Be it articles on established, legitimate websites (unlike this one), or videos from recognised channels on YouTube, they’re filled with speculations, theories, supposed leaks, deductions, deconstructions, and disseminations on just about anything. And I’m guessing it’s an attempt to include social media and prompt engagement, but I’m seeing a trend of including, referencing, and even sourcing posts on reddit.

My problem with it is that it doesn’t mean anything, because the source is not the creator of the work being analysed. What value does a random fan-theory on reddit about what a certain scene in a movie trailer have?

I can understand that a constant stream of content is vital to the survival of certain actors on the internet. If you’re not producing content, no matter the quality, there’s no chance to generate revenue from ads or other means, so you need to put stuff out there on a regular basis.

Content for the sake of content, not substance. Besides, if the video you produced, or article your wrote, turns out to be wrong you can make another one addressing that. And then another one addressing what turned out to be the actual case.

It’s clickbait.

I can’t breathe

Horrible things are going on and happening in the world that shouldn’t. But it’s not my world, it’s not the world I’m living in, because it’s not happening in my space. And like most people, I dismiss it with a “I can’t help or effect that in any way” and escape into another world instead: entertainment.
So I start up my Netflix and head into the last two episodes of Orange is the New Black of the current, fourth season. But there are other people in the world that did not dismiss the world they’re living in, and they decided to do something. And what those people, the people behind OitNB, decided to do was make sure even your escape into entertainment could go by without addressing the matter.

They decided to write the death of a character much like the events surrounding Eric Garner. And it’s followed up by the administrative bullshit that represents the way many people feel the matter was handled in the aftermath. Of course there had been things leading up to these events, but effectively they just fit the entire birth, and explosion,  of the Black Lives Matter-movement within these two episodes. And they did it beautifully, showing motivation and effects on both sides, presenting how fear breeds fear, and that people, no matter how horrible, are still people.

No matter how bad the world gets, it’s still worth spending time in

But the pristine gem that made the season finale shine so brightly is how they contrasted the life of the victim, Poussey Washington, portrayed by Samira Wiley. The show usually shows the story about how the characters ended up in their current situation. Since we’ve seen Washintons past before there was no real reason to revisit this story. So instead we get to see what her last night before getting arrested was like. And it was adventurous and magical in a very improbable, but plausible way. She was very happy and we got a glimpse into her joy and a reminder that no matter how bad the world gets, it’s still worth spending time in and not all people are horrible.

I cried like I stubbed my toe on the leg of the table, then fell over and struck the bridge of my nose on the edge of the same table.

Stranger Things is a love-child of E.T., Silent Hill and 80’s nostalgia, all presented in a beautiful package on your Netflix-viewing device of choice. The look and feel of mystery-movies from days gone by (the good ones, where the monster isn’t revealed in the first 15 minutes) where the unknown creates the suspense that you want with a drip-feed of supernatural and conspiracy  tells you the history of how we got to where we are right now in the story.

The show follows a group of kids that enjoy their time in the basement playing Dungeons & Dragons until it’s time to bike home. No video games, no smartphones, no Internet; this is the time before the digital revolution. Then one of them goes missing, without a trace, followed by the appearance of a strange young girl that joins them on their adventure to find their friend. But my favorite character is portrayed by David Harbour as Chief Hopper, the police officer that looks into the kids disappearance and soon discovers that not everything is what it might seem in his sleepy little town.

The heritage of the show is captured magnificently in the music and intro, using sounds and instruments that scream 80’s, combined with a title screen that anyone that read/played those old choose-your-own-adventure books will just love.

Stranger Things has a complete season available for streaming on Netflix, but definitely leaves things open for that (as of yet, unconfirmed) second season. Just like the good ol’ horror movies.

https://www.netflix.com/title/80057281

Every Frame A Painting is a show by Tony Zhou that dives into technique, history and trivia about movies and movie-making. The videos are short essays on subjects such as how movies can frame the cast to tell a story and how the same cast in a different framing tells another story. They’re very interesting and educational, and should be entertaining even for those that don’t have an interest in film-making.

https://www.youtube.com/everyframeapainting

PsychedSubstance is a harm prevention project. That means that instead of just blurting out “Drugs are bad and dangerous!” they present what the drugs do and what the effects are, both positive and negative, and how to minimize the negative effects. The idea is that since people are going to do stupid things, such as experiment with drugs, anyway we might as well give them the best chance of not putting themselves or anyone else in harms way.

This is achieved by talking about the physical and psychological effects of different substances and comparing them to others, such as LSD vs Alcohol

https://www.youtube.com/c/PsychedSubstance

And you know what: Fucking kudos to these people putting themselves out there, declaring to the world that they’re doing this, and risking all the social and professional consequences of making such statements.

But to me the story of Daredevil is secondary in what is being told. I believe many would agree with me that the best parts, and main focus, of the show is delivered by Vincent D’onofrio as he portrays the iconic villain Wilson Fisk, also know as Kingpin.

Usually it’s just accepted that the bad guy is that, a bad guy, and that’s all that’s needed. There might be a short backstory to explain the motivation or history of the antagonist. But Daredevil goes above and beyond to present us with the life of one of the most iconic evils in the Marvel Universe. His history, motivation, and passion is beautify presented and fleshed out. He is still a psychotic criminal, but the effort that goes into explaining how and why, and the humanization of the character compiled through love and loss, is fantastic.

A well-rounded series, while darker than the movies we’ve so far been offered in the MCU, combines a mix of drama, action, comedy and intrigue that displays the more cloak-and-dagger workings in a section of the hometown to many major heroes and villains that Marvel has given us.

The first season of Daredevil is available right now, with the second season incoming in just a few weeks.

https://www.netflix.com/title/80018294

While it might seem like simple-minded show, the drama, emotions, conflicts and everyday-life for all involved is compelling and should appeal to anyone that likes character-dramas. The idiotic hijinks, satirical and parodical views on media, stardom, and corporate politics, and simply stupid jokes (such as my personal favorite: Neal McBeal the Navy SEAL that is a seal that’s in the navy), become supporting characters to the interaction between the main characters as they deal with each others personalities and demons.

The first two seasons of Bojack Horseman, consisting of twelve episodes per season, is available for streaming right now on Netflix

https://www.netflix.com/title/70300800

I’m gonna put you through that fucking wall!

While dealing with the big and small obstacles of everyday life, like a underachieving pot-head for a son, the amalgamation of father-figures those that grew up before the 1990s can recognize is the main focal-point. Using saying, mannerism, satire and parodies of everything that came with a hard-working father in the 70s you get a funny show that should touches home with anyone over the age of 30. And anyone under 30 will just find the absurdity and humor funny.

The first season contains six episodes and is available for binging on Netflix right now
https://www.netflix.com/title/80028732

Bill Burr, the show creator and voice of the main character, is a stand-up comedian that’s dabbled in acting here and there, including a recurring character on Breaking Bad. The show was “in production” for many years before it came to be and the animators were hired. He talked about the production and the show on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast a few weeks ago, if you’re interested in the process.

I’ve mentioned Extra Credits before.

It started out as a school project and has since grown to an established entity in the world of game design, as frontmen Dave and James talk about philosophies, solutions, pitfalls, and processes.

If you’re interested in game design, whether you’re in the industry or just curious in general, these guys will give you lots to think about and help you.

https://www.youtube.com/user/ExtraCreditz

They also have their own website that covers all the other things their doing that’s attached to Extra Credits.

http://extra-credits.net/

I had a project thrown my way at work and it used AngularJS, a framework I had never used before. I first tried to understand it myself by just looking at it, but I couldn’t get my head around how and why some things were done and used.

So I googled for tutorials and such when I stumbled upon a site that had a simple learn-by-doing tutorial for a lot of stuff, such as HTML, SQL, GIT, Ruby On Rails, and Angular.

By doing a simple course, that let me code directly in my browser with the same type of editor and file structure one would have while doing a real world project, I learned what I needed in a day.

Price? According to the site itself:

And it’s supported by some nice name, such as Union Square Ventures and O’Reilly Media

I would definitely recommend this to anyone that wants to learn any of the stuff they have available. And more seems to be on the way.

https://www.codecademy.com

UPDATE: Codecademy now offers Codecademy Pro, which is not free. How this will affect the content that has been free so far is yet to be seen. While it’s understandable that a revenue stream might be necessary, it’s always scary when a free service starts charging for something. Here’s they’re statement about  Codecademy being free:
“Codecademy is committed to being the most accessible place on the internet to learn programming skills. For us, that means keeping our content free. With Codecademy Pro, you get access to extra resources and support in addition to our content, giving you the push you need to take your skills to the next level.”