THE BLOG

Hello, three people who read this blog! It seems AI is taking over the internet more and more every day, and that terrifies me. Even our government is spewing AI propaganda slop all over the place, like some sort of sick baby. This should serve as a wake-up call to internet users around the world, that we should all be wary of what we see anywhere, especially on the large social networks (which are increasingly controlled by right-wing billionaires). Very bad!
My website will never, ever, use any form of AI content. I will never generate AI text. All images will be crappily photoshopped by yours truly. Music will always be sloppily recorded! Why? Because it is cool. And AI is not cool! I like doing things myself, it is what makes the world more interesting. Do not surrender to a world that aims to steal everything that makes us human from us! Make your own website! Have fun!

It is clear, that within the last few weeks, the internet has been taking a sharp turn for the worse. Granted, it has been moving in this direction for a long time, with large companies gradually monopolizing control over a space that was not designed for such unified control. And now that the web-oligopoly is nearing completion, the corporations that control 90% of web traffic seem hell-bent on making our browsing experience worse. The most recent example that comes to my mind is Youtube's new AI powered age verification process, probably brought about by efforts of nations such as the UK to regulate what their citizens can and can't view online. There are numerous problems with this: For one, forking over large sums of personal data to any software company is a horrible idea. Just look at what happened to that Tea App last month, instantly hacked. It doesn't really matter how secure a server is, there's always a way through. Not that I trust whatever corporation that has my data to use it honestly either. From what I understand, Palantir, a Trump-aligned wacko tech company, runs many of these, and often uses the data to train AI. Ew. Secondly, the age verification can be an easy way to stifle ideas by deeming them 'not safe for children'. What this probably means, especially with the UK connection, is that Trans stuff and things adjacent to that will be blocked, in fact, any idea unfavorable to the ruling class can be easily banned, because what even constitutes 'protecting children'? I don't know, it's not easily defined. The easier solution would be better parenting, but people are stupid I suppose. Anyway, I think I'm gonna stop using Youtube. It's a shame, because I enjoy watching a few vids when I get home from work. Oh well. I should post more videos here, an incentive to work more on this site. Maybe even add some JS finally...

Welcome to the first installment of Leo's book reviews! I love reading science fiction and fantasy, and sharing my thoughts on what I read! Over the last few days I read this short little sci-fi book I found lying around my house called Earthlight, by the well-regarded author Arthur C. Clarke. Despite being big into sci-fi, I have never read any of his works before. This is a more obscure title he wrote, not nearly as well known as his hits such as 'Rendezvous with Rama', which I still need to read. Earthlight follows the exploits of Betram Sadler, a counter-intelligence spy who has been sent to an observatory on the moon in order to locate an intelligence leak. While he searches for suspects, his observations provide insights into the author's predictions on what life on the moon will look like in 200 years. In many regards, these predictions are still heavily rooted in the 1950s, with film cameras and punch-tape gobbling computers. Hovering over the protagonists role is a looming conflict between earth and the outer planets, over the control of resources on the moon. My primary critique of this book is how small the role played by Sadler, the protagonist, is. Despite being set up to be center of a lunar espionage plot, his main role in the story is to reveal how people live on the moon to the audience, while providing almost nothing in regards to moving the plot forward. The main plot point, the looming war, comes and goes without the intervention of Sadler, who never locates the source of the information leak he was tasked with finding in the introduction. It seems that Clarke ran out of any interesting ideas for what the spy could do in such a restricted environment. The war ends up happening, observed by two minor characters from a distance, and ends in a stalemate. The two factions then learn that war is bad, and live happily ever after. Not the most creative ending in the world, but I appreciate the optimism. Overall, this is an interesting little book, providing a compelling, if not dated, portrayal of the distant future. However, it is severely lacking in character development and plot. If you're just looking for a short book to kill some time, this certainly fits the task just fine.

I've heard a decent bit lately about Nintendo's new flagship console, which launched a few days ago, so I thought I'd share my thoughts on that here. I was a big fan of the first Switch, but I don't plan on buying the sequel. There doesn't seem to be much of a point. $500, plus an $80 game, and $20 online service, just for a new Mario Kart. I'll stick with the Wii version for now, it still holds up. I never got the point of an online service. If someone is going to pay good money for a game, they should be able to use the internet, which any normal computer can access for free. Furthermore, the Switch 2, with the exception of Mario Kart World, does not seem to have any further exlusives that would make me want to buy the console. Most upcoming games are also getting normal Switch releases. Odd. Honestly, this seems to mark the end of an era in regards to game consoles. They now have libraries almost exactly the same as their PC counterparts (with the exception of Nintendo), with the exception that they're more locked down and money-hungry. The only upside is that the upfront cost is less (but that has diminished significantly lately). There also isn't as much technological progression as there once was. Older console generations often represented leaps and bounds in technology, take for example the SNES to the N64 - it's 64 bit! It's 3D! Holy shit! But the Xbox One to the Xbox X? They both do the same thing, but with higher FPS? Who the hell gets excited over that? Certainly not casual gamers such as myself, who play simple games which aren't as 'fancy'. We live in a boring age now, I suppose. I'll stick to my Wii games for the time being.

I'm a bit bored today, so I thought I'd add something to the website. I don't have too many profound thoughts at the moment, I've been a bit too busy to do any significant thinking on my own time, most of my "brain-waves" are taken up by my studies at Rutgers. Things on that front are going pretty well. I've been handling my courseload pretty well, just a little at a time. The work assigned hasn't been that rough either, so that's been cool. Sometimes I worry I'm not studying hard enough when I see kids pulling late nights to study and finish work, but then I realize, I study just as much, just earlier in the day, and spread out with bits of work done consistently every day. I just hope next semester is just as manageable (it should be, I won't be working or volunteering or taking six classes). Of course, I am looking forward to the Summer. I've applied for some jobs (yet to hear back), and am excited to have more time to read and make some music. I don't have too many close friends to hang out with, but I'll spend some time with the handful of high school buddies I have left. Mainly, I look forward to not having to worry about reading or writing any academic research papers.

Well, I wasn't initially planning on it, but I went and saw the dreaded Minecraft Movie. A friend invited me, and I thought, why the hell not? Going in, I didn't really have high expectations. Hollywood has been on a real losing streak lately. Sequels and reboots, generally corporate slop, is what I've come to expect from 20s era cinema. The previews at the theater confirmed my beliefs on this front. There's apparently going to be a 'Lilo and Stitch' live-action remake? The original was a great film, but this new version seems to trod over all forms of artistic integrity, and ruins the themes of the original. And it's ugly as fuck. And, bizarrely, they're making a live action 'How to Train Your Dragon' reboot. THAT'S NOT EVEN AN OLD MOVIE! The preview looked like the original movie, but with shitty minecraft realistic texture packs thrown on for no reason. Anyway, speaking of Minecraft, how was the movie? It sucked. But we knew that already. The acting was horrible, the plot was contrived and nonexistent at times, the characterization was lazy and stereotypical. We had the nerdy kid, the sassy woman, uncool older sister, and the washed up big-shot. No meaningful backstory, or emotion, or anything. When Jason Momoa "dies", there's hardly a reaction. The CGI was a nightmare as well, total dogshit. And don't get me started on the incredibly uncomfortable villager date scenes. Ugh, barf (-_-) But, surprisingly, the experience of watching the movie was...enjoyable? It was a Mystery Science Theater 3000 experience, mocking the film the whole time with my friends, cheering whenever Jack Black said "I AM..STEVE" and "CHICKEN JOCKEY", etc etc. I had fun. The Minecraft Movie is so incredibly bad that it becomes an experience to watch it, a treasure trove of comedy. It's fun with friends, especially when your friends have a good sense of humor :D But I wouldn't watch it alone. And, you know what? At least it's not another sequel ;p