Odd Thoughts

Invasion , released on Apple TV in late 2021, is a TV series that I desperately want to like. The premise is great, the "real-time" pacing was something that I found compelling and thought worked to the series' benefit, and I'm just a huge sucker for suspenseful sci-fi stories and high production values. Indeed, there is plenty in Invasion  that I do like. I was especially fond of the British and Japanese subplots, and the wonderfully produced visuals and atmosphere make the show genuinely enjoyable to watch, despite serious flaws. Unfortunately, by the end of the tenth episode I couldn't help feeling like my time had been wasted.  Before I level further criticism, I want to acknowledge that despite its $200 million pricetag, Invasion  without a doubt faced major development and production issues. Filmed through 2020 and into early 2021, the series faced uncertainties throughout the COVID pandemic, an event that I have to imagine forced changes into the show's

Citizen Sleeper , a stunningly well written game developed by Jump Over the Age, raises an age-old human question - why am I alive? From a purely biological perspective, the answer is easy. Like every other living thing, I am alive to reproduce. To seed my genetic code into the next generation of homo sapiens sapiens. But I know that is not what I am really asking, nor is it a compelling answer for thinking beings who know reproduction is at best a necessity for the continuation of life and cannot be held up as an individual goal for each wildly diverse human individual. Why am I alive? Why do I persist? Why do I suffer? What's the point? Citizen Sleeper wants you to answer those questions on your own, but it offers some compelling theories. In a transhumanist triumph, it offers up a world of beings - including yourself - that are not tied to mortal shells. One needs not suffer. And yet on a decidedly humanist note it suggests that suffering might be the price we all pay for the wa