I love that Against the Storm has this grim dangerous aesthetic but the actual loss condition is “The Queen Is Annoyed With You” (and your biggest threat is “The Vibes In The Forest Are Bad”)

anyway this wasn’t the most annoying instance but it did really bring it to mind

“I’m trying to grapple with how I feel about being single” -> “here’s unsolicited dating advice”

“I’m trying to understand how I feel about my body” -> “here’s unsolicited weight loss or health advice”

I'm in a discord where in one channel players of a game are giving feedback to developers, and often someone is like "Hey, I got confused about issue X, and it took me weirdly long to figure out how it works, maybe you should make that clearer" and then they get flooded with people explaining X

favorite singers were
- Ying Fang (Ilia, Idomeneo)
- Brandon Jovanovich (Parsifal)
- Kwangchul Youn (Gurnemanz, Parsifal)
- Peixin Chen (Sparafucile, Rigoletto)
- Amartuvshin Enkhbat who I will now go out of my way to try to see as any role for the rest of my life because holy shit (Rigoletto)

Anyway 2025 Operas I Saw Ranking:

1. Rigoletto (banger)
2. La Boheme (don’t care about the plot, love the music)
3. Parsifal (weirdly sparse music in a way that really works?)
4. Idomeneo (I get why this isn’t one of the Big Mozarts but it still rules)
5. Dead Man Walking (I wanted to like it!)

no one more surprised than me that I was actually able to focus and remain engrossed for five hours but the music is just that good. Although at the start of Act 3 where they’re just singing about abstract virtue for half an hour and nothing is happening I zoned out hard

I was impressed with all the singers but Brandon Jovanovich as Parsifal was particularly rich and expressive.

the world is a bit smaller tonight with the death of Alice Wong. if you aren't familiar with who she was please pick up any of her books.

We are a social species, and we have always prevailed through cooperation. Caring for our sick. Raising children we didn't sire or birth because they were part of our village or extended family. We are not breeders and predators, we are communicators and survivors. We evolved to UNITE.

We are going Super Social Justice Blue Hair and Pronouns. We are calling things "gay" and "queer" as compliments and honorifics. We are proudly being buzzkills and harpies and feminine and vegan and giving a sincere fucking shit about the environment and climate and well-being of the community.