Thoughts and such by Joshua Tong
I am in the market for a robot vacuum. I’ve been thinking of getting one for a while and have decided that I’m tired of having to deal with the dustiness of LA and would like the machines to do things for me. So I did what’s become par the course for any purchase of… Continue reading An Overabundance of Expertise
There are times when I really don’t like having news notifications on my phone. I was playing video games last night, a Friday night relaxing after the work week, when my phone buzzed. I glanced over and promptly learnt that Israel and the United States had launched missile attacks on Iran. Perhaps I was naive… Continue reading News Alerts
In a purported effort to 'protect the children,' Discord has announced that all accounts will be given the safety settings assigned for teenagers unless the user can prove they are an adult. This proving-you’re-an-adult will be done with an 'age inference model' that guesses if you’ve an adult based on your activity on the platform.… Continue reading Anonymity
The newest installment in Rian Johnson’s murder mystery series, Wake Up Dead Man, is out this week in a super limited release. Its predecessor, Glass Onion, was, likewise, only in theaters for a week on account of Netflix wanting to get their movie on streaming quick as possible. Unfortunately, Dead Man’s release coincides with Thanksgiving,… Continue reading Projecting
No post today, on account of being away this weekend. Fiery Furnace So this is a post of pictures instead. Golden tree from Gemini Bridges. Couldn’t tell you what kind of tree it is. Except it’s gold. Whale Arch. It’s a whale.
I was fortunate enough to call New York home for many years and it truly is no hyperbole to say that the city is someplace special. To my immense joy, on Tuesday the city elected a new mayor — one who sees the city much the same way I do, a place where anyone can… Continue reading A New Story
I am not a fan of Las Vegas. I passed through it a few years ago and was, well, unimpressed. The Strip struck me as oddly artificial, like a simulacrum of a city like New York. A recreation in a controlled environment without the perceived dangers of a real city, where a visitor doesn’t need… Continue reading The Myth of Vegas
I’ve been keeping this blog for over a decade now, posting something I’ve written most every week. Over those years, blogs have faded from prominence on the internet — the steady pivot to video that was already taking place a decade ago has firmly ensconced with video essays and whatever it is that’s raging on… Continue reading Why Blog?
I’m spending the long weekend in Yosemite National Park. Since half the fun of living in Southern California is being able to drive out to National Parks on weekends like these. Nothing pithy or meditative to say, just that the park is gorgeous and that the National Park Service is easily in my top-two US… Continue reading Yosemite
The aforementioned busy weeks are upon me. Here are thoughts on Three Quick Things: Movie: Mickey 17 A delightfully weird movie — which is basically what you’d expect from a movie directed by Bong Joon Ho. The comedic science-fiction movie dabbles in farce and satire with a healthy dose of existentialism, somehow bouncing around themes… Continue reading Busy Weeks
Essays, Not Rants! 