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.

Woaw Lamps

Ok, how cool is this lamp by design studio Nader Gammas? It totally looks like little glowing mushrooms on a tree branch – though I think it is more inspired by old candle holders. As a fan of all things Mario, I'm immediately sold.

So playful. You can get them here.

Hania Rani - Nostalgia

I keep coming back to Hania Rani's live album "Nostalgia" – there is just something about how her voice, the piano, strings and synths all weave together that really speaks to me. Hearing the audience's reactions adds even more presence. The opening track ("24.04") creates this beautiful momentum, and later tracks "Dancing with Ghosts" and "Don't Break My Heart" are just all time classics.

Really hoping to catch her live here in Berlin sometime soon.

Angel's Egg

I still haven’t seen Angel’s Egg, the 1985 movie by Yoshitaka Amano (who I mostly know from his Final Fantasy work) and Mamoru Oshii – but with the 4K re-release around the corner, I’m holding out a little longer. In the meantime, I just keep watching this clip on repeat...

Beautiful, haunting stuff.

Grace Given

We live in the golden age of enthusiast media! For proof, just look at this beautiful book from publisher Tune & Fairweather on the mythology of Elden Ring!

I am replaying this game at the moment, mainly to finally get to the DLC, and this just keeps on confirming that this is one of the finest games ever made. And if you dipped just a toe into the deep water that are VaatiVidya lore videos, you know how fascinating the mythology of that game can be.

So, yeah, I’m pre-ordering.

Pictures?

This is a meta post about the newsletter – sorry!

So far, I’ve shared a few photos on the blog (still very much a hack-ish work in progress), but I haven’t sent them out via the email newsletter. I’m wondering if I should change that.

It feels like a good step toward getting all my social stuff in one place, but I can imagine it might get a little annoying for some (even though it probably wouldn’t happen more than two or three times a week).

What do you think? Hit reply and let me know!

Drowning in Noise

Reading this article by Christopher Butler had me nodding along the whole time.

Our world treats information like it’s always good. More data, more content, more inputs — we want it all without thinking twice. To say that the last twenty-five years of culture have centered around info-maximalism wouldn’t be an exaggeration. (…) When every moment is filled with new inputs, we can’t fully absorb, process, and reflect upon what we’ve consumed. Reflection, not consumptions, creates wisdom. Reflection requires quiet, isolation, and inactivity.

This is a sentiment I’ve seen echoed by a lot of people lately – and something I feel deeply myself. What started as a drizzle in the early days of the web, a chance to explore different viewpoints, get fresh ideas, or learn new things, has turned into an unrelenting tsunami. One that sweeps our attention away as it rushes endlessly through our minds.

Everything that made the web exciting is still possible, sure – but now it takes effort and discipline not to get swept up in yet another algorithmic feed, carefully crafted to keep us “engaged”. Making us angry, anxious, or afraid we’re missing out are great shortcuts for the platforms to get more “daily active users,” but they do little to nurture what Butler calls “wisdom.”

The chance to gain even a little bit of that wisdom is something I hope for myself – and for my kids. To see past the constant rush of the now, and learn to apply our attention intentionally.

If our attention is our currency, then leverage will come with the capacity to not pay it. To not look, to not listen, to not react, to not share.

Something to remember.

Waiting

Waiting for the kids (there are harder things in life)

Antidotes

The guy at my comic shop gave me this weird look when I was buying this: magical girls and horrifically violent fantasy? Yeah, one’s the antidote to the other, my dude.

Neverway and Genre Bending

One benefit of video games is that they let you pretend to do something else for a living – or even live a completely different life. That’s been a driving force behind a lot of long-standing trends, especially in the sim and cozy game genres. If your day job is stressful and hectic, why not unwind in your simpler, virtual job? Feed the cows at your farm. Meticulously clean really dirty objects. Serve up some coffee.

As time goes on, all genres undergo an evolution. I think it goes something like this: From their purest initial expression, to iterative complexity, then to subversive reinterpretation, and ultimately to reclaiming the original intent in a more modern form.

A recent game announcement – Neverway – made me think about this genre evolution: A life sim game with farming, coffee shop talk and all, but in a horror setting.

First off all: this looks cool! And with music from Disasterpeace, no less (I’ve been a fan ever since FEZ)! This one’s definitely on my radar.

But it is also interesting from the genre evolution perspective. Horror, in a game like this? Not so cozy anymore. It will be fascinating to see what it has to say about aspects of the genre that might already be a horror-inducing: the mundanity, the repetition, the pre-scripted relationships. Or if it is simply window dressing: A new look for old ideas.