Stuff

When I was a teenager, I decided to basically never reveal my interests or tastes. This may have been a defensive strategy against getting roasted for listening to the Kirby's Dream Land 3 soundtrack in study hall, or it might have been because I wanted to seem mysterious and interesting to girls. It didn't really work in either of these ways. Oops!

But over time, this habit fossilized into a default behavior in my brain. I have a hard time recommending things, or joining a conversation about things, even when I think they're good! My impulsive adolescent rejection of "fandom" culture was threatening to stunt me for life.

So, here I am, trying to transcend irony and re-embrace public enjoyment. I'm going to recommend some online stuff I really enjoy, and talk about why I love it. You can be corny on your own website!

Spacetrawler

When many people my age and personality type were falling deep into Homestuck, I was spending my prime webcomic-reading years with Spacetrawler. It's really great. A sprawling but not messy sci-fi world with characters who (over the decade and change it's been running) adapt and change and grow. I think about the months-long running gag where Dmitri repeatedly shoots himself with a stun-ray until he develops an immunity pretty often (spoiler: it pays off). It's funny, in a way that lands between Douglas Adams and Spaceman Spiff, but it's also unfailingly heartfelt and makes the stakes obvious when the tension is high. A triumph of the art form when it comes to webcomics. I'd love to own a print copy someday.