There’s a lot of depressing crap going on in the world right now. A lot of stuff happening that weighs heavy on me and so when it’s time to sit down and write this blogpost it feels hard to ignore it. But I also know that, at a certain point, there comes a time to… Continue reading Lightness
Author: Joshua Tong
Big Ol’ Trees
Greetings from Sequoia National Forest! I’m writing this from a cabin a few miles outside the park’s boundary, having just hiked through that forest and visited a brewery (as is my post-hike tradition). Because, despite having cultivated a scholarly persona through this blog, I am, in fact, a fan of hikes and such. And not… Continue reading Big Ol’ Trees
Farfetch’d Language
There is a Pokémon named Farfetch’d. It’s not one of the really cool ones either, Farfetch’d is literally a duck holding a leek. Behold, the legendary creativity of Generation I. Bulbapedia tells me that the name is a play on the Japanese idiom it’s based on, about a duck with a spring onion being a… Continue reading Farfetch’d Language
Thors
I’m quite curious about Thor: Love and Thunder, the next Thor movie from Taika Waititi ('curious,' by the way, is how you say 'excited' while still sounding intellectual). The curiosity — and despite what the parentheses may have suggested, there is actual curiosity — stems in part from the Thor in question not being the… Continue reading Thors
Spidey’s Kicks
I started playing Spider-Man: Miles Morales recently, in-between outs of Horizon Forbidden West (80+ hours and 75% done!). It’s great so far; I mean, it’s more Spider-Man and that was a game I really liked. It’s fun to play as Miles and I’m enjoying his arc (and I look forward to seeing where it goes).… Continue reading Spidey’s Kicks
Side quests of War
I’ve been slowly making my way through God of War, a game from a series I’ve never played before and known very little about. It’s fun, coming to a series like this in its older-and-wiser stage (I supposed it’d be like having Uncharted 4 as your first Uncharted game, or Logan your first Wolverine movie).… Continue reading Side quests of War
Language Barrier
I’ve been reading Hideo Kojima’s The Creative Gene lately, because not only do I love this man's video games, I love the brain of the guy that makes them. There’s a particular spark to his games and a love of storytelling that's downright infectious, so a collection of essays about pieces of media that he… Continue reading Language Barrier
Film Camera
I recently bought a film camera. Not a fancy one with swappable lenses and a controllable aperture, but one of those like my parents had back in the 90s. The sort of camera I first learnt to take pictures with, and very much the sort that was superseded first by the digital camera and then… Continue reading Film Camera
Readapting The Batman
So that new Batman movie, helpfully titled The Batman came out and it works very well. Which I found to be a pleasant surprise, all said. The Batman of Batman vs Superman and Justice League was a dour affair, taking the dark and serious Batman of The Dark Knight (and summarily lampooned by The LEGO… Continue reading Readapting The Batman
Destiny’s Got Plot, But Now Where Is It?
A new Destiny expansion came out and I have played it because I love me some Destiny. It’s got a whole new campaign adventure with a fun story twist: where the last expansion had the good guys learning to wield the Darkness (normally bad guy stuff), this time the bad guys have learnt to wield… Continue reading Destiny’s Got Plot, But Now Where Is It?
Essays, Not Rants! 