The weather is supposed to be pretty nice by Sunday afternoon, according to the forecast as I write this, which means that Sundays are for going to the park to read. I’m making my way through Tokyo These Days, a short manga series by Tekkonkinkreet and Ping Pong author Taiyō Matsumoto, about a manga editor who quits his job at a publisher after his magazine folds, but decides to enlist the creators he admires to launch something of his own. Hm.
If you don’t understand the Switch 2, you won’t understand the modern world, argues Stephen Bush in the Financial Times. The FT paywall their content and there’s nothing I can do about that, but I’m sure you can figure it out.
Look at history, and you will see that our passion for gaming, in one form or another, is as old and enduring as our fondness for gold. I would put my money on almost every passion in the modern world coming to an end before I would bet on us no longer making time for a game. But too many people in business, and especially in politics, still treat gaming as something to be dismissed or ignored. Sometimes, gaming’s defenders start talking about the pinnacles of the genre, the titles that say deep and profound things about the human condition. But the reason we ignore gaming at our peril isn’t because Suzerain, say, teaches us something fundamental about the art of politics (although it does). The mass market titles matter to our understanding of the modern world, too.
Janet Garcia wrote about the experience of attending SGF in LA amid ICE protests and the deployed National Guard, particularly from the perspective as a daughter of an immigrant.
I hope those who felt guilty convert that into action. I encourage those who felt fear to explore it. Fear can be natural, but I think it’s important to contextualize those feelings against other people’s lived realities and consider what you are afraid of. Is it the police? And if so, are you usually afraid of them? For many SGF attendees, I imagine the answer is no. While everyone I grew up with was hardwired to be hyperaware of the police.
I love a developer video which breaks down a tiny part of the creation process in extreme detail, and so I love this breakdown of the construction of the ocean level in Detective Fantasia: Excalimurder. It’s wonderfully satisfying to see it come together, and it also serves as a short explanation of why games take so much time (and so many people) to make.
Amanda Guinzburg asked ChatGPT which of her essays she should include a query letter she was writing. She’s shared the screenshots of the conversation. A lot of people still don’t understand how generative AI works, but I think this is a pretty good illustration of the most basic problem with its output.
Filmmaker (and comics maker) Adam Westbrook wrote in brief about the best comic he’s ever read. It’s a single four panel page and it is good.
Danny Castro wrote about what vinyl asks of us.
Of all the reasons one might choose to listen to vinyl records, I find their inconvenience the most compelling. I had no idea just how beautifully labor intensive spinning vinyl could be until a couple of weeks ago when I bought a brand new turntable.
I’ve linked it before, but credit where it’s due: those last two links both came from Robin Sloan, whose monthly (or so) newsletter is a font of delight and inspiration.
It’s been a tough week for music lovers, with the deaths of both Sly Stone and Brian Wilson. Pet Sounds is immaculate, and God Only Knows specifically is miraculous, but I’ve never had a personal relationship with the Beach Boys or Wilson’s solo music. So here’s Sly & The Family Stone’s If You Want Me To Stay which is in regular rotation in my house.
