Author Archives: Luke Maciak
Rockets and Rayguns
In the past two years or so, I really got back into tabletop and role playing hobby. While it was always a part of my life, and I was always reading and writing about it, for quite some time I … Continue reading
Warmachine Resources
If you read my last post from few months ago, you probably know I’ve been quite broken up by the demise of my favorite miniature game. Fear not though, I’m ok now. I have fallen in love with another tabletop … Continue reading
Age of Sigmar and the End of Warhammer
As you may know I’m a huge fan of Warhammer Fantasy Battles table top game. I have written about it on more than one occasion and I made a tiny web service allowing you to print custom paper movement trays … Continue reading
What does it mean to be a gamer in 2015?
Do you consider yourself a gamer? What does it mean to be a gamer? I submit it means absolutely, fucking, nothing. There was a brief period in history when this term kinda made sense, as it described those who played … Continue reading
Witcher 3 and Diversity
Witcher 3 is a fun game. It is also a game almost exclusively about white people. There are white humans, white elves, and white dwarfs with Scottish accents, and about a hundred different types of monsters that come in all … Continue reading
Mad Max: Fury Road
You don’t need me to tell you to go watch Mad Max: Fury Road. You have probably already seen it twice, and even if you didn’t you have likely read a dozen of glowing reviews. There is little I can … Continue reading
On YouTube rants…
I have noticed that video is increasingly becoming the preferred communication medium on the web, especially for the younger generations. This is especially noticeable amongst the newly formed gator/puppy set which has spawned in the August that never ended, but … Continue reading
Age of Ultron
SPOILER WARNING! Proceed with caution. I’m not even going to try to talk about this movie without spoilers. No one at Marvel/Disney seem to know what to do with Black Widow. It is clear that the studio does not see … Continue reading
On Black Widow and that Bro-tastic interview…
Avengers, Age of Ultron is almost upon us, and this means it is interview and promotion season for Marvel movie studios. Last Thursday, Chris Evans and Jeremy Renner (Captain America and Hawkeye respectively) were doing an interview as part of … Continue reading
Daredevil
I have spent an entire weekend binge watching Daredevil on Netflix and I have some thoughts about it. I will try not to include any major spoilers here, but I will talk about general story elements so it could be … Continue reading
Dragons of Tarkir
Last Saturday, I have participated in the Dragons of Tarkir launch event at a local comic book store. Last time I have played Magic the Gathering was in high school and I was not planning to get back into the … Continue reading
Using BTSync Behind a Corporate Firewall
BitTorrent Sync is pretty neat. I have been using it ever since Scott recommended it in the quintesential backup thread of 2013. It even made it onto my big list of essential tools. It provides a nice alternative to cloud … Continue reading
Risk averse Workflows, or Why CEO’s Keep Losing Files
Let’s talk about workflows. If you are a white collar worker, chances are that you spend most of your day creating or editing digital files. Whether you are a programmer, sysadmin, accountant, salesman or a CEO, you will be spending … Continue reading
Pretty Deadly
Back in my review of Ocean at the end of the Lane I mentioned that works of Neil Gaiman have a unique, recognizable style and mood. Gaimain is the undisputed master of mixing modern sensibilities with folk myth and magical … Continue reading
Integral Trees by Larry Niven
Don’t you hate when you find a book built around a set of very intriguing ideas only to be disappointed by its underwhelming plot and bland characters? Disappointment was exactly what I felt after reading Lary Niven’s Integral Trees and … Continue reading
Unit Testing Sinatra Apps
Testing is the safety harness for your code. They are not magical, and they will not prevent you from missing bugs you did not anticipate. They do however automate the boring chore of making sure various edge cases and special … Continue reading
Zero Effort Link Minification with WordPress
If you have ever linked to my blog, you might have noticed that my URL’s are absolutely monstrous in size. Not only is my long domain name rather long, but I also happen to use the “pretty” style of permalinks … Continue reading
This War of Mine
There were four of them in the house. Anton, was the oldest. In his previous life before the war he was a respected mathematician and a professor. When he joined the group, he was so sick could barely stand up. … Continue reading
Life is Strange: Save Scumming as a Game Mechanic
“Save scumming” has been a video game concept ever since we have invented save states. In the past, abusing the save system was often the only way to win or avoid losing progress. For example, Sierra adventure games liked to … Continue reading
Utility Spells in Video Games
I like utility spells in my video games. By that I mean spells that allow me to do things other than DPS. There is nothing about magic users as a RPG class that dictates that they should be pure damage … Continue reading
Rat Queens
When you play D&D (or any kind of classic fantasy Role Playing Game) the game universe crafted by your GM is typically laden with certain game specific tropes. Because it is a collaborative medium, and because it is a game … Continue reading
Space Hulk
The original Space Hulk board game was released back in 1989. It would not be fair to say it was a direct cash-in, but the game design and theme were clearly influenced by the enduring popularity of James Cameron’s Aliens … Continue reading
Alien Isolation
Alien: Isolation is a fascinating game because of the circumstances that lead to it’s creation. It came on the heels of Sega’s infamous Alien: Colonial Marines title which was a spectacular disaster. A game that was not only the worst … Continue reading
Spectacular Computer Failures: The Next Generation
If you have been wondering why blog post have been scarce lately, it is partly because my computer blew up again. Yes, the new one that I bought in September. If you have been following along, you might remember that … Continue reading
Her
Spoiler Warning! This review contains spoilers for 2013 Spike Jonze movie Her. Last year I wrote a few thousand words about the trailer for the Spike Jonze film Her. I have finally got around to watching the movie proper, and … Continue reading