Tag: visual novels

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Liked Higurashi: When They Cry mahjong game from 2009 is getting a remaster for PC and consoles. Life-or-death matches where even cheating is allowed by Carlos "Zoto" ZotomayorCarlos "Zoto" Zotomayor (automaton-media.com)
Fans of Higurashi: When They Cry and mahjong will be interested to know that Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Jong, a 2009 riichi mahjong game for the arcade and PlayStation Portable (PSP), is being remastered for PC (Steam), PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch, with a planned release in 2027.

I have played and reviewed many little-known and niche visual novels. But I am also familiar with some of the classics. For example, I am a fan of the much-esteemed Higurashi: When They Cry series, which I was in the process of completing in the early days of The New Leaf Journal. Since completing the core eight-novel story, I have learned new things about the series. For example, last year I learned that way back in the early days, creator Ryushiki07 helped spread awareness of his work through an unsolicited mailing campaign. I also learned that there was a Higurashi phone game. Thanks to a September 15, 2026 article on Automation West, I now know that back in 2009, a Higurashi-themed mahjong game called Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Jong was released in arcades and for PlayStation Portable. The Higurashi mahjong game is being remastered and re-released for Windows, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch in 2027 (unclear whether there will be an English game). I appreciate that Higa mahjong exists because there is some in-world justification for the idea, but I will be very disappointed if someone tells me that Kurado Ōishi is not the final boss.

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My throat is irrtated, my nose is stuffy, and I have a slight headache. It’s ragweed season. Unrelated: It’s time for our daily Pook-Emu Bee links.

Photo of a blue bench resting against a black cast iron fence next to potted shrubs in front of a restaurant.
I took this photo in what I think was Cobble Hill on the afternoon of August 23, 2026.

1 | Dating App Adds Feature Allowing Men To Filter Out Women Who Support Lindsay Clancy (The Babylon Bee. April 27, 2026.)
An all-timer from Babylon Bee.

2 | Iconic, stained glass ‘Watertower’ above Brooklyn Bridge Park dismantled (Mary Frost for Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Sep. 1, 2026.)
I’m a fan of the watertower. I am sure I have a photo of it somewhere. But fear not, it is only being taken down temporarily.

3 | This open-source tool was built for academics, and it’s the best productivity tool I own (Yash Patel for XDA. Sep. 1, 2026.)
Zotero is indeed great. Especially when combined with Syncthing for file sync.

4 | Review: Planetarian: The Reverie of a Little Planet—Using a Little to Say a Lot (June for Fuwanovel. August 25, 2026.)
According to Steam, I played Planetarian in 2015. Count me as a fan, it’s an excellent short visual novel. Maybe I should review it since it is also relevant to the history of Insani.

5 | Dyson launches $499 toothbrush with built-in camera, AI technology (Bradford Betz for Fox Business. Sep. 1, 2026.)
GPTeeth?

6 |  Convicted cab driver rapist Gurmeet Singh stripped of US citizenship 15 years after assaulting passenger (Emily Goodin and Chris Nesi for the New York Post. Aug. 31, 2026.)
Now now. I’m sure Mr. Signh’s forgetting that he had brutally raped (not “assaulted” NY Post headline writers) a woman weeks earlier when he was filling out his Form N-400, Application for Naturalization, was nothing more than an honest clerical oversight.

7 | Delicate white blossoms on a tree branch (Doncoombez on Upslash. March 17, 2026.)
This photo appeared as a Brave new tab image on my phone. I liked it, so you can enjoy it too. While you’re in the area, enjoy my 2022 re-publication of a poem about apple blossoms.

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Favorited To the Moon creator explains why he still makes games with RPG Maker. The “just right” simplicity that lets you focus on the creative sides of development. by AUTOMATON WESTAUTOMATON WEST (automaton-media.com)
Interview with To the Moon developer Kan Gao about making games in RPG Maker.

Kan Gao is the creator of the successful indie To the Moon series. I am not personally a fan of To the Moon. I tried the first entry and it just was not working for me, so I never finished. But despite not being a fan of the series, I read with some interest a recent Automation West interview with Mr. Gao. Automation West asked Mr. Gao why he chose to make To the Moon in RPG Maker instead of a different tool or engine. Mr. Gao replied:

It was the tool with the least friction capable of making what I needed to make. I think an important rule for me is to choose not the most elaborate, fancy or feature-heavy tool, but rather the simplest one that’s capable of doing what I need for the project. Friction is the enemy of making multi-media projects, and I tend to become my own obstacle when choosing a needlessly complex tool for the job.

Kan Gao

Well put. Now that I am a totally professional visual novel developer, I continue to think about which tools to use for new projects. I made my most recent visual novel in ONScripter-EN, which I suppose has its roots in the same era as Mr. Gao’s tool of choice, RPG Maker XP. None of this is to say that old engines (or old school engines) are necessarily better than the new. but tools are a means to an end. The best tool is the one that efficiently helps one reach the end goal of, as Mr. Gao puts it, making “interactive experiences that someone might remember one day.”

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Let us complete our perfect Pook-Emu Bee link week before our regularly scheduled day off for Newsletter Saturday.

A brown wooden TV shelf with doors seen on the sidewalk in front of a large pile of trash bags. A note taped to the top says "FREE /GOOD CONTITION"
I spotted this TV cabinet in Downtown Brooklyn at approximately 7:40 in the evening on June 28, 2026. The note says “Free / Good Condition”

1 | Sekiwake Wakatakakage Begins Rehabilitation After Narrowly Avoiding Leg Amputation in Emergency Surgery (Sumostats. July 29, 2026.)
Scary stuff. Hoping first for a safe and speedy recovery and second for him to quickly return to the lofty rank he achieved with his win in the May Basho once he is back in competition.

2 | Sixth Circuit Reverses Pretrial Release for Antifa Member Accused of ICE-Related Threats (Eugene Volokh at The Volokh Conspiracy. August 14, 2026.)
Excellent. Quoting the opinion of the Court: “The Bail Reform Act focuses on the danger the defendant poses to ‘any other person and the community.’ The district court’s views on the Executive Branch’s immigration policy have no bearing on that inquiry….”

3 | Tankhouse to Raze Historic Boerum Hill Church After $28.25 Million Purchase (Anna Bradley Smith for Brownstoner. August 13, 2026.)
Funny timing. I was just sitting there thinking to myself “what we need is more ugly tall buildings designed by architects who read too many Superman comic books.” The news has a way of delivering.

4 | Preview: Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave Dials The ‘Three Houses Formula’ Up To 11 (Jim Norman for Nintendo Life. August 13, 2026.)
It looks great. I dare say this is the first game to make not buying a Switch 2 sting. But I’m still not throwing down $500+ for a Switch 2 and Fortune’s Weave.

5 | Simon & Schuster Doubles Down on Notorious Writer Who Calls Jews ‘Ghouls,’ Will Publish Her New Novel: Writer Taunts Angry ‘Zionists’ Who Oppose Her Deal (Jon Levine for The Washington Free Beacon. August 13, 2026.)
I suppose the question is was she published by Simon & Schuster despite being an Islamist terrorist-supporting antisemite or because she is an Islamist terrrorist-supporting antisemite? I have my suspicions it’s the latter.

6 | I finally switched Linux desktops, and COSMIC is the one to blame (João Carrasqueira for XDA Developers. August 10, 2026.)
Cosmic looks interesting but I will stick with KDE for my daily driver needs for the foreseeable future (certainly at least until Cosmic is “stable”).

7 | Sweet Hamster Days Game Review (Bolts for Anime News Network. August 14, 2026.)
This is certainly a visual novel concept. A good concept? I didn’t say that. But it’s A concept.

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Quoted What is a Visual Novel? (Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction)
A Visual Novel (VN) is a digital narrative focused game that requires interactions where the player must be able to impact the story world or the story’s progression. The story and interactions are most commonly presented through a text box and often employ additional forms of interaction including menu choices—which often contain sets of actions that the player character can perform—or dialogue options representing the player character’s speech or thoughts. Crucially, VNs have On-Click Progression, where the player clicks, taps or presses a button to see the next part of the story. The aesthetics of VNs are most often conveyed through static images of characters, background art, sound effects (SFX) feedback, and soundtracks.

I collected academic papers about visual novels for at least one ongoing NLJ article project. I figured that the best place to start my reading was “What is a Visual Novel?” This paper, authored by Elin Carstendottir. Janelynn Camingue, and Edward F. Melcer, was published in the Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction on October 5, 2021. As promised, it delivered a definition of “visual novel” after studying previously published papers and a selection of popular visual novels. Their definition strikes me as reasonable, albeit a touch antiseptic. I will have to ponder whether it breaks on the margins (e.g., can I come up with games that check all or most of the boxes but would have questionable claims to being a visual novel?) But I cannot think of any pieces that I would consider to be visual novels that are not covered by their proposed definition.

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Replied to Journal Prompt July by Laura Cameron (The Well-Apportioned Desk)
I found a great list of July journal prompts over at BaronFig from 2024. The thing I love about this list is that there are 50 prompts to choose from ... A few of the ones I want to tackle? ... What is your favorite summer song and why?

Laura Cameron at The Well-Apportioned Desk is wrote a post titled Journal Prompt July. She decided to tackle July journal prompts compiled at the BaronFig blog in 2024. While I do not have a journal, this struck me as promising  JulyReply material, so I looked at the five prompts she singled out as interesting examples and noted “What is your favorite summer song and why?” As I have noted in NLJ articles on the ending song in season one of The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten and my interview with Victor V. Gurbo, I am not a “music guy” by any stretch of the imagination. But I do have some takes on anime and game music, so I can come up with (channeling LeBron James’ 2011 arrival in South Beach) not one, not two, but three summer songs. For context on what I am looking for, not my interest from my review of a 2006 anime localized in English as Living for the Day After Tomorrow in capturing the aesthetics of seasons.

  1. 5 Centimeters Per Second is my favorite anime movie (granting I am more of a TV anime guy than a movie guy). The movie takes place in three acts, and I will venture that it is best known for its cherry blossom motifs and the winter-dominated act one. However, the most technically impressive act (in my humble opinion), act two, takes place entirely in the summer. It is from here I draw my first summer song. The movie’s sixth track, Kanae’s Feelings, is a summer-y take on the anime’s melancholy second track (used in the trailer and act one), Distant Every Day Memories. Both are among my two favorite anime OST, but I dare say my opinion on which is better has evolved and now leans very slightly toward the more down-to-Earth Kanae’s Feelings. (Listen: Original Track on YouTube; (better) Eminence Symphony Orchestra version.)
  2. I watched the 2005 anime adaptation of Key’s Air. I have yet to play the visual novel (on my to-do list). While I cannot say I am a big fan of the Air anime (unlike the 2006-07 adaptation of Kanon, which is a personal favorite anime of mine), it did have what I would rate as an all-timer OST. Natsukage, localized as Summer Lights, distills “summer” into a short OST. (Listen: Visual Novel version (official).)
  3. From 2021-2024, I played, reviewed, and discussed 31 freeware visual novel localizations that had all been translated from Japanese to English from 2005-08 (see my al|together collection). My favorite of these 31 visual novels, all of which remain free to download and read/play, is May Sky, which I wrote enough about to have a collection hub on the subject. May Sky stands out for his spring descriptions of May, but there is a summer component to it as well. This novel has what I would describe as the best overall soundtrack of the 31 novels I reviewed for the project, and the best of its songs happens to relate to the “summer” part of the piece. When I hear An Intermezzo, I find myself thinking that the novel’s maladjusted main couple will be alright. (Listen: An Intermezzo.)

I am sure I could come up with some more songs, but I am satisified with my three selections, which cover movies, anime, and games.

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I missed Pook-Emu Bee links yesterday, but I am making sure to make up for it by starting this post yesterday.

Photograph of the marina at Brooklyn Bridge Park facing Brooklyn, with the buildings of Brooklyn Heights visible in the background. There are many boats docked at the maraina (four in the immediate foreground). Off in the far left we can see the Brooklyn Bridge.
I took this photograph of the Marina at Brooklyn Bridge Park on the morning of June 7, 2026.

1. Uzbek Fighters in Syria Face Tensions with Al-Sharaa’s Government (Jacob Zenn for Jamestown. June 9, 2026.)

Whatever disagreements the various bands of foreign jihadists have, the Uzbek fighters have good reason to figure out a way to make it work. That reason?

This incident can also serve as a reminder to Central Asian states to continue developing repatriation frameworks for the return of foreign fighters.

In the case of Uzbekistan the concern for someone returning from fighting in Syria would be that the Uzbek security services may have a “repatriation framework” of sorts.

2. Justice Department Investigates Alleged Race Discrimination at the City University of New York (U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs. June 9, 2026.)

I can weigh in here as a CUNY grad: Don’t name programs in ways that can be shortened to “BMI”

3. Big tobacco hooked us on ultra-processed foods. It might teach us how to cut back (Maria Godoy for NPR. June 9, 2026.)

Interesting article but I there’s a problem with that headline.

4. Adagio celebrates Iced Tea Month with full-leaf cold brew teas. (Tea & Coffee Trade Journal. June 10, 2026.)

My first thought when I saw this headline was that I wasn’t a big fan of Adagio the visual novel. The tea looks more interesting.

5. Poland furious about failing to land any EU ambassador posts (Krzysztof Mularczyk for Brussels Signal. June 10, 2026.)

My first thought when I saw this headline was “this is still your future, Hungary.” But the article noted that it is also Hungary’s present.

6. Sanctioned Private Chinese Refiner Seeks Non-Iranian Crude (Charles Kennedy for OilPrice.com. June 11, 2026.)

Yet, Hengli could find itself in a Catch-22 situation in procuring non-sanctioned crude to prove that it’s not buying Iranian oil, as sellers may not be too willing to expose themselves to potential secondary sanctions by transacting with an entity sanctioned by the U.S.

I personally avoided this Catch-22 situation by not purchasing sanctioned Iranian crude.

7. ‘AI-pilled’ firms spend $7,500 per employee each month on AI (Rebecca Bellan for TechCrunch. June 10, 2026.) (HT Ambient Irony)

I’m starting to think I’m mighty impressive for running this site at a cost of $0 each month on AI. Should I pay for one of the models so I can ask it if I’m impressive?

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Favorited A Defense of Visual Novels: What are They and What They Do Well by Zalor (Mcluhanism)
Q1: What are Visual Novels?
A: They are multi-media novels. Combining sound and visuals with narrative prose.

Q2: Why should I care?
A: Well for that, you'll want to watch the whole video. But principally, in this digital age our relationship to reading is fundamentally changing and visual novels as a medium reflect that change.

Q3: What motivated you to make this video?
A: Well, for one I've been reading visual novels for over 10 years now and hold a strong personal fondness for this medium.

I learned about an interesting YouTube video about visual novels titled A Defense of Visual Novels: What are They and What They Do Well through an email exchange with the creator. I have been collecting materials for a future article on making the most of the visual novel medium, so I can now add this in-depth video take to the collection. If you are interested in visual novels, the video comes with my recommendation. Below, I highlight a few points for emphasis.

  1. Zalor distinguished visual novel story-telling and narrative from books/short stories and video games by noting that visual novel dialogue tends to focus extensively on the internal mental state of the narrator. He attributes this in part to the fact that the “visual” aspect of visual novels relieves the narrator of some of the scene-description burden. I agree with Zalor’s take despite never having put it in these exact terms (I will note however that some Japanese light novel protagonists (looking at you, Hikagaya Hachiman) have similar tendencies). I touched on this idea indirectly in my reviews of two versions of The Dandelion Girl visual novel (see the 2016 version review and the original 2010 version review) where I compared them to the short story on which they are based.
  2. Zalor used the incisive term “linear relationship with a nonlinear narrative.” This refers to a scenario where a visual novel has meaningful choices and branching paths, but most players would be disinclined to pursue one set of choices or path for narrative reasons. This touches on an interesting challenge in making games with branching narratives: How do you incentivize the player (or reader) to pursue different branches? None of the novels I have reviewed thus far are great examples of inspiring players to have a linear relationship with a nonlinear narrative, although I would submit Shiroi Printer and its late-breaking branch as a small-scale example. Outside of my review selection, I immediately thought of the three-part Zero Escape series, especially parts two (Virtue’s Last Reward) and three (Zero Time Dilemma) as interesting examples in that they “require” the player to more or less make every choice, good and bad, to complete the game. (The first part of the Zero Escape series, 999: Nine Persons, Nine Hours, Nine Doors, is my favorite of the three.)
  3. Zalor took the position, with which I agree, that a visual novel which takes full advantage of the medium is a work that could not have been done better in another medium. Returning to my reviews of two visual novel adaptations of Dandelion Girl, one issue I had to work through in my reviews is that both, while decent visual novels, compare unfavorably to Robert F. Young’s short story. But I have reviewed a few visual novels that go above and beyond in taking advantage of the medium. A few fun examples: Collage, Summer, Cicadas, and the Girl, and the beyond-categorization Crimsoness. I also agree with Zalor that visual novels with straight-forward or linear narratives can take advantage of the medium through their presentation. He discusses Narcissu, which I reviewed, in some detail, and I agree with his assessment of its aesthetics (although I do not like Narcissu as much as he does). Some other good examples from my review collection are Christmas Tina (the evolution of Narcissu’s cinematic style), May Sky (captures the essece of spring with limited means), Until We Meet Again (the most impressive visual effort from al|together), and LoveChoice (charming visuals, albeit let down by its clunky English translation).

Zalor weighed in on many weightier visual novel and media topics that I may reserve for future article projects (I have a visual novel-to-anime idea related to point three), so I will leave my short notes here for now.

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We are having a second consecutive 90+ degree day here in Brooklyn today’s Pook-Emu Bee links are warmer than the outside temperatures.

Photograph of an LED clock screen showing 35 minutes past the hour, indoor temperature of 84, and humidity of 51.
According to the Marathon atomic clock by window, it is 84.4 degrees F there (which is about 6 feet from my desk) and 51% humidity.

Links

1. Google Search as you know it is over (Sarah Perez for TechCrunch. May 19, 2026.)

The AIfication of Google Search is concerning but NLJ has been hitting new highs in Google Search despite my disfavoring AI cawlers via .htaccess and robots, so we’ll see if it has any effect on my numbers.

2. Japanese indie gay bar management sim Sodomy Fatale will have you serving blood cocktails to flamboyant homosexual vampires (Dorde P for Automation West. May 19, 2026.)

That title is a little bit more attention-grabbing than the one Victor and I gave our visual novel back in January-February.

3. Don’t let the old man in (Robert Birming. May 19, 2026.)

Too late. I already let myself in.

4. Fedora Retiring Its Deepin Desktop Packages (Michael Larabel for Phoronix. May 19, 2026.)

I was never tempted to try Deepin. That was apparently the right call.

5. Firefox 151 brings PDF merging, local profile backup, document PiP, and enhanced privacy (Paul for AlternativeTo. May 19, 2026.)

Local profile backup and the PDF features sound useful.

6. Matter of I-B-M-S-, 29 I&N Dec. 628 (BIA 2026) (Board of Immigration Appeals. May 19, 2026.)

Interesting Board of Immigration Appeals decision on adjudicating change of venue requests. The logic should be applicable to other motions. I have a feeling the Immigration Judge who issued decision below will be (or already is) looking for new employment.

7. LaGuardia Airport adds hologram ‘concierge’ Bridget in latest spooky invasion of AI (Brooke Steinberg for the New York Post. May 19, 2026.)

That’s not a hologram. That’s an AI generated woman on a screen. For real holograms, go read my review of A Midsummer Day’s Resonance.

Video

Natso Basho Day 8: Tobizaru vs Ura

I have been following the Natsu Basho grand sumo tournament (I’m up to date on day 9 of 11). This fight between Tobizaru and Ura on day 8 was terrific. Watch and enjoy. I watched the January and March tournaments as well and recalled the announcers discussing how popular Ura is (it was also obvious from the crowd). Ura struggled in January and March (maybe injuries?), but I got he idea. He has been doing well in May and is consistently producing exciting matches. I understand why he’s popular. Add me to the Ura fan club.

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I missed publishing daily Pook-Emu Bee links yesterday due to a work deadline. But we are back today with nine new links from around the world wide web.

1. Famed Atheist Richard Dawkins — Author of ‘The God Delusion’ — Believes AI Is Conscious (Scott Pinsker for PJ Media. May 5, 2026.)

My conscious brain is struggling to decide which of many possible one-liners to go with. Let us keep it simple and just say that I guess Mr. Dawkins is taking a leap of faith in the pages of UnHerd. (Now that he is done, I humbly and respectfully suggest that he put away the electronic devices and go outside.)

2. The NIH Has a Chance to End a 35-Year Taxpayer-Funded Failure (Liam Gray and Ryan Merkley for PJ Media. May 5, 2026.)

No beagles would be hurt in that operation.

3. NYC judge ponders hellish squatter’s right to ‘liberty’ — as tenants live in fear: ‘What more does it take?’ (Peter Senzamici and Georgett Roberts for the New York Post. May 5, 2026.)

Law abiding citizens have a way of coming in last in New York City.

4. Tensions Continue to Brew at Brooklyn Marine Terminal Board Meeting (Andrew Karpan for Brooklyn Reader. May 4, 2026.)

Karen Blondel, president of the Red Hook West Resident Association, said she was not happy with being “intimidated” by volunteers from the Columbia Waterfront Neighborhood Association, that allegedly likened her to President Donald Trump as she sees opportunity for the NYCHA housing complex to join the Permanent Affordability Commitment Together (PACT) program, which would fund overdue renovations by bringing in private management.,

I appreciate that what we have here is a purely internecine Democrat struggle involving people in 90-10 Democrat neighborhoods in a city with single-party Democrat government, and their frame of reference for insulting each other is President Trump. Localism is dead. Long-live localism.

5. Answerman – The Crunchyroll Anime Awards (Jerome Mazandarani for Anime News Network. May 4, 2026.)

I will submit for the record that I did not take the Crunchyroll Anime Awards seriously when I wrote about my picks last year. But my not taking them seriously is not why I am not publishing my picks for this year. That would be because I am almost a full year behind on anime at this point.

6. Mythos, Not the Iran War, Is the Most Significant Geopolitical Warning of Our Time (Frederick Kempe for Atlantic Council. April 30, 2026.)

While I am not a big fan of the big AI players, I begrudgingly respect their ability to generate earned media coverage and free advertising from all corners of the internet.

7. Critics question whether keffiyeh-wearing Mamdani staffer was sending message of hate (Doree Lewak for the New York Post. May 2, 2026.)

Speaking of begrudging, while I do not respect the outfit or the use of my tax money for never-ending campaign operations, I must begrudgingly respect the trolling.

8. The tournament is expanding. God help us all (Eamonn Brennan. April 29, 2026.)

Expanding March Madness is obviously a money-grab, but in the end I must side with the disaffected take that it will not ultimately negatively effect the quality of play.

9. Bunny Garden 2 debuts as Japan’s number one top-selling game on both Steam and Switch (Dorde P for Automation West. April 17, 2026.)

I have reviewed many Japanese visual novels. But this leads me to believe I do not have my finger on the pulse of what is popular over there.

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Work did not allow for timely Pook-Emu Bee links, but today I return with nine new links from around the web.

1 Popular WordPress redirect plugin hid dormant backdoor for years (Bill Toulas for Bleeping Computer. April 29, 2026.)

Not popular enough for me to have been using it (but do attend to the issue if you happen to be running Quick Page/Post Redirect on WordPress).

2. Waylay Callais! (Josh Blackman for The Volokh Conspiracy. April 30, 2026.)

After much anticipation, the Supreme Court finally decided Louisiana v. Callais. (The Chief Justice pronounced it as waylay.) I have some preliminary thoughts.

3. No Country for Moderate Men (Amit Segal at It’s Noon In Israel. April 30, 2026.)

According to several senior Iranian sources, only one man has direct access to the definitely-still-alive-Supreme Leader: IRGC commander Ahmad Vahidi.

It just so happens that Mojtaba and Vahidi are in complete lockstep.

Iran is really doing a visual novel plot here.

4. France’s domestic intelligence agency monitors ‘masculinist threat’, reluctantly (Carl Deconinck for Brussels Signal. April 30, 2026.)

Look! Shiny object!

5. How I Do Content Engineering with Claude Code (Ryan Law for Ahrefs Blog. April 28, 2026.)

“Content engineering…”

6. Saying “No” In an Age of Abundance (Jim Nielsen. February 3, 2026.)

In an age of abundance, restraint becomes the only scarce thing left, which means saying ‘no’ is more valuable than ever.

7. Introducing RateMyPet (Fraser McLean. May 17, 2025.)

For the past few months, I’ve been working on a new pet project (excused the pun 😂), called RateMyPet. It’s a social site where users can share photos and stories about their pets, and rate each other’s pets. The idea is to create a fun and engaging community for pet lovers.

8. FDNY Lithium Ion Batteries To Blame For Garbage Truck Fire In Downtown Brooklyn (Rob Flaks for News12. April 24, 2026.)

The fires always start from that which you would least expect.

9. Colored Pencil Review: Pentel Mulit8 2mm Lead Holder (The Well-Apportioned Desk. April 23, 2026.)

I don’t need colored pencils. But if I did, I would probably find this one compelling.

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Replied to It’s Noon in Israel: Schrödinger’s Ayatollah: Is Mojtaba Dead or Alive? by Amit SegalAmit Segal (It's Noon In Israel)
The narrative has essentially frozen there. For the last month and a half, the regime has subsisted entirely on ventriloquism—statements attributed to the new Supreme Leader without a single visual confirmation—while foreign reports have described his condition as ranging between severely mutilated and dead.

I read a cleverly-titled article by Amit Segal titled Schrödinger’s Ayatollah: Is Mojtaba Dead or Alive? The article examines the life status, or lack thereof, of Iran’s purported Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei. As I read the article, I found myself thinking about the iconic Japanese visual novel, Umineko: When They Cry. Then I found myself thinking about the best of its many great music tracks, Happiness of Marionette. Then I had Happiness of Marionette playing on loop in my head. I would explain how one thing led to another, but that would involve too many spoilers.

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Today is Friday. That means it is time for our last Pook-Emu Bee link collection of the week (Saturday’s links come in the Newsletter Leaf Journal).

1. Gemini adds personalized AI image generation using your preferences (Fla for AlternativeTo. April 17, 2026.)

Google Gemini now enables users to generate deeply personalized images, with Nano Banana 2, by drawing on their preferences and Google Photos content. This new feature uses Personal Intelligence to automatically incorporate user context, reducing the need for detailed prompts or manual image uploads.

Cambridge Dictionary definition of facepalm.

2. Japanese man gets prison sentence and million-yen fine for writing monetized “spoiler-heavy” summaries of movies and anime (Dorde P for Automation West. April 17, 2026.)

While I support copryight, I’m not so sure about this one (on the underlying merits, separate from the stiff punishment). But I render no final “judgment” since I’m not familiar with Japanese laws or the website in question beyond the summary.

3. UK Greens demand US foots bill if fans barred over social media ahead of World Cup (Anne-Laure Dufeal for Brussels Signal. April 17, 2026.)

I understand the concerns of the UK Green Party in light of their foreign policy positions, which are often contrary to U.S. foreign policy positions and terrorism designations. Having considered their concerns, I render my response as an American: “No.”

4. Apple and Google Continue to Offer ‘Nudify’ Apps that Use AI to Generate Deepfake Porn (Lucas Nolan for Breitbart. April 16, 2026.)

Yes, but at least Google banned Doki Doki Literature Club. Please focus on the important things.

5. President Trump congratulates Tanajit Sandhu on becoming Lt. Governor of Delhi (Donald. J. Trump (via Trump’s Truth). April 16, 2026.)

Mixed in with many “truths” about ball room litigation and legal standing, potentially compromised former intelligence officials and podcast hosts, war in Lebanon, and local race endorsements. Sure, why not?

6. George Washington University Hires Federal Judge Overseeing Antisemitism Lawsuit Against It To Teach ‘Ethics and Discretionary Judgment’ (Jessica Costescu for The Washington Free Beacon. April 16, 2026.)

I find myself reminded of the legal manuverings of Frank Seddio in Brooklyn (see Newsletter 252 comment).

7. PC Makers Have Apparently Cracked the Code on Supply Shortages: Stop Making Hardware Regular Gamers Can Afford (Muhammad Zuhair for wccftech. April 3, 2026.)

Not a problem if you stick to my al|together visual novel review series.

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Today marks the 1957th anniversary of the death-by-suicide of the short-reigning Roman Emperor, Otho. I note this because my longest NLJ article, clocking it at more than 18,000 words, is about Otho. Fortunately, I also published some shorter Otho reading. But Otho aside, it is time for today’s edition of Pook-Emu Bee links from around the web.

1. Gov. Mikie Sherrill demands FIFA foot the bill for World Cup transportation after reports NJ Transit could inflate train tickets by 775% ( Caitlin McCormack for the New York Post. April 15, 2026.)

I don’t live in New Jersey and I have only been to the state a few times. But I must note New Jersey has not one, but two, NFL football teams. Both the New York Jets and Giants play in New Jersey. New Jersey is the most densely populated state in the United States. Why are they pretending that the World Cup is going to a small town in one of the Daktoas? Speaking of the World Cup in New Jersey, see my quip from the April 6 Pook-Emu Bee about its effect on New York City.

2. Mullin: I Have Issue with TPS as a Whole, We Have ‘Pretty Generous’ Asylum Laws (Ian Hanchett for Breitbart. April 15, 2026.)

Asylum and TPS serve different purposes. The latter does not require an individual to establish that he or she has a fear of persecution, and TPS does not preclude someone from applying for asylum. But the Secretary’s concerns about the abuse of TPS to create de facto amnesty/resident status are correct, which is a problem since TPS does not select for people beyond their countries of nationality and when they happened to arrive in the United States (save for a limited sets of bars to TPS status).

3. Anna’s Archive Loses $322 Million Spotify Piracy Case Without a Fight (Ernesto Van der Sar for Torrent Freak. April 15, 2026.)

Two bad actors collide. No one actually wins. Almost status quo ante bellum.

4. Rival Brownsville gang alliances dismantled after investigation into 36 shootings (ABC 7 NY. April 15, 2026.)

“Prosecutors said this all stemmed from a long-term investigation into two rival gangs, WOOO and CHOO.” Imagine being a grown man who brags about being a member of the “WOOO” and dedicating your life to trying to win control of a street corner from adult and children members of the “CHOO.” How are these people not crushed by the worthlessness of it all?

5. Rose Guns Days Launches in the West on PC, Bringing 07th Expansion’s Post-War Visual Novel to Steam (Azario Lopez for Noisy Pixel. April 9, 2026.)

I should be excited about this but I am still recovering from Umineko: When They Cry (I like Umineko, for the record).

6. You can absolutely have an RSS dependent website in 2026 (Matt Duggan. April 9, 2026.)

I agree with preferring feeds to newsletters but I do not view it as an either/or proposition. I prefer offering both but making a special effort to promote feeds and feed readers.

7. Manga is losing young readers in Japan as kids and teens move away from print but can’t afford digital platform subscriptions, industry researcher suggests (Dorde P for Automation West. April 7, 2026.)

Forcing kids to ask their parents for manga subscription services may be a questionable commercial approach, yes.

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I did not have much time to engage in my daily “feed reading” this morning. But I will not let that stop me from publishing my daily Pook-Emu Bee links.

1. Justice Department Files Case to Revoke U.S. Citizenship of Mastermind Behind Multimillion-Dollar Tax Fraud Scheme (USCIS. April 13, 2026.)

The marriage fraud allegations are a nice addition. It’s always who you least expect.

2. Meet the NYC teen behind Brooklyn’s new official pin — coming soon to a lapel near you (Katherine Donlevy for the New York Post. April 13, 2026.)

Although I am the internet’s leading chronicler of BLOB DYLAN, I do not approve the graffiti-train lapel pin. While I see the thought and skill that went into it, there are better ways to celebrate Brooklyn than (checks notes) Subway vandalism nostalgia. With that being said, having seen the state of things around Brooklyn Borough Hall, I am not surprised that Borough President Reynoso is on board (pun intended).

3. Toddlers at luxury NYC school locked out of community garden: ‘Second-class citizens’ (Katherine Donlevy for the New York Post. April 12, 2026.)

In the March 6, 2026 edition of the Pook-Emu Bee, I faulted the New York Post for locating a Columbia Street Waterfront District restaurant in Carroll Gardens. Here, I fault the Post for locating a Columbia Street Waterfront District community garden in Red Hook. While Van Brunt is Red Hook’s main commercial street, part of it is in Columbia Waterfront, including this part. What does the New York Post have against Columbia Street Waterfront District!?

4. Idol livestreamer psychological horror game announced for Steam. Investigate a disappearance by sending super chats and snooping through fan sites (Dorde P for Noisy Pixel. April 10, 2026.)

It looks mildly interesting. I will add it to the “new” visual novel to-watch-for-review list.

5. KTT x 80Retros GAME 1989 Orange (マリウス. April 12, 2026.)

Good mechanical keyboard switch review.

6. Ranking the top players in my server, part 2 (Cabbage at Cabbage Sorter. April 9, 2026.)

Cabbage rates the “top players” from her server in a Chinese dress-up gatcha game. I have never played this game and do not play gatcha games,  much less Chinese dress-up gatcha games (although choosing outfits is the best part of modern Pokémon), but her writing about the game is somehow entertaining. I could see myself writing a similar article if I played that game (or similar). Alas, I will leave it to Cabbage Sorter.

7. Yaezakura・八重桜 (Daniel Sofer at Hermosawave Photography. April 11, 2026.)

I conclude with pretty cherry blossoms. The trees are flowering hear in Brooklyn (before they leaf in May). This could be bad news for me.