[[2026 Cafe Posts]] Lately I’ve taken to calling my media backlog — games, movies, books, etc. — a deathlog instead. A backlog implies finishing things, which is something I don’t care about any more. It also implies work, which is not how I want to feel when I experience media. I’m also trying to balance my urge to create things against my urge to consume this media. They’re my two favorite things to experience when capitalism isn’t grinding me into dust, but creating that balance is tricky. Instead of finishing things, my goal as I’ve gotten older is refining my taste to a razor-sharp edge. I will never like or experience everything I want to, but everything I *do* experience helps me narrow down what I enjoy most more and more. Hence the deathlog. Killing something in my …
[[2026 Cafe Posts]] Lately I’ve taken to calling my media backlog — games, movies, books, etc. — a deathlog instead. A backlog implies finishing things, which is something I don’t care about any more. It also implies work, which is not how I want to feel when I experience media. I’m also trying to balance my urge to create things against my urge to consume this media. They’re my two favorite things to experience when capitalism isn’t grinding me into dust, but creating that balance is tricky. Instead of finishing things, my goal as I’ve gotten older is refining my taste to a razor-sharp edge. I will never like or experience everything I want to, but everything I *do* experience helps me narrow down what I enjoy most more and more. Hence the deathlog. Killing something in my backlog is important because it makes me stop and think about what I truly enjoy. Am I fully comfortable with putting this piece of media that I’m engaging with in the dirt? That question — and subseqently, whether that media lives or dies — drives me to think about exactly what I like about it and whether it’s worth the effort of putting into my already busy schedule. This is symbiotic with one of my creative endeavors — writing about media in this very blog. Thinking about that question makes it easier if I decide to write about that game I just played or that movie I just finished. Unless I truly hate something to the point that writing about it is worth it, then I don’t want to fill this blog with mediocre, 3-4/7 experiences. The need to “finish” things is the enemy of enjoyment, *and* your free time. As a case in point, go to /r/JRPG and look at the amount of people that seem to loath a 60 hour game that they feel compelled to finish — and even do the [[The Endgame is Fun|endgame content of]]! None of this is new, groundbreaking thinking, but I think often about how the way you describe things has a real impact on you. I used to say that a “Do Not Finish” in my backlog is the same as finishing it. But killing something and putting it in the deathlog has more meaning. If it’s a game, I hide it in my Steam account, or delete it on whatever console I was playing it on. It’s a sign that it’ll never come back to life at all and never take up space in my brain that could be used elsewhere ever again.