2024: The Reflection Post
It’s 2025, and my biggest goal for the next year is to not think as much.
Recent Posts
HomeAssistant: Laundry Alarm Automation with Vibration Sensor
Hey all. I wanted to write a couple more basic HomeAssistant tutorials, mostly because they’re a low-commitment way of making the community better; even if i...
Me at 35: Letting the love in
Living off borrowed time, the clock tick faster. That’d be the hour they knock the slick blaster.
2023: The Reflection Post
”[L]eave the thought that you are ‘behind’ in 2023.”[link]
Me at 34: Owning my dream
I turned 34 this weekend. The morning after, I woke up with a hangover and wondered where my dream went.
2022: The Reflection Post
I haven’t published anything in two months.
Sun-specific light automations with HomeAssistant
Hey all; this one’s going to be a little bit of a departure from a lot of my content, but I couldn’t exactly find a resource for this problem online and I fi...
Blue Period is a manga about learning about art (and you)
I think my favourite manga genre is “hard work makes good”, which is hard to describe. Usually it has a couple similar tropes/beats and qualities:
Podcast tutorial: recording separate audio tracks with Voicemeeter
Podcasting has exploded in popularity as technology has made creating easier. However, this also introduces additional problems, as creators can’t always hav...
Me at 33
The other day, I turned 33. I usually do a blog post around my birthday as a way of acknowledging where I am currently in my life, and while it’s a couple da...
Explaining USB Host Controller issues (to troubleshoot El Gato Cam Links)
Today I had to talk to someone about streaming and Open Broadcaster Software. In the process I kind of came up with a metaphor on the spot about USB bandwidt...
Building an entertaining Twitch stream: Iateyourpie’s IronMon ruleset
I’ve fallen down a hole in watching a particular streamer, and most of why is what he’s running. Iateyourpie is a variety streamer that seems to have figured...
The Quest, the Quest Log, and Elden Ring
Small spoiler warning
Five years later
I hate Bell’s Let’s Talk campaign, and I keep forgetting it’s still a thing until it rears its ugly head. I’m not going to write about it any more here, most...
2021: The Reflection Post
Hey there. I hope you’re having a good last day of 2021.
Pondering the Strand genre with MGSV and Death Stranding
Last week I uninstalled Hideo Kojima’s last entry into the Metal Gear franchise, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. In it, you play as mercenary Venom Sna...
Me at 32
Today’s my birthday, and I decided to write something for it.
2020: The Reflection Post
Starting this piece feels a bit weird because I’m sure that many of you are going to read plenty of “wow, 2020 sucked” takes.
Golden Kamuy, culture, and authenticity
Spoiler warning and housekeeping
Letters from Night City: Cyberpunk 2077
Spoiler warning and housekeeping
Watching Mobile Suit Gundam 0079: The First 10 Episodes
Spoiler warning
“Yakuza: Like a Dragon” - The RPG Review
Spoiler warning and housekeeping
Aoashi, sports manga, and the balance of tropes
Housekeeping and spoilers
Hail, Hades: SuperGiant’s Mount Olympus
Notes and Spoiler Alerts
Watching: GameCenter CX
I’ve been sad, lately. Not the “crushing despair” kind of sad, but it’s consistent enough that I’ve been looking for the things that I’d usually find comfort...
Making a case for Death Stranding
Spoiler alert
Game, Set, Match: Goodbye, Haikyuu!!
Spoiler alert
All-time faves: Harold Sakuichi’s BECK
One of my favorite manga, Haikyuu!!, is ending soon. The chapter that was published this week let us know that the next would be the “final chapter”, which g...
Me at 31: more reflections
Last year I wrote something on my birthday for turning 30, and today I turn 31. Looking back at that post, I’m happy that I haven’t made any huge changes, bu...
Creator-focused Crypto: dipping my toes into Brave
When I made the decision to go into journalism as a career, it was motivated by me enjoying writing, and wanting to seek a way to make a living from it. By t...
My Gaming in May
I’ve been finding that I’ve been oddly focused with my gaming time lately, and have knocked a few things off my backlog. This is pretty uncharacteristic for ...
Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and Quarantine QoL
I always find it fascinating when the release of something coincides with a general cultural need. With the COVID-19 quarantine still going on, it was pretty...
Reading: Giant Killing
I’ve been trying to make more of a habit of reading before I go to bed, both to get myself away from the PC itself and the social media that I find myself sc...
I did my first esports lecture!
I’ve done my fair share of speaking about esports, but never in a class setting before. When I found out that my alma matter had an esports class (not just l...
Closing the book on Kazuma Kiryu
Spoiler alert
Atelier Ryza and comfort fiction
2020 has been off to a slow start for me, mostly because I’m waiting on some (good) job news, and also from personal choice. After taking November and Decemb...
2019: The Reflection Post
It’s hard to start this kind of post without the usual cliches; 2019 was a bit of a year of growth and getting to know myself, and I’ll say that I probably e...
Playing: Ring Fit Adventure
I’m ashamed to admit that I’ve fallen prey to my share of fitness gimmicks and failed gym habits. I’m always a sucker for trying again, however, and somethin...
Reading: Delicious in Dungeon
I’ve been trying to sleep better lately, and part of that is improving my sleep hygiene. This mainly means changing a longtime habit I have, which is being o...
Match end: concluding Haikyuu!!
This article contains heavy spoilers for people who aren’t current to the Haikyuu!! manga. Specifically, it’s written after reading Haikyuu!! 374.
Taking up space: my trip to Japan
I’ve been putting off writing something about my Japan trip, mostly because it’s hard to know exactly where to start. This probably won’t be the only thing I...
Me at 30: some advice
I wanted to some writing to expand on a tweet that I made yesterday that had some advice for people that might want it. My own qualifications aren’t that imp...
Working with walkthroughs, and skipping gaming experiences
I’ve been making a concerted effort to cross games off my backlog lately before I buy any more. I’ve also been looking at that backlog and thinking “am I rea...
Haikyuu!!, and killing The Small Giant
Haruichi Furudate writes good shōnen sports manga — I say this, because I’ve been really enjoying Haikyu!! lately, and I felt like I should explain why. To n...
Thoughts on Apex Legends
Battle Royale games make me feel old.
Slay the Spire vs Artifact: What is my brain is doing differently?
I’ve been playing a lot of Slay the Spire lately. I’ve found that it’s really scratched the itch for card games in a way that I never really appreciated befo...
2018: The Reflection Post
I figured it was time to do my 2018 wrap-up post, mostly because I like writing about this kind of thing. I tend to be big on reflecting over time, and the e...
Dealing with Artifact: the first week
It feels like forever since I wrote about Artifact, the Valve-produced card game set in the world of Dota 2. Since then, the game was kind of this specter th...
Stargazing, Part 4 – Legend of the Galactic Heroes
After a nice jaunt back to the FPA in the last episode, Legend of the Galactic Heroes pulls the opposite and brings us into the Empire’s neo-classical clutch...
Stargazing, Part 3 - Legend of the Galactic Heroes
Hey hey, we’re back again with more Legend of the Galactic Heroes, and we’re continuing to spend a lot of time with Yang. If you were returning to the series...
Stargazing, Part 2 - Legend of the Galactic Heroes
I really liked how my last Legend of the Galactic Heroes blog came out, so I feel I should do more of them. I don’t have much experience with reviewing anime...
Stargazing, Part 1 - Legend of the Galactic Heroes
After seeing endless screencaptures on Twitter, I decided to dive into Legend of the Galactic Heroes out of curiosity for something people seemed to universa...
A look at Monster Hunter: World’s progression and gameplay loop
RPGs are my favorite genre, and I wanted to write about them from a more zoomed-out perspective than just dealing with their stories. Also, I wanted an excus...
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and waifus as marketing
One of the first posts that I published when I launched this blog was my impressions of Xenoblade Chronicles X, a WiiU title from Monolith Soft. Despite real...
2017: The Reflection Post
I think every writer has a voice in their head that tells them to write a New Year’s resolution/reflection blog. It allows them to be a bit reflective and nu...
There is never a good time to start
At the beginning of November, I moved to a new apartment. Unfortunately, a lot has gone wrong with that.
Finding inspiration in games: Adieu, Persona 5
Warning: there’s some heavy spoilers of the mid-to-end game of Persona 5 here. If you don’t want to be spoiled, don’t read.
Moving Day
Today is moving day. I’m taking a little bit of a break from frantically packing in order to write this blog.
Support networks: some thoughts on finding and maintaining them
I was struggling to find a blog topic for today but thanks to a friend (shoutouts to Ria!) I settled on talking about support networks. Ironically, Ria is a ...
The KonMari method and absolving backlog guilt
Over the last week I’ve been reading Marie Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing [affiliate link], a...
#WorldMentalHealthDay - My journey with medication
I’ve been on medication for anxiety and depression for two years. It’s a day too late to talk about it on World Mental Health Day, but I figured, hey, why no...
Building blisters: six weeks of personal training
After years of failing at fitness, I decided in August that I was going to get a personal trainer. I had a couple months to kill of just doing nothing while ...
Freebie content plan: Turning your journey into a narrative
A couple years ago I had a project called BetterDota; basically, it was an idea I concocted to make my journey to get better at Dota 2 into a narrative more ...
Ebook #4: Event Content Planning in Esports
A couple years ago, I was frustrated at people making mistakes. I turned this frustration into three ebooks about Twitter. Now, four years later, I’ve writte...
Q&A: “When should I start my Patreon?”
A couple weeks ago I had a friend approach me and ask me if I had any thoughts about him creating a Patreon. He told me I should consider making a blog out o...
Budgeting as a content creator, streamer, or contractor
I’m going to go a bit boring for this week’s blog and talk a little bit about budgeting, and why it’s important as a streamer, vlogger or content creator. As...
Voiding warranties and modding a Wii U
This week, I decided to undertake a project and hack my Wii U. I didn’t really need to; there isn’t really any reason beyond a few tweaks and piracy. To the ...
The Nintendo Switch and the fallacy of sunk costs
I was worried when I bought my Switch.
Valve’s Artifact, and what it needs to get right
Yesterday when I was watching The International’s broadcast, something perked my ears up. Valve announced that they were revealing a new game, right then and...
Training, execution, and mindfulness
I have a hard time being present.
The pro wrestling entrance, and what esports can learn from it
Over the past year I’ve gotten more comfortable with my fandom for pro wrestling because of a couple reasons; the most prominent is that it introduced a love...
Lost in the plot : streaming story-based games
The last few months of my stream have mainly moved away from anything competitive; I’ve been playing games that I’ve been meaning to cross off my list for on...
To 3220 and back - an update to my Dota 2 journey
Despite not making it “a project” for the last little while, I’ve still been playing Ranked Dota 2. My mindset is starting to shift in that I haven’t been en...
Making a list: Dota 2 Support heroes
The last little bit of my Dota career has been frustrating; I seem to be hovering around the same MMR without any improvement, and no real consistent growth ...
My next steps to dealing with the panic of choice in Dota
Panic is a common problem in multiplayer games — you’re faced with an innumerable amount of choices with limited information and only have a small window of ...
Weekly stream review: realigning with goals
This week I had the idea of planning out and sticking to a content schedule; mostly, I wanted to start becoming more organized with my time, and also wanted ...
Tutorial: Using Twitch automation with IFTTT
I’ve written about automation earlier with social media, but I got some great news today when IFTTT (“If This, Then That”) added Twitch integration to its li...
Mentality during the hill climb
The last two weeks have been kind of a roller coaster from positive to negative. I’ve been grinding out games of both Dota and Street Fighter on stream, and ...
“Let’s GiantBomb it”: Problems with personality-based content
Personality-based content seems almost too good to be true: the idea is that your users will love the people producing the content so much that what you make...
Tutorial: Automate Discord to post your new content
Discord has become a great hub for a lot of creators to center their communities. However, it adds one more place that people need to publish content when it...
Creating value and shareable content on social media
My go-to advice when it comes to growing your following and creating shareable content has always been “create value.” It’s simple, easy to convey, and in mo...
Pro wrestling gives me hope
Over the last year or so I’ve found pro wrestling to be a hobby that is increasingly fun to dive into. While it’s still not the most socially-acceptable hobb...
Dealing with moments of panic in gaming: the first wall
I think the thing that frustrates me most about learning video games are the panic moments where you know what you should have done, but lack the mental clar...
Dodging the matchup: playing against characters I hate
I’ve come to realize I have a little bit of a phobia when it comes to facing certain characters. This usually comes from when they’ve beat me pretty hard in ...
Ladder anxiety: wanting to play, but not
Like a lot of people starting out with competitive gaming, I’m having some problems with ladder anxiety.
Starting the journey: being new at Street Fighter and Dota 2
The last couple days have been an exercise in patience.
Hey.
So I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately about what I want to do with things.
2016: The Reflection Post
I like New Year’s resolutions post mostly because I’m big on reflecting. A friend noted that I’m big on anniversaries; my birthday (July 1) and New Year’s Da...
Diving into Doom: the apology of a fraud
I feel like I need to write an apology to someone.
Doing what’s “objectively correct” for you
So today I had a pretty good day of therapy, and it contextualized a couple things for me.
On self-worth and identity while creating
Today I want to talk to you about identity — well, that’s a pretty broad topic, so maybe just your identity when when you create.
The Ongoing History of RPGs #1: Dragon Quest
This is the first episode of The Ongoing History of RPGs, and I figured I’d start it off with a series I really enjoy, but ironically haven’t played too much...
The Ongoing History of RPGs: a new series!
So the last little bit has been relatively quiet from me after I felt I needed to take a bit of a break. Coming back wasn’t exactly difficult: not picking up...
Nightstalking: a look at Suramar as a functioning city
When I first picked up World of Warcraft in 2005, I had a grandiose idea of how it would be; the concept of an MMORPG was always appealing to me because of e...
An RPG Project Draft
I’ve been craving getting into a new project lately since my break. Mostly, I’ve wanted to come up with something that I would ideally enjoy doing even if no...
Artour, a stream, and a journey into madness
So, I want you to picture something for a second.
The Warcraft cycle: playing an MMO as an adult
I have this problem, and it began with World of Warcraft. Burning out on it killed my ability to be immersed in a game full time, or at least long sessions.
Running in the 90’s: delving into Absolute Drift
Sometimes you can’t help but commit a cardinal sin in gaming: you let your first impression be your only one.
Getting around to The Witcher 3
About a week and a half ago I finally splurged a little bit to buy a new GPU, a Nvidia GTX 1080; this is one of the most powerful cards on the market at the ...
Review: Daigo Umehara’s “The Willpower to Keep Winning”
I’ve been trying to get a hold of Daigo Umehara’s The Willpower to Keep Winning (◄ affiliate link) for a couple of years now; no unofficial fan translations ...
Thoughts on Twitch Cheering post-Evo 2016
With Evo finished, I wanted to get down a few thoughts about the implementation of Twitch Cheering, and how some questions I had about its future use in comp...
Tales from the BTS TI Hub
The last time I did a blog like this I was heading to Los Angeles to do social media for the Manila Major Qualifier Hub; I found it only fitting that I’d do ...
Tales from the BTS Manila Hub
Two weeks ago I got some pretty good news; I would be travelling to Los Angeles to do social media for an esports company called Beyond the Summit. BTS does ...
Tea on Twitch - Episode #1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7TIz8iXCKc
Nerfing the Golden State Warriors
Apparently the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors have had a pretty good NBA regular season. To list some of their accolades:
The Esports RSS Bundle Project
A little while ago I had a discussion about how we consume content, and how aggregates like Reddit cause problems for discovery.
Square-off: Riot Games and Valve Software’s community management
Riot Games’ League of Legends and Valve Software’s Dota 2 are two of the foremost titles in the Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) market, and are fundam...
On Miitomo - Nintendo’s quirky social network
Over the last couple days I’ve started to get into Miitomo, which is Nintendo’s first attempt at a mobile app. In wanting to get into that market, Nintendo b...
Prepping for an event: Twitter, gear and damage control
In the past I’ve written posts for gaming/esports/nerd professionals who might be travelling to places like conventions, tournaments or expos. I think prepar...
How to pitch an esports/gaming publication without embarrassing yourself
A major part of finding success and growth as a creator is being able to pitch your product to someone who’s willing to pay for it. This means not only havin...
Rocket League: Unifying esports through shared context
When I found out that Rocket League was going to be allowing cross-play between Xbox One, the Playstation 4 and PC, I initially just chalked it up to the gam...
Who Benefits: Riot Games acquires Radiant Entertainment
Last week, Radiant Entertainment announced that they would be acquired by Riot Games, the developer of League of Legends.
Visiting Stardew Valley
How often do you play a number of games in the same genre, and wish that there was a way to combine the best features of them into one title?
#LetsTalk 2016 - My depression, and how it hurts me
So today’s Bell’s annual #LetsTalk day, which is a promotion to get people talking about depression and mental health. Every time people tweet with the hasht...
SeeBotsChat: So two robots walk into a bar…
So if you’ve been on Twitch Twitter™ today you’ll probably have heard about seebotschat, a channel that has two voice-activated assistants (Google Home model...
Who benefits? ESPN, TSM, and the great eSports gold rush
Disclosure: I worked at theScore eSports from Jan 2015 to Nov 2015. I worked with Rod Breslau and Tyler Erzberger during my time there, and edited their work...
Twitch and the art of running marathons
While Twitch has made huge strides in terms of user engagements, the past two years have seen the rise of a form of entertainment that deserves special menti...
Bring back the watermark, save your content
Friends, I think it’s time we had a serious talk. This might be a bit of a controversial topic, but I think we’re at the point where revisiting something mig...
Who benefits? Ember and public player salaries
This is going to be the start of a new series called “Who Benefits.” At its core, the series looks at marketing and PR decisions in eSports in a critical way...
Writers, here’s why you should learn Markdown
As a writer, I’ve become painfully aware that we don’t get many “toys.” Artists have stores devoted to different tools of their trade, while we have… keyboar...
Fishing for pre-feedback, and how it hurts your product
Today I’d like to start a series of posts where I examine some of my pet peeves when it comes to content creation. These posts will attempt to deconstruct ba...
The real winners of The Summit 4: Team OG
Like many Dota fans, I had the chance to watch The Summit 4 this past week. The Summit, produced by studio Beyond the Summit, tends to be a bit of a gift to ...
First impressions: Xenoblade Chronicles X
Note: the gfys in this post are bugged due to something on the end of Gfycat. They should display at the proper crop after a loop or two.
Tutorial: Free telestrator for Open Broadcaster Software
One system I’ve definitely wanted to use in analysis is the telestrator, or video marker. For those not familiar with the term, it’s what sportscasters will ...
On the (possibly grim) future of Overwatch
Blizzard’s FPS title Overwatch is probably one of the most hyped titles this year due to a couple different factors:
Thoughts on Kero Blaster
One of the most beloved video games of all time is Cave Story, a labor of love by one Daisuke “Pixel” Amaya. Developed over the course of years, it was initi...
50 women in esports: a brief list
Sparked by a debate that happened yesterday about female representation and role models in esports/gaming, I decided to compile a list of women in the indust...
Thanks, Marcus: a Dyrus obituary
Some of you know that eSports is something I came into by accident; it was never supposed to be a career, but more a hobby.
Experiences with the Valve/HTC Vive VR
This past week at The International I managed to get some time with the Valve/HTC virtual reality project, the Vive. I’ve never tried VR before, but tales of...
Dota Reborn is out! Here’s things I like so far
I recently had the chance to play around with the Dota 2 Reborn beta after it launched earlier this week. Obviously, being a beta, there’s a bunch of stuff t...
Dota Reborn: Three things I’m excited about
A couple days ago Dota 2 fans were treated to the launch of Reborn, a web page devoted to the updating of… a lot of things.
This hurts to write
Like many people my age, I got hooked on computers early on in my life. I remember playing games like Dangerous Dave, Monster Bash and Commander Keen, which ...
On comics, and evolving tastes
Today I went to TCAF 2015. Usually, it’s a pretty big event during my calendar year; I really love comics, and seeing a lot of independent voices always felt...
Games in Motion: Dignitas vs Cloud 9 HyperX
Up until this week, I was noting a very worrying trend for LCS matches; I was getting bored. Games lacked a certain competition that usually glues me to the ...
Chasing Champions - An eSports Travelogue
Hell is being trapped in a window seat on a fifteen hour flight to Korea with a full bladder and the Canadian need to be polite. My legs crumple into the sea...