potpourri no.1

mind stuff

originally, this series of posts was going to be titled "hamster food." why? i took inspiration from this meme pictured below. these posts are truly just my mind's stuff, much like hamster food is just stuff.

wise words from tiktok user big beluga

"hamster food" didn't seem to fit quite right, though. i have a tote bag, gifted to me by my grandma, that i carry around with me often. i have given her the name "potpourri." this name was given for similar reasons why i would name this "hamster food." she (potpourri, my tote bag) is full of stuff that makes me happy, inspired by the fact that potpourri is really just stuff that smells good. i have decided to adopt this name for these posts as well.

"potpourri" is a round up of stuff going on in my life as well as stuff in the world i find fascinating and worth to share. i want to put out a new "potpourri" weekly, but this may change based on my bandwidth. truly, speaking about my life's happenings and my interests is something i find very challenging. therefore, i hope you find value in the stuff shared here!


creatin'

presentations

i made an announcement about one of my presentations in a separate blog post, but i am now giving TWO presentations in ONE weekend!

i am very excited and honored to have been chosen to speak about some of the stuff i make. i am currently in "finishing up presentations" mode, which has taken up most of my recent time.

queer joy jam: polly heart, mall mop

alongside the presentations, i have been working with some friends on making a submission for the queer joy jam!

our idea is titled "polly heart: mall mop." it is a 2d sidescroller where you play as a queer character who tries to shoplift the most joyous and affirming outfit you can from the mall. alongside the stealth element of the sidescroller, players can play dress up with some of the clothes from their heist at the end of the game!

clown egg

it was exciting to find out that the clowns international egg registry does not need one to be of active clown status to submit to them. you just need a unique clown persona to submit pictures of and pay a membership fee.

i have now made it my mission to be able to confidently say that i have a registered clown egg. i am creating a clown persona inspired by 90s whimsigoth aesthetics. it is currently a work in progress, you can see a very rough sketch here. my tentative clown name is twinkles. :)

you are so loved.

i think often of those who feel lost in this world. maybe as you read this, you think this is crazy, but i wish i could tell these people that the world loves them. i love them, and that they are needed. i have never once thought that the scarcity of love is what makes it meaningful. i feel like love just pours out of my heart, and i need somewhere to express it. what better way to send my message than through a love letter to the masses?

"you are so loved" is a love letter inspired augmented reality project i am currently working on. it is rather simple in its implementation; i will be posting the above qr code as a sticker that links to a subpage of my website which depicts a 3d model of the message that i created with blender. i am in the midst of making sure the model formats well to all screens as well as polishing the front-end.


evanescent interests


moodboard

godzilla vs hedorah poster, polish ver.

knowmad by mel chin

find more here

[domestic] by mary flanagan

find more here

smiling friends


🌱 sprouts from my mind garden

what is intelligence if not just efficiency?

there are many ways the word "intelligence" is defined, and many different contexts for its use exist. when i ponder on what intelligence is, really, my context is the rudimentary concept of being "smarter than."

if two people can solve the same math problem with the same accuracy, but one finishes it faster than the other, the one who finishes faster would commonly be regarded as "smarter." why, though? at the end of the day, they both finished the problem correctly. therefore, does the swiftness in which one solves a problem have weight on how intelligent they are? does this not indicate that intelligence in the end is really just efficiency?

this is something i would like to explore further. i am sure there must be others who have not only asked this question, but answered it. this truly exists as a sprout, currently. i wonder about a world where "intelligence" may be interpreted differently without the context of capitalism and its unrealistic hyper-focus on human productivity.

10 year gamergate retrospective

this august will be 10 years from the beginnings of the gamergate saga. gamergate started when i was 14, and it subsequently "ended" when i was about 15 or 16. a child, really. i was incredibly passionate about speaking out against gamergate and in support of the likes of zoe quinn and anita sarkeesian, especially. gamergate had a significant impact on my worldview at the time; so much so that i presented a research poster on it for a community college anthropology course i was taking my junior year of high school.

a post coming up soon will be a retrospective on the sociopolitical landscape in games at that time through my now 24 year old, more educated perspective. i will also be releasing a review of the game that (kind of, sort of) started it all, depression quest.

the faux tension of empathy and sympathy

i often find the debate surrounding the meaningfulness of sympathy vs empathy, and especially the opinion that empathy is inherently more meaningful, to be too black and white. something i ponder on is, is empathy not just heightened centering of the self? is it not more brave to admit to someone you have no idea what they're going through, no way of feeling what they are feeling, yet you still feel for them? how exactly can one discern the difference between feeling for someone opposed to feeling with someone, and why do we perceive one as more empty, and often further, more condescending, than the other? are we not creating a dichotomy where one does not need to exist? this is an idea i want to explore further, especially within the context of empathy-fueled serious games. if anyone has recommendations for literature on this, please feel free to share! i want to gather informed perspectives wherever i can.


consumin'

  • playing: depression quest (watch out for a review!)
  • viewing: godzilla (1954) at the theater tomorrow
  • listening: menstrual tramps (who played near where i live not too long ago)

events & opportunities


memento vivere,

kristen 💌