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Leon Mika

Software Developer and occasional writer of music. Based in Melbourne, Australia.

Media

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    📺 Fallout: Season 1 (2024)

    Quick review of Fallout: Series 1 (2024), by Graham Wagner. Score: Not For Me. This might be a bounce. I'm aware of the game (although I never played it myself) so I had hopes for an interesting story. And yeah, the plot is good. But the visuals are just a little too graphic for me. I couldn't make it through the second episode. Which is a shame, because I'm quite impressed by the production quality: writing, acting, cinematography; they're all very good. Maybe I should try the game.
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    Must say I enjoyed The Rest Is History’s recent podcast on Dragons. They go into how these mythical beasts developed over the years, how they’re seen differently in different cultures, and how they entered the mainstream. Just watch out for the odd spoiler for House of the Dragon series 1. 🎙️

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    I found this video on the failure of the Star Wars Hotel by Jenny Nicholson to be absolutely fascinating. A great example of Disney enshittification and promising more then they can deliver. Many of her other videos are great as well (I actually went on a binge session over the weekend). 📺

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    📺 Taitset

    Discovered another YouTube channel about Victorian railways this evening. This one’s more about history and operations and less pure cab-rides. A lot of fascinating information about locations that I’m very familiar with.

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    📺 Sugar: Season 1 (2024)

    Quick review of Sugar: Season 1 (2024), by Mark Protosevich. Review reads as follows: Nah, sorry. I couldn't get through the first episode. I know what they were trying for: classic story of the keen detective, with the fast car and the cool lady companions and all. But it just didn't gel with me (might be because I have no nostalgia for the format). Plus, the cuts across time were awkward: it made it hard to follow what was going on. I'm sure this is for someone, but it's definitely not for me. Overall review: poor
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    📺 Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018)

    Quick review of Mission: Impossible – Fallout, 2018, by Christopher McQuarrie. Review reads as follows: A pretty competent action movie. Good example of what I'd call an 'airplane movie,' which is a movie that's good to watch on hour 7 of a 14 hour flight. A pretty thin plot that doesn't require a lot of concentration, yet lots of nice set pieces, and some lovely shots of European cities. Overall rating: okay
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    Anyone looking for a really polished YouTube channel about the history of PCs and game consoles from the 70s to the early 2000s (think Apple, Commodore, MOS, Nintendo, etc.), I can recommend LowSpecGamer. They’re also on Nebula. In fact, their videos is why I signed up there yesterday. 📺

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    📺 Andor: Series 1 (2022)

    Quick review of Andor: Series 1 (2022), created by Tony Gilroy. Thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm generally a fan of Star Wars but the level of story telling that went into this made it so much better. It's not perfect — Andor's arc felt a little fragmented (he was sent to prison for… reasons? That had nothing to do with the garrison?) — but it didn't detract from the whole. Other than the plot, the acting, casting, scoring, etc. were all excellent. Definitely recommend. Rated: great
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    Enjoying the latest ShopTalk about home cooked apps. What an amazing term for it: perfect. Also good to know that I’m not alone in doing this. 🎙️

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    If there are any Victorian gunzels out there eager for cab ride videos, I can recommend driver667. They produce some quality cab ride videos of greater Melbourne and regional Victoria, plus some in Tasmania that I’ve yet to see. 📺

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    📺 Dune (2021)

    Quick review of Dune, 2021, directed by Denis Villeneuve. Enjoyed this film. I’ve never read the books but I understand they treated the source material well. I kinda wish they cut back on all the slow motion shots, and the soundtrack annoyed me. But on the whole, it’s a very good movie. Beautifully shot.
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    📺 Keen On Keys

    The YouTube algorithm surfaced this delightful channel this evening of someone reviewing home music keyboards from the 80’s and 90’s. Really enjoying it.

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    🎵 Stationary Loops, by Lee Rosevere

    Album cover of Stationary Loops

    Bought when I needed a few screenshots of Alto but growing to like it. Quite nice ambient chill out music. Got hints of Tangerine Dream and Jene-Michel Jarre.

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    Enjoyed the discussion about AI and independence on Ruminate #179. I agree with Robb and John: websites created by people will definitely have a leg up amongst all the sites that are little more than AI generated “content”. 🎙️

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    📺 Nintendo’s Luckiest Accident

    So apparently the “watch” in Game & Watch actually references the time piece. Until I watched this video, I actually thought it meant watching the demo that played while in Time mode.

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    Discovered a new artist through a YouTube channel I watch. They make some pretty good chill-out music. I can recommend Synths Working Overtime and Music For Podcasts 6, particularly “Cloudloop” (track 6) and “Systematic” (track 7). 🎵

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    More YouTube watching this evening. These three videos about scam Chrome plugins were amusing and, I guess, a good argument for human curation of these “marketplaces”. Kinda pains me to say that. I wish it wasn’t so. 📺

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    So apparently tonight’s earworm is lesser known songs from Men At Work’s “Business As Usual” album, like People Just Love To Play With Words, I Can See It In Your Eyes, and Be Good Johnny. 🎵

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    Speaking of Anders Jensen, he’s composed a few songs for the 8 Bit Keys YouTube channel. Usually he’ll release them as tracks on his albums, but I couldn’t find the last one he wrote, and I’ve been liking it a lot. So I’m placing a time-stamped link to it here so I can go back to it. 📺

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    Have been on Bandcamp buying more music from Anders Enger Jensen. Started listening to both Retro Grooves Version 4 and Version 5. Can recommend the first track on version 4. 🎵

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