N.A. Ferrell

Victor V. Gurbo Interview On Outrun the Invisible Man Brooklyn musician Victor V. Gurbo discusses his and Mark Caserta’s new album, Outrun the Invisible Man, with Nicholas Ferrell of The New Leaf Journal.

I published notes from my discussion with my long-time friend and Brooklyn-based musician Victor V. Gurbo on his new album, Outrun the Invisible Man. You can learn about Victor, who is influenced by American folk music, and listen to his album at the link.

#Music #FolkMusic #Album #Brooklyn

The modest virtues of self-awe A dialogue about a star baseball player relating to a younger player who was in awe of him. “I’m in awe of me too,” he said.

A short fictional dialogue on the modest virtues of being in awe of oneself.

A small white computer desk neatly placed on a sidewalk with its side against a concrete ledge and its back against a black iron fence at the corner of Love Lane and College Place in Brooklyn Heights. Behind the fence we seen neatly collapsed cardboard boxes ready for recycling.

Seen on Love Lane and College Place in Brooklyn Heights (NYC) on June 23, 2025, a free white desk.

Article:
https://thenewleafjournal.com/free-desk-on-love-lane-in-brooklyn-heights/

Tags:
#NewYorkCity #NYC #Brooklyn #BrooklynHeights #Desk #Furniture […]

[Original post on pixelfed.social]

My heroic broken link report to U.S. DOJ I don’t like to brag about being a hero, but sometimes it’s necessary to tell a story to inspire our millions of readers.

In 2023, I came across a broken link in the Department of Justice's Immigration Court Practice Manual. While many other people would have done nothing (the page also had a working link to the same place), I did the "heroic" thing and reported the issue.

Victor V. Gurbo | Singer-Songwriter The Official Website of Singer-Songwriter Victor V. Gurbo.

If you enjoyed Victor's guitar commentary, you can learn more about him and his music on his professional website.

www.victorvgurbo.com

On Why Vintage Guitars Sound Better Guitarist and luthier Victor V. Gurbo offers his opinion on why vintage guitars sound better than new guitars.

Back in 2021, my good friend and colleague, Victor V. Gurbo, who happens to be a professional musician and luthier, offered his take on why vintage guitars sound better.

While I am not sure about live action 5 Centimeters Per Second (open to giving it a go), I'm a big fan of the animated version. Back in 2022, I wrote about my favorite scene in the movie: Takaki's idyllic memory montage in Act I.

thenewleafjournal.com/b/32W

Anime Hairstyles on the Ship of Theseus Does a 2D girl in anime wear a hairstyle, or is she a hairstyle? I examine the Ship of Theseus as applied to anime, with an anecdote.

I was watching Puella Magi Madoka Magica with a friend way back in 2012. I was in college at the time. A philosophy major, no less. My friend's inability to recognize a key character with different hair raised in me some philosophical questions.

The Comedy of Life and Augustus’s Death Examining an 1829 London magazine piece, “The Comedy of Life,” and the last words of the first Roman Emperor, Augustus.

A short piece in the September 19, 1829 edition of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction reminded me of an account of the death of Caesar Augustus.

A solitary yellow garden tulip with red accents growing from a dry patch of soil in front of a wooden post, surrounded by small patches of grass.

Seen in Red Hook, Brooklyn (NYC), on April 29, 2025: A solitary yellow and red tulip.

Article:
https://thenewleafjournal.com/a-solitary-tulip-in-red-hook/

Tags:
#NYC #NewYorkCity #Brooklyn #RedHook #Flower #Tulip #Weeds #Rocks #Tree #GooglePixel […]

[Original post on pixelfed.social]

Physical Game Cartridges are Pro-User I write in praise and defense of Nintendo’s focus on marketing physical game cartridges for the Switch while its rivals focus on digital-first strategies.

I published an article on March 21, 2022, praising Nintendo for being "cartridge-first" with respect to the Switch. Fortunately, I never predicted that the cause for praise would persist indefinitely.

An Albino Sparrow Sighting in Brooklyn The story of a possible summer albino sparrow sighting in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of New York City.

Back on August 8, 2018, I saw what appeared to me to be an albino sparrow in Brooklyn Heights. Unfortunately, it flew away before I could document it with my former BlackBerry Classic.

thenewleafjournal.com/b/W5

NLJ was originally on a shared Bluehost server with cPanel. Back in 2022, I moved the site to a Hetzer VPS and manage the server with Cloudron. I consider this a good upgrade, but mileage may vary (note Cloudron free, which I use, has a 2-app limitation).

thenewleafjournal.com/b/2gZ

Garbage and Free Stuff in Red Hook, Brooklyn On two separate walks past Hicks and Nelson Streets in Red Hook, Brooklyn, I encountered refuse coffee cup art and two free chairs left out for the taking.

One man's trash is another man's treasure, or so the saying goes. While that is often not the case, I turned some trash in Red Hook, Brooklyn, into a photo post which did surprisingly well thanks to the NewsBreak App.

Featured photo from my article on a humorously mis-placed "Liquid Death" sticker under glass bottles of Coke.

thenewleafjournal.com/coca-cola-li...

Kazuya’s Hair Color in Rent-A-Girlfriend A flashback scene in the fourth season of the Rent-A-Girlfriend anime revealed that the brown-haired protagonist Kazuya’s hair is naturally black.

I continue to watch the Rent-A-Girlfriend anime into its 4th season for some unknown reason. My time was not totally wasted, however. Episode 42 revealed hair color information about the hapless protagonist, Kazuya Kinoshita, which I turned into an article.

Thanks to @ap.brid.gy and the ActivityPub plugin for WordPress, you can follow my two website projects using your Bluesky account.

bsky.app/profile/then...

bsky.app/profile/nafe...

The featured image from my article on a laundromat in Ridgewood, Queens. I took this photo back in May 2024 (only my second, and to date, last, trip to or through Ridgewood).

thenewleafjournal.com/b/7y8

Finding the Best RSS/ATOM Feed Some websites offer cluttered or empty main RSS/ATOM feeds. However, in some cases, taxonomic feeds (e.g., category, author) may provide a better experience.

I recently ran into two sites I wanted to subscribe to via RSS which had main feed problems. The first had each part of multi-part reports in the main feed. The second had an empty main feed. But there was a solution for both: Taxonomic feed links (both are WP sites).

NYC Councilman Lincoln Restler announced the planting of 200 new trees in Greenpoint and Williamsburg. He urged residents to water the trees. I like trees. I support trees. Because I am a fan of trees, I express my concern that Mr. Restler did not address a bad kind of tree "watering."

Modified photo of flowers on a coffee plant.

https://social.emucafe.org/naferrell/reddit-vs-ia-vs-ai-07-11-25/

From _Reddit blocks Internet Archive to end sneaky AI scraping_ by Ashley Belanger on Ars Technica:

> Reddit is now blocking the Internet Archive (IA) from indexing popular Reddit threads […]

[Original post on social.emucafe.org]

Aesthetics and Hair Color in Gimai Seikatsu I first use Days with My Stepsister as an example of how strong aesthetic direction can carry an otherwise mediocre anime. I then look at the show’s take on hair color.

One year and one day to the day, I published an article examining animation aesthetics and hair color in the world of the Gimai Seikatsu anime adaptation. There is a link in the article to my subsequent, decidedly mixed, season review.

Inflatable Gnome in Bikini in Brooklyn I documented an inflatable bikini-clad gnome decorating standing sentry outside a brownstone residence on the edge of Cobble Hill, Brooklyn.

It is hot in Brooklyn, NYC this week. Some people may go to the beach. As I saw near the Cobble Hill-Carroll Gardens border, some gnomes may dress for the beach.

Using WordPress Manual Related Posts Explaining why I switched from Contextual Related Posts to Manual Related Posts on my WordPress website and a brief look at both WordPress plugins.

One year to the day, I wrote about using the Manual Related Posts plugin for WordPress on The New Leaf Journal. It is a free plugin which allows you to manually (surprise) select related posts and custom post types to appear with your articles.

thenewleafjournal.com/b/6ha

DRM-Free Games in the Steam Store After learning that many Steam games are DRM free, I examine the state of DRM on Steam and offer suggestions for how the platform can improve its store.

On the off-chance you are wondering how two games only available on Steam can be DRM-free, I covered that subject in an earlier essay. (Note they were DRM-free last I checked, but I have no reason to believe that changed.)

thenewleafjournal.com/b/2nE

ACE Academy is written in Ren'Py and works cross-platform. Kaori After Story uses Unity and only has a Windows build, but I ran it on Linux with WINE (outside of the Steam launcher) with no issues whatsoever.

Kaori After Story - Visual Novel Review I review PixelFade Studio’s Kaori After Story, an original English visual novel side-story sequel to ACE Academy’s Kaori Itami route.

I also reviewed Kaori After Story, a sequel (of sorts) to one of the routes of ACE Academy. Kaori is effectively a PixelFade Studio's fan game about one of its own characters and only makes sense in the context of ACE Academy. (Also on Steam and DRM-free.)

thenewleafjournal.com/b/4DA