Tag: extremes | A Banana Peeled

Tag Archives: extremes

Nuance is not a four-letter word

Posted on April 11, 2025 by Minna Hong • 0 Comments

I’ve been loosely following the drama surrounding the Switch 2, otherwise known as the SwIItch and a bunch of other cute names. I was never going to get one because one, I don’t do consoles*, and especially not hand-held ones. I do all my gaming on a PC, which is so much more comfortable (to me). Then came the news that the next FromSoft game which nary a word was breathed** was going to be a Nintendo exclusive and my heart dropped to my stomach.

I’ve reacted to it already, but I have more to say. Not so much about the game (though I will touch on that), but on the discourse about the game. Which, funnily enough, mimics the discourse around the Switch 2 itself.

The opinions are so divided, and you can’t stake a claim somewhere in the middle. Either it all sucks and is the end of gaming, or it’s the best thing ever and shut up with any/all of your criticisms. As a species, we tend to do go to extremes, but it is just getting worse and worse. In the Discord I’m in, there are a few guys (and, yes, all guys) who make these really declarative statements and discourage others from speaking up. I know they don’t think they do that, but it has that effect. I’ve seen other people get shut down and just never come back.

I’ts not about the opinions, but the fact that there’s definitely an in-crowd who dominate the discussions. I am not part of that in-crowd, by the way. I’m on the fringes. I’m not an outsider, but my voice is not important enough, loud enough, or male enough to be influential.

The conversation/argument/debate over the Switch 2 is not where I’m going to jump in. First, I’m not buying one. Second, I just don’t want to get into the arguments when both sides are camped firmly in their opposing viewpoints and won’t budge. It’s not a discussion; it’s a drawing of sides. I have no interest in that, and I don’t want to put my neck on the chopping block–especiall when the subject isn’t something that affects me.

When it comes to The Duskbloods (FromSoft), though (and, yes, I know I said I was not writing another post about it, but I had more to say), I have so many thoughts on it. I was watching a video by TopicArlo, someone who is torn about the game in much of the same way I am. For whatever reason, I decided to look at the comments. I normally don’t look at comments because they are so toxic, but I was curious–I don’t know why.

The numbness of extremes

Posted on August 24, 2023 by Minna Hong • 0 Comments

I hate the summer. I hate it for so many reasons. The main reason in the heat, but I also hate allergies, bugs, and humidity. Last night at ten or so, it was 89 degrees, ‘feels like’ 103. At the peak of the heat, it was 107 ‘feels like’ 118. Right now, it’s 95 ‘feels like’ 105. We get up to the hundreds once or twice a summer, but this is unreal. I get that the heat index wasn’t faithfully tracked even a decade ago, but this is still hotter than we normally get for a prolonged period of time.

The thing is, though, at a certain point, it just doesn’t matter. Such as when it’s really cold, -20 verrsus -40 doesn’t really matter. The body only feels up to a certain point and then…look. It’s like the bell curve. You have the norm and then most of the deviation is near the norm. Then, as you get farther out, the deviations are much less.

I am on the fringes of those deviations. When my brother asks my opinion on some marketing thing, he always prefaces it with, “I know this won’t work with you, but would it work on normal people?” I don’t take offense because I am most emphatically not normal and normal marketing does not work on me. I don’t care about being in or keeping up with the Joneses. I don’t have FOMO for the most part, and i am not loyal to any brand.

There are brands I like, of course, such as Logitech for tech accessories, but if the quality went down, I would change to something else. Media-wise, I will always buy a FromSoft game on release (maybe even pre-order!), but that’s because they are quality games that I love. Armored Core VI Fires of Rubicon is coming out on Friday and while big mechs are not my thing, I am buying it because it’s FromSoft.

I am very much a function over form kind of person. I want something to work. I’m sure there are things that get by me because everyone has their weak point, but in general, I am impervious to marketing. Here’s the reason why. I need things to be scent/perfume/allergen-free. So I’m going to get the detergeant/soap that is clean no matter what. I don’t care about the brand–I jsut need it to be clean.

Same with food. I can’t ea’t gluten or dairy, so those foods are completely off my radar. Then there’s onion and garlic. I can have a bit, but not much. This is tragic as an Asian person. At this point in my life, though, I don’t even notice it any longer. I automatically scan for anything I can’t eat and place it in the ‘not for me’ category. Then I don’ tthink about it any longer.