All's well here at the Dispatch. The snails are busy working out a new way to make pizza. They're saying that the secret is in the dough. They keep saying that and laughing and so we're not going to let them feed the pizza to anyone. A couple of them got really sick this week, and that has to be related. But everyone's having fun at least.

Game Boy 👾

• I figured out a way to run an emulator in Android Studio so that I can launch the Xbox android app in that and stream games from my Xbox to my M1 MacBook
  • The catch is I haven't figured out how to connect a controller to the emulator, so I still have to have the bluetooth controller connected to the actual xbox and just stream the video and audio
  • But otherwise the responsiveness is generally pretty good and Destiny 2 was playable, so it might be an ok alternative to Stadia for vibing and listening to podcasts
• Still having fun with Magic Arena
• Started a new DnD campaign with new friends and it was fun
  • we were able to play in person at a bar
  • We were all starting at level 1 and my character got insta-killed by the big baddie, which was pretty metal
• Played Valheim with some friends remotely
  • Cool survival game with retro-looking graphics
  • Aesthetic and mechanics sort of blend Minecraft, Runescape and World of Warcraft
• Played The Crew card game with some pizza and beers and friends on Friday night
  • It's tricky to learn and get the hang of, but once everyone is on the same page it's a pretty nice, casual game that leaves a lot of space for conversation

Coding Corner 👨🏻‍💻

• I got to a good point to put a pin in the website that I was working on for a friend
  • It's not beautiful on mobile and there are some loading issues with images
  • But I finished a thing, and he's happy with it
  • Realized that creating a new Gmail account is free and is a good way to hand off the associated logins/accounts I needed to set up for the admin
• "someday it’ll all turn to rust and everything will be clear"
  • talking to a coworker about how nice Rust errors are and that someday all web dev will be written in Rust
• Make a Browser Extension; saw on Hacker News
  • I've made a couple browser extensions for internal use at work before and I'd thought about how easy it is to add functionality onto an existing site
  • I'd like to make another and see what the ecosystem is like now

Albums 🎧

• "songs" by Adrianne Lenker
  • meditative and quiet; working music
• "The Letting Go" by Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
  • gentle story songs; the kind of songs I'd want to write
• "It's Almost Dry" by Pusha T
  • go to last hour of the workday album
• "Sky Blue Sky" by Wilco
  • underrated; sound like a rock band; guitar solos
• "The Creek Drank the Cradle" and "The Shepherd's Dog" by Iron & Wine
  • more working music; worn grooves
• "Rumours" by Fleetwood Mac
  • 100% bangers; favorite album of the friend I was making the website for
• "Blonde" by Frank Ocean
  • otherworldly internet soul
• "Halcyon Digest" by Deerhunter
  • comfort album; "I know they won't believe me, but I've got favorite memories"
• "Big Time" by Angel Olsen
  • listened on vinyl; sounds so good; so warm
• "Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You" and "Two Hands" by Big Thief
  • such a breadth of sound; forgot how insane "Not" is
• "Forget" by Twin Shadow
  • imaginary nostalgia; It Follows vibes; deep hooks

Podcasts 🎙️

• Hello From The Magic Tavern - Season 4, Ep 58 - Upple
  • This podcast can be hit or miss but this one was very funny
  • Arnie, Chunt, and Usidore interview an apple

Movies/Shows 🍿

• The Last of Us
  • Watched the premiere episode this week; good performances, well-made and pretty engaging so far; the zombie / pandemic / dystopia stuff might be getting tired though, we'll see
• Mare of Easttown
  • Very cool, moody small-town crime drama; True Detective and Friday Night Lights vibes