This month started out with a trip to London to see Rilo Kiley and visit my friend. As always it was a nice trip getting to catch up over (probably too many) drinks. We visited a city farm and I got to meet a pig.

I got into the NBA Finals this year! As a days long Nicks fan I was elated to see them win. Basketball is a really fun sport to watch, I've always enjoyed any documentaries about it I've seen and I will watch the NBA Finals again next year.

I've also been watching the World Cup as I usually do, it's been fun although I do miss lazing on the couch at 3pm watching a match. I like soccer when there's a focused tournament to watch over a few weeks. Same with Rugby, I decided a long time ago that F1 is the sport I will watch all year long and there simply isn't time for another. Something I've learned this year is that finger wagging is an important skill in soccer.

With the weather being very nice and also too hot at times it meant there was plenty of time to hang out with friends, I did loads of that this month and it was great. We should all be hanging out with our friends as much as possible it's the best. In fact, I'm going to do just that this evening!

I've been working on some code stuff for a friend's show and that's all I can say for now or he'll freak out(maybe). I'm on a bit of a break from Hivemind/game dev at the minute still so it's nice to have something to work on. I'm trying to get my motivation back for those other projects but the quietness in my day job is seeping into my life and I'm finding it hard to get motivated for much these days.

I shot another couple of rolls of film, one of them a stock I haven't used before. Should have the photos in a couple of weeks just need to drop them in to be developed.

I performed in a couple of Autocorrebt shows, both were as fun as they always are. One of them was part of Pretty Good Improv who are a great improv team you should check out.

From my blog

I got a new camera lens. Took some more films photos. Played some demos.

Some useful things I came across

A simple page to create a QR code
A peer to peer file sending thing that works from your browser

Some good things I read & watched & listened to

I'm not intentionally trying to find anti-AI stuff there's just so much of it!
📃 No, Artificial Intelligence Is Not Conscious
📃 AI Economics for Dummies

This sounds like the plasmids in BioShock only you don't get to shoot out fire from your finger.
📃 The Billion-Dollar Peptides Gold Rush

The title oversells this, still an interesting read of an inevitable direction for reality TV in the age of online streaming.
📃 Interactive. Violent. Gross. Inside Fishtank, the Unhinged Future of Reality TV

Things aren't looking good for the environment
📃 If you aren't terrified by this heatwave, you should be

📃/🔊 A brief history of those weird Karaoke videos

An interesting video about the difficulties of making a online Star Wars game where people can't easily be a Jedi. Also some great stuff about our brains and how they work towards the end.
📼 The Story Behind Star Wars Galaxies' Notorious Jedi Problem - /noclip

The massive downside to not actually owning software anymore.
📼 Photoshop Now Monitors Your Career Choices

An interesting video on the history of the first person perspective in games & film
📼 Reality is a Camera Trick: Film, Bodycams, and the First-Person Shooter

Films

Dislosure Day

I liked this a lot more than most people. If you can have a mind set that it's early 2010s it helps go along with the plot that in present day is kinda absurd. Outside of that lots of fun action and a great performance by Emily Blunt.

Games

007 First Light

I finished this, it was fine! I mostly enjoyed my time with it, it went on a bit too long but on the whole I just felt with every gameplay area like I was playing a version of something that has been done better before.

Mina The Hollower

Overall this isn't a game I enjoyed. I got bored with it but went back to complete it during the heatwave because my PC makes my living room too hot. I found it to be bloated and poorly directed, absolutely teeming with ideas but no thought put into the order things should happen in from the order you complete areas in to when you get various upgrades. Like an album with 20 tracks and everyone has 10 different tracks that they like. The first 10 hours were fun but the rest not so much.

Theatre

The Whiteheaded Boy

A fun play on in the Abbey currently. The comedy gets a bit Mrs. Browns Boys for me at times but I was definitely in the minority thinking that the night I went. Excellent set and a great cast.

Dreamgun Film Reads: The Social Network!

The always funny Dreamgun's latest film read. If you're in Edinburgh make sure to catch them.

Music

Rilo Kiley in The Roundhouse

A band I had given up on ever seeing live. They essentially split up around 2008 and from various interviews seemed unlikely to get back together. They were always in heavy rotation during my time in college and my early 20s and still I listen to them plenty. When the reunited last year I was waiting eagerly for a date in Europe and eventually a show in The Roundhouse was announced and I got tickets in the presale. This was a great gig, it was just great to finally hear songs I've been listening to for 20 years live performed by te orignal line up surrounded by a load of other fans singing and dancing along!

David Byrne in St. Ann's Park

I already saw David Byrne in the 3Arena in March, the day after I bought tickets to the show in St. Ann's because it had been so good. The 3Arena show was seated so there wans't much dancing so entirely because of the ability to have a little dance out in a park the St. Ann's gig was sure to be better. It rained pretty much the entire time but I don't think anyone cared that much, David Byrne's shows are pure joy. If you ever have the opportunity to see him live you should go.

Death Cab for Cutie - I Built You A Tower

Probably the most distilled representation of DCFC in a single album there is. For a band that's been going for almost 30 years this feels like it's got a bit of every era as opposed to being entirely it's own thing like Transatlanticism, Codes & Keys and Thank You for Today were. I like this though, there isn't a bad track on it.

Modest Mouse - An Eraser And A Maze

I've only listened to this a few times but it's good. It's more Modest Mouse and that's no bad thing.

Olivia Rodrigo - you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love

By far my favourite album of the year, I've been listening to it loads since it was released. My highlights are u + me = <3, the cure & expectations but picking favourites from this album is tough. The whole album is great.

Books

Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes

I haven't read this in ages, it's still a great book. Full of themes around empathy, expectations of who we can be, who we are as we change, how that effects our relationships and how people see us. Also just a really sad book at times, it's a tough one to finish but worth it.

Stories of Your Life and Others - Ted Chiang

This is a collection of short stories, I've read half of them so far. It's good, I really liked Tower of Babylon & Story of your Life which Arrival is based on. I think the short story works better than Arrival. One of the stories Understand was oddly like Flowers for Algernon but taken to an extreme.