6.9 nice.

YouTube Obsession

This obsession is a little embarrassing but I am rigorously honest as best I can be and for the past week I have been watching a lot of Oompaville.

He’s like if Ace Ventura and Alex Jones hosted a meme filled Wikipedia reading. He yells, does cringy bits and talks acts like he’s on meth most of the time. To put it all into perspective; he was homeschooled. He’s a quirked up white boy/CIA psyop who proves he’s an ally because he knows who Yakub is.

Yet, his videos are perfect for me to put on in the background as I answer emails at work or play Risk of Rain 2. Even though he started off as a YouTuber drama channel, his most recent videos are fringe topics (conspiracies, UFOs, creepypasta etc) that I find interesting but don’t have to commit to memory.

Watching

Few shows trigger a truly nostalgic reaction in me like The Girls Next Door.

I’m watching now because my partner has a strong connection to the show and has been referencing and showing me clips since we’ve been together. Recently, we decided to start from the beginning and wow; If anyone wants to see the distinct fashions trends of the mid-aughts, just show them the pilot episode¹ .

To say I enjoy the show beyond it’s post-Y2K fashion would be a bit of a lie. It’s very hollow schlock but entertaining hollow schlock. Ya know? I don’t find the lifestyle fascinating, I don’t have a reverence for Playboy/Hef nor do I have any attraction for the women² . I don’t particularly like the women as they are presented in the show. They are harmless but inane. Kendra is a literal 19yo in the first season and Holly has machinations of world dominance simmering just below the surface at all times. Then there’s Bridget Marquardt. In another life, Bridget and I would be best friends. She is endlessly optimistic, bubbly and willing to talk/laugh about anything. A real ride-or-die energy. So yeah, I am parasocially obsessed with a show from 20 years ago now.

Ultimately, it’s a fun show to riff on with my partner while I pine over the whale-tale fashions of times past.

Reading

If I were my father, I would have couple kids in high school at age 38 (and that alone blows my mind) so I think I have officially entered my Dad Books Era™.

Continuing with Unabomber: Desire to Kill and what really strikes me is the ideological disconnect between Ted Kaczynski’s philosophy and his actions. Despite all of his writing and ranting about technology destroying communities, the man did everything but try to build a community. This is common behavior among men, who maybe rightly, perceive a wrong in the system but then rather than do any hard work like build a movement of like-minded people, they take up acts of revolutionary terrorism.

Listen, I’m not sure how many Kaczynskis, Mario Mangiones or Christopher Dorners are needed for the revolution but as we have seen, when acting solo, these acts of violence are easy to be written off as actions of psychopathic loners by the media and those in power.

MM

Ultimately, Secrecy World: Inside the Panama Papers, Illicit Money Networks, and the Global Elite by Jake Bernstein is a story about the necessity for a free press. Because when the IRS was presented with the leaked Panama Papers before it was leaked to the press, they had no incentive to look into them despite being a treasure trove of tax evasion in the billions of dollars. It took hundreds of journalists in dozens of countries to put a boot in the ass of their governments to prosecute the parasites hoarding their wealth.

Unfortunately, the disclosure was more a documentation of the wealth hiding process than leading to any major legal action considering practices that allow the wealthy hide their money are completely legal. I wonder had that happened?

Obviously, there was far more legal action taken in Scandinavian countries where there is a far better understanding of class and funding universal services. Taxes not paid is theft from the people and because they have a strong Labor party they expect their due.

Playing

Played a couple early access games on steam this past week.

Low Magic Age is a 5th edition D&D dungeon crawler with elements of Bannerlord and Battle Brothers. Fun but fairly barebones at the moment. Needs to fill out the skill-check activities performed in dungeons since character skill rolls are the most fun element.

Tower of Babble: Survivors of Chaos is like Vampire Survivor meets Diablo. It’s incredibly addictive. Will probably hold off playing more until 1.0 because I find myself wanting to engage with mechanics that aren’t fully fleshed out.

Other Notables

** “They vote for Trump, and then they get mad because the stuff starts happening,” he said of his neighbors. “We’ve got to get rid of all the illegals. This is just a start.”

** I spent Billions of dollars and all I got was was a crippling K addiction.

** Heart of Darkness is one of my favorite books and FarCry 2 is one of my favorite video games: Enjoy a 2 hours analysis of both!

1  As I turned 18 in 2005, I am an expert on the topic.

2  This was before big butts received the praise they always deserved so most of the women embody the Anglican ideals of waifish beauty. With, big boobs of course.