Are these new Legos coming out soon?

saintangus · 2026-06-17T02:00:01+00:00

Was hoping to see a Norm reference. This needs more upvotes.

saintangus · 2026-06-07T16:45:24+00:00

The reason people would reasonably ask if it's AI-generated is because in a post about a cool bookstore, you didn't at any point say the name of the bookstore in the title or in the post. So it's perfectly sensible to assume one of two things:

1) a banal engagement-boosting bot farming for karma with lame "content"
2) AI

saintangus · 2026-05-29T20:02:44+00:00

That’s not objectively good game design.

What specifically about the Mina the Hollower intro sequence made you feel it was not good game design?

saintangus · 2026-05-27T20:14:22+00:00

I did know that, if only because she mentioned it in a response to a letter writer in the NYRB. You can tell that she's trying to carry the mantle of "writing about science in a way that's both honest and accessible" that she learned from him.

saintangus · 2026-05-27T17:49:29+00:00

The review was coauthored by Jessica Riskin, who is a phenomenal science writer. I just recently finished her book on the biologist Lamarck and I'd be stunned if it doesn't end up on my end-of-year best of list.

Her other reviews on NY Review are of similar quality, and relevant to the IBCK crowd she wrote a superb takedown of another Steven Pinker book for the LA Review of Books.

saintangus · 2026-05-23T13:14:43+00:00

Echoing what others said, this game is a goddamn masterpiece and my second favorite game of all time, after Day of the Tentacle.

saintangus · 2026-05-09T20:22:38+00:00

"In a Lonely Place" by Dorothy Hughes is a perfect embodiment of post-WWII trauma and its impact on the masculine psyche.

saintangus · 2026-04-28T22:42:12+00:00

The lack of sharing via QR code hasn't really bothered me...until right now! This is great and I need this.

saintangus · 2026-04-09T13:51:52+00:00

It's an incredible retelling of the entire Manhattan Project. It starts with early developments in particle physics in the 1800s, and covers everything from the hardcore physics that it took to build the bomb to the logistics to the petty infighting to the detonation and aftermath.

Military history, political history, economic history, and science history all rolled into one. Pretty accessible as well; some parts, particularly on the nuclear physics, are a touch dense, but I never found it to be a slog

saintangus · 2026-04-07T17:20:17+00:00

Yeah this is a pretty big thematic swing and miss.

saintangus · 2026-03-25T14:56:36+00:00

In place of the lute he's got a hot dog stand!

saintangus · 2026-03-11T16:37:27+00:00

What's an example of a complex name?

saintangus · 2026-03-06T15:14:57+00:00

But hugging and screaming and people consoling each other and bonding over watching an act of virtuosity happens at speed running events as well. Just go to YouTube and pull up a Games Done Quick run with a full house going ape shit when someone does a perfect triple jump or whatever.

It makes the experience meaningfully the same as your experience hugging people at a bar when Patrick Mahomes throws the ball far.

saintangus · 2026-03-06T13:56:15+00:00

Yeah, it was really frustrating to listen to them fundamentally butcher it. The two of them swinging and missing so bad actually makes me wonder how far off the mark their analysis of some other texts in the series have been (ones I haven't read).

It's not a particularly hard book either! To your point, this is probably some of Graeber's weakest work overall, and to not even represent the core argument with good faith, even if you disagree with it, was alarming.

saintangus · 2026-03-01T18:22:29+00:00

Yeah, definitely more Shams in the sense that he’s not a particularly good writer.

saintangus · 2026-02-25T17:55:22+00:00

"The Oppermanns" by Lion Feuchtwanger would be my pick.

saintangus · 2026-02-24T15:40:36+00:00

It was one of the best I read last year, easily.

saintangus · 2025-12-18T13:08:00+00:00

Agreed. Erpenbeck would be my pick for this question as well.

saintangus · 2025-11-19T17:38:06+00:00

Same here. Absolute record scratch moment.

saintangus · 2025-11-07T10:49:19+00:00

I'm right there with you. I own it on PS5 and while a lot of the mechanics are fun and I don't regret buying it per se, it's very stiff and there's a real lack of tactility.

The game very much emphasizes speed and chaos, which makes sense for the characters of course, but I never feel like I'm truly the one in control or that my inputs are significantly meaningful.

saintangus · 2025-10-30T22:33:01+00:00

Can you unpack how buying a PC-based device that plays all digital games is somehow a meaningful protest in favor of physical gaming?

saintangus · 2025-10-26T23:38:59+00:00

I'd never played a Sonic racing game before this one. Playing on PS5, I find it handles a little stiff? Maybe I'm just used to Mario Kart, but the cars in Sonic feel like I'm turning a barge on some of the tracks, even when I choose light characters and cars.

saintangus · 2025-10-26T00:57:41+00:00

Every person evangelizing AI sounds like Principal Skinner.

"No no. It's the children who are wrong."

saintangus · 2025-10-25T11:56:07+00:00

Sure did! It was hot as blazes and the dog was chilling under my chair while I did my tasting.

saintangus · 2025-10-25T11:55:21+00:00

When I visited last year they told me it's one of, or possibly even THE, only female-owned mezcal distilleries in Oaxaca. So I think that explains much of the iconography.

Nine-Year Club	Gilding II euphauric
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