Tall Rob

@grandrobert

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Tall Rob@grandrobert· 27d

At least the air quality map is a pretty color even if it means don’t go outside lol

Air Quality map of northern Cook County, including most of Chicago. It is bright pinkish, indicating very unhealthy air.

Tall Rob@grandrobert· 27d

Eager to read both of these! Pip has his eye on them as well. #allcatsaregrey

Parklife and The Twenty Seven Club by Lucy Nichols on a floral patterned tablecloth. There is a domesticated short haired grey cat looking at the books wistfully.

Tall Rob@grandrobert· 28d

This gig was 25 years ago tonight. The KILL YOUR IDOLS / AMERICAN NIGHTMARE tour crossed paths with the LIFE’S HALT / WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? tour and locals KUNG FU RICK opened.

Flyer for a hardcore show at the Fireside Bowl in 2001:

July 14th
Kill Your Idols
American Nightmare
Life's Halt
What Happens Next?
Kung Fu Rick
at the fireside bowl 2646 w. fullerton
$7.00 at the door show starts at 5:00 PM! for more info: xliradex@aol.com
or call 773.394.8498

Tall Rob@grandrobert· 29d

The four questions I listed above correspond to the role Freebody and Luke identify. Readers can be code breakers, text participants, text users, and text analysts. thetallrobreport.blogspot.com/2026/07/free...

Their brief article describes four roles readers can take on while reading: code breaker, text participant, text user, and text analyst. These levels are not sequential or developmental, but depend on the reader, text, and context. Reading is a socially mediated activity, which is why any given reader may move between the four roles with different texts and contexts.

Tall Rob@grandrobert· Jul 12

The new Star Fox is kinda like comfort food. I like to have it, but it doesn’t fill me up the way it should. Even having dessert all the time gets old after a while. That doesn’t make it a bad game at all! Rich experiences should come in small doses. thetallrobreport.blogspot.com/2026/07/star...

Between that upgrade to the gameplay experience, the vastly improved music, and the gorgeous graphics, this revision is just about the best it can be as far as I'm concerned. It's slick and it's smooth, which is just how it should run. There's also the multiplayer mode that you can engage with even if you are a solo player (local and online matches exist; I played against the computer and had fun). You can also get different avatars and backgrounds for the battle mode by completing levels in the Challenge mode. There's a lot to do besides the main storyline. I don't think I'd call the Star Fox series one of my favorites, even though I bought the N64 cart multiple times and have since played through it via the Nintendo Classics service. It's familiar and filling like any good comfort food should be, but I don't get a lot of nourishment out of it. There's no moments of genuine wonder or awe or drama in the game. It simply excels at what it is meant to do. Until Nintendo revises the game again, the Switch 2 version will stand as definitive. These Arwings' engines are firing cleanly on all cylinders.

Tall Rob@grandrobert· Jul 10

How does Falco drink from a can or cup with a beak like that? Tell me he doesn’t spill sometimes. This is the only issue with the realistic art style that I have. thetallrobreport.blogspot.com/2026/07/star...

Screenshot from Star Fox for Switch 2.

The four members of Star Fox are around the holoviewer. Peppy is saying, “I'm as keen as the general to know what's happening on Aquas. But it sounds like Katina could use our help too.”

In the background, Falco has taken a cup or a can from a mini-fridge and is effortlessly pouring liquid into his beak.

Tall Rob@grandrobert· Jul 10

Q: And Hatless Slippy? A: And Hatless Slippy. thetallrobreport.blogspot.com/2026/07/star...

Screenshot from Star Fox for Switch 2

Text reads “General Windbag over there was ready to notify your next of kin!”

Falco is on the left. Slippy is on the right, holding an ice pack in his right hand and is not wearing his usual hat.

Tall Rob@grandrobert· Jul 9

As great as the voice acting in the new Star Fox is, I am grateful that there are many language options. Hearing speech in different tongues helps me pretend I’m learning as I play. Also, the graphics, especially the deep space levels, are a delight. thetallrobreport.blogspot.com/2026/07/star...

In this latest revision, it took a few times through each level before I felt like I was competent at the game. That feeling of "how did I ever do this?" crossed my mind more than once. After I got the hang of it, I was hooked. The updated controls for the Switch 2 work well. I like having a single button to press for somersaults and U-turns. The graphics are excellent. In levels such as Meteo, Sector Y, and Area 6, you get a real sense of depth with the details in the background. I like the voice acting just fine. After a few times through the game in English, I did get tired of the same dialogue over and over again, so I've changed the spoken language for each successive playthrough. I'm on Brazilian Portuguese at the moment, so that's something like at least 10 times through the game. I do wish the subtitles weren't only in English so I could pretend like I'm learning new languages while I play.

Tall Rob@grandrobert· Jul 8

I read ~20 reviews of Star Fox yesterday after posting mine. Seems there are some parties who relish the nostalgia the game taps into. My feelings are a little more ambivalent, which I’ve tried to make clear here. Chasing achievements rings hollow. thetallrobreport.blogspot.com/2026/07/star...

You might be wondering (as I did) how much of my enjoyment of this game is bound up in childhood nostalgia. I don't know. I am not in touch with the friend group that I enjoyed playing the N64 game with when Nintendo released it in 1997. I don't have fuzzy feelings about those people. As I mentioned, the game itself was good enough that I bought it multiple times. That also means I sold it that many times, too. I would get to a point of complete satiation with it after running through all of the medals, high scores, and achievements. Just looking at the cart would repulse me. I wasn't interested in jumping back into it like many other games. Over time, the feeling would wane and I would track it down again (and again). I felt skeptical when I saw the news of this remake a few weeks back. Would I really want to go through that cycle of emotions again? When I saw the updated graphics and added interstitial narrative scenes, I couldn't help myself. This time I can't sell it either, so I'm stuck with it until Nintendo decides to pull the plug on "my" digital copy of the game.

Tall Rob@grandrobert· Jul 8

God that took long enough… got my last Normal difficulty medal on Venom 1 after many attempts. More thoughts about Star Fox on this week’s blog: thetallrobreport.blogspot.com/2026/07/star...

Screenshot of Star Fox for Switch 2.

Lylat System map showing achievements by level. All Normal difficulty medals are displayed for each level / planet / sector / area.

Tall Rob@grandrobert· Jul 8

Glad to have Found Out About Nixon in this particular way today. Thank you! On a related note, here’s an excerpt from a punk zine from ~1997 that cites an informal survey from the 1970s about level of hatred people had for Nixon. Always made me laugh.

INFAMY part 1
Each year from 1970 to 1976, a waxwork museum in London handed 3,500 of the international visitors a questionnaire which asked them which persons, past or present, they hated the most. Particularly interesting were the results that came out of 1972. In order, the top 5 most despicable persons that year were:
1. Richard M. Nixon
2. Idi Amin
3. Mao Tse-tung
4. Adolf Hitler
5. Satan
In case you don't find this bizarre, let me try and put it in perspective: a warlord, a genocidal maniac and even the ABSOLUTE INCARNATION OF EVIL HIMSELF are all merely runners up to one of our most well known presidents (who was never even convicted of any crime)! In fact, it wasn't until 1974 that Hitler managed to reclaim the title. So for two whole years, people all over the world couldn't imagine a bigger scumbag than my boy Dick. Two decades later, though, he kicked the bucket and newspaper columnists everywhere were tripping over themselves to rewrite him as a "hero" and a "genius". This proves one of two things: either there's hope for redemption for every piece of human garbage on this planet, or you have to drop dead to get some respect around here. At the very least you can sleep soundly knowing that no matter what kind of shit you pull, you could never, EVER be as big a fucker as Richard Milhouse [sic] Nixon was in 1972-1973.

Tall Rob@grandrobert· Jul 7

Another funny line happens after the mission to Aquas. General Pepper compliments the Star Fox crew on a job well done. Fox replies, “We’ll keep delivering, General… as long as you don’t clam up when the bill is due.” See this one’s funny b/c Fox was attacking giant aggressive clams minutes before…

Screenshot of Star Fox for Switch 2

Fox has his hands behind his head and is saying “We'll keep delivering, General...as long as you don't clam up when the bill is due.” to a holographic image of General Pepper. Fox’s eyes are open just a crack so he looks extra sarcastic.

Tall Rob@grandrobert· Jul 5

Shout out to the writers for including this line in the second phase of the actual final boss battle: “This isn’t the face-off I had in mind, Andross!” See this line is funny because the Travolta & Cage movie ‘Face/Off’ came out like three days before Star Fox 64 did, so I’m taking it as an homage

Screenshot from Star Fox for Switch 2

Fox McCloud is saying “This isn’t the face-off I had i mind, Andross!”

In the image, Fox’s Arwing is hardly visible. The majority of the image is a hangar-like space. There’s a giant mechanical brain, Andross’ true form, in the right third of the screen.

Tall Rob@grandrobert· Jul 4

What would Fox McCloud say if he could see his son and crew flying on the surface of Venom? Falco knows.

Tall Rob@grandrobert· Jul 4

*extremely MORRISSEY voice* “Spending warm summer days indoors / fighting Andross’ force with a buck-toothed ace named Peppy Hare”

Screenshot from Star Fox for Switch 2

Dialogue box from Peppy Hare, saying, “My whiskers are twitchin’. Something’s wrong.”

The team of Arwings is flying through an asteroid field at the beginning of the Meteo stage.

Tall Rob@grandrobert· Jul 3

Samuel Woolley’s Manufacturing Consensus helped me to understand (again) that the power Trump et al. wield is NOT a mandate. As Walz said 2 years ago “Trump & Vance are weird dudes.” Keep that in mind as they smear their scent on the flag this weekend thetallrobreport.blogspot.com/2026/06/manu...

Normally, about here is where I'd sign off with comment like "well Trump won again after this book was published, so there's no hope." However, this past weekend's comically mismanaged Great American State Fair shows just how little actual power these folks have. The consensus they appeared to wield is has been manufactured and their low level of support is undeniable. They're outnumbered and we will win.

Tall Rob@grandrobert· Jul 2

Show me a cool physical game

Chrono Trigger for the SNES with all (but one) of its inserts. The other insert is a poster of the box art and I have it framed.

Tall Rob@grandrobert· Jul 2

A key idea in Woolley’s text is how to address propaganda without amplifying its message. This is a delicate dance; the ‘strategic silence’ offered by Joan Donovan and danah boyd is one option. Not every wild idea from the web needs to be on the news. thetallrobreport.blogspot.com/2026/06/manu...

At this point, you yourself may be feeling there is no sense is fighting back against these interlocking systems because there is no way to undo all the damage propagandists have wrought. Woolley tells us later that "there are, sadly, no easy fixes" (p. 84). One that he proposes is based on the work of Joan Donovan and danah boyd, who argue for "strategic silence" from news media (p. 138). The attention the news media give to trends on social media amplifies, launders, and legitimizes propagandists' campaigns, as Woolley has explained. (He uses 2016's Pizzagate incident as an illustrative example of how this process unfolds.) So, part of the solution does rest on the shoulders of mass media. How and whether the local or national news covers certain trends has a large influence on whether it is seen as an idea with consensus.

Tall Rob@grandrobert· Jul 1

Woolley provides a helpful definition of ‘propaganda’ and adds that it does not necessarily need to result in changes to action or behavior. Propagandists are successful if they flatter their targets’ passivity and cynicism so that NO action is taken. thetallrobreport.blogspot.com/2026/06/manu...

Woolley provides an operational definition for propaganda early in the text, writing that it describes "the use of politically biased information in considered attempts to manipulate or influence the opinions and actions of individuals and, more broadly, society" (p. 4). He goes on to state that the purpose of propaganda may not be to effect concrete changes in its targets' behavior. It can be enough to seed certain emotions (anger, apathy) that result in a target taking no concrete actions or behavioral changes. Think about people who have convinced themselves that not voting is some kind of message. It's not. Non-voters are telling candidates that their opinions can be safely ignored. Getting enough people to feel cynical about the process of elections or other social participation is the goal of some propaganda. It seems easier than ever to get people to sit home and rot these days, which is just what the propagandists want.

Tall Rob@grandrobert· Jun 30

Here’s the cover art for Samuel Woolley’s Manufacturing Consensus. It’s a thing of beauty.

Cover of Manufacturing Consensus: Understanding Propaganda in the Era of Automation and Anonymity by Samuel Woolley. A grid of 28 dots transitions from blue to red. The bottom three dots have “shoulders” that make them appear to be social media avatars.

Tall Rob@grandrobert· Jun 30

I know it’s trite to talk about a book cover but the design team did a great job with this one. It conveys the concept of manufacturing consensus in a subtle way. (See next post for an image of the cover.) thetallrobreport.blogspot.com/2026/06/manu...

The book's cover communicates this idea beautifully. There are 28 dots on the cover that comprise shades from blue to red. Only the bottom three dots are completely red, and they also have shoulders attached to them that make them appear as generic social media avatars. What it seems to be saying is there is a diversity of voices available, but only the three voices that are fully red are taken as representing the whole group. It's a biased sample. Our perception may be that three out of every three people agree with a certain perspective, but those three are from a population of 28 and they are in the minority. It's easy to be confused in a context where those three voices dominate, even if you occasionally have evidence that the other 25 voices exist. You might feel that you live under a rock if one of those 25 voices speak to you, regardless of whether you agree with the perspective espoused by the three red voices.

Tall Rob@grandrobert· Jun 27

But, oh “Ferris Bueller didn’t want to talk politics” in the interview. Possibly a funnier line than anything in the actual movie, especially because he apparently told the interviewer that he’s a “lifelong Republican.” Got it, thanks!

Once again, too much text to include, so here’s the article itself.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/06/11/the-real-ferris-bueller/?share=s2lrc01ip0ehhrlrc2g1

Tall Rob@grandrobert· Jun 27

Kinda hilarious to lack the self-awareness to appear in this article. The author calls the fictional Ferris Bueller “an entitled sociopath” then tells us that his (alleged) inspiration “served on the transition team during Donald Trump’s first term and worked with Brett Kavanaugh for George W. Bush”

Too much text for alt text to display but the article is linked here:

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/06/11/the-real-ferris-bueller/?share=s2lrc01ip0ehhrlrc2g1

Tall Rob@grandrobert· Jun 27

Sure sounds like the guy who inspired Ferris Bueller was just as much of an entitled jerk as the character John Hughes created. www.chicagotribune.com/2026/06/11/t...

Cover of the Wilmette Life showing a photo of a man in his 70s wearing a suit and striped dress shirt in a high school hallway.

The article title is The ‘real’ Ferris Bueller

The caption is Ed McNally, a former student at Glenbrook North High School and the person that filmmaker John Hughes most based the title character of "Ferris Beller's Day Off" on, revisits the school in Northbrook on May 28.

Tall Rob@grandrobert· Jun 25

I’d be remiss in not mentioning the comics featured in Paper Airplane Vol. 2. They function as a commonplace book in the middle of the issue. Four different artists created them. Each says something about how we connect with families, found or given. thetallrobreport.blogspot.com/2026/06/pape...

The set of four brief comics toward the middle of the issue are varied in their style and content but consistent in depicting small moments that connect us to family, ourselves, our animals, and each other. They"re on consecutive pages because they are the comic section of the issue, but they also seem to be addressing the same motifs from different angles. Each is lovely in its own way.

Tall Rob@grandrobert· Jun 23

There’s an interview with Hanif Abdurraqib that’s about how he participates in a community of vintage music T-shirt collectors. The interview isn’t about what shirts are the priciest, but what it means to express yourself through this clothing choice. thetallrobreport.blogspot.com/2026/06/pape...

A major feature in this issue is Jonny Teklit's interview with Hanif Abdurragib about his collection of vintage music shirts. I've read some of his books and essays, but I hadn't heard of this passion of his before. I am also someone who has "a drawer full of band tees, like DIY band tees, and half the bands didn't exist anymore," so this part of the issue was right up my alley. I have much more anxiety around wearing and washing and caretaking my shirts. They are fine in their drawer. Who knows whether the next wash will be the last wash? It's too much for me to think about. That's why it's refreshing to hear from someone who knows the shirts "aren't meant to stay pristine forever. And to wear them out, eagerly, joyfully, is to-at least for me-form a relationship with the mortality of the item, so that I don't think about any of it as too precious." Maybe someday I'll finally relax. Interviews such as this one might get me there.

Tall Rob@grandrobert· Jun 23

Right from the cover art, you are getting a rich text to interpret with Vol 2 of @paperairplane.pub It’s great to have a hard copy to hold in hand. thetallrobreport.blogspot.com/2026/06/pape...

The cover illustration by Kaitlyn Brito depicts a person (the artist?) at a cafe table, sketching their view. We see that view from the artist's perspective, complete with sketchbook and writing implements, croissant and kerchief, and cup and saucer. They are sketching a rough draft of what we would see if we were in their seat. If you 1ook closely, there is a picture-within-a-picture element to the sketch. What's more, we can see the artist's reflection in the mirror across the cafe with the same accoutrements on the table as they are in her (our) view. It's a trip.

Tall Rob@grandrobert· Jun 18

As I wrote in my post on the book, I felt like I was taking Warshow’s insights in directions he may not have intended. Seems he felt the same way when watching Arthur Miller’s ‘The Crucible.’ “How can he be held responsible for what comes into my head while I watch his play?” A great question!

Text from Robert Warshow’s The Immediate Experience. It’s from a page on his review of Arthur Miller’s ‘The Crucible.’

Or, again, the play reaches its climax with John and Elizabeth Proctor facing the problem of whether John should save himselt from execution by making a false confession; he elects finally to accept death, for his tormentors will not be satisfied with his mere admission of guilt: he would be required to implicate others, thus betraying his innocent friends, and his confession would of course be used to justify the hanging of the other convicted witches in the face of growing community unrest. Now it is very hard to watch this scene without thinking of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who might also save their lives by confessing. Does Mr. Miller believe that the only confession possible for them would be a false one, implicating innocent people? Naturally, there is no way for him to let us know; perhaps he was not even thinking of the Rosenbergs at all. How can he be held responsible for what comes into my head while I watch his play? And if I think of the Rosen-bergs and somebody else thinks of Alger Hiss, and still an- [the page stops here]

Tall Rob@grandrobert· Jun 18

I should have known from the start that Robert Warshow’s The Immediate Experience would challenge me. I had to request a copy from the Chicago Public Library because the suburban library consortium didn’t have it! More thoughts on this book in the post quoted below.

Cover of Robert Warshow’s The Immediate Experience. There is a CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY stamp on the bottom of the book.

Detail of the back cover of Robert Warshow’s The Immediate Experience. It shows a stamp on the top of the book that reads VISUAL & PERFORMING ARTS CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY.

Tall Rob@grandrobert· Jun 18

“Debate-me-bro” culture is going to kill us all. Vance, you are the elected official. You are (ostensibly) a grown-up. So, *you* are in charge of making a good deal, not using rhetorical moves you learned in high school to argue that you’re some kind of genius when you played a losing game.