Defiant Sloth

I forget exactly where I was tipped off on the SN Operator by Epilogue, but I got around to picking one up. It’s described as “a cartridge slot for your computer”, and that’s a mostly accurate way of thinking about it. This device isn’t like an Analogue Super Nt (which is a cartridge device but houses actual hardware to reproduce and run the cartridge game itself); rather, the SN Operator is a device that reads Super Nintendo (SNES) cartridges and does a couple of savvy things:

• Verifies counterfeit/authenticity of cartridges
• Creates digital backups of the saved games on the cartridge’s battery (and emulation play throughs) — particularly important since these cartridge batteries are going on 30-35 years in age and likely declining
• Initiates emulation of the game itself (again, it does not run the actual cartridge, but detects and runs an emulator for it)
• Permits multiple controller inputs for co-op
• Integrates with a few other things I’m less interested in, but available: RetroAchievements platform integration for tracking challenges/progress, and Super Scope and SNES Mouse support (for applicable games)

Part of the reason I got this over an Analogue Super Nt is the fact that SNES cartridges will decline in their ability to be played and saved to, without opening them up and tampering with replacing the parts yourself. I have a decent collection of favorite SNES titles (some in my possession since the day they were released), and I’d rather keep playing them “magically” on this device with digital backup preservation and not have to worry about mucking around with the cartridges in the long run. So while this partially feels inauthentic, it’s as close as I’m conveniently willing to make the experience of playing these titles into the future. And besides, I also don’t have a CRT monitor laying around to plug into anyway.

The device is powered by USB-C (the one and only I/O on the whole device), which allows you to plug into any modern computer (Windows, Linux, or MacOS, the latter on which I tested) or a Steam Deck (which I haven’t tried yet), and uses Epilogue’s Playback software to detect the hardware and cartridges.

Overall, I’m impressed with the simple, transcluent machinery of the thing, the software is seamless and works (nothing notable about the emulator that I haven’t seen before in a myriad of other emulation variants), and controller sync is fantastic (currently using a PS4 controller via Bluetooth). Note:

• There is no way to directly connect controllers to the Operator (this must be done wirelessly)
• The SN Operator doesn't permit a portable means to playing these games (e.g., in another emulation software away from the cartridge), but that's the purposeful way the hardware/software interface was designed
• You can, of course, beam the game to a larger TV from your computer if you so desire (e.g., via Airplay)
• The worst part about the hardware is there is no ejection mechanism; pulling the cartridge out of the Operator is not a great experience, unfortunately.

Looking forward to taking leisure time to replay some old favorites during this coming winter: A Link to the Past, FF III (really FF6), Super Mario RPG, Donkey Kong Country 2, and of course, Super Metroid are all in queue.

A great reminder from Patrick Rhone on thanking those who create software you use and enjoy:

I’m sure there is software and services you use daily that makes your life better. Remember that a human made that. If you ever get the opportunity, thank them.

Binged The Dropout before heading to the theater for You Can See Everything, and it functions like an 8-episode prequel.

Sort of.

Fielder put together a nice piece of work here. Can’t even fathom what footage was left out.

Been using a self-hosted instance of FreshRSS the last several weeks, and I’m not sure why it took me this long to switch. This is by far one of the better ways to retrieve feeds. Compile in an app of your choice (mine: NetNewsWire). Great experience setting up and running.

More video store love. As Racket reports, Vinegar Syndrome, an obscure film preservation label out of Connecticut, opens a shop in Minneapolis this week. Seems like the focus is on discovery here (leaning towards their deep catalog of films) vs offering a broader, general inventory.

The 4K release of Aliens is a spectacular transfer. The amount of detail is an astounding demonstration of the format, and the film still stands at the pinnacle of action-meets-horror. Hard to believe it’s had 40 years of impact on the genre aesthetics, costume design, and sets. (With restraint!)

Finished The Count of Monte Cristo yesterday. A fun, breezy 1,250-page read that satisfies in a way that feel-good films do, with a lean towards intellectual and historical depth, but a more plot-driven thriller than I expected. In fact, it echoes how many television series are written today (yes, its original printed serial format lends credence to this).

In the end, it’s fair to say: vengeance never felt so well-orchestrated.

Curious if this UI animation for multi-page views has always been around? I’ve only seen it deployed in the Craft app on macOS, but it’s great.

It’s been thirty years since Amon Tobin released Adventures in Foam under the Cujo moniker. He returns to form with Paranova, his latest Cujo release, and it’s a splendid album (upon first listen). Let’s see if it holds up for another thirty years.

Discovered: Decoy Font, a TTF font that “attempts” to conceal what’s written to AI.

Clever idea, though I agree with Anthony Feint (original blogger by which I found this), who admits AI can be trained to read this, but… here we are, in 2026, wishing something like this could work.

Why the hell are things the way they are.

Jeff Atwood sharing an email response to his piece on not being able to vibe code love, asserts some wisdom:

Perhaps the LLMs are a reminder that we should make an extra effort to cultivate relationships with each other and form communities online – communities that belong to us, not some billionaire. Communities where we regularly stop to help each other, because that’s how we learn too. And if we do not stop to help each other… what do we become?

I personally decided to stop cross-posting my blog to Threads, and now it only copies itself to Mastodon and Bluesky, two federated platforms uninterested in contradictory investing in LLMs that seemingly help replace online communities.

While I’ll admit, large platforms like Threads can prove important during times of breaking news events and locality (it was a critical source of information earlier this year during Operation Metro Surge in the Twin Cities), I hope other forms of online local communities proliferate in the future.

Neat new writing software NEO from the author Hugh Howey (Wool/Silo trilogy). His philosophy of hitting ‘Enter’ to move through text context formatting is super simple:

Hit ENTER once for a new paragraph. Hit it again for a new section break. A third ENTER gets you a new chapter.

Heard about Andrew W.K.’s new album (allegedly we’re calling this jazz-noir) in, of all places, a marketing email from Blackwing. Darcy Smyth describes it perfectly:

This is lounge music for a room that might not exist, all smoke and red curtains, the kind of piano that sounds like it’s remembering something it can’t quite say. Total Twin Peaks Roadhouse energy, like Lynch left the lights on and wandered off.

Been in rotation for days now.

Herman (of Bear Blog), on reading books:

Reading does something that other forms of media, by their nature, can’t do: it allows the reader to see the world through the lens of the author and their characters, creating empathy, where they not only see the actions taken (such as in film), but also understand their perspectives, motivations, thoughts, and feelings.

This is partially why I also prefer reading news to watching it. Print journalism is an altogether trickier format than video journalism, but there is something to be said about fewer optical ways to persuade an audience and instead encourage them to critically think about how the story or facts unravel via language.

Printed formats of anything allow for more of this. Take your time. Let it simmer. Focus.

Reading is important.

Nice episode of the Version History podcast, with a focus on The Oregon Trail videogame (from which I learned started as a text adventure game first). It was fun playing this at school growing up. I have no idea if they do anything like this in school these days, but it felt educational back then.

This candy store in Jordan, MN (allegedly the largest in the state, no way I’d argue against it), was a roadside spectacle. What’s in the dome? You could never guess.

The fusion of some of my favorite things: typography and Super Metroid. Incredible find by Marcin Wichary, in a topical piece on the challenges of fully justified text columns.

(A mad genius wrote a 17k word guide to the game by simply selecting the right words to be perfectly justified on-page.)

Really appreciate Cyan doing another print run of their Myst trilogy. Without hesitation, I’ll be backing this.

A 45.7 percent jump in CD sales (year over year) joins the chorus of streaming backlash — the revenge of physical media continues.

Our outings to the MN State Fair were more subdued this year, but still great food at the classic spots (Baba and Midway Men’s Club forever), and this piece in the Fine Arts building really stuck with me.

The Fair opens today, and so it’s only right to link to an article about the Giant Slide’s family legacy. It also has their lemonade recipe, with the secret ingredient (the “entire lemon, rind and all”), which is used at their Fresh Lemonade stand on the west side of Nelson Street at Dan Patch Ave.

Clouds, mushrooms, trees. Vantage point: biking.

Incredible growth story for a once-beleaguered toy maker: Lego has seen a 10× increase in revenues over the past 20 years, amid growing changes in its core customers’ attentions (obviously: screens).

While I don’t get the new Lego floral arrangements, it’s good to see physical toys still sell well.

A lot of these cukes just hanging over the edge, hiding in plain site.