Like I think the revolutionary part of Baldur's Gate 3 is how it says "no, actually the messy and unwieldiness is part of the magic, you need it"

charting the relationship of CRPGs to elegance as design principle, particularly in terms of how they approach branching story material: Unintentionally inelegant (BG2, Arcanum) --> Intentionally elegant (Pillars of Eternity, Outer Worlds) --> intentionally inelegant (Baldur's Gate 3)

Watched that one! Great stuff. There's another about the relationship of the movies to actual Chinese history that was pretty good and sort of eye-opening, I would have assumed there was even less factual basis than there is.

I also just deeply respect the ethos of pumping so many of these movies out in quick succession. They feel like they were made for a world where maybe you wouldn't see all of them and notice how many recurring plot elements there are, and that would be fine.

I really dig the Venom Mob flicks. They feel like Rio Bravo or something, just kind of fun hangout flicks with cool dudes where martial arts occasionally erupt.

I've spent the whole weekend watching Shaw Brothers kung fu movies and it's been a fantastic time. I've just plunked down an irresponsible amount of money to buy another set of them and I don't feel bad about it.

I feel like everyone who listens to podcasts has a "podcast of last resort" that they only listen to when none of their other podcasts have updated.

I watched Kid With The Golden Arm -- it's my new favorite Shaw Brothers movie. The characters were bonkers and likeable (Long Axe and Short Axe - charismatic as hell), the fights were great, the stakes were clear, fun twists. Probably gonna use this to introduce people to the genre in the future.

Ahhh, I knew this felt like the Oracle games! Probably my favourites as a kid.

There's just something magical about that moment in a Zelda game when you figure out what the puzzle wants from you. Are kids still playing games like this? I hope so.