This Blog Does Not Have A Title

cunt dracula:

The first is that it wants me to be intrigued with its world, and wonder what secrets might be hidden behind all those mysterious runes, but I feel like the setting really suffers from how limited its referents are. I don't wonder what the story of this fallen kingdom might be because I already know, it's Zelda and Dark Souls and Hollow Knight, it's all tropes that have been mined of their novelty by a hundred stories before it.

There is an ancient sin, a corruptive miasma, a cycle of violence, and so on and so forth. Why should I feel compelled to seek the secrets of this world when I feel I already know the answers? This setting needed some special sauce to pull me in properly, its ruins needed to feel like they used to be alive, like they're the remnants of a rich and varied culture rather than building blocks for a series of puzzles and combat encounters.

That's not to say the story is totally without any unique ideas, there's a few tasty morsels hidden in the runes if you're willing to translate them, but they're so weakly sketched and their presence tends not to bubble to the surface. They're fragments of something interesting that get drowned out by the white noise of the rest of it. I wish they'd found a way to give the interesting bits more oxygen, better tell the story of this world in the world itself and not just in lore snippets hidden behind a language barrier.

The name "Tunic" ends up encapsulating the game as a whole -- there's a genuinely clever secret even to the title, but on the surface it comes off as a cheap evocation of another game, and it feels no urgency in dissuading you of that notion.

finally turned the Ominous Grid of Letters into a game.

Conway's game of life simulation is happening, but additionally, there is an invisible 3 cell by 3 cell square Angel that is slowly moving across the board in a steady direction.

every step of the simulation, the Angel toggles the alive/dead state of the cells she covers, acting as an external influence on the regular Conway's life simulation.

in love & friendship* come be

a Hater with me

Tucker, the cat behind Lady Normalgirl’s noble eunuch, passed away on Tuesday morning.

From about the time I could talk, I dreamed of having a pet cat — and when I was ten, that dream finally came true. But in all my tiny child dreaming, I don’t think I could have imagined a cat better than Tucker. He’s been my constant companion for the last thirteen years, through all the best and worst bits of my life and as much as I know it’s good he’s no longer in pain, it seems very wrong that I have to do this next worst bit without him.

I’m thankful that we were able to spend so long together (even if it doesn’t feel quite long enough) and I’m so very grateful that over the last year and a bit I was able to share him with all of you. Knowing that he will be remembered so far and wide means more than I can really express. He definitely knew how insanely much I loved him (and I know how much he loved me back), but I’d like to think he knew how much so many of you loved him and how much joy his noble likeness’s comics brought so many people. While I know I will never stop missing him and that my sadness might never truly go away, it will always be a comfort to know my little cat has left behind such a grand legacy of love and happiness.

<3

Here goes.

pop that tooshie - lords of acid

june - florence + the machine

i wanna be a cowboy - boys don't cry

everybody wants to rule the world - tears for fears

wake me up when september ends - green day

time after time - cindy lauper

invictus - vnv nation

what do you want from me - pink floyd

little red corvette - prince

just one fix - ministry

Caustic Disco - Velvet Acid Christ

Frank & Ava - Suzanne Vega

The Lion The Beast The Beat - Grace Potter and the Nocturnals

Poorman - Depeche Mode

All That Matters - Diorama

Darkangel - VNV Nation

Drumming Song - Florence and the Machine

Demon Speeding - Rob Zombie

Dynamite Road - Alice Cooper

I read this, and I can tell from the “review” that the package was NOT shipped by a professional.

One: two inch tape. Professional establishments use three inch. It’s MUCH easier to seal boxes with, especially around the edges. Two inch is what you can buy from office depot or lowe’s. It’s fine for moving house, but it’s definitely not professional grade.

Two: no edge tape. Just seal your edges, people. UPS basically plays soccer with your packages. Even the light ones, just on principal, give them the structural support you can offer.

Three: centered label. Looks pretty on a package, sure, but it makes it very likely that the label will be covered up when the box is sitting in a stack or a pile, and that increases the chance that it will be manhandled to get to that label or even potentially mis-scanned or missed altogether in a stack. Label the SIDE of the box if at all possible! And put it to the side if you can’t! Visibility!

One: two inch tape. Professional establishments use three inch.

Nope. For packages I see, two inch packing tape is the norm. Today I had one package with three-inch water-activated reinforced paper tape and one (from Uline) with 2.75" packing tape. Everything else used 2" packing tape. Yes, it's exactly the same kind of stuff that you can get at Office Depot or Lowe's, and people use it because it gets the job done.

Two: no edge tape.

Not uncommon for small, light packages. I just don't see box failures on packages under a pound where more tape would have helped. Where I do see failures is overloaded boxes, thirty pounds and up, where the corrugate simply ripped, and no amount of tape would have saved the package.

PSA: please don't fill an 8x8x6 single-wall box with machine screws and expect it to arrive intact. Fastenal, I'm looking at you.

Three: centered label.

Label on top is standard. I had only one box today with the label on the side, and all the rest on top.

Looks pretty on a package, sure, but it makes it very likely that the label will be covered up when the box is sitting in a stack or a pile, and that increases the chance that it will be manhandled

Your package will get manhandled, regardless of where you put the label. Plan on it.

to get to that label or even potentially mis-scanned or missed altogether in a stack. Label the SIDE of the box if at all possible!

Heck no! I expect labels to be on top and that's the first place I look for them. If it's on the side, that's potentially four other places I have to look, which is a pain in the ass when I'm busy. And I'm always busy.

UPS, incidentally, says you should put the label on the largest surface. For the packages I get, that's usually the top.

Someone who has shipped too many boxes would comment on whether the box was new or reused,

Okay, that's legit. I do see a fair number of reused boxes.

whether there was any special hazmat (mostly lithium-ion battery) labeling

Hazmats aren't common enough to mention it every time when there isn't one present. (My hazmats are usually solvents or paint, and that's not something I get every day.)

the condition of the package post shipping

Not usually noteworthy. My internal monolog (which is what the above fanciful review is based on) doesn't bother to mention it unless something unusual happened to the box.

whether or not the weight of the package matched the stated weight on the label

Although I ship just as many packages as I receive, if not more, it never would have occurred to me to check. And I don't have a scale in the receiving department, so it would be guesswork anyway.

AND they’d have commented on the two-inch packing tape.

Which everyone uses. There's not much need to comment when it's far and away the most common type of tape.