Riley MacLeod

How’s It Going?: Positive Thinking Edition

It’s Thursday, which makes it almost Friday. Welcome back to our daily open thread. I was reading an article on CNN this morning about Trump’s roots in Norman Vincent Peale’s brand of positive thinking, a connection I didn’t know much about. The CNN article reads, “But in a way, [Trump spiritual advisor Paula] White perfectly…

How’s It Going?: Homemade Edition

Welcome to Wednesday, and welcome back to our daily open thread. Last night for dinner I had a tomato sandwich with greenhouse tomatoes from my CSA, homemade bread, and homemade mayo. I will admit to smugly eating the sandwich while being very impressed with my culinary prowess. (I’ve never made mayo before—it is surprisingly not…

The Long Dark’s latest update, “Fearless Navigator,” adds different markers you can place in the world with in-game paint cans, vistas that let you map greater portions of an area, and rock caches where you can store supplies. It’s a lot of interesting changes to how the game’s navigation works, without taking away the fun/torment of…

How’s It Going?: Sharing Edition

It’s a very sunny Tuesday where I live! Welcome back to our daily open thread. I made a cake last night with some ricotta I needed to use up. I’ve been doing a lot of stress baking, and I mostly don’t mind having to eat all of what I make myself. (“Guess I have to…

How’s It Going?: Normalcy Edition

It’s Monday—they’re still making those, I guess. Welcome back to our daily open thread. I’ve been rewatching The Leftovers, because people keep talking about doing that on Twitter. I watched it a couple years ago, but it’s a pretty different experience given everything that’s going on in the world. Our current context has made the…

Watching Musicians Play The Animal Crossing: New Horizons Theme Is Super Chill

I’ve heard Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ main theme every morning for the last million years that we’ve been social distancing, but seeing the musicians behind it gives its soothing beats the added bonus of putting some some human faces to the tune. Nintendo released a video today showing the musicians behind Animal Crossing: New Horizons…

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

The weekend is for actually cleaning the house for real I swear. The weekend is also for playing video games instead of cleaning the house. I’m planning to play some Lonely Mountains: Downhill this weekend, in a desperate bid to feel like I’m outside. Remember going outside? I’m also going to explore Apex Legends’ new…

How’s It Going?: Even More Books Edition

Good morning! I ate pie for breakfast. Welcome back to our daily open thread. One of my first entries in this series was about books you were reading. I am ashamed to say that, months into the pandemic, my books list has only grown. I’ve found it really hard to concentrate on reading (as well…

How’s It Going?: Try Again Edition

Time keeps on slipping, slipping, etc. Welcome back to our daily open thread. Last night I made what seemed like a super simple dinner of polenta with roasted vegetables. For some reason everything went wrong—I kept dropping vegetables I was chopping, the polenta wouldn’t thicken, and the whole thing ended with me accidentally triggering my…

Here’s What’s New In Apex Legends Season 5

Apex Legends Season 5, “Fortune’s Favor,” is live now. It brings a new character, a player-versus-environment mode, some shakeups to the King’s Canyon map, and a host of character tweaks. First up is new character Loba, who’s set up in the lore as a rival to most recently added character Revenant. She can teleport by…

How’s It Going?: Long Haul Edition

It’s not Monday anymore, so things are looking up. Welcome back to our daily open thread. Last night I was reading about how different parts of my state are faring in terms of re-opening. New York City seems pretty far from being ready for any kind of return to daily life. This didn’t surprise me,…

Ubisoft will hold a digital event called Ubisoft Forward on July 12 at 3pm EDT, the publisher announcedtoday. The presentation will contain “exclusive game news, reveals and more.”

How’s It Going?: Grooming Edition

Hope you all had a nice weekend! Welcome back to our daily open thread. I’ve been growing a beard since mid-December, and this weekend I tried to trim it myself because it had gotten far too long and scraggly. I watched a lot of YouTube videos about how to do this before attempting it, but…

Fortnite‘s Party Royale Concert Was Just What We Needed Tonight

Tonight, Fortnite’s new non-violent Party Royale mode held its first big event, a concert of three different EDM musicians. It was more modest than in-game events we’ve seen recently, but, like so many Fortnite events I feel too old for, its exuberant charm won me over. Dillon Francis, Steve Aoki, and Deadmau5 played short sets…

New Apex Legends Trailer Shows Quests, Map Changes

Apex Legends developer Respawn has released a gameplay trailer for next week’s Season 5. It shows some more details about the new Quests mode, as well as some changes to King’s Canyon’s map. Quests were announced last week, but in the video we see a little bit of them in action. In the video, upcoming…

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

The weekend is for trying to make my own seitan, a meat alternative I’ve enjoyed eating and think I’ll enjoy making, but there’s a lot of room for disaster there. The weekend is also for playing video games. There’s a concert in Fortnite’s new Party Royale mode tonight at 9pm Eastern. I’ll admit I don’t…

How’s It Going?: Family Edition

It’s Thursday! Time for an Xbox briefing, as well as our daily open thread. Last night, my sister told me my oldest niece wants to become a vegetarian. I stopped eating meat around her age and stuck with it for about 16 years, eventually giving it up when some folks I was staying with out…

How’s It Going?: Spring Edition

We’re halfway to Friday! Welcome back to our daily open thread. I got ramps in my CSA yesterday. Ramps are a much-hyped vegetable that have a really short spring season. I’d only heard about them being a big deal at the farmer’s market, but I’d never actually seen them, much less eaten them—despite my deepest…

Apex Legends’ Season 5 will feature a new game mode called Quests, which will involve treasure-hunting, developer Respawn wrote in a press release today. You can check out a trailer for upcoming character Loba above. Season 5 launches May 12.

How’s It Going?: Weird Habits Edition

It’s Tuesday! Good job, everyone. Welcome back to our daily open thread. I’ve recently gotten into the habit of falling asleep on my couch watching Bob’s Burgers episodes for the millionth time. This used to be just an occasional weekend quirk, but lately it’s morphed into a nightly thing. The noise keeps me from lying…