I left Social Media a few months ago and I don’t regret it at all. Twitter has always been a weird place but after it was purchased by Ebon Husk it became a true cesspool. Out of morbid curiosity I looked at what was trending this morning and it’s some of the most vile, psychotic shit I have ever seen. People there feel comfortable spouting truly unhinged beliefs and they love to preface their deeply fucked up opinions with “Fun Fact” . I think about it as if it were a real place. If I went into a restaurant for example that was full of (and indeed catered to) conspiracy theory loving racists, I would leave and I would never go back. It’s that simple. I don’t have to support a place like that even tacitly with my presence, much less my money. I recognize I’m just one person and leaving Twitter won’t hurt the service but it will help me sleep at night.
So what have I been doing instead of doom scrolling Twitter? Playing games, watching movies, reading books, and drawing! Here’s a look at what I’ve been consuming recently:
No Man’s Sky
I jumped back in after the most recent update and I’m having a lot of fun. I never got very far in this game just because it can be very overwhelming. This time I got some help from my eldest son Gabe who plays all the time and warped in with his massive battleship. He has been helping me navigate the crazy amount of content and helping me focus on important stuff.
He gave me a ton of money and introduced me to the NMS Coordinate exchange which is an awesome way to find cool new ships. I knew that having a kid 20 years ago would eventually pay off!
The First Descendant
I’ve clocked about 50 hours in TFD and I’m still having a lot of fun. I’ve got a couple characters at max level now and I’m starting to investigate the end game grind. I don’t mind it too much though because I actually like playing. I’m still playing TFD because it’s fun not because I’m grinding to get a specific part. I’ve certainly spent time redoing missions for a specific drop but as long as I’m enjoying playing the game I really don’t consider it a grind. I just see it as getting rewarded for something I was going to do anyway. Having still spent zero dollars on it I feel like I’m winning.
Twisters
I saw this movie over the weekend with my youngest son Noah and we both loved it. To me it feels like it was pulled straight out of a time capsule from 1998. This is the sort of kick ass summer blockbuster that we used to see a lot of before Marvel terraformed cinema. Excellent special effects, exciting action sequences, and a fun story. Also I don’t care who you are, Tyler Owens will make you feel things.
Brunelleschi’s Dome
I’ve just about finished reading this really cool book about the construction of the Florence Cathedral and its incredible dome. This is a history book but it’s written in a very modern way that makes these figures feel like characters in a movie. You get a peek into the politics, and personal relationships of the time with fun anecdotes like practical jokes they played on each other and details of petty artistic feuds. I know it’s not Sci-Fi but a well written historical story can feel like time travel when done right.
I’ve also just about finished the commissions I took on at the beginning of the month. It has been a lot of fun working with people to draw their characters. It’s given me the opportunity to draw characters I never would have like Final Fantasy 14 cat girls and a Cleric from a race of bunny people I’d never heard of called the Harengon. I’ll be opening up another 4 commission slots at the beginning of August for anyone interested in working with me.
-Gabe Out
