A 1.000 word review for 4Columns would be the right thing to do. It’s the soft limit for their own reviews of exhibitions, books, films, and music. You get – who would have guessed – four of those each week. Directly into your mailbox if you prefer. I do. In fact, it’s the only newsletter I subscribe to. Mainly because they don’t offer an RSS feed, but also because it makes for good reading on the bus.
That were about 70 words so the 4-digit word review is not happening. Sorry.
Adam Frint via NOICE
Everyone Will Be Famous for Fifteen Cookies: 15 Things I Would Steal from “Brigid Berlin: The Heaviest” @ Filthy Dreams
“And So On”: Kieślowski’s Dekalog and the Metaphysics of the Everyday @ The Criterion Collection
It’s hard to describe what to expect in Dennis Cooper’s blog. One of his gif novels might give (pun intended) a clue. Start with Zac’s Drug Binge [nsfw], which can be viewed online.
His posts – often with the help of guest authors it seems – either feature other artists (i.e. painters et al, actors, directors, authors, etc.) or highlight a certain topic (e.g. snow globes, dolls, haunted houses…). They are huge. Vast collections of images, gifs, videos, and texts that will erode the rubber of the scrollwheel on your mouse (unless you use the space bar of your keyboard, in which case, go easy on it).
Each post ends with a post scriptum, which the author uses to communicate with his readers. There is quite the illustrous comunity in the comments.
Word of warning: Some posts will be not safe for work, especially the ones where DC copies (I presume) ads of gay escorts.
Isolationism in Photography: Natalie Goulet: Identity Mapping @ Lenscratch
City of Glass: It Was a Phone Call That Started It by Bill Kartalopoulos @ The Comics Journal
I watch a fair amount of Twitch.tv. It’s my go-to evening entertainment, when I don’t play videogames myself.
Besides the assorted variety streamers I subscribe to, there are some “Magic Online” streamers (mostly AspiringSpike and DemonicTutors), the occasional cryptic crossword one (see my site for more), and lately competitive “Tetris” (CTL & CTM). Their commentators are entertaining and the action is very exciting. Waiting for a longbar to drop to get that tetris in, is pure adrenaline.
Now I won’t start streaming myself. Neither will I begin playing Magic Online (again, because fuck WotC) nor Tetris for that matter (I lack the skills) but some games presented by the variety streamers make me dust off my Steam account, grab my 360 controller and go for it.
I noticed a pattern there. I like to have three games simultaneously in rotation, which differ in genre but mostly differ in length needed to play them.
The shortest at the moment is “Brotato”. It replaced “20 Minutes Till Dawn” and is a game in the vein of “Vampire Survivors”. You shoot monsters, collect XP and/or materials, get better gear, shoot a lot more monsters. So many monsters. Due to the fixed time frame of 20 to 30 minutes, I can easily squeeze in a run (or two, if I fail early enough) between work and other variants of procrastination.
The longest is “Graveyard Keeper”. Closely related to “Stardew Valley” and other work-simulations, I really like the carrot & stick variant in this one (Hail comrade donkey!). There are certain tasks you have to fulfill and they are just out of reach enough that you know what you have to do, but it will take not too much time or effort that it becomes a slog. It will take time, though, which is why I prefer to play it at the end of the day. For most nights in the past week, the motto was, once it’s “Tagesschau”-time I will start digging.
Last but not least, the in-betweener, where I want to play a game with more meat than “Brotato” but not really fuck around for hours like in “Graveyard Keeper”. Metroidvanias and platformers fill this gap perfectly. You play a level or two, progress a bit and feel satisfied. Titles I have enjoyed recently were: “Shovel Knight”, “The Witch & The 66 Mushrooms”, “Axiom Verge”, and “Hollow Knight”. As soon as I finish this sentence, I will return to “The Ramsey”, where I am a hamster with a popcorn-gun.