#but also like... mneh

[extraneousdominomask]

What I did on my summer vacation

As you've no doubt gathered by now, for the last two years I've been playing various old games with my wife. I often used to post about that adventure here, and then I kinda stopped. I feel bad about that, especially when it comes to the two excellent, free indie games I had fully intended to spotlight. So here's a quick rundown!

Celeste, OJONMRAG, Double Cross

Three great indies I got in the same bundle. Celeste needs no introduction, and I've spoken about it before. I don't know if I ever mentioned Oh Jeez Oh No My Rabbits Are Gone!!!, but it's a fun puzzle game with cute visuals and surprisingly catchy music. And speaking of those two things, Double Cross is a hidden gem of a game. We really enjoyed its eclectic cast, and still sometimes quote the zany catgirl in particular. ("All cats are tyrants, Zahra.")

Manic Miners

Lego Rock Raiders was a toy line in the 1990s, which earned its own video game tie-in. I remember it fondly... as did one absolute hero, who remastered the dang thing as a non-profit passion project. Manic Miners is available via Itch for free - because it's a fan game! He had to ask very nicely to do this at all! - and it completely revitalizes what was an engaging but flawed fuzzy memory from my childhood. As well as adding several quality of life improvements to make the game flow better, cut content is restored and entirely new features are added in, such as a character creator. If you want an accessible game that can provide the sweet, sweet satisfaction of collecting every scrap of resources from a initially messy environment, I highly recommend this.

inFamous 2: Festival of Blood

An important thing to know about me is that I hate vampires. I don't like 'em and I don't like looking at 'em, so I usually avoid and and all vampiric media, even if they're getting slaughtered. For that reason, despite loving inFamous 2, I never checked out its DLC side-adventure Festival of Blood... until now. (Making a new purchase on the PS3 digital store was hard, but not impossible. Thanks for complaining every time they try to shut it down, everybody!) It's a short experience, but a lot of fun, thanks to the wise decision to let Zeke narrate the whole bullshit stor- I mean, thrilling tale of true heroism. I found Bloody Mary to be an entertainingly nasty villain, despite my biases.

Psychonauts 2

Psychonauts is one of the video games ever, no question. Expectations were lofty for its much-delayed sequel. If anything, I think I prefer this one! The core (the gameplay, visuals, hilarious writing, and Peter McConnell's consistently excellent music) all remain unchanged, with new mechanics, some quality of life improvements, and an impressive voice cast all added on top. Jack Black and Elijah Wood are both in this game, and they're both great!

Pokémon White

this one kinda sucked ngl

Halo: Combat Evolved

Mostly, I'm showing my wife a game and not the other way around. There was one major franchise that I had almost entirely missed, however - aside from a few free-form skirmishes at parties - that she fondly remembers. This summer, we both experienced the first Halo together, and in short: yeah, I can see why this changed the course of the industry singlehandedly. It still feels great to play, even with my wife assuring me that the sequel is a big improvement from these already solid bones. I frankly don't relish slaughtering the fleeing, crying Grunts, since we as a society have moved on considerably when it comes to the rights of funny little guys. But it feels great to shoot aleins and Cortana is my friend. Exactly as advertised.

Jak II: Renegade

this one definitely sucked, holy shit. I remember this being a good game. I remembered incorrectly.

Shantae (2002)

I've played two of the more recent Shantae games, and I found them charming. But how does the original hold up? Pretty well, honestly! It's far from perfect - the day and night cycle really adds nothing beyond referencing Castlevania - but the music and visuals are truly impressive for the original GameBoy. I'm gonna be thinking about Shantae's cute little 8-bit dances for a while.

Undertale Yellow

Like anyone who listens to a lot of Toby Fox's music over YouTube, I've seen my fair share of dubious OCs and "epic fights" floating at the corner of my vision. With that in mind, I went into UY with managed expectations, despite the positive buzz. Could a fangame really match the unique energy and charm of one of the greatest independent games of our generation?

Uh... yeah! I'm as surprised as anyone else, but everything from the music to the gameplay to the writing was really bang-on. It's not a flawless experience - the El Bailador fight needed reworking, it was WAY harder than other, more impactful fights - but the eight years of passion very much shine through. If you're a fan of UT/DR and need something to tide you over as we all wait for Chapters 3+, I fully recommend this. It's free!!!!

Spyro the Dragon (1998)

Finished this just yesterday! I got the remaster when it came out, but - no offense - nothing beats the blocky low-poly charm of the original. This was my first time replaying it in several years, and for the first time, it felt small. Levels I remember struggling with posed no challenge any more. But I think that only speaks to how many times I replayed this lovely little adventure. Also, did you know that of the, like, four voice actors in this game, one of them is Clancy goddamn Brown? He plays like 30 of these polygonal dragons!

...I would normally try to end a post this long on a more climactic note, but, uh... yeah.

[technicalknockout]

Anyone remember the live action series OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes that aired in like 201X or smthg

[relto]

ive been trying to make ssh work with a kerberos token on windows, and now ive learned that openssh for windows just straight up doesnt support this.

[andthebubbles]

ever since i started writing in past tense i've been catching myself switching tenses when i write in present tense... and it's deeply annoying

[vaguely-andro-autobot]

fine I'll pin a post

I'm a person of the ...her variety desperately wanting to go into film without doing anything for that goal. big fan of inaction, this one, and dinosaurs and not cell phones and not knowing how to internet and comics and planning and run on sentences.

trans in some non-male way that leans enough towards girl, asexual in the "idk what sexual attraction feels like and don't really want it"; I believe I am biromantic but a heavy lean towards wimmin and a love of indecision means I really don't know anymore

probably neurodivergent but even if self-diagnosis is an important step I don't wanna call it exactly.

Favorite...

Movies: The Mitchells vs. The Machines (*ahem* literally me, name included), Godzilla Minus One (needs a rewatch), recently I Saw the TV Glow. Plus Jurassic Park and Minority Report and Pacific Rim and Indiana Jones and Arrival and... my Letterboxd is named Real McPersonFace for the time being, and realmcperson's the url.

Musics (inspo for post): Local News Legend, Metric, I Fight Dragons, The Vincent Black Shadow, Teddy Grey, she/her/hers, Sonic musicians ... mostly anything upbeat, rock, and with a female lead. I tend to be opposed to whatever I see as "popular", even if I would probably like it. Honorable mentions: Go Child!, Paramore, Pigeon Pit.

Musics but classical: boy do I love taking music theory (*has nothing to do with actually listening to classical). Obviously Beethoven, specifically Pathetique Sonata, Chopin's good for Marche funebre (not the sonata one, earlier) and also just a lot, like Mahler and Vaughn Williams and the such.

Novels/prose: Ubik, Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said, A Scanner Darkly... really most Philip K. Dick I've read. Sadly I too am a teen who liked Catcher in the Rye.

Nonfiction: Ryan North's How to Invent Everything and I don't want to bother writing anything else, because I've read it like 6 times and can't be bothered to care about much else. Useful too!

Graphic novels/comics: Hellblazer, Hellboy, Batman: the Long Halloween, Kate Beaton's Ducks, Seconds, Scott Pilgrim, this one one called PTSD that happened to be neat, Saga, don't want to write The Sandman but it was until Neil Gaiman-ed, Saga of the Swamp Thing, V for Vendetta (kinda), Fables, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Scott McCloud's Zot!, Usagi Yojimbo, why yes I am trying to list everything I think of so I don't forget, Seconds again, Time Before Time, Batman Year One, oh of course IDW's TMNT, Dragon Hoops, and Scott McCloud's The Sculptor. Probably left a few out (like the various Moon Knights and Sweet Tooth!)

Webcomics I suppose: Octopus Pie (finished), Dumbing of Age (still ongoing!), Sam and Fuzzy (main story's done), Let's Speak English! (been done for a while), Back! (also complete). Those are all the story ones and all that I'm still looking back on, also JS Power Hour but that's gag-a-day AND complete so it's dropped down a little.

Youtube-ers: mneh I don't like writing this but it's important to my characterization. Watch a lot but those I truly care about are currently RTGame, Scott The Woz and supplementary material, and Melody Nosurname. I specifically love Scott's Cookin' Hard, Snapcube's Sonic 06 fandub (SILVER!), RT's Slay the Princess, and a lot of little Mel clips.

well I thought I had an activites section or hobbies or just general, but nope. oh right, big fan of not using commas correctly, overusing parentheses, and writing things longer than they need to be. conclusion.

[she-toadmask]

I listen to Mean Girls 2024

(Under the cut because it's just me having opinions most of my mutuals don't go to lol)

Cautionary Tale - Auli'i is fantastic, Jaquel is also very good. Instrumental is fine. Don't feel bad about this one!

What Ifs - I have a bit of fondness for It Roars, I won't lie. I like the speed of it better for an opening song and the part that seems to be the 'body' is kind of meh. Angourie isn't bad here. This feels more like a mid-act 1 song than an opener. Maybe there's more time between it and Cautionary Tale than there is between Cautionary Tale and It Roars.

Meet the Plastics - I like Renee's delivery better on the Broadway album but still good. Where are Gretchen and Karen. Instrumental doesn't have enough energy/feels too low. At least the last 'feel' is still high.

Stupid With Love - Where are the instruments. It feels like it's trying to get through it a bit too fast. Where is the energy. Angourie's voice isn't too bad though I guess.

Apex Predator - Instrumental seems better than the rest so far. Auli'i and Jaquel are still good. Comment on the YouTube video I had up comments on the change to having Damien sing the animal parts instead of Cady and it being weird and maybe either because Damien's songs were cut or because Angourie's voice isn't as strong as Jaquel's and this song needed the stronger vocals. Good insight. Think I like the original better but this is the best aside from Cautionary Tale so far. Probably because Auli'i and Jaquel are good singers.

What's Wrong With Me - Instrumental is good, Bebe's voice is nice. Yeah this is a good rendition. Yeah I'm good with this.

Sexy - I have shared my thoughts on this before but Avantika does not have the voice for this. The intro is still good but god the rest needs more energy in her voice and the instrumental. Everyone in the comments section fucking disagrees with me though. Like ok it's not as bad as a lot of the other stuff but it is not doing it for me. Maybe the genre just doesn't do it for me or something. Someone says this song works well for the TikTok-style arrangement and maybe that's the problem I have with it lmao. Maybe I'll like it better with visuals.

Someone Gets Hurt - Renee has it. This one seems good. Like I'm still fond of the louder and faster original but this one is good. Still has the same angry tone just with a different weight. Weird that they keep the upward trend of the instrumental without having her do the vocals to lead into it. Still, one of the better songs.

Revenge Party - Auli'i and Jaquel have voices. Until we hit the first chorus I had moderate hopes but the instrumental didn't kick in the way I hoped it to.

The verse. Caught me off-guard. Some of the lines are fun, some are weird. (Play Barbies? Really? DJ on a turntable made of her bones is fun though I guess.) WHY DID THEY CHANGE IT TO YES BITCH FROM YES CADY???? CONFUSE. This one is weird. Definitely not one of the best songs but out there in a more interesting way than a lot of the rest of this. (Idk maybe I'm a purist a lot of commenters like this one ok.) Angourie still doesn't have the vocal strength to be lead.

World Burn - This one is good. Renee has vocal strength. I still miss the strength of the original but the instrumental isn't too bad and Renee uses enough vocal strength to carry it. (The student part does NOT have enough energy and I get why they changed "Janis is a space dyke" but I still miss it. I looked it up because I could not hear it and it's "Janis is a pyro les" and. Mneh. Space dyke has harder consonants and fits the tempo better. Hard to rewrite that.) Renee hits those high notes she fucking got this song here too. Probably best individual performance. YES GIRL GET THAT LAST NOTE

I'd Rather Be Me - Auli'i still has a great voice. Instrumental isn't bad. Wish Auli'i got to sing through it a bit more but it's not bad. Not the worst.

I See Stars - I never listen to this song on my own so I don't have as much attachment to the original as I do for the rest of the songs here. Angourie is still a weaker vocalist but she does well enough on the long notes. She hits the high notes well so I don't know. Instrumental continues to be less than I would like but it isn't outright bad.

Not My Fault - what is this why is it at the end of the playlist where did you come from

I mean it's a good song????? Not my style but probably better than at least a third of the actual soundtrack.

Verdict: Some good vocalists and a couple of the songs are handled well, but the instrumentals are subdued and weak, which doesn't work well for most of these songs. No songs are better than the original Broadway cast recording, but What's Wrong With Me probably comes closest imo

[rimouskis]

a gnarly side effect of living alone (and by that I don't just mean "your abode is only yours" but rather "you do not move through life on anyone else's schedule and are not beholden to anyone or anything day-to-day") is a sort of double-edged hyper-independence you train yourself into.

[ladyelainehilfur]

Freetown, population: 2

[purplequay]

i feel like most of my blorbos can fight pretty well either because they're just an unkillable motherfucker, military trained or all the above

[equalseleventhirds]

i have so many other things to do but i’m thinking hard abt writing a fic aro!sasha with tim as her qpp simply out of spite now

[passp0rtguardian]

"mneh mneh mneh ethan had reason to not realize he was made of mold!" fuck you *shows you a list of injuries ethan has gotten in what i've played in re8 alone*

managed to survive below freezing weather with just a thin jacket and nothing to protect his lungs (which can literally freeze from the inside out in cold enough weather)

got his pinky and ring finger bit off by a lycan, poured first aid liquid on it and called it a day

got attacked by multiple other lycans in that time

rammed a truck into a wall three times and only didn't do it a fourth time because the truck tipped over

somehow didn't get any major lung damage after breathing in direct smoke from a fire

somehow didn't get infected by the lycans despite the fact we see leonardo turn due to an injury from one

got stabbed through the gut with a metal pole and somehow didn't have any internal damage

got literally decked by a giant hammer right in the head, sustained no injury or head trauma

didn't sustain any lasting damage from flies that literally eat your flesh

got his hand cut off and literally stuck it back on with some first aid liquid like it was nothing

was slammed into and dragged across the side of a building before being dropped from at least eight feet in the air, also did not sustain any lasting injuries

no hearing damage from firing a variety of guns?

can literally come back from the danger zone of low health without using any first aid liquid

survived getting stabbed multiple times by murderous dolls in a twisted game of hide and seek

not an injury but. the guy literally has unlimited stamina???

and i've only barely gotten past house beneviento

how the fuck does he not know he's made of mold??? /genq

[chimeraboygirlpussy]

mneh. in the sense i use it to whine about stuff but like i also dont actually care that much lol

hm

[antilocaprine]

Gordon stumbled out of his room at 3:00 am, because someone was making a racket in the living room. He'd honestly been getting worried about Benrey - all he'd done for the past week was lay around and eat the most random shit he could find. Gordon caught him chewing up pumice stones from the bathroom closet and freaked out, but Benrey said it was fine, so Gordon dropped it. He'd thought he was coming down with something and was worried about treating an alien illness, so if eating rocks made Benrey feel better, so be it. 

And apparently he was feeling better, since there was currently Mario Kart music blaring from the living room at ass o'clock in the morning. 

"Benrey, what are you - FUCK," Gordon cut himself off with a yelp. On the couch, Benrey glanced up, and next to him, Benrey also glanced up. 

Gordon stared. "Dude, why are there two of you?"

Both Benreys looked back at the TV, fingers clacking on the controllers. "He's my bud," the Benrey on the left said. The Benrey on the right waved without looking at Gordon. 

"Uh, okay," Gordon said, with a great deal more calm than he felt the situation deserved. "And where did your, uh, bud come from?"

Left Benrey frowned. "He's my bud," he said again. 

"I don't know what that means," Gordon wailed, his previous calm abandoned. 

"Whoa, calm down maybe," Left Benrey said, peering up at Gordon. "I told you I was, uh, asexual."

"You - wait, but -" Gordon sputtered, then rallied. "You mean, like, biologically?"

"Yeah?"

Gordon flung his arms out. "I thought you meant you didn't like sex!"

"Oh, yeah, that too," Left Benrey said, and looked back at the TV, then swore and punched his thumb down on his controller. Right Benrey cackled, and the sound of an explosion blared from the speakers.

"Bro, we gotta do Rainbow Road next, you'll love it," Left Benrey said. "I bet you'll be way better than Gordon Failman over here."

Gordon stared for a moment, then shook his head. "I can't. I can't deal with this. I'm going back to bed." He turned and stomped back down the hallway, and shouted over his shoulder, "Just turn the fucking volume down!"

"Mneh myeah mneh," twin voices chorused from the living room. 

Gordon shuddered. Great, he thought. Now there's two of them. 

But that was a problem for Tomorrow Gordon. So he slammed his door, burrowed back under the blankets, and resolved to call Tommy and bitch him out in the morning. No one had warned him about this, and he sure as hell hadn't signed up for it. One Benrey was bad enough, but two?

Two Benreys would drive Gordon insane. 

[thessalian]

Thess vs Parental Phone Calls

Ah, phone conversations with my mother. I know that thinking of it competitively isn’t healthy, but I assure you that when I say “I think I won that one”, I mean it more in the obstacle course sense than the PVP sense.

For instance:

First thing she said at about 1:30pm: “You sound like you just got up!” Actually, Mum, I’ve been dealing with a really bad pain flare the last few days so I’m not sounding  my best; I’ve been up for hours. “...Oh. Sorry to have presumed.” (Not that there should have been wrong with me being in bed until 1:30pm anyway, on a Sunday when I have nothing else that needs doing, but still, come on.)

She was calling about Christmas dinner, and I actually ... not sure if I ‘got the courage’ or just ‘ran out of fucks to give’ ... anyway, I told her I didn’t really like turkey these days, and hadn’t for years. She is going to make me duck instead.

Finally got her to understand that just because something annoys me and I need to vent about it doesn’t mean I necessarily expect things to change, or even that I don’t understand why they’re happening. The issue this time - mask laws, and their lack of enforcement. I was venting my grumpy over that whole thing and she started in on, “How do you expect them to enforce that? Police have better things to be doing and bus drivers and customer service staff would just get abused if they tried!” Yes, Mum; I know. That’s why I’m annoyed. There shouldn’t have to be that level of aggro to get people to take a public health concern seriously. (Although seriously, “the police have better things to do”? Than potentially saving lives? They’re having to write out a fine and take some details; not cuff ‘em and take ‘em to the station...)

Point is that I got through it relatively unscathed. And it was better than my stepfather ringing me on my mobile yesterday afternoon - he doesn’t ring my land line anymore. Thing is, when he figured out (very quickly, I might add) that I was on my way to the corner shop and I told him I’d be home in 15-20 minutes ... well, apparently that was too long to wait to call me back and ask a couple of questions about the features I might be looking for in a new frying pan (one of my Christmas wish list items). I still feel a little bad about ending the call fairly abruptly but it was starting to rain and I hurt. Also I hate talking on the phone while outside.

Still feel like crap, though. Woke up every few hours last night because pain; only managed to get a bit of relief through hyperfocus and now I’m paying for the effort of sitting upright for a few hours. Mneh. I hate this fibromyalgia bullshit with every fibre of my being.

[lizzieehearts]

Another thing that pisses me off about M*lton Gr*mm is the fact that he did like. A TON of terrible things that *would* make him a villain: not only did he curse his brother and yeet him down into the basement of the school, he also manipulated children- CHILDREN!!- just to sign a stupid destiny book. F*ck M*lton Gr*mm, all my homies HATE M*lton Gr*mm.- Wasted Potential™ Anon

if you boil it down to it's bare essentials, he was the villain in thronecoming, they just never went anywhere with it. he was the one person in charge of people signing the book, and since raven didn't want to, he was their main obstacle, making him the antagonist. if there's one thing i absolutely hate about this franchise it's the lack of certainty around who the villains are, especially since the whole first film revolved around how raven didn't want to be one. the only films that have solid villains are wtw (courtly) and epic winter (the snow king) and one of those was done to absolute perfection in my eyes since i absolutely despise the character and the other one was just,,, mneh. then you have spring unsprung and dragon games where the villains are.. the cheshire cat, the evil queen and snow white? what it is it with this series and making people's parents villains, that's not good. but yeah, i could rant about this all day and anon you are so right

[hetalia-has-a-secretary]

Hi! I’m a huge cat lover so literally any kind of cat is fine with me :)

I am partial to fluffier cats though, who are happy to sit on the couch and cuddle with me. I like vocal cats too, their little meows and purrs are the cutest thing. My current cat is black, and I love black cats in general— no bad luck here! But color isn’t super important to me.

I think Russia Cat would make an amazing companion for you! He's very friendly and sweet, and so long your other cat gets along well with other's there should be close to zero problems! But if it seems like your cat is kind of scared of Russiacat, then slowly reintroduce them by feeding them treats on opposite sides of a screen door until you can remove the screen completely! It will teach them both that their presence is a good thing. And as for the purring and meowing, Russiacat has a rather deep Meow, and sometimes it won't sound like a cat. When he purrs it is very loud, and any form of affection will coax it out of him. Speaking of cuddles, he is a very patient cat, but he takes his cuddling very seriously, so if you see him moping about it might be time for a snuggle session. If he's still sad, try and brush him or give him a bath! Russiacat seems to enjoy those types of activities. But watch out, he likes to share the water in play time. Add a rubber ducky for added entertainment!

Now here are some things to look out for when adopting one of these snuggly little muffins:

Russiacat isn't always aware of how heavy he is, so if you have smaller kittens you have to remind him that smothering the kitten is a No-No.

You might have to learn commands, and certain keywords in Russian. Things like Ko Mne (ko-Mneh)-Come, Sidet (Seh-Det)-Sit, and Horosho (Her-a-show)-Good (the r is a toungue roll).

He has a habit of trying to drink vodka from people's glasses and might refuse to drink water, but since he can't read you can easily trick him into thinking water is vodka by simply filling a glass bottle up with water. Weird I know, but vodka is bad for the kitty.

He loves tuna, but won't eat it without you near by. It's best to eat dinner when you feed him tuna. I believe it is a bonding experience for the little (big) guy.

Russiacat doesn't seem to nap much throughout the day, so make sure to have plenty of stimulants for him. He is geared towards smaller toys like mice, but you should buy them in bulk because he has quite the sharp claws!

And anything colorful is also a plus, but keep any prized stuffed animals that might also catch his interest away!

Do not be afraid of letting him near children, he is very nimble so he's very good at dodging unwanted tail pulls, and is rather protective of children.

Last but not least, if he begins hissing at someone, it is truly best to listen. He has an almost a sixth sense when it comes to sniffing out thieves and liars.

And that sound be everything! Please take care of your new found, fluffy companion!