Posts

I started this blog to dump my thoughts somewhere; nothing polished, nothing for an audience. It could just as easily have been a journal, but I like the structure a blog gives me. And maybe I’ll add a comments section one day and see if anyone bites. Part of me hopes it’ll become a reference point later, a place to see how I felt about books, issues, whatever. But now I’m sitting on a pile of drafts. They keep stacking up because I keep hesitating. I tell myself every post has to be long, finished, airtight. But I guess that’s stupid. Even a quick note like this is enough. ...

Perfect, but her breath always smells like garlic Perfect, but she killed your dad Perfect, but there’s always sand in the bed Perfect, but you always have to walk everywhere you go Perfect, but she’s stupid Perfect, but she keeps a loaded crossbow under the bed “just in case” Perfect, but she makes you roleplay as her landlord every time you’re intimate Perfect, but she accidentally calls you by her exes’ name all the time ...

The kind of art I like asks something of the person who’s experiencing it. It challenges you, and assumes you’re paying attention - and occasionally needs context or knowledge to be fully understood. A good Fromsoft game is like that. It can be just something you play, but it’s designed to be a curated experience, and I think it only works if you’re willing to meet it on its terms. ...

Reading Nick Ripatrazone’s piece in The Metropolitan Review made me feel like a bad critic. I like reviewing things - for fun, mostly. To get my thoughts down, to reflect. But is that interesting? Am I offering anything unique? Probably not. There’s an art to criticism, and it’s easy to forget that just having opinions isn’t the same as being insightful. “Criticism without flair is dull, and criticism without sensibility is useless.” ...

7/10 Erasure is a sharp novel about a Black academic and writer whose frustration about the commercial failure of his cerebral novels, and the publishing world’s hunger for “authentic” Black trauma narratives, leads him to pena satirical parody (“My Pafology”) under a pseudonym which, to his horror, becomes a runaway hit. The book is both a skewering of the literary industry and a meditation on identity, family, and artistic compromise. ...

7/10 There’s a solid game buried in Nightreign, and when you’re deep in it with friends over Discord, it can be a blast. The moment-to-moment gameplay is intense and satisfying: carving out a path, strategizing around the ring of fire, chasing resources and runes before the world collapses around you. That tension is where the game shines. But it’s also riddled with these strange, horrible oversights and design friction. Little things - like how the character select screen locks you in before you can tweak your relics - feel clumsy. The Shifting Earth events quickly turn into bland optimization chores that railroad you into paths and flatten a lot of the tension. ...

On the air you catch a whiff a perfume of mildew, fryer oil, and recycled breath. Everything smells like it was deep-fried six hours ago, including the people. The lighting is harsh fluorescant and it’s way too humid. You take off your jacket but still sweat. You can’t stop moving. There’s someone on your heels. You constantly catch glimpses of familiar faces but it’s always just a stranger. The signs are all lies, or maybe even outright jokes. The “You Are Here” sticker on the map covers two pathways that don’t connect. The only thing you can find is another anonymous food court. ...

Not sure how often I’ll post here. Just wanted a space to jot down ideas, notes, book reviews, and the occasional opinion - nothing polished. I’m mostly doing this for myself, but if you’ve got thoughts or feedback, I hope to add a comment section to this blog so you can leave feedback there. That’s it for now.