Caffeine

27 Nov 2025

Watched #predatorbadlands yesterday. Good use of yautja mythos to explore the toxic "I'm not raising a sissy" parents. Also has a pretty decent, if overly short final act of fighting a pharma corp with the help of flora/fauna of the planet they want to exploit. 7/10.

2 Aug 2025

Was heavily debating between buying No Sleep for Date or 100 Line with my birthday gift card but @kazkodaka.bsky.social impressed me with how he's trying to provide players of T9 with closure on his own time. Waiting on 100's download now. #gaming

9 June 2025

Just got scammed out of $3 by a claw machine that won't even go down fully. You'd think being a Baltimore lifer would teach me about not getting scammed lol

5 May 2025

DCPL staff are 🐐. I picked up a card while visiting DC and there was an out-of-town fee for Baltimoreans. I can't pay it because their payment system is offline, but a staffer told me I can still use my account (and their Libby is worth signing up for). #libraries

Just got back from film fest DC and I hope Mistura gets an indie theaters and streaming deal soon. It's so interesting and the director and the producer were so sweet! I hope the good buzz from this festival screening helps! #movies

In short, yeah, it's a movie about inequality and privilege, and unlearning it. Hence the contrast of that initial exclusive french restaurant idea and 60's protests against the Peruvian government.

Hence specifically the French food. Bc weren't the 60s a time when we had those celeb chefs like Julia Child promoting it, leading to the reputation of "sophistication"? Hence contrasting this euro import and working class immigrant fare that helped build peruvian food.

She starts off utterly in her rich bubble, even as she lives in the 60's Peru. Yeah, your husband is terrible but why are you accusing your maid of stealing the fancy cheese? Don't take it out on her! But she grows.

They do make amends. She goes from insisting on shopping for restaurant silverware in Ross to casually strolling the bazaar she initially scoffed at. They spotlight the cheap seasonal fruit in a restaurant dessert.

In short, it's about a rich lady whose husband dumps her for a mistress. She needs to pay for herself, so she starts a restaurant that specializes in French cuisine but then grows to rep the supposedly "lowly" Peruvian foods.

30 Apr 2025

Just got the oneui 7 update and it annoys me. Give me back my old lock screen music widget. #technology

27 Apr 2025

Sinners was lit (although I'll need to rewatch with closed captions bc I struggle to parse southern accents). Anyways, it's interesting how a character who's prime target for 1930s nativism feels the need to impose on black americans. #movies

27 Apr 2025

And I mean "impose" bc if you're a white guy trying to get into a black establishment and you're told no, just be respectful instead of trying to trick and force your way in. Plus, there's that dancing scene that drives in the perpetuation of repression.

27 Apr 2025

And I think it's why he's such a compelling villain to me. Yeah, I've dealt with xenophobia as an immigrant and actually got threatened over it once. It sucks, but why are you trying to stomp on american minorities' culture in your misguided view that it'll solve things?

23 Apr 2025

Picked up Semantic Error and this is a true masterpiece of haterdom. Like, stealing the favorite seat of your nemesis in multiple classes is just evil lmao. Oh, and the art's gorgeous. #bl

webtoons.comMomfluencerHow far would you go for fame and wealth? Fledgling mommy influencer Juyeon Park is desperate to join the ranks of popular internet celebrities. Thanks to a video of her daughter going viral and her “...

23 Apr 2025

Obsessed with this series. It's about a mom blogger who is desperate to hit it big to escape her jail as a small town housewife. And she and her former high school bully (now top influencer) latch together. #webtoons #manhwa www.webtoons.com/en/drama/mom...

18 Apr 2025

Started watching The Art of Negotiation due to hype. It's a competent business thriller, but I stew in finance and M&A stuff daily bc I'm a corporate accountant. It felt like I was at work after 6 and I love my job but not this much lol #kdrama

Oh, To Be Hero X is turning out to be a fun examination of for-profit heroism and comic book tropes! Before we start: it's simulcasting on Crunchyroll with subtitles in a bunch of languages. I'll be vague because no spoiler tags on this site. #donghua

But also, it does deal with other aspects of both celebrity culture and superhero comics. Like how someone can get trapped as the Girlfriend, with increasingly intertwined careers and no clear way out.

And yeah, it's all very pretty. And while you wait on the next episode, the director's other work, Link Click, is also on crunchyroll. It's a pretty fun time travel mystery, but TW for season 2 extensively dealing with spousal abuse.

So, this very pop art aesthetic that has been spotlighted in the marketing? Yeah, so the superheroes have their own marketing department in the show. They collaborate with ALL THE BRANDS. It takes until 2nd half of ep 1 for any superheroics, actually!

If you're thinking it's very Boys-adjacent, yes, it is. But here, superpowers are shaped by public opinion and it might extend to other aspects of the very being? This thread is very prominently being set up after episode 2.

webtoons.comPhantom WhispersNoa has struggled with hearing unsettling voices since she was a child. But when a mysterious murder takes place, the voice in Noa’s head urges her to uncover the killer. With the police skeptical and...

Currently enjoying Phantom Whispers. It's a horror series about a lady who can see ghosts and is the Attic Madwoman to her family. And she meets a serial killer's victim and gets investigating. TW: blood, some gore, violence #manhwa #webtoons www.webtoons.com/en/thriller/...

The wait for next Choujin X chapter might end me. In the meantime, dusting off my copy of Jack Jeanne. Yeah, the Tokyo Ghoul guy illustrated and partially wrote a music academy romance visual novel. It's good so far, I've just been too busy to game and now I'm sick.

Ok yeah, I'm back after forgetting my password for ages. I started attending a Chinese language academy's remote group classes on Sundays! 2 months in and impulse-booked HSK1 for late June. Some things I've found helpful (thread): #languagelearning

And yeah, just keep studying daily. I'm not really up to actually watching without subtitles yet, but office dramas are something my parents swore by for learning English.

viki.comFilter | Watch with English Subtitles, Reviews & Cast Info | VikiUncover Landy Li's true identity in Filter, as a high-tech bracelet lets her adopt new personas that Tan Jian Ci keeps falling for!

Anyways, I'm slowly watching Filter and it's pretty good. Like, there's commentary on dumb beauty standards and screwball comedy. But the guy protagonist is too emotionally unintelligent and that annoys me. www.viki.com/tv/41001c-fi...

3. Figure out what works for your learning style. I find gamification helpful, so I used to be on Duolingo before they went full AI bro. Now on Superchinese half for the reading/speaking sections, and half for that element.

open.spotify.comChinesePod - BeginnerPodcast · ChinesePod LLC · ChinesePod makes learning Mandarin fun and easy. It isn't your typical language learning resource - we think you'll be entertained as well! If you’re just trying to learn ...

4. Practice listening too. Here's a favorite gym podcast of mine: open.spotify.com/show/2WfRQRT...

1) Fidget-study on your phone. Waiting on your coffee to brew? Pull out your academy's quizlet set, the text portion of the HSK prep app, or an app you're using to study in between class meetings.

2. Set up a specific time to study heads-down daily. I typically try to do at least 30 minutes after finishing dinner.

18 Oct 2024

With starting a new job with sane hours and a decent salary, looking into in-person group classes for korean and chinese. Unfortunately I can count the ones that meet at night or on weekends on one hand, but emailed them all for next term info! #languagelearning

Watched Poor Things last night. Best arthouse movie I've seen this year bc it's very funny and surreal but also wonderfully tackles the bodily autonomy theme. We had a packed showing and people actually applauded at the credits (not normal for my indie theater). #movies

Anyways, the ending where she inherits his place and is allowed to be an adult who does whatever she wants and comes and goes whenever she wants made me cry a bit. And we all laughed at goat-man.

Like, in English, it's a compliment to call someone a goat. In Russian, you're basically using a milder form of "piece of shit" (ie if a guy cuts you off in traffic, "вот же козёл"). So I was like... yeah, he deserves to become a literal goat for everything he did lol.

Anyways. Her mom was a terrible rich lady but was still done in by the social norms of the era. And it was nice to see Bella be a better person and ultimately break free of social norms and be a mad scientist like her dad. ENDING SPOILERS FOLLOW!!!!

And she ultimately respects her dad's bodily autonomy, after he brought her into the world without permission. He's at peace with cancer and never asked to be brought back, so I get why she let him go. Perfectly intact living body for a brain transplant available and all.

There's also a ton of moments like this one where people try to control the overly independent girl. Mostly men, but there was one lady too. Look, it's Victorian London (steampunk edition) and it's bad that she's living the hedonistic life gents are allowed to have!

Side note but that production and costuming design direction is absolutely delicious. A lot of Bella's looks feel like they'd make Viviene Westwood proud, coming to think of it! But then again, punk pioneer, so about tracks.

Spoilers incoming! Anyways, the scene where the pathetic old creeper tossed Bella's books off the ship and grew increasingly angry she was making friends lives rent-free in my head. Not so nice when you can't control "your" girl, no?

25 Dec 2023

Relatively final-ish take on protag of indie game I'd like to make. Someday. Maybe. I was listening to Beetlejuice musical and wondered how it'd work in the age of airbnbs. I'd like it to be a casual puzzler. #characterdesign

26 Dec 2023

Close-ups. Tried to hit a point between easy to redraw for sprites, fun for myself, not too desperately tiktok marketable, and still marketable. Skirt idea from Samsung x Blackpink 2019 event, shirt design bespoke bc og looked plain!

26 Dec 2023

Rejects for fun. 1st one felt too desperately tiktok marketable, 2nd felt annoying to redraw + og outfit felt boring.

25 Dec 2023

My parents got me a mic bc they overheard me idly mention maybe taking up streaming once. Ok yeah, I'm actually crying now. Twitch streamer arc: start soon (need to work on the branding)!