iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

October Caleb @calebwimble.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Shopkeeper: You don’t understand; it will cost you your SOUL. Me: Yes, this fucked up system of extraction and exploitation erodes the humanity of its perpetrators and participants alike with every purchase, I KNOW.

Cethan Leahy quote reposting tumblr post riffing on the demonic shopkeeper who grows increasingly exasperated trying to explain the evils of his store to a customer aware of the evils of capitalism

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October Caleb @calebwimble.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

No question this guy they keep quoting is an absolute ghoul from the way he talks about identity and rejection.

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October Caleb @calebwimble.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Oh lol it's the SAME GUY who everyone called out for making this error about Werwulf.

Screenshot of article headlines from news pieces about Werwulf and Romeo and Juliet by Borys Kit

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October Caleb @calebwimble.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

It’s telling that Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli’s weakest efforts are still hugely influential films any other studio would be proud to call their masterpiece.

Laputa: Castle in the Sky Letterboxd review by Caleb:

Certainly the most generic and forgettable of the Ghibli stories, and the one I can most easily imagine having been produced by another studio. There’s very little of interest to say about our two leads or primary villain, though the secondary pirate villains turned sidekicks are a comic delight.

I’m not convinced the hijinks-laden, often Fleischer-esque register of the action and chase scenes in Laputa are a good fit for the more serious moments where the violence suddenly matters and isn’t just for visual comedy. There’s maybe an intended audience tension here, with much of the movie feeling written and directed for six-year-olds before pivoting to heavier subject matter on a dime. I don’t feel that same tension in other Miyazaki movies with a wide audience appeal, in either their heaviest or lightest moments.

So why 4/5? I struggle to rate anything with animation this lively and confident any lower, even if it represents a transition from a rougher earlier era before the studio demonstrated their highest mastery of the art. For all its shortcomings, Laputa: Castle in the Sky is a fine children’s film bursting with the visual imagination we all love Ghibli for, and there’s no denying its influence on many other features (and video games) to come, Ghibli and non-Ghibli alike.

As far as audio versions go, this is unquestionably the worst of the Disney dubs—understandable given it was the first before they figured out how to localize anime in English better than anyone else out there. Vocals are way out of sync with lips, and the kids are simply miscast. Watch in Japanese with subs.

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October Caleb @calebwimble.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Leave it to me to make a 4/5 review of an animated masterpiece sound negative. I just wish I could love Princess Mononoke the way so many others do.

Letterboxd review by Caleb:

My central frustration with Princess Mononoke remains. The movie never stops moralizing about nonviolence and “ending the cycle of hatred” amidst a situation in which all peaceful negotiations have failed and there is no choice but violent resistance against the genocidally destructive colonial-industrial incursion. Ashitaka becomes so annoying by about the third time he’s preaching his useless sermon. Miyazaki does everything he can to complicate the situation and place sympathetic actors on all sides without ever altering the math of this basic equation.

Takahata’s Pom Poko, despite being a movie about bouncing raccoon dog balls, always manages to be the more morally coherent and dramatically compelling counter-colonial ecoterrorist fable.

Mononoke nonetheless looks and sounds amazing, the graphic violence remains astonishing, and I do love the colorful cast of characters.

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October Caleb @calebwimble.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Who amongst us hath not had Hell Rat days?

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October Caleb @calebwimble.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Some are literally just Bloodborne bosses.

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October Caleb @calebwimble.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

I was worried when these two mourning dove chicks disappeared from their nest on our porch joist, but they’re back on the porch wall now and looking none the worse for it! Must’ve learned to fly a little bit.

Two young mourning doves on a wall covered in bird poop beneath a fruiting orange tree

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October Caleb @calebwimble.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

The shadows were too dramatic to resist.

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October Caleb @calebwimble.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Not sure how far I can go with just home workout calisthenics and a weighted vest, but we’re gonna find out!

Bicep mirror selfie of the same blond bearded guy

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October Caleb @calebwimble.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Kicked off bulking season early with ten pounds gained this past month.

Muscular blond guy taking a mirror selfie

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October Caleb @calebwimble.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Has the field ever looked bleaker for professional game designers?

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October Caleb @calebwimble.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

Denial is the most predictable of all human responses. But, rest assured, this will be the sixth time we have destroyed a beloved service, and we have become exceedingly efficient at it.

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October Caleb @calebwimble.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Not sure if Red Baron for DOS counts since it only takes like half an hour to complete a campaign, but as traditional linear singleplayer games go…I guess The Jungle Book on Sega Mega Drive?

Jungle Book screenshot of Mowgli and a monkey

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October Caleb @calebwimble.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

In the sense that a python could save the hare it’s constricting to death, sure, The Economist.

Headline: “Could Donald Trump save Cuba’s Economy?”

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October Caleb @calebwimble.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

Assassin 33 A.D. sucks so hard. I can’t recommend it enough.

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October Caleb @calebwimble.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

Formative then, top of mind now.

My 9 Games meme: Link's Awakening, Civilization II, Warcraft III, Morrowind, Portal, Dark Souls, Hollow Knight, Slay the Spire, Outer Wilds

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October Caleb @calebwimble.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

Read some excellent books in 2025, a lot of thought-provoking ones, some entertaining page-turners, and very few I regret spending the time with.

Book cover collage:

1. Life’s Work: A Memoir (David Milch)
2. Burning Chrome (William Gibson)
3. Finding the Mother Tree (Suzanne Simard)
4. Shogun (James Clavell)
5. The Conspiracy Against the Human Race (Thomas Ligotti)
6. The Summer Book (Tove Jansson)
7. Collapse: The Fall of the Soviet Union (Vladislav M. Zubok)
8. Master and Commander (Patrick O’Brian)
9. Dooku: Jedi Lost
10. Say Nothing (Patrick Radden Keefe)
11. Fluent Forever
12. Worn: A People’s History of Clothing (Sofi Thanhauser)
13. The Lady Queen: The Notorious Reign of Joanna I, Queen of Naples
14. The Bible Says So (Dan McClellan)
15. Hard to Be a God (Arkady and Boris Strugatsky)
16. Yoga Body (Mark Singleton)
17. Modern Occultism: History, Theory, and Practice (Mitch Horowitz)
18. Old Path, White Clouds (Thich Nhat Hanh)
19. Brown Girl in the Ring (Nalo Hopkinson)
20. The Darkness That Comes Before (R. Scott Bakker)
21. The Warrior-Prophet (R. Scott Bakker)
22. The Thousandfold Thought
23. The Judging Eye
24. The White-Luck Warrior
25. The Great Ordeal
26. The Unholy Consult
27. The Long Walk (Stephen King)
28. City of Quartz (Mike Davis)
29. The Iron King (Maurice Druon)
30. The Strangled Queen (Maurice Druon)
31. The Poisoned Crown (Maurice Druon)
32. Blood Meridian (Cormac McCarthy)
33. From Hell (Alan Moore)
34. Kwaidan (Lafcaido Hearn / Yakumo Koizumi)
35. Flesh (David Szalay)
36. Phantoms (Dean Koontz)
37. The Royal Succession (Maurice Druon)
38. The She-Wolf (Maurice Druon)
39. Housekeeping (Marilynne Robinson)
40. Sátántangó (László Krasznahorkai)
41. Stoner (John Williams)
42. The Lily and the Lion (Maurice Druon)

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October Caleb @calebwimble.bsky.social · 07/12/2025

Druon has such a fun dry way of summing up late medieval politics.

e-reader text:

secret aspirations. And now he would be required to take part in a war against his own country; and he had no choice in the matter.
And so, if God so willed it, the French were going to make war in France against the French subjects of the King of England, with the support of a great English baron, and money furnished by the Pope for the freeing of Armenia from the Turks.

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October Caleb @calebwimble.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

The bricking-the-conclave-into-the-church chapter of The Royal Succession is so damned good. Maurice Druon doesn’t so much drip-feed you the most delicious parts of the era’s political intrigue as blast them at you out of a hydrant.

Book cover:
DRUON
LA LOI DES MÂLES

[late-medieval manuscript style painting of cardinals and nobles crowning the French king in his blue and gold robe bearing the fleur-de-lis and holding the Oriflamme]

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October Caleb @calebwimble.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

Anyone who has ever attempted to write historical fiction knows this terror too well.

Preface page to The Poisoned Crown by Maurice Druon:

‘History is a novel that has been lived’ E. & J. DE GONCOURT

‘It is terrifying to think how much research is needed to determine the truth of even the most unimportant fact’ STENDHAL

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October Caleb @calebwimble.bsky.social · 27/11/2025

People been out here doing “like and subscribe if you enjoyed this vid. I got a lot more of these things in my collection, so comment if you want to see me make more videos! We’ll see how it does with the algorithm” epilogues for literal centuries.

Book page screenshot:
Such are, in brief, the contents of this book. Sincerely trusting that the press and public may treat it as kindly as they did the “Etrusco-Roman Remains,” and “The
Legends of Florence,” I await the verdict, which will probably determine whether I shall publish other Italian traditions, of which I have still a very large collection.

Charles Godfrey Leland.
Florence, 1899

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October Caleb @calebwimble.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

If you don’t have anything bad to say about a man who dedicated his life to hate and the persecution of vulnerable minorities, including advocacy of violence towards them, maybe don’t say anything at all. Your selective celebration speaks volumes, as do the lies about what he actually stood for.

Extra Klein opinion headline on the NYT front page: “Charlie Kirk Was Practicing Politics the Right Way”

Governor Newsom’s statement praising the work of a far right hatemonger, anti-trans activist, and racist.

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October Caleb @calebwimble.bsky.social · 02/08/2025

Yeah it’s been a pretty cool first Gen Con so far, I guess.

Handsome bearded blond in a Sojourn shirt smiling with his ENNIE Award medal

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October Caleb @calebwimble.bsky.social · 29/07/2025

Just finished Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson, which I was checking out for the new @rangedtouch.bsky.social Shelved by Genre unit. Truly excellent. It’s a lightly sci-fi near-future story of post-collapse Toronto and a family tied to the Caribbean supernatural—Loa, duppies, and all.

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October Caleb @calebwimble.bsky.social · 28/07/2025

Pizza night! Tried making a thicker fluffier dough this time, with garlic and herbs kneaded into the crust itself. Not half bad, even as a thin crust guy.

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October Caleb @calebwimble.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

I get the sense that so many people dunking on the David Suzuki interview for “giving up” or “doomerism” on global warming did not actually read the interview or Suzuki’s admonitions. He’s expressing loss of faith in incremental changes to neoliberal systems, not loss of faith in humanity.

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October Caleb @calebwimble.bsky.social · 03/07/2025

Monster Train 2 fucks. It’s “just” another Monster Train with new cards and factions and features…which is to say it’s just about the best Slay the Spire x tower defense hybrid you could possibly ask for. Intensely compelling. “One more run” till every covenant is done.

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October Caleb @calebwimble.bsky.social · 03/07/2025

Show me your… 🎮 Current Game: Lies of P: Overture ⏭️ Next Game: Monster Train 2 🔥 Best Game You’ve Played This Year: Claire Obscur: Expedition 33 🤔 Most Anticipated Game: Europa Universalis V

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October Caleb @calebwimble.bsky.social · 03/07/2025

These two are gold medalist synchronized pissers.

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October Caleb @calebwimble.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

We get some billboards around here.

3D billboard for Together displaying Dave Franco and Alison Brie’s tongues merging

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October Caleb @calebwimble.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

A few other other criminally underwatched faves:

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October Caleb @calebwimble.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

Turns out most of my favorite wuxia films would qualify.

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October Caleb @calebwimble.bsky.social · 26/06/2025

“Roleplaying Game Games due to your your recent playtime in other other Roleplaying Game games”

Steam store screenshot featuring “RPG Games” recommendations

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October Caleb @calebwimble.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

This LA billboard for Elden Ring Nightreign I saw last night is almost as extra as the Evanescence trailer.

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October Caleb @calebwimble.bsky.social · 28/05/2025

All right, evil corpos, you got me.

Colorful two-panel comic. Tower of Babel explodes. A crowd below watches in awe and terror as the cloaked Duolingo Owl smirks in their midst.

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October Caleb @calebwimble.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

Ironically I have, in fact, run LUBAT for tables of 12+ players on several occasions 😅. It's been a riot! Player characters are able to achieve incredible things at parties of that scale.

More review excerpts:

The book claims that it’s intended for 2-12 players, a quaint if unreasonable claim. 2 people could maybe make it through if they each play 3-4 characters with followers, but 12 would be outright unmanageable. It’s not a substantial issue, and should not distract from the fact that this book is a DREAM to read and use at the table. Where the hell has Caleb Wimble been all these years?

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October Caleb @calebwimble.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

And having just found his socials, you can follow more of John's work over at @johnofhearts.bsky.social.

Review closing summary text:

Great

Let us Build a Tower is a rare gift from the world of indie RPG design. There’s so much potential in this book my review barely scratches the surface of what you could find inside. Mythic encounters, adventures to keep you entertained for years, and an overwhelming feeling of palpable, intense dread. Whether climbing the Tower or exploring the lands around it, you have options for tons of creative, unique adventures, all informed by the lost cities of Mesopotamia.
Pros

Full of evocative resources and ideas
Immaculate layout and presentation
Extreme variety of adventures, encounters, and magic

Cons

The system could use some more options
Some rare odd details like player count
Higher floors and shifting construction makes this EXTREMELY lethal

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October Caleb @calebwimble.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

A well-deserved shout-out in John's review as well to @samsorensen.bsky.social's thorough and tireless editing work.

More text excerpted from the review:
The black and white art is almost universally exceptional. Its variety in design never strays from a consistent art style which communicates the vibe of an ancient, mysterious land. Caleb clearly did his research or worked with a series magnificent artists. It’s familiar yet distant. The lack of color enhances its feel of a distant, lost epoch. The Babylonian influences are felt in the naming conventions and mythology as well as some consistently vivid, fascinating enemy designs. All of this is integrated seamlessly into the overall layout.

More text excerpted from the review:
That layout, by the way, is outstanding. It’s so clear what’s going on the way this is organized and presented. In the introduction and throughout the text, important concepts contain page references. You might think these details are basic, but as I’ve talked about time and time again, attention to those details makes navigating this book truly exceptional, whether you’re learning it for the first time or referencing it in the middle of an adventure. Major props are due to editor Sam Sorenson. I know too well how crucial a difference editing makes in the end product. Well done.

This book is exactly what I’m talking about every single time I complain about layout. With settings and rules as dense as RPG texts, you need to not waste time presenting the information. This book is how you do it. Look at the two page spread below. Just two pages and you get a major rundown of the setting, its history and conflicts, the rules and classes, your player’s goals, and major mechanics. All of that information is presented, along with references to where you can get more information, without sacrificing atmosphere. This is how you write and present information in an RPG.

More text excerpted from the review:
Let us Build a Tower is a rare gift from the world of indie RPG design. There’s so much potential in this book my review barely scratches the surface of what you could find inside. Mythic encounters, adventures to keep you entertained for years, and an overwhelming feeling of palpable, intense dread. Whether climbing the Tower or exploring the lands around it, you have options for tons of creative, unique adventures, all informed by the lost cities of Mesopotamia.

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October Caleb @calebwimble.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

Well, this was a day-maker of a thing to read in a review today!

Text excerpt from the review column at https://gamingtrend.com/reviews/68234dac9b2f330001d18ce8/

Representing some of the finest in writing, design, and layout I’ve seen in years, Let Us Build a Tower sets its ambitions high but achieves them with grandeur and class. Set in bronze age Mesopotamia, it tasks adventurers with ascending the Tower of Babel to claim the Throne of Heaven for themselves. After mankind constructed the Tower, a jealous Sky-father punished their ambitions with chaos; despite their languages scattered and a Tower cursed to rebuild itself with every new entry, the ensuing battle left the Sky-father wounded and his throne empty, waiting for one strong enough to claim it. At the same time system book, setting, and megadungeon, Let Us Build a Tower is a self-contained package that integrates seamlessly with your OSR system of choice.

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October Caleb @calebwimble.bsky.social · 28/04/2025

This weekend I started Clair Obscur, a French RPG from ex-Ubisoft developers, after hearing it takes heavy cues from the likes of Final Fantasy X and Lost Odyssey. So far I'm loving it.

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October Caleb @calebwimble.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

Mixed the cooking up a bit tonight with a stuffed mushroom panang omelet 😋

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