#quantum flashlight

[reviewproduct2024]

Adventure-Tested, Survival-Approved

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[irfrenchfries]

Ford @forduary week 3 (portal Ford let’s goooo) I really wanted to do a piece of Ford earning his wanted poster. So here we go- Ford stealing parts from a space ship for the quantum destabilizer.

[Image description: digital art of Ford from Gravity Falls in his portal era, with a black hood pulled over his head and a small flashlight held between his teeth. He's pulling wires out of a panel on the side of a saucer-style UFO, looking nervously over his shoulder. He seems to be in some kind of alien hangar, with a red light emanating from above the door. End description.]

[ironclark]

The Remedy Set of Keyblades are Done!

LIGHT REVISION- A Keyblade modeled after the typings of Alan Wake! This Keyblade is designed to increase the damage of Light-based spells. The hilt is designed after a flashlight, with the hilt guard being inspired by the typewriter that Alan uses. The shaft of the blade is make of various typed letters, with the teeth being the lense flare of a flashlight. The token is the Clicker.

The World Logo is that of Bright Falls, where the game takes place. The name is a reference to editting a work of art as well as light itself.

CHAMPION OF LIGHT- A Keyblade modeled after the fight between light and darkness in Alan Wake: American Nightmare! This Keyblade is designed to have the effect of Light & Darkness! The hiltguard is designed after the CRTs that Scratch uses to taunt Alan throughout the game, with plumes of darkness arcing out of it to form half of the shaft. The rest of the shaft and teeth are formed from sparks of Light. The token is one of Alan's Manuscript pages.

The world logo is a based on the Arizona town named Night Springs, where the game loops itself. The name comes from the character that Alan has written himself to be, the Champion of Light.

ZERO STATE- A Keyblade modeled after the technology and fracture of time of Quantum Break! This Keyblade is designed to increase the effects of Slow or Stop on a target. The crossguard is designed after the Time Machines built by both Paul and Will in the game, with the core's patrusions on it. The shaft and teeth of the blade are designed after the visual effects of time breaking. The token is the Countermeasure built by Will.

The world logo is that of Riverport, the city in which the game takes place in. The name, Zero State, comes from when time has stopped.

OBJECT OF POWER- A Keyblade modeled after the Astral Realm of Control! This Keyblade is designed to launch targets into the air much easier! The entire keyblade is modeled after the black marble-like structures found in the astral plane, with the same golden veins in that marble as well. The teeth are made from Hedron, Polaris' counterpart in the Oldest House. The token is a slide from a Slide Projector.

The world logo is that of the Oldest House, the paranatural location that the game takes place. The name, Object of Power comes from terms used by the FBC to designated paranatural objects with supernatural powers.

CULT CLASSIC- A Keyblade modeled after the dual sides of Alan Wake II! This Keyblade is designed to have increased damage from Light-based spells! The hilt of the Key is designed after the woods that Saga Anderson traverses through, as well as the cross guard being that of the Antlers of deers that Saga interacts with. The center of the guard is the bullet hole made by Saga. The top of the shaft forms into the Angel Lamb that Alan Wake uses during his segments, with the wings forming the teeth of the blade. The token is the Cult of the Tree logo.

The world logo is a darker variant of the original World Logo. The name comes from the fact that a Cult Classic refers to a work that is extremely popular within niches, and that this game has two cults: Cult of the Word and Cult of the Tree.

[percivals-barrel]

First session for my Remedy tattoo went fantastic! Will be going back in three weeks to get it colored and add text. Got my favorite items from each game: the Oh Deer Diner thermos, Clicker and a flashlight for Alan Wake, the CFR and a time egg for Quantum Break and the Hotline and Service Weapon for Control. I’m so happy with how it’s turned out so far and can’t wait to see how it will look when it’s finished!

[jacethebeltsculptor]

Outer Wilds Expedition Log #4 #2

Alright, with the secrets of Giant's Deep laid bare and the Tower of Quantum Secrets dumped unceremoniously into a black hole, it's time to move on to Space Mexico and Space Saudi for some answers about Quantum Fuckery and the Nomai's overblown science project. I started this loop by blasting off to Ember Twin at mach speed, overshot it, and crashed into the sun again. Needed that- keeps me humble. After taking a much more demure and restrained route, I started by parking outside of Chert's camp and jumping off a cliff to see if I could get to the bottom of the lakebed cave in time. Turns out, I totally could, but I knew I was going to have a bad time once Cacti started teleporting around. I learned quick not to stand anywhere cacti-shaped, lest I put together an impromptu suffocating Sonic cosplay. Fortunately, I made it to the cave without getting crushed, and with literally just enough air to make it to the tree. Once I read the Nomai text, about how what's-his-dead disappeared when his flashlight died, it made the lightswitch on the quantum moon make a lot more sense- you'll teleport *with* a Quantum Object if you can't see it. That also explains how you're supposed to get out of this cave, since the passage was full of sand and I was expecting to have to meditate to death. Once I was free from Bummer Death Cave, tried to race to the Sunless City to see if I could make it to the High Energy Lab, but that was already buried, so I took off to Ash Twin to see if I could see anything cool from the towers. I learned, at some point, that the towers were designed to evoke the places they linked to, so my immediate instinct was to find the one linked to the sun station, since that's probably what's been blowing up our sun. Hopefully there's a big button labelled "off" that we can push. Although, God, I hope that doesn't turn the sun off... Unfortunately, the path to the teleporter was blocked by about twelve trillion cacti, and despite a valiant effort to float like a butterfly, I instead got stung like a bee and got gangbanged to death by needles. Still mulling over how to not get gangbanged to death by needles, I hit up the Sunless City to try and finally hit the High-Energy lab, which went pretty smoothly. This is around when I learned that my scout is actually a portable light source, since I hadn't really been using it until then. Maybe I shouldn't be giving flashlight guy quite so much shit. The actual trip wasn't too bad- I'm familiar enough with the invisible death farts now to fire off a scout whenever I see a branching path- but the High Energy Lab had some goddamn INTERESTING lore going on. So, it turns out that, with black hole and the teleporters, you actually exit slightly before you enter, which is how they've been sending stuff back in time. I also made a few attempts to pull the black hole core before the scout actually entered it, but the timing didn't seem to work, so I guess I'm not allowed to fuck around and find out with the fabric of reality out here in SPACE NORTH KOREA. God. After watching Ember Twin's descent into a woke fascist hand-holding Big Brother state, I decided to fuck off into the wilderness and become a Bramble Man. My first effort went decently well- I'd found the skeletons on Ember Twin, so when I saw a shitton of lights and fog, I knew what was up. I noticed that one of the lights was red instead of white, so I decided to start there. Turns out- bad idea! That was their nest. I knew these fuckers were blind, so I just cut the engines and drifted until I found a hole to exit from, which led me to the remains of the Nomai vessel. I was only able to get into like, two hallways and the control room, but I did find something neat- an interface for coordinates in the same style as the ones on Giant's Deep, and a broken warp core. Now, I know there were Warp Cores in the HEL and they were making them in the Black Hole Forge on Brittle Hollow- which I found forever ago and don't remember the path- so if my plan is to fix this ship, I'll hit up them up again soon.

[mamaluigi2018-commsopen]

I’m back with some more headcanons~!

- Hydro dislikes rhetorical questions, why ask a question that has no meaning? He also adores quantum theories and quantum mechanics

- Apart from having an interest in anthropology, Abbey is also a history nerd.

- Dia designed all of the Season 2 drips :3

- Grace has crazy flexibility.

- Lee is easily flustered :3

- Rex “smokes” candy cigarettes

- Belle’s hugs are deadly

- After fighting Creatures, Sparky and Slobber play a game of catch with either a bone or a limb of the Creature. This is moreso non-serious but its cute ig

- ^ In addition I like to think Slobber is the only one Sparky is actually sweet with (“Awwww, who’s my pwecious wittle Cweature killer? You are!! YOU ARE!!~”)

- Stella likes karaoke :3c

- Chill has a habit of freezing anything that even remotely startles her

- Chowder is used as a nightlight by Aero sometimes

Looks fun! Relateable to lots of the other guys. Some things want to point out

. Yea that seems like Hydro would hate, except its less of thinking it's idiotic but more so you dare to question and waste his intelligence on such a feeble usage of words. Thats how his Ego goes.

.Yep, thats how I designed Abbey, he's someone that not only interest in folklore but also historical artifacts. Helps that his parents work in the Greenburg Library so he spends alot of his time looking over all the books there.

.Dia couldve gone all out using her money to buy the highest graded wardrobe when most of the guys could settle with stuff they find at a drift store or just find lying around. Helps that no one really changes wardrobe and only have outfit swaps once per season and remain that way.

.Correct, Slobber is one of the absolute few characters Sparky ever showed to be comfort around before the series, plus his brother Static and his parents.

.Funny thing with Chowder, he can not only glow with his powers, his eyes practically become Flashlights.

[strings0fcontrol]

Hannigram – Post-Fall (4)

Hannibal hesitated for a moment, contemplating the forkful of eggs and vegetables before finally taking a bite. There was a hint of reluctance, a reservation born from uncertainty. Yet, to his surprise, it did not taste dreadful. He emitted a thoughtful hum, and Chiyoh, attuned to his skepticism, detected the faint trace of disbelief that he had not succumbed to her cooking. It brought a subtle, almost imperceptible, cheeky smile to her face. If he possessed even a shred of strength, he would have taken charge of the cooking, but he barely had the energy to administer the crucial IV fluids to both Will and himself. His appetite craved sustenance, yet he understood that, given the precarious state of their bodies, indulging in a hearty meal could overwhelm their fragile systems. Instead of expediting recovery, it might provoke a detrimental response, or, in the direst circumstances, even terminate it altogether. His devoted handmaiden had executed his every instruction with impeccable precision, leaving no room for complaint. The aftermath had been meticulously tidied, the meat preserved and ready for his culinary prowess, and to top it all off, Jack remained entirely ignorant of their whereabouts. Will was with him, secure, at least for the moment, as he schemed their next moves. Graham appeared physically stable, yet Lecter couldn't ascertain with absolute certainty whether his mind still inhabited that fragile shell. Will wasn't in a state of brain death; his pupils had reacted, but he remained unresponsive. The enigma of what had transpired within Will's psyche eluded Lecter without a more intimate examination. To acquire the necessary tools, he knew he needed access to a larger facility—a hospital. Yet, this endeavor demanded strength, and he hesitated to send Chiyoh alone with Will. While she had proven herself reliable, he couldn't shake the gnawing fear of that one unforeseen moment of lapse, or the myriad calamities that could potentially separate them from him if he wasn't there to shield them. He could march resolutely toward death, cloaked in his bulletproof self-assurance, when it came to his own fate. He didn't falter as others might. However, the prospect of entrusting Will's care to another, even someone as capable and devoted as Chiyoh, filled him with a profound sense of dread. Will was that singular, maddening variable, defying the confines of universal rules, forever lingering in an exasperating quantum state that eluded his complete prediction. If he allowed Will to slip out of his watchful gaze, it would inevitably assume a state beyond his control.

He couldn't allow that to occur. His eyes wandered, sinking into the comforting embrace of coffee as it swirled around his senses, finally caressing his lips.

Will drew in a deep breath, once again aware of the persistent chill in the air. The blanket he had hauled along from the living room had served its purpose, keeping him warm enough to sustain life. However, he yearned for the comforting embrace of a proper bed, rather than the unyielding coldness of the wall against which he rested. There was a silver lining, though: his head throbbed less intensely. It still bore the sensation of a screw tightening into his temple, but it had become more bearable than the agony he had experienced earlier. His breathing had steadied, and his vision cleared, allowing him to perceive the world with greater clarity. Slowly but surely, his body was diligently rebuilding itself. The notion of hoisting himself onto his feet and standing upright was no longer an elusive dream. Though his balance remained somewhat precarious, it was now stable enough to allow him to navigate into the next room. There, he discovered a bed, accompanied by a wardrobe stocked with fresh attire. Without hesitation, he swapped out his current clothing before draping the blanket over himself once more. Carefully, he descended the stairs in search of a flashlight.

The house carried an eerie sense of familiarity, though the reason remained elusive. As Will traversed its sparse rooms, a feeling of security quickly settled over him. Equipped with a flashlight, he reentered the kitchen, gathering a few essentials into a bag in preparation for his potential encounter with Hannibal.

Then, something peculiar caught his eye: a coffee machine. A strange warmth bloomed within his chest at the sight. Perhaps, if he brewed coffee now, by the time he returned with Hannibal, they could enjoy it together. It was a curious notion, and he could almost conjure the image of the two of them sitting side by side, gazing out over the ocean as they shared this simple pleasure. It was a modest daydream, yet it infused him with hope.

Will set up the machine, watching the initial drops trickle through the filter. He almost anticipated the aroma, as if it would unfurl and embrace his senses. It was a way to feel close to Hannibal, to bridge the physical distance between them. Somehow, the scent of it made him feel as though Hannibal were right there beside him.

His sense of wonder only deepened: Where was he? Why hadn't Hannibal arrived yet? As far as Will could discern, this house stood alone in its vicinity. Unless, by some unfortunate twist of fate, he had washed ashore on a different island. Geography had never been his strong suit.

Then, it hit him—a phone! How could he have overlooked the existence of phones? Will surged forward, nearly stumbling over the couch in his haste to grab the device. As it rested in his eager hands, he pondered which number to dial. Hannibal, lost at sea or wherever he might be, wouldn't be answering his phone, assuming he even possessed one. Jack? The mere thought of that option led to a grim contemplation. Alana? A distant memory, and he doubted he still had her number; he might as well have eaten it. Lounds? Absolutely not.

The dilemma weighed heavily on him as he stood there, grappling with his limited choices.

Bedelia Du Maurier. She was, begrudgingly, his best option, despite his aversion to hearing her voice again.

Setting the phone down with a conflicted expression, his gaze wandered, lips pressed into a taut line. The prospect of a phone call to her was complicated. If she reported their interaction, authorities could potentially trace the call, provided he remained on the line for more than 30 seconds. But then again, what alternative did he possess?

Finding Hannibal.

He propelled himself off the couch, snatching up the key as he made his way to the door. Stepping out, he ventured along the coastline, as far as his feet would carry him. Will fixed his gaze on the undulating waves, observing their dance. He studied their movements, tracing their reach and rhythm to feel the flow of water currents. Through his silent communion with the sea, he sought to unravel the secrets of its tides, searching for clues about the possible paths it had taken Hannibal.

Hannibal's absence from a rescue mission was telling, and it felt like a stretch to expect anyone else to come to his aid. If Hannibal was alive and on the same island, he likely would have located him already. If they were separated, Will held onto a glimmer of hope that Hannibal might have found his way onto a different shore. Despite scanning the horizon, the mainland remained elusive, and he couldn't recall if it had always been this way. Perhaps, Will dared to hope, he might stumble upon a boat during his journey.

Boats, he mused, were comforting companions when stranded in the vast unknown. They had qualities he yearned for—they were mobile, familiar, and predictable. Water, on the other hand, held a dichotomy of beauty and terror. It could be relentless, even downright crushing, even though it no longer touched him. Yet, it also had the power to soothe, and gazing upon the shimmering expanse had a calming effect on his restless mind.

Once he found Hannibal, Will had a simple plan in mind: fishing. He had spotted a well-maintained fishing rod and other equipment inside the house. With Hannibal's culinary skills, they could feast on freshly caught fish—no need for humans, no hint of cannibalism. Just fish.

Perhaps, they could also explore the forest for berries and mushrooms, or forage in the garden. He thought he had heard chickens clucking somewhere in the background, too.

As he ventured further, his hopes gradually withered and faded. By the time the sun began its descent, he found himself gazing at the same red house in the distance. It struck him then; he had been walking in a literal circle throughout the entire day. Yet, this unintentional circuit did afford him a rough estimate of the perimeter—approximately 20 to 30 kilometers. If his calculations held true, that translated to a potential land area ranging from 32 to 72 square kilometers. Numerous variables complicated his efforts to arrive at a more precise estimate. Uncertainty surrounded the time of day and the pace of his journey. Although it felt as though he had walked slowly, he couldn't fully rely on his adrenaline-fueled perception. Seeing that the numbers predominantly shared the digit '2,' he settled on 42 square kilometers as a reasonable approximation in his mind.

That realization provided some solace. He now had one thing clarified: he was on an island with no boat. Wonderful. While he might not have been the most ardent admirer of mathematics, the numbers and their rhythmic, predictable existence offered him a sense of grounding. As long as he kept his logical mind engaged, his emotional turmoil couldn't overwhelm him quite as easily. Nearing the house, he cycled through a series of grounding exercises. Graham focused on steadying his breath, maintaining a sense of calm, and brainstorming alternatives to make sense of the perplexing situation at hand.

Being marooned on an island with no apparent escape felt akin to one of those exaggerated clichés or film tropes. The sheer absurdity of it all left him with a sense of mockery, as if some higher power were toying with him. The only thing that could have made it more cliché was stumbling upon Hannibal.

This circumstance meant that all options lay open before him. Will found himself facing an array of limitless opportunities, each contingent upon his perception of reality and how he chose to navigate it. The disconcerting aspect lay in this unsettling freedom, a terror greater than he had ever imagined, for uncertainty was his most formidable adversary.

The deluge of data, ceaseless thoughts, and sensory inputs inundating his mind daily often left him teetering on the precipice of overwhelm, even within the confines of his lecture room, where the scrutiny of watchful eyes bore down on him. His unique mental acuity allowed him to perceive hauntingly intricate details about people, but it also meant that his brain had to labor incessantly to process this torrent of information.

Engaging in eye contact wasn't necessarily the issue; it was the overwhelming depth of insight he gleaned from another person's gaze. He didn't know where to direct his attention, for locking eyes with someone meant he saw far more than he should. In return, he felt vulnerable, as though someone with a similar ability to read people like open books could scrutinize his very soul. It was an unsettling invasion of privacy. On both sides.

Every twitch of a muscle felt as though it were his own, leaping out at him with an exhausting intensity that defied adequate description, demanding his relentless attention day after day.

This meant that he minimized spontaneous and unpredictable inputs by crafting his routine as tightly as possible, using it as a foundation to alleviate the perpetual strain on his brain. Routine served as his shield. The fewer variables he had to constantly predict and vigilantly attend to, the more his mind could dedicate itself to other tasks, such as ensuring he remained nourished or allowing him to rise from bed without a splitting migraine. All those seemingly effortless actions that came naturally to others required his deliberate consideration. Every minuscule task, even the routine act of showering or brushing his teeth, demanded an extraordinary amount of mental effort. To simply navigate a tranquil day, he had to summon immense strength, and then, frustratingly, people would criticize his inability to maintain eye contact. He scoffed inwardly.

Eye contact. Why did he have to overanalyze something so fundamental? Wasn't that where it all began?

Gazing into someone's eyes or simply being in close proximity to them had always proved overwhelming and discomforting, regardless of his feelings toward the person.

That was, until Hannibal.

Hannibal's dark eyes held a distinct allure. They were unlike any other—like rich chocolate to his senses, soothing, sweet, and tender. And on occasion, when the light graced them at precisely the right angle, they appeared to smolder, akin to living embers ensnared in resin.

At times, they even appeared as black as the night, resembling an endless abyss. On other days, they gleamed like he had captured stars within his very gaze.

And then there were his lips—when they formed that playful smirk, with the top one ever so slightly leaning over the bottom one, especially when he was concocting some mischievous scheme, fully aware of the havoc he was about to unleash. He appeared almost endearingly goofy, as though he were merely jesting. The countless crinkles that enveloped his eyes, folding in delight or pride. How his every movement quickened by a fraction when excitement or agitation seized him. And then there was that resolute, fleeting blink when he disapproved of something, though he retained the courtesy not to vocalize his intent to unsubscribe someone from life. Or those wolfish, unwavering stares—intense and piercing, as if he harbored a desire to sink his teeth into the mortal meat that dared to defy him. The curious tilts of his head, slight as they were, conveyed volumes, amplifying the expressiveness of his minuscule bodily shifts. It was almost as though he could decipher Hannibal's thoughts from these subtle cues alone.

And, it appeared that he missed those moments. The realization had crept up on him, and he found himself smiling at the memory, albeit unknowingly. Yet, like a cherished secret he savored, the smile gradually dimmed beneath the weight of his present circumstances. Will stood before the door, though he couldn't quite recall how he had arrived there. The sun had nearly vanished into the horizon.

Some deluded part of him dared to hope that when the door swung open, he would find Hannibal inside, wearing that familiar smug expression, perhaps seated at the kitchen table, sipping coffee. However, as he crossed the threshold and entered, the only thing that greeted him was the same darkness that had enveloped the house since he had left earlier that morning.

This darkness seemed almost excessive, either an anomaly against the current light or a lingering deception playing tricks on his senses.

As he investigated the kitchen, he discovered that everything remained exactly as he had left it. The coffee had grown cold, its once-pleasant aroma reduced to a bitter reminder, sitting on the counter like a reproachful specter. It seemed to glare at Will, mocking his naive hope that he might find Hannibal alive, even after their treacherous plunge off the cliff.

No. He couldn't fathom a reality where he received what he desired and achieved happiness, not after his betrayal of both himself and Hannibal to the unforgiving ocean. While he might have broken free of Hannibal's physical influence, he still carried the weight of his presence within his mind. He was embedded in every memory, every sight, every action. Once Lecter infiltrated your mind, it was, unequivocally, game over. And Will was acutely aware of this truth. The insidious corruption had already taken root, and that plunge had represented his sole opportunity to halt his descent into monstrosity. He had to put an end to himself. However, a paradoxical urge gnawed at him; he also needed to ascertain that Hannibal had met his demise or would do so shortly. If Hannibal still breathed, Will had a duty to stop him. Or was it just another pretext, a feeble excuse to seek Hannibal out once more, to amass yet another cherished memory?

‘What Hannibal does is not coercion, it is persuasion. Has he ever tried to persuade you to kill? He will. And it will be someone you love, and you will think it is the only choice you have.’ Bedelia's words reverberated within his mind, akin to a small, sharp yet oddly cheerful bell that captured his attention. ‘ Has he ever tried to persuade you to kill? He will. And it will be someone you love, and you will think it is the only choice you have.’ Their tone, once gentle, had turned sharp, akin to a scalpel slicing into his mind. It was as if his consciousness had zoomed in on them, and they were growing louder by the second. Kill. Will. Love. Choice.

These words seared themselves into his chest like a branding iron, and in that moment, he couldn't deny the truth. She was right. Hannibal had manipulated Will into making the choice to kill the person he loved most.

Or, had Will persuaded himself?

She would be either gloating or quaking in terror at this moment, with the latter being the more likely scenario. This might prove advantageous.  

Bedelia Du Maurier. He took a sip of water, settling beside the phone. After carefully setting the water bottle down, he extended his hand to dial the number linked to her home address. It was a slim chance she'd be there, as any smart person would likely be on the run, but – 

It rang. Someone picked up, but the line remained eerily silent.

Will hesitated, gripped by uncertainty about how to proceed and who might be on the other end of that phone. As if this someone had detected his unspoken query, a voice flowed smoothly into the receiver.

"Hannibal," a single word, honeyed in its delivery, spoken by a person he passionately despised, and yet, it felt like that voice had pulled him out of a living nightmare. What it offered wasn't quite a statement, nor was it a question. It existed in a twilight state between certainty and uncertainty, granting him the mercy of identifying the voice on the other end, but nothing beyond that. It was Bedelia.

[gamergirlboy]

January 2024 Game Diary

Dredge

Alan Wake’s American Nightmare

Fishing Vacation 

Quantum Break 

Nightmare Frames

Dredge

Dredge is a game I picked up in the winter sale of last year as part of the indie game kick that I’ve been on. I saw “horror” and “fishing” and was like yeah, that’s for me. I did like it quite a bit but I found the story bits a little… underwhelming. It wasn’t bad, just pretty typical for anyone who likes “ocean is full of horrors” type media. The NPCs are all foreboding with their talk of “things happening at night” and whatnot, and I was like cool, stuff happens, yeah it’s a horror game (I’ve played so much survival horror over the past few hours so I may be a bit desensitized). I did like the ship customizing a lot, and the drawings of all the fish I found were delightful. I also enjoyed plundering shipwrecks for treasure, although most of what I found was the same junk over and over. That did make the relics I found that much more exciting, so maybe that’s not a terrible thing. Stellar Basin was easily my favorite section, although it took me some time to figure out what I was meant to do, mostly because I didn’t figure out how ship upgrades worked until I had spent a few hours wandering around with the standard engine. The glowing fish and algae combined with the large creature looming underneath kept me intrigued enough to power through until I figured out how to keep the creature from attacking me. Overall I would say I liked it! It’s a neat little game that could’ve used more content, but for the price I would say it’s worth it if you’re looking for cozy horror. 7/10 

Alan Wake’s American Nightmare 

I became a bit of an Alan Wake superfan last year around February when I decided to play the first Alan Wake game on the assumption that the game was kind of bad but funny. I streamed it in discord to my friends and we enjoyed the dated expressions of the characters and the low budget Twin Peaks experience that the town of Bright Falls provided. It ended up having more points in its favor than I expected - it takes place in the Pacific Northwest - which works so well for me in terms of horror -, the characters are genuinely lovable and funny (Barry, not Alan really he is a bit of an asshole), and exploding the darkness with the flashlight was satisfying if not a bit tedious after a few hours. So I played this game, then Alan Wake 2, then Control… and now I love the Remedyverse, the universe that connects all these games. 

THIS game kind of sucks, but because this company apparently owns my ass now I played it anyway. It is short, and the premise of the game is you’re basically playing a monster of the week groundhog’s day episode. As someone who has watched X-Files, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Supernatural, I consider this trope tried and true. Alan Wake wakes up in Arizona and has to figure out how to defeat Mr. Scratch and escape the loop. Every character in the loop is a conventionally hot woman, one of which is hypnotized and actually tries to fuck Alan. It’s pretty crude and sexist, but unsurprising from an older game. It does manage to encapsulate the Remedy charm despite its shortcomings, with television sets and projectors spread out throughout the levels showing snuff films of Mr. Scratch himself committing evil deeds while negging Alan. This was easily my favorite part, and you can see how Remedy had begun experimenting with live-action film in video games long before Control and Alan Wake 2 came out. I think if you absolutely love the Remedyverse this game is worth playing, especially because you can pick it up for a few bucks in a sale. Is it a masterpiece? Absolutely not, but I don’t regret playing it. 5/10 

Fishing Vacation 

I bought this game for the same reason I bought Dredge - it was tagged as fishing and horror on steam. It was also $1.99, and somehow even shorter than AWAN. I had a good time playing this for the 2 hours it took me to get 4 out of 5 of the endings, but it really is a bite-sized game. In the style of a very simple gameboy advance game, you and a childhood friend of yours go to visit a fishing cabin that you used to visit as children. You go fishing. Weird things happen. Whether you find the three keys hidden in the lake and open the basement up or not changes the ending. It’s cute, it’s an alright game. If you feel like playing something a little weird for 20 minutes to an hour I’d say go for it. I don’t even feel comfortable giving it a rating because of its shortness, but I will say playing shorter games has been nice because it allows me to appreciate the tiny studios that produce them. There is a special type of creativity behind these microgames that I can appreciate. I played Iron Lung last year and while this game isn’t quite as good, I did enjoy the creepiness in the same medium I experienced games in as a young child. 

Nightmare Frames

I am new to point & click games. Last year I finished my very first p&c game, “The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow”, and I bought this game immediately after because I was craving more. This one did not disappoint me - the second time around anyway. I started playing it immediately after Hob’s but lost interest due to how different it was. A few months later I picked it up again when I was bored and found that it was actually a pretty solid game. I like p&c puzzles and these did not disappoint. The story is better than I expected, the character development is solid, and the visuals work well for me. It takes place in 1980s Hollywood, and funny enough you are playing as a writer named Alan who has become disillusioned with his career as a horror writer and craves fame. He resents the work he has done despite being beloved by many of the people he encounters. He wants more, and that desire ultimately leads him down a dark path. Would recommend to horror p&c fans, 8/10! 

Quantum Break 

This game is also kind of sort of in the Remedyverse (Remedy no longer owns the rights). I realized I had a code for it on my Humble account and figured if I already own it, I might as well give it a shot. It is an action game, with episodes of a real TV show slotted between each chapter. It’s kind of fun! It is very weird! I like the parkour, I like the romance between Jack and Beth, and the fact that it is a video game that feels exactly like a 2010s cop drama (I’m thinking of Bones) is neat. The episodes were well done for a video game for sure, but they did not especially capture me. I wanted to keep playing the game! The shooting and time powers Jack has were what I was enjoying, and I didn’t want to stop doing that to watch what was happening in the background. Also the graphics are more impressive than you’d expect. It really feels like Xbox put more stock into this than they should’ve (I could not get over how expensive looking this game is), because I really cannot fathom who this game was actually made for besides freaks like me who want to soak up every drop of the Remedyverse, but I liked it for what it is. I think because it’s so weird - the random Night Springs episodes for example, or the fact that it feels so much like you’re in a tv show - feels like it would not really appeal to the average gamer. It seems like a game that wants to be a lot of things. 

I would not spend $40 on it, but I would say it’s worth playing if you love all things Remedy. 6.5/10 

[dat-physics-gal]

Talk physics to me!

This is a pretty generic request, so imma just shed a little spotlight on a field adjacent to the one i'm writing my bachelors for: Optical Tweezers.

You know tweezers, the things you use to pick up and move tiny objects? Well, what do you do if your object is really tiny? Like a plant cell tiny. Or, what if it is in between other objects? Then, the go to thing to move those around, are Optical Tweezers. They use an effect largely unknown to the general public, which is radiation pressure. That is exactly what it sounds like. Radiation exerts pressure. Your flashlight actually has some recoil. Not a lot of it mind you, but some.

Optical tweezers are special configurations of laser beams, that create specific intensity distributions across 3d space, which exert a directed radiation pressure on the object you're manipulating. But i have been reading some interesting papers that utilize OAM (orbital angular momentum) beams, which can't just translate, but rotate objects around on micro scales. Also some that manage to use only one beam for a grid of traps, allowing to separate multiple specimen into a desired arrangement.

These tweezers can be used to hold single cells (this is the larger end of applications) or just single ions, or molecules (that's the low end). They can also have a cooling effect (somewhat, i don't have it in my fingers to properly explain that fully) which basically comes from the confinement of the object into a specific area within the tweezing beam, called the trap. Ion traps in particular were/are crucial to getting started with quantum computing, though i do admit that apart from the tweezing part, i don't know practically anything about those.

[wordpimp]

I thought about some Moses sermon like from Deuteronomy

The actress in the vampire film reminded me of erin from the office Pam's replacement She was funny, and sad for andy

Fetish for crawling inside of things Console TVs? This was bigger than my RCA

In the rubble of the house, radios and wiring, I went under a shelf to replace a power supply, motherboard, flashlight to treasure. It's not that complicated

What do you see

At a camp when the girls come by, they can't believe it's all the same place, but it is. I have a chair and a card table. Battalions, army men. Tornado shelter, they should go there, no hard cover for them here. It's possible for me to stay though, in between, some quantum state

I fight the urge to wake up It's a heaviness to know

It's not me, or else it is

[crazy-pages]

Also for quantum physics reasons, light actually flows around stuff which obscures it. So if you hold up an opaque circle in front of a flashlight, it can actually focus light to a point behind that circle. It's called the Arago spot.

If the image blocking your light is like the picture on the left, it can focus light like on the right! It's really neat!

The thing is, the Arago spot focuses light more strongly for higher energy wavelengths. Like ultraviolet light, which fucks up your eyes. So while the visible light Arago spot from an eclipse isn't intense enough to be seen with the naked eye, the ultraviolet light it focuses more than enough to damage your eyes.

So yes, it actually does get a backstab multiplier during eclipses!

Do not look at the fucking sun during an eclipse without eclipse glasses. And I mean actual eclipse glasses, not just something dark you have. Unless you know for a fact it'll block ultraviolet light, don't do it.

[lunarsilkscreen]

The "stickiness" of light.

This is an observation based on the "Observer Effect", The visibility of light from a side radial, and electricity.

Let's start with the "Observer Effect", which suggests that observing something is different from not observing it.

For a human; if you're aware somebody might be watching you, maybe you're a stage performer, maybe you're in an experiment or interrogation room where you're fairly certain there's a two way mirror, or maybe you're just staying at an AirBnB.

A person will behave differently, they might act more polite, or have be more alert, or be actually follow OpSec protocols. (Operational Security)

But what does an inanimate particle care if its being observed?

Well, if you put a magnet next to it, a common way to measure things, it'll change it's position, and if you hit it with photonic energy (light) in order to observe it, it'll affect electrons in a similar way.

Or, at least; that's what they tell me about electrons, something I have never directly observed.

This suggests a few different things; one; Light can affect electricity and vice-versa.

An experiment that we should have done after this observation is to use a giant electromagnet to try to "bend" or distort light.

Now, we can observe a similar effect of heat on light, as with mirages and visual distortions; but we never really differentiated if it was because of the molecules in the air becoming excited from the energy; or if it was something else.

And so we need an experiment in a vacuum on how light affects electrons and the converse; exactly how electrons can affect light.

What about this "Stickiness" I've put forth as a hypothesis?

Based on these same observations; a ray light may be attracted to electric charges. It may also be attracted to other rays of light.

Which is how I suggest we get white light in the first place, the combination of several colors of rays sticking together on the same vector.

It ALSO satisfies the observation about the "wave function" and observed light looking similar to what somebody might call a pool of water, making waves.

One more thing that needs to be addressed; how is one able to view the side of a beam of light? Like a flashlight in the woods, how you can tell somebody is using a flashlight even though it may not be reflecting any light off any object towards you specifically.

The theory here is, again, air molecules; As we can appropriately observe this with adding a smoke or particulate to obfuscate a laser.

And yet... There's always that radial that seems to exist, either heat from the excitation of molecules as the light passes through, or straight diffraction of light off the molecules.

Which is completely different from how light is described when we describe it as a wave; which is that the excitation of the quantum particles creates a wave reaction around itself.

Then again... That *does* kind of describe how one can see/measure said refraction in the first place.

[generalmacnamara]

<He clearly doesn’t trust John’s word even a little bit. Why would he? There’s no way to tell. He keeps his shoulders tense but slowly lowers the gun, his eyes staying on Xander.>

“… I hate that that… isn’t impossible.”

<He’s silent for a second before taking out a flashlight and shining it in John’s eyes, probably to check if they respond with any glow - though its sudden.>

It's unlikely. Not impossible.. if you're- in your usual position here you should be aware of quantum law and the possibility of a universal shift. [He extends his free hand, blocking Marvin from his view. His grip on the gun remains fairly strong, but his finger stays far from the trigger.] Agh-! [John winces as the flashlight his shone, scrunching his eyes. There's no glow.]

[shadowbunnydragon]

I put some blue-raspberry lemonade in a freshly washed YooHoo bottle. Then I decided to stick a flashlight under it!

So I made a Nuka Quantum!

[foone]

EEP ROM is some masterful typography. It's cute and technically accurate!

See at first we had mask ROMs: this is where you have a chip that's designed from the start to only have some specific data on it. That's why it's Read Only Memory: it's memory, but you can only read it. This is what, like, NES games were built on: the game is on the ROM chip, and can't be changed.

Then someone figured out you could make the chip so that it starts out blank, then you can program it once (like burning a CD-R), so we called these Programmable ROMs: PROMs.

And then another clever engineer worked out how to make them re-erasable, by using ultraviolet light that causes the bits to weaken. You have to take out the chip, expose it in a special box (you can't just have a flashlight, because UV light will give you skin cancer and sunburns on your eyes), then program it and put it back in. But hey, it's erasable and reusable now! This is how a lot of games were developed for cartridge consoles: you'd have a special cartridge that has exposed chips, which you program and put back in the console to test. This new erasable and programmable ROM was obviously called the Erasable Programmable ROM, or an EPROM.

But then a very clever trick was figured out: if you use quantum mechanical effects you can trap charge in a tiny cell and get it out using quantum tunneling, which means you can erase it in-situ! Now you have a reusable (for a while) rewritable chip, so it was called Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory: EEPROM!

But by putting a space in it, they made it an EEP ROM, which is a much cuter name.

BTW EEPROMs are what flash memory grew out of: this is a 1985 SD card.

[i-like-swiss-cheese]

why is it that I can fully understand quantum physics at 13 but i will spend and hour trying to find my phone with the flashlight on my phone

i am the smartest dumbass i know