Blog Posts

WallStreetBets: Cult of Gambling Addicts Chasing Tendies

Features, Finance, YouTube | 12 October 2023

Back during the GameStop short squeeze of 2021, I wrote about it as an outside observer who was incredulous at the spectacle, but didn’t truly understand what was going on. Two years later, on 9 January 2023, I formally started my journey into stock trading and investing by opening an eToro account. I sifted through every online resource I could find to learn everything I could about this seemingly esoteric thing that I would later describe as black magic and sorcery. While I’m still no expert, I at least can now understand a lot of the jargon and mechanics behind what I previously couldn’t make sense of. (more…)

Assess Your Goals by Examining Your Surrogate Activities

by: Sonny Go

Essays, Life and Philosophy | 11 October 2023

The term ‘surrogate activity’ was coined by the American mathematician and domestic terrorist Ted Kaczynski, better known as the Unabomber, in his 35,000-word manifesto, Industrial Society and Its Future. It was his critique of modern civilization and society as it became during the late 20th century. He was noted not only for his opposition to technology, but also what he saw was pointlessness in modern living that the masses engaged in. Instead of living meaningful lives supporting each other as a society, they immerse themselves in surrogate activities to distract themselves from existential dread and keep them from partaking in things that may matter more in the long term.
(more…)

The Dimensions of Political Power

by: Sonny Go

Features, Politics | 27 September 2023

While rewatching a MandaloreGaming video on Tyranny, a role-playing game on being a bad guy in a fantasy Iron Age world, he mentioned a concept in political science called the Faces of Power, also known as the Dimensions of Power. It’s an academic theory put forth by Steven Lukes, a British political and social theorist currently based in New York University, which looks into how it is to rule over other people’s lives and influence their actions — something that politicians also do in this day and age in the real world. (more…)

Get Out of Your Own Way

by: Sonny Go

Life and Philosophy, Mixed Martial Arts, Opinion, Pro Wrestling | 08 September 2023

After the recent news of a particular individual being given the boot out of a certain company, I had to write about not only that situation, but also what I think is the cause. It wasn’t just an organizational problem, but also a personal one. I’ve wanted to write about ego and how it can affect a person’s judgment and their ability to work well with others. The greatest trick your ego can pull is to convince you that you’re one and the same and that you need that ego to be who you are. That’s a path of self-destruction, and many never learn to get out of their own way. (more…)

Avoider Guide to Setting Up a Pi-hole for Network-wide Ad-blocking

by: Sonny Go

Guides, Software | 27 August 2023

Some have the opinion that ad-blocking is piracy as you’re trading the online money-making ability of a company or content creator for saving a few seconds (and one’s sanity). Traditionally, digital piracy is the downloading of digital media or software that’s on sale for free use. While I understand where they’re coming from, I think it’s a dumb opinion because online ads also open you up to security problems with trackers and the potential for malware. That’s why I have no qualms about adding a Pi-hole to my local network. (more…)

Comparing LK-99 Superconductor Hype with Outright Frauds

by: Sonny Go

Features, Science | 10 August 2023

LK-99 Superconductor and Science Frauds Jan Hendrik Schön and Viktor Ninov

Room temperature superconductivity is several notches below cold fusion as the holy grail of technological innovation, but a breakthrough may be close at hand. When LK-99 was revealed to the world by a team in Korea University, it quickly became a hot topic on the Internet. It did end up not being a room temperature superconductor after all, turning out to be less efficient than copper at room temperature. There was quite a fuss and we ended up with a goose egg, but that’s just par for course with science. Meanwhile, there have been plenty of other cases in scientific study where something got hyped up too much, only to end up as fraud. (more…)

My Diablo IV Frost Lightning Sorcerer Build Guide

by: Sonny Go

Guides, Video Games | 07 August 2023

This still isn’t much of a guide as Diablo IV is still pretty young and I don’t intend to play it past a season or two. The only thing that truly interested me about it is the story, while the aesthetics aren’t exactly to my liking. However, the gameplay is still pretty good, so it interests me enough to make me want to explore different character builds. While this isn’t the Archon Wizard build I enjoyed in Diablo III, I’ve been enjoying clearing dungeons with this build so far. I’d like to share it with everyone else, whether it’s truly awesome or very much suboptimal. (more…)

Diablo IV Game Review

by: Sonny Go

Reviews, Video Games | 07 August 2023

When Blizzard started having its controversies, one of the only titles left that could give the now-embattled company hope for salvaging its once-stellar reputation was Diablo. However, Diablo III was a disappointment due to an incohesive and insensible storyline, as well as gameplay that tries a lot of new things and misses on a lot of them. Also, that launch was a complete disaster, from what I can remember. It looks like they’ve done the opposite with Diablo IV — the last game I’ll likely ever buy from the undead remnants of Blizzard Entertainment. (more…)

Kayfabe in Politics and Media Manipulation

by: Sonny Go

Essays, Life and Philosophy, Politics, Pro Wrestling | 18 July 2023

After getting word of videos about Eric Weinstein’s interpretation of kayfabe on Twitter, I found Frame Problems after a brief search and gave these three videos a watch. I found them interesting as they stretched the application of kayfabe to politics, economics, and mainstream media as far as they possibly can. I had always been interested in Eric Weinstein’s opinion of kayfabe being a crucial component of the cognitive toolbox. As a part of the pro wrestling industry, I wanted to take a closer look at this take on kayfabe and how understanding it can enhance how one interprets mainstream media and public consciousness. (more…)

What I Do as a Pro Wrestling Commentator

by: Sonny Go

Audio, Guides, Pro Wrestling | 08 July 2023

This is Sonny Go, and analysis is my business. I come before you today as a commentator for Manila Wrestling Federation. This blog post and included video both go into my process for announcing a pro wrestling show. We’ll look into what I do for Manila Wrestling Federation, how I prepare for pro wrestling commentary, and how I help out with production. This took a while to do and I even had second thoughts about putting it out, but I think it’s worth documenting my process as it is right now, both for posterity and to help anyone thinking of doing this. (more…)

The Stone and the Shape: Philosophy for Finding One’s Purpose

by: Sonny Go

Essays, Life and Philosophy, Video Games | 03 July 2023

Dwarves in Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magic Obscura

One of the most profound pieces of philosophy I’ve ever encountered comes from a computer game, which happens to be my all-time favorite. Arcanum takes the best of old Fallout, brings it into a steampunk setting, and douses it with tons of lore and philosophy that even games by FromSoftware would struggle to compete against. This particular moment in the game would continue to fascinate me even as an adult, which is why I wanted to share it here in this blog post. (more…)

Russophilia and Slavsploitation

by: Sonny Go

Essays, World | 26 June 2023

As I was writing the draft for this blog post, the Wagner Group — the Russian mercenary group led by former Putin stooge Yevgeny Prigozhin — was staging a mutiny against the Russian military and government. Events were being documented on Twitter as they happened, including this sitdown between Prigozhin and Russian defense officials. No one knew what would happen and if it would affect Putin’s reign and the war in Ukraine, but they were doing it in a city that’s over a thousand kilometers from Moscow. In any case, I’m taking this opportunity to talk about something that has always bugged me about all things Russian. (more…)