Rynling R&D

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I don’t know how this works for other people, but one of the weird things about writing fiction for me is that I really have to sit down, shut out the rest of the world, and put myself in a certain headspace. I’ve been neglecting this practice, and I’m getting kind of rusty. It feels very selfish to carve out that sort of “room of one’s own,” but I need to get my fiction writing stamina back!

Okay I thought about it on the bus to work this morning.

So like. I was highly amused that Bowser and Luigi canonically started a book club between the two movies. I wonder how that went. I bet they had fun.

Maybe this is a decent premise for a story:

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Dr. Signal’s Strange Machine
https://caramel.itch.io/strangemachine

Dr. Signal’s Strange Machine is a sci-fi narrative adventure game with a runtime of about 12 minutes. You play as Dr. Signal, who has just perfected a machine that allows her to talk with dinosaur fossils. She’s chosen a t-rex as a conversation partner, and she’s interested in how it managed to survive the end of the world.

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The weather is warm, and the sakura are in bloom. It’s going to take time to recover from this year’s horrible winter, but I’m getting there. 🌸

I have been so grumpy this month!! I have legitimate reasons for my bad attitude, but wow. I really need to lighten up a little. Here are a few things that made me happy:

She and Her Cat (on Crunchyroll here) is an update on Makoto Shinkai’s debut indie animation. There are four episodes, each of which is about seven minutes long, and they’re filled with soft and relaxing slice-of-life energy.

Brick (on Amazon here) is difficult to describe, but it’s safe to say it’s the opposite of Makoto Shinkai. This movie is from 2005, and it’s a classic noir murder mystery set in and around a Los Angeles high school. The focus is way more on “murder” than it is on “high school,” though. This is Rian Johnson’s debut film, so it’s fair to compare it to Knives Out, but it’s much grittier (in a good way). Also, I’m not super into Kylo Ren, but if you are: he’s there.

Islands of Abandonment: Nature Rebounding in the Post-Human Landscape (on Amazon here) is a 2021 collection of gorgeously written nonfiction essays about rewilding. Cal Flynn visited some interesting places to do the reporting for this book, and her descriptions of overgrown ruins are really something special.

Outset Emporium (on Etsy here) sells beautiful hand-painted sculptures of Koroks, pokémon, and other fantasy-themed creatures. He ships from the UK with no trouble at all, and believe me when I say that the quality of the craftsmanship is worth the price. I was going to get myself something from this shop as a present to mark a special occasion, but every day is special goddamn it. I posted a photo of my new Korok friend on Bluesky (here) if you’re interested.

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This week’s theme is slow but steady. Everything will get done eventually. 🐢

I’m going to be salty about fanfic for a second. This is an extended meditation on what I try to do when I write, but also it’s just me being a petty little hater about a common style of fanfic writing that I find annoying, so feel free to scroll on by.

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So I guess my frustration is: why is that sort of bloodless, limp-dick style of writing so popular?

But also: what can I borrow from this style without betraying my sense of integrity as a craftsman?

Delivery Robot Dogpiled on the Streets of Philly
https://futurism.com/robots-and-machines/delivery-robot-philadelphia

It’s tough to be a robot on the mean streets of Philadelphia. Infamous for brutally destroying an experimental hitchhiking robot in 2015, residents in the city of brotherly love are now sharing their sidewalks with a new kind of pedestrian: delivery robots.

A video recorded by Philadelphia street photographer Hugh Dillon late Saturday night shows that the city’s reputation as a haven for robophobia hasn’t improved much over the years. In the 30 second clip, the little bot is kicked, sat on, laughed at, and even humped by a crowd of onlookers as it prattles along to its destination.

Hell yes. Destroy them all.

They've also tried to introduce Waymo self-driving vehicles to Philadelphia, and that's going about as well as you'd expect. The graffiti vandalism has been highly amusing, and I actually have a newfound respect for Amazon drivers for deadass plowing into Waymo cars to knock them off the road.

TUNIC (Original Game Soundtrack)
https://lifeformed.bandcamp.com/album/tunic-original-game-soundtrack

This has been on heavy rotation for me recently.

My favorite track is "3. The Weight of Rain," and I'm also a fan of "29. Sunset Breakfast."

This is a small happiness, but I still want to celebrate it:

Terra Branford
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_Branford#Reception

This morning I learned that I'm extensively cited in the Wikipedia article for my favorite video game character! Amazing. What an absolute dream come true.