A lot of the new Hitman games systems could be transposed into a James Bond game without the disguises and they’d still be compelling. I’m imagining the silent assassin runs where you don’t ever change into a disguise that are possible on certain levels.

I picked up Andromeda for my Series S recently because it was on sale for ~£3 or so. Never played it during its rough launch. I did play a little of the original ME games when I was hanging out with friends back in the day but not a super fan. Although I’ve spent a lot of time on Bioware’s old Infinity Engine games.

I think that game might be underrated. This could just be a patient gamer moment but the writing is pretty good and I’m finding the initial sidequests to be immersive and compelling. Moment to moment gameplay is smooth too, with combat being a lot better than how I remembered the others to be. Interesting playing it when it was pretty much the beginning of the end for Bioware.

The world was experiencing unprecedented economic growth for decades in the run up to the 2008 crash. Sure there were some rocky periods but the general trend was upwards and even in the 70s where there were problems with inflation new technologies were improving people’s living standards all the time.

Now we have growth stagnating; raw materials and international trade becoming more expensive (existing sources becoming depleted, tarrifs); then finally technological gains are happening but for consumers. I’m not sure I’ve seen a big improvement since the original iPhone.

The killer thing I haven’t mentioned yet is overcentralisation of economies in major cities/hubs. If you want the best possible job then you probably need to move to a megacity like London, Paris, New York, Sydney… but then a shortage of new housing in these places has pushed prices into the stratosphere. You better hope you have an economically active partner who has also landed their dream job in megacity! Oh and the inheritance required for a deposit on a flat.

Within countries that last problem can be tackled with better industrial strategies to some extent. Maybe grants and subsidies to open say biotech labs in more affordable parts of the country. In theory since we have increasingly become service based economies, or producers of e-goods like digital copies of videogames, this should also be possible by doubling down on remote jobs as a viable mode of working and possibly offering tax breaks/financial incentives to move to less populated areas. Here in Scotland if you want to be a primary/elementary school teacher on a remote island you can command a salary of ~2x what you would get on the mainland as part of a scheme to entice teachers to live in remote communities.

As an economic theory I don’t think there is any particularly pressing collision with religious beliefs.

In terms of the wider political philosophy of Marxism there are ways where its skepticism about top-down power structures are going to contradict the teachings of organized religion at least.

I guess you could say the economic version is softer and the political one is a harder view.

Trippin Like I Do - Blackfeet Braves (2011). They changed their name to Mystic Rabbit for releasing their first album but I don’t think they ever found mainstream success. This is a really good 60s revival band. I think their first LP as Mystic Braves suffered from being over-produced but their older stuff as Blackfeet Braves is all sensational.

Cuntry Boner - Puscifer (2008?). This was a silly side project from the frontman of Tool (Maynard James Keenan). Maybe not a “gem” but it definitely is hidden and the song pops into my head roughly once per week.

Sang Real - Dredg (2005)

I believe Dredg are an alt rock band but they are hard to describe. Some tracks are more like math rock (not this one) and others are more like straight indie. This is probably their catchiest track.

Probably one a few weeks ago where I said civilised people shouldn’t condone murder even if the victim is a bad person.