube "mhFQA998WiA", "Teaching Talk: Helping Students Who Procrastinate (Tim Pychyl)" %}
|
||||
|
||||
I have some actionable goals that I want to try:
|
||||
|
||||
1. Break any prospective task into a concrete goal. “Work on a blog post” is vague and hard to measure, but “write a paragraph about procrastination” is more structured and easy to track.
|
||||
2. Remind myself of the feeling I get when I accomplish a task. It might feel good to give in right away, but remember the feeling of sitting down and doing the work and feeling great afterward. Use that as a form of motivation.
|
||||
3. Don’t forget what my long-term goal is with a given task. For example, practicing anatomy in drawing is working toward a long-term goal of being able to draw from imagination.
|
||||
4. Taking a deliberately sloppy start to “get momentum going” is better than doing nothing at all. If the sloppy start doesn’t go anywhere — well, at least I gave it an honest effort. Try to ignore my inner perfectionist and show up.
|
||||
|
||||
Now comes the long and arduous task of working on it. Then again, maybe just one more self-help YouTube video...
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,212 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: "GMTK Game Jam Post-Mortem"
|
||||
date: "2021-07-03T07:25:56.354Z"
|
||||
excerpt: My first game jam ever.
|
||||
tags: ["gamejam", "gamedev"]
|
||||
favourite: true
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
This year I participated in the [GMTK Game Jam](https://gmtk.itch.io) with two friends. It lasted 48 hours from June 11th to 13th. My main responsibility was the art department.
|
||||
|
||||
The theme was “joined together”, which meant you could take things literally and join stuff together, or maybe take things in a more narrative sense, like the way hands join together to form a handshake.
|
||||
|
||||
That's how we decided to take things anyway. We came up with [“Put ‘er There: Tactical Hands-On Action”](https://wcyu.itch.io/put-er-there)
|
||||
|
||||
> In the cut-throat world of business, deals are won with strong interpersonal skills. Expressed primarily through the joining together of hands. Will you build the strength to rule industries? Or flop like a fish into the role of fry cook.
|
||||
|
||||
## Results
|
||||
|
||||
There were 5,800 entries for this game jam. For my first, I'm pleased with our ranking. Here's how we stacked up:
|
||||
|
||||
**Originality**: #587 (3.742 avg)
|
||||
|
||||
**Presentation**: #1125 (3.452 avg)
|
||||
|
||||
**Fun**: #3181 (2.355 avg)
|
||||
|
||||
**Overall**: #1501 (3.183 avg)
|
||||
|
||||
From 31 total ratings. [Full results available here](https://itch.io/jam/gmtk-2021/results).
|
||||
|
||||
We got killed on the Fun category, which makes sense. We decided to build a narrative-based game which doesn't have much interaction or gameplay. Our control scheme was not chosen well (we didn't playtest a lot), which hurt our score I imagine. If you can't play the game, then it's not fun is it?
|
||||
|
||||
I was happy to scoring well in the Presentation and Originality categories. Pixel-art handshake-based games are an under-tapped market!
|
||||
|
||||
## Planning & Creation
|
||||
|
||||
The game idea we eventually landed on was originally a joke we proposed to each other. We started to lean into it, and then sure enough, we believed we had a game here that fit the theme and would be funny too.
|
||||
|
||||
My job was art and in the first few hours I got to my drawing board. Okay, so it isn't a board but a sketchbook.
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/FirstGameplayConcept.jpg", "In this concept art a untrustworthy manager is asking the player about 'those quarterly numbers', meanwhile the player has a thought bubble that says 'I'm losing him... tighten up!' referring to their handshake grip.", "Sketch of a gameplay concept" %}
|
||||
|
||||
I originally drew this image after started taking our joke concept seriously. I added some nonsensical business speak and we all seemed to enjoy the humour.
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/MinigameConcept.jpg", "Another concept art featuring the untrustworthy manager. This time, they have a noodle-like neck with the manager's head appearing dislodged from their body, to the left. The manager asks 'are you even paying attention?' while the player has a thought bubble that says 'maintain eye contact!'", "Sketch of a character with a very stretchy neck" %}
|
||||
|
||||
At one point we had toyed with requiring constant eye-contact by using the mouse (something I think that would be fun), and then having ridiculously cartoon-y stretchy necks as they rapidly moved around the screen.
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/UIConcept.jpg", "A sketch of the game UI. There are 'grip gauges' on the left side of the screen, representing the player's grip strength. In the center of a gauge is a target, where the player was intended to guide their gauge to. On the bottom is a text box, with generic business-like responses which the player could choose.", "Sketch of UI prototype" %}
|
||||
|
||||
We wanted to implement dialogue responses into the game as a way to engage with the characters — another added element to the game beyond holding a few buttons. We wanted to bind them to the keys you'd use to maintain your handshake grip, so answering them would require letting up your grip for a moment.
|
||||
|
||||
After I got busy with gameplay concepts and had decided on how we wanted to play the game, I got busy with coming up with our cast of characters.
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/CharacterDesigns.jpg", "A sketch of various characters. They have exaggerated features like elongated faces or big mouths. One character is intricately detailed and has a sense of false confidence. He is saying 'bro, closers close, bro.'", "A rogue's gallery of various characters" %}
|
||||
|
||||
We came up with the stereotypical origin story of the struggling child who has never met their birth father. A natural progression for the main character we thought was the humble origins of a lowly fry cook turned Regional Franchise Manager. With all that in mind, we came up with some “business people” to interact with. In our original plans we had even greater heights for our character to reach: shaking hands with the President, the Pope, negotiating peace treaties with alien races… there was no bar too high.
|
||||
|
||||
The dude in the middle ended up closely resembling our McBurger CEO (“Chief McBurger”), but the rest didn't really end up in the game. I really like the sleazy guy in the top-left. I tried to capture his essence later for “Francis McBurger”, who is supposed to be your grease ball middle manager.
|
||||
|
||||
Afterward we decided we needed the Mom and Dad characters to play a part. The Mom I went super stereotypical, but didn't end up using it at all in the end (you'll see how it diverges later).
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/MomDesign.jpg", "A sketch of 'Mom', with a soft, round face. Her hair is poofy and circular. She is wearing a pearl necklace with over-sized pearls.", "It's Mom." %}
|
||||
|
||||
The Dad I went vaguely European and kinda hipster vibes. Very strong jaw to highlight his traditional masculinity. A chunky moustache that resembles Ron Swanson's push broom. I knew right away that he should be annoyingly buff and he wants to show it off with tight-fitting shirts.
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/DadsonDesign.jpg", "A sketch of 'Dad', with featuring hard lines and dark colors. Dad has sharp eyes and a large nose. His eyebrows are large rectangular shapes. His mustache looks like a large push-broom.", "It's Dad." %}
|
||||
|
||||
I wanted to have a plaid shirt for Dad, but couldn't figure out how to make it work in pixel art. This is the only artifact I have left: it's a blown-up sprite that came from a screenshot of my screen-share over Discord.
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/DadsonPlaid.png", "An early in-game screenshot of 'Dad'. He looks like the sketch version with red skin. He is wearing a plaid shirt, and his chest muscles are very defined.", "It's Dad -- in plaid." %}
|
||||
|
||||
I doodled for most of the first night then went to bed. First thing the following morning was purchasing a copy of [Aseprite](https://www.aseprite.org) and getting into it. I had my work cut out for me: I needed to do a bunch of characters and backgrounds, and fast.
|
||||
|
||||
I stuck with the default palette in Aseprite. I thought giving myself constraints would let my creative side flourish, and it did. We originally planned to have an all human cast, but the palette I had was limited in various skin tones. It did have plenty of bright blues, greens, and reds though.
|
||||
|
||||
It had been a long time since I've made tiny squares into pictures, but I found my footing after a few hours. The first character I made had green skin and kinda looked like [Piccolo from DBZ](https://dragonball.fandom.com/wiki/Piccolo). Naturally I added antennae and the likeness was _impeccable_.
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/sheet1.png", "A sprite sheet of various characters early in the design phase. Much like the sketch versions, so far characters feature weird face shapes and alien skin colours. Of note is a character with blue skin and a chubby face, with large jowls.", "It's a bad pixel art drawing of a guy that might or might not be Piccolo." %}
|
||||
|
||||
Then I started to play with this concept. What if all the characters are weird aliens? The blue character turned into the CEO (“Chief”), and as a joke I transformed him into [Dodoria](https://dragonball.fandom.com/wiki/Dodoria) (inevitably DBZ makes it into anything I'm involved with). Dadson is slowly taking shape (although looks kinda like a fish). The character on the left was supposed to be our middle manager, but I ended up scrapping this for something else later.
|
||||
|
||||
A few more hours later I had a new version of Mom created. I thought the original design was kinda boring, and thought it would be funny if Mom was a punk-y rebel (a mix of the side-cut and spike hair). She never ended up “feeling” like a Mom, but it was a fun character to create.
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/sheet4.png", "Another early sprite sheet featuring the previously sketched cast of characters. On the sheet each character has a different facial expression. The blue character has a scared, bored, smiling, and determined expression. 'Mom' has been added as well. She has blue hair, with one half being spiked and the other in a side-part fashion. She has the same array of expressions (scared, bored, smiling), except instead of determined she has a beaming/happy expression, no doubt showing her love of their child (the player)", "Mom is back -- in punk form." %}
|
||||
|
||||
Then the middle manager (“Francis”) took shape with a new form. I thought a long-faced ([Squidward](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squidward_Tentacles)-esque) would be funny, and leaned into it. I wanted to have the slick-back hair from the start because it captures the feeling of a typical grease ball.
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/sheet5.png", "The sprite sheet has a new character - Francis - added with green skin and gelled, slick back brown hair. They have a long face and a long nose that goes straight down. They are wearing a basic white dress shirt. There are different expressions like before - scared, bored, neutral, and determined.", "You just know Francis would never give you weekends off." %}
|
||||
|
||||
At this point we had our cast of characters and various facial expressions! Here's a mini time-lapse of the entire spritesheet taking form:
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/SpritesheetEvolution.gif", "An animation showing the evolution of the in-game character design. As the animation progresses, more characters are added, and various UI elements like gauges and buttons are added. A rough version of the logo is revealed, which is a cropped version of a handshake, showing just the hands.", "A time-lapse of the game's spritesheet." %}
|
||||
|
||||
I didn't end up having time for backgrounds and relied on my teammates for that. Photoshop wizardry got us there in the end!
|
||||
|
||||
By the time I finished the artwork, it was about 3 or 4am on the 12th, so I opted to sleep for 6-ish hours and come back for the last haul on the 13th. By this point we had the game in a playable state and started testing.
|
||||
|
||||
Once we eliminated the majority of the bugs it was submission time. That ended up being a whole ordeal in itself but we got there with 18 minutes to spare. If it wasn't for the 20 minute extension due to itch.io having issues, I'm not sure we would've made it!
|
||||
|
||||
## My experience
|
||||
|
||||
We struggled to find a concept that we felt was compelling and fun. I think we came up with a lot of good ideas, but we were hyper-focused on finding something that felt compelling and innovative. In hindsight, I think we would've been better off finding something simpler but fun. A concept that can be implemented quickly and then iterated on was a recurring theme I saw in the successful (i.e. top 20) games. We spent far too long on the ideation portion of the project (I estimate somewhere around 7 hours) before we landed on an idea we all liked — the idea which originally started as a joke.
|
||||
|
||||
Starting on the wrong foot like that meant we kept to late nights. A sleep-deprived mind is never as sharp as a well-rested one, but here we were. If I could do it again, I'd advocate for a normal sleep schedule, and less staying up until 5am.
|
||||
|
||||
Our working prototype I don't think arrived until sometime in Saturday. We were all newbies when it came to game development and didn't know what we should be doing. Next time I would aim to have a working game within the first 24 hours. Programmer art at most, but working game mechanics first.
|
||||
|
||||
Since we moved along slowly we didn't have a chance to playtest our game until the 11th hour. We decided on a control scheme that had players holding 5 keyboard buttons down at once. Our aim was to try and recreate the tactile sensation of handshaking using fingers on the keyboard. A novel idea, but we failed to realize that 5 keys simultaneously is not a common feature in average consumer keyboards. What ended up happening was that a significant portion of our players could not play the game. They would get stuck in tutorial hell. The lesson here is upload a working build as soon as you can and get others to try it out as soon as possible.
|
||||
|
||||
If I could do the art again I'd limit myself even further by doing like a 4-bit colour palette. There's a lot of potential in that space and works well for a simple but unified art style in a game jam. One of my favourite games that Mark Brown highlighted was [Phasing Puller](https://mvln.itch.io/phasing-puller), which had a limited colour scheme. The challenge of a limited colour palette is appealing to me and something I want to explore in future game jams.
|
||||
|
||||
## Post-jam
|
||||
|
||||
We liked our game enough to continue working on it. We want to deliver what we think the game should've been when it was time to submit it.
|
||||
|
||||
I took the time to redraw our characters using what I learned during the jam. This time all limits were off and I decided to go my own way with the colour palette. I learned about something called [“hue shifting”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNtMAxYaGyg) to make better colours, and off I went.
|
||||
|
||||
### Dadson
|
||||
|
||||
My first stop was Dadson. I thought I could come up with better colours that went with the heavy red vibe but with a touch of purple.
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/Dadson1.png", "A single sprite of 'Dad' (Dadson). His design is the same as before, but the color selection has been made deliberate. His red skin looks warmer and the shadows/darker colors are less purple.", "It's Dad -- in (better) colour." %}
|
||||
|
||||
From there I started to embellish the details like his annoying muscles and stern eyes. I spent a fair amount of time doing anatomy studies to capture those rippling biceps. In between revising Dadson and other characters, I came back and re-applied what I had learned (again). You'll notice the jump is pretty substantial — look at the shading on his face. I wanted to highlight his jaw and defined facial features.
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/DadsonFullEvolution.gif", "A time-lapse animation of the various tweaks applied to Dadson's design. His eyes are slightly softened, and the contours of his muscles become more defined in his shirt. The eyebrows and mustache are rounded to look a bit more cartoon-like. A small tuft of chest hair is visible underneath his tight-fitting shirt.", "It's Dad -- in time-lapse." %}
|
||||
|
||||
I felt like my shading improve substantially as I went on. I feel way more confident when it comes to getting a good shade gradient going.
|
||||
|
||||
I also played with talking and blinking sprites in between revisions.
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/Dadson-talk-blink.gif", "An animated version of Dadson's sprite. He can be seen opening and closing his mouth representing speech, and he occasionally blinks.", "It's Dad -- talking and blinking." %}
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/DadsonTalkRage4.gif", "Another animated version of Dadson's sprite. Again he is talking, but his facial expression is different. He is clearly angry. His eyes are narrowed and his mouth is open wide - apparently as he is yelling.", "It's Dad -- talking and blinking. He's also quite pissed." %}
|
||||
|
||||
### Francis
|
||||
|
||||
At some point when I was revising Dadson I decided to take a stab at Francis. I wasn't happy with the shading or green colours. I started with a new colour palette for him. I came up with this:
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/FrancisNew.png", "A revised version of Francis' head sprite. The colours have been updated - the brown hair looks warmer and shinier (to highlight a combination of hair gel and grease), and his green skin has a tinge of yellow now. His irises are purple.", "Still not giving weekends off." %}
|
||||
|
||||
The shading isn't quite right. I needed to highlight his gaunt features. I thought it would be funny if he had more sassy body language, so I went with an arms folded pose. This was hard to get right and I spent a fair bit of time searching for various references.
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/FrancisBodySassy.png", "A sprite of just Francis' body. His arms are crossed and he is slightly leaning to his left. It gives off an air of disinterest.", "Sassafrass bod." %}
|
||||
|
||||
Once I plugged them together I got into it and finally landed on the right shading.
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/FrancisNew3.png", "A fully assembled version of Francis' new sprite featuring his new head and body together. The shading on his face has been changed to highlight his gaunt cheeks.", "You want time off? You're lucky to even have this job." %}
|
||||
|
||||
I had a lot of fun with his facial expressions. I even did talking/blinking animations which I think came out excellent.
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/FrancisFaces.png", "Francis with a few facial expressions - snide/confident, bored and looking to his right, and sheer terror. The terror face has exaggerated eyes with shrunken pupils.", "The many faces of Francis." %}
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/FrancisTalk.gif", "An animation of Francis talking. His mouth is fairly closed and small, which lends to a sycophant or lackey vibe.", "The way he talks is even sniveling." %}
|
||||
|
||||
### Chief
|
||||
|
||||
I had an idea of where I wanted to go here. I was looking for a [pre-world domination Jeff Bezos](https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2020/07/27/bezos2_wide-d887a33c25f471b95d41e058ef764ac95d72a56b-s1600-c85.webp), something that suggests a kinda disarming, but looks pretty affable kinda guy.
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/ChiefNewFace.png", "A revised face for 'Chief', the boss. The blue shade is deeper and more saturated compared to the old sprite. He has horns on both sides of his face, which curl backwards at an angle. He lacks eyebrows but his eyebrow muscles are large and round. His face is pudgy with large jowls.", "A new face won't fool me. This guy wants to take over the world." %}
|
||||
|
||||
The shading on the sides of his chin look kinda like tiger stripes, which might've been fun to explore. I later claned up the shading which removed the tiger stripe look. Then I came up with fun facial expressions. I thought it would be interesting to not have Chief react in fear with an extreme grip, but more of a curious interest, something that suggests a “I may have underestimated this guy…” feeling.
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/ChiefNewFaces2.png", "Different facial expressions for Chief. A neutral/small smile, an evil/confident smile, a bored/disappointed look, and a look of genuine surprise. The latter would be used when the player overwhelmed Chief's grip, as if they never expected the player to be so strong-willed and determined.", "The many moods of Chief. This is morning mist." %}
|
||||
|
||||
Can't forget his new body (which I think sells the whole package).
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/ChiefNewFull.png", "A full body sprite for the Chief wearing a dark grey business suit with a red tie. The grey has a coolness to it, which matches the cool of his blue colour. The suit is obviously ill-fitted with stretching and creases - to suggest someone who has grown fat from his increasing power. His build is fat and stocky.", "That ain't no Dad bod." %}
|
||||
|
||||
### Mom
|
||||
|
||||
This was the character I was dreading the most. It was hard to come up with the character in the first place, but where do I take things from here?
|
||||
|
||||
Better yet, how the hell do I make pixel art hair?
|
||||
|
||||
I took on the challenge, and started with the face.
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/MomFaceEvolution.gif", "An animation showing the different revisions of the new 'Mom' sprite. Her eyes go from green to red and back to green. Her hair colour becomes a saturated blue (fun fact: the same blue as Chief). The detail in her hair increases to where individual strands and groups of hair are visible. Her skin colour becomes redder and warmer, and less pale. Her lipstick transforms from a nude brown to a reddish-pink.", "From punk to party girl. Wait. That's not Mom!" %}
|
||||
|
||||
I wanted — for lack of a better word — a more “motherly” face, which eventually meant age her up. It was important to me to keep her fun spirit, but stay within “Mom territory”. I struggled to get the skin colour palette right for a long time. At one point I gave up and made her skin yellow, which was super fun (even though it looked like she had permanent jaundice). That did allow me to see where I was going wrong with my colours though, and I eventually landed on the right look.
|
||||
|
||||
I scrapped the spiked hair because I couldn't get it to look right, and I thought it was out of place. In the future though I'd like to have a Mom with spiked hair. Very rad.
|
||||
|
||||
Mom's body sprite challenged me. I had to learn how to shade better to capture the look I wanted (I'll say it — I had no idea how to draw breasts). I initially started with a shoulder-less dress for flair and fun, but I think it looked a little _too fun_, so I brought it back with a nice coral cardigan.
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/MomFullEvolution.gif", "An animation showing the evolution of Mom's body sprite and clothing. It starts with a red, shoulder-less dress and becomes a grey shirt and an orange cardigan. The cardigan itself goes through several revisions with small details like the trim shading changing. Shading details on her neck and upper chest are changed slightly. The final cardigan is a bright orange with a checkered/woven hem.", "Now, that's the Mom I know." %}
|
||||
|
||||
I'm proud of how this one came out. It challenged me in many different aspects but came out almost exactly how I wanted it to. I feel like I improved my skills a lot with this one.
|
||||
|
||||
Finally, here are some before and after versions of the character sprites.
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/DadsonBeforeAfter.gif", "An animation showing the changes between the old and final designs of Dadson.", "Dadson, before and after." %}
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/ChiefBeforeAfter.gif", "An animation showing the changes between the old and final designs of Chief.", "Chief, before and after." %}
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/FrancisBeforeAfter.gif", "An animation showing the changes between the old and final designs of Francis.", "Francis, before and after." %}
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/MomBeforeAfter.gif", "An animation showing the changes between the old and final designs of Mom.", "Mom, before and after." %}
|
||||
|
||||
### The rest
|
||||
|
||||
I don't have much else to share (yet) with other visuals. I'm currently working on drawing new backgrounds for each of our characters. I want to make sure that all our UI elements match the pixel art aesthetic.
|
||||
|
||||
I'm excited to continue.
|
||||
|
||||
## Afterword
|
||||
|
||||
I hope that my friends will want to do this again next year. It was a ton of fun to put down the keyboard and take up the mouse (and tablet) to draw and engage my creative muscles.
|
||||
|
||||
I want to participate in more of these game jams, especially in an artistic fashion.
|
||||
|
||||
With all the work I've been putting into redrawing all our character art and assets, I feel like I've learned more about drawing (anatomy, shading, proportions) in these last few weeks than I have my entire life.
|
||||
|
||||
If I took one thing away from this experience, it's that I have the urge to draw, and I need to let it out.
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,94 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: How this blog works
|
||||
date: 2019-04-13
|
||||
excerpt: Everything powering this blog explained.
|
||||
tags: ["gatsbyjs", "ssg", "react"]
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
**Update October 6th, 2020**: I have switched from GatsbyJS to Next. Everything else is more-or-less the same. I will be adding a colophon page eventually.
|
||||
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
I was recently reading [Jumbo's Privacy Policy][] (and also gave their product a shot - it works well) and felt inspired to explain how everything powering this blog is set up, and why I decided to use the technology I chose. I hope this provides the visitor more transparency into how my site works, and also an educational resource for anyone looking to start a blog of their own.
|
||||
|
||||
[jumbo's privacy policy]: https://blog.jumboprivacy.com/privacy-policy.html "Jumbo's Privacy Policy"
|
||||
|
||||
## Static site generation
|
||||
|
||||
Something like a blog is generally fairly static unless new a post is added, so it seemed overkill to involve a CMS like Wordpress or Drupal. Not to mention all the security updates I'd be responsible for, or paying another company to manage them for me. With that in mind a static site generator seemed like the best choice.
|
||||
|
||||
## Why GatsbyJS?
|
||||
|
||||
As many projects I work with currently involve using [React][], I thought appropriate to use something like [GatsbyJS][] to make a static site. This would also give me potential skills at work for future projects.
|
||||
|
||||
[react]: https://reactjs.org/ "React - A JavaScript library for building user interfaces"
|
||||
[gatsbyjs]: https://www.gatsbyjs.org/ "GatsbyJS"
|
||||
|
||||
I've previously used [Jekyll][] to generate static sites, but with it being Ruby I felt out of my element, and I'm not really interested in learning it right now. It also felt like a lot of overhead to get a site up and running. I opted to try something else this time.
|
||||
|
||||
[jekyll]: https://jekyllrb.com/ "Jekyll"
|
||||
|
||||
I wasn't interested in coding up something from scratch, and it just so happens that GatsbyJS provides a wealth of [starter-kits][] to work with. I didn't want to code from scratch as I felt I wouldn't learn a lot from creating my own application - I have a general idea of how things should work in React, so I'd rather take a look at something already done and tweak it to my needs. I wouldn't be providing any value to the open-source community either as there are probably plenty of "React blogs" out there already.
|
||||
|
||||
[starter-kits]: https://www.gatsbyjs.org/starters/?v=2 "A list of GatsbyJS starter kits"
|
||||
|
||||
After seeing Dan Abramov's [Overreacted blog][] was powered by the [`gatsby-starter-blog` starter][] I decided to take a look myself. It had everything I needed - static site generation, lightning fast performance, out-of-the-box RSS, and a pretty good looking theme. After poking around in the repo a bit I figured this was just what I needed.
|
||||
|
||||
[overreacted blog]: https://overreacted.io/ "Dan Abramov's Overreacted blog"
|
||||
[`gatsby-starter-blog` starter]: https://www.gatsbyjs.org/starters/gatsbyjs/gatsby-starter-blog/ "gatsby-starter-blog starter"
|
||||
|
||||
### What I ended up tweaking
|
||||
|
||||
Besides a few theme bits here and there (read: splash of teal everywhere), I didn't change much. I originally omitted the `<Bio />` component from all pages as I didn't have much to write there, but later added it back in with a link to a Contact page.
|
||||
|
||||
Speaking of which, I also added a custom [Contact page][]. This by itself doesn't do anything, but thanks to my webhost it acts as a contact form and accepts submissions (more on that later). GatsbyJS itself doesn't do anything besides provide a static page.
|
||||
|
||||
[contact page]: https://devinlumley.me/contact "Link to my contact page"
|
||||
|
||||
## Code management - Git & GitHub
|
||||
|
||||
I used [Git][] primarily because I am familiar and comfortable with it. That's the long and the short of it. Version control is essential, even for personal projects. If you're not already I'd recommend you get familiar with Git, or at least another alternative. Know how to make branches, revert commits, stash code, and don't be afraid of `git rebase`! Git has some of the best [documentation][] around.
|
||||
|
||||
[git]: https://git-scm.com/ "Git homepage"
|
||||
[documentation]: https://git-scm.com/docs "Git documentation"
|
||||
|
||||
I used [GitHub][] as a code repository again because I was most comfortable with it and familiar. I have found it reliable for my use cases, and is generally working when I need it ([GitHub does go down sometimes...][]). There is also a large open-source community there, so it seemed prudent to have my open-source code hosted there.
|
||||
|
||||
[github]: https://github.com/ "GitHub"
|
||||
[github does go down sometimes...]: https://github.blog/2018-10-30-oct21-post-incident-analysis/ "Blog post about GitHub's downtime on October 21st 2018"
|
||||
|
||||
## Site hosting - Netlify
|
||||
|
||||
This was the piece I struggled with the most. I originally wanted to self-host my site, but that proved to be too tedious for me. I'd rather have everything "just work" rather than be in charge of deployments or security patches. That would also mean I'd have to be in charge of a server and keep on top of it. No thanks.
|
||||
|
||||
A friend of mine offered me some space on his server which was very kind of him, and it would've worked fine since this was a static site. This didn't work for me though since it'd require manual deployments. It's a small thing but I don't want to be responsible for managing them. Next!
|
||||
|
||||
[GitHub Pages][] seemed like the choice for me. It deployed automatically based on the repo contents, and doesn't require any maintenance. This would be on GitHub's servers, so no security patches. They support custom domains (and with HTTPS). Win win! This worked fine in the beginning, but I noticed something I didn't care for - if I wanted to update my site it required access to my own development machine. Since I chose GatsbyJS which uses React, the static version of the site needs to be transpiled and built - which requires the code repo cloned and set up. Yuck! That's too much work.
|
||||
|
||||
[github pages]: https://pages.github.com/ "GitHub Pages"
|
||||
|
||||
What I wanted was something that could handle automatic deployments by building the site on their servers, and provide hosting. Enter Netlify!
|
||||
|
||||
It offered all of the same features as GitH
|
||||
ub Pages, but also allowed for building the site on their servers. It monitors the `master` branch (by default), and re-builds the site when it detects changes. This was perfect! Now I could make updates from anywhere and commit them to my repo. Netlify would then deploy the site for me and that's it! Perfect.
|
||||
|
||||
Prior to choosing Netlify I reviewed their Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. I felt I could trust them, even as a free service. Since I am on the free plan, they can terminate my account at any time for any reason. I don't think Netlify is in the business of doing that without warning, but it's still something for me to remember. Given that everything has been working perfectly with no issues, I'm looking at becoming a paying customer if that'll guarantee my site won't be suddenly removed (so long as I don't break any rules).
|
||||
|
||||
As an additional bonus (I was not aware of it when I chose Netlify) - they offer [form handling][]! This means I can accept form submissions from visitors should I so choose. I decided to throw together a quick form for contacting me if anyone desires. It can even forward submissions to your inbox. Very handy!
|
||||
|
||||
[form handling]: https://www.netlify.com/docs/form-handling/ "Details on Netlify's form handling"
|
||||
|
||||
## How traffic is managed - Cloudflare
|
||||
|
||||
Something like [Cloudflare][] probably seems overkill for a blog (let alone a static site), but I thought why not and give it a shot. They've recently impressed me with their [1.1.1.1 DNS][], and they regularly post about goings-on and act very transparently. I personally value that a lot, and as such I'd like to use their services. Out-of-the-box Cloudflare's DNS services provide lightning-fast resolution time - so my already snappy blog should feel even snappier (Safari users especially - just kidding). Cloudflare also caches my site, so should Netlify go down - Cloudflare can serve a cached version of my site. Since my site is generally pretty static, this is ideal! There's also things like DDoS protection, load balancing, and other fancy tech that my blog (probably) won't need.
|
||||
|
||||
[cloudflare]: https://www.cloudflare.com/ "Cloudflare"
|
||||
[1.1.1.1 dns]: https://one.one.one.one "1.1.1.1 DNS"
|
||||
|
||||
## Miscellaneous
|
||||
|
||||
For my domain names I use [Namecheap][]. No real reason beyond good prices. They offer lots of configuration options for your domain, although this is likely standard across any domain name provider.
|
||||
|
||||
[namecheap]: https://www.namecheap.com "Namecheap"
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,89 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: "It's Been a While"
|
||||
date: 2022-10-02T03:07:55.330Z
|
||||
excerpt: February 2022 - September 2022.
|
||||
tags: ["gba", "updates", "burnout"]
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/unknown.jpg", "An AI generated image using the prompt 'a frog playing a game boy in watercolor'.", "" %}
|
||||
|
||||
What’s happened since my last post?
|
||||
|
||||
* I got engaged!
|
||||
* We bought a condo!
|
||||
* I finished several projects at work! One of them even launched in the App Store and Play Store!
|
||||
* I found out I love home projects (I love DIY)!
|
||||
* I learned a lot about home electrical.
|
||||
* We painted a lot! Almost the whole place.
|
||||
* I got a Steam Deck and I love it!
|
||||
* I got into custom keyboards for a bit. I’m kinda off the hobby now. I’d still like to make one, but stop there.
|
||||
* I put together a BBQ all by myself!
|
||||
* I dyed my hair for the first time.
|
||||
* I learned how to solder.
|
||||
* We took a trip to Calgary.
|
||||
* I got to be a beekeeper for about 15 minutes!
|
||||
* I cut and re-soldered Hue light strips. That was time-consuming but worth it! They are flexible now.
|
||||
* I got my Playdate (finally)!
|
||||
* I got into modding GameBoys.
|
||||
* I burned out (oops)
|
||||
* I learned how to install a faucet and drain.
|
||||
|
||||
## Engaged
|
||||
|
||||
I proposed to my girlfriend after we got the keys to our new place. I tried my best to recreate this moment from our favourite show Parks and Recreation.
|
||||
|
||||
## Home Projects
|
||||
|
||||
I *love* home projects. The place we bought needs refreshing. I took it upon myself to update all the light fixtures and light switches by myself (just kidding I had help), and I managed to it without us being electrocuted! I did manage to arc electricity once but that's no big deal, right?
|
||||
|
||||
I had a minor panic attack after that, but I'm alive and still have a healthy respect for electricity!
|
||||
|
||||
I've since:
|
||||
|
||||
* Built a shelf from scratch
|
||||
* Replaced a bathroom faucet
|
||||
* Fixed a leaky drain trap
|
||||
* Installed curtains and rods
|
||||
* Painted nearly every room
|
||||
|
||||
I'm certain I'm forgetting something.
|
||||
|
||||
## Steam Deck
|
||||
|
||||
I was one of the lucky few who managed to preorder right when they opened ordering. I received mine back in March and have been loving it. It's like a capable PC in the palm of your hands. I use it all the time when I'm on the couch.
|
||||
|
||||
I can't wait to see where things go from here. I'm eagerly awaiting the dock. I want to use it as a daily driver PC. Here's hoping they release more security features though.
|
||||
|
||||
## Soldering and Game Boy modding
|
||||
|
||||
I've always wanted to try adding a touch of modern hardware to a Game Boy. I have a lot of nostalgia for the whole handheld line -- I think I played them non-stop until the DS game around.
|
||||
|
||||
Game Boy mods took off during the pandemic. There were plenty of options to choose from -- new screens, power boards, sound amps, new shells -- there's likely a mod for everyone.
|
||||
|
||||
I am fond of the original Game Boy Advance, the one that doesn't fold shut. I remember many hours playing away underneath the lamps in our living room, because it didn't have a backlight of any sort. They didn't add that until the Game Boy Advance SP.
|
||||
|
||||
I got soldering practice in by chopping up my Hue light strips and a DIY audio kit from a shop in town. The Hue lights don’t bend (I accidentally broke mine trying to), but with wires in between each strip, I can mount them to the back of my monitor.
|
||||
|
||||
I went with Funnyplaying’s IPS screen, a dehum/dehiss kit, a new shell/buttons, and a glass screen.
|
||||
|
||||
The installation process for a new screen couldn't be easier, even for a newbie like me. There are a few solder points and running wire. Getting the dehum/dehiss kit aligned properly was tricky. I’m not sure I detect any difference using it either. The rest was re-assembly. Behold!
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/q5f6yoq.jpg", "A modified Game Boy Advance with a clear shell, teal buttons/trim, and an IPS screen.", "" %}
|
||||
|
||||
I decided to try my hand at modding an original Game Boy which was a lot of fun, but 30 year old parts make it challenging. I’ll make a separate post someday about my trials and tribulations.
|
||||
|
||||
## Burnout
|
||||
|
||||
Did I do a number on myself for this one. We had a stressful client at work. They didn’t make our lives easy, but I don’t believe they were trying to be malicious. When I involve myself in any project, I tend to invest myself fully, even if it’s to my own detriment.
|
||||
|
||||
I neglected to take care of myself. I didn’t engage with my usual routines of exercise and creative outlets. I started a habit of wake up -> work -> sleep. Not good.
|
||||
|
||||
Both of those factors were the largest contributors to my burnout. Mid-project I crashed hard, and didn’t recover. I took a day off and powered through the remainder of the project (which was a lot less stressful by this point). I needed more time though. I took an extended break post-project. I’m fortunate that I have the ability to do this. I’m grateful to have a partner that will support me when I’m down like this.
|
||||
|
||||
## Post-burnout
|
||||
|
||||
I started therapy again right before my burnout (the timing in a way was fortuitous). I’m doing better now. Not recovered, but better.
|
||||
|
||||
I’ve been exercising more and drawing again. It feels great to engage with those hobbies again, especially regular exercise. I can feel my mood improve once I’ve finished a workout. I’m planning on participating in Inktober.
|
||||
|
||||
I’ll make sure my next post is not ~~6~~ 7 months later.
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,62 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: Lately
|
||||
date: 2024-01-02T03:36:21.754Z
|
||||
excerpt: Kept you waiting, huh?
|
||||
tags: ["updates"]
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
I know it's been a long time since my last post. Over a year in fact. I'd like to do a recap on the major life events, because there's been a lot!
|
||||
|
||||
Instead I'd like to talk about other stuff that's happened lately.
|
||||
|
||||
I got a new monitor - my first foray into ultra-wide - the [Dell U3423WE](https://www.dell.com/en-ca/shop/dell-ultrasharp-34-curved-usb-c-hub-monitor-u3423we/apd/210-bfou/monitors-monitor-accessories#techspecs_section). It was a steep investment, but I've had my previous monitor for close to 10 years, so it's a worthwhile investment if I can keep it going that long. I really like it because not only is the picture quality amazing (and it's ultra-wide), it also has a built-in KVM switch so I can swap between my MacBook and PC effortlessly. It even swaps over the Ethernet connection if I need it.
|
||||
|
||||
I've had it for a few weeks now and it's wonderful. It doubles as my monitor for gaming too, which has been surprisingly immersive. I do feel a little limited at 60hz, but I could not find a monitor that had the same features as the Dell with a higher refresh rate. At the end of the day I prefer the KVM switch and power delivery features over refresh rate.
|
||||
|
||||
~~The holidays are coming up fast.~~ (I'm posting this well after Christmas. Oops) This whole year went by insanely fast. It feels like as I get older my perception of time warps. Days bleed into weeks into months. Individual days can drag on, but before I know it the month is over. As always I feel woefully unprepared for the upcoming season... I still have gift shopping to do, dinner to help plan, even get the decorations up... (I did end up doing all of my gift shopping successfully, Christmas dinner went off without a hitch, and even got the decorations up in time)
|
||||
|
||||
## Reading
|
||||
|
||||
I'm slowly trying to rebuild my reading habit. Since probably... last spring or so, I haven't been reading at all. My favourite time to read is when I'm going to bed, but I was either too tired to even read, or I'd reach for my phone without even thinking about it.
|
||||
|
||||
I've been reading [Horus Rising](https://www.blacklibrary.com/the-horus-heresy/novels/horus-rising.html) by Dan Abnett. Always wanted to start reading some Warhammer 40,000 fluff and now I'm finally doing it. This book takes place 10,000 years before the "current time" of the 41st millennium. I'm enjoying Abnett's writing, but disappointed that he doesn't carry on the next few books.
|
||||
|
||||
I found this [Psytrance Guide](https://psytranceguide.com) quite engaging. For anyone who enjoys trance music, this is an encyclopedic resource for all sub-genres of trance -- I suppose more specifically psytrance -- and plenty of samples to go with. I got particularly into Goa Trance... something about the fact it came from the 90s to 00s really appealed to me. I used to listen to a lot of electronic music when I was younger. Lots of DJ Tiesto. Darude.
|
||||
|
||||
## Watching
|
||||
|
||||
We usually have two shows going at any given time. A serious show that typically has a long-running plot, and something silly that we can watch when we need a bit of levity.
|
||||
|
||||
The silly show is classic CanCon (Canadian Content) -- [Corner Gas](https://www.cornergas.com/). The show takes place in the fictional town of Dog River, typically surrounding the titular Corner Gas gas station. It's unbashedly Canadian and a delight to watch. It wasn't shy about including then-current politicians either (for better or worse).
|
||||
|
||||
Our "serious show" is [Star Trek: Strange New Worlds](https://www.ctv.ca/shows/star-trek-strange-new-worlds). We tried to enjoy Picard, and may try again someday, but we feared for modern Star Trek after watching some of it. Thankfully, Strange New Worlds is here to say that they can still recreate the magic of TOS and TNG. It's so good to see everyone around a table again discussing how they want to approach this week's problem. I love Ethan Peck's Spock. He might be my favourite character of the bunch. I find I resonate most with Vulcans in any show, like T'Ana from Lower Decks. Truly though the whole cast is stellar.
|
||||
|
||||
I stumbled upon this short film called [Stalled](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mSH86O2qzA). I honestly forget how I found it... might've been in my recommended feeds. A man enters a bathroom stall... and then sees himself peeking into the stall he's in. It gets much wilder and weirder from there.
|
||||
|
||||
Apple produced a short called [The Lost Voice](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ra9I0HScTDw&pp=ygUOdGhlIGxvc3Qgdm9pY2U%3D). It demonstrates the power of their newest feature called Personal Voice. It's amazing to me that this technology exists, and is only getting better. And fast, too.
|
||||
|
||||
## Playing
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
Like clockwork, my friends and I started up another Valheim server. It's a lot like that meme where people get into Minecraft for 2 weeks. Once a year at least, we will likely start up a new Valheim server.
|
||||
|
||||
We've since made it to and through the Mistlands, which was new to us. The biome is tough and unforgiving, but also nails the vibe. We had a lot of fun (and frustration) making our way through abandoned mines and rocky cliffs - all the while struggling to see further than 5 feet in front of us.
|
||||
|
||||
We had a ton of fun assembling our sprawling castle, but the game tends to suffer once there are a ton of objects on screen. It became the Castle of 20 FPS for me. We had an epic staircase entrance, our own great hall and kitchen (called The Drooling Lox), a forge/blacksmith, a workshop, a bakery, a farm, and even a chicken coop under the castle ramparts.
|
||||
|
||||
I finished Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun this month. It was a fun 40k-themed retro shooter, but overstayed its welcome by a few hours. The level design got confusing sometimes too. Perhaps that was the part of the "charm" of 90s shooters, but they could've left that part in the past.
|
||||
|
||||
Still, if you happen to be within the intersection of 40k and retro shooters, you could do worse. The dedicated taunt button made up for a lot. There were so many that I don't know if I ever heard a repeat.
|
||||
|
||||
## Listening
|
||||
|
||||
My new album habits have been all over the map lately. I hope before the year ends (or shortly thereafter) I can compile a list of my favourite 2023 albums. (editors note: the year did end without a 2023 list being completed. Perhaps the author will eventually write one)
|
||||
|
||||
One of recent note is [My Soft Machine](https://album.link/ca/i/1662545566) by Arlo Parks. I heard this one on [Afterdark on CBC](https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-1051-afterdark) (Odario Williams is a household name here). There is a mixture of shoegaze and Grimes, which delivers a moody and expressive form of pop that is very soothing.
|
||||
|
||||
I got into The Beaches by hearing their latest single Blame Brett on the radio. I found their new album okay, very listenable but not much that stands out (save for the single). That said, a friend suggested I check out [Late Show](https://album.link/ca/i/1440897088) and that album is killer. A grittier sound with a rougher edge.
|
||||
|
||||
A fast favourite is Olivia Rodrigo's [GUTS](https://album.link/ca/i/1694386825) which found favour with the both of us here. [My favourite track Obsessed](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGwzUpVjsZI) didn't even make it to the album - at least the one most of us got - it was released only as part of a RSD exclusive release. Hopefully it makes its way to a deluxe or reissue someday.
|
||||
|
||||
Another friend of mine told me about Abstract Orchestra, which I can't believe I'm only just discovering now. They've done a few instrumental jazzy versions of MF DOOM's releases, but my favourite has to be [their take on J Dilla's Donuts](https://album.link/ca/i/1238569093). It's the perfect album to throw on when I don't know what I want to listen to, or even as engaging background music. I love Donuts, but there's something special about Dilla too!
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,351 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: My vim setup
|
||||
draft: false
|
||||
date: 2021-04-18T20:24:10.177Z
|
||||
excerpt: Everybody does it differently.
|
||||
tags: ["vim", "development"]
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/vimsetup.png", "A screenshot of my `vim` setup in action.", "" %}
|
||||
|
||||
I thought it would be fun to talk about my `vim` configuration. Everyone does it differently, and I wanted to toss my hat into the ring.
|
||||
|
||||
I don’t claim to have the best setup, but it works great for JavaScript (React, node) and TypeScript development.
|
||||
|
||||
I keep my `.vimrc` and other related files up to date on [GitHub](https://github.com/devinwl/dotfiles).
|
||||
|
||||
This has been a helpful exercise in evaluating what my configuration options do, and which ones I can get rid of. After a while these things tend to accumulate a lot of cruft.
|
||||
|
||||
I pledge to keep this page up to date as I add (or remove) changes to it.
|
||||
|
||||
## nvim
|
||||
|
||||
I use [Neovim](https://neovim.io) (`nvim`) instead of `vim` because it has support for fancier plugins, and it handles asynchronous actions better than `vim`, in my experience.
|
||||
|
||||
Plus it has “neo” in the name, and that’s plain cool.
|
||||
|
||||
## Basics
|
||||
|
||||
This section captures what I would consider to be the basics of vim: clipboard behaviour, backspace behaviour, spellchecking, all that jazz.
|
||||
|
||||
```vim
|
||||
set nocompatible
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
This tells vim to use `vim` settings rather than `vi`. To be honest I don’t full understand what this does, but see it enough in other `.vimrc` I decided to include it.
|
||||
|
||||
```vim
|
||||
set number
|
||||
set relativenumber
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
This enables line numbers. You’re gonna need those if you’re developin’. `relativenumber` shows relative line numbers from the currently highlighted line.
|
||||
|
||||
```vim
|
||||
set title
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
Sets the terminal window’s title to be the file currently being edited (I think).
|
||||
|
||||
```vim
|
||||
set scrolloff=2
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
This changes the scroll offset, or in other words when `vim` decides to start scrolling. In my case, once I am on the 2nd to last line of my screen and I want to scroll down (or up), it will scroll the screen upwards and move to the next line.
|
||||
|
||||
```vim
|
||||
set backspace=indent,eol,start
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
This makes the BACKSPACE key behave in a sane way while using `vim`. I don’t know why this behaviour isn’t default — probably some holdover from the “old days”.
|
||||
|
||||
```vim
|
||||
set nowrap
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
No linewrapping allowed. I switch around this setting from time to time.
|
||||
|
||||
```vim
|
||||
set noerrorbells
|
||||
set belloff=all
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
I don’t see how playing a sound when there is an error is helpful — like when I try to scroll past the end or beginning of the file. Turn that off.
|
||||
|
||||
```vim
|
||||
set hlsearch
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
This will highlight all search matches on any open buffers, like when using `/` to search for text.
|
||||
|
||||
```vim
|
||||
set incsearch
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
As I start typing when using `/`, it will highlight things as they are matched (before pressing ENTER).
|
||||
|
||||
```vim
|
||||
set signcolumn=yes
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
This enables the sign column in `vim`, which can be used by plugins to highlight lines with errors, warnings, and so on.
|
||||
|
||||
```vim
|
||||
set hidden
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
`vim` by default will throw away buffers when you switch away from them. This stops that behaviour. A reasonable expectation with any modern text editor.
|
||||
|
||||
```vim
|
||||
set nobackup
|
||||
set nowritebackup
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
`vim` likes to create backup files (adding `~` to the extension) and I don’t like them. I use version control software and I’m content with that.
|
||||
|
||||
```vim
|
||||
set cmdheight=2
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
This gives me more breathing room in the command window.
|
||||
|
||||
```vim
|
||||
set shortmess+=c
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
Shortens messages from `vim`.
|
||||
|
||||
```vim
|
||||
set path=$PWD/**
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
When running searches in `vim`, set the project directory to where I currently am.
|
||||
|
||||
```vim
|
||||
set showmode
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
Shows which mode `vim` is currently in on the command window. I’m forgetful.
|
||||
|
||||
```vim
|
||||
set ignorecase
|
||||
set smartcase
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
Makes search patterns case-insensitive. Except when the search pattern contains uppercase characters (`smartcase`).
|
||||
|
||||
```vim
|
||||
set clipboard=unnamed
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
Removes `vim`’s separate clipboard, and “shares” it between `vim` and the outside world (your computer).
|
||||
|
||||
```vim
|
||||
set cursorline
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
Highlights the line the cursor is currently on. Makes it easier for me to find the cursor.
|
||||
|
||||
## Tabs and spaces
|
||||
|
||||
```vim
|
||||
set tabstop=2
|
||||
set shiftwidth=2
|
||||
set softtabstop=2
|
||||
set expandtab
|
||||
set shiftround
|
||||
set smarttab
|
||||
set smartindent
|
||||
set autoindent
|
||||
set copyindent
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
I don’t care if we use tabs or spaces anymore, I’ll use what the project at hand wants.
|
||||
|
||||
Tab uses spaces, and each tab is 2 spaces.
|
||||
|
||||
If I’m at a certain indentation level, then these options ensure I maintain it and it always a multiple of `shiftwidth`.
|
||||
|
||||
## Spellchecking
|
||||
|
||||
```vim
|
||||
autocmd FileType gitcommit setlocal spell
|
||||
autocmd FileType markdown,md,mdx setlocal spell
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
When I am writing a `git` commit, or inside a Markdown file I want to add spellchecking.
|
||||
|
||||
## Forcing myself to learn hjkl
|
||||
|
||||
```vim
|
||||
noremap <Up> <NOP>
|
||||
noremap <Down> <NOP>
|
||||
noremap <Left> <NOP>
|
||||
noremap <Right> <NOP>
|
||||
|
||||
inoremap <Down> <NOP>
|
||||
inoremap <Left> <NOP>
|
||||
inoremap <Right> <NOP>
|
||||
inoremap <Up> <NOP>
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
`hjkl` is essential way to move around in `vim`. You don’t have to move your hands from home row. It’s hard to learn at first, but if you disable the arrow keys, you start to learn pretty quick.
|
||||
|
||||
## netrw
|
||||
|
||||
```vim
|
||||
let g:netrw_banner = 0
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
This hides the giant help banner when using `netrw` (`:E`). I use `netrw` to move around sometimes, when CTRL + P doesn’t cut it.
|
||||
|
||||
## Split movement
|
||||
|
||||
```vim
|
||||
nnoremap <C-J> <C-W><C-J>
|
||||
nnoremap <C-K> <C-W><C-K>
|
||||
nnoremap <C-L> <C-W><C-L>
|
||||
nnoremap <C-H> <C-W><C-H>
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
I use splits a lot and this makes it easier to move around between them.
|
||||
|
||||
## Plugins
|
||||
|
||||
```vim
|
||||
call plug#begin('~/.vim/plugged')
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
I use [vim-plug](https://github.com/junegunn/vim-plug) to manage all my plugins.
|
||||
|
||||
### auto-pairs
|
||||
|
||||
Adds pairs of quotes, brackets, etc. If I type `”`, it’ll add a closing quote. Works with `()` and `{}`.
|
||||
|
||||
```vim
|
||||
let g:AutoPairsMultilineClose = 0
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
This disables the default behaviour of trying to close any pair even if it was on another line. When writing code blocks `{}`, it would jump to the next closing `}` if I was inside another code block. It might make sense to someone, but for me it just annoyed me. Thankfully it can be switched off!
|
||||
|
||||
### vim-surround
|
||||
|
||||
Took me a while to get, but once I did I can’t imagine life without it. Wrap words/quotes/code blocks/whatever in more quotes or characters. A mnemonic from my coworker:
|
||||
|
||||
```
|
||||
(y)olo (s)urround (i)n (w)ord/(“)quote/etc
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
### vim-commentary
|
||||
|
||||
I use `gc` all the time. Comment entire blocks or lines super quick. Easy to remember.
|
||||
|
||||
### vim-polyglot
|
||||
|
||||
Syntax highlighting for various languages. I use JavaScript (and adjacent stuff like JSON) 99% of the time, but nice to have for shell scripts, Ruby, and so on.
|
||||
|
||||
### fzf
|
||||
|
||||
One day I might learn how to use `vimgrep`, but for now I have `fzf`. Requires extra binaries. I thought I needed NERDTree to move around, but `fzf` has got my back.
|
||||
|
||||
```vim
|
||||
nnoremap <silent> <c-p> :GFiles --cached --others --exclude-standard<cr>
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
This makes CTRL + P filter files that are part of the project’s `.gitignore` by default.
|
||||
|
||||
### vim-fugitive
|
||||
|
||||
I’ve got this installed but don’t use it much. It adds `git` support right in `vim`, but I almost always have a second tab open in my terminal explicitly for `git` operations.
|
||||
|
||||
### vim-rhubarb
|
||||
|
||||
Like the above, it offers a neat feature, but I keep forgetting to use it. It will create a link directly to the line you’re on in `vim`.
|
||||
|
||||
### coc.nvim
|
||||
|
||||
I bet this one will garner controversy. Getting intelligent autocomplete in `vim` was never something it was intended to do, but `coc` in combination with `nvim` gets us there. For it to function “just so” requires extra configuration, which I’ll highlight below.
|
||||
|
||||
```vim
|
||||
let g:coc_global_extensions = [
|
||||
\ 'coc-tsserver',
|
||||
\ 'coc-json',
|
||||
\ ]
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
This runs these `coc` plugins all the time. Since I’m always mucking about in JavaScript, this isn’t a big deal. It’s smart enough to know when I’m *not* in JavaScript and to not complain, which works for me.
|
||||
|
||||
```vim
|
||||
if isdirectory('./node_modules') && isdirectory('./node_modules/prettier')
|
||||
let g:coc_global_extensions += ['coc-prettier']
|
||||
endif
|
||||
|
||||
if isdirectory('./node_modules') && isdirectory('./node_modules/eslint')
|
||||
let g:coc_global_extensions += ['coc-eslint']
|
||||
endif
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
This tells `coc` to load up `eslint` and `prettier` extensions if I’m using them in my project. Super handy to automatically load up `prettier` only when I need it.
|
||||
|
||||
```vim
|
||||
nnoremap <silent> K :call CocAction('doHover')<CR>
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
Rarely do I need to trigger `coc` on its own, but this is for the odd time. Nice for when looking up variable types (using TypeScript), or method arguments.
|
||||
|
||||
```vim
|
||||
command! -nargs=0 Prettier :CocCommand prettier.formatFile
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
Shortcut to run `prettier` using `:Prettier`. I don’t use this often since I have it configured to run on save.
|
||||
|
||||
### coc-settings.json
|
||||
|
||||
```json
|
||||
"suggest.noselect": false,
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
This option pre-selects the first option in the autocomplete list.
|
||||
|
||||
```json
|
||||
"eslint.autoFixOnSave": true,
|
||||
"eslint.filetypes": ["javascript", "javascriptreact", "typescript", "typescriptreact"],
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
This runs `eslint` on save, and ensures that the files in `filetypes` run `eslint`.
|
||||
|
||||
```json
|
||||
“coc.preferences.formatOnSaveFiletypes": ["markdown", "mdx", "javascript", "javascriptreact", "typescript", "typescriptreact"],
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
This runs `prettier` for me on these filetypes when saving. Somehow this doesn’t interfere with `eslint`, which is magic to me.
|
||||
|
||||
```json
|
||||
"coc.preferences.jumpCommand": "vsplit"
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
When using commands like `gd` (goto definition), it will open in a new `:vsplit` by default.
|
||||
|
||||
## Theme
|
||||
|
||||
I saved the best for last.
|
||||
|
||||
I currently use the [Rigel](https://rigel.netlify.app) theme.
|
||||
|
||||
```vim
|
||||
set statusline=%f%=%m%r%h%w%y[%04l,%04v]
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
This sets up my status line to show me what I need to know:
|
||||
|
||||
* The file I’m editing
|
||||
* A marker if the file has been modified but not saved
|
||||
* What language mode I’m in
|
||||
* What line I’m on
|
||||
* What column I’m on
|
||||
|
||||
```vim
|
||||
highlight Comment cterm=italic gui=italic
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
My font of choice is [Operator Mono](https://www.typography.com/fonts/operator/overview), and it has beautiful cursive italics that I want to see. Anything comments in the file (or certain keywords) are converted into *italics*.
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,116 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: My vinyl journey
|
||||
date: 2018-12-09
|
||||
excerpt: A cautionary tale of getting into collecting records.
|
||||
tags: ["music", "vinyl", "collecting"]
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
**Update 04/16/2019**: See the updates section at the bottom for further discussion.
|
||||
|
||||
I’m here to tell you vinyl collecting isn’t all its cracked up to be. Like many hobbies, it takes time and dedication to truly appreciate. I’m here to offer a cautionary tale to anyone looking to start the hobby. It’s important to make sure you want to do it for the right reasons - something I didn’t do when I started.
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/mmb.jpg", "Record cover of Mogwai's Mr. Beast", "Mogwai's Mr. Beast" %}
|
||||
|
||||
At some point in 2008 I decided to begin my vinyl journey. After hearing about records making a quiet comeback from my friend I thought I might see what this was all about on a whim. After perusing the local music store’s then-growing record collection I came out with [Mogwai's Mr. Beast](https://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/mr-beast/794356427). When I returned home I asked my parents for their old record player. My Mom returned my request with surprise.
|
||||
|
||||
> "You want what?"
|
||||
>
|
||||
> "Your old record player. You still have it right?"
|
||||
>
|
||||
> "Yes but... Why?"
|
||||
>
|
||||
> "Records are coming back!"
|
||||
>
|
||||
> "Huh."
|
||||
|
||||
Off to the garage we went. Beneath a pile of old DVDs and other relics of another age - there it was. With the player was a giant container of records. I lugged the two with anticipation and enthusiasm upstairs. The record player was Dual's CS 728Q.
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/dual.png", "Poster for the Dual CS 728Q record player", "The subtle off-white colouring, the tasteful thickness of it..." %}
|
||||
|
||||
I didn't have a sound system at the time - so my setup was a messy daisy-chain of cords that eventually lead to a pair a cheap computer speakers. I excitedly rummaged through my parents collection looking for one album in particular. With a pleased grin I found it. I was looking for [Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here](https://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/wish-you-were-here/1065973975).
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/wywh.png", "Record cover of Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here", "Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here" %}
|
||||
|
||||
I admired the gatefold LP for some time before placing it on the platter. Pressing the start button the record started turning. The tone arm swung over and locked into place, hovering over the record. Gently it lowered itself until it landed with a subtle popping sound. It was at this point I realized what a phono preamp was - and without having one means there is very little sound. Undeterred, I cranked the volume on my tinny little speakers. It wasn't much but I could hear it! David Gilmour's wailing guitar pumping through the needle to my speakers. It was a magical moment for me. I listened to the whole album on those horrible speakers, completely enthralled in the medium.
|
||||
|
||||
After listening to Wish You Were Here I quickly switched to [Dark Side of the Moon](https://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/the-dark-side-of-the-moon/1065973699). It was somewhere around this point that I decided that I want to get into collecting vinyl.
|
||||
|
||||
## The collection grows
|
||||
|
||||
As with most things I get interested in, I launched into this new hobby with reckless abandon. If there was a record of a new album coming out - I’d buy it. One record I think of often is [Dinosaur Jr.’s Farm](https://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/farm/543340712) - the striking furry green creatures towering over the skyscrapers. It was unique and colourful, and I can admit years later I bought it strictly for the artwork. The thrill of opening a gatefold and getting lost in the artwork - this was something you didn’t get with digital or CD copies. It became a ritual in its own like when I would read the manuals with video games before playing them. With every new record I would sit and admire the artwork first - taking in all the work put into the cover.
|
||||
|
||||
With my new desire to acquire any and all kinds of vinyl I wandered into shops and would eat up anything that looked remotely interesting. About a year into the hobby I started to notice that more and more of my favourite artists were releasing brand new pressings of their upcoming albums. The writing was on the wall - the record companies were taking notice of the resurgence of vinyl and were preparing to go in swinging. I didn’t think much of it at the time of course.
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/djf.png", "Record cover of Dinosaur Jr.'s Farm", "Dinosaur Jr.'s Farm" %}
|
||||
|
||||
It was also around this time I started to notice more of the minor annoyances with vinyl - chiefly the maintenance aspect. By virtue of the way the medium works, anything like dust, dirt, or small particles are the enemy. They cause pops and cracks, or worse skips. My brand new records started showing these symptoms after a few plays. Again though I falsely convinced myself this was all part of the charm and just needed to be accepted; the worrying never stopped though. I would often have to convince myself the record would be fine and to just play it. For the large part I was still enjoying the hobby, but starting to realize some of the downsides that came with it.
|
||||
|
||||
## Animal Collective
|
||||
|
||||
During this time I can recall a particularly vivid memory relating to a record purchase. In 2009 Animal Collective released their breakout album [Merriweather Post Pavilion](https://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/merriweather-post-pavilion/300683110). I remember picking it up at the store after months of anticipation (and listening to low-quality album leaks). After the usual ritual of gatefold admiration, I put the record on the platter and hit start. With headphones hooked up, I put on my pair of Sony MDRV6s and laid down on the bed. I closed my eyes. Soon the opening notes of In the Flowers began. I lost myself on a sonic odyssey - interrupted only by the necessity to flip the record over. It was one point in my life where I recall listening to an album front to back without _any_ distractions. Despite my slow-growing annoyance with vinyl as a hobby, this is one memory I always look on fondly.
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/acmpp.jpg", "Record cover of Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion", "Animal Collective's Merriweather Peace Pavilion" %}
|
||||
|
||||
## Annoyance turns to irritation
|
||||
|
||||
Sooner or later I started to question my dedication to this hobby. At the start I convinced myself that everything sounded _better_ - the usual “it sounds warmer” type of stuff. Eventually though I began to question that. Did it really sound all that better? A lot of my records had plenty of pops, hisses and crackling. Is this really what everyone was talking about? Not to mention the maintenance required to keep a record in good shape. Things like dust covers and cleaning tools.
|
||||
|
||||
And then the physical act of having to manage a record while it plays. It sounds like a small thing, but after so long it starts to get aggravating. Sometimes you just want to listen to music without any fiddling.
|
||||
|
||||
I started to do some research on this whole “warmer sound” thing. I came to the conclusion it’s largely nonsense, or in other words it’s mostly placebo. I can imagine vinyl might sound great if you’ve got the sound system to support it - but what’s doing the job here? Is it the vinyl or the thousands invested into audio equipment? I’m leaning towards the latter.
|
||||
|
||||
Then - finally - the realization set in.
|
||||
|
||||
## The realization
|
||||
|
||||
I got into vinyl for all the wrong reasons. I wasn’t ready to accept the work that comes with the hobby. I can admit I got sucked into the hype and hipster nature of the hobby when it first started to see a resurgence. I wanted to hear that “warmer sound”, and convinced myself I was.
|
||||
|
||||
I was certain everything I was hearing would sound so much better than on my computer or CD player - but failed to realize that if you only have a budget audio setup, odds are you won’t hear any difference. Not to mention you’ll hear more of the pops, hisses, etc.
|
||||
|
||||
I didn’t understand that maintenance plays a larger role than I realized. It’s not enough to buy the record and play it. It needs to be cared for and can’t be mistreated. If not cared for properly, imperfections are introduced into the sound. It’s also possible to permanently add this imperfections. This might be appealing to some, but I realized I just want to listen to music without any of the added effort.
|
||||
|
||||
It doesn’t sound like much, but having to be responsible for a record while it plays can be tiring. For me it all came back to just wanting to listen to music with little effort. I want to focus on what I’m doing, whether that’s relaxing or working or whatever.
|
||||
|
||||
Records tend to eat up space quickly. After putting a stop to my collecting I’m somewhere around 100-200 records. They take up a wall of my apartment, and weight _a lot_. They are not easy to move around if it’s necessary. They have to be stored properly (upright in other words), otherwise you risk warping the record.
|
||||
|
||||
- To really appreciate vinyl you have to be fully dedicated to it
|
||||
- Odds are you won't hear a difference until you invest in your audio setup. Anything you hear is your own perception.
|
||||
- Might be enough for some but I wanted more empirical evidence. Not enough to go by a feel for me, especially what vinyl needs
|
||||
- Understand that owning records means you need to take care of them. They are prone to failures. Easy to form a permanent skip/pop/hiss in the record
|
||||
- The act of changing a record can be tedious especially when you just want to listen to music
|
||||
- They take up huge amounts of space and require adequate storage (or risk ruining the record due to warping)
|
||||
- They're heavy!
|
||||
|
||||
## So you want to get into vinyl
|
||||
|
||||
Collecting vinyl is a lot of fun, but I think demands more than most think about. In summary:
|
||||
|
||||
- Effort
|
||||
- Changing a record
|
||||
- Moving your collection
|
||||
- Needle placement (if turntable is not automatic)
|
||||
- Care
|
||||
- Maintaining record quality with sleeves
|
||||
- Proper storage
|
||||
- Keeping environment as dust and particulate free as possible
|
||||
- Cleaning older records
|
||||
- Cost
|
||||
- Now that the hobby is a lot bigger expect to pay higher costs
|
||||
- Newer turntables are not cheap
|
||||
- Monetary cost of storage units, cleaning, etc
|
||||
|
||||
As of this writing the vinyl resurgence is in full swing and the record companies noticed. Record Store Day used to be an exciting time for new, rare releases and other hard-to-find items. It has become a fully commercialized day full of nothing but marketing. Expect to have to really hunt the records now as scalpers scoop them up and try to make a quick buck on eBay.
|
||||
|
||||
The records your parents used to listen to have all been bought up by collectors years ago - the only copies left are going to be expensive. You’ll really have to dig for the diamonds in the rough.
|
||||
|
||||
New releases can go for anywhere around $30-$40 (CAD), and are often pressed into double (or even triple) albums due to space on the record itself. If you’re lucky you can find it locally, otherwise look forward to even higher costs due to shipping (and possibly scarcity).
|
||||
|
||||
Having said all this - the hobby can be really fun. Not much can compare to the physical act of playing a record and listening to it. It unfortunately took me some financial and time investment to find out it wasn’t for me. Hopefully you can decide for yourself first before you dive straight in.
|
||||
|
||||
As of now I’m sitting on a sizeable record collection. I’ve invested a lot of time into it and find it hard to part with it despite the fact I haven’t listened to a single one in probably years now. Holding some records brings me happiness and joy, which tells me that I shouldn’t part with them. One day I’ll thin out the collection and reduce it to albums I know I truly love and adore. For now though, it’s a great conversation starter!
|
||||
|
||||
## Update - April 16th 2019
|
||||
|
||||
I recently watched a video that does a better job at explaining the technical parts of how vinyl works and dives into the "does vinyl actually sound better" with more detail than I provided. I recommend watching it regardless of what side you're on when it comes to vinyl.
|
||||
|
||||
[The Truth About Vinyl - Vinyl vs. Digital](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzRvSWPZQYk)
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
|
|||
{
|
||||
"layout": "layouts/post",
|
||||
"tags": "post",
|
||||
"permalink": "posts/{{ page.fileSlug }}/index.html"
|
||||
}
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,118 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: Professional development in 2018
|
||||
date: 2019-01-07
|
||||
excerpt: A look back at what happened in 2018 - professionally. For me.
|
||||
tags: ["personal", "career", "growth", "react"]
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
In 2018 I received the opportunity to develop my professional skills and further my career development. I’d like to highlight some developments and things I wish to focus on and improve in the next year.
|
||||
|
||||
## Web development
|
||||
|
||||
### React
|
||||
|
||||
This year I was a developer on a project that utilized the latest version (16) of [React](https://reactjs.org/). I had previously used version 14 in another project that acted as a digital asset management portal. This project was also a DAM that used [Cantemo](https://www.cantemo.com/) as the backend.
|
||||
|
||||
During this project I learned about the proper architecture for [class/presentational components](https://medium.com/@dan_abramov/smart-and-dumb-components-7ca2f9a7c7d0). In the beginning I would often mix the two, which lead to class -> presentational -> class -> … hierarchies. This lead to a lot of confusion with the other developers in the team. Eventually we were able to start cleaning this up and simplifying our component architecture.
|
||||
|
||||
### RxJS
|
||||
|
||||
RxJS is incredibly useful for managing asynchronous events. Until learning about the framework I had been relying on unwieldy promise-chains to ensure my async events were handled properly. Now with something as simple as an `Observable` we can inform the UI when an event has finished. It sounds so simple it makes me wonder why it took me so long to find out about it. RxJS has also been combined with Redux to form one of my favourite libraries [redux-observable](https://redux-observable.js.org/). This makes connecting Redux actions to reducers a snap.
|
||||
|
||||
### Angular 5
|
||||
|
||||
In the first half of the year I became the lead developer for a small digital asset management project using Angular as the front-end and a [HATEOAS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HATEOAS) API layer. I was responsible for the front-end team. I had support from some of the other intermediate and junior developers as they had more experience with the framework. The last time I used Angular was back in the AngularJS (or 1.0) days. The framework has come a long way since then. Our basic architecture involved using Services for all data communication between the front-end and back-end, and Components for managing presentational layers.
|
||||
|
||||
### Functional programming - pipe, compose, etc
|
||||
|
||||
After being introduced to the [Ramda](https://ramdajs.com/) framework I quickly became more familiar with the functional programming language side of things. After some initial friction to understand how `compose()` worked (and later `pipe()`) I really started to like functional programming.
|
||||
|
||||
This was also a good opportunity to pick up [Reselect](https://github.com/reduxjs/reselect) which offers a clean and reusable way to access state slices from Redux.
|
||||
|
||||
### Redux
|
||||
|
||||
Redux proved to be a great help for management of the application state in all projects I worked on in 2018. The action/reducer logic took some time to grasp for the junior developers, but I felt confident in my understanding and was able to get them up to speed quickly. There were some hurdles in reducer composition as I quickly learned reducers can grow in scope and size very quickly. I found the `combineReducers` function very handy for breaking up reducers into smaller chunks.
|
||||
|
||||
### Styled Components
|
||||
|
||||
When I first saw this library my immediate reaction was revulsion. “Inline style - in my project? No way!” This attitude harkened back to older times when it was considered poor form to use inline style in web development. The important difference here is that yes - there is inline style - but that inline style is coming from something closer to a stylesheet. Once I made that critical realization I was right on board with Styled Components.
|
||||
|
||||
Another critical realization was that with Styled Components - there is no more need for adding classes to toggle style. Styled Components can read any props passed to it - which allows for [conditional styling](https://www.styled-components.com/docs/basics#adapting-based-on-props). This cleans up the JSX for any components and makes it far easier to read and manage.
|
||||
|
||||
### TypeScript
|
||||
|
||||
Having strong typing and intelligent autocomplete was invaluable in the Angular 5 project. It lead to far fewer headaches between developers and made code cleaner and easier to understand. `Interface`s allow for simple model definitions for complex objects and fewer mysteries (wait - which properties are on this `Object`?)
|
||||
|
||||
## Professional development
|
||||
|
||||
### Lead a team of developers
|
||||
|
||||
This did eventually lead to an issue with the sheer number of services and components as I quickly learned that _abstraction for the sake of abstraction is a dangerous idea_. I decided early on that I wanted to have as much abstraction as possible with components and services being small. What I believe I failed to realize was that this eventually leads to an enormous number of files and scattered project structure. When it came time to onboard new developers the process was a nightmare. It was difficult to understand our architecture and where relevant code was located.
|
||||
|
||||
I was trying to future-proof the code before I was even sure there would _be_ a future for the code. It’s okay to over-engineer when time permits, but sometimes the solution with flaws (code duplication, large components, etc) is okay. If it’s easily understood by other developers and works consistently, then it’s okay. [Duplication is far cheaper than the wrong abstraction](https://www.sandimetz.com/blog/2016/1/20/the-wrong-abstraction). I believe in my case I made the wrong abstraction - or more specifically - for the wrong reasons.
|
||||
|
||||
As it turned out the project _was_ eventually canned - so my future-proofing provided little benefit and ended up slowing the team down in the beginning days, and especially when we tried to introduce new developers to help ease the load on the front-end team.
|
||||
|
||||
Technical debt can always be resolved later _if_ it is recorded and stored somewhere. There are always opportunities to resolve any tech debt later when developers revisit components or functions.
|
||||
|
||||
### Initiated a code review practice amongst team
|
||||
|
||||
Early on in a React project I noticed that a lot of our tickets came back from QA fairly frequently. Admittedly we had been doing very little internal testing and review of our own, so I decided to kickstart an internal code review for every ticket that was going out to the client. The results were noticeable very quickly as tickets stopped returning so frequently. Some tickets were still coming back though, so we went a step further and had each developer review the code, test the code locally, and review all ticket acceptance criteria against the code branch. This so far has proven to be a huge boon for the team as the client’s QA can take upwards of a week before we hear back. Previously we would have tickets returned on Friday - the day before the sprint ended - and it would be a mad dash to fix things up. Typically tickets are returned now for minor details and can be resolved quickly by the team.
|
||||
|
||||
This seems like a such a “well, duh - of course you should be doing that” deal, but until we saw the results it was difficult to implement. Once the project lead was seeing less churn on tickets it was quickly encouraged and actively enforced.
|
||||
|
||||
### Hosted a successful hackathon
|
||||
|
||||
During an internal staff meeting, we decided to have our own version of an [“airing of grievances”](http://festivusweb.com/festivus-airing-of-grievances.php) - except that was more about grievances with the company and nothing to do with individuals (cause that would be heckin’ rude). One of the biggest gripes was that the office did not tend to work all together on the same project. It’s the nature of a consulting firm - people end up on different projects and can be pretty isolated. We’ve tried to integrate staff together more, but during this very same meeting we also found out that wasn’t inclusive enough. Something that the majority of staff were interested in though was a hackathon.
|
||||
|
||||
The idea was to get the office to put their pencils down and work on something fun for a day, and maybe even learn something that can be provide benefits for the company. What the company ended up going with is our own take on [Battlesnake](https://www.battlesnake.io/). We ran our own internal tournament and pitted teams against each other. It turned out to be a lot of fun and spurred a lot of developers working together. I’m hoping we can do another one again soon. There are also plans to send the office to the official competition!
|
||||
|
||||
## Lessons I learned
|
||||
|
||||
### Abstraction for the sake of abstraction is dangerous and should be avoided
|
||||
|
||||
I mentioned this in another section but I learned slowly (and painfully) that abstraction for the sake of it does not help anybody. It lead to an unwieldy codebase and longer development time when it came time to update or revise existing features. Generally speaking it is perfectly acceptable to go with a "flawed solution”. Having a generalized and abstracted solution does not automatically equal a better solution. That said, abstraction for the sake of it on _personal projects_ can be a great learning experience as it allows for a developer to flex their muscles in a low-stakes environment.
|
||||
|
||||
### Documentation is extremely valuable
|
||||
|
||||
I’m not just referring to comments in code, but more specifically in creating paper trails. I’ve lost count how many times I’ve had to dig up old tickets and code branches for bug fixes we applied weeks, months, or years ago. By documenting myself every step of the way I’m creating a paper trail that I can follow down the road. I’ve also found that leaving more detailed commits makes trawling the codebase easier. `git log —grep=<text> —no-merges` is my new favorite command.
|
||||
|
||||
### I need to spend more time reviewing requirements before starting work
|
||||
|
||||
This caught me a lot especially in a later project. I think I have a nasty tendency to read the requirements and jump right into work thinking I’ve understood everything and thought of any upcoming problems. I can count the number of times I was actually right here - meaning I was often wrong. My goal in the upcoming year is to stop and spend more time on requirements and spend more time with analysis.
|
||||
|
||||
### I need to be aware of how I conduct myself in the office
|
||||
|
||||
During my annual review something that was brought to my attention was my general demeanour when speaking about clients. I would often joke with my coworkers - what I would call “office talk” - mostly negatively. What I failed to realize though was that some of those coworkers might look up to me and respect me and take my opinion to heart. People were paying attention to what I was saying and if the only thing coming out of my mouth was negative, then it might lead to derision toward clients. It made total sense to me as I know I would do this often. I’ve since then tried my best to “clean up my act” and try to act and conduct myself more positively. I’m also trying to foster more positive communication between our office and remote teams that we work with on projects.
|
||||
|
||||
### Maintaining coding style guides helps enforce certain architectural decisions
|
||||
|
||||
One of the biggest challenges I’ve run into working with other teams is maintaining a consistent code style and keeping architecture in line with designs. In a recent project we integrated [ESLint](https://github.com/eslint/eslint) with our own editors. It takes some time to add everything into the config, but once it was done it was a noted improvement for us. There was a consistent style and things like `console.log` s were easily spotted and removed. The downside however was that our team was the only one using it. Another lesson learned.
|
||||
|
||||
## Things I want to focus on in 2019
|
||||
|
||||
2019 should be an exciting year for web development. [TypeScript is on the rise](https://hackernoon.com/major-programming-trends-to-prepare-for-in-2019-169987cc75f4) , and React has some awesome [new features on the way](https://reactjs.org/blog/2018/11/27/react-16-roadmap.html). Here are a few things I want to focus on in 2019 - web dev or professionally.
|
||||
|
||||
### React Suspense
|
||||
|
||||
The [demo of Suspense from Dan Abramov](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLF0n9SACd4) was super cool. In React projects I’ve worked on so far - I’ve had to define my own “Loader” components to wrap my UI components. That component also can only typically handle loading until it’s told to go away - whereas Suspense looks to work smartly with lazy loading and eventually asynchronous requests.
|
||||
|
||||
I admittedly don’t fully grasp the magic behind Suspense yet, but from what I’ve seen it looks extremely useful - especially combined with [React.lazy](https://reactjs.org/docs/code-splitting.html#reactlazy).
|
||||
|
||||
### GraphQL
|
||||
|
||||
My first real experience with GraphQL was actually with [GatsbyJS](https://www.gatsbyjs.org/) - what’s powering this blog. Following some of the early tutorials I’m absolutely loving how everything works. A problem I encounter often in my profession is “data normalization” or “massaging data” between the client’s database and the front-end. GraphQL seems to solve this issue nicely with platform-independent query language for an API. Being able to perform your own “joins” however you like - on the fly! - now that’s really cool.
|
||||
|
||||
There’s some [great tutorials available on their site](https://graphql.org/learn/). They all update live which makes it easy to play with.
|
||||
|
||||
### More team lead experience
|
||||
|
||||
After the first Angular project early in the year I didn’t get a chance to really lead a team. I really enjoyed my short time and I hope in 2019 I will get more opportunities to do that. I’m looking to do more team _leadership_ and not _management_ - at least right now. We’ll see where the year takes me.
|
||||
|
||||
### Pursuing more personal projects
|
||||
|
||||
When I first started my career back in 2012 I quickly stopped working on web development projects in my spare time. I would find that after getting home from a long day of work - the last thing I want to look at is more lines of code. As my responsibilities have moved further away from development and more leadership, I’ve found myself looking more to personal coding projects. The first big step in that direction was this blog. I started with Jekyll and eventually used it as an excuse to learn [GatsbyJS](https://www.gatsbyjs.org/). It was a lot of fun! It also had a nice side effect of causing me to write a bit more. I’m treating this blog almost like a pseudo-journal. I’ve written down some ideas for small projects I can try to explore in the coming year that use some upcoming React features for example.
|
||||
|
||||
### Positivity
|
||||
|
||||
On the heels of my office conduct I’m going to try and generally be more positive in my professional - but also personal life. I think the world has enough negativity in it already, so I’m going to try and have a more positive outlook on things. Be more interested in new things. Be excited for the unknown.
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,48 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: Professional development in 2019
|
||||
date: 2020-01-23
|
||||
excerpt: A look back at what happened in 2019 - professionally. For me.
|
||||
tags: ["career", "growth", "personal", "react", "swift"]
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/dude-pretending-to-read.png", "A dude sitting on a chair with legs crossed casually pretending to read but seemingly looking off into the distance with a confident smile, or perhaps to look at a neat dog. From Open Doodles.", "A dude sitting on a chair with legs crossed casually pretending to read but seemingly looking off into the distance with a confident smile, or perhaps to look at a neat dog. From Open Doodles." %}
|
||||
|
||||
2019 was a slow year for professional development. As things started to stagnate near the end of the year, I sensed it was time to move on and look for a new job. Before we talk about 2019, I wanted to revisit the goals from 2018:
|
||||
|
||||
- React Suspense
|
||||
- GraphQL
|
||||
- Team lead experience
|
||||
- Pursuing personal projects
|
||||
- Positivity
|
||||
|
||||
React Suspense is still (as of this writing) in development. I did some short exploration on what was currently available, but nothing further. I don't see Suspense being finished this year, so I won't worry about it.
|
||||
|
||||
I didn't end up learning any GraphQL in 2019 beyond a few brief explorations with tutorial content. Since 2020 has started, I've finally acquired that experience and deep learning. I'll be continuing to learn and acquire GraphQL experience. It feels good being able to look at the queries powering my blog and actually understanding them. A key concept was the idea of cursor-based pagination, also known as [Connections](https://blog.apollographql.com/explaining-graphql-connections-c48b7c3d6976).
|
||||
|
||||
Team lead experience didn't end up happening. Since getting a new job, I've sidelined that aspiration until I've gained more experience at my new workplace.
|
||||
|
||||
I did not explore any personal projects in 2019 beyond my personal blog. Hot on the heels of the new year, I started playing around with Swift -- Swift UI and UIKit.
|
||||
|
||||
I am still continually aware of my attitude and try my best to remain positive. This is not so difficult in the workplace, but outside of work it can be difficult given the current climate.
|
||||
|
||||
So what _did_ happen in 2019?
|
||||
|
||||
- Continued to gain React experience
|
||||
- Became unhappy with my current work environment
|
||||
- Got a new job
|
||||
|
||||
Professionally speaking, 2019 was one of my weakest years. I did not acquire nearly as many skills nor experience that I was searching for. I ended up stagnating. I got more experience with React and the entire ecosystem. I feel at this point it's a well-worn (but polished) tool on my belt, ready to go at a moment's notice. I've developed my own opinions on architecture, but continue to evaluate new options. The future for React looks bright, so I feel like my time invested into the ecosystem was worth it.
|
||||
|
||||
Besides React though, I did not develop anything else really new. Since writing last year's review, I worked on the same project all year. I continued to struggle and be at odds with the other development team who was in charge. We felt ignored and undermined repeatedly. I like to think I can collaborate with any team, and try to make sure everyone is happy. I could not figure out a system that worked with them. It lead to a stressful environment, with fevered calls from project managers demanding to know why XYZ feature is not done, or why the app is suddenly broken. I didn't know what to do, and due to the nature of our partnership we couldn't take the reigns. We were at their mercy.
|
||||
|
||||
I met with my managers and let them know my frustrations, but it seemed like nothing could be done. On a whim, I applied to a new agency in town thinking maybe something might come of it. Turns out, I wanted them and they wanted me. It was a match made in heaven!
|
||||
|
||||
Thankfully, I landed a new job at a company that feels amazing to work for. I am constantly surrounded by some very clever people who have a genuine passion for what they do. I have only been here for a short three months so far, but I can say the difference is night and day. I'm really excited to see where things go from here. There are many opportunities on the horizon that I can see.
|
||||
|
||||
## Stuff in 2020
|
||||
|
||||
I think 2020 should be a great year for professional development. I see the opportunity to really flex my dev muscles and get into the weeds. I'd like to focus on one thing and that's **iOS development**.
|
||||
|
||||
I've managed to make two projects so far using a combination of Swift tutorials and plenty of StackOverflow searching. Based the recommendations of my coworkers, I focused on learning UIKit and not Swift UI. I plan on going into more detail in a future post.
|
||||
|
||||
This year, I'd like to create a really dead-simple app and get it published onto the App Store. I have a few ideas in mind for what I can do.
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,76 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: Recently
|
||||
date: 2021-02-01
|
||||
excerpt: January 2021.
|
||||
tags: ["recently"]
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
It’s been a rough month. I’ve been struggling. I feel tired all the time and don’t know why. Smarter heads than me suggest it’s stress — with world events being what they are.
|
||||
|
||||
I try to treat myself and keep up with exercising and going easy on myself when I don’t end up accomplishing much.
|
||||
|
||||
It’s hard not to be hard on yourself.
|
||||
|
||||
These posts have turned into more of a “here are interesting articles I read this month” and less “what’s going on lately” because I’m not doing much.
|
||||
|
||||
## [Vox: The word “Orwellian” has lost all meaning][orwellian]
|
||||
|
||||
With the removal of Donald Trump from Twitter, the term “Orwellian” has been tossed around a lot. It’s lost all meaning. It’s become the sloppy, lazy rhetoric that Orwell himself rallied against.
|
||||
|
||||
A private company is within their rights to determine who can and cannot use their service, especially when they are using it to incite riots.
|
||||
|
||||
## [Sound of Colleagues][soc]
|
||||
|
||||
The office vibe is something I’ve missed in the past few months. Keyboards clattering away, idle chit-chat, people coming and going. It’s a comfortable background noise that strangely can help me focus. This handy little noisemaker helps bring back that office feeling with plenty of options to fiddle with.
|
||||
|
||||
## [Whitehouse.gov chooses WordPress, again][whwp]
|
||||
|
||||
For any web development readers, here is a great breakdown into what powers the White House’s site. It’s WordPress, if you hadn’t guessed.
|
||||
|
||||
I’d like to know how they decided to go with WordPress. My assumption would’ve been that WordPress represents too much of a security risk and they’d go with something static (Hugo, Next, etc). Then again, WordPress is battle-tested — been around for over a decade. Plus for anyone doing content it makes sense to have something simple and straightforward like the WordPress dashboard.
|
||||
|
||||
At least it wasn’t Drupal.
|
||||
|
||||
## [Rage Against the Machine x The Ummah Chroma – Killing In Thy Name][kitn]
|
||||
|
||||
I’ll let the video speak for itself. White rage is one of the biggest issues facing Canada and the US. The [reading list near the end of the film][ucrl] is a starting point I will be participating in.
|
||||
|
||||
Fuck white supremacy.
|
||||
|
||||
## [The Atlantic: The Pandemic Has Erased Entire Categories of Friendship][friendship]
|
||||
|
||||
This article was a “whoa” moment for me. Having not realized what was missing until it’s pointed out to you. As I imagine for everyone, my own social circle has reduced to my partner, and on occasion (appropriate social distance) visiting my parents. I found something missing and it has to be these weak/moderate tie relationships.
|
||||
|
||||
## [Vox: Why you should care about data privacy even if you have “nothing to hide”][dataprivacy]
|
||||
|
||||
I struggle to explain why I’m passionate about privacy to those who have “nothing to hide”. A common refrain I hear is “if you don’t like it, don’t use the service” which means nothing when these companies gobble up enough data to construct “shadow profiles” on those who don’t use their services.
|
||||
|
||||
Worse is the ability for these services to learn everything about an individual and control the information they see. All under the guise of driving “user engagement”, which may be all they are trying to do... but it ends up with people stuck in echo chambers. When these echo chambers are full of misinformation, it’s no wonder we are seeing radicalized individuals.
|
||||
|
||||
## [The Washington Post: I checked Apple’s new privacy ‘nutrition labels.’ Many were false.][privacylabels]
|
||||
|
||||
I’m disappointed to see Apple enforcing these arbitrarily. I shouldn’t be surprised though with how arbitrarily they enforce other guidelines like human-interface guidelines or submission rules.
|
||||
|
||||
The idea of “privacy nutrition labels” is a big deal in making data harvesting transparent and easy to understand. I hope that Apple decides to follow their own values and be strict with apps following their privacy labels.
|
||||
|
||||
## [Vox: Doug Emhoff, wife guy extraordinaire][emhoff]
|
||||
|
||||
I’m excited to see how the first “second gentleman” plays out. It’ll be refreshing, and more importantly, bring attention to the fact that men can play a supporting role that traditionally women fill. He will be scaling his own career back to more support his wife’s.
|
||||
|
||||
It’ll be important for men (read: white men) to see a man in this role.
|
||||
|
||||
Love this quote:
|
||||
|
||||
> I may be the first Second Gentleman, but I know I won’t be the last.
|
||||
|
||||
That’s all for this month. Learn from me and take it easy. Be nice to yourself and others. ✌️
|
||||
|
||||
[orwellian]: https://www.vox.com/culture/22233197/orwellian-definition-george-orwell-1984-politics-english-language-josh-hawley-donald-trump-jr
|
||||
[soc]: https://soundofcolleagues.com/
|
||||
[whwp]: https://pagely.com/blog/whitehouse-gov-chooses-wordpress-again/
|
||||
[kitn]: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5lnTvwdoQFw
|
||||
[ucrl]: https://www.theummahchroma.com
|
||||
[friendship]: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2021/01/pandemic-goodbye-casual-friends/617839/
|
||||
[dataprivacy]: https://www.vox.com/recode/22250897/facebook-data-privacy-collection-algorithms-extremism
|
||||
[privacylabels]: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/01/29/apple-privacy-nutrition-label/
|
||||
[emhoff]: https://www.vox.com/22242368/doug-emhoff-kamala-harris-husband-vice-president
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,43 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: Recently
|
||||
date: 2022-02-01T23:49:47.158Z
|
||||
excerpt: February 2022.
|
||||
tags: ["recently"]
|
||||
youtube: true
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/lastfm-feb-2022.jpeg", "My popular albums from last.fm this month. Failure - Wild Type Droid, The Weeknd - Dawn FM, Ladyhawke - Time Flies, Magdelena Bay - Mercurial World, Drop Nineteens - National Coma, Ramones - Ramones, Daft Punk - Random Access Memories, David Bowie - Toy, and Drop Nineteens - Delaware", "From last.fm" %}
|
||||
|
||||
I'd like to get back into the habit of writing these. I'll start one month late for some reason, though.
|
||||
|
||||
I've been following the Rogan/Young beef. It's been interesting seeing the fallout of Neil Young pulling his music from the service. Other artists have followed suit like Joni Mitchell. [Brené Brown stopped uploading new podcasts temporarily](https://twitter.com/BreneBrown/status/1487535996782710786).
|
||||
|
||||
As a result Spotify has [updated their misinformation policy](https://newsroom.spotify.com/2022-01-30/spotifys-platform-rules-and-approach-to-covid-19/), but has yet to reveal how they plan to enforce it going forward. I'll be watching.
|
||||
|
||||
## Reading
|
||||
|
||||
I'm working on [Immune by Philipp Dettmer](https://sites.prh.com/immune). It's an educational book and an asset in today's current climate. There is a lot of talk surrounding our immune system and COVID-19, and I wanted to improve my understanding of our human immune system.
|
||||
|
||||
They get into sufficient detail to pique my interest, but summarize everything into a condensed paragraph as a recap. It help me retain the dense amount information.
|
||||
|
||||
There are plenty of violent metaphors used to explain how the immune system works. It's apt -- the cellular level of the human body is an inherently violent place. Cells will kill each other ruthlessly and commit suicide. What's troubling me is how they've chosen to explain these metaphors. For example, a teacher shooting a student in the face because they failed their exam (which out of context sounds abhorrent, but is used to explain how the thymus works and how ruthless it is). In my opinion they could've chosen something more tasteful for a North American audience. I understand why they chose the school metaphor -- they referred to the thymus as "Murder University". But still...
|
||||
|
||||
Again, the immune system is a violent thing, and it's hard to explain without resorting to violent metaphors. I would've appreciated a less visceral choice of words, like "the teacher destroys the student". There has to be a way to keep things tasteful.
|
||||
|
||||
## Playing
|
||||
|
||||
{% youtube "vFhzUdVs9-E", "The Witcher 3: Hillarious goat quest" %}
|
||||
|
||||
I started [The Witcher 3](https://store.steampowered.com/app/292030/The_Witcher_3_Wild_Hunt/) last month. I'm determined to get through it and find out what the fuss is about. It's got its hooks in me good. It suffers from classic open-world tropes like an overabundance of quests, too many locations to visit, weird janky physics, and plenty of other funky bugs.
|
||||
|
||||
The game is good. Great, even. I think you need to take some of it on the chin though. Sometimes textures won't load and you'll be talking to an invisible-armed dwarf. Sometimes a Level 20 Lesher will spawn in your starting area.
|
||||
|
||||
The world feels like your on-brand grimy fantasy world. I enjoy that every choice the game asks of you is never clear-cut. Someone is going to win out and someone will be hurt by your major choices. Even playing as a "good guy" means you'll have to step on some toes eventually.
|
||||
|
||||
## Listening
|
||||
|
||||
Revisiting albums I missed last year, because I missed a lot.
|
||||
|
||||
I can't believe I haven't talked about the new Failure ([Wild Type Droid](http://failureband.com)). I do believe it's their best yet. The one-two punch of "Water With Hands" into "Headstand" is legendary.
|
||||
|
||||
I've missed so much of Ladyhawke's discography since her debut album in 2008, but her newest [Time Flies](https://ladyhawkeau.lnk.to/TimeFliesWE) is wonderful. My favourite track is "[Think About You](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOXgGm0qm3k)".
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,93 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: Recently
|
||||
date: 2021-03-05
|
||||
excerpt: February 2021.
|
||||
tags: ["recently", "valheim"]
|
||||
youtube: true
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/forestsunrise.png", "A screenshot of Valheim with a sunrise coming through a thick, dense forest." , "Look at them god rays" %}
|
||||
|
||||
Like Christmas, I am always shocked at how fast February goes by, even though it’s the same length (except Leap Years) every year.
|
||||
|
||||
Here’s the latest.
|
||||
|
||||
## Listening
|
||||
|
||||
[DOOM - BORN LIKE THIS. (Repress) by MF DOOM](https://mfdoom.bandcamp.com/album/doom-born-like-this-repress-2)
|
||||
|
||||
News of MF DOOM’s passing right at the tail end of 2020 was the sucker punch nobody needed. The man was prolific as hell, and my paltry library of his material is only my beginning.
|
||||
|
||||
I recently picked up Born Like This and NehruvianDoom from Bandcamp, and a compilation of all Special Herbs Vol 0-9. With the latter collection, it’s fun spotting the beats that would appear later on his albums. It’s amazing how they stand out on their own, missing his lyrics and flow but feeling great in of themselves.
|
||||
|
||||
[Axiom Verge Soundtrack by Thomas Happ](https://axiomverge.bandcamp.com/album/axiom-verge-soundtrack)
|
||||
|
||||
I played Axiom Verge back in 2018 (and I’m super excited for the sequel), but the soundtrack has been a mainstay in my rotation since.
|
||||
|
||||
I find myself regularly humming “Trace Awakens” either in my head or out loud.
|
||||
|
||||
[Black Aura My Sun by Deserta](https://deserta.bandcamp.com/album/black-aura-my-sun)
|
||||
|
||||
I’m always on the hunt for new shoegaze and Deserta did not disappoint. I found them trawling through the “shoegaze” tag on Bandcamp under new releases.
|
||||
|
||||
It’s sprawling, dark, moody, and that’s the way I like my shoegaze. It’s easy to close your eyes and let your mind wander to the stars.
|
||||
|
||||
As I write this post, it's technically Bandcamp Friday. I'll have some more to share next month!
|
||||
|
||||
## Reading
|
||||
|
||||
I’ve been playing a heck of a lot of [Valheim](https://www.valheimgame.com) (more on that later), and it’s got me finally reading up on Viking history and the mythology. My book of choice is [Children of Ash and Elm](https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/neil-price/children-of-ash-and-elm/9780465096985/) The game does a surprisingly great job at being true to the “source material”, if this one book is anything to go by.
|
||||
|
||||
The author has an engaging writing style that keeps you reading. There is just enough of the mythology sprinkled into otherwise factual information. It strikes a nice balance.
|
||||
|
||||
The Vikings themselves did not keep much on their own history, but instead we rely on second-hand encounters from researchers, scholars, or travellers. Christian scholars in particular tended to look at Vikings as godless pagans, which makes it important to process their research with a careful eye.
|
||||
|
||||
An article I read this month which really resonated (and had a bit of a reckoning) is "[Men Have No Friends and Women Bear the Burden](https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/features/a27259689/toxic-masculinity-male-friendships-emotional-labor-men-rely-on-women/)".
|
||||
|
||||
Women are encouraged to foster platonic, intimate relationships with other friends (typically other women). Men however do not (usually) possess these relationships. Bonds between male friends are weaker and tend to ignore feelings and emotions. Men depend on the women in their lives as our emotional dumping ground -- a place to go when we need to confront our emotional problems.
|
||||
|
||||
It's not normalized to express these feelings around other men. We are taught instead to conceal these feelings because they are not "manly" (toxic masculinity, in other words). This mindset leaves men without the tools to deal with these emotions ourselves, so we instead depend on women to help us. Showing weakness is a shameful in traditional definitions of masculinity, which further discourages being vulnerable.
|
||||
|
||||
I know from personal experience that I am guilty of this. I don't have close bonds with most of my male friends, and we almost never talk about our emotions, or what we're feeling, let alone how to deal with them. I will turn to the women in my life instead: my partner, my Mom, and female friends.
|
||||
|
||||
At the crux of this piece I think is a challenge to what it means to be masculine. Men need to change the script and ask ourselves what it means for us?
|
||||
|
||||
## Watching
|
||||
|
||||
We recently discovered that with the Star acquisition from Disney that Futurama has showed up on the service. That warrants a full rewatch.
|
||||
|
||||
Here’s my favorite bit ever:
|
||||
|
||||
{% youtube "sE8aVgOxjJU", "Futurama - No good, it's full of steam!" %}
|
||||
|
||||
## Playing
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/moonrise.png", "My mighty viking with the moon as a backdrop." , "Look at them... moon rays" %}
|
||||
|
||||
Without a doubt (and likely to my partner’s dismay) the majority of my time the past few weeks has been in [Valheim](https://www.valheimgame.com). I initially felt like the survival aspects of the game weren’t for me, having had enough of it in Minecraft. What sucked me right in though was the sheer quality of this Early Access title (can you believe it’s a team of **five people**?). The aesthetic of retro, low-poly models combined with a modern lightning engine creates this nostalgic but fresh vibe that fits in a game of its kind.
|
||||
|
||||
Progressing in the game is done by destroying one of the five major bosses, with each one dropping a new key item that allows one to find new resources, or open doors into previously locked crypts. You enter the “Bronze Age”, then the “Iron Age”, and before long you’ll have your own blast furnace. It’s possible to build historically accurate longhouses, or go the other direction and build giant castles, or sprawling treehouse villages. The game is fine with you doing whatever strikes your fancy.
|
||||
|
||||
A group of us (6) decided to get the game on a Friday evening, and before I knew it it was 1AM. Then it was 1AM Saturday. It kept going on like this. I lived and breathed the game. It sucks you in quick if you’re not careful.
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/newheim.png", "My cozy viking home." , "If there exists a survival game, I will build a cottage in it" %}
|
||||
|
||||
Here are some screenshots of our journey to take down The Elder, the second boss of the game. His summoning location was far away from our little home of “Newheim” (which replaced our old village, now referred to as “Oldheim”), across the great sea. We built our first boat capable of holding more than one or two people and set sail.
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/sailingtoelder.png", "A group of six hapless Vikings sailing their way to slay an unknown evil." , "To boldly go where no Viking has gone before..." %}
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/elderdistance.png", "Our map showing the distance from our main base to The Elder." , "1 day later..." %}
|
||||
|
||||
After a day’s journey (which is about 30 minutes), we broke shore at what we called “Elderheim” (we have an incredibly clever naming scheme, if you haven’t noticed). We hastily built a small house and a portal to allow us to return to the island if we died (which we did, multiple times).
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/elderheim.png", "A screenshot of Valheim showing a hastily built shelter in the pouring rain." , "The black forest is aptly named" %}
|
||||
|
||||
With our base deployed and our bellies full of food, we set out to summon The Elder and take them out. I don’t have any shots of us during the fight, but you can rest assured it was a delightful, flailing mess. We all died at least once or twice. We ran out of arrows mid fight and had to speedily drop them on the ground to share.
|
||||
|
||||
In the end though, we triumphed!
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/elderdown.png", "The corpse of the mighty Elder!" , "Triumph!" %}
|
||||
|
||||
We’ve since taken down the third boss and are on our way to number four. The Mountain has proved to be a tough biome to survive, and if our brief excursion into the Plains has been any indication — the fun is only just beginning.
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/stones.png", "The severed head of The Elder attached to a sacrificial stone altar. With this we gain strange new magical powers." , "And now, the mountain beckons us..." %}
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,85 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: Recently
|
||||
date: 2021-04-01T19:03:49.841Z
|
||||
excerpt: March 2021.
|
||||
tags: ["recently", "valheim"]
|
||||
youtube: true
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/coolbow.png", "My Valheim character under the moon.", "The lighting in this game is so good!" %}
|
||||
|
||||
Right up until the end of the month things were looking up pandemic-wise, but our province announced that more restrictions are going to be in place for the next few weeks. Cases have been trending upward for the younger age groups (20-30s). It felt like up until this announcement that were was a chance that summer might mean a vaccine for people in my age range. Not to mention that AstraZeneca has been suspended recently in Canada. Back to waiting.
|
||||
|
||||
## Reading
|
||||
|
||||
Recently finished [“How to Take Smart Notes” by Sönke Ahrens](https://takesmartnotes.com). Jury is still out on this one. I’ve taken an interest in Personal Knowledge Management and saw this book come up often in recommendations. I don’t grasp the benefits on Zettelkasten yet. My hope and dream is to retain the information I absorb when I read non-fiction books. I tend to forget what I learned weeks later.
|
||||
|
||||
I think I’m going to have to re-read it again and take some notes (which seems to be what the book is advocating for).
|
||||
|
||||
[Accessibility is critical](https://gomakethings.com/theres-no-such-thing-as-a-website-or-web-app-that-doesnt-need-to-be-accessible/). I try to make my website accessible to anyone and regularly check my scores. When I ended up working with a company in the USA (which **requires** accessibility features to be implemented), I discovered how easy it was for web developers to make things work across a variety of browsers. It requires — realistically — a small amount of effort from designers and developers to check color contrasts, title attributes, and things of that nature. The bare minimum goes a long way.
|
||||
|
||||
[Mark Kozelek was accused (again) of sexual misconduct](https://pitchfork.com/news/sun-kil-moon-mark-kozelek-accused-of-sexual-misconduct-by-seven-more-women/#intcid=_pitchfork-right-rail_9b8b489f-0542-4dd7-9707-aef436fa1e42_popular4-1). I hadn’t caught this story when the accusations were first coming out against Mark Kozelek, but these recent accusations are damning. They all follow a pattern of behaviour that does not differ between stories. I had a lot of respect for Kozelek and his music. It’s disappointing to learn that someone you respected turns out to be a piece of shit.
|
||||
|
||||
## Playing
|
||||
|
||||
Been keeping busy on the games front lately! The Switch is a wonderful console. It’s easy to sneak in a few minutes in between meetings at work, or if I’m loafing on the couch with my partner.
|
||||
|
||||
### Valheim
|
||||
|
||||
Our group finished what I would consider to be the “campaign” of the game: the 5 bosses. We wrapped up about mid-March, slaying the mighty Yalguth after a long, hard battle. It was a lot of fun because it required coordination and resource management.
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/theend.png", "Our heroes stand triumphant and display their grisly trophy!", "Our heroes stand triumphant and display their grisly trophy!" %}
|
||||
|
||||
Since we finished all the bosses, we’ve fallen off the game. Without the next boss to work toward, the game became resource-gathering and base-building. A fun activity, but does not appeal to everyone. Without my friends playing, I don’t find myself all that interested.
|
||||
|
||||
For $20 though, some of the best times I’ve had with a game in recent memory. In terms of pure hours-played to dollars-spent, it was an incredible value (over 100 hours).
|
||||
|
||||
There are updates planned for Valheim that could be pretty exciting (like the Mistlands, Firelands, and Deep North being implemented), which might pull our group back in.
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/yagluthsummon.png", "The summoning area for Yagluth, the final boss. He wants totems from his Fuling followers.", "The summoning area for Yagluth, the final boss. He wants totems from his Fuling followers." %}
|
||||
|
||||
### Stardew Valley
|
||||
|
||||
I’ve had this game on my radar for years and was craving a “couch game”. Perfect fit. The game is pure chill distilled into retro pixel perfection. It reminds me of Harvest Moon on the SNES (which I loved), but better in every way.
|
||||
|
||||
Cordova Farm is on its second year and is ready to bring in the big bucks after an action-packed winter.
|
||||
|
||||
### DOOM Eternal
|
||||
|
||||
Sometimes a guy just has to shoot some demons in the face, ya know?
|
||||
|
||||
Having loved DOOM (2016) and it’s incredible soundtrack, DOOM Eternal was an easy pickup. I was waiting for the mood to strike me, and after listening to the DOOM 2016 soundtrack for god-knows-how-many-times-now, I knew I was ready to put on my Praetor suit and kill some mother-effin’ demons.
|
||||
|
||||
Eternal takes everything that made the 2016 version great and builds on it. The core loop is still there, but it’s been refined to a sparkly sheen.
|
||||
|
||||
My least favourite part has been the emphasis on story and lore, which if Doomguy was anything to go by in the last game, I couldn’t care less. It’s nice to see them expand on some lore, but I liked it better when it was buried in a codex entry and kept the gameplay tight and continuous.
|
||||
|
||||
A fast favourite of mine though was adding fast travel near the end of missions. I’d always catch a secret I missed on the map in DOOM 2016, and Eternal is no exception. Now I can go back after completing all the combat objects and take my time exploring.
|
||||
|
||||
I must mention that Mick Gordon has returned to champion the soundtrack again, and is no slouch in this game either. I’m always cranking the volume to really get into the mood.
|
||||
|
||||
## Listening
|
||||
|
||||
[GRINDSTONE (Original Game Soundtrack) by Sam Webster](https://bysamuel.bandcamp.com/album/grindstone-original-game-soundtrack)
|
||||
|
||||
I played Grindstone when it first came out on Apple Arcade. I didn’t think much of it (or the soundtrack) and moved on. I stumbled upon the soundtrack again last month and couldn’t believe what I missed. It’s a blend of hip-hop grooves and smooth synths.
|
||||
|
||||
[Ghost Tapes #10 by GOD IS AN ASTRONAUT](https://godisanastronaut.com/album/ghost-tapes-10)
|
||||
|
||||
God is an Astronaut are post-rock staples spanning back to the early aughts. Their music evokes feelings I’m finding hard to put into words, but I always get enveloped by their sound.
|
||||
|
||||
[LEATHER TEETH by Carpenter Brut](https://carpenterbrut.bandcamp.com/album/leather-teeth)
|
||||
|
||||
You’d probably recognize the hard-edged synthwave if you played Hotline Miami. The game featured a few of their tracks from an earlier album called Trilogy. Leather Teeth continues to channel that raw energy into heart-pumping darkwave.
|
||||
|
||||
Tomorrow (April 2nd) is Bandcamp Friday!!
|
||||
|
||||
## Watching
|
||||
|
||||
{% youtube "VrKW58MS12g", "Glitterbomb Trap Catches Phone Scammer (who gets arrested)" %}
|
||||
|
||||
It never ceases to amaze me how far Mark Rober will go to be annoying to package thieves and scammers. The interesting part of this video is showing how deep the rabbit hole goes with these scammer ring. Rober teamed up with other YouTubers to show all of this — I found Jim Browning’s video incredibly interesting because it showed me a fascinating part of the ring: the money mule.
|
||||
|
||||
{% youtube "Xvjjpzyiig4", "Catching Money Mules ft. Mark Rober" %}
|
||||
|
||||
See everyone next month. ✌️
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,18 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: Recently
|
||||
date: 2020-05-18
|
||||
excerpt: May 2020.
|
||||
tags: ["recently"]
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
A bad habit of mine is not updating my site with some new writing. After reading Tom MacWright's "[How to blog](https://macwright.org/2019/02/06/how-to-blog.html)" (and the rest of his fantastic site), I decided that I like the idea of writing on a schedule. So, I'm going to do my darnedest to makes sure I write something at least once a month. I like the title of "Recently", so I'm opting to steal that.
|
||||
|
||||
Living during a pandemic has been weird. My mood swings pretty rampantly -- one day I'll be happy, and the next exhausted for seemingly no reason. I'm doing my best to escape with whatever I can. Usually my hobbies.
|
||||
|
||||
I've been playing [Animal Crossing](https://animal-crossing.com/new-horizons/) a ton. The game couldn't have come at a better time, honestly. Nothing goes wrong in your deserted island. It's been a fantastic creative outlet for myself. I'm losing hours consistently reshaping my island to what my idyllic paradise would be (in this case, it's mostly a forest). Popping by to say hello to all of my villagers. Stopping to admire my myriad flower gardens. It's a great way to unwind after a long day.
|
||||
|
||||
I've been really enjoying [Bknapp's Nostalgic Nintendo Beats 2](https://bknapp.bandcamp.com/album/nostalgic-nintendo-beats-2) lately. Lo-fi hip-hop is on heavy rotations these days as it helps me regain focus and keeps me in a lighter mood. From Tom MacWright's blog, I discovered [Wolf Parade](https://wolfparade.bandcamp.com/), and by playing Grand Theft Auto V ([currently free on the Epic Games Store](https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/product/grand-theft-auto-v/home)), I found Bass Drum of Death's [Crawling After You](https://bassdrumofdeath.bandcamp.com/track/crawling-after-you).
|
||||
|
||||
I just finished reading Neil deGrasse Tyson's [Astrophysics for People in a Hurry](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32191710-astrophysics-for-people-in-a-hurry). I found it hard to follow at times. It felt like it couldn't decide if it wanted to be a beginner's book, or an advanced look. I have more than a passing fancy when it comes to astrophysics, but sometimes the pure information-dump was just too much. There was a lot of process, and some of it I just plain didn't get. I would still push Stephen Hawking's [A Brief History of Time](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3869.A_Brief_History_of_Time) as a primer into the world of astrophysics (and everything in-between). Still, I feel like it serves as a great catalyst for more learning.
|
||||
|
||||
My partner has been encouraging me to take more photos lately. I'm trying my best to take at least one photo a day, but it's been difficult when I start to get too critical of what I'm taking a photo of. It feels like there's only so much to photograph in your neighborhood, but I'm trying to not stress too much about it and just press the shutter button. It's been really exciting to reconnect with photography again.
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,66 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: Recently
|
||||
draft: false
|
||||
date: 2021-05-01T19:03:49.841Z
|
||||
excerpt: April 2021.
|
||||
tags: ["recently"]
|
||||
youtube: true
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/mistergotcha.png", "The Nib's 'Mister Gotcha' comic", "'Curious!' - the catchphrase of those 'just asking questions'" %}
|
||||
|
||||
[Mister Gotcha][mistergotcha] is prime material when I complain about Apple and its ecosystem. There’s lots to complain about, but I’m a heavy user. Out of the options available, they are (in my opinion) the best choice as a consumer. That doesn’t mean they are perfect, though. Apple can (and should) do better.
|
||||
|
||||
## Reading
|
||||
|
||||
Have you been feeling “blah” lately? You’re not depressed or overly anxious, but something is off? Me too, and I’m glad I found a way to identify that feeling properly (rather than “blah”). It’s called [languishing][languishing].
|
||||
|
||||
I’ve been reading a lot of articles and posts on Apple and the App Store: Apple vs. Epic, antitrust lawsuits, Apple crushing competitors. There’s a lot to unpack, and I plan to in another post. For now though I want to leave you with MKBHD’s excellent “Apple vs. The Paradox of Choice”. This is what happens when we put too much trust into one company without any checks and balances.
|
||||
|
||||
{% youtube "qNAo0UdYF6g", "Apple vs The Paradox of Choice!" %}
|
||||
|
||||
You know the state of the video game industry is in a bad spot when [Sony is patenting an AI that will play video games for you][sonyai]. The intent appears to be innocent at first — it will learn how you play and assist you — but the larger implication I feel is that it will play games _for you_, as in you sit there and watch and it’ll do everything. Because games are too grind-y these days, right? Even though it was the game industry itself that got us to this point. The relentless pursuit of maximizing retention and engagement propels into games that are playing themselves.
|
||||
|
||||
I wish more games would aim for small but tight experiences: something you can finish in a weekend, but leaves a lasting impression because of its quality and polish. Games don’t _need_ to last 120 hours anymore (and they never did).
|
||||
|
||||
## Watching
|
||||
|
||||
I’m an absolute sucker for all things astronomy, including the Space Race and the Moon, so I feel like [For All Mankind][forallmankind] was written for me. The alternative history aspect has been fun, and I don’t want to spoil too much here, but it’s fun to think about what could’ve been if the Space Race never ended.
|
||||
|
||||
The first season is all aces and 100% binge-worthy. With an hour for each episode, there is plenty of room for the show to breathe and settle into a good story. Things move along at a good pace.
|
||||
|
||||
The second season is not as great. They zeroed into the family drama aspect of the show, which I understand (we need you to care about these characters so when they are in high-stakes situations it feels important), but there has been considerably less “space time” for a show that I thought was all about our continuation of space exploration. They started exploring interesting concepts like militarizing the moon, but then there’s a lot of “now let’s see what’s going on on Earth” and it’s like “no wait, there’s cool shit happening on the Moon why are you doing this?”
|
||||
|
||||
I recommend though for anyone with Apple TV+.
|
||||
|
||||
{% youtube "ijKAtzQY1wc", "Yasuke | Official Trailer | Netflix" %}
|
||||
|
||||
I discovered [Yasuke][yasuke] as a new album from Flying Lotus (which is _phenomenal_), but the premise and protagonist sold me on it. I’ve only seen one episode, but I’m hungry for more.
|
||||
|
||||
## Playing
|
||||
|
||||
I was in love with Hades when it originally came out ([see my thoughts here][hades]), and happily finished a successful run through the Underworld. After that, I must’ve moved on — but that was a big mistake. There’s more to see and do, and every single run is just as (or more) fun as the last.
|
||||
|
||||
I got the “true ending”, and now I’m working on the epilogue content. It’s incredible to me how much voice-acted content there is. I swear every time I return to the House of Hades I’m hearing something new.
|
||||
|
||||
## Listening
|
||||
|
||||
Playing Hades at any point guarantees that I will be listening to the soundtrack, on repeat, for a while. No contest — this is Darren Korb’s best work.
|
||||
|
||||
Royal Blood’s new album _Typhoons_ came out yesterday, and the singles have been so good. I scored a limited transparent blue vinyl version which looks super rad. I’m miffed it didn’t come with a download code though, come on record labels! Don’t be so cheap!
|
||||
|
||||
Thanks to [my pal doing a video on Beastie Boys][rankvideo], I decided I needed to get to know them better. They feel like another one of those bands that everyone else grew up with, but I missed the boat on. Another example for me would be Red Hot Chilli Peppers.
|
||||
|
||||
I’m starting my journey with Hot Sauce Committee Pt. 2! The first thing that surprised me was the sheer depth of the musicality on this record. I didn’t expect it to be so dynamic! And the music video for [Make Some Noise][makesomenoise] is a true who’s who of Hollywood celebrities.
|
||||
|
||||
I’ll leave you with this excellent tweet (of an image, from Tumblr — how meta) that [explains NFTs][nfts] for the stupid things that they are.
|
||||
|
||||
[mistergotcha]: https://thenib.com/mister-gotcha/
|
||||
[languishing]: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/19/well/mind/covid-mental-health-languishing.html
|
||||
[sonyai]: https://www.pcgamer.com/sony-patents-an-ai-bot-that-will-play-your-games-for-you/
|
||||
[forallmankind]: https://tv.apple.com/ca/show/for-all-mankind/umc.cmc.6wsi780sz5tdbqcf11k76mkp7
|
||||
[yasuke]: https://www.netflix.com/title/80990863?s=i&trkid=0
|
||||
[hades]: ./posts/recently-11-2020#hades
|
||||
[rankvideo]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5sDNZjlfKM
|
||||
[makesomenoise]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdgLMslbDuY
|
||||
[nfts]: https://mobile.twitter.com/charlottejee/status/1387722711766650884
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,18 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: Recently
|
||||
date: 2020-06-02
|
||||
excerpt: June 2020.
|
||||
tags: ["recently"]
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/wolfgang.jpg", "Wolfgang reading a book in an idyllic forest paradise", "#lifegoals" %}
|
||||
|
||||
My pet project these last few weeks has been my [CHIP-8 interpreter](https://github.com/devinwl/chip-8). I've been following tutorials around the internet to try and figure things out. I've learned a lot more than I expected and even rekindled a bit of interest in hardware. I took a course in university that used an ARM processor for learning assembly language.
|
||||
|
||||
I've also been working through the [Just JavaScript](https://justjavascript.com/) course. This has been really interesting to me because I've found that my mental model up until then was inaccurate. It's going to take some effort to re-learn some things I've really ingrained into my thought process, but I'll do it.
|
||||
|
||||
I went through one of my closets that's full of hobby stuff to try and reorganize my "studio space" a little. I ended up having to dig out my old Warhammer collection. My old paints are long dried up and beyond saving, but the models are fine. I'd be lying if holding the miniatures in my hand didn't rekindle the spark. I want to paint again. So now I'm looking at picking up some Vallejo paints from a local hobby store. I'm going to try and steer clear of any GW stuff (except for the minis). Oh, and I did manage to tidy up my space too. It'll be all ready for a little painting station.
|
||||
|
||||
Music has had some heavy rotation this week with [Bass Drum of Death's self-titled album](https://bassdrumofdeath.bandcamp.com/album/bass-drum-of-death-2). Been album-hopping with [MASTER BOOT RECORD](https://masterbootrecord.bandcamp.com/music). Somehow I never took a deep dive with The White Stripes, so now that's happening. I even bought some CDs so I could rip them. I subscribe to Apple Music but has been increasingly un-interested with their offerings besides the cloud support. None of their For You material has really succeeded or resonated with me. Actually, the "Essentials" playlists are convenient jumping-on points for most artists. Music discovery is something I love but have a hard time engaging with. It's such a subjective thing and I find the algorithmic approach no good.
|
||||
|
||||
That's all for now. The world is burning. Stay safe everyone.
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,51 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: Recently
|
||||
date: 2021-06-01T19:03:49.841Z
|
||||
excerpt: May 2021.
|
||||
tags: ["recently"]
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/coffee_time_with_dexter.jpg", "Miitopia: where you end up in cafe enjoying your coffee, with Dexter from Dexter's Lab being your barista.", "Dexter's Cafe" %}
|
||||
|
||||
I got vaccinated this month. Canada’s rollout has been slower than say the US, but come vaccine day I was in and out within 20 minutes (that’s including my 15 minute waiting period). There are rumours that the 8 week waiting period between doses might be shortened.
|
||||
|
||||
On the one hand, I’m excited. The potential for things to “go back to normal”, as I imagine everyone is thinking. We can go into shops without having to worry how many people are inside. No more following confusing arrows on the floor. No more masks (although I’d like there to be a normalization of mask-wearing in North America for the common cold or the flu).
|
||||
|
||||
But on the other hand, I’m pretty anxious about going back to normal. We’ve spent the last year and a half away from each other. We’ve become familiar with fewer people around us. Seeing other people nearby can be a source of anxiety and worry. Should we be rushing to get back to normal? There is a controlled plan to _gradually_ move things back to the “before times”, but can we count on everyone to follow the rules dutifully? There is a sense of low-feeling anxiety about the whole thing for me.
|
||||
|
||||
I’m sure I’m not alone in this, but since the pandemic started I’ve gained weight. The Pandemic Pounds, as it were. With summer coming up, more people are going to want to visit the beach, go swimming, all that. I’m feeling self-conscious. I don’t feel ready, yet. I want to work on myself.
|
||||
|
||||
Personally speaking I’m going to need my own “rollout plan” for how things are going to move back to normal.
|
||||
|
||||
## Watching
|
||||
|
||||
Finished watching season 2 of For All Mankind. The finale was spectacular. I understand now why all the family drama was emphasized. There wouldn’t be the same impact without caring about the characters.
|
||||
|
||||
I’m excited for season 3, but I imagine we’re at least 2 years off from that now.
|
||||
|
||||
On an otherwise comfy Friday evening, my partner and I decided to finally watch the four TNG Star Trek movies (7-10). I was impressed with the large scope of the movie budget. Everything looked and felt much more grandiose. It was like watching extra long episodes of the show itself (which I think others might find a negative) — but personally it channels the feeling of the show so well they don’t feel out of place at all. Except for maybe the 7th movie’s penchant for extremely moody, dark lightning.
|
||||
|
||||
## Playing
|
||||
|
||||
I’ve finished the majority of Super Mario 3D World. I made it all the way to “World Crown”, which houses the ultimate platforming challenge (as far as the game is concerned at least). It’s challenging indeed (I’ve lost count of how many lives I’ve chewed through… at least 200 at this point). It’s one of Nintendo’s better “traditional” Mario titles, although with Odyssey kicking around it’s not even close which one would make the better Switch title (it’s Odyssey). That being said though, the Bowser’s Fury add-on is a fun romp. It’s like they smooshed 3D World and Odyssey together and ran with it. It’s a little weird, but it works out. I wish the framerate were better though. It can really chug sometimes.
|
||||
|
||||
I started playing Catherine: Full Body, which is the remaster of the original game. There are supposedly plenty of extras, but having never played the original I’m not aware of what’s new. The puzzle aspect is confusing at first, but once it clicks it’s engaging. It channels the feelings of Tetris, like when you get into the _zone_. I’m eager for more.
|
||||
|
||||
My game _du jour_ is undoubtedly Miitopia. The Switch version is a port of the 3DS version released many a year ago. It’s like an homage to the JRPGs of old, but without all the grinding and crushing difficulty. In fact the game has largely been a breeze so far, but I’m fine with that. It makes a perfect couch game. Something to play when you want to take it easy.
|
||||
|
||||
What really grabbed me about it was the ability to plonk your own Miis into the game. I’ve taken the opportunity to put my friends in as our main party so far, and inject whatever famous person I feel like making (fictional or otherwise). Thanks to the game’s fantastic writing, you can end up with some hilarious moments that wouldn’t otherwise happen without such creative freedom.
|
||||
|
||||
{% image "https://cdn.wonderfulfrog.com/miitopia_newman.jpg", "My character in Miitopia exclaiming 'Newman!' when the Dark Lord suddenly appears.", "Newman's incredible presence is no match for my scrappy attitude!" %}
|
||||
|
||||
The Dark Lord in my game is none other than Newman himself, eternal enemy to Jerry Seinfeld. My Carefree Guide, the guy you meet at the very start, is Kramer (who is pretty good pals with Newman), and this moment made me laugh out loud:
|
||||
|
||||
<video width="100%" controls>
|
||||
<source src="https://i.imgur.com/o3nWPCa.mp4" type="video/mp4" />
|
||||
Your browser does not support the video tag.
|
||||
</video>
|
||||
|
||||
Don’t be surprised if this conspiracy goes all the way to the top of Kramerica Industries!
|
||||
|
||||
I dedicated the better part of an evening creating countless Miis and verifying their accuracy with my partner. She has the patience of a saint I tell you.
|
||||
|
||||
Until next time!
|
||||
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