Sawyer Paul's Blog
May 1, 2020
Mario Maker 2 - I’m building a world
Mario Maker 2 recently added a “World” mode, which opens up two exciting things for creators. You can now design a map for your levels, which is visually fun. More importantly, you can now design levels with progression in mind. Before this, all Mario Maker levels had to exist of a piece. Makers would inevitably put 1-1 and 3-2, etc., in their naming scheme, but it didn’t really mean anything. Up until last week, the most fun you could have with Mario Maker was essentially hitting the shuffle button on your preferred difficulty level. But I’ve had more fun playing worlds this week than any other mode, and I bet that’s true for most.
A good world design is like a good mixtape. You want a sense of progression, a balanced difficulty curve, moments of delight, and meaningful rewards. The top of my list, though: a sense that my time has been well spent here. This is hard. I’ve played a good number of worlds this week and only one really impressed me. The whole thing is inspiring though, and so I’m going to make one myself. I hope you like it.
It’ll take me a bit before I publish the world, but you can play the first level right now. It’s called 1-1 Forest Flood. It’s a classic easy level with very little platforming and only a few enemies. If you make it to the end with the racoon tail, you can score a great deal of 1ups:
Here’s the course ID: WCR-K8G-BSF. Enjoy!
April 30, 2020
Video Game Time, April 2020
Final Fantasy VIII Remastered.
Wheel of Fortune
Undertale
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Getting Over It
Games Finished
Final Fantasy VIII Remastered. It’s still not a game I’d recommend anyone buy who wasn’t 15 in 1999. But if you were, this is still hit you well.
Games Bought
Bayonetta
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
One of these months, I’ll go a month without buying a video game on steam.
Animal Crossing is the heavy hitter. We bought it three weeks ago and it’s been on for at least half an hour every day. If we were out of work right now, it would have been way more than that.
Album on Rotation Today—Art Angels by Grimes
She’s not a human Tumblr, as we called her (somewhat humiliatingly) in 2012; she’s a human zeitgeist, redrawing all the binaries and boundaries by which we define pop music and forcing us to come along.
Say what you will about Grimes (and what Grimes herself says about this album), but Art Angels is fun as hell.
April 29, 2020
Good Movies, April 2020
Tampopo, 1985 - ★★★★½. This movie is equal parts innocent, charming, disgusting, confusing, and endearing. It made me go “aww” and “oh, oh my god why oh interesting” every five minutes.
Miami Connection, 1987 - ½. FRIEND!?!?!?
Cover Girl, 1944 - ★★. Good dancing, bad singing, good lines (“Sure, I’ll marry you. Who is this?”), meh plot.
Cinematic Titanic: Danger on Tiki Island, 2010 - ★★. My new business card is definitely going to say “Carla, to my friends and enemies.”
The Anderson Tapes, 1971 - ★★★½ Now that’s how you fuck up a heist, kids.
Hardcore, 1979 - ★★★ Really wanted George to invite Season back home to help rehab his daughter, but that would be a whole different movie. Ah well. If you liked Taken but wanted the dad to have a much lousier set of skills.
Bitter Moon, 1992 - ★★★★. Being an adult means being the kind of hypocrite you can live with — an old piece of advice that definitely ran through my head as I watched a Polanski film in 2020 while self-isolating.
The Big Heat, 1953 - ★★★★. The crib on the porch is for the outside baby we don’t talk about.
Shadow, 2018 - ★★★★. It’d be cool to just hang out in those robes doing calligraphy though.
Pain and Glory, 2019 - ★★★★. Intimate and touching. Very well done.
Experiment in Terror, 1962 - ★★★★. So good. One of those great ones that’s just to the left of ten other movies you love, but takes this long to bubble up to the surface.
Beauty and the Beast, 1946 - ★★½. Disney’s 90s version is probably the best, but this came out fifty years before and still puts up a fight.
Dead Reckoning, 1947 - ★★½.
The Skeleton Twins, 2014 - ★★★.
You’ll Never Get Rich, 1941 - ★★. Ugh, the army.
Violet Evergarden: Eternity and the Auto Memory Doll, 2019 - ★★. Some episodes of Violet Evergarden are so crushing you feel your heart wrench itself apart. Other episodes are just sort of sweet and slow, but it’s okay because this is a pretty and winning world for a hang. This movie is more of the second. I was hoping for more of the first.
High and Low, 1963 - ★★★★★.
Album on Rotation Today—Future Politics by Austra
Despite all this, Future Politics is essentially an optimistic album, and presents solutions. First: self-care is important…. It’s music to be escaped into, whether on dance floors or alone somewhere, filled with a little less despair.
Oooh, I liked this one.
April 28, 2020
My favourite secret supper club now doing secret home deliveries
Each week we’ll have a new 3 course menu available, with the same delicious flavors you’ve come to love, in a simplified package. Everything will be delivered ready for you to heat + enjoy at home; this process will take minutes, and we’ll provide detailed instructions, to ensure everything is perfect. As well, every week we’ll send out a playlist so you can have the full L.U.S.T experience at home. Let’s keep our community connected through food + music.
If you live in the delivery zone (basically central Toronto), I’d highly recommend it.
Album on Rotation Today—Old World Underground, Where Are You Now by Metric
One of the most stunning successes on Old World Underground, “Succexy” takes issue with the political agenda of the U.S. government from a more creative stance than the indie world’s typical anti-Bush rhetoric and generalizations. Instead of placing the blame purely on the government, Haines claims, “All we do is talk, sit, switch screens/ As the homeland plans enemies.” Slipping between power chords and her own serpentine synth lines, Haines juxtaposes sex and war without sounding lost in her own thoughts.
Ah, simpler times.
April 27, 2020
Link Blog, April 2020
HBO’s The Outsider Has the Best Cast on TV.
Life-Hacks of the Poor and Aimless.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is tearing my family apart.
How The New York Times Works From Home.
Pointers, Masterclasses, X100Vs, Billionaire Universities.
A trauma psychologist weighs in on the risks of ‘motivational’ pressure during quarantine.
“Animal Crossing” Is Saving My Marriage.
Fetch the Bolt Cutters.
This is the end of the office as we know it.
Am I There Yet?.
Why Do We Even Listen to New Music?.
Last Month on KSawyerPaul.Blog, March 8-April 27, 2020
Peloton offers free 90-day subscription trial for its at-home workout app
WWE statement regarding WrestleMania 36
A free book about working from home
Toronto waking up to new reality
Outbreaks In Victorian England Confirm Coronavirus Capable Of Spreading Through Time
The Coronavirus Is Here to Stay, So What Happens Next?
Walking in the Age of Coron
Let’s meet this moment together
Walking in the Age of Corona
Alto’s Adventure and Odyssey go free
Skateboarding is Illegal in Toronto
Adobe Offers Two Free Months of Creative Cloud
Microsoft announces new Teams features as usage skyrockets nearly 40 percent in a week
Affinity — Supporting the creative community
12 Women on Their Favorite Video Games
Free online concerts in Toronto
Free photography workshops
Ten songs a Week returns
I want this mug
Anchor just made it easier to start a podcast while we’re all social distancing
The Best of Youtube, March 2020
Cura, March 25, 2020
Link Blog, March 2020
Having fun isn’t hard when you’ve got a library card
Randy Savage vs. Bret Hart
Peloton after 9 months
An encyclopedia of appreciations
The New Normal For Life Under a New Plague
Stop Trying to Be Productive
No One Should Worry About Working Out Right Now
My Favourite Outline Articles
In praise of balconies
March 2020 in photos
My Favourite Quotes: Drive Your Plough Over the Bones of the Dead
Are physical distancing measures giving bikes a new lease on life?
Cura, April 14, 2020
Use Code TPL2020 to Get a Temporary Digital Toronto Library Card with OverDrive
Don’t get depression
Explaining the Pandemic to my Past Self by @juliemarienolke
Album on Rotation Today—Antisocialites by Alvvays
Album on Rotation Today—The Neon Skyline by Andy Shauf
The Best of Youtube, April 2020
Album on Rotation Today—Heaven by Dilly Dally
Album on Rotation Today—Meet Me at the Muster Station by PS I Love You
Microblog Thoughts, March 24-April 26, 2020
Album on Rotation Today—Red, Yellow & Blue by Born Ruffians
