#How does this all work???

[i-dont-pay-taxes]

Umurangi Generation: The last generation who has to watch the world die - quick review/analysis

Umurangi generation is a first person photography game set in a fictional cyberpunk-ish world where humanity is facing an extinction level event. We follow our voiceless MC and his group of equally voiceless (yet endlessly stylish) friends on their trip around new zealand.

The game is split into 8 different stages, consisting of classic punk street slums, restricted rooftops and military bases. Our goal is to take pictures of certain objects or people around the map within the 10 minute time limit, these tasks are called photo bounties. The game also includes bonus objectives with every mission, like collecting all hidden film canisters, taking a photo of all your friends, or finding a spot to recreate the picture of a postcard you are shown in the pause menu.

Stage 1 - The start of your photography taking spree is a small rooftop brimming with graffiti and the punk spirit. This stage acts as the tutorial of the game, containing easy to find photo bounties and collectables. The main thing of note is about this stage is just how nostalgic it makes me feel. To be honest, I've never gone onto restricted rooftops full of punk graffiti, yet the amazing art direction and colour palette make this place feel like a sanctuary of teen angst, as if I've missed countless conversations between friends which have all moved on. It invokes that same feeling as seeing years old graffiti where someone confesses their love to a person you have never met. A painful hit of nostalgic melancholy. All in all an amazing stage which sets a great starting tone for this game.

Stage 2 - Turns out i forgot to mention that the indie punk environmentalist game has a complicated relationship with the government (the UN to be specific). The second stage is set on a UN military base which is riddled with tired soldiers and graffiti expressing anti UN sentiment ("I just wanted meaning in life yet here I am" and "My dreams of being an audio engineer are over." are some of the more notable ones). The base is a clear sign that the UN is trying to stop whatever world ending event is happening, much to the dismay of the people. The stage also contains a hint at what might be causing all this, with a sign counting the number of killed "squids" (they look like jellyfish but fine). Upon completion of every stage we get a new camera lens or picture editing option, and this stage requires smart use of the camera lens we got on the past stage to earn a bounty, teaching the player about smart positioning. At this point in my playthrough i had assumed this game had a strong anti UN sentiment, but later I found another way of looking at things, that comes later tho. Not my favorite stage, but a well done one nonetheless.

Stage 3 - Anyone else love cyberpunk? For me it's not the futuristic technology or sci fi story that's intriguing, but the lively backstreets and (depressingly) squeezed housing. This stage is just that, with even more anti UN (and cop! how political!) messaging, so much so that the stage is a no UN allowed zone, with cops not even responding to any crisis calls. From a gameplay perspective it's a way more vertical stage, with a few bounties being hidden up high on the rooftops. Not much more to say about this one, past complimenting it's amazing design.

Stage 4 - If the stage before was about realistic cyberpunk streets, that being dirty, cramed and depressing housing, then this stage is about the cyberpunk utopia. Bright neon signs and loud dance parties can be found above a tunnel filled with the homeless (and more dance parties!). This stage aint for me, as I dislike the bright neon colour scheme... still, it provides a fine, I'd even say amazing, set up for the next stage (remember that). An interesting thing we see are these huge UN walls blocking off all exits. While they were present in the first stage, their position was far away. This stage is, in my opinion, the worst in the game. Not that bad to be the worst stage in this masterpiece of a game tho.

Stage 5 - The bright streets sure were relaxing, what follows them is logically a warzone. Stage 5 starts on the same UN base from stage 2 (yay, reusing assets in a smart and clever way!), but a huge battle has started between the soldiers and... a giant jellyfish squid godzilla thing? The spawn point of the stage is like a flashbang, with people in front of you fighting for their life. The contrast between this and the rest of the game is amazing, and shows how it's not afraid to make darker stages to tell it's story if need be. The stage from a gameplay perspective offers a bigger challenge, with the player having to avoid squid corpses and find their bounties in a pretty dark area. One of my favorite stages as well.

Stage 6 - My favorite stage. A train ride after the battle that happened on the stage before. Everyone stands around in a surprisingly relaxed way, taking their time. From an outside perspective this level of stoicism (while admirable) is completely unnatural, yet when we take into account the seemingly inescapable and unstoppable ending of the world that is to come, that level of calm nihilism is only logical, even if depressing. The photography we do feels like a distraction this time, an unnecessary hassle. This game may present itself like it's about photography, but by now that's clearly not the case. It's about facing the end.

Stage 7 - The train stopped and the last bastion of human bureaucracy is left doing things that bureaucracy does. People stand in line waiting to get let through a UN checkpoint. We don't see anyone actually moving, or really doing anything, we just see people waiting, not even annoyed as it doesn't matter if they are let through or not. Some people are dancing, not even bothering to step in line, deciding a death embraced is the best way to go. We take our pictures as usual and continue, as there is nothing our camera can do to help.

Stage 8 - Back where it all started, back on that same restricted rooftop. It's nostalgic melancholy is finally realised as we watch the giant godzilla jellyfish squid thing threaten humanity. Humans arent really meant to face death, you know? Our friends stand around, some sit and look, some dance, we take pictures, but really none of us know what a proper response would be. The UN built a big fuck off robot thing to fight the damn godzilla, i mean that just aint the action of someone who's accepted death. And so we wait, our destruction ensured, taking out final batch of photos. I can't call that nihilism, I think it's not a lack of hope, but an acceptance that hope won't help.

One final photo - We are transported to a beach, no context is needed. We are dead. Humanity is dead. As we look up we see the thing that caused our doom, and our last action is clear.

After pulling out our camera, a click can be heard, following which are the credits. At the very end it says: "Umurangi Generation: The last generation who has to watch the world die".

My own interpretation of the story - At first, as I've said before, I thought this game had a straightforward anti UN message... and to be honest, it somewhat does. Still, I believe this is moreso a story about what being a generation that has to face the death of humanity is like. We are destroying the planet, to say the least. We are watching our world die, and the generation after us will also have to do the same, so to be the last generation who has to watch the world die is something both overwhelmingly scary, but also indescribably easing. The ending of a book is always somewhat relaxing, no matter if good or bad.

I don't think I need to point out the obvious connection between global warming and the story of this game, but i'll just add that one of your friends is a penguin, and I chuckled when i got the irony of being in the same position as the penguin, losing my life to something i can not stop.

The anti UN sentiment this game provides is a direct response to the mishandling of major national crises in the year of 2020, from my personal reading this game isn't so much against the UN as it's against the damaging of local citizens and cultures by the UN's mismanagement.

Conclusion - The game is fucking good go buy it already!

[sylvies-kablooie]

i do unironically think the best artists of our generation are posting to get 20 notes and 3 reblogs btw. that fanfic with like 45 kudos is some of the best stuff ever written. those OCs you carry around have some of the richest backstories and worldbuilding someone has ever seen. please do not think that reaching only a few people when you post means your art isn't worth celebrating.

[hinamie]

10 years later

[tigris-types]

Hey computer people, how are you not getting carpal tunnel? Because like I do the stretches, I take breaks, i have an ergonomic mouse, yet my mouse hand feels like a wreck!!

I know you're supposed to move from your elbow, sit at a 90 degree angle, and stare straight at the monitor, but ot does work for me!! Maybe I have too tall of a desk, cause my legs can't reach the floor and I sit cross legged instead, but I don't understand how anyone could sit properly???

If your knees are at 90 degrees, you're only 18 or so inches off the floor right? And then if I keep my arms at my sides and move from the elbow, my arms are maybe 24 or so inches from the ground? And then my eyes are maybe another 18 or so inches from my arms?? (These are all estimates btw)

So I would need a desk and chair that are about 2 feet tall and a monitor that can be about at least 8 inches away from the desk??

The chair and desk seem too small to exist and what monitor sits that high?? How do you people set up your station correctly?????

[theywontletmebeprincipal]

obsessed w james somerton saying that he blacked out every time he failed to cite his sources like he’s the dr jekyll/mr hyde of plagiarism

[empire-of-the-words]

so I read son of the demon straight through today (tbh maybe not my best idea I'm still sad 😓), and came to the realization that Bruce and Talia's marriage never actually ends. like, Talia just tells Bruce to leave and Ra's last line is literally calling Bruce his son. sure, it's implied, but, also. consider:

Random lawyer or finance guy or something: Have you ever been divorced or widowed? Bruce: Y- Bruce: Bruce: Bruce: actually I think I'm still married. Dick: I'm sorry, WHAT?

[delicourse]

i miss them a little if im gonna be honest

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Ghouls night out

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[mmelolabelle]

Armand is someone who has been has been trained (in brothels, by Marius, and by 500+ years worth of life experience) to adapt himself to what the people around him want. Throughout seasons 1-2, different people get very different versions of Armand, depending on who they are and who’s retelling the story at the time.

It’s the primary way Armand protects himself, whether he’s a teenage sex slave or the oldest, strongest person in the room. It’s how he controls people. Fundamentally, it’s the only way Armand knows to make people love him (an approximation of love at least). Worse, it’s the only way Armand knows how to love — by twisting and contorting himself into whatever form he thinks his current obsession wants or needs him to be. He even does it to his victims for crying out loud.

And then here’s Daniel, who is constantly seeking authenticity and truth. Who’s bullshit detector is never “off”. Who cannot tolerate any kind of masquerade, manipulation or lie – no matter how kind or well intentioned. Not out of any moral or ethical objection, but because Daniel simply cannot leave things well enough alone once something attracts his attention. He has to know. He has to see where it goes and how it ends.

“It’s my job, I’m built this way”

“It’s in your nature, Mr Molloy. Couldn’t get out the door without lobbing one more bomb.”

Daniel knew something was off about “Rashid” from the beginning, so he began to pick the situation in Dubai apart until Armand revealed himself. And then he kept going until he completely destroyed the narrative Armand had spent 77 years constructing.

Daniel deliberately and systematically pulled “Armand, Amadeo, Arun” apart and laid him bare with nothing but but a laptop, some free time, a near-suicidal disregard for his own personal safety and a mouth that just wouldn’t quit.

There’s power in being seen, in being known, ugly parts and all. What would it feel like, to be completely exposed like that for the first time in centuries?

So yeah it makes sense to me that Armand, who puts on all these acts and artifices to draw people in, but which only serve to ensure they’re kept at a distance, would turn his big sad orange eyes on the person who blew them all to smithereens and be all “…I wanna do this forever, actually.”

[nancywheeeler]

hopeless time loop. the way out isn’t to save everyone. the way out isn’t to save even one person. the way out isn’t to change anything. the way out is accepting how it happened the first time is how it always will be. that’s how you acted, that’s how they acted, that’s how you would have acted every time if you weren’t given the curse of hindsight. the way out is accepting you can’t fix the past; you can only forgive yourself for it.

[francy-sketches]

cringe ass family ❤

[kagoutiss]

pelican town, ‘72

[aethersea]

I do think Blazing Saddles handled its one depiction of native americans very poorly, and the full extent of its representation of chinese workers on the railroad is they were literally just there. not even one single speaking line. unclear if this is worse or better than the redface.

it's fucking phenomenal at lampooning antiblack racism though. extremely blatant, extremely funny satire, which is constantly and loudly saying "racism is the philosophy of the terminally stupid at best and morally depraved at worst, and we should all be pointing and laughing at them 24/7"

plus the main character is a heroic black man who has to navigate a whole lot of bullshit but is constantly smirking at the extraordinarily stupid racists and inviting the audience into the joke. the one heroic white character is a guy who was suicidally depressed until he met the protagonist and they just instantly became buds, and he's firmly in a supporting role the whole time and happy to be there. the protagonist saves the day with the help of his black friends from the railroad, and uses the position of power he was given to uplift not only those friends, but all the railroad workers of other minorities too, in an explicit show of solidarity.

anyone saying "Blazing Saddles is racist" had better be talking about its treatment of non-black minorities. it had better not be such superficial takes as "oh but they say the n-word all the time" or "they have nazis and the kkk in there!" because goddamn if that's the full extent of your critique I very seriously suggest you read up on media analysis. there is too much going over your head, you need to learn to recognize satire.

[umblrspectrum]

hi heres art so you pay attention to me now go read the tags

[lucabyte]

So does anybody else ever think about how Loop felt the need to demonstrate that the party's deaths wouldn't have any effect on the loops. I know I do but that's besides the point. Anyway I don't think Loop actually needs to bathe, they just like to feel included.

[bookalicent]

yeah so this was insane