Author Archives: aidantamke

It is super weird to write about the apocalypse while there’s a plague going on. Not because there’s some worrying emotional parallels between the subject matter and my real life experience. My time in quarantine has basically been the opposite of Mad Max in every possible way. Rather, it’s difficult because this real life experienceContinue reading “Chapter VII: The End”

I’ve been watching a lot of Youtube lately. Before quarantine, most of the media I consumed was online videos, but that sort of got hyper-charged the last couple of months between the depression and the sitting around inside all day. Occasionally Youtube content creators will talk about the keys to success on the platform, andContinue reading “Chapter VI: Reality Inc.”

Not gonna lie, I have spent the last month or two pretty heavily disassociating. I was feeling alright for about the first week of quarantine, and then depression hit like a ton of bricks. That certainly was not helped by me going through my very first breakup a couple of weeks ago, after a relationshipContinue reading “Chapter VI: You Are Not Yourself”

There are two things that I worry about when I write one of these posts. The first is that I repeat myself. When going through the reading for this chapter, my take was basically the same as the post I wrote on fascism in cyberpunk: that the bad thing doesn’t really work because it’s stillContinue reading “Chapter V: We Bring Good Things To Life”

Not gonna lie, when I first read saw this chapter header, I assumed it was going to be about body horror. Horrifying fusions of man and machine, bio-mechanical monstrosities, that sort of thing. Basically talking about the ending of “Akira” or something. But no, it’s about how human bodies are assimilated used in the machineContinue reading “Chapter IV: The Flesh Machine”

At the beginning of 2019, I socially isolated myself for about a month. I was living on the George Mason University Campus, and there was no one living within a two hour drive that I would unambiguously call my friend. I spent all my time in my room, or in class, where the most IContinue reading “Chapter III: (anti)Social Media”

“Mussolini made the trains run on time” is a classic saying both in political discussion and common parlance. It’s used as a justification of fascist governments, pointing out that maybe fascists kill a bunch of people, but at least they’re efficient in solving problems in society. It’s exemplified in Science Fiction all the time withContinue reading “Chapter II: Law & Order Ltd.”

The politics of the 1927 film “Metropolis” are very weird. Not weird in the same way that a movie like “Inception” is often talked about as weird, where it’s sort of difficult to figure out what is going on and what it all means. “Metropolis” goes to great lengths to ensure that the viewer knowsContinue reading “Chapter 1: Welcome to the Machine”

Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken. — Oscar Wilde. This is the first post on my new blog. I’m just getting this new blog going, so stay tuned for more. Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right. You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click theContinue reading “Introduce Yourself (Example Post)”