Quick Recommendations
- Three sympathetic hosts, with great chemistry.
- Some Australian perspective in my life.
- The goal of the episodes being “a tight 45” (minutes).
- Great bits and running jokes. (For instance, their member program is called One Prime Plus. 😁)
Quick Recommendation #11: StarCraft 2 (Video Game)
When Blizzard Was the Best in the Business
Growing up, I played a lot of the original StarCraft. (Even more than Broodwar.) So I was obviously hyped when StarCraft 2 launched 12 years later, in 2010.
This was back when Blizzard Entertainment only made great games (even though I’ve never been into Word of Warcraft), and hadn’t discovered microtransactions and undercooked remasters. I both played through the campaign and was mediocre on the ranked ladder,1 and it was great!
Even though the game is 13 years old, there’s still an active pro scene and community. And recently, the YouTube algorithm decided to serve me a really charming channel: WinterStarcraft. His bread-and-butter is him casting pro matches, and I just love it. (To actually give the videos a chance to reach new viewers, the titles and thumbnails are really click-bait-y. But the content is good!)
For a place to start, I can recommend this video and match. (The third game is especially great.)
I highly recommend playing the Starcraft 2 campaign in 2025.
The game went free-to-play, via Battle.net, in 2017 – and this also includes the first part of the campaign: Wings of Liberty. That’s 20+ hours of gameplay right there – and if you’d like, you can then pay to unlock the rest of the single player content (Heart of the Swarm and Legacy of the Void + Nova Covert Ops). This is also included in Xbox Game Pass.
Even though real-time strategy can be a bit daunting, the Starcraft 2 campaign is really accessible. It teaches you the game in a great way, feeds you mechanics bit-by-bit, and has a lot of challenge adjustability with difficulty levels and optional objectives. I just really like the world and story. (The Zerg, admittedly quite inspired by Xenomorphs, are some of the coolest things created.) And the game is just so polished.
This was also when Blizzard ported their games to Mac.
So even though it isn’t very optimised for Apple Silicon, it still works great on my M1 Pro. However, I did have an issue with the sound – but it’s fixable:
For some reason, the sound output would crackle if the microphone is active.2 However, barring StarCraft 2 access to the microphone, through Privacy and Security in System Settings, fixed it. (I also have to close SoundSource.)
GL HF!
Quick Recommendation #10: Hemispheric Views (Podcast)
Episode 137 Is the Perfect Place to Get Into the Most Charming Tech Podcast
Some reasons why Hemispheric Views is one of my favourite tech podcasts:
I can recommend last week’s episode, 137: I Had a Pi in the Drawer, as a good place to start! It’s both accessible and gives a good impression of the show. And as I’m a bit late to posting this, you’ll then also have this week’s episode ready if you want another one immediately.
I also recommend following the hosts:
Quick Recommendation #9: Niléane
Just a Really Cool Woman
In this instalment of Quick Remmondations, I’m going to recommend a person in general!
While listening to the last few episodes of one of my favourite tech podcasts, Comfort Zone, a thought has been growing in me: “I think Niléane might be one of my favourite people online!” (I do like both Matt and Chris as well, to be clear. 🫶🏻)
She’s French-Réunionnese – and in addition to the podcast, she, among other things, writes for MacStories, creates a great theme for Mastodon called TangerineUI, and is the president of Toutes des Femmes.
Recently, she wrote a great post, called Are Pride Wallpapers and a Watch Band Enough in 2025?, and that pushed me over the edge to write this recommendation. (I also really liked this follow-up post by Matt. 👌🏻)
Why I think she’s a treasure for the community:
Quick Recommendation #8: Initial D
Drifting Anime, That Drips With Style
I’m not the biggest car-guy, even though I do enjoy a bit of car-YouTube from time to time.1 But I just love the anime Initial D.
The cars they drive remind me of my first real racing game: Gran Turismo on the first Playstation. And it has cemented owning a car with pop-up headlights on my bucket list.
The show has lots of intense racing scenes, backed up by an insane eurobeat soundtrack. Trust me – it works.
Here’s the basic setting:
Takumi Fujiwara is a teenager that works part-time for his father’s Tofu shop – making deliveries in the early morning. His father, Bunta, is an old street racer, and while Takumi hasn’t inherited his interest, he has inherited his talent. And being a lazy teenager, who wants to get done quickly with his work, he simply started driving faster and faster.
He drives an old, but well-tuned, Toyota Corolla – and him getting laughed at for driving a car like that, with the name of the tofu shop on the side, is part of the charm.
How to watch
Quick Recommendation #6: Arco (video game)
Original, Tactical, Recreational
Last year, Panic published a terrific indie game I’d like to recommend: Arco. I’ve only played the first two acts, but I like it a lot so far.
It has great pixel art, music, writing, and story.
It also has a genuinely innovative turn-based combat, and guilt system, which makes in-game choices interesting.
It’s available on PC, Mac, and Switch. I’m playing it on Mac, with a controller – and it works flawlessly. (If you want to get it for desktop, I recommend getting it through Epic, as the dev gets a larger piece of the pie.)
Click here to see all my quick recommendations!
Quick Recommendation #5: The Mad Max Video Game
It’s not often I finish video games… One of the reasons, is that I often play games you can’t finish – like Europa Universalis and The Bazaar 🖇️. But I actually just finished, an r/patientgamers favourite: the Mad Max game, from 2015.
And it’s actually at 80% off on GOG at the moment!
It’s not a fantastic game – but if you like Mad Max (like me), I can recommend it. I saw someone on Reddit call it “the perfect mid-budget game”, and I agree.
It’s an open-world game, with a world of great flavour. The car-combat is especially good and unique.
But one piece of advice, if you decide to check it out: Exploring the open world gets quite repetitive – so it’s not worth it to approach the game with a completionist’s mindset. Just treat it as a bite-sized little treat, and do the stuff you find fun and run through the story. If you buy it for like €4, just try to get that amount of money’s worth.
I played in through Steam, and on my Mac Mini. It says it’s not available for Mac, but installing it still works, for some reason. (Not 100% sure about the GOG version, though.)
Quick Recommendation #4: Ultima Retrospective (YouTube)
I have no prior nostalgia for the CRPG series Ultima. I’ve always known about the series, but never played any of the games. Still, I’ve loved a series by the YouTube channel Majuular: Ultima Retrospective
The videos are long – but well-made, with a combination of story behind the development and reception, plus a complete run-down of the gameplay and story. It’s also not done, so I assume there’ll be more content down the line! (You know, if you’re done with the 14 hours made up until now.)
Quick Recommendation #3: What Makes This Song Stink (YouTube)
In general, I prefer positive content. So I prefer the vibe of CinemaWins over CinemaSins. But the series called What Makes This Song Stink, by Pat Finnerty, is an absolute treasure of YouTube content.
I think it can work for anyone – but it’s especially funny if you’ve spent any time on “Music YouTube”. (The series is packed with Rick Beato beats.)
I recommend starting at the beginning (of the playlist linked above), with Kryptonite by 3 Doors Down, and watch them in order. Then you’ll see the evolution of the form, and be in on all the terrific in-jokes. And already the third video, on Weezer - Beverly Hills, is a highlight.
It’s hard to explain, but the series just has so much heart, and Pat is just delightful. I highly recommend giving this series a try! (Also, he releases like a couple of videos a year – so its easy to stay on top of.)
Quick Recommendation #2: Better Markdown Preview in Finder
Hitting space to preview files (Quick Look) is one of my favourite Finder features. However, it does a pretty mediocre job with Markdown files. QLMarkdown is a little utility that makes these previews richer.
You can install it from this link, or by using this Homebrew command:
brew install --cask qlmarkdown
The app isn’t signed – so you need to do the little dance to convince macOS that you want to run the app. (This is detailed in the original link share up top.)
You need to open the app once for the utility to work. And that’s also where you change settings.
I get that many Markdown contexts are outside of Finder – but if you do use them there, I hope this little tool can be useful!
Quick Recommendation #1: Cheap Strap Locks for Guitars
Why buy expensive (or just kind of cheap strap locks, when you can go old school and just order a bunch of rubber gaskets for bottles??
Here’s a link 🖇️ to the listing I used on AliExpress – but there are probably plenty of others that are just as fine. 👍🏻
I know it’s silly – but for some reason I think it’s a bit more rock ‘n’ roll to use something not meant for the purpose. 😎