I recently heard about Doom Infinite, a mod for the granddaddy of FPS games that uses its assets and the GZDoom engine to remix the classic maps and enemies to make an compelling roguelite.

It uses a Risk of Rain like timer for each map: the longer you're playing, the more monsters spawn in and the better item drops you'll see. The map set is also tailored to get the player to where they can rip through them quickly, but with random elements that change it up a bit. When a map is complete , the player will return to the hub world to get another power-up and (at their option) explore to hopefully find some more upgrades.

It also implements a random gun system that reminds me a bit of Borderlands with different ammo effects, secondary fire, and attributes that makes the player weigh their options.

The enemies that spawn in also have different special effects like being tiny or replenishing health.

It's a whole lot of fun; it makes Doom feel so fresh, and is surprisingly easy to "read" the screen quickly to determine what threats are on-screen. If you've got the .wad files, it's a pretty simple installation. Give it a try!

This is the version featured in The Shawshank Redemption (1994). Great choice, it's exceptionally beautiful. Sung by Edith Mathis & Gundula Janowitz.

"Sull'aria ... che soave zeffiretto" (On the breeze ... What a gentle little Zephyr) is a duettino, or a short duet, from act 3, no. 21, of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's 1786 opera The Marriage of Figaro, K. 492, to a libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. In the duettino, Countess Almaviva (a soprano) dictates to Susanna (also a soprano) the invitation to a tryst addressed to the countess' husband in a plot to expose his infidelity.

I went to see the Met broadcast of Verdi's Macbeth, and it's my favorite that I've seen from their repertory. The sets, the costumes, and the music were all enchanting.

I've collected some set design illustrations from the revised 1865 Paris show from Wiki Commons. Great site, that one. I'll try and add some more context here. These illustrations are by Charles-Antoine Cambon.

The post image is my favorite of them. It's the main set for act 3, when Macbeth questions the witches about their prophecy and interprets it as meaning that he is unable to be killed. I love the loose sketching of the foreground, the haunting figures perched above, and the implied details of the ruins.

Act 1 Second Tableau:

The above is the set design drawing for Macbeth's castle, and below is a print made for advertising the production. I believe the scene is when the king's body is discovered and everyone is alerted to his death.

Act 2 Scene 5:

This was my favorite scene in the whole show, in which Macbeth learns that his plot to kill Banquo succeeded but his son escaped. Macbeth has a vision of his victim during the party and then his lady tries to smooth everything over. I love how the music gives it a manic energy at the beginning and then is used for dramatic irony later in the scene. Here's the scene being performed by the Lyric theater of Chicago.

And, finally, I went digging for information on this artist and found this incredible collection that shows how sets were designed in the period. Spectacular stuff. They didn't have anything for Macbeth, but here is a miniature that Cambon did for the set design of Jeanne d'Arc:

Sorry for the admittedly low quality. I didn't want to get too close and stress it out. Primo frog though.

I've been hooked on Caves of Qud lately, and I wanted to move off of the default starter character builds. Here's one that I've been having fun with lately; It gets me into tinkering pretty quickly, and getting two extra random mutations makes it a really different run every time.

I'm wondering what people here like to use.

Arconaut
Mutated Human

Attributes
Strength: 16
Agility: 18
Toughness: 18
Intelligence: 20
Willpower: 16
Ego: 16

Mutations
Unstable Genome x2
Night Vision
Wings
Psychometry
Cold-Blooded (Disadvantage)

As of March 2022, there are at least 18 known deputy gangs within the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.