Getaway Car

How often I stop and wonder what happened here while walking around this city never ceases to amaze me.

Silent Watcher

This window was watching me wander through the neighborhood 👀

ONL 2025

After a long day at work, I thought it might be a good idea to unwind with some video game commercials in the form of Gamescom’s “Opening Night Live“ event. Well, the highlight certainly was there right at the start of the show: “Silksong,” the follow-up to “Hollow Knight” – one of the best games ever made – was on screen for a bit and the 2025 release date confirmed. But after that? In all the AAA bombast, not much excitement was to be found. There is a reason why I stopped watching these events: I’m not interested in another iteration of your annual shooter, the 10th gacha collectathon, or your free-to-play tank game. It’s all a bit… boring.

Reflection

Seen on my way to the comic store. I ended up just browsing and not buying anything – the volumes I wanted were out of stock, and no new books caught my attention. Better luck next time?

Bubble

Believe it or not but this was my first Bubble Tea. It was… strange. I like strange.

Hobonichi Techo gets an app?

In an unexpected twist, the iconic Japanese notebook maker has announced they're now launching a journaling app. As someone who deeply cares and obsesses over notebooks and physical journaling, this comes as a big surprise.

From the homepage, it looks like the app automatically collects data from your phone throughout the day: locations you’ve visited, steps taken, photos snapped, events attended – all added automatically. Of course, you can still create notes manually, but it feels like the app's real goal is to make journaling as frictionless as possible, lowering the barrier to entry by turning everyday data into "memories". It is a very similar approach to Apple's journaling app, or DayOne.

But why would a brand built on the tactile joy (and limitations) of paper create such a digital offering?

The lure of recurring revenue, if you are cynical. But you could also see it as an honest attempt to help people start journaling by offering a daily summary they can review and expand on in their actual notebooks.

Sure, maybe.

If there's one thing I've learned from experimenting with journaling, it's that the act of sitting down and recalling your day on your own is already a powerful filter – it helps separate what's truly meaningful from all the noise. You don't need an app for that, especially not one cluttered with random bits of data. And if this app is indeed intended as a replacement for your physical journal, why should I choose this over the countless others?

I’m genuinely confused, Hobonichi Techo.

Train companion

My dad sketched this on the dirty train window - my personal travel companion on the way back home.

Fresh out of the oven

I love Frittata. Easy to make, yet delicious and beautiful to look at!

Anywhere Bookcase

How many books do you have in your reading stack? If you’re anything like me – or even more so, like my wife – you always have a few on hand. In that case, this portable bookshelf might come in handy. Made from thick, orange acrylic glass and finished with a sturdy steel handle, it’s a design object in its own right. But once you fill it with your current reads, your to-be-reads, or just your favorite books, it really becomes a stunner.

You can find out more on the Anywhere Book Case website. If the automatic translation is to be trusted, there’s currently no option for delivery to Europe. I hope that changes soon, because I’d love to get my hands on one. I’ll keep you posted!

Cooking for my parents

A Korean dish I cooked for my parents. My mom's recovering from a broken leg, so I took the chance to hijack the kitchen for some new flavors.

Pretty okay

Came across this spot while out on a bike ride 🤩 This was a total surprise: We just heard something that sounded like a waterfall, went looking, and found this incredible spot near Forsthaus Valepp.

KPop Demon Hunters is a blast

The premise of this new Netflix movie is ridiculous: A K-pop girl band saving the world from demons with the power of... yup, songs. (Okay, and ethereal swords... But mostly songs.)

After listening to the soundtrack on repeat for a day now, I don’t find that premise so ridiculous anymore!

It also helps that the animation is incredibly gorgeous, putting the recent, rather bland and “safe” efforts from Disney Animation and Pixar into perspective. Both seem particularly stuck in their house styles when it comes to storytelling and visuals. But here we have a movie that looks fantastic – and whose musical interludes I’d take over Disney’s any day.

Yes, the story is rather predictable. The pacing drags a bit in the middle. I wish I’d learned a bit more about the relationship of the main character and her mom.

But honestly, it all doesn’t matter. It’s a truly enjoyable, highly watchable movie with an animation style I’d love to see more often.

Studio Arhoj – Stickers

My favorite Danish glassware maker sells stickers now! Ok, to be fair, Studio Arhoj did always sell a lot a different things besides glassware – postcards, bricks (no, really), tote bags, you name it. But I have a soft spot for stickers, so obviously I'm getting some.

This one, for example, will look great on my laptop AND sums up my current state of mind perfectly.

Check them out here. They are all really fun!

Marie Asaba

This illustration made me laugh out loud:

The cat has no idea what’s going on. Why is it suddenly being lifted? Why can’t it just go back to whatever it was doing? But the child doesn’t care – it’s cuddle time!

I really love these soft, whimsical impressions of children and their pets by Marie Asaba, a Japanese illustrator I discovered through the Spoon & Tamago blog.

From her current show, this portrait of a girl also really stood out to me.

Best of all, you can order prints directly from the gallery. I haven’t checked yet if they ship to Germany, but I have to admit — I’m tempted!

Be deeply confused

I’ve long believed that games are the perfect tool to figure out how to deal with all sorts of cultural problems. They are a safe space to prototype reactions to the big shifts we face as a society – like when a new technology suddenly changes how we communicate, work, or assign value.

You know, just like AI does at the moment.

In this light I enjoyed the latest episode of Post Games a lot. In it Chris Plant sits down with Frank Lantz, the creator of Universal Paperclips (the game where you play as an ever-optimizing AI determined to make as many paperclips as possible). During their conversation, Frank Lantz makes a point that I feel deeply, too:

“I think that, to me, the correct stance to have about all this stuff is one of deep confusion. I think if you're not, like, slightly confused and like, look, I'm not sure what's going on, then I think you're not paying attention. (...) You know, there's a whole bunch of obvious positions one can hold right now, where obviously these things are not living. They're just, you know, algorithms. It's just math. It's just a complicated text predictor (...) I think that's crazy. I also think it's crazy to be like, oh, no, it's obvious that this is the godhead and that we're just on the verge of being destroyed by this thing that is going to be to us the way we are to ants. I don't think it's right to have a lot of certainty. I think a kind of deep uncertainty and curiosity is the best thing to have about this stuff.”

Games can help us deal with this uncertainty. Just like they did countless times before.

"Fantasy Life i - The Girl who Steals Time" is a great fit for the Switch 2

I started to play the new Fanatsy Life game with a bit of hesitation. I had heard a lot of good things about it – especially from the folks at Into the Aether – but I didn't really connect with the previous installment on 3DS.

Turns out my worries were unfounded. It's a great "best of cozy games" package, full of fun characters and endless (!) distractions.

With all its charm, the game feels right at home on the Switch 2. Honestly, this could have made for a great platform exclusive launch title. For whatever reason, though, Nintendo and Level-5 didn’t go that route with this release in the series. Still, I’d always recommend playing something like this on a portable system. Being able to fish, mine and craft in between what ever life throws at you is the best way to enjoy a game like this.

Important Research

Spending the evening researching niche RPGs like a totally normal person

Nintendo Music is a Great Productivity Tool

I think that the Nintendo Music App is one of the coolest products the company has released in a while. Obviously, it is great for listening to your favorite soundtracks. But did you know that it is also one of the best productivity apps out there?

The app has a nifty feature that allows you to extend the playtime of certain tracks. Just pick a duration and the track will seamlessly loop. This is something needed in video games anyway, since developers cannot be certain how long you will stay in any given area, for example.

It turns out that this is also really helpful if you want to focus for a given time – just like you would with a Pomodoro timer. Set the duration, get stuff done, and once the next tune starts, you know it is time to stop and take a break.

Great little feature!

Switch 2 - Impressions

I got my Switch 2 on launch day. The store where I had my pre-order placed had messaged me the day before saying there was a chance it might be delayed. So I spent Thursday morning anxiously refreshing my inbox, waiting to find out whether I could pick it up or not.

Picking it up in-store turned out to be a pretty pleasant experience. While in line, I chatted with other people who had pre-ordered their consoles – an instant connection, thanks to all of us putting money down months ago. Capitalism! Topics ranged from the launch line-up (lacklustre, their opinion), the accessories (not needed) to pricing (too expensive). Still, we all walked out grinning, consoles and games in hand.

The smile didn’t vanish when setting up the console itself: The return of menu music! Yes, only for set-up, but still a welcome surprise. More of this, please, Nintendo! (My hope is, that now that they have played it relatively save when it comes to the hardware, maybe they can invest more into playful companion software.)

The other thing that immediately struck me, was just how big the Switch 2 is. It’s enormous! That’s great when it comes to actually seeing things on the display (great screen, btw), but less so for carrying this thing around or holding it over longer stretches of time. I immediately started to anticipate the inevitable arrival of the Switch 2 Lite, to be honest.

The only real Switch 2 game I played so far was Mario Kart World. It’s a delight. So much charm when it comes to the characters and the world – I kind of want to hug all of my little racer buddies (especially the cow)! Both Grand Prix and K.O. Tour are great modes that truly feel different to precious iterations, thanks to the interconnected world. And some of the stages are just mind-blowing. During my race on the returning Rainbow Road, I kept wanting to stop and just take in the scenery. But I guess this is what the free driving mode is for (which, to be honest, I haven’t explored that much yet).

So yeah, I am happy!

Lake time

A day at the lake – reading, paddling, swimming. Good times.