Louis Ingenthron @LouisIngenthron@social.cleverlibre.org

I cannot recommend "Roadwarden" on Steam highly enough. It might actually be my favorite RPG ever. And it's an RPG in the classic sense: It's about allowing you to play a role and simulating the effects of your agency in a brilliantly-written world.

I know it's close to ending (the game runs on a time limit from the start) and I'm already mentally preparing for a second trip into the peninsula immediately after my first.

It does involve a lot of reading, but the writing is excellent, striking the perfect balance between setting the tone without getting flowery or overly-verbose.

If you want to escape into a fully-realized corner of a new world this weekend, check it out:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1155970/Roadwarden/

I really hate tip culture. I shouldn't have to perform value judgements on people's careers to try to figure out if I need to pay them extra for their service. That should be their employers' responsibility.

Today, I went to a full-service car wash. I spoke to no less than five different employees that worked on or around my car. Yet, when it was done, I was apparently expected to tip the last guy I met. I don't even know what proportion of the work was his. He could have done 10% or 90% of the work. But either way, he got 100% of the tip.

Can we please just, for the love of God, raise the minimum wage and eliminate tip wage exceptions?

Okay, I'm really baffled now by people who wear masks incorrectly.

Nobody is forcing you to wear the mask.

If you choose to use it, why would you use it wrong???

In a crowded waiting room and not one, but two separate people waiting have decided to have cellphone conversations on speaker phone.

What is this world coming to?

At an auto mechanic shop and the woman running the counter is quite rude (in a condescending way)... which I could get mad at, but then I realized she's totally incompetent too. She had to call someone else because she couldn't even figure out how to pull my file, which is receptionist 101. So now I'm just laughing watching her interact with her colleagues and wishing I had some popcorn.

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The past few days, I've been cleaning out and organizing my bookshelves.

After choosing which old video games were deserving of front-row slots, I designed and 3D-printed some new brackets to hold them in place... color-coded to match their console line!

Why is unfermented beer not a delicacy in America? I feel like many Americans would enjoy malted barley tea. Kinda surprised it's not available in every coffee shop.

As an #artist, the entire concept of #marketing infuriates me.

Without marketing, the best #art in the world is doomed to languish in obscurity; you've got to make people aware that the experience is available.

But, *because* of marketing, the best art is already doomed to languish in obscurity, because only the most mediocre mainstream crap is funded by multi-million dollar firms that can browbeat upstarts with their marketing budget. It's hard enough to cut through the noise of 8 billion other people before dealing with the multi-millionaires outbidding you for ad space.

So, inevitably, #marketing is a double-edged sword wielded by the rich to cut down fledgling artists with both edges.

And I cannot, for the life of me, think of an equitable solution that would work.

Are we doomed to repeat this cycle until the end of time?

Companies that include "incentivized" or "sponsored" reviews in their review system are showing you just how dishonest they are and just how little they care about the customer experience.

This behaviour should be a huge red flag to avoid doing business with the company in the future.

Why do some film editors think that the soundtrack should be louder than the dialog and how do we get them all fired forever?

If your comedy special has "no subject is off limits" in the elevator pitch, you may be a hack.

Finally saw "The Cabin in the Woods" the other day. Been on my backlist forever. Great movie.

However, if anyone ever asks, I'll just describe it as "One of those movies that's confusing until Sigourney Weaver shows up to explain it."

People who take their dogs to public parks, watch their dogs shit, and then walk on like nothing happened...
They don't deserve dogs.