Category Archives: Art Reviews and Articles

2 Essentials to Successfully Start a Blog

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So you want people to read your writing?

 

typewriter - how to start a blog

Photo by McKay Savage

Perhaps you’ve been looking at one or more articles on The Gemsbok or elsewhere, and you’ve decided that you might want to start a blog of your own to get your writing and your ideas in front of other people.

Well, that’s a great start! Many writers don’t even get that far. Making that decision is the first step toward people reading what you’ve written, so well done. Now I hope that the rest of this article gets you from having that idea in your head to having your blog up and running, fast and easy.

Before anything, I would warn you that there are pitfalls when you start a blog. Managing and developing a successful blog website can be challenging. Sticking to your writing and posting schedule is the most important habit, but can be difficult. And sometimes technical difficulties can temporarily derail your project. But if you think that you’re up to the task, and really want to get your writing out there, there is some good news: the ‘getting started’ part is actually quite easy!

There are two primary things that you will need to start a blog, and getting them set up is quick and easy enough that you could have your first post online less than twenty minutes after reading this page. Those two things are a hosting service and a blogging software. The hosting service is cheap, but not free; the blogging software is free. Now let me explain each of these things:

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2 Essentials to Successfully Start a Blog was last modified: January 2nd, 2020 by Daniel Podgorski

4 Places to Legally Find Free Books Online

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Read whatever book you want, free and legally, right now!

 

Books are expensive, but reading can be cheap.

Free books are readily available. By taking advantage of public domain collections, free trial offers, and library catalogues, you can almost definitely get a hold of the next book you want to read without spending a cent on it.

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4 Places to Legally Find Free Books Online was last modified: April 23rd, 2023 by Daniel Podgorski

[Topics: Contractarian Ethics, Culture, Moral Anti-realism, Morality]
Common Phenomena:

A Brief Introduction to Moral Anti-realist Contractarian Ethics

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Introduction:

Shelly Kagan - contractarian ethics - society, intersubjectivity, functional objectivityBack near the beginning of November, I wrote an article on the is-ought problem and moral anti-realism. In that article, I concluded that the moral anti-realist is free to continue speaking of moral oughts as long as their conception of an ought is something rather like a phenomenologically considered is. Humans without moral realism, I concluded, would still have means for an ethics that is contractarian in nature.

This contractarian ethical system would result from an understanding of morality which is in part functionally objective and entirely intersubjective. If you’re not sure what I mean by ‘functionally objective’ or ‘intersubjective,’ don’t worry; I’ll cover each of them in turn right now.

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[Topics: Contractarian Ethics, Culture, Moral Anti-realism, Morality]
Common Phenomena:

A Brief Introduction to Moral Anti-realist Contractarian Ethics

 was last modified: November 22nd, 2022 by Daniel Podgorski

[Film: Let the Right One In, Tomas Alfredson, 2008]
Bloody, Brilliant:

Let the Right One In is a Touching Tale Full of Cold, Macabre Murders

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Introduction:

Let the Right One In hands scene - Låt den Rätte Komma In - Tomas AlfredsonYou could probably tell from my spirited endorsement of The Marx Brothers’ movies a month ago that I’m hoping to point you all toward areas of the film landscape that you’re missing if you just stick to the past 50 years of Hollywood blockbusters (not that I’m opposed to those either, of course).

Today’s film is in another such area, because it is a Swedish film. If you’re a person who has never watched a movie that was made in a language besides English, then let me take this opportunity to tell you that you are missing out on huge quantities of truly incredible cinema. A case-in-point of what you’re missing out on (and a great place to start, if that unfortunately describes you) is the Swedish horror-drama Let the Right One In. And for a spoiler-free account of why you should make it a priority to check this film out, read on.

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[Film: Let the Right One In, Tomas Alfredson, 2008]
Bloody, Brilliant:

Let the Right One In is a Touching Tale Full of Cold, Macabre Murders

 was last modified: August 17th, 2023 by Daniel Podgorski

[Game: Volvox, Neotenia, 2015]
A Natural Selection:

On the Strong Core Gameplay and Puzzle Design in Neotenia’s Volvox

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Volvox, an indie puzzle game developed by the small Italian team Neotenia, was one of the bold (or unfortunate) few to have a release in the weeks directly preceding a Steam Winter sale, which seem every bit as capable of eclipsing new Steam releases as they were prior to the sales’ recent regrettable-but-understandable format changes.

Volvox‘s store page boasts 250 levels in its campaign (and accordingly 60 hours of entertainment), which had me both intrigued and wary. A promise of that much content makes me wonder if the quality keeps up throughout, and whether it strays at times into repetition. As you can probably tell from the title of the article, my concerns were laid to rest; let me tell you how and why.

Volvox screenshot with cutscene sequence - Neotenia - difficult puzzle game Continue reading

[Game: Volvox, Neotenia, 2015]
A Natural Selection:

On the Strong Core Gameplay and Puzzle Design in Neotenia’s Volvox

 was last modified: March 26th, 2020 by Daniel Podgorski