02 Feb 2023 5 min read Link Roundup

January links: Video games, tanks for Ukraine, Teletubbies

Interesting stuff from January, 2023

"Commander Shepard from Mass Effect dancing with teletubbies, digital art" DALL-E2

Good morning from Idaho!

Between bouts of home furnishing in our new place in the Tetons, things in my life have been very video game-themed this month: I finished God of War on PC (excellent), tried Elden Ring (after a couple hours, I figured out that I just didn't want to invest the time required for the difficulty), and played through Mass Effect (little writeup on that here. I didn't love that one either!). I wrote a piece below on how I justify to myself time spent on games like these.

Also along these lines, we've been watching The Last of Us on HBO, which has been a weekly delight. The show is based on a video game, which illustrates just how cinematic and powerful the stories have become in recent PC/Xbox/Playstation titles. The third episode with Nick Offerman absolutely blew us away. Can't recommend it enough.

From the last month (or first few days of this one)

From me: Rationalizing my leisure time. I'd read it in conjunction with the link below this one:

On video game addiction:

Not to go too far down the "Hoel" hole, but I would now also describe mine and Fiona's new lifestyle as “high-tech pastoral”:

I plan to shamelessly copy this guy's style in some future videos:

A continuation of the Scott Alexander Bay Area House Party series:

Why big online platforms get shitty over time:

Funny little photos from carrying a camera around everywhere:

Finalists for the close-up photo of the year:

The Bradley fighting vehicle in Ukraine:

And, finally, tanks for Ukraine: “'Scholzing' means “communicating good intentions, only to use/find/invent any reason imaginable to delay these and/or prevent them from happening.”