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One of the mysteries about pop is its repeatability. The way that repetition of a song doesn't dim its power, or only at extreme degrees of repetition (absolute blanket radio coverage causing you to get temporarily get sick of a song). A great song is that seemingly contradictory thing: the repeatable surprise. The classic pop single as a radio drama that never wears out.This degree of repeatability is not unheard …

There are plenty of ways to use LLMs ineffectively. For best results, lean into your own intelligence, experience, and creativity. Delegate the boring and routine stuff to closely supervised assistants whose work you can easily check. Mix Human Expertise With LLM Assistance for Easier Coding Part of the LLM series at The New Stack.

I’m not technically a boardgame designer, but I will be at the Hythe Community Games Day on Saturday 9 November taking place inside St. Leonard’s Church in Kent. I’ll mainly be hanging out by the Frostgrave table run by some friends. I expect it to … Continue reading →

About last weekend …

I write this review in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Milton's devastation of parts of Florida. Milton followed Helene, just a week or so earlier. Both hurricanes cut a swathe through parts of North America, leaving death and destruction in their paths. John Vaillant's recent book Fire Weather is subtitled a "true story from a hotter world" and the story of hurricanes Milton and Helene

The Geezers and friends enjoy a trip to Eastbourne

Design for Real Life is now available, for free, in its entirety, at dfrlbook.com. If you like what you read and want a personal copy, or just to support Sara and me, print-on-demand and ePub versions are also available from a number of sources. There are some countries where the book is not yet available, which we hope will be fixed soon. We’ll update the “Buy the book” page as …

Modrons have always been silly, but at least lower-ranking ones had lower challenge ratings. Planescape throws even that shred of logic out the window. The post Modron Hierarch Tactics appeared first on The Monsters Know What They’re Doing.

SWEYET(etc.) (DEMO!) by SHMIAM, SWEYET, SSSSSSS! A demo of a game focused on exploring dreamscapes with absurd yet deeply funny premises, all linked by the peculiar characters you encounter. It also features a fun blinking-based mechanic that alters the world around you, optionally using your webcam. A promising taste of things to come. Download on itch.io The post SWEYET appeared first on Weird Fucking Games.

Oddleaf debuts with an infectious and impressive album.

It's difficult to imagine a world full of people who have yet to form an opinion about Donald Trump. Few public figures have so rampantly flaunted themselves as the Queens, N.Y.-born 45th president. In The Apprentice, director Ali Abbasi tries to explain how Trump became what the filmmaker has called an icon of American culture. Abbasi returns to the 1970s and 80s, focusing on what the movie regards as Trump's …

Summer 2024 will live long in the memory after my visit to an extraordinary exhibition: George Biles: King of Signwriters. It was mounted in Bridport, Dorset, across three venues—The British Legion Hall, Bridport Arts Centre, and the Bridport Museum—with material drawn from numerous sources.In addition to signs from Palmers Brewery, there were theatrical backdrops from the local dramatic society, and a sampling of the vast collection of drawings, photographs, press …

(One of my summaries of the one-day Pycon NL conference in Utrecht, NL). Full title: Events in fintech: from state machines to event-sourced systems. He works at kiwi.com, a payment processor. They recently refactored their systems to be more event-based. Previously, they used state machines. A payment/customer/whatever can be in several well-defined states. Between states (but not necessarily between all states) there are transitions. Advantages of state machines: they're simple. …

Dark Intruder 1965 Dark Intruder is a 1965 television movie directed by Harvey Hart and written by Barré Lyndon. Set in 1960s San Francisco, the film follows a series of gruesome murders that leave the police struggling to solve the bizarre crimes that appear to be linked to dark occult rituals. They enlist the help … Continue reading A Trailer a Day Keeps the Boogeyman Away! Darkness Unleashed! The post …