Category: Media Meandry

[Media Meandry] Escapism As Detachment

I woke up uncharacteristically unmotivated. I wasn’t sick, headached, or otherwise hurting from anything major. If anything, the fatigue of a long workweek was dragging me down into subtle slumber. These are the times when I’m OK with detaching from reality for a short spell. How long depends on how long it takes to conjure up the mental resilience against the silent distractions that prevent me from working. About one hour or two, typically, suffices.

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[Media Meandry] Books To Read

I have acquired many books I want to read, yet my mind constantly encourages me to visit more thrift stores, bookstores, and acquire – rather than read – more. Is it, then, easier to own than read? What if we adjust our thinking away from “acquiring” to “finishing” as the biggest obstacle in completing tasks? We can oversaturate our task-acquisition to anything we want making us spoiled by choice. What if we oversaturate our task-finishing time instead?

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[Tripping On…] Subtle Spinal Distractions?

I wonder if I became disinterested in watching movies because my spine was subtly distracting me from watching what would otherwise be alright but somewhat boring media? I have noticed, as I think of how I will sit in chairs to recline, that I’m not well-disciplined in good back posture. I’ve been practicing good standing posture of not leaning on one side, hip, or foot. Sitting? That’s something I’ll have to practice, maybe during movies?

WANNA CONSIDER IF INTEREST IN ENTERTAINMENT COULD BE INFLUENCED BY PHYSICALITY? CLICK HERE TO KEEP ON READING!

[Media Meandry] Long Live Memories

My first memory of narrative design is from some ZZT game. It was probably done in myriad other games and media, but there I was in the early 90s as an innocent kid playing games for fun, accidentally learning about narrative structures like callbacks and returns. When I interact with media now, it’s for exploring culturally-significant [or insignificant] titles, learning narrative structure, or casual, sometimes inattentive meandries, through media until I finish or drop them.

WANNA CONSIDER HOW SOME MEMORIES REVEAL FANTASTIC FUTURES WHEREAS OTHERS ONLY REVEAL MEDIOCRE MEANDRIES? CLICK HERE TO KEEP ON READING!

[Media Meandry] El Verdugo, Balzac

Within twenty years, Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850) completed 91 works and attempted to write 46 more in a fictional world he called La Comédie humaine. The idea of interlocking short stories and novels where one story’s main character appears as a bit character elsewhere fascinated me almost as much as Balzac’s writing schedule. The short story El Verdugo was my start. It’s fantastic, fast-paced, and more exciting than most action movies. Let’s explore slow burns to explosive conclusions.

Rating: ★★★★★ [5/5]
WANNA CONSIDER HOW MUCH WE CAN LEARN FROM BOOKS BY NOT FOLLOWING

[Book Review] Heal Your Headache, Buchholz

Although Heal Your Headache by David Buchholz, M.D., has a target audience of headache sufferers, I think it should be read by treaters of headaches – doctors – as well. Although many of the aspects of the book can be proactively applied by anyone that suffers headaches on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, the information in this book could cut down on patient misdiagnoses and other preventable situations. If only I’d known about this book sooner…

Rating: ★★★★★ [5/5]

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[Media Meandry] Playful Versus Perfection

Although I can conduct my way through overly technical playthroughs of platformers and other games, they don’t bring me much joy. Depending on the game and the level, you might have to jump through arbitrary hoops to reach pedantic goals, then, return back through the level you traversed in the name of gameplay. I’m fine with some of this. Too much of it, however, becomes tedious, and those are the times when I stop playing.

WANNA SEE HOW PERFECTING ELEMENTS OF YOURSELF IS NO BETTER THAN PRETENDING THAT YOU’RE THAT GOOD? CLICK HERE TO KEEP ON READING!

[Media Meandry] Minutes Are Hours

Minutes last for hours when you’re bored while indulging in media that disinterests you. For me, that might be space battles, but for you, that might be weird videos. For you, they might be exciting technical spectacles, unlike those weird videos. When we consider other people’s opinions, especially in the realm of media, we should always try to remember that taste is subjective, and we should only spend money once we know we’ll love it.

WANNA CONSIDER HOW IF YOU KNOW YOU’RE WASTING TIME YOU SHOULD BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF BEFORE YOU WASTE MORE TIME? CLICK HERE TO KEEP ON READING!

[Media Meandry] Picking Up Steam

For years, I’ve struggled with ways to balance my vocational work, my avocational work [writing], and my leisurely time. For years, that meant never actually taking much time to play games, relax, or do anything that would help me release steam. I’ve made attempts, through writing, over the years. One such experiment was allowing myself thirty-minute time slots to play games, if I wrote pithy reviews. Those reviews weren’t great, but the thought was good.

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[Media Meandry] Meta Research Ruins

Early into Lisa: The Painful RPG, you must make a difficult decision. That’s cool from a narrative perspective that your answer will lead you down one of two minor story paths, however, this was also the point where I decided that I’m not a fan of branching narratives. Why would I pick one path without full knowledge over the long-term consequences? I’d rather leave the game, read the narrative-spoiling walkthrough, then move onto something else.

WANNA CONSIDER HOW THE MORE YOU HAVE TO THINK ABOUT WHY YOU’RE DOING THINGS, YOU MIGHT JUST START THINKING ABOUT WHY YOU’RE DOING THEM? CLICK HERE TO KEEP ON READING!