In an incredible age where literally anything can be sent to your doorstep, the urge for younger folks to go outside and do something is becoming rarer by the day. When I talk about the outdoors by the way, it doesn’t have to be mother nature in its purest form. Simply exploring your town, city or county can be enriching as well as nerdy as you want it to be. Instead of the usual trappings of overpriced Instagram food and fly by night shopping centers, you can try to make a pilgrimage to some businesses fighting the good fight in keeping weird things alive. I would start with arcades, “barcades”, and niche stores as your starting points and expand out from there.
For everyone who enjoyed last month’s Jenny Nicholson recommendation, I would like to say that not all themed attractions out there are complete rip offs. If you are lucky enough to live within driving distance of a theme park, may I kindly suggest you give it a shot if you haven’t? There’s always going to be a tradeoff of what you can reasonably budget against what you want to do. Believe me when I say that I’m a “once a year” type of person when it comes to these things, but that one or two days I get to go at it - it’s a damn good time. Some places even have “vip” experiences you can look into it, which will dramatically allow you to enjoy your day. Either way, see what’s around you and plan a trip.
There’s a weird proven psychological benefit to rearranging a space or working on a project. It gives a sense of completion when done, a meaningful practical purpose to work toward, and importantly the reward is often directly involving yourself. That’s why I encourage anyone who hasn’t done a minor renovation to their living space (or at least their bedroom) in quite some time to think about starting one. Although not the most scientific source to cite, you can read a lengthy article on the perceived benefits of remodeling from Veranda. In a nutshell, make your living area that you dwell in the most more comfortable and relatable to your current circumstances. It can help improve mood and connection to your space and even where you’re at in life. It’s also why a lot of folks choose to move to another city (or even country) after a while, since they feel they need to break apart the monotony that has taken ahold of their life.
Everyone needs a crazy smart old man to teach them stuff they didn’t ask about, and HOBOTECH is a great resource if you’re looking into reliable reviews of these fancy power banks all the kids are using nowadays. Actually, I’m linking you HOBOTECH since he’s a great resource if you’re looking into making your own small solar setup for your house or personal use. I’m not here to dive into any of the nasty politics of green energy, rather I’m just a nerd trying to save you money if you make some proper choices. For example, where I live in California, we have the highest cost of electricity in the entire country! So, it makes sense to get energy from the sun where I can shave off the monthly bill. More details in the audio blog, but basically look into small scale panels and batteries to start off before jumping into the larger things.
Artist is Urushihara Satoshi
Artist of the month has been mentioned on my site before a very long time ago, but of course with the newer format he deserves the recognition he deserves. Therefore Urushihara Satoshi, also known as the “Master of breasts” is as old school as you can get in the industry. You’ll probably recognize some of his work and very unique style if you’ve been around for a while watching anime or reading manga. A good candidate for artist GOAT due to his sheer influence on the industry and still to this day rather unique design. That’s it for the monthly update, go on and get out there!