Lord Emp

Hilda, a blue haired protagonist from the animated series, looking askance at a bag of snacks called 'Jorts.'

Akron?

Watched 'The Astronaut' (2025) starring Kate Mara, Larry Fishburne, Gabe Luna. Heavy psychological/body horror sci-fi movie about an astronaut trapped in a house during quarantine while a thing stalks her. A lot of predictable jumpscares and weird nonsequiturs but enjoyable throughout.

Not included here is the immense amount of maps and tokens that come in the box... The STUFF that comes with this set is truly marvelous. Might have to do a review just for that.

At least three places the story cuts to 'the characters wake up in a strange room wearing strange clothes' tropes. This can be fun occasionally but too often it is heavy handed storytelling. Altogether it is a solid story and I might use it for a game with friends who haven't played D&D in a while.

The adventure is a bit of a railroad, with notes in song sections for the dungeon master to 'encourage players to agree or the story can't progress' and it feels very much like a series of encounters that must go in order. That's not all bad but there are challenges when you take away player agency.

It's a pretty good story with some interesting bits and probably best for players who aren't terribly experienced in the game. As in you don't have to be a giant nerd to enjoy it. There are some editing errors that come with indie stuff, but the artwork is so good that it makes up for the few typos.

Cover of Hamel's House of Oddities by Spring Giant Games. A black book with a skull on it.

Finished 'Hamel's House of Oddities' by @sleepinggiantgaming.com. This is an adventure for Dungeons and Dragons created by a father/daughter duo. It's an ambitious piece of self-published role playing game material that takes characters from a sleepy town on the coast to the edges of reality.

Power is out in my neighborhood. Time to suck down all the battery in my phone refreshing the power company website every 3s

Would've been helped by Mike and the Mechanics

'Secret Mall Apartment' on Netflix. Felt good!

We'll try to find you there

Yooooooo! Happy birthday! Are you going to be at Awesome Con this year?

Just tired back to how the fascists and capitalists benefit from spinning up stupid divisions among the populace. We fight each other while they scramble around and pick our pockets and lock up our children. Fucking sucks.

And the propaganda has worked, at least from the perspective of people not caring much about it. It's rich people problems! It is, but it's not just that. It's about ideals and societal goals and understanding the spectrum of the economy and society in nuanced ways that propaganda just... tramples.

It affects me because I work in an industry that seeks to reward ambitious, affluent people who have (most of them anyways) worked hard for what they have and are willing to contribute to a greater economic good. But the govt is pushing a golden ticket for the truly wealthy with no societal good.

Rather than look at the iniquities of the 0.1% (maybe the 0.5%), they are encouraged to scrabble amongst themselves. Cue the stores about welfare queens! Lattes for millennials! Smart phones for single mothers! Vilify the desire for affordable housing, healthy food and decent healthcare.

This is all because there's a solid upper middle class of people who have hit a plateau economically because the truly wealthy have broken away from the rest of us. When there's no way to move up, the selfish start looking at keeping anyone else from getting what they think they're entitled to.

And while there will be people complaining loudly about this and how stupid it is, I focus more on the messaging and the framing. The framing follows other policy things that are meant to fan the flames of class jealousy. It used to be that America encouraged upward mobility, now it vilifies it.

Travel by air is expensive! I do it frequently because my job requires it and I'm privileged because my company pays for it. I will be slightly inconvenienced by this restriction next week. It's not a big deal. I have to get to the airport maybe 10 minutes earlier than I would have.

Strictly speaking, being able to spend $100 on a fast(er) lane at the airport IS a privilege, but a small one. If you are a person who travels frequently, you're probably already in a higher economic stratum, and $100 isn't huge. If you're traveling by air at all, you're probably a little affluent.

The govt is really leaning into these micro class warfare propaganda bits. The latest thing is suspending pre-check screening at airports because they need to prioritize 'regular travelers.' This is supposed to turn the people against the more affluent on the presumption that pre-check is privilege

Just about, in Maryland. Gray at times, but lovely nonetheless. 48° and gentle wind.

Benin. Much like the British Museum, I always forget Benin.

My spouse is especially happy about this because she wants to get a jersey from @cyclepunks.bsky.social

Big win for cycling shorts for women. #terrycycling

I really didn't expect the Joe Gordon-Levitt villain arc.

This is probably the case

My inquiries are leaning toward fakery but nothing definitive. Per usual, I thought the font looked wrong. But my other experts are mixed between 'definitely fake' and 'maybe worth $400'

A golden rainbow Charizard GX Pokemon card on a wicker thing that we used to use as placemats. I don't know why we stopped.

I need a #pokemon card expert. My child's brought this home from school. She traded a Blaziken from a recent set for this golden rainbow #Charizard GX. It has been used a little (edges somewhat scuffed) but is in good shape. Do I have to make her give it back so the other kid doesn't get grounded?