Matt Cramp

one exists! It's called Engineer's Disease

the difference in how easy it is to understand the plot between Hollow Knight and Silksong is stark, and a lot of that is that Hornet is not a silent protagonist and she has clear goals. She even talks in riddles sometimes! It still helps!

My mum uncovered a government conspiracy.

it's a game about a train going through an endless desert, and most post-apocalypse stuff owes a huge debt to Mad Max. It assumed it was SET in Australia, and can't imagine I'm the only one

the goblin players can move traps and treasures - the core weakness of the adventuring team is that adventurers are stupid

now that you mention it, you don't often see an 'alchemist' class that turns defeated enemies into consumables. Often the tension is that certain kinds of consumables aren't renewable, so a strategy that relies on them is one that will fail eventually

It probably won't make sense for travellers, but for business people, CBD-to-CBD travel with no chance of delays, where you can comfortably use your laptop the entire way, could well be appealing if it's not THAT much slower. (And they will take travel/dwell time into account.)

there's a very good scene with Y'shtola in post-Stormblood, and you're not far off Shadowbringers, which is definitely worth working towards

Alan Kohler advocated for high-speed rail as part of a housing solution, effectively to encourage growth of cities outside the state capitals

The British publishers have assigned their own groupings - The Truth, Monstrous Regiment and the Moist books are "Industrial Revolution", while Moving Pictures is part of "Unseen University" with the Rincewind books

I've heard the Australian public service is amongst the best in the world, which does explain how Australia seems to have way more diplomatic power than you'd expect

It can get progressives into trouble: they hear from Americans that means testing is expensive, but in Australia it's cheap

I think they're probably doing sophisticated mimicry, especially the kind that lures sailors to their deaths. They wouldn't have the same pathogens, so less risky than eating, say, the minotaur.

Was delighted to discover that Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet is the preferred adaptation for many Shakespeare scholars

on the other hand, you can get the worst of 2026 list started in February

it's the sort of famous where you get all the downsides of fame (an audience thinking they're entitled to a piece of you, people who find you annoying deciding it's their civic duty to make you miserable) without any of the upsides (money, respect, money)

I have a friend who, years later, will still bring up Belle at the slightest opportunities to rant about it, and also the way that Western reviewers prioritise prettiness in their anime movies over story construction

There was definitely a problem when the site was mostly seeded by shitposters, but the vibes went rancid post-2024 election and Rachel Maddow's endorsement. I think there's little-to-no trust left, in part because I think the average user feels if anyone was trustworthy, This wouldn't be happening

The Grinding Gear boys have argued veterans think of spoilers in terms of the context they know, but if you don't have that, often it just looks like a guy in a room.

I'd argue that the Heavensward cinematic trailer and the Shadowbringers launch trailer have actual spoilers, tho

at this point you gotta imagine they're happy with that big overhaul they did to their judging process a couple of years ago

In a country where hostile interviewers are more of an art he'd be pretty good, but America is a place where interviewers don't ask follow-up questions, let alone spot gaps in the argument

Isaac Chotiner seems to be getting more sarcastic when he's interviewing a dipstick, because I think he's learned that he is a shark in an ocean that has never known predators

god I hope the algorithm thinks you like Hank Green's science videos

I'm on tenterhooks

it's definitely intentional with FFXIV - not only do they make changes to fix (some kinds of) antisocial behaviour, the lead is unusually candid and talked about this strategy, and directly asked veteran players to help them by modelling welcoming behaviour

that said, the prospect of spills and no-confidence motions doesn't seem to prevent mediocrity in the Australian press or politicians, so clearly something else is required.

I've seen arguments that part of the reason the US is Like That is because political success is based on seniority, and the only real shifts come during elections, which you can read anything into. No prospect of a spill or no-confidence motion breeds complacency in both press and politicians.

in the Australian judicial system, only very serious crimes like treason permit the use of the Thunderdome

the Mad Max judicial system is very loosely based on the Australian judicial system, so it's at least got better bones

“Change your name to Turok” is the one that leaps to mind. Acclaim in its desperate years was full of this stuff

The sliding door moment happened with Albanese’s first win, really; a lurch to the right sent the Coalition into the electoral wilderness, which started a death spiral lasting a full election cycle

they've said as much in interviews: they have very much designed the game so that if a boss feels like a brick wall, there's almost always somewhere else to go to make progress, or you've decided to scrape the edges and at that point you know what you signed up for