Brickmuppet Blog 2.0

October 06, 2026

Medical Follies

Banality skulks below the fold.

As compensation here is some Ado.

more...

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September 14, 2026

Dante's Inferno (1911)

Dante's Inferno was, according to my sources, (IMDb, Letterboxed, Wikipedia, & Terror Vision) the very first full length movie made in Italy.

It was, as I understand it, a huge success, and, thus, the inspiration for a whole series of lavish productions that the Italians referred to as "Super Productions". Amongst the surviving examples of these was The Last Days of Pompeii which we showed last month and inspired me to stream this particular film.

The Italian super-productions were immensely influential and made film a respectable art form in Europe. It is my understanding that this and other such lavish pre-war Italian productions actually inspired Cecil B. DeMille with regards to his massive sets and casts of thousands. Thus, I was particularly intrigued about the film.

The movie, like most pre-World War One films, does not use very many camera techniques that we would expect, instead being very much a filmed play. The difference here is that the sets are lavish, and frequently outdoors, and the cast is far larger than one could get on any stage.

There is little in the way of adaptation decay in this film, it is a straight, if abridged retelling of the Hellscape portion of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy and the visual effects are quite convincing. Particularly good use is made of forced perspective techniques in several scenes. The primitive cinematography does not detract from the presentation at all.

The lack of any "hook" or other story adaptation may make the film feel "off" to modern audiences, but it is very faithful to the source material and that probably contributed to the films purported respectability.

The thing that surprised me most in this 1911 film was all the nudity.

Yeah: A lot of folks in hell don't have any clothes! Who knew? (Dante Alighieri did, he mentions it in the book). The demons do wear shorts though.

This is a reminder for streamers or educators to always pre-screen any silent films as they are pre-code. I normally do so, but Saturday I ran Dante's Inferno cold and, well...

Be advised if you want to show this historic film to students that it would have a hard "R" rating in the U.S. there is no (at least none that I saw) full frontal nudity but there are a ton of bare butts, and a few bosoms. Much use is made of skin tight costumes to maintain some level of decorum, but if "artistic nudity" is not your thing, this film likely won't be either.

Films before the great war were spicier than I'd thought.

Anyway, this was an exceedingly interesting film and is absolutely amazing in quality to be Italy's first movie. I likely will not be putting up the V.O.D. due to the nudity, but the film is definitely worth a watch for a historian or film buff, and holds up quite well today.

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September 13, 2026

The Best Video on This topic I've Seen

This video is an example of the huge boon that long-form internet interviews can be to our discourse.

Richard Minter is soft spoken, knowledgeable and precise. He does not do slogans, or mic-drops. One result is that he does not fit into a sound-byte resulting in him being not as well known as a lot of online "experts".

Every interview of him or talk by him, that I have seen has been exceedingly informative.

This is no exception:

While the interviewer is focused specifically on the 9-11-2001 attacks, Minter gives a wide ranging and holistic assessment of the methods, issues, the cultural misunderstandings, pathologies, and the failures that led to them, the lessons (both learned and not) and the social dynamics that led to this awful deed and still plague us today.

It's 3 hours long. It's worth your time. MAKE TIME. Just don't do it while you are driving because there are WTF moments that might lead to a wreck.

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September 11, 2026

Why Still?

I know many people, who, having been born after 2001, are bewildered by how much the Sept. 11 attacks of that year affected those of us who lived through it.

The Cold War had ended without Global Thermonuclear annihilation, and we had won, this was a pleasant surprise at the time. The economy, still riding the high from the 1980s, SEEMED to be doing well.

The future at 8:45am that day, looked extremely bright, in a way that someone in their 20s or younger cannot imagine today, and we were free, freer than we even knew, and likewise more so than 20somethings can likely even comprehend as a possibility today.

And then, 08:46...

...which was followed by 17 minutes of confusion, curiosity and consternation, whereupon...

...09:03. At which point we all knew it was an attack.

After that, year by year, everything noticeably changed for the worse. It was certainly NOT the root cause of everything awful that has befallen our country and western civilization in general.

Most of those things were the work of policies that were implemented in the early 70's and the mid to late '90s, while our polity was focused on other things.

However, for us, that was when the grim trends began to be noticed. It's a demarcation point in our timeline, every bit as important as 2008, or 2020.

It is for that reason, and the remembrance of those brutally murdered that day...

That we will not forget.

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September 03, 2026

As God is My Witness....

...I thought this had to be a joke.

Hey, Mr. Carney....

Begun, this meme-war has....

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August 15, 2026

Tonight: A Bit of Weimar

....but without the societal collapse and hyperinflation.

In just about an hour (8pm EDT/ Midnight UTC) we'll be showing THE SPIDERS, a 1919 action/suspense flick that just happens to be the oldest surviving film directed by Fritz Lang (Metropolis, M).

This should be quite interesting so join us in chat over at https://www.twitch.tv/brickmuppet .

The film is a bit short, so we'll likely do a bit of gaming after the post film discussion.

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August 12, 2026

It's HAPPENING!

Genshin 7.0 has dropped!

We're streaming it at 6pm EDT/ 10pm UTC (in about half an hour!)

Scuff and cringe can both be had in bulk at https://www.twitch.tv/brickmuppet

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August 11, 2026

Cancelled Stream

Tonight's stream is cancelled.

There is no emergency.

However, last night I was informed that a friend I have not seen since 2019 (in the before time) is on this coast and in this town....for a day.

Tomorrow's Genshin stream will proceed as planned.

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1 Wikis suggests that the reputation XP for the treasure compass recipes is maybe already met by the archon quests. At least for the Anemo and Geo, and maybe for everything through fire. There are collectables needed to actually forge the compasses, but maybe you have them?

Through Hydro, the reputation to reach the compass recipe is pretty simple. Fire needs to max three of the six tribes. Once the compass is forged, the Anemo through Fire compasses work in the entire region.

The Nod-Krai compass has six meeting points for Nod-Krai, and two for the moon. The meeting points have to be seperately leveled for the compass to work in each region, and it gets better at level 3 and level 5. On the moon, Nuur region needs to hit 50% completion to get level 3. Ungiens circle, and Ibni-Belum are in the Nuur region.

The new region seems to also work on the meeting point system, but maybe that will not come up on stream for a while yet.

Re: ZZZ, the beach episode may or may not have interesting explanations when you unlock Remielle. I'm pretty interested in seeing where the Labyrinth goes.

It feels like the inventory management needs a checklist before each run, and some elements will probably be important if multiple illusions open up. a) talk to people and do depot upgrades, turning in mission goal items. b) dump everything in storage c) replace items carried by Remielle, etc, if weak or out of uses. Replace Wise's sword handle likewise. Adjust carried consumeables to have enough heals, and enough strong powerups. d) Sell stuff that is out of uses, and especially weak equipment. If you have six level 20s, you don't need level 5s as a back up. Sell gem marked items. e) buy the upgrades from the upgrade store, that will make your team stronger.

Stuff to keep in mind on missions. 1. You usually have a goal, and going back after that, or when you fill inventory may max profits. Many quick runs. Extraction games punish going too far in a run. Labyrinth seems generous enough that you don't need to maximize each run. 2. You are close to unlocking more depot stuff, and more efficient gear. You want to get the depot upgrade items, not leaving them behind for 'inventory management'. They stack, and you have skipped stuff you already had stacks of. 3. Stuff is color coded by rarity, and rarer stuff is worth more upgrade coins. Prioritize special colors. 4. One of your meta goals for progression is collecting NPC bangboos, and fixing them.

A question is if the Labyrinth is where Joyous got a void hunter weapon.

The hound feels like a larval enchainer.

Posted by: PatBuckman at Wed Aug 12 09:04:11 2026 (6eVrQ)

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August 07, 2026

Still Alive (For The Moment At Least)_

Everything is insane right now.

I have half written reviews, and spectacularly ill-informed commentary, but they will remain on hold for the moment.

Despite being trapped in the internet, I'm somehow not going to have internet access this weekend.

HOWEVER:

Next week's Twitch schedule is already up.

Highlights include GENSHIN 7.0 (!) and a silent adventure yarn on Saturday: The Spiders (Fritz Lang, 1919)

All times are EDT (UTC-4)

The scuff and cringe can be found at https://twitch.tv/brickmuppet

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It Won't Even Pop Corn

We've mentioned Solar Power Satellites on stream several times.

An operational SPS will have the surface area of Manhattan (with the mass of a battleship!) and convert the sun's energy to microwaves, transmitting them to Earth to be converted into electrical power.

The obvious inefficiencies of shifting from one energy type to another are dealt with by the fact that the energy is available in vast quantities and freely emitted by the big fusion reactor 93 million miles away.

In response to the chatters who were concerned about the "Space Death Ray" I finally secured a picture of the associated rectenna array:

(1970s Promo Art From Boeing: Artist Unknown)

As you can see it's QUITE dispersed.

The microwaves are spread out over a wide enough area that they are no danger, and, while one might not want residences in the transmission area, the land can be multi use, with agriculture or wildlife preserves going on unmolested.

We'll be discussing this onstream more when we have our next Science Adventure Stream, (very) tentatively Scheduled for Sept. 30th.

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July 24, 2026

Well: THIS TIME FER SURE!

I've been LOATHE to make any announcement because weather, the FAA, mechanical problems have previously made hash of my announcements.

But, as of now, the launch of Starship Flight 13 by Space X is still set for this evening.

We will begin coverage over on the Twitch channel at 6pm EDT/ 10pm UTC.

My history degree and deep knowledge of Star Trek T.O.S. lore will allow me to provide scholarly commentary that draws from the research of both Dunning AND Kruger.

Join us for the fireworks in just under 3 hrs. at https://www.twitch.tv/brickmuppet .

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July 20, 2026

Finally Found Programming for That 'TBA' Stream Thursday

OK the rescheduling of the Space-X Launch has necessitated changes to this week's schedule. All times on the chart are EDT (UTC-4).

The rapacious scrounging can be seen at https://www.twitch.tv/brickmuppet

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57 years.

Good morning everyone.

As I head out to work I reflect upon the fact that this is the 57th anniversary of the awesomest footprint in the history of feet.