ewen_cluney.html

Guess I'll try getting back into Tumblr now that Twitter is on fire.

[foone]

The most important cold-open in Babylon 5.  (You don’t need any context to appreciate this scene)

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Cyber Garfield hates Cyber Mondays

Is that anything? Am I alive? Is this real life?

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There are certain things where I have a fondness for a particularly cheap version that was a part of my youth, and that includes yellow cake (made from a mix) with chocolate frosting. It cost me about $5 in all.

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Reminder that in The Wizard of Oz, the Scarecrow had a gun.

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Stuff at a discount store:

Converts: Like Transformers but they're weirdly mad about the Pope not being conservative enough.

Lisa Frank rainbow dolphin puzzle

Kawaii Jesus-kun desu!

FART ZONE

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Another thing about Final Fantasy IV is that late in the game you get this Lunarian wizard guy named FuSoYa added to the party, and his knocked out sprite looks like this.

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There's gonna be a bit in my isekai novel series where a scribe who's devoted her life to studying Earth calls it "A world that forgot how to change for the better." I don't *want* that to be true, but it sure feels like it sometimes.

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Most years the Google Japan team shows off a wildly impractical keyboard in October, and they release the open source resources necessary to recreate their madness. Their offering for 2021 was a keyboard shaped like a teacup, with the keys corresponding to the kanji for different kinds of sushi. Naturally I took it upon myself to actually build one of these, which is now done. It was way less aggravating to put together than I expected, mostly a lot of bending and soldering little pieces of metal to assemble the PCB pieces into a cylinder.

[nekoewen]

I added stickers so now (if you know lots of fish kanji) you can know what the keys do!

Also, I have an extra set of parts for sale if anyone wants to have a go at building their own.

[nekoewen]

Most years the Google Japan team shows off a wildly impractical keyboard in October, and they release the open source resources necessary to recreate their madness. Their offering for 2021 was a keyboard shaped like a teacup, with the keys corresponding to the kanji for different kinds of sushi. Naturally I took it upon myself to actually build one of these, which is now done. It was way less aggravating to put together than I expected, mostly a lot of bending and soldering little pieces of metal to assemble the PCB pieces into a cylinder.

[nekoewen]

I went to a used record store to look for audio cassettes to mess with since that's a thing I'm doing now, and I accidentally found where the image for the "It's Always Morally Correct" meme came from.

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Since I’ve been doing Duolingo for 2+ years I had the thought to try listening to musica en español, and my favorite so far is “La Bala” by the Puerto Rican hip hop band Calle 13. The song just sounds cool, but also it's a condemnation of gun violence that gets downright poetic.

The bullet is saying everything without speaking Without raising suspicions, he assures his slaughter That's why his belly is full of lead You don't need eyes to reach your prey. And more when the path is traced by an infrared The bullet never gives up If he doesn't kill today, at least he leaves a wound after his departure There would be no detainee obeying her boss only once in her life

There is little money, but there are many bullets There is little food, but there are many bullets There are few good people, that's why there are many bullets. Look out, here comes a BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM

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I commissioned Otacat to do Vaporwave-inspired art of my OC Kurumi in a teal one-piece swimsuit holding a 65% keyboard, with the aim of making stickers and using it for the cover of the book on keyboards I've been writing.

The stickers are now up on Etsy for sale (they're holographic and everything), and also I gave into temptation and put together a reasonable approximation of Kurumi's keyboard. I started with a pink MXRSKEY CK650 keyboard (which has a well-made CNC'd aluminum gasket case, plus both Bluetooth and 2.4GHz wireless) with Everglide Aqua King switches and Drop + Mito DCX Cyanlet keycaps. It cost me like $300, but it genuinely feels amazing to type on.

(The black and white thing in the upper right is a handwired Bento macropad that I customized to use for Google video meetings.)

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E-WITCH vs. SOURMAN

[thevaultoftheatomicspaceage]

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Comedy Fiction Podcasts!

Lately I’ve been stressed about finding a new job, which has led me to stop listening to a lot of my usual podcasts (and maybe I should rethink what I listen to??? 🤷‍♂️), so I’ve been on a comedy fiction podcast kick. 

Two Flat Earthers Kidnap a Freemason is about the thing in the title, and a funny and well-made story about conspiracy theorists and secret society members being weirdos.

In Bloodthirsty Hearts fangirls of a trashy vampire series are having a bit of drama as head into the big fan convention in Cleveland when it comes under attack by real vampires who are pissed off about how they’ve been portrayed. The girls have to gather the courage to fight back and survive.

The Perfectly Circular Rock is about a small town where the titular enormous rock suddenly appeared, and how people react to it. The result is a bit Twin Peaks and a bit Welcome to Night Vale, and comes in primarily through the lends of the town’s two rival DJs.

Alba Salix, Royal Physician is the story of a doctor and her assistants in a fantasy world.

Georgie Romero is Done For concerns a girl who wakes up as a zombie with most of her memories missing, and as the story unfolds she tries to adjust to being part of the local monster society while trying to uncover her own past.

Less is Morgue is about a shut-in ghoul and the oddly cheerful ghost that haunts her. They rarely leave the basement, and often annoy other supernatural beings that stop by.

In Roommate From Hell, an atheist and a literal demon are roommates.

Any recs for more?

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Some more comedy fiction podcasts I’ve discovered!

Who Killed Avril Lavigne? is about a teenage boy in the present day who feels like he was born too late because he’s obsessed with pop punk. Then he ends up going back in time to 2004 at the Warped Tour on a mission to save Avril Lavigne and the world. The show features quite a bit of excellent original pop punk music.

A Very Fatal Murder is The Onion’s parody of true crime podcasts, with a host who’s a little to enthusiastic about investigating the murder of a photogenic teenage girl.

Wooden Overcoats is a British sitcom in audio form. In the tiny village of Piffling Vale, Rudyard Funn and his twin sister Antigone run a funeral home. Rudyard’s slogan is “We get the body in the coffin in the ground on time,” while his pale, weird sister handles the embalming in the basement and avoids sunlight. Then one day the handsome, charismatic Eric Chapman comes to town and opens his own competing funeral parlor.

Black Friday is a horror/comedy podcast about the employees of a big box store under attack by walking corpses.

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Today I went to the SFxMK mechanical keyboard meetup in SF, specifically at a cafe on Treasure Island (which is way bigger than I’d realized). Although attendance was capped at 150 people, there were a ton of neat keyboards on display.

This is what I brought. I was definitely the most into weird DIY keyboard stuff.