Even More Cleaning Up

I’m going to continue clearing out the backlog this month of interesting “out of the way” content. One of the things over the years I have talked about on my site is the niche of theme parks being inside the pop culture lexicon. As much as we are all “nerds” to some level and degree, theme parks are kind of a cross between what normal every day folks enjoy, and straight up fanatics / weirdos. I’m not saying any of this in a disparaging way either, since a lot of people all over the world have their own crazy stories about their own local parks, and those who go to them religiously. In North America, it’s easy to see the “plight” of theme parks to be regarded as rich people problems. But it wasn’t always that way, and it’s increasingly become more bizarre as time goes on. In any case, Jenny Nicholson is one of my favorite human beings on the planet for being as quirky (yet extremely detailed) as she is for the content that she makes on themed attractions. If you want to see what crazy rich Americans have done to IPs like Star Wars, please watch the video in its entirety. You’ll get to see how the “1%” live, and how insane (yet fascinating) it all is. It’s a beefy video too, so be warned.

Continuing my tradition of showcasing stuff obviously I should have saved for spooky October things, this is a YouTube channel in Japanese that deals with paranormal stuff. I consider it “junk-food” content that is good enough to watch and be interested in as long as you’re not overly serious about the material. Paranormal stuff outside of North America is more refreshing to watch from someone who grew up in the western world, since a lot of the scary stuff we see can become formulaic over time. In other words, we get our fair share of Victorian ghosts, civil war spirits, sasquatch sightings, and ufos. It’s nice to see unexplained stuff be unrecognizable, in an unfamiliar language with no historical familiar context. It adds to the spookiness of it all and allows us to be curious again of what is out there we don’t know about.

Another “spooky thing in July” thing I wanted to share is basically a YouTube channel dealing with SCP foundation entries and reading them in a narrative way. The channel is called The Exploring Series, and is fantastic for those into story telling; especially when pulling a lot of elements from SCP archives. I have stated many times in previous updates that I tend to enjoy non-fiction stories in my day-to-day interests, but I do appreciate finely crafted fictious storytelling as a form of art from time to time. It helps me develop as a speaker and reminds me to interject emotion and emphasis whenever possible.

Let’s pull ourselves out of the pit of universal horrors and back into the wholesome geek culture of reality. LGR has been a longtime YouTube recommendation on my site for quite some time, but I’m not sure many folks know about his alternate channel called LGR Blerbs. Ever the professional, he puts stuff on there he feels may be too niche on the main channel. I’ve always enjoyed his trip videos specifically, because he shows the nitty gritty of traveling somewhere without all the obnoxious editing or “influencer” style trip vlog. If you like this kind of video, I highly suggest you check out his backlog and recent Chicago trip.

Random synthwave song? You bet your ass I’m going to include one because why not? Especially since this is a cover song and typically already has something going on for it in terms of mass appeal. The modern remix by Scandroid breathes new life into a classic. Check out their other tracks if this one hit a chord with you.

Artist is KyuYong Eom

Artist of the month is KyuYong Eom, someone I previously featured on my site a long time ago but never got the “official” treatment they deserved. That’s because KyuYong’s art is extremely reminiscent of old school fantasy art of the 80’s and 90’s with a little touch of modernism, especially in the look of the character faces. If you look over their portfolio work, you’ll easily find your next D&D roleplaying avatar for sure because they’re that talented.

Spring Cleaning

This update is going to be a grab bag of content I’ve been sitting on for the last couple of months. Sometimes there are interesting things that don’t really fit any type of theme, but also kind of go overlooked when lacking a clear classification. Let’s treat all this good stuff then like a clearance bin at your favorite store. Not exactly what you’re looking for but maybe there are some good deals to be had.

There’s a famous quote from Jonathan Swift that “Everything old is new again”. Retro handheld gaming has become really popular as of late and is turning into a large market for nostalgic gamers as well as young technophiles. With the introduction of devices such as the Steam Deck putting the power of a PC into your hands, it makes sense that other handhelds start hitting the market as well. Personally, I will attest that what makes or breaks a handheld device is not necessarily its raw performance but rather its ergonomics. I’m not sure everyone would agree with me, but there’s so many options out there at the moment (and growing) that it doesn’t really matter. If you like what you see already, there’s even more stuff on the way.

Ken Harris has a very down to earth YouTube channel that primarily focuses on cybersecurity. He does do other content from time to time as well, and one of them is the above in regard to YouTube. I promise you it's not a drama, profanity laced rant as the norm with these types of videos. I just think it’s a really good perspective from someone who states the obvious that no one really talks about at all on the platform.

For every single weeb out there, I’m going to assume this is common knowledge. However, not everyone who is into Japanese pop culture or video games actually cares about the “real” day to day life of Japanese people. This often leads (unfortunately) to folks being out of touch with societal norms in another country. Why I bring this all up is because sometimes, you read some pretty aggravating tone-deaf articles out there about this or that in a video game or comic. Had those folks actually just took the time to just learn a bit about what they claim to enjoy, they would have realized it’s just a matter of perspective. In any case, I highly suggest you check out Japanology Plus for an extensive (I mean that) deep dive into all things Japanese.

Who am I fooling with the last paragraph? You younger folks out there can’t stand anything longer than 10 minutes according to psychological studies made by various Anthropology groups. So, I found the shortest video possible that explains a lot of fun nuisances in Japanese culture by Japanalysis. Now get off my lawn and have a nice day!

It’s been six months since the death of my Synthwave section on the website. From time to time, I want to share a few songs here and there I think have more mass appeal of the genre. The above song from All the Damn Vampires is such a track. Don’t forget to check out the talented vocalist YOTA as well, as a lot of her work is pretty damn good.

Artist is Bluethebone

This artist has been mentioned in the past on my site, but only in passing in my older scattered method. So now in the “proper” format, I award Bluethebone June 2024’s artist of month. They do their style in a retro VHS subtitled video format that is extremely unique. This is the human touch most AI algorithms can only dream of no matter how much money tech bros throw down the toilet to develop them. It’s fitting that the picture depicts something rather recent as well, namely Shadowheart and Karlach from Baldur’s Gate 3 in glorious VHS subtitled fashion. Hope you enjoy their other works, and a fair bit of warning their portfolio is extremely NSFW!

Go Touch Anything That Isn't A Screen

Every year I throw in a single monthly update dedicated to touching grass. Well, what if I changed things up this year and told you to go touch anything that isn’t a screen? It’s a simple request from one human being to another. I may have a lot of things invested into my time online (including this website) as I’m sure you all do. But I always make sure to divert, create, and manage free time for other endeavors that don’t include a phone, laptop, tablet, headset or computer. Technology is supposed to be there for us to enhance our lives, but lately it seems to be working as a substitution. I have a lot of life stories and experiences that I love sharing with all of you, and that comes from being able to have time to do something rather than observe someone (or something) else. So, please go make time for yourselves and stop letting others steal it away.

“But Box, I hate going outside! I also have a medical condition that makes me allergic to human beings and red tree squirrels!”

Well, you’re in luck dear visitor. May I humbly suggest you go pick up some Lego kits and start building them from scratch? What if I told you, it’s even easier since someone can show you step by step how to build things along the way! Getting into the habit of starting a hands-on crafting project can be daunting at first, but we all need to take our first steps somehow. Thankfully there are a lot of folks out there ahead of the curve, and willing to show you how it’s done so you’re not horribly frustrated on your first time. Top Brick Builder has a lot of “build along with me” type videos and most of their sets are “nerdy” enough that I think a lot of you will like for your first build.

Lego not your thing? There are a lot of miniature DIY kits available on many online stores today, and they’ve really gotten a lot more sophisticated than way back when I started talking about them. These kits are fairly straightforward to build, but still require a lot of patience and (more importantly) the right set of crafting tools. Having all you need before you begin will lessen the frustration of situations where you need something that you may not have on hand. Offset tweezers and fast drying craft glue are a must if you’re diving into this hobby. Even if you don’t decide to build anything, the YouTube videos of folks building these things is relaxing in its own right, but remember we’re trying our best not to stick our faces to screens.

Alright I’ll level with your hardcore nerds out there. Taking you away cold turkey from a screen is probably the worst thing I may suggest. I really just want all of you to do something productive with your time than just simply ingesting media passively. Perhaps I could recommend you all to get into 3D printing? You’ll still be looking at a screen, but you’ll also be getting into the hobby of crafting something into the 3D space, and I heard it’s an extremely addicting hobby to get into to. And yes, I have no experience with 3D printers either, but I’ve heard it’s quite dangerous (in terms of being addicted) once you get started. So, get out there and print stuff so you can teach me when I ask you down the road about it. You’ll still be touching screens, but at least you’ll also be touching something else.

Artist is Ni0

Ending off the month with an extremely old school talented artist Ni0 (Nishi) who has worked on a ton of IP’s over the years. Pretty low-key artist too (not much about them online) but believe me when I say that they’ve been very successful and prolific back in the day. Definitely deserve the artist of the month spot, and I hope you enjoy their work. They also have a printed copy of their work over the years titled Ni0 Art Works: Nishi’s Alluring Figures. You can try and find it locally in your area of the world, or import it if it’s not available. That’s it for May, go out there and start touching some stuff!

Audio Anxiety April

This update has been years in the making, but I’m happy to finally put it all together in one blog post to up everyone’s audio game. So get ready to take some notes, buy some new equipment, and start experiencing some high-quality audio you’ve probably been missing all your life. I expect all of you to become obnoxious hipsters at coffee shops once we’re all finished here! As always, the audio portion of the monthly update has way more nuance, so don’t forget to take a listen.

After reviewing countless videos on YouTube talking about audiophile terminology, I settled on the above created by chuckolatte because it’s the most down to earth without going too much into the weeds. Keep in mind these terms spill over to speakers as well but will not complete all the vocabulary used by audiophiles to describe everything. It’s just that people are really more particular with headphones then they are speakers, but that’s not to say they aren’t as important. In a nutshell, the advice you use to buy a good set of cans / buds would be the same for a good pair of speakers.

Speakerrating is a recent site that launched indexing Bluetooth speakers of all sizes and brands. It’s an invaluable resource to see people’s opinions on the hundreds of models out there on the market and to have some idea of where they stand against one another. Bluetooth speakers are an excellent compromise for someone who wants a portable device when necessary while having mostly the same quality as a good set of stationary “at home” speakers. With advancing technology in TWS becoming a thing, there are some younger folks who strictly buy Bluetooth speakers only; ditching the RCA / AUX input of yesteryear.

FxSound is a freeware desktop program that allows you to apply customized EQ settings to any output devices you are using. This has the advantage of working at a hardware level versus an application level, meaning that your EQ settings apply to EVERYTHING coming out of the device versus application settings which only apply to that particular instance. So, for example if you use an EQ built into your music player app; then the EQ will only apply to the songs you play via the app. But with FxSound, if you apply the EQ to your output device, everything will have the EQ applied that plays. Games, browser sounds, other apps, movies, music, everything. This program may save those of you who have current passable hardware or unlock the full potential of new hardware you have bought.

Scarbir is who I recommended in the past for earbud reviews and someone I still recommend today. That's because he’s focused on value first (how much you pay for what you get) versus overall sound quality (which most other reviewers use) as a metric. There are so many folks out there who are really good at recommending high quality gear in general, but they don’t really feel cost is a necessary consideration. In other words, if someone feels that a $300 pair of buds is worth it, they won’t give you any other recommendation than that. Scarbir understands we’re not all enthusiasts, and we can make some sacrifices here and there. Thanks to him over the years, I have never felt I needed to spend more than $50 for some kick ass earbuds, and I hope you find something in your price range to love.

Sortabase True Wireless Earbuds lists all the current earbuds in the enthusiast community and organizes them by feature and type. This is a good site to use if cost isn’t a consideration for you. You know what in particular you’re looking for and you just need to know what’s available on the market. If you can’t find what you want here, it probably doesn’t exist. If you’ve been around the block a bit and just want to cut to the chase, this is the site for you!

Okay it’s time to test some sound equipment. The above song by REIGN is what I call “audio scrub killer”. High quality “mids” reproduction is what most consider desirable in audio gear. Often overpriced, overblown prosumer stuff tends to be “V-shaped” and puts heavy emphasis on bass and treble only. But their mids suck (really badly) - and they know that. So, if you need to test some old or new gear, play the above song at 40% for speakers or 70% for earbuds/headphones and take a close listen. The female vocals in this track should sound like the singer is in the same room as you. You should be able to feel the bass in her voice as “textured” yet understand the lyrics with clarity. You can use the written lyrics to guide you on what she’s saying. The instrumentals in the song should never overpower her words and be perceived at the same volume. In other words, base / mid / treble should not be competing in the song, but sound like they’re seamlessly blending one after another. If the song sounds like crap, YOUR EQUIPMENT IS CRAP. Change EQ settings accordingly or return and buy better gear.

Artist is M1dSummerW

You should now have all the tools you need to get started on the path to better audio! Keep in mind that everything I said above is meant as a starting point to hold your own against “audiophile” talk. You’ll have a lot to learn (and put up with frankly) if you want to engage with true audiophiles, who put paychecks toward gear on regular basis. Not to mention the hobby attracts probably the most stubborn folks on the planet, so be warned if you want to go down that route. In any case, that’s it for this month!