#because like some absurd majority of drivers are actually terrible at driving

[wizard-mp4]

My work commute is about 60 miles one way. I spend a lot of time in the car just like trying to think stuff through. It's a lot of time I just sit and think to myself for better or worse.

#cowmmunist #big commute #lotta alone time #theres a lot of bad drivers in the DMV #delaware maryland virginia #this area of drivers is bad #i mean so is most places #because like some absurd majority of drivers are actually terrible at driving #i cant tell you how many times ive heard someone complain about a time they were driving and i was like “yeah like you did x and thats bad” #and then they just get pissed off #so i dont do that anymore #but i am just always impressed to see people incapable of operating machinery like that #and like thats a me issue because from my perspective it feels very natural #i know not everyone is like that but i can forget sometimes #i wanna get high

[passionate-reply]

Stan Ridgway is best remembered as the guy from Wall of Voodoo, and Wall of Voodoo are best remembered as the guys from “Mexican Radio.” But there’s a whole lot more to Ridgway’s solo career, which began with 1986′s The Big Heat--Americana, epic narratives, and a whole lot of digital synth. (Transcript below the break!)

Welcome to Passionate Reply, and welcome to Great Albums! Today, we’ll be looking at an often overlooked solo debut: Stan Ridgway’s The Big Heat, first released in 1986.

Stan Ridgway is best remembered as the original frontman of Wall of Voodoo, and Wall of Voodoo, in turn, are best remembered for the single “Mexican Radio,” a landmark bit of New Wave eclecticism that became an unlikely hit thanks in large part to heavy rotation on MTV. That said, like a lot of ostensible “one-hit wonders,” the span of Ridgway’s artistic career is quite a bit more varied and more interesting than this solitary recording might suggest. While I don’t believe that “Mexican Radio” is simply a novelty song that can easily be dismissed, I will set it aside for the time being, because any attempt to cover the rest of Stan Ridgway’s work is probably better off without worrying about it. Instead, let’s take a look at his first bona fide solo release: the 1983 single, “Don’t Box Me In.”

Music: “Don’t Box Me In”

“Don’t Box Me In” was a collaboration between Ridgway and percussionist Stewart Copeland, then known chiefly for his work with the group The Police. While Copeland is now fairly well known for his work composing scores for cinema and video games, this was one of his first forays into that field: the soundtrack to Francis Ford Coppola’s film adaptation of Rumble Fish. Based on a novel by S. E. Hinton, most famous for The Outsiders, Rumble Fish was actually a tremendous flop for Coppola, perceived to be a bit too avant-garde for its own good, and Copeland’s percussion-led score for the film, experimental in its own right, certainly didn’t help that perception. Despite all of this, “Don’t Box Me In” managed to do fairly well for itself as a single, achieving substantial alternative radio play purely on its own merits. And merits it has, weaving together the experience of a fish trapped in a tiny bowl with a more universalized sense of human ennui, being overlooked and underestimated by everyone around you. Not to be underestimated himself, Ridgway has not only written these evocative lyrics, but delivers them in a manner that shows a complexity beyond his semi-affected Western twang, conveying fragility and uncertainty alongside indignation and determinedness. This is also the version of Stan Ridgway whom we meet when we listen to The Big Heat.

Music: “Camouflage”

Despite being the very last single released from The Big Heat, the eerie war yarn “Camouflage” would go on to be the most successful track from the album, and Ridgway’s best-known hit as a solo artist. Perhaps surprisingly, the single was largely snubbed in the charts of Ridgway’s native USA, becoming a much bigger hit throughout Europe. While playing the harmonica and sporting a bolo tie, Ridgway seems to almost play the character of the quintessential American, and perhaps it’s that quality that’s caused this apparent rift. Is it necessary to analyze his art through the lens of exoticism in order to find it appealing?

It’s a hard question for me to answer, personally--I might be from the US myself, but at the same time, the vast majority of the music I listen to is European, as a natural consequence of being chiefly a devotee of electronic music. There is still a sort of novelty factor I find in Ridgway’s work. I remain in awe of the fact that a musical genius exists who uses a hard R, and says “huh?” instead of “pardon me?” But, of course, I am amazed by this moreso because it makes me feel “represented,” for once, in a musical tradition which is important to me. If people from Britain’s crumbling industrial centers like Sheffield and Manchester have made great electronic music, then surely synthesisers can also tell the stories of the American Rust Belt, where I come from? For that, we’ll have to step away from the sort of typified narrative of “Camouflage,” and take a listen to the album’s title track.

Music: “The Big Heat”

“Camouflage” told us a tale as old as time, in which a benevolent ghost offers one last act of aid to a vulnerable human being. The album’s title track, on the other hand, alludes to a particularly 20th Century form of storytelling: the detective drama and film noir, as hinted at by its allusion to the classic Fritz Lang film of the same title. Ridgway assumes the perspective of the hardboiled detective, hot on the trail of some mysterious quarry, and it is the innocent passers-by he seeks information from who respond with the song’s banal refrain: “Everybody wants another piece of pie today.” For as much as people have mocked Ridgway’s singing style over the years, you’ve got to appreciate his lilting delivery of this line here in the first verse, where it comes from the mouth of a female character.

It’s easy, of course, to see such apparent non sequitur lyrics in Ridgway’s oeuvre as merely ridiculous, as many quickly do with the likes of “Mexican Radio,” but the more you listen to him, the more his style begins to make sense. The instinct to find humour in things is deeply connected to the feeling of being surprised, and encountering the unexpected. Ridgway happens to be all about delivering the unexpected, and it’s precisely the surface-level absurdities and surprises his lyricism offers that make us think more deeply about the stories he tells. The title track of The Big Heat isn’t about pie, but rather the fact that everybody its characters encounter appears to be grasping for more out of life, and hungry for something else. It’s what drives criminals to transgress against the law, and it’s also, perhaps, what drives the detective to devote himself to the pursuit of the abstract principle of “justice.” To both the villain and the hero of this story, the civilians they brush past are little more than means to an end, despite their display of greater wisdom and insight into these issues than anyone else. Ridgway excels at conveying this sort of saintly everymannishness, and does so with similar gusto on the track “Pick It Up (And Put It In Your Pocket)”.

Music: “Pick It Up (And Put It In Your Pocket)”

“Pick It Up (And Put It In Your Pocket)” was actually not released as a single, which is perhaps surprising given its hooky quality and sprightly synth backdrop. While “Camouflage” is assembled chiefly from traditional instruments, with only a subtle intrusion of Yamaha DX-7 to remind you that it came out in 1986, many of the other tracks, like this one and the title track, are willing to double down on electronic influences, and ride the wave of “peak synth-pop” that was easily cresting by the mid-1980s. That aside, the central theme of “Pick It Up (And Put It In Your Pocket)” is the quotidian avariciousness one encounters among ordinary folk, and the psychological effects of living in a “mean world.” While the text mostly revolves around the idea of living in fear, and the paranoia of knowing that “everything changes hands when it hits the ground,” it reaches a climax by showing us an actual situation where this occurs: the pathetic figure of a filthy old man who finds a small bill in the road, and, in a fit of folk superstitiousness, is said to “thank the street.” The song’s tension lives between the bustle of the jealous ones, and the reality of life for those desperate enough to pick up money from the street. Like many of Ridgway’s greatest works, this track simultaneously portrays the mentality of the common man in a direct and serious manner, but also opens up room for it to be criticized. This everyman bystander persona is assumed more directly in the track “Drive, She Said.”

Music: “Drive, She Said”

While the album’s more electronic elements are its main draw, in my eyes, there are still a number of tracks that remain dominated by traditional instruments, “Drive, She Said” being a prime example of them. While narratives are always at the center of Ridgway’s work, “Drive, She Said” moves us away from omniscient narration like that of “Pick It Up (And Put It In Your Pocket)” and back into the mind of a specific and individualized narrator--in this case, a cab driver who somewhat reluctantly transports a bank robber, with whom he might also be falling in love. While it doesn’t have the supernatural implications of “Camouflage,” the two stories do seem to have much in common: an ordinary person meets someone who quickly reveals their extraordinary nature, and despite the brevity of their encounter, the protagonist is deeply affected, and perhaps changed, by the events. Much as “Pick It Up (And Put It In Your Pocket)” sees fit to shatter its apparent main premise, with an interlude that shifts the tempo of the music as well as introduces the contrasting figure of the old beggar, “Drive, She Said” introduces an interlude of its own: the driver’s reverie, in which he runs away with his enigmatic passenger. As in many of Ridgway’s tales, we must consider both the beauty of a wonderful dream, and its sheer impossibility.

On the cover of The Big Heat, we see a portrait of Stan Ridgway looking glum, which is not itself terribly unusual for an album cover, though the fact that he’s behind a metal fence certainly is. The main focus of the image seems to be Ridgway’s environment, a bleak industrial setting full of towering machinery, and no other traces of human beings. The absence of other figures in this scene draws attention to the scale of the machines, as well as the fact that in many parts of the US, including my own, it’s very common to see equipment like this that’s fallen into disuse and disrepair. Much as ruined aqueducts and palaces mark the places in Europe where the Roman Empire had once held fast, these sorts of derelict manufacturing facilities are a common sight in America, and serve as reminders of the squandered “American Century.” While many album covers have shown me places I like to imagine myself visiting, I don’t have to imagine what being here might be like, having grown up in a place whose pride left soon after the steel industry did. It strikes me as exactly the kind of setting that Ridgway’s narratives ought to take place in: dirty, simple, well-intentioned, doomed, and all-American.

Ridgway’s follow-up to The Big Heat would be 1989’s *Mosquitos,* an album that largely abandons the many synthesiser-driven compositions found in his earlier work. It’s hard to fault him for this decision, given how much the mainstream appeared to be souring on synth-pop and electronic rock by the end of the decade, but it does mean that this album offers little I’d want to listen to recreationally. That is, with the exception of its third and final single, “Goin’ Southbound,” a practically epic drama of small-town drug smugglers trying to survive, and one that fires on all cylinders when it comes to fiddles dueling with digital synths. This track feels like it would fit right in on The Big Heat, so if you’ve enjoyed this album, don’t miss it.

Music: “Goin’ Southbound”

My favourite track on The Big Heat is “Salesman,” which, to my surprise, received a small advance promo release without ever becoming a true single. The titular character, an unctuous but insecure traveling salesman, is as rich a narrating persona as any of the many in Ridgway’s catalogue, and I love the way the refrain just feels like a song you might make up while idly doing something else, silly and yet primal at the same time. It captures the feeling of living “on the edge of the ball,” enjoying the freedom of spontaneity, but also, perhaps, suffering for its enforced sloppiness. That’s everything for today, thanks for listening!

Music: “Salesman”

#music #album review #album reviews #great albums #stan ridgway #wall of voodoo

[sumukhcomedy]

“Fatal Affair”: The Open Mic Night of Psychological Thrillers

I was on Twitter when I saw a tweet sharing a California driver’s license. Usually, I presume whatever photos people are sharing on Twitter are random hilarious stuff from their lives. When I saw this license, I thought to myself, “Wow, that guy looks like Omar Epps.” As it turns out, it was Omar Epps. It was a horrifying driver’s license from the recently released Netflix movie, Fatal Affair, and what was hilarious was the notion this is how the guy showed up to the DMV to get his license. Immediately, given how ridiculous this looked, I knew I had to watch Fatal Affair.

When I watched Fatal Affair on Sunday night, it was ranked #2 on Netflix’s Top 10 I am presuming largely because of this Twitter outpouring as there is really nothing about the movie that would make it worthy of being in the top 10 other than it is newly released. But Fatal Affair delivers if you’re a movie viewer like I am in that you would love to watch the open mic night version of a psychological thriller.

I’ve often written about open mic comedy here. It is an essential part of developing as a stand-up comedian. However, what makes open mic comedy even better to me is when it is inadvertently hilarious and when it defies logic. It is too funny to watch a comedian bomb who thinks they are doing great. It is too funny to watch someone who commits wholeheartedly to their material that is dying in front of the audience. It is too funny to watch someone just talking about subjects that make absolutely no sense at all. For me, Fatal Affair is that as a film.

Fatal Affair stars Nia Long and Omar Epps. Long plays a successful lawyer, Ellie Warren, who is about to leave her firm in San Francisco because of a move to a beachfront home outside of the city. Within the first 5 minutes, we get multiple close-ups of Ellie’s wedding ring. So, already, I find myself screaming at the director “We get it!” Clearly, we didn’t really need to see her wedding ring this often to understand she is married and that probably could have been deduced simply by the fact we are watching a movie called Fatal Affair. It’s safe to say someone is going to commit marital infidelity and someone is going to die over it.

Ellie arrives at a work meeting to find tech consultant David Hammond (Epps) there. Ellie and David know each other because they went to college together but haven’t seen each other in 20 years. David pushes on going out for drinks but Ellie is just too busy what with her job and the move. Ultimately, her friend and fellow attorney, Courtney, just won’t take no for an answer and demands she go to happy hour with her. They arrange to meet up at 7 pm (the life of high-powered lawyers is so intense that apparently their happy hours aren’t even during happy hour) and Ellie invites David as well but Courtney is so slammed with work that Ellie and David ultimately go at it alone.

They share drinks in a back room of the bar where apparently no one else is despite the bar being packed and it leads to an intimate yet creepy conversation in which Ellie admits that one day she felt like the man she had been with for 20 years was now a stranger. This proves to be an important sentence for David given he references it constantly as the reason behind why he is disturbed for the remainder of the movie.

As it turns out, the “fatal affair” is not exactly a full-on affair. Maybe it’s a “fatal affair” to David? It’s unclear. Either way, they almost have sex in the bathroom after cutting it up on the dance floor but they don’t end up having sex. They just pull their pants down before Ellie realizes this is not what she wants and it’s a bad idea.

In the lead-up to this “fatal affair,” the movie presents Ellie’s husband Marcus (Stephen Bishop), as so incredibly boring conversationally to drive home the point that he is suddenly a stranger now. But then after the “fatal affair,” they share a wonderful evening with their beachfront home and lovemaking in the shower. All of a sudden things seem great so why was she feeling like this guy was a stranger again? She lives in a sweet house, with a beach, it seems like they’ve raised a great daughter going to Berkeley, her husband is attractive and they’re having sex in their new bathroom. It’s unclear what exactly is wrong in her life? Don’t worry. It doesn’t really matter as most things don’t in this hilarious movie.

Ellie tries to break it off with David. David only gets crazier and ends up in a relationship with Courtney to hammer home his craziness. I don’t really need to go into it more. It becomes your predictable stalker guy movie.

But what makes Fatal Affair so uniquely entertaining is that it hits on all the things that are so hilarious to me about movies in this “open mic” kind of way. The directorial decisions on visuals (such as the wedding ring or David’s license that looks like you bought it off a guy in your college dorm room) are just so absurd that they are funny. The acting is so bizarre that it’s unclear if the actors are actually trying or got the script, realized this would be a fun paycheck, and just phoned it in. The music is so generically suspense sounding even at inappropriate times.

The plot is hilarious in that it has the skeleton of actually being really good but then never fulfilled its ideas for reasons that are unclear. David is a hacker and his tech savvy keeps being brought up yet he never really uses it to torment Ellie other than switching her name on some text messages or with a security system. He really could have destroyed her life and caused her immense paranoia through his hacking but instead was just a creepy stalker who happened to be a hacker. Ellie keeps bringing up “the city” throughout the movie yet nothing is really conveyed as to why “the city” is so important to her as opposed to this sweet new house they have. Marcus suffered a major injury in an accident and yet there are no signs that he is still injured nor what effect his injury had on the family. It’s as if the director had a fully formed screenplay, then blew all the budget on the craft foods tables, and just started cutting out scenes, plot points, and symbolism. It’s hilarious to watch and be completely perplexed by.

But, in the crazy times that the year 2020 has been, Fatal Affair is exactly what I needed. Long and Epps provide us with the nostalgia of actors we grew up with but without them rebooting some project that we don’t need to have rebooted. We’re provided with the comfort of a movie and a movie at its most mindless that it drew a lot of uproarious laughter out of me.

Fatal Affair is a terrible movie that makes no sense and yet I love it for exactly those reasons. It’s not all hammed up like Sharknado. It tries to be something yet fails miserably at it and may have been self-aware enough to realize it was failing miserably at it. If you’re a fan of thrillers, the softest of softcore sex scenes, if you have an absurd mind, if you just love Nia Long and Omar Epps, then you’ll embrace Fatal Affair even if it’s not for the reasons the producers were hoping for.

#fatal affair #netflix #fatal affair netflix #nia long #omar epps #movies #movie reviews #california #drivers license #san francisco #sharknado #thriller #psychological thriller

[stoffelstories]

Candlelight

The prompt: Write a story with some kind of European element in it. The title is Candlelight. It must be dramatic. Wildcard: The story must contain a sloth somewhere in it.

Chapter 1

Ciaran wondered at the giant grandfather clock as he passed it. The enormous long hand of the clock seemed to take several minutes to swing the last increment to the top of the hour. When it did, instead of bells chiming Ciaran heard the sweet melodic riff from the introduction to Mr Brightside. That’s odd, he thought. And then he looked around at the landscape. He was on an open road in the middle of the bushveld with no landmark except the absurd grandfather clock anywhere in sight all the way to the horizon. He heard a strange rhythmic rumble in the distance. To the south there was a thunderstorm moving ominously in his direction. The rolls of thunder came at an astoundingly quick and regular tempo. Dark clouds strangled the light of the sun as he stood, confused by the unnatural sound of the thunder. Lightning began to flash, but still the only sounds were the same distant, too-quick rolls of thunder and the grandfather clock chiming out Mr Brightside. Coming out of my cage and I’ve been doing just fine… Gotta gotta be down because I want it all… Suddenly, a crash shattered the landscape into a million pieces, the sky fell in on itself as he fell upwards into its jagged implosion through shards of black and then sudden marvelous light as his eyes shot open and he sat bolt upright in his bed. He swooned under the oppressive jetlag of his sudden cross-dimensional journey. As his eyes adjusted to the morning light gushing through his window and his understanding adjusted to this new reality, he noticed a shattered glass on the floor by his bedside table. And then he saw his iPhone lying face-down among the glass shards.

“Marmite!” he half-yelled, half-croaked through the morning phlegm stuck in his throat.

Marmite poked his head around the bedroom door frame with a guilty meow.

“This was you wasn’t it? You little terrorist!” 

Marmite hopped on the bed purring at a hundred cute little rumbles of thunder per minute.

“Oh no, don’t you dare try cutesie your way out of this. You are in big trouble. My phone screen is probably smashed to smithereens!” he vented at the adorable four-legged vandal now soliciting a good scratch by rubbing his head against Ciaran’s toes. Suddenly he froze, a chilling thought penetrating the fog of his morning drowsiness and domestic problems. What time is it?

Ciaran shot out of bed sending Marmite flying with a mighty meow-scream and grabbed his phone off the floor, stepping on bits of broken glass as he did. He immediately jumped back onto his bed in a rush of pain and expletives. Brushing off a few shards of glass shallowly embedded into the sole of his foot and muttering curses under his breath, he checked his phone. The screen had fractured into a hundred pieces. Well, that’s just wonderful. As painful as the cellular carnage was to look at, the time on the display was worse. 7:41. He was late for work. 

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

A taxi driver hooted at Ciaran as he sped past. He chuckled to himself at the irony. It’s funny how quickly things can change. Since the Lockdown had ended, The New Authority had made a lot of changes in the name of progress and efficiency. The first inefficiency to be targeted was the one they dubbed The Electricon Problem. To deal with the struggling national power system inherited from Before, the new board of directors immediately cut electricity to all non-essential and wasteful burdens on the power supply. Interestingly enough, this measure included traffic lights being disabled and replaced by pointsmen in impeccable uniforms at the necessary major intersections. Many of the Pointers (a government-sanctioned term created for the sake of syllabic efficiency and progress in gender equality) were actually members of the old Electricon board of directors. The New National Prosecuting Authority had swiftly found the old Electricon board guilty on many counts of mismanagement, corruption, and fraud. Apparently the evidence had already been collected but just needed to be filed correctly in an efficient manner to present a more precise and well-constructed case. However, none of the guilty parties were sent to prison. In fact, The NA ruled that prisons were soon to be phased out completely on the grounds of wasteful expenditure but didn’t disclose what would happen to the inmates. Instead, the white collar criminals were all placed under strict surveillance and re-employed as Pointers for their “rehabilitation into honest society.” The official media statement released by The NA claimed that they “wanted to prevent such terrible influences from corrupting the inmates and prison guards.” 

Ciaran turned into Bucket street and immediately threw his battered little CitiGolf into second gear to overtake the pedestrian-paced Nissan Almera puttering along in front of him. It’s always a bloody Almera. I hope the NA bans them because of lack of progress. They’re always stopping traffic from ever getting any-bloody-where! He sped past, swerved back into his lane to narrowly miss yet another infuriated taxi driver, and slammed on the brakes to avoid crashing into the car in front of him waiting its turn at the intersection. Dammit! I should’ve taken Westoak street! But he always took Bucket - probably out of habit more than anything else. He glanced at the clock on his dashboard. 7:53. If these guys give me a break I might just make it! He looked up at one of the Pointers directing traffic in dramatic mechanical actions. I miss the Outsurance-sponsored dancing pointsman from Before. The NA just takes the fun out of things. He offered a smile at the Pointer but it was not reciprocated. He hadn’t expected it would be though -- there was too much at stake. They had to prove their efficiency and workrate if they wanted a hope of success and prosperity under The New Authority. That hope could only be realized through a series of promotions in The New System. Nowadays, everything is a test. The Committee knows everything. Don’t slack off. Don’t miss your targets. And God help you if you’re late. He glanced at the time again. 7:54. Come one, hurry up Mr Grumpy Face.  Bossman might actually kill me this time. Or worse…  As Ciaran waited for the stern-faced pointsman to wave him on, he looked over to the corner pharmacy and remembered how different it looked Before. Usually at this time of the morning most of the homeless that had slept in a neat row under the awning in front of the pharmacy would have packed their belongings and begun their day. Some would still be lingering on the pavement in various stages of consciousness. No one ever seemed bothered by them though. I never asked them where they would go. They must have had some kind of routine. Now I’ll never know. They’re all gone. An angry whistle woke Ciaran from his daydream. ‘Mr Grumpy Face’ was furiously gesticulating at him to hurry up and move on. The intensity in his facial expression disconcerted Ciaran. He hastily shoved his car into gear and continued his race to work.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

8:13. It’s not that bad. Only 13 minutes. Maybe Bossman had a breakfast meeting and won’t be there to see me arrive late. But Bossman was waiting for Ciaran in the parking lot. 

“YOU’RE LATE AGAIN, CIARAN!” he thundered.

Ciaran raised a feeble hand in apology and attempted to drive past the furious Bossman to his parking spot. 

“STOP!” he roared. So Ciaran stopped and braced himself for the torrent of abuse that would surely soon be pouring through his open window. 

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

“Man, that was crazy, bro!” laughed Xabiso as Ciaran poured himself a cup of coffee in the break room. 

“You know what he looked like? Have you seen those waving tube men things they put in front of car dealerships?” blurted Shelby, the intern. Everyone except Ciaran laughed.

“Down and UP! You’ve never been on time for anything, Mr Murphy!” Xabiso affected a kind of Afrikaans accent that sounded oddly Swedish as he waved his arms haphazardly up and down trying to mimic the rise and fall of a tube man. This time even Ciaran, who had still been recovering from the wrath of Bossman up until that moment, couldn’t resist a chuckle at Xabiso’s antics. His mirth faded quickly, however, as he looked at Xabiso and Shelby with a worried question in his eyes, “You don’t think he’ll report me, do you?” 

“No, I’m sure he won’t, bro. Don’t worry about it. Everyone was late today. You just got shat on because you were the latest,” offered Shelby.

“Things have been crazy under The NA though, man. All these new rules and their talk about efficiency and progress. And the war on Sloth. They’re saying it’s a crime now. That they’re not going to tolerate offenders. Bossman has been accusing me of laziness for years.”

“They haven’t passed that law yet. And he’s not that kind of guy, you know that. You just…” Xabiso’s voice trailed off as he noticed two police officers talking to Geraldine at reception. She looked over at them and pointed towards Ciaran. 

#creative writing #fiction

[fortnitebattleroyalevbuckhack]

Why Has 'Fortnite: Battle Royale' Gotten So Popular?

Until you have been surviving in a 1: 1 brick room the past few weeks, you know that Epic’s Fortnite: Battle Royale has taken over the world. The game has acquired players at an incredibly rapid pace, once an upstart rival to PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, but now the student has become the master. Past that, more people are playing Fortnite than any other shooter on the market right now, from Call of Duty to CS: GO to Battlefield to Destiny. It’s an absolute monster.

But…why? Why this game? Why right now? How did this happen? I genuinely cannot think of another game that has blown up this quickly outside of 2016’s Pokémon GO, or perhaps PUBG itself in the early months. But Fortnite has taken things to a new level, and with an imminent mobile release, the sky’s the limit.

I do want to answer these questions however , as it’s important to try and make sense of how we got here. Why is Fortnite not just popular, but a world-eater the likes of which we haven’t seen in a long time? I think there are a number of reason that all combine into what Fortnite streamer/millionaire Ninja said to me in our interview yesterday, it’s just a “perfect storm. ”

The Storm:

Epic found itself in a unique position as it stood by and watched PUBG blow up before its eyes, using its own engine, Unreal. Fortnite had been developed as a build-focused defense game for a number of years (sources tell me the game has been in the works for almost a decade), but Epic’s flexibility allowed it to experiment with its own spin on a Battle Royale mode. Make a map full of destructible objects, use the shooting controls and building mechanics of the original Fortnite, and voila, you have your own BR title on the market just as the genre is really starting to heat up. This has upset PUBG to no end, but you can’t copyright a style, and Epic happened to be at the right place at the right time with the right engine to work with.

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It’s the greater visually attractive game

This might sound small, but I genuinely believe a huge part of Fortnite’s success is due to its cartoony, almost Pixar-ish aesthetic. Not really that PUBG is a terrible looking game, but it does blend in with a landscape of other realism-based shooters, where Fortnite plainly stands away. And because from the cartoony nature, Fortnite has already been able to go completely wacky with creative skin and even weapons like grenades that force you to dance in place. The aesthetic almost requires the gameplay, in a lot of ways, as the whole game relies around people quickly constructing systems and walls and ramps, which would appear absurd in any other name, however, not here.

The building aspect is something completely unique to the style

And the building aspect works, which is vital part of all of this. I can’t blame other shooters for not visualizing that building cover and high ground on the spot would be a core part of a fun gameplay experience, but Epic stumbled into something brilliant here because of what Fortnite was actually supposed to be, a building/defense title. It seems like this idea should have failed miserably, however the building really works, and for all PUBG’s issues about Fortnite BR duplicating them, the building aspect is something that really sets the two aside from one another.

Everybody else is miles behind

Beyond Fortnite and PUBG, no-one else even seems near to releasing a competitive Fight Royale game at this level, because no-one comprehended exactly how insanely popular this genre would become until some time ago. A few other titles may try to spin out BR modes as time goes on (I expect Call of Duty may try a smaller scale version of one this fall), but Fortnite has had months competing only with PUBG, which has helped both games grow rapidly. I’m hearing talk that powerhouses like Blizzard are “aware” of BR’s popularity and may be developing their own version, but how much time will Fortnite get to rule this roost? It seems poised to be the League of Legends of the BR genre, second to arrive, perhaps, but the ultimate champion able to take on all newcomers.

Epic using their own Unreal engine means more platforms, more patches, more improvements, more quickly

Part of the reason that Fortnite will be, and continues to become this type of success is due to the fact Epic is so damn fast when it comes to every aspect of the game’s advancement. Fortnite is not the most technically complex sport on earth to start with, but add the fact that Epic is working with their own engine, Unreal, and that results in incredible velocity in all areas. Fortnite got to consoles prior to PUBG, it’s getting to mobile before any present shooter, really. The game will be constantly patched and updated, where fixes and additions often take no more than a few days to make their way into a game, while Destiny 2 takes six months to fix a bugged quest icon. Epic’s speed is what’s helped drive Fortnite’s success, probably more than almost any other factor.

Twitch has anointed it king of the streaming mountain, and it’s fun to watch

Not that Twitch is the end-all, be-all of a game’s success, but it has been an immense popularity driver for Fortnite, both in terms of stream popularity, where the game has created all-time Twitch legends like Ninja (now earning almost $600, 000 a month from Twitch subscriptions alone), but also smartly doing deals with Twitch for Prime loot which got even more players playing and watching. I don’t watch many Twitch streams these days, as it’s just too time consuming, but even I’m getting sucked in to watching players far a lot more skilled than I perform Fortnite, as it’s a good absolute blast to view due to the amazing plays top-tier streamers are able in order to make. It’s a ideal streaming game, and that is helped it spread such as a virus the final couple months in specific.

It’s a shooter, yet not too violent with regard to younger players

Circling back again to the cartoony character of the game, it could be goofy, but it furthermore ensures that parents might have much less of a problem along with younger kids playing this. Yes, you’re shooting folks with weapons, but it is about as non-violent because a shooter can obtain, if that makes feeling, between the animation design, the absurdity (people within bear costumes hacking at astronauts with pickaxes) and a total lack of blood or gore. It’s why Fortnite has been embraced by a very young crowd similar to what we’ve seen with Overwatch, another shooter that somehow never feels very violent at all.

You can play any way, for any amount of time, and it’s accessible but with a high skill cap

Fortnite has something for everyone, for the most part. Matches are short and fast unless you’ve made it all the way to the very end, and it’s simple to drop within for a few when you want. The squad program lets you play single, having a friend, or along with a whole group, based on who’s around, and dating is an absolute air flow compared to most online games in the genre. It is also totally accessible in order to nearly every level of gamers. If you’re proficient at operating and hiding, you are able to most likely make it to the particular top 20 pretty very easily, a sense of achievement even when you’re not the killer. If you would like to be a Fortnite god, you can perform that too, and learning the map, building plus engagements is an extremely difficult prospect at the particular highest amount game. Yet every match feels…satisfying. In case you die immediately, a person can start over within an instant. In case you pass away in the middle, a person can feel great about at least outliving those first 20-40 suckers. If you die at the end, you might feel like you’re pretty damn good. The BR format is addicting and doesn’t drain you the way constant losses in other games do because you’re supposed to “lose” the vast majority of the time.

It’s free-to-play, and no one hates the microtransactions

And did I mention Fortnite is free? That may be the biggest reason for its popularity, as it’s a rare F2P title that doesn’t feel obnoxious when it asks you for money. Players can shell out $10 for a season-long battle pass that allows them to earn an enormous number of cosmetic items so long as they’re playing frequently. And if they can’t, they can purchase the items outright, simply no loot box randomization needed. A totally free game in this particular genre having a microtransaction program that doesn’t feel excessively greedy is really a rarity, plus outside of fun game play, this may be the particular biggest element in Fortnite’s achievement.

As you can observe I simply listed uh, 9 different, but important factors Fortnite is blowing upward such as this. It really will feel like an ideal surprise. If Epic dropped the particular ball in any one of these simple areas, or if the particular timing had been away in some other method, Fortnite might have been the flash in the skillet. Instead, this feels such as the following Pokémon GO. The particular next Minecraft, even. Plus it’s difficult to see exactly where the limit is for Fortnite, a game that seems like it’s just getting started.

#fortnite-battle-v-buck-hack #fortnite #fortnite battle royale #gaming #gamer #games #online games

[aventuramexicana]

My Friends Visit!

Guess what? You just boarded a time machine and we are back in February. You’re welcome.

February 21st (Tuesday)-

My friends, and former co-workers, Sarah and Julia, got into their hotel in Oaxaca fairly late the night before but woke up ready to explore. I was super excited to have them visiting for so many reasons. First off, because they are both just really great women.  Additionally, because we are all, to varying degrees, Mexican in descent, and there’s something cool about being able to share the experience of being in Mexico with people who are tied to it, but never lived there. On top of that, Julia had already been to Oaxaca a couple of times as part of a program through the Public Health department at San Jose State. The school organizes trips every year for public health students, where they spend a few days in the city, and a few days with host families in the neighboring village of Arrozola. They offer public health related services and get a chance to experience the culture in the process.

By the time that I met up with them, at approximately 11 a.m., the two of them had spoken with a woman working at the tour desk, and bought tickets for a full-day tour the following day. I bought myself a ticket as well and then we went strolling around my favorite parts of the city center. Those areas tend to be a little more upscale, and as a result I often struggle to reconcile my personal values with my somewhat snobby taste, but who doesn’t like nice things? Anyway, we did a quick tour through the Zocalo, and the Plaza de Santo Domingo, and just sorta wandered and did some shopping from there. We stopped at one of my favorite restaurants, Expendio Tradición for lunch. I had esquite soup while the others had ceviche, salad, and something or another. I don’t know, it’s been a month. The point is that all of us enjoyed our meal.

We continued to shop and wander through the city for several more hours, which really helped with my step count on my Fitbit. This was important to me in that moment because I alternate between caring deeply about my step count, and not caring at all, depending on how my week is going. Basically, I only care when I am “winning”, the rest of the time I tell myself “I’m not competing. This doesn’t mean anything”. It is a very convenient approach to competition.

In the evening I brought Sarah and Julia back to my apartment and we had a conversation about the cost of living in Silicon Valley, and how absurd it feels when you can contrast it with the cost of living… pretty much anywhere else. But that is especially true in Oaxaca. For what I paid in rent there, I mighttt be able to find a closet to rent in somebody’s home in San Jose, and I could forget about finding a garage to live in. A garage would run me somewhere around $800/month.

I introduced Sarah and Julia to my neighbors in the evening when they all met up on the roof, and after chatting with them for a bit, I picked one neighbor’s brain for some suggestions for a decent vegetarian meal. Oh yeah! Julia is vegetarian too! It was actually really nice to have another vegetarian around, especially one who speaks better Spanish than I do. It made me feel less concerned that I might be accidentally duped into eating meat, simply because I wouldn't understand everything listed on the menu, or know the right questions to ask of the waitstaff.

Anyway, we took a cab to Calabacitas Tiernas, my other favorite spot. It is the same one that has that independent bookstore attached to it. This time I cannot even begin to recall what either of them ordered, but I had the same thing that I always get, which is essentially fried cheese with tomato. What is not to love about that? Then after our meal, we wandered around the little bookstore and remarked to each other about all of the progressive or subversive literature. I love it. I love that there are sections in there devoted to feminism, LGBTQ issues, anarchism, political resistance, etc. It’s such an interesting window into that side of Oaxacan culture.

We walked back, since that direction was downhill, and quickly stopped in a convenience store on the way to the hotel so that Julia could look for her favorite Doritos. They come in a black bag and they’re called Incognito. I don’t know if they sell them anywhere else (like anywhere in the States), but she knew that she could find them in Mexico and was on a mission to track them down.

February 22nd (Wednesday)-

I met up with my friends at their hotel just before 9 AM and we got in a big van with several other people and set out toward Santa Maria de Tule to see the Árbol del Tule (the Tree of Tule). I’m going to be honest with you, the Árbol del Tule does, in fact, have the stoutest trunk of any tree in the world, and it has 4.7 (out of 5) stars in terms of Google Reviews. Still, as someone who used to walk through the redwoods to get to class on campus at UCSC, it just didn’t do much for me. It was really wide and quite tall, but it just didn’t blow me away. Maybe if I’d grown up in the Arizona desert I would be like, “Holy crap! Look at that tree! The tallest cactus I ever saw doesn’t even come close!” But I am a spoiled Californian, and what am I going to do, lie? Fine, it blew my mind. Photos of Tule

Next stop on our trip was a rug making shop in Teotitlán del Valle. The staff there did a demonstration on the way that they use all natural resources to dye the natural fibers, to make the rugs. Now, this was awesome. Did you know that the color blue comes from crushing up a plant that has orange flowers? Isn’t that cool? Also, we already know that I think lime is magical, but it can be used as an acid to adjust natural colors to just the right shade. It was seriously neat to watch the tiny little alterations that could be made to turn something from one color to an entirely different one. Oh! How about this? They get red by waiting until cacti are ravaged by little white parasites and then they crush the little parasites and that’s where the color red comes from.

Then once we had seen how they make all of the different colors to dye the yarn, we got to see how they actually weave the rugs, using a giant wooden loom, and essentially carbon-paper templates.  Still, even with the aid of this mechanical loom, the vast majority of the labor is done by hand. It is truly remarkable. I kinda wanted to buy all of the rugs. I loved the variety, but was especially drawn to the purple and blue ones, and all of the rugs that showcase some sort of scene and are meant to be hung on a wall rather than placed on the ground. The ones with the tree of life on them were some of my favorites, but I also really loved the traditional pueblo landscapes. If they had allowed me, I surely would have taken tons of photos of the rugs, but unfortunately, I was not able to.

Next stop: A mezcal factory in Tlacolula. As someone who doesn’t drink alcohol, I wasn’t expecting to get much out of it, but I thought it was really cool. They showed us the specific type of agave plants that are used and then took us through the various steps needed to turn it into mezcal. My favorite part was that they let us sample the agave in its raw state. It was really sweet but also had a strangely meaty-flavor. It reminded me of beef jerky (as best as I can remember what it tasted like, anyway). Photos from El Rey de Matatlán

From there we went to Mitla. I enjoyed it. I would have a hard time making the case that it is as impressive or cool as Monte Albán, but it was still definitely worth seeing. Plus you actually get to enter the buildings at Mitla, and that was pretty neat. It also served as another reminder that I am not normal-human height, and that I most certainly would not have been back in the days when it was being built. I had to fully crouch down, not merely duck, to get through the doorways. There was also a little underground tunnel, but after watching several people, much shorter than myself, duck to get in and emerge from the other side still bent-over, I decided it wasn’t for me. Photos from Mitla

Finally, it was lunch time. I cannot even begin to express how happy this made me. I have a well-earned reputation as someone who needs to eat pretty much constantly. I’m not being hyperbolic when I say that if I go too long without eating I turn into a bit of a monster. Anyway, the food was fantastic. The restaurant itself was lovely and decorated beautifully with talavera tiles, wrought iron decor, and rustic Mexican wood furniture. But back to the food. The first thing you need to know is that it was a buffet, and that even as a vegetarian I ate like a queen. I sampled a whole bunch of things during my first serving, but then gave up on pretending to have a balanced diet, and went back just for white rice covered in mole negro. It was fantastic.

Last stop: Hierve el Agua. It was gorgeous and, I would argue, a must-see for anyone visiting Oaxaca. That said, getting there was pretty uncomfortable for me. I didn’t get my driver’s license until I was nearly 18 because I used to have terrible nightmares about driving, starting when I was about 8 years old. The nightmares followed one of two standard formats. Either I was driving through a pedestrian-heavy area (like a theme park), and could not pull my foot off the gas, or I would drive straight off the side of a mountain. All this to say, the road to Hierve el Agua is hardly a road at all. It is a mountainside, and most of it is not paved. From my perspective, it is also only suitable for one car or van at a time. Unfortunately, that is not how it is treated. I get car sickness pretty easily, but add a healthy dose of terror onto that, and this was a whole different level. I was legit breathing like a woman in labor.

Fortunately, we made it. It was stunning. I want my ashes scattered in the pools of it. Just kidding, people swim there. That would be gross.  I don’t know know how much more I have to say about it, except that you should enjoy my photos then go see it for yourself. Oh! I know! When you do go see it for yourself it would be nice if you could please not give other people several small heart attacks by standing on the veryyyy edge for a photo. In this era of Instagram celebrities and selfie-sticks, people are actually dying in pursuit of the perfect photo. And I’m not ragging on either of those things; I have both. But there were moments when I wanted to yell at grown people to please take one large step forward. I swear they were not going to lose any Instagram followers over it.

Also, I will likely be going back to Hierve el Agua with my parents in just a handful of weeks. I plan to dope myself up with Dramamine to help me get through the drive. I will let you know how it goes. Also, the ride back down the mountain was still rough on my stomach but did not feel nearly as treacherous, so at least that worked out in my favor. Photos from Hierve el Agua

February 23 (Thursday)- Sarah, Julia and I set out at approximately 9 a.m. in a cab headed for Monte Albán, which of course, meant another winding ride up a mountainside, but what can you do? Monte Albán was beautiful, just as it had been the last time that I was there with Lee, but this trip had a couple of things working in its favor. First off, I didn’t have to listen to some tour guide who was overly fond of the sound of his own voice, and secondly, it was sunny.

We climbed to the top of the largest pyramid, took some photos, and saw a class of tiny children (approximately kinder or 1st graders) take a class photo and then RUN down the steps. Honestly, I could barely stand to watch it. As someone whose parents invested a lot of money in her dental care, the visual of any of those kids nosediving down the steps and cracking their teeth, was all too real for me. Still, I have to admit, this is why you expose kids to semi-dangerous things (like skateboarding) at a young age. They are too naive to be nervous, and when you aren’t nervous, you’re more likely to come out of it alright. We got some ice cream from a Monolo’s stand near the entrance/exit and waited for a cab to come all the way from el Centro to pick us up. We were told by another cab driver that our driver would be there in “10 minutes” which was a charmingly blatant lie (or deceit rather), seeing as we had just taken a cab from the same place, and that ride took half an hour. Photos from Monte Albán

We went from Monte Albán to Arrazola, a trip that took us approximately 45 minutes, but only because our driver got a little bit lost. Once we were there, we had the great pleasure of meeting Julia’s former host family; quite possibly the kindest people I have ever met. Julia’s host-brother walked us around the small town and told us about local legends and things, while his mom prepared food for us. My meal was delicious. It was quesillo enchiladas with mole and rice, and coke, of course. Honestly, I think it was the best food that I’d eaten since I arrived in Oaxaca. I know it is cheesy to say, but you just can’t beat food that is prepared with love. Julia’s host family makes a living by making alebrijes, and I felt fortunate to have the opportunity to support them by purchasing one that I really loved. There’s so much that I would like to say about our conversation over lunch, but I wouldn’t feel comfortable about sacrificing their privacy in that way. What I can say is that they were incredibly kind people, and it meant so much to me that they were so patient with me as I stumbled my way through their language. It was a truly affirming experience, to realize, “This is why I am doing this. Learning a language is hard, but if I don't put myself out there, and trade in my pride once in a while, I could never have the privilege of getting to know these fantastic people.” Photos from Arrazola Frankly, and I don’t mean this in a pretentious or condescending way -- and I certainly don’t think I’m better than anybody else just because I prioritized my life this way -- but it makes me feel bad for all of the people in the United States who pass by the same people every day on their way to and from work, out to lunch, whatever, and never know how incredible those people are because they don’t speak the same language. February 24 (Friday)- In the morning I went to the immigration office and picked up my temporary resident ID card. It felt fantastic. On the way to meet my friends, who had already set out shopping, I listened to some of my favorite music and practically skipped through the streets. At that moment, it all just felt so right. The weather was beautiful, I had the invaluable support of my friends, and everything had come together in a way that felt “meant to be” (though I’m not sure I believe in that sort of thing anyway).

We spent pretty much the entire day shopping, which of course, was right up my alley. I may not have been able to direct anyone to the restaurant serving the most authentic pozole, but I can tell you where to shop.  This fact fills me with a mixed sense of pride and shame, but it was nice to be able to quell the shame side of that, as my knowledge of where to get things did actually come in handy. For example, Sarah was looking for candy that she could buy in bulk to share with people back home. Who knows a candy store that sells the classic Mexican stuff in bulk? This girl right here.

For dinner, we went to this place called Zandunga, which coincidentally happens to be #1 on Buzzfeed’s list of restaurants in Oaxaca that you have to visit at least once in your life. I didn’t know that at the time but gathered it must be pretty popular because it was the first restaurant I had been to in the city where there was a wait to get in. Still, the wait was short, we were quickly seated, took in the trendy setting, and ordered up an appetizer of guacamole and totopos (chips).

I was stupidly excited to eat real guacamole. Oaxacan guacamole is actually a bit more of a green salsa, which just doesn’t do it for me. I can’t quite speak for anyone else, but my meal (cheese enmoladas with both mole negro and mole rojo) were delicious. The restaurant also specializes in mezcal and mezcal cocktails, a perk that was wasted on me, but that many others seemed to enjoy.

Sarah, Julia and I walked back to our hotel after dinner and said goodbye there. It was totally bittersweet for me. I loved having friends around, and those two women are a couple of the nicest, most genuine people that I know. Even bigger than that, they are both deeply empathetic and have an innate drive to do for others. For those few days, I felt more supported and empowered to tackle the more intimidating parts of living abroad than I had in quite some time. Perhaps the most impactful to me was that having them around made me really feel “seen”.

I am under no illusion that I’m everyone’s cup of tea, and that has at times presented challenges for me, in terms of making friends in a dramatically new and different environment. So it was truly a gift to be able to experience the ease with which we related to one another. Which, I imagine for some, would be frustrating, and might even feel like a curse. Maybe some people would walk away thinking, “See, I get along so well with them! Why can’t I find anyone who gets me like that here!?” But it left me feeling optimistic, rather than defeated. I walked away thinking, “See, I get along so well with them! I am pretty cool! People like me! I just need to find the right people.” And, for the first time in a long time, I felt really capable of doing it.