"At the turn of the millennium, the internet seemed full of heartfelt pitches. Millions of users singing the praises of their favourite things – crowding around them, talking about them, calling for others to recognize their charms. Not the sturm und drang of social media: just clear-throated whoops, and echoes. Strangers like Pedro logging on to share their passions, not just once but every week, long after they had earned their Into the Grove membership rights, as if they couldn't help themselves."

"Learning to play music is an long exercise learning to to be kind to yourself. As your fingers stumble to keep up with your eyes and ears, your brain will say unkind things to the rest of you. And when this tangle of body and mind finally makes sense of a measure or a melody, there is peace. Or, more accurately, harmony. And like the parents who so energetically both fill a house with music and seek its quietude, both are needed to make things work. As with music, it takes a lifetime of practice to be kind to yourself. Make space for that practice, and the harmony will emerge."

Yes.

Justin's year. What a year. (Also: some days, I wish I saw things better.)

George Saunders on 'story'; watching this, and hearing him talk, I begin to see more about his writing emerges. It's still a mystery, but it feels like a tiny bit more of a known mystery.

"What would be your dream setup?

If Maple could include a chemistry software, it would be wonderful. But indeed, I am not sure that this would change a lot. What I need is intelligence, kindness and time." That.

"As I listened to Wil’s surprisingly impassioned speech, and the protestations of the other party members, a thought popped into my head: role-playing is when you make poor gameplay decisions on purpose." Dan values narrative success over ludic, rules-based success.

"Tweenbots are human-dependent robots that navigate the city with the help of pedestrians they encounter. Rolling at a constant speed, in a straight line, Tweenbots have a destination displayed on a flag, and rely on people they meet to read this flag and to aim them in the right direction to reach their goal." And, it turns out, you really can rely on the kindness of strangers. If you're a cute robot. And boy, are the tweenbots adorable.

"Oftentimes when a videogame has a skewed, overhead point of view, we call it isometric. That’s rarely the accurate term, though, and it’s not just pointless semantics." A not half bad guide to the different kind of projections used in 3D – and pseudo-3D – games. And, of course, a reminder that most isometric games aren't, and that the projection in Ultima VII was *bonkers*.

Beautiful. And: insanely time-consuming; it's not just stop-motion, but two separate pieces of stop motion put together. I love it when they go swimming.

"I'm going to give you the answer right away and the answer is yes. The only difference between SimCity's 3D and a first-person game's 3D is that SimCity uses "orthographic projection" and limited view freedom. The intent of this article is to explain both of these differences and the reasons for the decision to implement them. Along the way I'll briefly mention some of the rendering techniques and used in SimCity 4 and the issues that come with them." Rather good article explaining about optimising 3D for fixed projections.