Halfdan's recent activity
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Comment on Nominate for Movie of the Week in June - Horror movies in ~movies
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Comment on Nominate for Movie of the Week in June - Horror movies in ~movies
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Comment on Nominate for Movie of the Week in June - Horror movies in ~movies
Halfdan (edited )LinkKairo (2001) I saw a lot of J-horror back then. This is one I barely remember watching! But I always wanted to give it a rewatch. It is one of the recognized J-horror classics, and the themes of...Kairo (2001)
I saw a lot of J-horror back then. This is one I barely remember watching! But I always wanted to give it a rewatch. It is one of the recognized J-horror classics, and the themes of lonelyness and the internet is unusual for a horror fare.
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Comment on Unpopular opinion: "Show don't tell" isn't always the best strategy in ~books
Halfdan Link"Show. don't tell", like a lot of other advice on how to write well, is simply poorly written. I think a better way to put it would be something like "to keep your prose interesting and varied,..."Show. don't tell", like a lot of other advice on how to write well, is simply poorly written. I think a better way to put it would be something like "to keep your prose interesting and varied, compose it of both real-time action and sequences with a more visible author, such as comments or paraphrasing"
I like how it is explained in How to Write a Novel: A Practical Guide to the Art of Fiction
To say "She was a very wicked woman," is like the boy who drew a four-legged animal and wrote underneath "This is a cow." If that boy had succeded in drawing a cow there would have been no need to label it;
and also:
Don't say what your hero and heroine are: Make them tell their own characters by words and deeds.
An example of how "telling" can improve a story is this chapter ending from Murder in the Dark. While it mostly show the characters personality through their dialogue, there is also the dry comment "she was a student of history" and the final line where it shift to paraphasing a longer period of time:
‘Don’t they teach you any religion at that school of yours?’ demanded Dot. ‘When Herod heard that the child Jesus had been born, he sent his men out to find him, but they failed. And the Magi, who had promised to come back and tell him where the baby was, they were warned by an angel and went away. So, to make sure that he killed the baby Jesus, the cruel King Herod—’
‘Oh, yes. Ordered the soldiers to kill all the children,’ said Ruth. ‘I forgot it because it’s so awful. What sort of king makes his soldiers kill children?’
‘Almost any sort,’ said Jane. She was a student of history.
‘Well, they shouldn’t,’ declared Ruth. ‘It’s unfair.’
Dot shrugged and went on with the story. ‘ “Take the mother and child and flee into Egypt,” said the angel.’
‘Why did they have to take a flea?’ asked Ruth.
Jane giggled, and therefore got no chocolate once the misunderstanding was sorted out.I also like this bit from Perdido Street Station. We don't know who the Remade are, but their social status, and the general attitude towards Khrepri are show pretty clearly:
She walked away from the noisy arguments and the profiteering towards the garden of Sobek Croix. Ranks of cabs were always waiting at their entrance. She knew that some of the drivers (usually the Remade) were liberal or desperate enough to take khepri custom.
This a clever hack in fantasy—show enough of something so that the reader become curious, so when the exposition of the Remade finally comes, it feels like a reward.
A lot of emotions gets better across if you simply tell how people are feeling. You want emotional things to be raw and honest, and a way to go about this is making yourself visible as an author and just say things directly. Like in this bit from Lonely Werewolf Girl:
“There’s a werewolf frolicking in the back yard.”
“Frolicking?”
“Yes. Well maybe not frolicking exactly. But definitely moving around with enthusiasm.”
Moonglow hurried to the kitchen. She peered out of the window. Their flat was above a shop, and the back yard was a small unused square of concrete, one floor below. There, in the dim evening light, a werewolf appeared to be playing with something. A tennis ball, perhaps. Moonglow tried to open the window. It was stuck where some previous tenant had painted the frame. After some effort she managed to wrench it open.
“Kalix?”
The werewolf looked up.
“Hello,” said Kalix. Then, as if it was quite natural for her to be in Moonglow’s back yard, she started playing with the tennis ball again.
“Have you come back to visit us?” asked Moonglow.
“No.”
“Then why are you here?”
Kalix shrugged. She had of course come back to visit Daniel and Moonglow but was not about to admit it, even if it meant carrying on some absurd pretence that she had ended up in the yard by accident.
“I’m just wandering around.”
Moonglow sensed that Kalix didn’t want to acknowledge she had come back specifically to see them. She smiled.
“Would you like to come up anyway? We’d like to see you.”
Kalix pretended to consider it for a while. -
Comment on Geert Wilders is coming for the EU – The hard-right politician has at last formed a government after six months of negotiation in ~misc
Halfdan LinkI'm on the edge of serious, but maybe we should have a ~SocietyGoingEvenMoreExtremeRightOMGI'm on the edge of serious, but maybe we should have a ~SocietyGoingEvenMoreExtremeRightOMG
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Comment on The Nutaku adult gaming platform is larger than it seems in ~games
Halfdan LinkBefore I saw the video, I did a search for Nutaku. I ended up on nutakupublishing.com which strangely only have 23 games. I naturally tried finding out if the games were DRM free—a lot of people...Before I saw the video, I did a search for Nutaku. I ended up on nutakupublishing.com which strangely only have 23 games. I naturally tried finding out if the games were DRM free—a lot of people are a lot more hesistant about sharing their personal data when it comes to sleeze. But I couldn't find any information. Strange huh?
So I watched the video. Turns out that its big final reveal was that Nutaku is using porn games to harvest private user data, secretly recording the user interaction. Privacy violation is bad enough in itself, but when you secretly spy on peoples sexual preferences and sell it to the highest bidder, that pretty bad, right?
But is this what happens? She does a lot of suggestion here, flashing an article for a fraction of a second, too short for me to see what it says, but it does give the impression that whatever I'm not seeing is super revealing. Pausing the video, it turns out to be this one: How MindGeek's Ad Network uses Big Data Technologies to push Billions of Impressions per Day. So okay, MindGeek does deal with Big Data, and Nutaku, along with a host of other adult sites, is operated by Mindgeek.
She does show a screenshot of Nataku's Privacy Policy which point out that they may send user data within their "corporate group", but in my understanding, that's pretty much themselves, not "third parties". But of course, corporate group does include MindGeek. Still, she fails to mention that their Privacy Policy includes links to Request a Copy of my Data and Request Deletion of my Data.
And finally—with scary music and a sinister flickering-light effect—she reveals that she has discovered that Mindgeek is REBRANDING ITSELF AS AYLO, something which comes in response to, quote, "the need for a fresh start".
I dunno, it just seem like a lot of suggesting, and less smoking gun. Also, at the FAQ at https://www.nutaku.com/support/faq/10008/ it says that
Do I need to be logged into my Nutaku account to play one of my downloaded games?
Some games will require you to verify your account before installation. After this verification, you will be able to play your purchased games offline. -
Comment on It’s time to bury the defective detective in ~tv
Halfdan LinkAll asshole protagonist follows the same formula, 1) Let them be whiny and angsty 2) give them way more screentime than their victims, so they get the viewers empathy. It's just such a cheap...All asshole protagonist follows the same formula, 1) Let them be whiny and angsty 2) give them way more screentime than their victims, so they get the viewers empathy. It's just such a cheap emotional hack. Bonus points if you add the morality gray hard choices trope, like torture in a ticking-bomb scenario, or Harriet Jones mass killing the space muslims to send a shock and awe message.
On a positive note, I like how this trope is used, explored and subverted in Bojack Horseman (which, curiously, have a fictious police procedural)
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Comment on The 100 games that taught me game design in ~games
Halfdan (edited )Link ParentMe, I would say these: Robotron 2084 (1982)—mostly, newer media is faster, but this very early twin-stick shooter makes every other entry in the genre look like they're running in slow motion....Me, I would say these:
Robotron 2084 (1982)—mostly, newer media is faster, but this very early twin-stick shooter makes every other entry in the genre look like they're running in slow motion. Simple tight gameplay which just works.
Bubbles (1982)—while not the most loved of arcade games, a sink is such a unique setting, and the fluid movement of the gameplay fits it perfectly.
Sinistar (1983)—this game is super focused. While the Sinistar is gradually being build, you try to collect enough ammo to take it on. I love how focused this is, first the build-up, then the boss fight.
Impossible Mission (1984)—one of the earliest action roguelikes. It has the unique premise that the player has a lifespan of 6 hours, and each death means that you loose 10 minutes. Like in Pacman, the gameplay consist stealing stuff and escaping rather than fighting, underlying the feeling of powerlessness which is a key trope in the roguelike genre.
Scorched Earth (1991)—Solid turnbased local multiplayer.
Star Control II (1992)—The Super Melee combat with the various vastly different fighters (ranging from epic boss ships to suicide minions) show how awesome asymmetrical multiplayer can be.
ScruTiny in the Great Round (1995)—This is a stupid, artsy point-and-click experience, the kind of things which could only be created during the euphoric CD-rom revolution. Nevertheless, it's a great to show how you aren't forced to limit yourself to what is expected by the various genres of games. You can code pretty much anything if you want.
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Comment on Some thoughts on cleaning up my shitty apartment in ~talk
Halfdan Link ParentGood catch! I read that one fairly recently. While I didn't really care much for the ending, it was a plenty good ride. Also, I generally like it when the author throws in small life lessons here...Good catch! I read that one fairly recently. While I didn't really care much for the ending, it was a plenty good ride. Also, I generally like it when the author throws in small life lessons here and there, as in the quote above.
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Some thoughts on cleaning up my shitty apartment
So, I have some crap lying on the floor. Not crap in the sence that it goes straight to recycling, just lots of tidbits which I don't exactly know what to do with; semi-sorted papers, notebooks,...
So, I have some crap lying on the floor. Not crap in the sence that it goes straight to recycling, just lots of tidbits which I don't exactly know what to do with; semi-sorted papers, notebooks, various VR gear, some books which I don't really have room for in my bookcase, some folders where some of the papers should probably go into, my laptop, a stone which I guess I use for weightlifting except I forget to do that, and when I see all this stuff, my brain just shortcircuits.
So I decided that, okay, I can just ignore this and try tidying up this shelf which I had tried to make into a sort of cabinet of curiosities but which over time had degenerated into a bit of mess; a LCD game, the box to said LCD game, vintage headphones, vintage phone, retro Nokia mobile, beach glass, fossils, various stones, some mess which doesn't really belongs here, a cat skull (I think) ... and of course, the same thing happened. My brain just said nope, too much to deal with.
I know there are ways to go about it. If getting my apartment in a habitable state is too much, I can ignore all of it and just focusing on one room. If my coding project seem to overwhelming, I can decide on a alpha milestone to work towards and based on that make a bucket list of the tasks and start with the most basic one, and if the first one is too overwhelming, split it up into sub-tasks. So there are some tried-and-true ways to deal with it.
But for the first time, I started to wonder what exactly goes on with the brain here? Why does something consisting of a relatively small number of sub-tasks seem so overwhelmingly hard? Is it like that for everyone, does it have a name, what?
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Comment on I discovered the one AI thing I actually liked in ~music
Halfdan LinkI quite like how Cory McAbee blends his own rather quirky music style with the grotesque aestetics of those not-yet-perfected AI visuals. While I dislike AI overall, this kinda works, I think.I quite like how Cory McAbee blends his own rather quirky music style with the grotesque aestetics of those not-yet-perfected AI visuals. While I dislike AI overall, this kinda works, I think.
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I discovered the one AI thing I actually liked
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Comment on Internet use statistically associated with higher wellbeing, finds new global Oxford study in ~tech
Halfdan Link ParentI mean, unless I completely misintepret everything, "internet usage" is defined as having used the internet ONCE in a week. Given that the web is the default medium, those who haven't used the web...Still, good to know that they aren't seeing strong negative effects of Internet usage.
I mean, unless I completely misintepret everything, "internet usage" is defined as having used the internet ONCE in a week. Given that the web is the default medium, those who haven't used the web for a week are likely in some pretty extreme circumstances.
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Comment on Internet use statistically associated with higher wellbeing, finds new global Oxford study in ~tech
Halfdan Link ParentWow, what a shit study. With the internet being pretty much the only medium today (sad but true) not having been online for an entire week is just not normal.Wow, what a shit study. With the internet being pretty much the only medium today (sad but true) not having been online for an entire week is just not normal.
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Comment on What is a value or belief you have that is extremely outside the norm? in ~talk
Halfdan Link ParentI think this is the pro-AI argument I encounter most frequently: "I don't care about who made the game/music/drawing/movie—it's the same regardless, even if no one made it." I find it disturbing...I think this is the pro-AI argument I encounter most frequently: "I don't care about who made the game/music/drawing/movie—it's the same regardless, even if no one made it."
I find it disturbing that this view is so mainstream. Personally, I naturally assume that there are someone in the other end, communicating with me. Sergio Arigones, Dianne Wynne Jones, Don Martin, Tim Burton, etc., I didn't neccesarily know anything about them, but a great part of exploring their art is the knowledge that there is another person, communicating with me, the parasocial connection.
I skimmed your history (hope it's okay) and noticed that you liked LITTLE INFERNO. To me, what made that game sparkle was that bit of parasocial relation, the way I connected to the creators (whoever they are). Oh, that trailer is so much Tim Burton, guess they're a fan too. The Weather Man, was this a reference to The Weather Underground? Global Cooling, that was clever. I like how they simultaneously expose the hollowness of shitty gaming, while also making it the core game play, kinda deep really. And the sheer detail of the 2D burning simulator is something I can really relate to. This is the way I instinctivily view any creation; I see it as parasocial communication, and naturally think about what it is the creator are saying.
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Comment on Fitness recommendations to gradually increase mobility while recovering from chronic illness in ~health
Halfdan LinkFor cardio and mobility, I can recommend VR. Much more fun than just standing in your room doing weird exercises. Quest 3 is reasonably cheap, I think. My fave workout in VR: Blaston (two-player...For cardio and mobility, I can recommend VR. Much more fun than just standing in your room doing weird exercises. Quest 3 is reasonably cheap, I think.
My fave workout in VR:- Blaston (two-player duel game requirering a lot of dodging. Insane gameplay which can only work in VR)
- Beat Saber (saber-based rhythm game. )
- OhShape
- Until You Fall (not as intense as some others, but still nice)
- The Thrill of the Fight (simple but good boxing sim)
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Comment on I am worthless, I couldn't write a good article or draft to save my life in ~creative
Halfdan LinkGet out of your home. take a walk or whatever. Inspiration is typically found outside. Also, I can recommend having a routine. Have a fixed time of the day where you do nothing but writing. Two...Get out of your home. take a walk or whatever. Inspiration is typically found outside.
Also, I can recommend having a routine. Have a fixed time of the day where you do nothing but writing. Two hours or so. No smartphone/internet. If possible, have a single room with a PC you use for nothing but writing.
To me, this is the easiest way to write; I don't have to think about whether I'm inspired or not, or if I actually want to write, or what I may do instead of writing. Also when the two hours are up, I don't have to bother with it anymore. So much less time wasted with being angsty.
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Comment on Are most political talks performative? in ~talk
Halfdan (edited )LinkIn the world of sales, there is this thing called the Marketing Funnel. Basically, based on the funnel metaphor, it's the realization that each potential costumer starts out with zero interest and...In the world of sales, there is this thing called the Marketing Funnel. Basically, based on the funnel metaphor, it's the realization that each potential costumer starts out with zero interest and then gradually gets drawn in. They may see an ad, and within 1.5 seconds decide if this is interesting enough to warrant a closer scrutiny of, say, 15 seconds. And based on those 15 second, they may decide to click and watch the 2 minute trailer, or at least some of it. And based on that, they may skim a review, and maybe, when the thing goes for sale, they may actually buy that shitty game.
But cynical as it is, this doesn't judge those not yet buying the games as being "performative" or whatever. Rather, it sees them as one step closer than those having zero interest.
Most people, even those with ever so much priviledge have messy, imperfect lives. they go from childhood to the hormone overload of the teen years to trying to pass as adults to realizing that their youth is fleeing to trying to coming to terms with being old. So a lot of them ends up just doing "performativity", rather that devoting their life to the cause.
The claim of lack of autencity is often weaponized to attack the character of those who, you know, are at least doing something. They just want attention, donchaknow, they're wannabees, doing it for the likes. But does this even matter?
Personally, when I get outraged about something, it's not about me; it's because I geniuly feel that, for instance, Israel doing genocide is pretty horrible. But this is always met with an accusation of lack of autencity, that we're uncool. But we're not claiming to be cool. We're just criticizing genocide. But somehow, the claim that we're uncool is seen as some sort of counterargument to what we're actually saying.
Still, I think there is some truth to the feeling of performativity. There is a lack of organization. If we follow the funnel metaphor, there is a lot of surface level ways I can show some engagement. For instance, I could buy some games at the Palestinian Relief Bundle. This collected $578,565 all in all, which I guess is okay. But if I wanted more than that, where would I go?
Also, I can't help but notice that in the same thread (this one) where people are criticized for doing "performativity", there is also the EXEMPLARY dismissal of the people who "do a big disruptive protest that blocks a street or something". So between those two moderate extremes which are either too much or too little, there doesn't seem to be room to do much.
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Comment on What are three things you're feeling positively about today? in ~talk
Halfdan LinkThere was a bug in the game I'm working on, but I just found the cause. (The 500 meter ground collision shape caused the VR body to jitter) The book I'm reading ("The Beautiful Decay") is good...- There was a bug in the game I'm working on, but I just found the cause. (The 500 meter ground collision shape caused the VR body to jitter)
- The book I'm reading ("The Beautiful Decay") is good fun.
- My mood is good today.
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Comment on What creative projects have you been working on? in ~creative
Halfdan LinkYesterday I started working on a VR implementation of Wealth shown to scale. It will essentially be an exhibition in an insanely long corridor, with wealth shown with grids of 1x1 cm2 rectangles...Yesterday I started working on a VR implementation of Wealth shown to scale. It will essentially be an exhibition in an insanely long corridor, with wealth shown with grids of 1x1 cm2 rectangles each representing 1000 dollars.
In order to show Jeff Bezos 185 billions, if I go for a height of 5 meter (equals 500 centimeter = $500000) the length will still need to be 368 kilometers. So it makes more sense to do this project in VR.
Oh, can barely remember this one!