Nerdy November

Over the years, I always make a habit of reminding most folks that true “nerds” are exactly that. It isn’t a prerogative, but rather a descriptive term for someone who’s really into what they’re doing - that may involve math and science. If you ever needed to know how a game made back in 1992 functioned to the letter, than nerds like Displaced Gamers will answer all your questions, and then some. They also remind me what a talentless hack I am and know nothing of the world, but I’m happy just to exist with people as dedicated as them.

On the other end of the spectrum, we have nerds so good at what they do they can reverse engineer things. Although Primitive Technology doesn’t need an introduction (look at his subscriber count), I will vouch for the man that he was one of the originators of this type of content. More importantly, he wasn’t one of the many impostors who came later with dedicated camera crews and clever editing. In either case, don’t sell yourself short (literally) in what you can accomplish with some ingenuity and your bare hands.

It seems like every single day you hear some dire news somewhere in the world that a database has been breached. I can tell you that the biggest threat to your online personal security really comes from human mistakes rather than sophisticated means. Still whatever the cause is, it only takes a few steps to get your security on a software level up to par. Ken Harris has a quick guide to get you up to speed, and I highly recommended it for the list of free software alone you can use.

Ever felt some video games are better watched than played? Maybe it’s just not your personal favorite genre or maybe you’re strapped for time and can’t play anything this month. Whatever the reason is, there’s always someone out there making some sort of “theatrical” full video of any game you can think of. And as someone who’s knee deep in multiple gacha games at any moment, sometimes it’s nice to just watch other folks tell me a story. Popular no commentary playthrough channel Shirrako has you covered for most AAA game titles. Better yet, he’s really good at them and a step above the rest when it comes to skill.

Everyday people keep complaining about “AI” paving the way to take over the world. Frankly speaking, I have yet to see anything worthwhile actually be created other than the masterpiece you see in the video above. Countless billions of dollars being thrown into corporate blenders to see who can make the first completely AI generated video about an obviously natty Gordon Ramsay. I’m not sure what everyone else is mad about, but I for one welcome this new future. JACKSFX by the way has many more videos for you to enjoy.

Artist is Akira Hiramoto

I try to be less degenerate when it comes to the monthly updates, but I still want to give credit where credit is due. In our case, Akira Miramoto is artist of the month bringing us such wacky (and amazing) characters like Meiko Shirako in his works. If your normie friends haven’t watched Prison School yet, I suggest it’s a good gateway drug into the non-mainstream hipster stuff.

Actually Spooky And Strange

Not sure what it is about 2024, but there were a lot of instances where I came into uniquely strange or downright spooky stuff throughout the year starting all the way back in January. Sakura Stardust kicks off the monthly update bring you a binge-worthy iceberg compilation of strange stuff from the land of the rising sun. Even though I’m giving you the appetizer that ironically is bigger than the main course, I make no apologies about it because it’s worth a watch alongside her other content if you like strange “weeaboo” related topics.

Although I’m not a huge fan of fictional works, the SCP Foundation is an exception to this rule. It’s a good call back to the days where people only had their imagination and their way with words in order to tell a good story. Sometimes these stories can be downright disturbing if given enough time to conceptualize what is being told and believe me when I say that it’s really hard to conceptualize a lot of stuff in the SCP lore universe. Thankfully TheVolgun adds a lot of visuals and narrative context to give you an idea of what you might be thinking, and it is indeed horrifying.

If you’ve been living under a rock for a very long time, chances are you probably never heard of Wendigoon. Although I have mentioned him once this year in an earlier weekly update, I’m doing it again because he is one of the coziest in terms of paranormal and horrifying non-fiction content. There’s A TON of stuff on his channel, each one worthy of a separate mention - so stop wasting time over here and get at it if you haven’t done so already.

I was a bit hesitant to recommend Grief (even though I’ve actually talked about his channel before) due to the fact that his content can be extremely disturbing for some folks. That being said, some might argue that true crime is even more depressing since it’s based on real events, while most of Grief’s topics are in the realm of fiction. To that end, for the month of October I would find no better channel to recommend if you really want the “harder edge” stuff when it comes to anything macabre or disturbing. As a side note, Grief himself is an excellent content creator, and I just wanted to separate the art from the artist in terms of explaining my reservations earlier. As someone (Grief) who also gets the YouTube demonetization strike often, please consider supporting his work on his Patreon.

Artist is Ryouta Magaki / 犬ころ

Closing off with artist of the month, the prolific Ryouta Magaki. A note of waring that their pixiv page is extremely NSFW and full of stuff from their talented years of work. I particularly like his style since it’s nostalgic to me back during the early 2000’s era where the “small soft eyes” look was in vogue. Hope you enjoyed this content packed October update!

I'm Getting Too Old

This month is all the stuff that reminds me that I’m old, cause I find it interesting. I’ll try my best to make it relatable to all of you without going off the rails too much, and hopefully you find some usefulness out of it. We’ll start off with some weird tech that I thought was 100% a scam product category. So apparently in recent years, personal “air conditioner” devices are a thing. I thought they were those cheap neck fans that have been around forever. But apparently, they actually have Peltier technology in them and cool your neck and face. Additionally in Japan, there has been innovations in developing a lot of personal cooler devices (and even clothing!) to help beat the day-to-day heat. I’m actually curious how these products actually work out and have plans to look into the Reon Pocket if it ever goes on sale over here in the states (I need an easy return policy if I don’t like). If any of you have personal experience with these particular units, please let me know in the comments.

Consumer product testing channel Project Farm recently did a fun little video looking at YouTuber merch (shirts) to see which ones held up and which ones didn’t. If you wish to skip the intro and head straight into the testing portion, it starts at 5:13 in the video. Considering these shirts on average cost $30 to $50 shipped, you would expect a lot of them to be pretty durable and last a while. Surprisingly the results are all over the place, and you can watch the video for the finer details.

There use to be a saying on the internet that states, “Just Google it”. Well that saying doesn’t really have any weight anymore in 2024. Google as a search engine is absolute garbage in the modern era, and I highly recommend you look up an alternative if you actually want to find anything useful nowadays. My personal choice is DuckDuckGo or Brave Search - but whatever other option you like - stick with it and encourage others to make the switch. I would also switch browsers away from Chrome, if possible unless you want your ad blockers to slowly one by one be banned.

I’m a huge fan of silent (or minimal talking) travel vlogs around the world. They allow you to experience a place you’ve never been before with as much immersion as humanly possible. There’s a time and place for narration and a host for sure, but excessive commentary on top of grating music can ruin any first impression of a place quite quickly. So, I was delighted to stumble across this video of an atmospheric tour of Minatur Wunderland in Germany with no music or host talking. It combines two minor hobbies of mine into one - silent travel vlogs and miniatures / models. It’s a bit on the lo-fi side of life, and I hope you find it equally enjoyable when you need to unwind a bit.

Artist is Gil Elvgren

Artist of the month is the late Gil Elvgren who passed in 1980. Since this update was really Gen-X boomer focused, I might as well link my very first pin-up poster I had in college at the age of 18! Although not the exact same image I had back in the day, I still remember the on-campus store owner who sold me the poster and the funny conversation we had because of it. You can click on the picture for a link to Nylon.Net who has an entire archive of Gil Elvgren’s works!

The Great Urban Outdoors

In an incredible age where literally anything can be sent to your doorstep, the urge for younger folks to go outside and do something is becoming rarer by the day. When I talk about the outdoors by the way, it doesn’t have to be mother nature in its purest form. Simply exploring your town, city or county can be enriching as well as nerdy as you want it to be. Instead of the usual trappings of overpriced Instagram food and fly by night shopping centers, you can try to make a pilgrimage to some businesses fighting the good fight in keeping weird things alive. I would start with arcades, “barcades”, and niche stores as your starting points and expand out from there.

For everyone who enjoyed last month’s Jenny Nicholson recommendation, I would like to say that not all themed attractions out there are complete rip offs. If you are lucky enough to live within driving distance of a theme park, may I kindly suggest you give it a shot if you haven’t? There’s always going to be a tradeoff of what you can reasonably budget against what you want to do. Believe me when I say that I’m a “once a year” type of person when it comes to these things, but that one or two days I get to go at it - it’s a damn good time. Some places even have “vip” experiences you can look into it, which will dramatically allow you to enjoy your day. Either way, see what’s around you and plan a trip.

There’s a weird proven psychological benefit to rearranging a space or working on a project. It gives a sense of completion when done, a meaningful practical purpose to work toward, and importantly the reward is often directly involving yourself. That’s why I encourage anyone who hasn’t done a minor renovation to their living space (or at least their bedroom) in quite some time to think about starting one. Although not the most scientific source to cite, you can read a lengthy article on the perceived benefits of remodeling from Veranda. In a nutshell, make your living area that you dwell in the most more comfortable and relatable to your current circumstances. It can help improve mood and connection to your space and even where you’re at in life. It’s also why a lot of folks choose to move to another city (or even country) after a while, since they feel they need to break apart the monotony that has taken ahold of their life.

Everyone needs a crazy smart old man to teach them stuff they didn’t ask about, and HOBOTECH is a great resource if you’re looking into reliable reviews of these fancy power banks all the kids are using nowadays. Actually, I’m linking you HOBOTECH since he’s a great resource if you’re looking into making your own small solar setup for your house or personal use. I’m not here to dive into any of the nasty politics of green energy, rather I’m just a nerd trying to save you money if you make some proper choices. For example, where I live in California, we have the highest cost of electricity in the entire country! So, it makes sense to get energy from the sun where I can shave off the monthly bill. More details in the audio blog, but basically look into small scale panels and batteries to start off before jumping into the larger things.

Artist is Urushihara Satoshi

Artist of the month has been mentioned on my site before a very long time ago, but of course with the newer format he deserves the recognition he deserves. Therefore Urushihara Satoshi, also known as the “Master of breasts” is as old school as you can get in the industry. You’ll probably recognize some of his work and very unique style if you’ve been around for a while watching anime or reading manga. A good candidate for artist GOAT due to his sheer influence on the industry and still to this day rather unique design. That’s it for the monthly update, go on and get out there!