Eliminato il blog, spostato su Bear

.gitignore

@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@ hugo.linux
 /.hugo_build.lock
 
 # Unfinished articles
-/content/blog/___*
 /content/stories/___*
 /MD\ originali
 

config.toml

@@ -62,11 +62,6 @@ enableRobotsTXT = false
     identifier = "stories"
     name       = "Stories"
     url        = "/stories"
-    weight     = -2
-  [[menu.main]]
-    identifier = "Blog"
-    name       = "Blog"
-    url        = "/blog"
     weight     = -1
   [[menu.main]]
     identifier = "about"

content/about/index.md

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 ---
-title: "About This Blog and Its Author"
+title: "About This Website and Its Author"
 ---
 
 My name is Massimo, I'm Italian and this is a kind of a personal blog where I would like to share some of the short stories I wrote. Please note that I'm not a writer at all, I work in IT and cyber security fields.

content/blog/_index.md

@@ -1,8 +0,0 @@
----
-title: "A Kind of Blog"
-date: 2020-10-07
-layout: "list-blog"
-draft: false
----
-
-On writings, books, videogames and other things that one might encounter in life.

content/blog/against-the-grain.md

@@ -1,33 +0,0 @@
----
-title: "Against The Grain"
-date: 2021-05-24
-draft: false
----
-
-Story of my life: I have nice ideas, but I spend way too much time focusing my efforts on their useless aspects. Example: _privacy-awareness_. I am a strong advocate of any de-Googling project and in the past few months I had some ideas for this website. Only one problem: today’s web technology is very different from what I used to know ten years ago (HTML + CSS = 🚀). I already had a certain number of issues while studying Hugo and customizing this website… But after some research[^1] and a dozen of comments on StackOverflow, now visitors can see in the homepage a nice(?) banner if they are using a browser different than Brave or Firefox – if you have read it, you should take it seriously.
-
-Another huge step was switching the hosting platform: from Firebase (Google-based) to [Vercel](https://vercel.com), an opensource project easy to configure. The migration was painless and I enjoyed discovering this new world.
-
-BUT! It isn’t over. There is also some big news in the Blog section of the site: each page has a shiny new Comments portion! At first, I registered to Disqus because it seemed with no doubt the best and easier product to set up, but then I casually checked the [uBlock](https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/) report of the resulting webpage… 😱
-I immediately regretted and again, for pure coincidence, I stumbled upon a project born a couple of days earlier: [Cusdis](https://github.com/djyde/cusdis))! You can try it yourself at the bottom of this page, it is lightweight, easy and functional! I’m still having some issues with colour customization, but eventually I’ll fix it.
-
-**UPDATE** – 31/05/2021: the domain itself has been transferred from Google Domains to [Porkbun](https://porkbun.com/). One more step done. 🎉
-
-## Printemps Emeraude
-{{< bandcamp 1137805747 >}}
-
-Have you ever listened to Alcest? Until a few months ago I wasn’t even aware of the existence of this amazing French band. Sound wall? Check. Dreamy atmosphere? Check. Cool cover arts (bonus points)? Check. Only a few times I bought the whole discography of a band in one time… this was the case.
-
-Highs and lows are the norm, but I’m very positive about the next future, overall about the house we're going to renovate. We bought an awesome hammock and set it up between two apple trees. The other day I tried to use my laptop from there and it was _perfect_! I can’t wait to join a Teams or WebEx session from there.
-
-About countryside, here is an unrelated bonus picture: the amazing view of the hill near Montechiaro D’Acqui, where we had a nice walk of thirty-and-something kilometres.
-
-{{< figure src="/blog/muncior.jpg" caption="On the left, on the top of the hill. That's Montechiaro. Of course we walked up there." >}}
-
-## Gone, Still
-Latest news: Bear [announced](https://blog.bear.app/2021/05/win-a-year-of-bear-pro-in-scribes-short-story-writing-challenge/) a contest in partnership with Scribe, a newsletter with stories and poems published on Medium. When I read the prompt, I immediately started wandering with my thoughts, and in a couple of days my story was ready.
-I submitted it and I hope to get published (I am already a Bear Pro subscriber, I don’t really care about the prize). My only negative thought is about Medium in itself.  I don’t like their “paywall” method, but I respect it. I hope to not have to become necessarily a paying member/subscriber to be able to participate in the contest — if so, I’ll just publish the short story here, for free.
-
-**UPDATE** – 03/08/2021: apparently, I haven't been considered for the contest (because of Medium's subscription?), so [here is the story](/stories/the-lios/).
-
-[^1]: It could be a few hours as well as a few days, you really don’t want to know 🤷‍♂️

content/blog/another-brick-in-the-wall.md

@@ -1,23 +0,0 @@
----
-title: "Another Brick In The Wall"
-date: 2021-12-31
-draft: false
----
-
-Another year has passed and all we got is complications. It reminds me that [song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWZFa7W-kkY) by the band Bauhaus:
-
-> All we ever wanted was everything
->
-> All we ever got was cold
-
-I don’t pretend to know everything, _at all_, but the last two years really showed where this society is destined to end up. The wrong thing is that _we want everything_, but… oh, it’s too useless to discuss it – not only because nobody is interested to read/hear my explanation, but because people don’t want to change.
-
-These past twelve months passed very fast. We had some projects – they are in a limbo. We wanted to make trips – we mostly stayed at home. We wanted control (just a bit) – we don’t even feel as controlled, we feel _drifting away_.
-
-{{< figure src="/blog/2021.jpg" caption="\"2021\", a picture I took in Monpazier, Dordogne (France). No caption needed." >}}
-
-Anyway, something positive happened. I started reading (studying?) much more about folklore, myths and anthropology. I started reading _The Golden Bough_ by J. G. Frazier and I fell in love with the subject. I won’t spend any more words about this here because I already did it on my new project: [Godsip Club](https://godsip.club).
-
-I started writing short non-fiction articles about my “discoveries”, mostly filled with curiosities, about common customs found in civilisations far in both time and space. Recently, I found the concept of _wall_ in Van Gennep’s _Rites of Passage_ and the title of this blog post reminded me about this: if the last century (maybe) helped us to remove barriers among societies, now we are building them anew.
-
-Twenty-twenty-one is a huge new brick in our dear old wall of hate.

content/blog/audio-quest.md

@@ -1,26 +0,0 @@
----
-title: "The Infinite Quest for an External Speaker"
-date: 2020-10-18
-draft: false
----
-
-A never-ending quest.
-
-I don’t know about you, but for me music is _essential_. I spend my time in front of a computer mostly while listening to music, it helps me focusing, it relaxes me,… but it makes me logorrheic too.
-Twelve years ago or so, in my old apartment I had a [2.1 Creative speaker set](https://www.amazon.it/Creative-Labs-Ispire-T3030-35W/dp/B000EDO4JG). It was cheap, but it made the difference from the iMac/PC speakers. It was a period of my life when I was obsessed with buying dozens of CDs —currently I have 516— and I had the need to listen to anything possible. When I moved in that apartment I bought a cute Sony compact CD player and I fell in love with the warm sound of those speakers. Or maybe it’s because of the [song I first listened](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uxt-FnNy2I) in the shopping centre where I bought it.
-
-Regarding the price, I think that I’ll never intend to spend hundreds of euros on expensive equipment. It’s a fact, I’m stingy. And I think I wouldn’t hear the difference during the everyday use because I listen to music while doing so many other things. BOSE speakers have always been charming, but I never gave in to the temptation. Then it came the doubt: AUX or Bluetooth? I am a big fan of wires, but we are in 2020 and technology is advancing may more faster than it should, so why not give a chance to the wireless technology?
-
-{{< figure src=\"/blog/music_meme_3.jpg\" >}}
-
-I had some good experience with some good Bluetooth headsets while jogging, so I tried to use them in front of the computer too. The problem is that they isolate _way too much_ from the outside world! I could barely hear my phone ringing and I had to keep it right next to me. Also, since I often work at home, all the noises were gone — including my girlfriend trying to talk with me and the pets destroying the house. It wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it wasn’t right. I needed an external speaker, not a headset.
-
-I’ve been waiting a price drop of [SoundBlaster FRee](https://us.creative.com/p/archived-products/sound-blaster-free) because I read a very good review by a person I trust, but… last week, I realized that _four years_ have passed from that review. WHAT? How can it be? What have I done in these months? Oh no, thinking about that… _I've been listening to music mostly from my computer speakers_. Yes, I still had my compact CD player, but I rarely use it. Incredible. I had to do something.
-
-{{< figure src="/blog/music_meme_2.jpg" >}}
-
-Long story short: the best quality-price ratio equipment I could find was the [SoundBlaster Roar Pro](https://en.creative.com/p/speakers/sound-blaster-roar-pro), and bought it on sale with a BT-W2 USB dongle, which is supposed to reduce the audio lag — which doesn’t really matter with music streaming. I tested the dongle and, even if there shouldn’t be any differences in audio quality between macOS aptX codec and this device, I think I hear a slight difference in favor of the the dongle.
-
-Most importantly, I’ve been testing the Roar with one the best albums I own —_Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness_—, which inspired this series of first-world-problem thoughts. The opening notes on the piano are gorgeous, like the rest of the two-disc set. Now the important question: how much time will this setup hold on? What will be the next _must have_ in this terrible consumerist world?
-
-{{< figure src="/blog/music_meme_1.jpg" >}}

content/blog/black-mirror.md

@@ -1,100 +0,0 @@
----
-title: "Black Mirror"
-date: 2022-08-05
-draft: false
----
-
-These have been _weird_ weeks.
-They've been both full of anxiety and tiny pleasures.
-The anxiety mostly comes from the house renovation I already talked about.
-On the World _Wild_ Web, though, I found out an AI application called [Midjourney](https://www.midjourney.com).
-I first read about it in [Rob Sheridan](https://twitter.com/rob_sheridan)'s newsletter, then I asked to access their beta – now it's public.
-After a month and half, I got a Discord link to access a weird world, full of channels overflowing with images generated by an Artificial Intelligence.
-
-[DALL•E](https://openai.com/dall-e-2/) is very discussed, but I think that Midjourney has great potential too. You just have to insert an idea and a set of images is generated.
-I immediately made some tests, giving it some weird prompts as "painting of a god, greek, mythology, sitting in a pub with a three-headed cerberus". Here are the results, with the relative prompt:
-
-{{< figure src="/blog/ai-1.jpg" caption="\"Egyptian hieroglyphs of a xenomorph, alien movie, ancient temple, dirt on the wall\"" >}}
-{{< figure src="/blog/ai-2.jpg" caption="\"Void horror, Cthulhu, terrifying atmosphere, madness\"" >}}
-{{< figure src="/blog/ai-3.jpg" caption="\"Painting of a god, greek, mythology, sitting in a pub with a three-headed cerberus\"" >}}
-
-I was shocked, both thrilled and amazed by that _power_; as they say, at this point the limit is our imagination.
-Then, I started thinking about how I could use this app to produce some content for my blogs (_Godsip Club_ and this website).
-I thought to try to create some of the images or landscapes depicted in my short stories. Here they are:
-
-{{< figure src="/blog/ai-4.jpg" caption="This is from Cirapé, when Micheael sees \"double\" outside the schoolbus window." >}}
-{{< figure src="/blog/ai-5.jpg" caption="Always from Cirapé, the view of the cave (with a lot of fog!)" >}}
-{{< figure src="/blog/ai-6.jpg" caption="From Shavaky, the mountain above the mine and a mysterious light." >}}
-{{< figure src="/blog/ai-7.jpg" caption="From Uroboro, the stone sphere discovered by the main character." >}}
-{{< figure src="/blog/ai-8.jpg" caption="Always from Uroboro, a cromlech made of stones." >}}
-
-The potential is huge, but after a while, a person should think: what's better between an artist and an inspiring/awesome image generated by a computer? Should we be truly excited by this?
-
-A note: when I first started writing this words, more than two months ago, Midjourney was quite new. Now, everyone talks about it. As often, I am too quiet and I never share the cool news I find.
-
-## Rearview Mirror
-About mirrors, in June, I got inspiration for a short story —[Kathréftis](/stories/kathreftis/)– and I would like to explain a couple of details of the plot with some notes.
-Just like the "Extras" in DVDs.
-As an exercise, I wanted to create some backstory and references... but taking secondary ways while implying them.
-I wanted to describe some concepts, but _without writing_ them.
-I hope that the reader will catch or appreciate some of these.
-So yeah, from here on there will be huge _**spoilers**_ about the short story.
-
-First of all, the god imprisoned in the mirror is [Pan](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_(god)).
-I described it as "a satyr" and the mirror comes from Greece.
-Also, the image the woman sees describes accurately his features.
-His _screeches_ are one of his distinguishing elements/weapons, which he used against the Titans.
-He is also... a sex addict – in the tales, the nymphs are often victims of deceptions or rapes.
-One of his great affairs is with [Selene](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selene), goddess of the full moon, which appears in the last scene, reflected in the lake.
-It is quite subtle, I know.
-
-Finally, for the mansion, I took inspiration from a real estate ad:
-
-{{< figure src="/blog/mirror-mansion.jpg" caption="There it is, on sale for one million and half euros. Pfft, I could have avoided the renovation." >}}
-
-So, in brief, my intention was to create a second story in the reader's mind: someone, in Greece, successfully imprisoned Pan in a mirror.
-In 1889, then, the god tricked his jailer with his powers and forced him to kill his beloved ones.
-But why, the mirror?
-Well, it's one of the many objects with hidden powers and legends linked to it, like the [spindle](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spindle_(textiles)).
-
-The overall style of the short story is inspired by [Guy de Maupassant](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_de_Maupassant).
-I found a book with his dark short stories and I really enjoyed it.
-Too bad he died in a mental institute, just 42 years old.
-Someone says that some of his tales foretold his destiny, since many of the characters suffered the same fate.
-About half of the tales I read –my favorite ones– were about supernatural or mystical forces.
-The other half, though, talked about sadness and mental illness. A very interesting reading anyway, which I recommend to all Lovecraft or Poe's fans.
-
-{{< figure src="/blog/maupassant-cabinet.jpg" caption="\"Cabinet de travail de Guy de Maupassant, par Gustave Fraipont\" (Wikimedia). Quite essential and fascinating. Put a PS4 in there and I'm in." >}}
-
-## Mirror Ball
-
-At last, some random thought, like just the reflections on a mirror ball.
-But first, a nice random album to listen.
-
-{{< bandcamp 2893381892 >}}
-
-For writers (which I am not), a good exercise is writing [one line per time](https://sive.rs/1s): you get more focused and it's easier to review the text.
-Also, it is very handful when writing in Markdown and with with tools as Obsidian or Bear.
-
-I finally implemented a dynamic reading progress bar in this website, even though I'm not completely satisfied with it.
-
-I used Midjourney also to generate logos for my blogs.
-The new _Crooked Ink_ logo was born this way.
-I also played a bit with CSS for that "lightning effect".
-Any opinions?
-Also, I'd like to create something from this cool one:
-
-{{< figure src="/blog/godsip-ai.jpg" caption="\"Godsip club, as logo, mythologic, norse, svg\"" >}}
-
-Changing subject, _Wikipedia's layout sucks_!
-At least, for desktops.
-The mobile version is MUCH better, in my opinion.
-That's why I recommend to use a browser extension like [this one](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/mobile-wikipedia-webextension/) to redirect all the pages to the mobile site.
-
-Ok, I'm done with random thoughts.
-___
-_P.S._ Happy birthday to one of the sweetest and most stubborn people ever existed.
-
-{{< figure src="/blog/adolfo.jpg" >}}
-___
-_P.P.S._ As I said, I started writing this post two months ago. In these days, nothing changed about our house renovation. Here in Italy the situation is dramatic. Seriously. 👢🤡

content/blog/days-gone.md

@@ -1,27 +0,0 @@
----
-title: "Days Gone — What a trip"
-date: 2020-10-07
-draft: false
----
-
-TL;DR: if you own a PS4, you should try this game.
-
-First post of this blog. It took a videogame to get me the inspiration to write on this site something different than short stories, and therefore change its initial purpose. I was waiting for something interesting to write, and here it is: this game is awesome. I know it aready has [good votes on Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-4/days-gone), but I have the feeling that it's more underrated than it should, so I wanted to give my contribute to share the word.
-
-{{< figure src="/blog/days_gone_1.jpg" >}}
-
-Damn, this game is almost perfect in so many ways. The soundtrack is amazing, with the orchestral music that follows perfectly what happens on the screen. The graphics are **very** good and the acting is phenomenal — except for some very loud replies in some dialogues which I can’t explain, and some inevitable hate for some of the characters. The weapons are fun to use, you can feel the weight of each one. They well balanced and I can’t wait to collect all the pieces to get the secret one!
-
-Anyway, the main protagonist is the nature. I love hiking, I love creepy spots and _Days Gone_ is the **perfect** match. Misty lakes in the woods, abandoned farms, lush hills with huge blood pools where hundreds of zombies —Freakers, pardon— feed voraciously… yes, the environment is definitely the best part of the game. In general, during your trips to survive among monsters, ambushers and infected wild animals, you can really feel an amazing atmosphere, even better than in _TLOU_ — I still haven’t played _Part II_ because it hasn’t been on sale yet :)
-
-Then there are bugs and glitches… well, they could deserve a dedicated post. They could force you to restart the game or just make you laugh a lot… I personally love [collecting these funny moments](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmik6wID75IzuCCT_dA8vzFTQfRYFTFD7), and this game is a great source of material indeed! Maybe I’ve been luckier than other players, but I mostly enjoyed the glitches. They may ruin the atmosphere, but a laugh every now and then helps to manage the tension.
-
-{{< figure src="/blog/days_gone_2.jpg" >}}
-
-The gameplay is well-balanced because it allows the player to both plan a strategy to take out a camp of batshit crazy people —or a horde of hundreds(!) of Freakers— and allow a good freedom to roam the roads of the amazing landscape with the motorcycle. Sometimes you feel a bit too much obliged to scavenge airbags, bottles and cans to build some pieces of equipment —_attractors_ rule!—, but after a while it becomes part of the mechanics: drive - discover an interesting spot - hide - loot for anything useful - shoot - profit. It is definitely repetitive, but it works better than I expected.
-
-Last but not least, this is one of the very few times that I wanted to start over with _New Game +_ at the highest difficulty — honestly, normal mode is quite easy. Also, the Photo Mode is very good and I enjoyed taking some screenshots like the ones in this page. This is a great game, not good as _God of War_, but definitely one of the best experiences I had with a controller in my hands.
-
-Final note: Bend Studio is the same software house that created Syphon Filter for PSOne… I have good nostalgic memories of playing the demo of that game, it was so fun to _roast_ the enemies with the taser!
-
-{{< youtube N3fZhbMXqk0 >}}

content/blog/disco-2000.md

@@ -1,87 +0,0 @@
----
-title: "Disco 2000"
-date: 2023-03-20
-draft: false
----
-
-Last month[^1], I finished a video game called [Disco Elysium](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disco_Elysium).
-It really blew my mind. Not because of the ultra-realistic graphics, or the fluid gameplay (it doesn't have either of those), but for the immersive story indeed.
-A story that can be shaped in a huge number of ways, full of secrets and funny details.
-Each dialogue option can shape the experience, so every "new game" is a new experience.
-I _really_ loved it.
-
-One of the details I remember most is a quote, from the final moments of the game.
-It is from a character that... haunts the Detective Du Bois, but I really can sympathize:
-I, too, have _my personal Dolores Dei_, so I could relate much more than I wanted.
-Once understood her role, her words were a punch in the stomach:
-
-> Real darkness has love for a face. The first death is in the heart. 
-
-Damn.
-
-{{< figure src="/blog/disco-elysium-art.webp" caption="Official artwork for Disco Elysium. If you like RPGs or dice games, you should definetely try it!" >}}
-
-## And All That Could Have Been
-
-In these months, because of the impossible and infinite renovation of our new home, I really _needed_ to dive in other worlds and think about something else.
-I have read as much as I could, and video games helped, too.
-Unluckily, I haven't been in the right mood to write something, even if I'd want to.
-The last year and half has been a never ceasing rollercoaster; the more I think about it, the more I see myself as perfectly  still, stuck in a bubble.
-Friends get married and have babies, wars are started and billions of people change their daily habits because of the global pandemic... But, in some way, I'm still there, as if nothing changed.
-
-I know it's just a phase, and in a few months all of this will be over, but I can't help but _sigh_ when thinking about the near future.
-
-{{< figure src="/blog/iddb-no.webp" caption="From @idiarideibambini on Instagram. Translation: \"God answered my prayers. He said no.\"" >}}
-
-## I See a Darkness
-Okay, I'll just stop whining.
-About Midjourney and the other AIs that went viral in the last few months[^2], I'm glad I was right in the previous blog post:
-> Should we be truly excited by this?
-
-I'm happy about the ["No AI" movement](https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2022/12/artstation-artists-stage-mass-protest-against-ai-generated-artwork/) on ArtStation and on other websites, because things ~~were~~ are getting out of control.
-It's OK to play with AI, to use it to even create whole imaginary worlds.
-But.
-In less than a year, people are getting paid to... _write prompts_?
-Excuse me, what?
-That's way too much.
-Maybe I'm too old-style.
-
-I can't avoid suggesting a website called [Web3 Is Going Just Great](https://web3isgoinggreat.com/), and this is a very good example of how quickly new things, in these days, are praised... and then quickly cursed or condemned.
-
-## Purple Rain
-On a more _tech-y_ point of view, I finally started using [Dracula theme](https://draculatheme.com/) on many apps, and I am really enjoying it[^3].
-I don't really like purple as main color scheme, but for writing, for both work and hobby, it's awesome.
-
-Also, I changed Crooked Ink's font to [Sentient](https://www.fontshare.com/fonts/sentient), trying to avoid Google Fonts' beautiful Crimson Text. I like it quite a lot, and I also made the text larger, so it should be easier to read on mobile devices. Comments are welcome!
-
-And finally, about Vampires or similar beings, I just finished reading _Something Wicked This Way Comes_ by Ray Bradbury.
-I read it in English, and I think it may be the hardest book I have read in this language so far.
-It was tough, but it's been also one of my best experiences with a book.
-It's a wonderful dark tale, with exquisitely well-written characters and some remarkable locations.
-I liked it so much that I inserted a small _Easter egg_ in this website, based on that.
-Who knows if someone will ever find it. 👀
-
-I read that a movie has been made from this novella, and to find it (in Italian) was absolutely the _hardest_ task, much more than thinking about the egg!
-It's a Disney movie, but I don't understand why it is not included in Disney+ or any other streaming service.
-
-{{< figure src="/blog/something-wicked-poster.webp" caption="Poster of the movie based on the novel. It's so rare I couldn't find a decent scan of the Italian edition." >}}
-
-## Traveling Solves Everything
-Luckily, since October, we made a couple of trips, and we could enjoy both Normandy and Bavaria.
-Since we can't do much to speed up the renovation, my girlfriend and I will try to enjoy these months by... traveling as much as we can.
-Or we'll try, at least.
-It's ok to read, play video games, or hang out with friends[^4], but the only real solution to unplug from reality is good ol' traveling.
-It helped in the past, and it seems to be the only solution for the next future.
-
-Also, I _really_ hope to write something very soon.
-I feel like something is unlocking in me, but there are still too many distractions.
-Furthermore, I still have to review my latest story, which I'm not proud of.
-I tried to create an account for [Godsip Club on Mastodon](https://mythology.social/@godsipclub), but even there, I can't be as constant as I'd like.
-
-{{< figure src="/blog/cul-froid.webp" caption="Abandoned church in Northern France, in a little fraction of a village called... \"Cold Ass\". Seriously!" >}}
-
-
-[^1]: Actually, it was almost three months ago. Lately, I don't have much time to write. 🙈
-[^2]: Latest news from the other day is GPT-4 announcement, we'll see where it'll end.
-[^3]: _Solarized Dark, this is a goodbye, not a farewell!_ 💔
-[^4]: They're so _bored_ to hear us laming about our new house... we're sincerely sorry! 

content/blog/does-this-look-infected.md

@@ -1,44 +0,0 @@
----
-title: "Does this look infected?"
-date: 2020-12-22
-draft: false
----
-
-{{< p "The other day, I found an [interesting article](https://bigthink.com/culture-religion/vonnegut-shapes) about Kurt Vonnegut and the shapes of stories." >}}
-{{< p "My 2020 could perfectly fit the \"Man in Hole\", though the global situation seems more like a \"From Bad to Worse\" — not only for the virus. In my year, the first weeks were quite normal, we even managed to visit Madrid when travelling for tourism was still considered normal." >}}
-{{< p "With the virus and lockdown, at first I thought I would have enjoyed long weeks at home — I had plenty of games to play and books to read. Long story short: after a month and half, I really missed the freedom(?) of being able to go outside as I wanted." >}}
-
-{{< p "Summer was okay, but incomparable to any other past year. Maybe the autumnal months were the ones I enjoyed the most. I keep feeling like I'm wasting my time by doing _nothing_ useful, but I know that it is not (completely) true." >}}
-
-{{< figure src="/blog/shape-story.png" caption="Interesting, isnt't it? Click on the picture and take a look at the whole infographic by Maya Eilam." link="https://tenderhuman.com/shapes-of-stories-infographic" >}}
-
-## (What's the Story)
-{{< p "First of all, I enjoyed some truly remarkable stories. On paper, I discovered Mr. Vonnegut, quoted above, and I really appreciated his style in _The Sirens of Titan_ and _Slaughterhouse V_. _Mother Night_ is already on my bookshelf, awaiting to be read. Lately, I'm slowing reaching the end of an anthology by Arthur Machen." >}}
-{{< p "I would like to share my two cents about him. I admit my ignorance, I never heard about him until last Christmas, when my girlfriend donated me his novella _The Terror_. I love Southern England, and despite the non-sensational plot, I really felt immersed in those Welsh countryside. At the moment, as a pseudo-writer in my free time, I'd like to have:" >}}
-- Lovecraft's skills to describe feelings and visions
-- Machen's ability to immerge the reader in the scenery
-
-{{< figure src="/blog/machen.jpg" caption="\"Tell me about the nightmaters you want to have\" — A. Machen" >}}
-
-## Morning Glory
-{{< p "About videogames, even if in my thirties [I should have other priorities](https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/284529-sweet-brown-aint-nobody-got-time-for-that), luckily through the year I've been able to enjoy some amazing gems:" >}}
-- _Days Gone_ (I [already wrote](../days-gone/) how much I loved it)
-- _Hollow Knight_ (I'd never imagined to be so addicted by its mechanics)
-- _Death Stranding_ (despite its unique pace, it's a real masterpiece)
-- _The Wolf Among Us_ (made me want to read all the _Fables_ comics!)
-- _The Last Of Us Part II_ (probably the best PS4 game with _God of War_)
-
-{{< p "These are all amazing storylines. Kojima's game is maybe the most mysterious, and I appreciated it as a sci-fi fan. _Hollow Knight_'s storytelling honestly surprised me. I hate _Dark Souls_'s narrative, but this game's atmosphere is enchanting. Maybe it is the most inspirational of all the ones above. _Wolf_'s universe is astonishing: Fables characters are very interesting, I din't know about their existence and Telltale's ability truly impressed me. Finally, _TLOU2_ doesn't need any word. It's just an almost perfect experience. Its first playthrough is an unforgettable experience, just like any other work by Naughty Dog." >}}
-
-{{< figure src="/blog/tlou2.jpg" caption="Yes, even the soundtrack was perfect. Thank you, Neil Druckmann." >}}
-
-## Ok Computer
-{{< p "Music kept me company — in these last weeks I enjoyed many post-rock and metal artists from [Gizeh](https://gizehrecords.bandcamp.com/) and [A Cheery Wave](https://acheerywaverecords.bandcamp.com/), I have no choice but to recommend listening to their Bandcamp accounts!" >}}
-
-{{< p "One final note about the latest Smashing Pumpkins record, _CYR_. I still love them, but I can't quite understand their evolution. I see where Reznor arrived with NIN and his other projects, I respect Pearl Jam and, most of all, Alice In Chains for their latest works... but for me, after 2007 that is formation shouldn't be referred as SP." >}}
-
-{{< p "Finally, in my spare time I tried to do something valuable... for me, at least. As any good nerd, I spent too much time trying to de-googling my activities, but each time I think about it, I am more and more confident that it is a waste of time and resources. Like with everything important, we figured out too late that we should have preserved our privacy. Thanks anyway, George Orwell. I guess that writing that book 70 years ago wasn't enough." >}}
-
-{{< p "I studied Python a little and I worked on this site, trying to make it as fast as lighting and cleaning up its code behind the scenes. But what for? Nobody reads it. :)" >}}
-___
-#### P.S. – Obviously, all the paragraph titles are musical references. If you didn't get one or more, then ~~Google~~ DuckDuckGo it and take a listen.

content/blog/folklore.md

@@ -1,38 +0,0 @@
----
-title: "Folklore"
-date: 2021-02-25
-draft: false
----
-
-{{< p "In the last two months, I've been reading _a lot_ about British Folklore. It started on Christmas Day, when my girlfriend gifted me [a huge book from the 1970s](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1761508.Folklore_Myths_and_Legends_of_Britain) which contains... well, everything about folklore, myths and legends in the British isles. I'm not reading it — I'm _studying_ it while taking notes on a notebook, it's amazing!" >}}
-{{< p "In the following weeks my Folklore collection has been made even more precious by other gems:" >}}
-- [The Secret Commonwealth](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43411349-the-secret-commonwealth-of-elves-fauns-and-fairies) by Robert Kirk
-- An amazing [collection of short stories](https://www.abeditore.com/store/Follettiana-p241125416) about fairies by the Italian ABEditore
-- Another precious [encyclopedia](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/428053.Abbey_Lubbers_Banshees_Boggarts) by Katharine M. Briggs
-- [Yet another great book](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3826491-the-folklore-of-the-cotswolds) by Mrs. Briggs
-
-{{< p "I have literally hundreds of page to read! I'm deeply intrigued by Celtic beliefs... but mostly, from the pre-Celtic tribes who used to lived in Britain before the invasion. From what I understood, it was them who had some kind of relationship with ~~fairies~~ the little people." >}}
-{{< p "I already have a couple of ideas in my head, but now inspiration and time are missing — there's so much else to do." >}}
-
-## I'm Jim Morrison, I'm Dead
-
-{{< p "Gosh, I love Mogwai so much. You should really take a listen to their new album. Currently I'm obsessed with _Ceiling Granny_'s riffs." >}}
-
-{{< bandcamp 3793168922 >}}
-
-{{< p "I'm so happy for them — this record is #1 in UK charts! It means a lot for a post-rock band, many musicians are excited — even unexpected ones:" >}}
-
-{{< tweet user="RobertSmith" id="1364669652954136577" >}}
-
-{{< p "Obviously, when great musical joy comes from one side... huge musical losses occur, too. Damn, Daft Punk. You can't play with a person's feelings like this. I am one of the few people who watched _Electroma_ until the end. No skipping. No fast forward." >}}
-{{< p "It was almost ten years ago... I remember it as it was yesterday, sitting in front of my old computer, in a mood not unsimilar of the actual one. The psychological effect of the pandemic and the \"soft\" lockdowns aren't really helping. Ten years ago the reasons were different, though." >}}
-
-## Peaches
-
-{{< youtube wvAnQqVJ3XQ >}}
-
-{{< p "Last big news of this last two months is that we're gonna _moving to the country_. In 2020 (maybe not the best year to make important decisions, but whatever) we decided to buy a 200 years-old country house, here in Italy. We think it's an unpopular decision, but we're excited about the slow living on a hill, with a beautiful view from the windows." >}}
-{{< p "There will be a lot of renovation to do, so maybe this will become a _working progress_ blog. Or a diary from a haunted mansion, who knows." >}}
-
-___
-#### Yes, even this post title is a music reference. Thank you, Taylor Swift.

content/blog/know-your-enemy.md

@@ -1,34 +0,0 @@
----
-title: "Know Your Enemy"
-date: 2022-06-07
-draft: false
----
-
-It's been six months since my last update on this blog. More than once I had thought I had something to say, but probably my introverted nature took over. Or, more probably, the _disappointment_ for our big project –our new home to renovate– is too big.
-
-In Italy, we have this crap called _superbonus_ with which, after the COVID pandemic, the government promised benefits to the citizens who needed to renovate their houses. It seemed too good to be true, but because of those basis we decided to buy a ~200-year-old tiny country house and work on it. This Spring, after fifteen months of waiting, we finally bought the house! 🍾 The renovation project and the mortgage were ready, what could go wrong? Well, **anything** with the Italian way of doing things.
-
-Long story short: we currently have the house half-destroyed, a half-finished project, and no money to continue the construction. We keep seeing a far light at the end of the tunnel, but I don't dare saying it too loudly.
-
-{{< figure src="/blog/renovation1.jpg" caption="At least we'll have a beautiful ceiling." >}}
-
-## Worlds Apart
-Something good is happening in Italy and in the rest of the world in the last few months—I don't want to mention the war. When Elon Musk announced that he was going to acquire Twitter, many people moved to federated alternative social networks, as Mastodon. A couple of years ago, I created an account to play with, and in April, when I found out the birth of [LivelloSegreto.it](https://livellosegreto.it), I took the opportunity to move the account there. I am a little bored to use English language to write on internet, so an Italian instance full of nerd people is good fresh air.
-
-I don't agree with the huge wave of outrage because of Musk's move. Social networks were already bad _long before_ that. As often, in my opinion, people focus on the wrong side of the coin.
-
-About the Fediverse, the cool name of the alternative and federated social networks, another promising website is Lemmy, a Reddit clone free of much of the garbage. [This](https://feddit.it/) is the Italian instance, which for now is a happy tiny island.
-
-## Signe
-During the pandemic, I sold my old acoustic guitar, an almost-fifteen-years-old Takamine who kept me company during the "wild" side of my music life, when I made some live shows with my friends — I miss them so much, both the shows and the friends now spread around the world. The nostalgia hit hard and, in April, I decided to buy a new guitar. The decision fell on a [Fender](https://www.fender.com/en-US/acoustic-guitars/dreadnought/cd-140sce/0970213321.html), even if I had the prejudice that I'd have never bought an acoustic one. I'm quite happy with it and I finally started playing more finger-style and less with a pick.
-
-{{< figure src="/blog/fender.jpg" caption="Hello, beautiful." >}}
-
-Then I made some not-very-wise decisions, for example to learn _[Signe](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sFHikiKE6g)_ by Eric Clapton. I think that... some songs have to be played everyday, if you want to learn them, or _not forget_ them! That rhythm, those devilish details.... what a song!
-I also discovered myself good at playing _Tears in Heaven_, though I had thought it was almost impossible. Next step: [open D tuning](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vbVwK9jqfk)!
-
-Honestly, I can't wait to sit in our new garden, on a hammock, with the guitar, watching the sunset and playing. I want to live in that house mainly for this image in my mind!
-
-{{< figure src="/blog/sunset.jpg" caption="This was from a couple of days ago. I know you can relate." >}}
-
-Also, I finally finished a [story](/stories/afterbirth) I had in mind for months. It is about _fetches_ and reincarnation. It still has not everything I wanted to talk about, but... it's a beginning. 👶👶

content/blog/sekiro.md

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----
-title: "Dead!"
-date: 2021-07-11
-draft: false
----
-
-In the last few weeks I got hooked by Sekiro, one of the few games I’ve been in doubt if to buy or not. I didn’t just _knew_ that it would have been a tough run, _I was certain_ of it.
-
-Well, the other day I finished the game. For the second time.
-
-{{< figure src="/blog/sekiro-owl.jpg" caption="Father, I failed you. But also not… so I think… we’re fair?" >}}
-
-I feel like a superhero inside, most of all because I’m still not too old to finish a really hard game! “_Old, but not obsolete_”, to quote a colleague of mine. Now I could “easily” get the platinum trophy with perseverance (it would just take time to _farm_ enough experience points to unlock all the abilities), but… why should I do that? The story is over, I already saw all the possible endings and I’m quite satisfied.
-
-FROM SOFTWARE is well known for their unique way to narrate the story of their games –which I never liked– but Sekiro was better than I thought from this point of view. Even if it is always fragmentary and never told “from the beginning to the end”, this time the plot is understandable in one game. I played also Dark Souls 2 and 3 in the past and I can’t say I really enjoyed them, also for this reason other than the ridiculously steep learning curve.
-
-One undeniable virtue of these games, though, is their ability to addict and improve your skills (and reflexes). Every boss, each one of them, at first seems impossible. Then, after _hours_ passed with trial and error, when finally you succeed to execute that sonofabirch, you get an incredible satisfaction… and the thought “_In the end, it wasn’t so hard_”. Always.
-
-The game is so good because makes (virtually) spit you blood when you start thinking “_I’m getting good with it_”: a group of enemies become easy to kill during exploration, so you’re getting confident. Then an unexpected encounter with a totally new set of skills starts to increase again your death counter. You need to totally reconsider your strategy for this foe, and it’s not always easy to understand what you need to do.
-
-YouTube videos are a curse and a blessing. I’m a bit ashamed to admit that I used [Umbe_VGB](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVzK-RQAEoSJ6Pdsu8Dzfng)’s brilliant tutorials for many battles, I didn't have the patience to die even more times to study each single move of all the bosses (it doesn't matter if you can resurrect in this game, it's still _hard_). Long loading times make the wait even stressful, maybe on PS5 it would better with the ultra-fast SSD.
-Also, for a big bad demon in particular, I used an unpatched game glitch to win the battle. Shame on me. 🙈
-
-{{< figure src="/blog/sekiro-demon.jpg" caption="This guy. My only regret in the whole experience." >}}
-
-Anyway, I love/hate this game(s) because I get really addicted to it and, when I find a tough fight that takes me days to win, I barely can focus on anything else. Videogames should be fun, but this one… it’s a stress and a pain, any customer is aware of that. But it is also one of the best games I played. It seems nonsense!
-Final note: I really miss the lack of a photo mode on console, some of the locations are breathtaking and the design of the characters is impressive.
-
-Very last thing: I was looking for weird images or videos of the game... [I was not dissappointed](https://imgur.com/gallery/ZBfrcqg).

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