He Who Smelt It

Somewhere in a book of sci fi and fantasy short stories for children, there’s a fourth or fifth grade retelling of Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis”, and it was fucking terrifying at that age.

Did they hack Steam, or the dev’s computer? Or is this the dev deliberately shoving malware into a cheap asset flip game?

Of course Steam should do more to check what’s being uploaded, but the distinction feels important.

I just started Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep, as I make my way through the collection. I’m only about an hour in, but it seems like it might be a nice change of pace from the previous games. I am also getting huge Star Wars vibes off this one. Ven is a padawan, Terra is not yet granted the rank of Master. Eraqus reminds me of Qui-Gon a little, and Xehanort was clearly a Sith-y motherfucker even before what went down with Ansem.

I’m not a huge manga fan myself, so I’ll share the only one that’s managed to make enough of an impression for me to read multiple works, and that’s horror author Junji Ito.

He’s usually got some disturbing, but unique and fairly talented art. Some of his stuff veers more towards ghost story, some dreamishly weird, and some straight up Cronenberg shit. His magnum opus “Uzumaki” is all three.

If you feel like giving it a chance, here’s The Enigma of Amigara Fault, a shorter, tamer work that’s a fairly common intro to his stuff.

Good-aligned characters within 100 feet of the sign get a +10 bonus to nature checks. Touching the emblem allows the user to summon Smokey the Bear 1/day for 10 rounds. Smokey uses Bardic Inspiration at 10th level to assist the user in fighting forest fires and fire elementals.

Hot take: I think any involuntary expense forced on you by your government is, essentially, a tax regardless of whether it goes into government or corporate coffers, and should be included in the discussion.

Health insurance being the major example, given that’s paid for by taxes in civilized countries. Arguably, the insurance, gas, and maintenance on a car that many of us would happily trade for a functional public transportation system.

Nope, definitely the spirit of a safety-conscious voyeur.

Smh, we’re still doing toon erasure in 2025?

Anon discovers quantum immortality, blows through alternate selves faster than Jet Li.

I’m a little verklempt. Talk amongst yourselves, I’ll give you a topic. The king cobra is neither a king, nor a cobra. Discuss.

From post-apocalyptic raiders to antihero Casey Jones, weaponized and armored sports gear is always stylish and fashionable.

Government killed Trevor Moore like they did Bill Hicks before him. This is the conspiracy hill I will die on.

Roguelikes. I’m not saying some of the modern roguelites aren’t fantastic, there are many that are. But the genre boom has all but pushed traditional roguelikes (NetHack, ADoM, Angband, Brogue, etc) out of the conversation.

Et tu, crouton?

Avoid any situation in which you might have to do so.

Loud pieces of shit

I was on board with pineapple in some scenarios. Carl’s Jr does a teriyaki burger with pineapple that’s alright.

But beets? Apparently even the food is trying to kill you down under.