#This is just a very good premise and I love the combo of ‘exploring an alien planet’ and ‘oh shit oh fuck oops’

[specialagentartemis]

My favorite genre of sci-fi is “small research team goes to a distant plant/star/space station/black hole/etc to study something weird there, and then the weird thing there Wrecks Their Shit.” Can’t get enough of it. “Small research team goes to a deep undersea research station” and “small research team goes to a deep Antarctic research station” are also very good variants of this as long as they get completely rekt by a weird mysterious alien thing there. I love it every time.

It is also important to note that these stories can range from “TPK” to “lone survivor” to “a few losses but most of the main characters come out of this harrowing ordeal alive, if changed” to “everyone survives this harrowing ordeal and they have a new friend now!” but the more characters survive the better the story better be. If it’s a TPK/lone survivor I eat this up and will love it no matter how bad it is (Underwater (2020) starring Kristen Stewart I am vaguing you here. Stupid movie. Saw it on the big screen and loved it). But if most/all of the cast survives, the writing and the story and the characters better be goddamn amazing (All Systems Red by Martha Wells and Wolf 359 by Gabriel Urbina and Sarah Shachat I am vaguing you here <3 )

[hasarjunadoneanythingwrong]

my immediate thought in regards to "why are all the grands men and beasts women" was "because sexism" but then I though that's jumping the gun, but then I thought about it and like....that actually tracks? Like look at the main stories people associate with Nasu, Heaven's Feel or Fate Extra or CCC or Hollow Atarxia. They all have a theme of "Women are extremely easy to corrupt and men are much more set in their ways". Even Notes is about a male killing a corrupted female figure. Pretty much every story Nasu writes boils down to a powerful force that's been corrupted into being evil, and the only male one of them that actually gets treated like a villain for it is Angra Mainyuu who still gets to be a main character and does the right thing in the end rather than have to be stopped by force.

I dunno maybe i'm overthinking it? I guess it could just be he really likes Sakura and Shirou and so he keeps making similar characters and THAT's why we get so many "evil woman of corrupting evil" characters vs "Bodysnatching and-or power/name-borrowing himbo who is very bad at trying to help"

I feel like it’s probably a bit of both of those reasons as well as a simultaneous combo of it being not that deep and also deep like

(Disclaimer that I haven’t fully read the source material)

As you mentioned nasu loves the shirou/sakura type dynamic and a lot of his work reflects themes that, while not identical do tend to mirror that in vaguely similar ways with the fucked up dude trying his best and woman suffering very much who then starts lashing out super hard thing it to varying degrees of success and compassion. And to be clear, I think Sakura herself in the original vn is a pretty good character- she isn’t demonized by the narrative so much as it’s seen as a understandable but not tolerable reaction to a frankly untenable situation, and she is allowed agency and to grow and heal as a person-her most important relationships in heaven’s feel aren’t just w shirou but also her estranged sister. Same case for shirou as well-he suffered extreme trauma at a young age that he never healed from, instead using an unrealistic ideal to keep himself moving cowards, and the routes all tackle that background and how it colors his relationships in varying ways. Obviously there’s still flaws w their writing and they/their proxies haven’t always been handled great afterwards (stares hatefully at ooku) but I think some of this really is just bc it’s two character archetypes that personally speak to the writer in question.

At the same time there’s def been more of a focus on evil and fucked up women after the case then there has been on the fucked up men, and if I had to say, in the most mercenary terms, it’s probably bc they think sex sells (or something along those lines). I know stuff like ccc was written with the premise that ‘all girls possess the ability to become monsters when in love’ and borrowed heavy theming from sources like utena, but at the same time there’s basically 0 focus on the men of that game or other games (sans gilgamesh and Charlie/karl in extella link.) Why can we not have any male secret gardens? Why is the game so heavily weighted towards exploring the dark side of feminine sexuality but locks you out of archer’s third secret garden if you play as a male character? (I know why, but it’s so petty when they don’t do the same to the female servants if you play as a girl) It hampers their ability to properly develop the character arcs and themes of the story when they shove recurring characters like Leo and Julius off to the side while giving loving attention to new people like liz and jinako and it’s truly a shame. This is a similar reason as to why goetia is now the only beast who is completely unsummonable (you can summon fou paws can you not?)-they simply want to dedicate more time to developing the women characters whether bc of preferential bias on the writers end or bc the women are more popular, but it does create a damaging implication about what they might think of women when they don’t also reflect that effort back into men

I don’t think this is something done out of complete malice but it definitely does give off unfortunate implications, especially bc a few of the beasts have no historical basis (kiara and koyanskya) and are just woman who girlbossed too close to the sun, whereas all the grands do have some connection to history even if they are more obscure, so it does give off the impression that the evils of humanity are all sexy sexy women and the world will have to be saved by men even if that’s not what the writers intended (I still suspect we will probably get a female saber, and ofc goetia is a man…72 men?)(I also argue that kama should’ve been a man or non-binary bc how tf are you gonna split list into a top/bottom side for yin-yang stuff and then make them both woman for personal horny reasons that’s just stupid. Fuck outta here men also list. Or, uh, women also lust? I’m losing track).

would also argue king Hassan is PROBABLY not a himbo.

[halotolerant]

Dear Yuletide Writer 2023

Dear Yuletide Writer

Thank you for writing for me! I am delighted you also enjoy these characters and fandoms :D 

I have rambled about each one to give you a starting point, please write what you feel moved to write. I am very into stories about relationships - platonic, romantic, sexual and all the overlaps. I definitely enjoy an E rated fic but I’m always there for the characters first and foremost. I am open to BDSM, omegaverse and other ‘role based’ scenes or world building, if that’s your thing. 

Just getting one fic about any of these would be a dream, but I am absolutely open to treats! 

Bouncy - ATEEZ (Music Video) 

Choi San's Character (Bouncy - Music Video)

Jung Wooyoung's Character (Bouncy - Music Video)

I mean THIS VIDEO, WHAT EVEN? I love the whole world it creates, but I gotta admit I watched this the several hundred times I did largely for WHATEVER THE HELL CHEMISTRY SAN AND WOOYOUNG WERE CHANNELLING JFC. Like what *is* the deal of this fighter and his fixer(?) trainer(?) pimp(?)? What’s the power dynamic? How did they meet? Are they banging? Did they bang once? How long do they expect to be working together? Is their relationship exactly what it appears, or something else (better? Worse?) behind closed doors? What would change their routine? 

Yeah please just run with this however you want. Feel free to include the rest of the video details/characters or not, as you choose, including ships & making these characters poly with others. 

DNWs: Death, suicide/sucidal ideation, self-harm, non-con. I’d rather not have their relationship be totally dark and grim/hopeless, although clearly there’s some intrinsic messiness here (which you are welcome to explore!) 

LE SSERAFIM (Band)

Any

I have loved Le Sserafim since the Hybe Picnic aka Game Caterers x HYBE. I enjoy their attitude and their chemistry, and I’m fascinated by their histories - the fact that Sakura and Chaewon were previously in a different band together, and that they knew Yunjin as well, and then you’ve got Kazhua speaking another language, from a totally different world of classical ballet. And Gold Maknae Eunchae too of course! 

I would be really interested by a fic about them and their interactions, be that a slice of life or something more complicated, ‘canon compliant’ would be fascinating but I could imagine wonderful things with e.g. X Files AU, buddy cop AU, omegaverse - or a canon-divergent where they meet under different circumstances. I would love something shippy, for any combo of these 4 including poly (to be clear: not anything shippy involving Eunchae though). 

DNWs: Death, suicide/sucidal ideation, self-harm, non-con, or vast amounts of dieting stuff, as canon as I know it is

철인왕후 | Mr. Queen (TV)

Any

So, confession, I’ve only watched the first few episodes of this, having got interested in it from seeing it in the tagset, and I am HOOKED. I love the humungously inescapable queerness of the premise, and I also adore a good historical court intrigue drama, so this looks perfect. I am spoiled for the ending, I know it doesn’t finish with rainbows, and I’m going to go out on a limb and request any fic of your heart, writer, that you would like to write to bring the queerness back or enhance whatever it is that gets in there. Again, I’m not deep into this enough to know how some of the supporting characters develop, so I’ll take any ship which would reasonably come under the ‘queer’ umbrella (including Jang Bong Hwan in the Queen’s body having feelings for women and/or for men), or something about reincarnation/fixit involving Jang Bong Hwan and a male reincarnation of Cheoljong. 

DNWs: This is a tricky one because clearly elements of death and potential suicide are canon, plus the general dub-con of the marriage etc, but please treat this very lightly/gently

[themovieblogonline]

One True Loves Review

One True Loves features Simu Liu (Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings), Phillipa Soo (Hamilton), and Luke Bracey (Point Break) star in this modern twist on a classic love story from NY Times bestselling author Taylor Jenkins Reid. Emma and Jesse are living the perfect life together until Jesse disappears in a tragic helicopter crash on their first wedding anniversary. Four years later, Emma has found happiness again and is about to marry her best friend when Jesse resurfaces, turning her world upside down and leaving her torn between two great loves. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87EeZG2n2po Can I take a moment to just acknowledge everyone who's ever been trapped in the friend zone? This movie is for you. The Good The premise itself is just downright mesmerizing. I instantly relate to a situation I've never been in just on the concept. What would you do if you were married, that person died, and you met someone else just to find out your dead spouse isn't dead and wants you back??? That's an instant problem I think that everyone can empathize with even if we can't directly relate. I love this story concept a lot. I had a good time seeing how Emma handles this situation and the emotional conflict within her heart. There's so much to consider especially with time. Her husband is missing for years so what is the correct way to react to his sudden re-appearance?   One True Loves starts off really strong. I tip my hat to the production team for some strong direction and great performances here. The movie starts off very strong giving us a good view of the lives of Emma and Jesse's perfect life. Now, this is the type of life people dream of when young of an endless vacation with a loved one. I had a lot of fun watching Emma's love triangle develop with Jesse and Sam. One True Loves quickly brings us up to speed on Emma and Jesse's high school romance. It grows organically and continues into adulthood and results in marriage. I really feel great about their romance and I understand their attraction in a relatable way. One True Loves excels at being a romantic comedy with extra emphasis on comedy. This is no surprise as director Andy Fickman has a history of directing comedic films and the cast in this movie is very adaptable. Sam (Simu Liu) is incredibly funny in this movie and delivers some of the best jokes and visual gags in the entire movie. You could carve out his moments in the movie and have a believably funny sitcom but we get a sitcom in a movie. Michaela Conlin plays Emma's sister Marie and makes for a great one-two combo of comedy with Sam. She brings some well-timed dry humor and injects them into some otherwise emotionally heavy moments. There's a scene in the movie where she apologizes to Emma for convincing her to give up on her dead husband that had me in tears. The Bad The editing was rough. There are moments in the movie where scenes only last for a few seconds before transitioning to another scene. Unfortunately, the actors are giving some really good performances that are cut short. A few moments are really touching on some deep emotions that could be explored further but aren't. What undercuts this transition is that these scenes of deeply sad emotion get cut away to scenes that tell a quick gag and then switch back to the heavy emotion. the movie could have used some more time to let Phillipa do her thing. Some of the jokes don't land as well as intended. It's a combination of bad editing and some poorly delivered humor. There's a moment where we see Sam walk into the teachers' lounge at his job in a predictable joke. The main issue is that the scene undercuts one of the more emotional moments in the movie with Emma and her husband. Overall One True Loves is an adorably funny movie that had me laughing throughout the movie. Phillipa Soo is outstanding in this movie and flexes a lot of emotional range in her performance. I would have loved to see more of her scenes extended a bit longer. There are too many moments where Phillipa is acting her ass off but these scenes get cut short. Simu Liu is a highlight and delivers some of the funniest moments in the movie. I would have liked to understand this music teacher could just hijack his students for any given reason! One moment he's using them to impress Emma on a date and another moment he's unloading his emotional dilemma's on them during the school day.   I also can't help but wonder why didn't Sam have any adult friends he could talk to? Read the full article

[sitp-recs]

Do you know of any fics under 10k that aren’t too angsty? ❤️

Hi anon, I most certainly do! Thanks so much for sending this ask, I was super excited when I saw it because I’m always happy to celebrate short fics - they could use more appreciation! I’ve wanted to do a proper shorts reclist for a while so I indulged myself and went big, hope you don’t mind! Putting this together was quite hard - going through my bookmarks I realized that I usually go for angsty shorts 💀 so I tried my best not to include anything too extreme, I hope these are okay!

This became a lil monster with 40 recs (and I have lots more hehe) so I decided to sort them by genre - the last category includes light angst (more on the contemplative side) because I can’t help myself. Shout-out to @tackytigerfic for giving me a 2nd opinion and helping me polish this - and for being a darling in general. Happy readings!

ROMANCE/COMFORT

1. Sun Stroke by @peachpety (2020, E, 3k)

Warm, sexy and wholesome, this fic makes my heart soar with the magical beach setting, amazing friendship dynamics and the sweet get together with a delicious side of smut!

2. oxygen [Fic & Art] by @maesterchill (2020, T, 4k)

Tentative acquaintances become something more over a shared smoke at the balcony. Sexy, mature, deliciously atmospheric and full of promise - plus Healer Draco is always a treat!

3. Catch the Snitch (No, Catch My Heart) by @prolix- (2020, E, 4.5k)

Gorgeous bath fic where Harry and Draco just... take care of each other. The raw emotion packed here! Lush and vivid build up with stunning body worship, hot and intimate and breathtaking.

4. Thermodynamic Equilibrium by DorthyAnn (2017, T, 5k)

This quiet comfort fic gives our boys some well deserved healing through physical touching and late night companionship. Love the 8th year atmosphere, soothing and familiar.

5. Blue Sky Is Living Here Today by ignatiustrout (2018, G, 5k)

The loveliest kid fic you’ll see today - real characters, gentle longing, soft understanding. It’s a joy to watch dad Draco through Harry’s smitten eyes, as he realizes there’s no rush to live that love.

6. Gravity Centered by @carpemermaidtales (2019, E, 6.7k)

Possibly my favorite Quidditch fic, this has an original premise and amazing Drarry dynamics, casual and organic, sassy and familiar, with a perfect lil twist at the end!

7. Up The by @shiftylinguini (2018, E, 7.5k)

One of the funniest PWPs I’ve ever read, clever and charming with easy banter and delicious smut. A sweet and sexy glimpse into the Drarry married life! Cw Mpreg

8. And a Malfoy in a Pear Tree by lauren3210 (2015, E, 8k)

Sweet sweet coffee shop Christmas romance! Love the light and fun atmosphere, the easy banter and cute wooing while supportive Ron cheers in the background, what a treat!

9. Ice Snakes, Glow-worms and Wolverine Stew by khalulu (2015, M, 8.4k)

Khalulu writes the softest Drarry, it never fails to put a smile on my face. This has a gentle and sweet get together, with lovely slow burn, a gorgeous San Francisco setting and matchmaker Kreacher 💗

10. Life goes not backward by @shealwaysreads (2020, T, 8.8k)

This delicate comfort fic has a special way to tug at my heartstrings - a gorgeous tale about found family and the unexpected wonders of life. Gentle, magical and breathtaking in its simplicity.

HUMOUR

11. in charge by @bonesliketambourines (2020, E, 2.4k)

The ultimate brat Draco, bossy and confident and absolutely gorgeous with his long hair and impossible snark. Charming and funny, this packs so much character and domestic bliss under 3k! Perfect spoiled Draco is perfect.

12. The Morning After by birdsofshore, capitu (2015, M, 5.3k)

This is hysterical and so delightfully creative - Draco exploring Harry’s kitchen and charming a prudish appliance is the kind of cute, silly endeavor I need with my morning coffee!

13. The Spoiling of Sex From Enthusiastic Ignorance by @cibeewastaken (2020, E, 6k)

I’m impossibly enamored with Cibee’s drama queen Draco and his passionate missions! This time he’s decided to get some good diq, and the dialogue and mutual pining will make you smile from beginning to end.

14. All Tied Up by MyNameIsThunder (2020, M, 6k)

This is a secret relationship delight! Sneaking around gets so much better when dramatic Blaise is losing his shit to protect the Council of Serpents’ integrity! A+ faux-drama, super fun and sweet.

15. Luckiest Fucking Size Queen Alive by @l0vegl0wsinthedark (2016, E, 6.2k)

My favorite brand of thirsty and chaotic Draco; being inside his mind is such a crazy ride and you won’t stop laughing for a second. Amazing dialogue and insanely scorching smut as per loveglows’ usual 🤤

16. Sex Ed for Aurors by curiouslyfic (2010, M, 8.7k)

This is a Harry triumph, so fun and charming! Here he’s the one chaotic and thirsty, for a change - I’m obsessed with his internal ranting under the lust potion. Brilliant narrative and top notch characterization, a classic!

17. Ferocious Determination, Insufficient Deliberation, and a Slightly Wrong Destination by Faith Wood (2012, E, 9.5k)

Drunk Draco has never been so absurd and I LOVE it! This goes from hilarious to vulnerable and sweet in a heartbeat; pining Draco is a precious thing and Harry’s gentle persistence made my heart swell.

18. Stand Back: I'm About to Perform Archaeology by Blowfish_Diaries (2018, E, 9.7k)

This fic could definitely use more appreciation - I had a blast with Draco’s hilarious voice and their cute married banter! The plot is quite original and I love the 8th year domestic vibes.

19. The Full Monty by @magpiefngrl (2017, E, 9.8k)

The calendar fic we deserve 👏🏻 this is ultimate thirsty Draco being completely obliterated by Harry’s casual attractiveness but mostly by his kind heart and big smile. One of my favorite comfort reads, hilarious, sweet and so damn sexy, the full monty combo is here!

20. Aural Gratification by birdsofshore (2014, E, 10k)

This fic is a classic, charming and hysterical with an adorable Harry thirsting over Draco’s smooth voice. Such an original concept and engaging read, not to mention the rewarding shade of smut!

SMUT

21. Tense by Faith Wood (2013, E, 3k)

Me, reading smut for the dialogue? It’s more likely than you think 😂 this fic is hilarious and hot all at once, with perfect banter and clever dialogue, really a smut triumph!

22. Under Your Skin by @p1013 (2020, Explicit, 4k)

Great premise and the sexiest build up, ugh so much teasing and anticipation as pierced Draco takes Auror Harry’s control away 🔥kudos at the A+ twist and promising ending!

23. The Slytherin Urn by @icmezzo (2015, E, 4.6k)

This fic’s geniality slaps me in the face, what a fascinating concept! Redemption kink and magical theory walk together as Harry loses his mind over competent Draco doing some badass curse-breaking ritual.

24. Once Bitten by Frayach (2012, E, 5.6k)

Still one of the hottest things I’ve ever read, lush and raw and absolutely breathtaking. Dark and tender at once, it explores biting kink with unapologetic precision and I love that!

25. Matched Set by astolat (2016, E, 5.7k)

One of my faves by the genius astolat, this is a perfect mix of hot size kink, A+ dirty talk and a brilliant and nuanced plot showing how Harry navigates his post-war reality. A must-read!

26. Teeth by @amelior8or (2020, E, 6k)

This fic is an emotional rollercoaster and goes from light-hearted and casual to vulnerable and tender in a second. Hot and intimate feat scorching wall sex, gut-punching lines and enthusiastic consent🔥

27. Born Slippy by @dracoladon (2020, E, 8.3k)

My favorite clubbing fic ever, clever and sensual, a master class in UST including the drunk haze confusion and panty kink as a treat! I can’t even talk about this fic without blushing 😳

28. The Page Eleven Wars by fireflavored (2010, E, 8.5k)

Competitive boys fighting for dominance both in bed and at the gossip column’s first page This is peak enemies to lovers: witty banter, hot smut screaming switching rights and feisty stubborn idiots finally getting over their asses.

29. The Things They Never Say by @bixgirl1 (2017, E, 9k)

Angry porn with (many) feels, this feels like a punch to the solar plexus. The explosive Drarry chemistry gives way to something quieter and gentler and full of longing, ugh but it aches so good. Absolutely exquisite!

30. Sweet Indulgence by @the-sinking-ship (2020, E, 10k)

The title says it all; this is a lush and charming read, with chaotic but nuanced Draco pining over authoritative, edgy Harry 😳 steaming pent up tension that culminates in glorious semi-public smut, is your body ready?

CONTEMPLATIVE/SOFT ANGST

31. Sharing a Pack by sugar_screw (2016, E, 2.7k)

A fully fleshed-out love story in less than 3k, with complex characters and powerful feels. Raw, poignant and unbelievably romantic.

32. Still Life by orphan_account (2019, M, 3k)

A superb and gut-punching story where Harry realizes all the little things that make Draco so very different from him - and falls in love anyway. Powerful in its simplicity and concise elegance.

33. Harmony (Left-Handed Melody Remix) by mindabbles (2010, M, 5.8k)

Draco finds his way post-war and Harry meets him in the middle. Aching and bittersweet but also hopeful, with a delicious side of coconut cake, Harry in black robes and Romeo & Juliet as soundtrack.

34. Let Me Have You and I'll Let You Save Me by Frayach (2012, M, 6k)

Enemies to lovers deluxe version! Come and feast on this original narrative, amazingly clever, rich and detailed, telling us an unlikely but inevitable love story.

35. A Pain of Our Choosing by @lqtraintracks (2020, E, 6k)

Broken boys fucking through their issues and healing together during the post-war is so my jam! A+ LQT goodness, this fic is evocative and quietly devastating, but full of feels and hope.

36. Our Little Life by @tackytigerfic (2020, M, 7k)

I’ve screamed about this brilliant fic recently; inventive, poignant and utterly romantic, this fic shows all the ways in which Harry and Draco find each other across space and time.

37. the keys to your kingdom by thistle_verse (2016, E, 7.5k)

A beautiful love story packing an impressive amount of character, conflict and emotion. We are invited to witness as work partners Harry and Draco finally take a leap of faith and grow out of their casual arrangement.

38. Clear As Mud by scoradh (2005, M, 9.8k)

Subtle and heart-wrenching, the sharp and clever narrative creates fascinating dynamics between this brilliantly written Draco and poor oblivious Harry trying to make sense out of it. An all-time fave. Cw: infidelity (not Drarry).

39. fine i'll hold my breath / til i forget it's complicated by teatrolley (2015, E, 10k)

Fucks buddies gone wrong but make it soft so we get to watch as pining Draco patiently waits for Harry to get the memo. Sweet and intimate, with lots of late night talks and comfortable silence.

40. Tidings of Comfort series by @blamebrampton (2012, G, 10k)

Quietly cathartic and atmospheric, this fic is a poignant balm to the soul; such a beautiful tone, such lovely interactions! A must-read for those who enjoy church settings, honest talks and redeemed Draco. All-time fave.

[starwarsnonsense]

Best Films of 2019 (So Far)

It’s that time of year again! As most of my followers probably know, I’m an avid cinema-goer beyond Star Wars. I also quite enjoy making lists, so what’s better than a combo of the two? Below, I run down my top 10 films of 2019 so far - please note that this list is based on UK cinema release dates, so some of these films were 2018 releases elsewhere.

What are your favourites so far from this year? Let me know in replies/asks!

Honourable mentions: Toy Story 4, Long Shot, Aladdin, Alita: Battle Angel & The Kid Who Would Be King

1. The Favourite, dir. Yorgos Lanthimos

This completely wowed me - it features a trio of magnificently compelling female characters (played by Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone) operating at the court of Queen Anne (Colman is Anne, Weisz and Stone are courtiers), and is focused solely on the shifting sands of the power dynamics between them. The script is savage without sacrificing poignancy, witty without ceasing to be genuine. And while I’ve seen some react to this film as a comedy (and it certainly has laughs, most of which are closely tied to shock), for me it was very clearly a drama about the inscrutable and complicated relationships that exist between women. Specifically, it is about how those relationships run the gamut from sincere affinity to ruthless manipulation. This is an amazing movie, and it also has the best use of an Elton John song in 2019 (sorry, Rocketman!).

2. Midsommar, dir. Ari Aster

I went into this film with reservations, since I wasn’t a huge fan of Hereditary (by the same director), which I found to have extraordinary moments but iffy execution overall. This movie, however, wowed me, and I am still uncertain as to whether this or The Favourite is my top film of 2019 so far (fortunately, this gives me a good excuse to watch Midsommar three or four times in cinemas). While marketed as a freaky cult horror film, the director has described it as a fairy tale, which is the level on which is spoke to me. Midsommar follows Dani (an incredible Florence Pugh), a young woman who has suffered a terrible loss, as she travels with her boyfriend and his friends to a pagan festival in the Swedish countryside. Dani is painfully isolated, and her grief is hers to shoulder alone since her boyfriend is un-receptive and distinctly unprepared to help her. Over the course of the film, destruction and creation are conflated in ways that are frequently beautiful and horrific at the same time - this film spoke to me on a profound level, and the way it ended gave me a sense of incredible catharsis. This won’t be for everyone, for I found it to be a deeply special film and I can’t recommend it enough.

3. One Cut of the Dead, dir.  Shinichirou Ueda

While I went into The Favourite with high expectations given the talent involved, I went into this with no expectations whatsoever - and what a treat it was! One Cut of the Dead is easily one of the funniest movies I’ve seen in ears, taking what initially seems like a trite concept (a crew is filming a zombie movie at a desolate location ... only to discover that the zombies are real!) and twisting it in a truly ingenious way. The comedy is often of the broad variety, but it is consistently delightful and always manages to avoid becoming crass - the movie even has some really sweet family dynamics at the centre of it, which gives it some real emotional heft. The success of this film is heavily reliant on a major twist that occurs part-way through, so the best advice I can give you is to stay as far away from spoilers for this one as possible - go in blind, and you will be amply rewarded for your faith.

4. The Farewell, dir. Lulu Wang

I saw this following a wave of festival hype, so while I was excited I was also a bit apprehensive (since I have been burned by the aforementioned festival hype before). Thankfully, my doubts were blown away as this turned out to be just as wonderful as the early reviews had suggested. It’s a personal story about a young Asian-American woman (Awkwafina) struggling to reconcile her heritage with her current situation and values - specifically, she is tested when her grandmother is diagnosed with terminal cancer and the wider family make the decision to hide the truth from her. The Farewell does a fantastic job of generating empathy for all the different perspectives and positions in play, but it’s truly anchored by Awkwafina’s amazingly nuanced and tender performance - basically, anyone who’s ever loved a grandparent should leave this feeling incredibly moved and inspired. The themes of The Farewell are both specific to the Asian-American experience and general to anyone who has struggled with maintaining bonds over a vast distance, whether physical or cultural.           

5. Booksmart, dir. Olivia Wilde

God, how I wish I’d had this movie as a teenager! While Booksmart has a cliched premise - two high-achieving teens decide to have one wild night before graduation - it tells the story in an incredibly charming and impressively creative way (I won’t spoil it, but let me just say this - that scene with the Barbies!). As someone who was an awkward nerd with no discernible social life in high school (as you Americans call it), I found this portrayal of that peculiar limbo period very sensitive and thoughtful - it doesn’t mock or shame its heroines for being studious, and it allows them to have limits and step back from situations that make them uncomfortable. It also serves as a beautifully honest portrait of a friendship, depicting the qualities that bring people together in friendship together in the first place, as well as the forces that can break people apart. This is a very accomplished debut from Wilde, and it makes me very excited to see where she goes next as a director.

6. A Private War, dir. Matthew Heineman

This was a very suspenseful and tightly focused film about an extraordinary woman, and the film soars on the strength of Rosamund Pike’s incredible performance as Marie Colvin. She provides piercing insights into the psyche of a person so driven to pursue truth and enact change that she loses all concern for her own wellbeing - it’s simultaneously a portrait of heroism and obsession, and it’s impressive for how it handles the ambiguity inherent in Colvin’s choices. She’s exceptionally brave, but the film is unflinching in depicting the costs of her bravery. It left me feeling inspired to learn more about Colvin’s life and work, and I still need to watch the documentary Under the Wire to get more insight into the real story behind the film.

7. Fighting With My Family, dir. Stephen Merchant

This is the year of Florence Pugh - she killed it in Midsommar, and she is just as fantastic here. If anything, Fighting With My Family and Midsommar make great complements as they serve as fantastic showcases for Pugh’s range as an actor. While her character in Midsommar is fragile and vulnerable, Fighting With My Family is a platform for her strength and comedic skill. As Paige, Pugh is instantly likable and compelling - I don’t give a damn about any form of wrestling, but this film (and Pugh specifically) did a fantastic job of drawing me in and making me root for Paige’s struggle to prove herself as a legitimate force in wrestling. This is a real underdog story, and Pugh did a wonderful job as the Cinderella of the WWE.

8. Apollo 11, dir. Todd Douglas Miller

My dad has always been crazy about the space program, but I hadn’t picked up the bug myself. That changed after I watched this extraordinary documentary, which brought the Apollo 11 mission to vivid life. The footage that’s used for this documentary is extraordinarily crisp, and some moments are vividly powerful - the crew getting into their spacesuits, the swirl of fire surrounding the moment of takeoff, and the journey of the spacecraft towards the moon. It left me feeling moved and touched by human potential, especially when you remember that this all happened 50 years ago when the available technologies were so fragile and primitive. I also loved how the footage was allowed to speak for itself, with no voiceover or exposition - it’s a must-see for anyone who’s ever looked up at the stars and wondered about reaching them.

9. High Life, dir. Claire Denis

This movie is second to only Midsommar in terms of how weird it is. I saw this in a Hungarian cinema while on holiday, which made for a disorientating experience in itself. While the meaning of the film is quite elusive and I’m sure that many people will find viewing it a uniquely frustrating experience, I appreciated how it created a hothouse environment that brought out some of the ugliest aspects of humanity. Robert Pattinson was great as what comes closest to amounting to our protagonist, though he is as inscrutable and inaccessible as the film itself. I can’t quite pin down why I liked this one so much, but I know I did and it made me want to seek out more of Claire Denis’ work. 

10. Free Solo, dir. Jimmy Chin & Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi

It’s tragic that most people will only watch this documentary on a TV screen (or, so much worse, a laptop!). I was fortunate enough to see it in its full IMAX glory, and it’s rare to see any film - let alone a documentary - take such full advantage of the format. The woozy spectacle of this film is the real star, though the subject - mountain climber Alex Honnold - is also fascinating with his unnerving detachment from the magnitude of what he is setting out on. It is clearly a necessary detachment for him to be able to achieve what he achieves, but I appreciated how the filmmakers questioned it and explored its impact on his girlfriend. This is a compelling documentary, and is worth watching even if you’re not usually a fan of the genre.

[neriad13]

Favorite Media of 2020!

There was a large swathe of this year during which I was unable to concentrate on reading (as there probably was for a lot of other typically-frequent readers), so, as a result, I ended up listening to way more podcasts and watching way more TV shows. Not a bad thing, but boy did I read way less books than usual. 

However, for the first time in a while, the amount of fiction I read was about equal with the amount of nonfiction I read. Last year’s reading resolution was to read more fiction, so...success??

I did read a lot of phenomenal fiction when I had the energy to do so this year.

Books - Fiction

The Martian - Andy Weir

This book is the hardest of the hard sci fi I think I’ve ever read. Every single aspect of it is minutely researched and calculated. The author literally wrote equations to write this book. The science is insanely impressive and yet...it never loses its sense of humor or humanity in the mix. In fact, they’re the thing that drives the entire story.

Warlock Holmes - G. S. Denning

Way early in the year I was strolling down the fantasy aisle at the library, when this cover caught my eye. I took one look at it, went “oh, this looks silly” and...proceeded to devour the entire series in a matter of weeks. 

It is very silly. Especially when it’s pointing out something that was silly in the original. There’s something so satisfying about Watson immediately answering Holmes with the correct number of steps in their flat when he’s trying to make his point about how most people don’t pay attention to things like that.

World War Z - Max Brooks

Every single scenario in here could easily support an entire book. A park ranger whose job it is to contain the yearly zombie spring thaw? HECK YES. I’d read tens of thousands of words about that. A Chinese admiral who defaults, steals the government’s premier submarine, loads it up with the families of his underlings and takes to the sea for years to live in the maritime economy that has sprung up in a world where everyone is trying to escape the shore? That could be an entire movie on its own. 

Every chapter was more creative than the last and as a huge worldbuilding fan, this book was so, so fun.

An Unkindness of Ghosts - Rivers Solomon

In which a queer, neurodivergent protagonist solves a mystery on a spaceship which is a microcosm of antebellum era politics! This had a beautiful, mysterious, wonder-inducing writing style and it was a joy to peer into the wildly differing minds of every single character.

Books - Nonfiction

Underland - Robert MacFarlane

In every chapter, the author visits a different hole. Basically.

It’s an exploration of caves, catacombs, mines, nuclear waste facilities and the hidden underbelly of every forest. It was fascinating. And fundamentally changed how I look at time.

Rejected Princesses - Jason Porath

After years of having enjoyed the web entries, I finally got my hands on the first book and was not disappointed. 

There are the more entertaining entries, of course and the art is as charming as always, but what struck me the most were the more difficult stories. The deeper you go into this book, the more horrific it gets. The author does not hold back on the indignities suffered by the historical figures he writes about. It’s terrible...but also very, very illuminating.

The Gift of Fear - Gavin De Becker

This book - while maintaining all the essential information in it - could be pared down to one sentence in a sea of blank pages and that sentence would be: trust your instincts. End of story.

But in a world where instincts are either customarily suppressed or going haywire, it’s not quite that easy, which is why I’m glad there is more to the book.

I picked it up thinking “ha ha, betcha can’t help a person with anxiety who fears all the time already” and...what it actually ended up doing was giving me the tools to differentiate between real fear and unfounded fear. And did help with the anxiety quite a bit.

Fanfiction

Watch Over Me - cakeisatruth

A Bioshock fic from the point of view of a little sister who is learning how to trust and be an ordinary child again. Dark and sweet. An excellent combo.

All That is Visible - Ultima_Thule

An exploration of a minor character in a well researched historical context? That’s my jam! How did they know?? A Tron fic about what it’s like to be a female programmer in the 70s.

Graphic Novels

The Adventure Zone - McElroys + Carey Pietsch

Yesssssssss! It was a running-to-the-library type event whenever my library got a new volume in. The jokes are so good, the art is so lively and the ways in which they added the details that the podcast couldn’t necessarily get across is *mwah*

Trail of Blood - Shuuzou Oshimi

Hoooooooly shit, the art style of this one!! It’s beautifully detailed and expressive, sure, but the real draw for me was how it changes with the emotional state of the main character. There’s this sequence in which he’s consumed with anxiety at school and all of his classmates become blurry and unfocused, until they can’t be recognized as humans at all, that particularly sticks with me.

It’s a horror story about a kid who witnesses his loving mother push his cousin off a cliff for seemingly no reason and is then obligated by her to keep the secret, which is eating him from the inside out. It’s so good, guys, please read it.

Level Up - Gene Lien Yang/Thien Pham

A story about a kid who is haunted by his late father’s desire for him to become a gastroenterologist. It’s funny and touching and the ending gave me what I can only describe as a feeling of exhilaration. Y’know that feeling when something unexpected but not out of left field, perfectly in tune with the narrative arc and gut bustingly funny happens, all in the same panel? That one.

Film

Searching

This is a fairly standard thriller about a dad trying to find out what happened to his missing daughter. It’s also found footage...but not in the usual way, which was what made it so compelling to me. It’s told through the dad’s phone calls, google searches, social media interactions, news footage, security cameras and webcams. It was such a cool way to tell a story.

Train to Busan

There’s a lot that’s already been said about this movie and I don’t think there’s much more I can meaningfully add to that. Suffice to say that ya gotta take care of each other if you’re going to survive a zombie apocalypse!!

TV Series

My Brother’s Husband

As close to a perfect adaptation as a person can get (barring the entire conversation in English which was...oof). I was so happy when they took it a step further and showed Kana and Yaichi actually getting to meet Mike’s family.

Zumbo’s Just Desserts

I watched a lot of baking shows this year. Like...a lot. They were my much-needed comfort viewing for the year and this one was my favorite, even over The Great British Baking Show (which I LOVE). Why? Because the pastry chef for whom it’s named makes such bizarre and wonderful desserts and fosters an environment in which the competitors do the same. I’ve never seen anything like a lot of the desserts that make an appearance on this show. Every single episode was an awesome surprise and so help me, this show had better get a third season.

She-ra and the Princesses of Power

There’s also a lot that’s been said about this one, so I won’t say much more. Suffice to say: DAMN. That’s how you do an 80s toy tie-in cartoon remake.

Infinity Train

This show’s premise is probably the most unique I’ve seen in recent years. Its balance of comedy, horror and existential dread is also *mwah* I also love how much it trusts the viewer to figure things out on their own.

Primal

A late entry sliding in before the year ends! I finally got to watch the second half of the first season last weekend and it was EXCELLENT. The pacing, the brutal fight scenes, the adorable dinosaur antics, the animation, the quiet moments - *mwah-mwah-mwah-mwah-mwah*

The most emotional moment for me was the part in which the protagonists watch, with sorrow, as the rabid dinosaur who’s been trying to kill them all night dies an excruciating death.

Also it sets up a fascinating new plotline right before ending in a cliffhanger!! Another one for the ‘had better get a next season’ list.

Games

Night in the Woods

This is one that’s been on my to play list for a few years and I was so glad I finally got my hands on it. It’s like...The Millennial Experience (TM), the game. I felt so seen, playing it. The character writing was fantastic.

Prey

I don’t know why I put off finishing this for so long. I guess I wasn’t in the right alien killing headspace for a while?? Anyway, the setting is gorgeous, the alien biology is weird and cool, the ethics are delightfully murky and the interconnectedness of the station was really cool, especially in the OH SHIT moments at the end. 

Podcasts

The Adventure Zone

I tried to narrow this down to one favorite arc, but found that I couldn’t do it. I love Balance for its comedy and creative energy. I love Amnesty for its drama and acting. I am loving Graduation for the depth of its world and the way in which the real story behind everything that’s happened is slowly unfurling. It’s a good podcast all around.  

The Magnus Archives

Who obsessively listened to every single season while playing Minecraft in about a month? Surely not me, nooooo. Of course not.

There’s also been a lot said on this one, so I’ll keep it brief. I’ve seen things in here that I haven’t really seen elsewhere in horror. My particular favorites were the creepy psychiatric hospital in which the horror comes not from the patients, but from the denial of the doctor to believe them about their mental illnesses and every single thing related to the Anthropocene. The one with the Amazonian village made out of trash - CHILLS.

[paperclipninja]

Younger post-ep ramble 6x12

So we've reached the end of yet another season of Younger and it seems like it only started 5 mins ago but also the premiere ep feels like 5 months ago and I'm sitting somewhere between denial and not coping because WHAT WAS THAT ENDING??? How are you all holding up? Holy shamole, the season 6 finale, 'Forever' (named because that's how long it's going to feel between this ep and the season 7 premiere), gave us a lot to process.

Picking up the day after the last episode, this week opens with Kelsey letting Liza know that it's her last day at Millennial, which triggers one of my fave scenes of the season as Liza dashes up to Charles' office to intercept Kelsey's 'Dear John' resignation letter before he sees it.  One thing I have always loved about Liza is that despite the entire premise of the show up until this season being Liza's lie, she is so awful at actually lying, which is fab for us because Sutton Foster's comedic genius that comes out of her awkward over-explaining is golden. Charles knows she's lying, Liza knows he knows she's lying, the way Charles says 'I won't report you to HR' after Liza says she's taking the letter back because it's inappropriate almost calls for a fire blanket *fans self*, the entire exchange is SO good and somehow continues to get better when Liza decides to tell Charles that the 'really sexy stuff' is actually in the form of a limerick (I also love that he knows it's not her handwriting, I don't know why, I am simple folk and might be imagining that they leave little notes around for each other...). I want to read that limerick.

Kelsey finally catches up and props to her for even being able to walk let alone run in that amazing pink leather skirt, and she saves Liza from herself by informing Charles that she is in fact resigning and hands over her letter (which I also want to read btw). The delightful dynamic that's been developing between Kelsey and Charles these past few episodes continues as Charles implores her to take a leave, that she's too important and when Kelsey goes to shake his hand, which then turns into a hug and it's sweet and lovely, the way she leans on his arm is so daughterly and emphasises the 'family' theme of the season and seriously, I just wanted to see more of these two working together then this happened and all I was thinking at this point was, why aren't we allowed nice things?

Oh but we are, as I was quickly reminded by Diana Trout in the most incredible purple suit and turquoise accessories combo. Everything about her and this outfit belongs on an aspirational poster. We discover that Liza has deputized Lauren for some maid of honour duties and that about a week has passed since Kelsey left. Diana's strained, 'WE'RE HAPPY' is deceived by her shouting (as well as Lauren pointing out that both Diana and Liza's offices are out of Kleenex, ya know, because of crying and whatnot and p.s. I'm not ok at the thought of Queen Trout office crying), but the expression that flashes across her face oh so briefly when Liza says Kelsey's coming to the wedding is real happiness and relief (have I mentioned this week how amazing Miriam Shor is with her ability to say so much with just a look?). 

I have absolutely adored seeing the relationship between Diana, Liza and Kelsey develop and grow this season, and Diana's reactions to her being able to attend the wedding but not the spa day speaks volumes to the genuine love and friendship they share. 'How can you be so bad at this maid of honour stuff? You're a thousand years old, this can't be your first rodeo'- I'm not even saying anything about that line, I just wanted to put it in my ramble somehow because it is so stellar it needs to be here because Diana giving Liza a hard time about her age now is everything and then some.

While Liza and Diana are heading to the Uncle Joe meeting, Kelsey and Zane are having a meeting of their own in the park. Kelsey reveals that she's branching out on her own and wants to give him her pitch for feedback. Zane offers her some advice, 'don't do it' and also suggests Kelsey check her ego, which in every other season and even the first part of this one I would've been saying 'YESSS, boom!' but now, not so much. But also a little bit. I am still quite confused about this whole dynamic and don't know if I like it or if I care. I liked Kelsey's response, 'with respect, my resume looks different to yours', she seemed very level headed, though it became evident fairly quickly that this conversation was less about work and more about their relationship for Zane. Zane saying she thought stepping down as publisher was her worst moment, he thought she was awesome, he wanted to be there for her was lovely and supportive and the confusion remains, Zane was being sweet but also maybe not? I'm not sure. There is definitely some truth in the fact that Kelsey does tend to play the victim (or has in the past at least). Regardless, Kelsey's expression as she was there on her own on the bench after Zane walked off oozed sadness, someone give that woman a hug.

Meanwhile at Uncle Joe's, aka Enzo's 'small g' godfather (I love the running gag of Enzo reassuring Diana he's not connected to the mafia), Diana, Enzo and Liza are in for a treat as the ice sculpture is revealed (LOL at Liza asking if it's the heart piece and complimenting it only to be told, 'no that's for a dog funeral'). A trout coming out of a toilet is honestly the greatest thing I could never have imagined, it is so literal and enormous and I love that someone actually had to make it and I think we were all Liza as she stated, 'I under-prepared'. Liza has her maid of honour duties cut out for her, but deploys two people who will definitely ensure the Trout/toilet masterpiece will never see the light of day. Maggie buttering up Joe to distract him is way too easy and then Lauren...what are you doing? You don't need to take your underwear off mate, take the pic with the safety of knicker fabric. I legit crossed my legs as the whole thing unfolded. I've gotta hand it to Uncle Joe for so calmly accompanying Lauren to the office to get the first aid kit despite his masterpiece being destroyed.

Before Maggie tackles the ice sculpture we see her once again being the oracle of the show when Kelsey rocks up at the loft looking for Liza (who Maggie says is in Queens and 'said something about Ice Capades, which is so Liza' - of course Liza would love theatrical figure skating). Can we just take a minute to appreciate how goddamn amazing Maggie looks in this episode? Her dress/headband combo in the scene with Kelsey is divine and I am in complete admiration of anyone who sits around at home dressed like that, fully made up and accessorised. If anyone turns up to my place unexpectedly I spend a good couple of minutes shouting 'just a minute' while I run around frantically trying to swap out pyjama pants with, well, not pyjama pants. Actual goddess. Kelsey being humble after a whole lot of tough pitches, 'maybe Zane was right, I let my ego get in the way', really shows the growth this character has had this season, and Maggie peps her with, 'do you still believe in yourself?' before suggesting that, 'sometimes you have to get into bed with the devil'. Turns out there's some kind of excellent story attached to how Maggie got her loft and I do love a tease, would love to see the follow up down the track (WHO did she get into bed with is all I wanna know).

Even though it's fairly obvious who Kelsey is going to get cosy with to try and secure some cashola, as she finishes her pitch (which is pretty darn amazing lbh), the reveal of Quinn at the end of the table is so damn fabulous. KLP Print is definitely up there with the worst names (seems it's true Younger style to intro terrible publishing house names in finales, shoutout to last year's Chick(y) and Kelsey using her initials as the title is so basic when she never is that it's really funny). My love of Quinn is no secret and I have to say, I would have LOVED to see an exploration of those two working together again properly. Fortunately we get more Quinn when she interrupts Liza and Charles at lunch. Liza is talking about how much pressure she's feeling and I know it's not the most interesting conversation but it's real stuff that people in real relationships talk about and I get that it's not everyone's cup of tea, but I just adore seeing Liza being so open with Charles about how she's feeling and Charles always listening with understanding and in this case, suggesting a vacation. 

Liza seems quite caught off guard by the proposition of a merging-of-the-families trip to Scotland, though her smile when Charles says, 'I thought it was time we all get to know each other a little better', indicates she is up for it (once she checks with Caitlin, which we can take as confirmation she is in fact alive, she has been located and she is ok. No word yet on Beth). Also, my sappy little heart when Liza says, 'if WE leave the girls with Caitlin’, Liza defaulting to her and Charles and the girls as a little unit, not to mention that she's thinking that this trip will involve her and Charles getting some time alone together *le sigh*. But back to Quinn, I am here for icy Liza and Charles and Laura Benanti's ability to convey such a sense of not caring at all about what people think is incredible. As Quinn teases that she's teaming up with someone 'who used to work for you or with you or beside you, it's always so confusing over there' (these lines and delivery I swear) the actual award goes to her exiting line, 'my biggest donor is over there. Watching him eat is the hardest thing I do'. Actual laughing out loud. And yes Charles and Liza, it can be Kelsey (and spoiler alert: it is).

Now part of the reason Liza was late to her maid of honour duties earlier in the ep is because she discovered that a book pitch meeting has been booked for the day before the big wedding. I hate this author so much. He is the actual worst of any author I can remember pitching on this show, I just wanted him to go away the moment he started talking (he reminds me a bit of the boss from The IT Crowd for anyone playing at home who knows that show). The only purpose he served IMO was to get Redmond on our screen, which was totally worth it if only to hear him try to have a dig at Diana but only able to come up with, 'you,...you are ageless'. The other highlight of the scene is Diana's retort to Redmond having yet another swipe at her and Liza being there sans Kesley and that is Diana's 'you know what they say? IHL...it's her loss. They don't say that, do they?' to which Liza responds, ' I don't...I'm not sure'. I am outright obsessed with Diana and Liza and need them in every possible scenario please and thank you.

Don't get me wrong, Michael Urie delivers every zinger like noone else, but this whole scene in the context of the episode felt like a hark back to the OTT ageist jokes of season 1 and it all felt like it was for the sake of it tbh (though ‘elderly dithering’ still makes me chuckle)  I get it, JOMO, giving up the imaginary, alternate life to be in the real one, very much building on the set up of Liza leaving behind her 26 year old life, but this was 2 mins and 41 seconds that could have been wedding time. I would've honestly watched a whole ep of Diana getting ready and the wedding very happily, but I appreciate that there was a lot that needed to be addressed, so even a couple more mins would've been wonderful and could've served this episode more than that insufferable author and pretty pointless pitch (plus Redmond was invited to the wedding so we could've had Redmond and bonus wedding time so win win! Next time...).

It was nice to see Kelsey and Liza out having a drink and catching up. Liza once again assures Kelsey that she supports her in whatever she does but makes it quite clear that she thinks going into business with Quinn is a terrible idea. Kelsey then fills Liza in on what Josh is up to, Liza fills Kelsey in on their convo from the week before that did not go down so well and Kelsey isn't surprised because apparently Liza is 'kind of the most important woman in his life who isn't teething'. You know what? That actually made me really sad. I mean, Josh and Liza have not been in a romantic relationship for what, 18 months or two years? He lives with Kelsey and Lauren, has a great relationship with Maggie, (I'm not dense btw, I understand why this line is there), but Josh not having any other women who he would consider important in his life despite all these amazing female friends?

One thing I was enjoying about Josh this season was his moving forward and having a purpose. After last season's terrible stagnation for his character, seeing him reestablish a relationship with Claire, have a baby, his friendship with Lauren continuing to evolve, it was all looking so on track. Then these past couple of episodes, I feel like he's had a massive regression again and I just feel bad for the character and think that surely he can serve a purpose beyond pining for Liza because he did that already for the whole of season 5. I do like that Liza is sticking with her mantra of making choices in life, of refocusing on other things, on new horizons and I do believe she's really trying, but her fickleness is certainly a constant struggle for her throughout the whole series. More and more, especially since the lie came out, I'm seeing Liza's longing for or looking back more at the life of a 26 year old and it'll be interesting to see if it's Josh she's actually feeling she's missing out on or the life he represented (and which there's no reason she can't live aspects of now). Liza's forlorn expression when Kelsey toasts to 'no looking back' has also been making quite a few appearances these past few eps.

Aside from my fave terrible person Quinn, my other favourite recurring guest this season has been Infinitely 21's Shelly. As she and Josh are finalising the Inkburg Midtown details, her unquenchable thirst once again becomes apparent as she tells him, 'we all want a piece of you..I keep saying piece, I don't even know why' (I love Josh's, 'it happens', I mean how do you even respond to someone like Shelly?)  As Shelly and Josh go through his look book to find some pieces appropriate for a 'tat and scat', Shelly of course sees the hourglass and loves it but Josh, dude, why is it in the look book if it was a one off? C'mon. Again, I get it for the story and Shelly is on it, 'please don't say you forgot who she is'. Oh sweet, innocent Shelly, if only you knew.

Ok, now the reason we're all here, THE event of the year and that of course is the Royal Wedding. Everyone looks amazing (Maggie = wowsers!) and I have made no secret of my excitement at seeing the whole Younger fam glammed up at an event together. It's really happening!!! Liza has finally figured out her maid of honour gig as she welcomes guests, including Enzo's mother who proclaims she saw a crow flying upside down on the way to the church, 'it's a bad omen', to which Liza accurately and hilariously replies, 'especially for the crow'.

Upon hearing from Liza that Kelsey wants something that she owns, Charles finds himself a seat next to Kelsey in the church and oh my heart. I honestly never anticipated that I would be gushing about the relationship between these two characters, despite the fact I had it as a wish for season 6, it has exceeded my expectations. Charles' sincerity in offering Kelsey a stake in the company, asserting that she is family, 'I knew that the day you sacrificed everything you wanted to save us', ok it was me who took all the Kleenex from Diana and Liza's offices because EMOTIONS. His gratitude is genuine and deep, I mean never mind that it was her drunken error that caused the issue, Charles' whole refocus on the importance of the people around him this season really lead to this wonderful moment and he leaves the ball in her court knowing he has done all he can to show Kelsey that she really is valued.

Liza helping Diana from the car, OH. EM. GEE I am in love. Diana and Liza's friendship is my highlight of this entire season and this exchange did not disappoint. Diana looks so amazing. Her necklace that Liza helped Enzo pick out has it's own moons probably and Diana telling Liza that 'as a maid of honour you're slow burn but in the end you're white hot' was almost too much but also exactly the right amount. Fun fact: When you look up the meaning of magnificent in the dictionary you get this gif of the doors opening on Diana as she waits to enter the church. She is composed and beautiful and as she walks towards the beaming Enzo, Kesley and Zane are rekindling, which is sweet but again, who knows for how long?  There's just so much happiness and love in the air! It is everything I ever hoped for and more. I do wish we'd heard the vows and/or seen the 'I now pronounce you husband and wife' though, I am legit sad that we didn't see at least a little bit of the ceremony. 

We also have Josh turning up as the plus one, ok yes, it makes sense Lauren would invite him but also, have some self respect man. On the one hand I get it, when you are so infatuated with someone you will do anything to see them, but Liza specifically asked for some space so I am struggling to understand why he would accept the invite or at least not text Liza and give her a heads up or ask if she minds or something you know? Again, I know it's TV and there needs to be the DRAH-MAH etc. In saying that, the tattoo conversation I actually thought was lovely. 

Prior to that though, my dream of seeing everyone at the event together is realised, we see Maggie's ice sculpture and the hint at a Maggie and Lauren rekindling (also, Liza going over to Charles in the background and cosying up to him, I see you). We do catch the end of Diana and Enzo's first dance and hear Diana referred to as Mrs. DeLuca. Enzo giving her a hard time about her eye twitch every time she is called that is so freaking adorable and Diana and Enzo together are adorable IT'S JUST ALL ADORABLE and seeing Diana so relaxed and happy is honestly everything and yes, I'M GUSHING. Again.

I do like that Josh calls himself out, that it is super weird seeing him at the wedding. Because it really is. Josh looked devastated at Liza's initial response to the tattoo question and to me, it’s because her saying he can use it is like she's so willing to let go of him that she doesn't even want to preserve anything from the time they were together. I think that for Josh, her answer was indicative of whether she was really closing him out of her life for good. I'm finding the use of flashbacks (last week in the montage this week with the tattoo) interesting in these Josh/Liza interactions, it's not something the show has ever really done before and while last week's certainly felt like a poignant reflection, I can't help but wonder if it's also serving the purpose of reminding the audience of the relationship that once was in an effort to get viewers on side with it again (obviously many viewers never stopped wanting them together). 

But I do completely understand Liza's decision not to want anyone else to have the tattoo. It is theirs, it signifies an important part of her life and their relationship and this scene did what Younger does so infuriatingly well. Last year it was the cacao dream and this year it is this scene, there is enough ambiguity to interpret this scene as either closure and a transition of Josh and Liza's relationship away from anything romantic or for those fans of the Josh and Liza romance, it allows for hope that it may reignite one day. It was left open and closed enough to go either way.

The moment I heard 'Take my breath away' playing, I swear, I could not BELIEVE my ears. I never thought this show would do something so cliche yet here we are and I loved every second of it. Liza calling it 'our song', asking Charles if he asked them to play it and the way he answered I AM DYING (note to self - any episode that plays this Berlin hit will involve a proposal). Seeing Liza and Charles slow dancing on that dance floor was everything, I am such a sucker for a couple dancing like this and it was perfect, I may be melting into a puddle of goo just thinking about the way he holds her hand so close to his heart (though Liza's apprehensive look about the Scotland trip wasn't a fave, she seemed pretty relieved to be able to get out of that one). There I was watching, my simple mind and face grinning at the dancing when suddenly I hear the word honeymoon. I'm sorry, WHAT?! Ok, so I, along with many others I'm sure, had an inkling there might be a proposal. I have to say that in my mind Charles Brooks would never propose at someone else’s wedding, HOWEVER he himself has admitted to being impulsive when it comes to matters of the heart and the moving in conversation from episode 8 was when my cogs began to turn and wonder if we mightn't see something like this play out.

I LOVE how he's just speaking softly into her ear, it's so damn intimate and as Charles begins his beautiful speech there's a smile that flashes across Liza's face as she computes what's happening, because she's a human person who has the most romantic monologue ever being delivered to her. His pause as he says 'with...everything about you' ugh, his love for her is palpable in that moment, I seriously need a lie down just from writing about it. Kelsey barging in with 'I do, I DO, I've been trying to think of a reason not to say yes but there isn't one' (listen to your friend Liza, she is wise) is so perfect, it's SO Younger, her answer being the answer Liza should've been giving (and the fact she didn’t setting up the cliffhanger rather nicely). Meanwhile, Liza is trying not to have a panic attack as all the fab women band together to ‘We are family’, but as she gets caught in the middle of the conga line, Charles expectant and hopeful and her smiling, they share that moment between the two of them despite the chaos around them, as their eyes remain locked across the room.

The beauty of television is that you get on for the ride and you never know where you might end up. At the start of the season I certainly wouldn't have thought waiting to hear Liza's response to Charles proposing would be the finale cliffhanger and I'm not sure how I feel about it to be honest, but you know what the only good thing about a 9 month hiatus between seasons is? We get 9 months to speculate and theorise and re-watch the whole series a normal number of times *cough* and digest it all.

And that, folks, is another season of our fave show done. I do plan to do a season review at some point, but I just want to thank all of you who indulge me by reading the excessive number of words I plonk on a page week after week, the interactions and feedback are wonderful and I really appreciate it all. 

I guess it’s time to get back to those real life responsibilities I’ve been ignoring the past 3 months (though JOMO, amirite?).   

[comicteaparty]

June 8th-June 14th, 2020 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party week long chat that occurred from June 8th, 2020 to June 14th, 2020.  The chat focused on Devil Tongue by Samuel Soto-Saines and Lucas Soto.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

Comic Tea Party

BOOK CLUB START!

Hello and welcome everyone to Comic Tea Party’s Book Club~! This week we’ll be focusing on Devil Tongue by Samuel Soto-Saines and Lucas Soto~! (https://deviltonguecomic.com/)

You are free to read and comment about the comic all week at your own pace until June 14th, so stop on by whenever it suits your schedule! Discussions are freeform, but we do offer discussion prompts in the pins for those who’d like to have them. Additionally, remember that while constructive criticism is allowed, our focus is to have fun and appreciate the comic! Whether you finish the comic or can only read a few pages, everyone is welcome to join and chat with us!

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 1

1. What did you like about the beginning of the comic?

2. What has been your favorite moment in the comic (so far)?

3. Who is your favorite character?

4. Which characters do like seeing interact the most?

5. What is something you like about the art? If you have a favorite illustration, please share it!

6. What is a theme you like that the comic explores?

7. What do you like about the comic’s story or overall related content?

8. Overall, what do you think the comic’s strengths are?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

mariah (rainy day dreams)

1. I really appreciated how this comic felt really authentically shonen manga right off the bat without feeling tropey or overwrought. 2. I liked when the protagonists confront the ghost in the theater. I just really enjoyed the ghosts dialogue and dramatic jestures. 3. Moira is my fav so far. She's got a sword and seems capable, though is also still an apprentice so I'm looking forward to seeing how she grows.

boogeymadam

1, ALL THE CATS!! :D but more seriously, the way the characters are introduced through their job, and yet their personalities still shine through~ 2, i liked the scene when they're leaving the Lemaire house and walking on a dark misty neighborhood street at night. It's so atmospheric and perfect for their discussion on what kind of ghost their target might be, as well as what kinda threats it may pose :0 3, I can't decide, they're all interesting. Leera was introduced last but I like her enthusiasm! 2, Moira and Leera during the scene where Moira is explaining tinctures to Leera. Moira's so goal oriented and focused while messing with some apprently-very-dangerous stuff and Leera's just trying to avoid boredom. Moira seemed patient of Leera (for the most part) and willing to explain stuff, which was cool. It made me smile. 5, Oh Man, a lot!! The lines are so very clean and precise, every characters' silhouttes is distinct. It's hard to pick which page is my favorite, but I'd have to say https://deviltonguecomic.com/comic/chapter-01-page-32/ because of all the dynamic angles and expressions on the characters. 6, Pupils taking over from the mentor. I like how Emery is allowing his pupil, Moira, to prove herself, and she seems extremely eager to do so and also: good at it! I can only imagine what Emery is like at this job :0 8, A fun and classic premise of paranormal investigators, of a sort, but with magic of their own, making it even more interesting. It's easy to root for the protagonists and feel curious about what got them into this business, or what they were like before they reached this level of fame and skill. And also, there are talking cats!! Huge draw!

mariah (rainy day dreams)

I agree with your #6 Boogey. I do really like how Emery is like "I'm just here to mentor, this is Moira's job." I like seeing the apprentice really get to take point on the mission. I did see though on the cast page that Emery's magic type is just "?????" which definitely makes me what to see him throw down some magic now XD very curious what it is

boogeymadam

OHHH i hadn't spotted that! a secret, how exciting :0c

copperine (Lady Changeling)

I'm not familiar with this one, but I'm intrigued now (and should stop reading this channel till I've read the comic...)

I'll read in the morning and try to give some thoughts

RebelVampire

What I like about the beginning is the character development. Cause we get a lot of it and find out things like Emery being an ex-magician, his relationship with Moira, etc. Yet, at the same time, the plot is not sacrificed and the story is still moved along smoothly, which is a great balancing act. My favorite moment in the comic so far is actually all the times Emery feigns that he doesn't care but then we get those shots of him peeking and spying. I find those adorable but just also really nice character moments. My favorite character at the moment is Emery. I like aloof characters and he fits that bill. I also like his general cynicism about life. Emery is the sort of character who I'd have as a friend in real life. XD As for characters interacting the most, probably Leera and a combo of Emery and Moira. Leera has pretty different motivations for being there, is somewhat opposite in personality from the main pair, and just all around adds an interesting dynamic too the group that kind of makes certain elements of the story seem more grounded. I really just in general love the comic's linework. Not only is everything super clean (making the action easy to follow), but it really knows how to bulk up the shadows to create specific atmospheres that really work for each panel and add so much to each scene.

In terms of themes, I like that the comic somewhat explores with Emery the concept of what to do with your life after your previous life fails. I think we all kind of like to believe we'll do X forever and X comes to define us in a lot of ways. But then suddenly X might not be there and it's like, what is life now? How do I deal with life? And with Emery, I do think we get to kind of experience one path that kind of takes. What I like about the comic's overall content is the...strange mix of fantasy and realism. I can't really put it into words. Like this is definitely a fantasy story, yet there's elements of realism thrown in I wouldn't expect. Like things are almost scarily normal in some respects like the houses or journalism, etc. So everything about the world really intrigues me since it feels super unique in tone. Finally, for strengths, I'm referring back to the art here. I think the atmosphere the art adds to each scene really helps give the comic that extra oomph.

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

Everyone's covered all the stuff I like about the characters, so let me just throw in some extra praise for the backgrounds. Those elaborate buildings! That towering opera-house interior! That one sequence with light streaming through elegantly-patterned windows!

Comic Tea Party

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 2

9. What do you think Emery did that caused him to be exiled by the Magician Order? How does this factor into his general cynicism and bitterness? Also, do you think Emery will ever be a magician again?

10. How do you think Moira became Emery’s apprentice despite Emery being an ex-magician? Similarly, why do you think Moira hasn’t joined up with the Magician Order? As the story develops, how do you think Moira will grow and change as a magician?

11. Besides following Emery and Moira around, what role do you think Leera will have in the story? How might Leera’s presence hurt or help the duo on each case? Also, how will Leera change as she experiences things firsthand?

12. How do you think Moira and Emery will resolve the haunted opera house situation? Can the kidnapped girl be saved, or is she truly gone forever? Additionally, what other sorts of cases do you expect to see after this one?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

RebelVampire

Honestly, I get the impression that Emery was good but also just a rebellious rule breaker type. So he probably got exiled for just not fitting in with the club regardless of anything else he might have done. Which to me would explain the cynicism cause it would show him how much of life is just a popularity contest. As for being a magician again, maybe, but the bigger question is would he want to? My current theory for Moira was that she's just ill-suited to the order. I'm sure she's heard awful things about it from Emery, so why join team lame when you can join Emery and be on team winner. As for how Moira will grow, I think she'll just learn to take things a bit more seriously and mature (though probably still pretty happy and excited). I've talked about Leera a bit already, but I think her major role in the story is the grounding element and reader's eyes. Cause someone needs to ask questions for the readers, and I think that will be Leera. But in terms of plot, I also think Leera will just help them get more work by spreading their name to lands far and wide. I think in terms of how Leera will change, I think mostly she'll maybe find better things to publish about and the power she wields with words. I think the kidnapped girl can be saved, but that it needs to be done quickly. As for how this will ultimately resolve, I assume epic battle followed by emotional ghost revelations. As for other sorts of cases, I actually am expecting lots of drama ones with heavy emotional reveals from side characters. I could be wrong, but that feels like the route the comic is going. O_O

Comic Tea Party

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 3

13. What are you most looking forward to seeing in regards to the comic?

14. Any final words of encouragement for the comic?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

Ryccomics

1. What did you like about the beginning of the comic? Very good dynamic introduction between Moira and Emery. Very quickly and effectively I understood Emery is an older cynic, and Moira is the energetic and out to prove herself. 2. What has been your favorite moment in the comic (so far)? The magic reveal of what the potions/chemicals do is fun. I do not really understand how they work at this time, and I don’t really need to. 3. Who is your favorite character? Mauretta, she’s a lot of fun in design, and she gets to talk more than usual character type. I’m not sure what this character type would be called, but I’m going with person who starts the Scooby Doo mystery. 4. Which characters do like seeing interact the most? Moira and Emery have good chemistry. Having the young rookie be more powerful than the experienced partners adds to the dynamic. 5. What is something you like about the art? If you have a favorite illustration, please share it!

So much going on in this panel. All 5 characters are doing something. 6. What is a theme you like that the comic explores? I don’t have an answer yet, because how this encounter goes will shape the narrative, everyone could die. It could be resolved peacefully, it could wrap like a monster of the week story, or lead to bigger things. 7. What do you like about the comic’s story or overall related content? I like the map in FAQ area of site is cool. Gives information for those who want it, but can be safely ignored by those that don’t. 8. Overall, what do you think the comic’s strengths are? I like your line art, a lot. The silhouettes read really well. And when working in black and white having distinct shapes is so important, you’ve color code your characters. 9. What do you think Emery did that caused him to be exiled by the Magician Order? How does this factor into his general cynicism and bitterness? Also, do you think Emery will ever be a magician again? I know from the Cast FAQ, he broke their laws, in what contest will tell a lot about Emery and the Order. I am a little unclear what the Magicians are at this points, how powerful they are in this society. Are the Magicians outside of the Magician’s order?

10. How do you think Moira became Emery’s apprentice despite Emery being an ex-magician? Similarly, why do you think Moira hasn’t joined up with the Magician Order? As the story develops, how do you think Moira will grow and change as a magician? I think Moira will have to confront what caused Emery’s cynicism. I expect she will get more powerful as the story begins. 11. Besides following Emery and Moira around, what role do you think Leera will have in the story? How might Leera’s presence hurt or help the duo on each case? Also, how will Leera change as she experiences things firsthand? I Leera’s role will be mainly to ensure the characters get back onto the plot. Most stories have some form of this function, whether it is the Greek gods, a ticking clock to motivate the characters to act right now Given she works for a newspaper, she can prod the characters to do news worthy things. 12. How do you think Moira and Emery will resolve the haunted opera house situation? Can the kidnapped girl be saved, or is she truly gone forever? Additionally, what other sorts of cases do you expect to see after this one? I feel it will have a happy ending, monster defeated girl saved. This is because the character dynamics would change really drastically if Moira had to confront extreme darkness so early, she would get cynical. 13. What are you most looking forward to seeing in regards to the comic? Will be interesting to see how the combat functions with regard to group dynamics, are the other characters going to plan a part in the combat, or are they on the sidelines. 14. Any final words of encouragement for the comic? I was sad when it ended.

RebelVampire

I am looking forward to finding out more about Emery and what Emery is capable of despite the circumstances. As for final words, this is just a lovely comic with tons of unique aspects about it that I really like.

Comic Tea Party

BOOK CLUB END!

Thank you everyone so much for reading and chatting about Devil Tongue this week! Please also give a special thank you to Samuel Soto-Saines and Lucas Soto for volunteering the comic and creating it! If you liked Devil Tongue, make sure to continue to support it via some of the links below!

Read and Comment: https://deviltonguecomic.com/

Devil Tongue’s Story: https://deviltonguecomic.com/store/

Samuel’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/sainezart

Lucas’ Twitter: https://twitter.com/lucaswordcraft

[allhailbolas]

What are you looking for?

When thinking about commander's philosophy, we identified that one of the most important things when sitting down for a game is making sure that each player can get the experience they're looking for. For that to work, we have to know what we ourself are looking for. Identifying our goals and the anticipated experience can be quite tricky but we'll try to tackle it here.

There are many motivations for playing magic. To break them down and analyze them, we'll look into the main psychographics, as described by Mark Rosewater here:

https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/timmy-johnny-and-spike-revisited-2006-03-20-2

https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/vorthos-and-mel-2015-08-31

The psychographics

The basic breakdown is into Txmmy, Jxnny, and Spike on the motivation side, and Mel and Vorthos on the appreciation side; the three original psychographics are about why you play, and the other two about in which way you enjoy the game's aesthetics.

Txmmys want to experience something, they are looking for fun and enjoyment, which can be found in hilarious and big, swingy plays. They want to see fun interactions in the game and between the players. They embrace variance and randomness, going with the flow of the game and the hands they're dealt.

Jxnnys are looking for a way to express themselves. Expression can be about cleverness, creativity, personality, and uniqueness. Jxnnys love deckbuilding, potentially even more than playing. Their decks can be very thematic and weird, including unusual cards and subtle synergies that (hopefully) no-one has ever thought of before them. Convoluted combos are their jam, as are constraining themes and exploring out-of-the-box ideas.

And then there is Spike. Spikes want to prove themselves, which is mainly done by winning. They are very self-critical and judge their own abilities, which is why others' recognition of their skill is important for Spikes. Spikes can enjoy analytics; figuring out what is good and why it is good. Evaluating cards and decks and tuning lists to make them as efficient as possible. Some are always trying to improve their own play-/deckbuilding skills.

Vorthos enjoys the flavor of the game. Names, types, artwork, flavor text, and characters are what is aesthetically pleasing to Vorthoses. Flavor is beauty to them, beauty which can be found in decks and gameplay.

For Mels, beauty is found in magic's mechanics. Interactions between cards, rules and different lines on the same card are like multiple tiny gears in a big machine. Mels love observing these machines and enjoy its functionality and intricacies. When the machine is running smoothly with all parts fitting together, Mels are happy.

All of these psychographics are compatible. It's best to imagine all of them as traits of a player's personality, with each trait varying in degree of intensity.

Armed with knowledge of these traits, one can now try to identify one's own influences and the goals they lead towards:

Mel and Vorthos are not influential when it comes to gameplay, but rather big factors when building a deck. Remember, commander as a format encourages themes and embraces flavor, and that's an area where Mel&Vorthos's fancies are tickled.

If you enjoy building your deck around characters, stories, artworks and similar, you show strong aspects of Vorthos.

If mechanical interactions and constraining themes based on game elements intrigue you, your Mel trait is showing.

I believe Txmmy and Jxnny are self-explanatory when it comes to figuring out how these traits are influencing you in gameplay and deckbuilding. You just have to ask yourself: What kind of expression am I seeking and what do I find most enjoyable?

But now, let's talk about the elephant in the room, Spike.

Being spiky is a pretty controversial trait when talking about commander. As we concluded last week, commander is, contrary to most other formats, about more than winning. In tournament formats, you can be 100% spiky and this won't be problematic, as this formats' goal is to win the game so you won't be scorned for trying as hard as you can to achieve this goal. But commander is different; it has a social spirit. We described a game in line with this spirit as:

‘All players are actively working together to create a game in which each of them can meaningfully participate and everyone gets to experience what they were looking for so, in the end, each player had fun and can take away a lasting, enjoyable memory’

For this to work, we have to answer the question of which sought-after experiences are compatible and what can take away from compatibility.

Compatibility

The first thing that comes to mind is, that all psychographics need a certain environment to get what they're looking for.

Txmmy can want fun/big plays, swingy games, high variance, huge numbers, crazy turns and similar. These can be enabled by expensive cards, lots of mana, multiple amplifying effects, chaos inducing cards, and large board states. This can only happen if there is enough time to deploy these and the game goes late enough to play expensive spells. Additionally, there need to be enough resources available for Txmmy. Ending the game very early and taking resources away from other players, which can already start in the form of playing lots of removal, prevents Txmmy from calling the game a success. Another thing that Txmmy hates is feeling bored. If you have ONE big combo turn that takes a long time or if you take many turns in a row while others have to watch, Txmmys will be annoyed by the time monopoly you created. The same is true if you prevent Txmmys from doing anything that can advance the game, by locking them out of the game and denying them the ability to participate. On the other hand, if you make plays and play cards that will make the game more fun or chaotic and enable new game states that are unique and interesting, you can make Txmmys at your table happy.

Jxnnys are about expressing themselves and want an environment where that is possible. In general, that can be similar to Txmmys’ needs, as Jxnnys who like convoluted combos with many pieces need time to have a chance of assembling them. But mostly, they want you to notice and recognize what they're expressing. The smart synergies in their deck, the constraining theme that they could make work, the unusual card that had a surprisingly high impact on the game. What they need is other players who are interested in more than their own deck and plays and are open to new things and weird choices. It's devastating to them if you tell them that their choices are bad and that they should be playing other things, because by saying such things you show them that you didn't notice what they were expressing, or even worse, don't care. Jxnnys are happy if you ask them about their choices and reasons, appreciate and acknowledge when their deck works, and it's very satisfying for them if they can show you something new and you show your appreciation for that. The tricky thing is, that it is very unusual for magic players to not care about winning at all. Most players want to at least have a realistic chance to win the game. Jxnnys can handicap their ability to win the game by a lot, because for them expression comes first. So for them to still have a shot they need others to play decks which are not too strong, too consistent or have a focus that is on something else than winning as well.

And Spikes? What Spikes need is players who have at least a similar degree of spikyness, so that the competition is tough for them and they won't get handed an easy win. If your main, and highly dominant, trait is spikyness, you want to win, at any cost. This can be problematic when playing with people who are less spiky than you are because they have different motivations which make them make decisions that are at odds with maximizing the ability to win the game. If your only focus is on winning, you'll make decisions in deckbuilding and playing which will destroy the environment that Txmmy and Jxnny need.

Therefore, the experience’s characteristics that players are looking for can be:

variety

entertainment

social interaction

participation

competition

With the premise, that every player has aspects of all the psychographics' traits, but with different degrees of intensity, everyone is at least a little bit of a Txmmy, Jxnny, Mel, Vorthos and also Spike. The intensity of the Txmmy, Jxnny, Mel, and Vorthos traits can be ignored, as their goals are compatible without much trouble; in the end, the one thing we need to focus on when trying to achieve compatibility is the degree of spikyness in a player.

The less spiky you are, the more willing you'll be to make decisions that'll make you lose win-percentage to enable other goals, and the more you will agree with the statement:

Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should do it.

At the top of spikyness are players who are unwilling to compromise and try to win above all else. Descending from there, more and more other factors and motivations are added, and players are freely giving away more and more percentage points because winning matters less to them.

This can be in many ways:

-Including cards in your deck because they are fun or you personally like them (pet cards) although more efficient or powerful options are available

-Constraining your deckbuilding by sticking to a theme that you enjoy building around rather than just optimizing your deck to be as powerful as possible

-Avoiding certain cards because they are too good and make winning 'too easy' or 'too boring' and could lead to repetitive gameplay

-Making a play that is not the best one available, but one you find fun and enjoyable

These, along with similar things, are all decisions based on personal factors that decrease win-percentage. But thinking of the format's spirit that we established, one can freely give away win percentage as well, because one is empathic and cares about the other players. You might avoid certain cards because they don't lead to the environment that other players need or are actively unfun to play against. You might not play certain styles of decks because you know that others won't enjoy playing against them. You might not make a specific play because it will make someone unhappy, although it might be the best play available. Understanding these interpersonal reasons to give away win-percentage is the secret to successfully embracing the format's spirit.

You have to be willing to diminish your own ability to win the game, to enable others to enjoy the game. That’s what the pre-game communication is for. It's for figuring out if all players are willing to lessen their own ability to win the game by a similar amount, to enable the other players' enjoyment, to avoid an imbalance of experiences.

So if someone asks 'What is your deck's power level?' or 'How long do you want this game to go?' or 'How competitive is your deck?' what they are actually looking for is the answer to the question 'How much do you want to win, and to what degree will you be able to compromise about that?'. If that is the question that we're actually trying to get an answer to, maybe we should change how we approach pre-game communication. Why not actively ask others how strongly they want to win and if they are willing and able to adjust that based on how you and the other players answer this question. The big problem here is that the abstract concept of degree of spikyness is hard to put into words or numbers. I would advocate for a different approach. Try to explain, what needs to happen for you to enjoy the game and see it as a success. For example, do you want to: Make as many tokens as possible? Cast an X-spell for a large amount? Surprise someone with an unusual effect? Assemble a specific synergy? Draw lots of cards? Use a particular card in your deck? Show of some flavorful cards? Make political deals, maybe betray someone? Or would you just like to win?

The thing is, that empathy is really hard and so is figuring out what others really want, so make it easier for everyone and just tell them what you're looking for.

I hope we all are now able to identify our own motivations and sought-after experience, are aware of potential problems with compatibility and know how to communicate these motivations before a game.

[kaleidographia]

[Review] Tales of Vesperia: The Brightest Star in the Night Sky Doesn't Shine as Strongly as I'd Hoped

Warning: Contains allusive/thematic spoilers.

The day is finally here! Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition, containing content previously unseen outside of Japan, has finally been released, so that us English speakers and/or non-PS3 owners can experience the new storylines, characters and features for the first time! Alas, this isn’t a post about that, firstly because this post is going up day-of-release and I haven’t had a chance to play it yet, and secondly because I am writing this from outside of the country and won’t be united with my pre-ordered copy until I return next week, RIP.

Therefore, this post is written from the point of view of someone who has only played the Xbox 360 version. I will try to keep it brief for the sake of not spoiling newcomers to the game, and also hopefully not to complain about things that are fixed (or broken??) in the Definitive Edition.

Tales of Vesperia is a game in the long-running “Tales of” franchise from Bandai Namco, the first one in HD, originally released for the Xbox 360 in 2008, later receiving an updated PS3 version in 2009, exclusive to Japan. Like many older fans, my introduction to the Tales of series was with Tales of Symphonia for the Gamecube, and I fell in love hard; I was therefore extremely excited to play the next games, but unfortunately, I never owned the platforms for them until very recently. Along with Tales of the Abyss, Vesperia and Symphonia form the “holy trinity” of games in the series almost everyone loves; find a Tales fan and ask them their favourite game, and the answer will likely be one of those three (note: I’ve heard very good things about Graces and the two Xillia games, but unfortunately haven’t had a chance to judge them firsthand myself). The three games, while not directly related in terms of plot or setting, share a lot of things in common, as they had mostly the same creative team, often referred to as “Team Symphonia” (as opposed to “Team Destiny” which made most other games since then). One notable difference is the scenario writer, Takashi Hasegawa, while Symphonia and Abyss were written by Takumi Miyajima.

The Tales series is known for its reliance on anime and JRPG tropes, often used in a way that plays off cliché expectations only to then layer plot twists and character development and produce a much deeper experience than what would be expected from the get-go. When used effectively, these methods produce a story that is both fun and emotionally challenging. Tales of Vesperia is no different, offering a cast of archetypes that should be highly recognizable to those familiar with the genre, and yet this may be best set of characters in a Tales game. The party has impressively good banter, chemistry and dynamics and several scenes had me laughing out loud or yelling, and I never had a bad time watching their relationships unfold.

Unfortunately, the game spares little time fleshing out backstories or learning more about each individual character outside of the main plot. By the end, I was left wanting, as the cast was so endearing and vibrant, yet I knew next to nothing about them aside from what had been relevant to show onscreen. I longed for more information about where they had come from and how they had gotten where they were, but it is a testament to the strength of the character writing that their storylines reached a satisfying conclusion despite this relative sparse amount of information about them. “Backstory is not story”, Craig McCracken and Frank Angones were fond of saying to fans of Wander Over Yonder, but for a game with the size and scope of a 60-hour JRPG, not providing that window of information feels like a hole in the worldbuilding.

Mechanically, Vesperia builds on the model established by Symphonia and refined in Abyss, where combat takes place in a 3D arena and the player can run around, hit enemies and rack up combos fighting game style (the franchise calls this “Linear Motion Battle System”). While Symphonia was in 3D, it restricted the player to a single side-to-side corridor of action. Abyss added the ability to run around in 3D space by holding down a button, a feature Vesperia also has. This makes combat easier and more fun, as nothing is quite as satisfying as avoiding an attack and then running around and hitting the enemy from behind. And, as the game allows up to four players controlling different party members, and I have a player 2 (shoutout to my roommate Opal), Vesperia’s system is the most well-suited to multiplayer. If nothing else, I never felt lost while on the battlefield yelling for backup. The one major flaw is that boss fights come with massive difficulty spikes and I often had to grind and formulate careful battle plans with Opal just to not get continuously massacred by bosses.

Storywise, Vesperia starts off very strongly, sort of peters out near the middle, and then the third act falls apart. At first the theme is anti-authority, with a protagonist who grew up in the slums, neglected by nobles, who became a knight and then quit out of disillusionment when it turned out all they did was squabble about politics, and the inciting incident and early driver of the plot is his quest to “fix the plumbing” as a popular Tumblr text post put it. It’s clear Yuri has all the reason in the world to not trust authority and he even goes full vigilante against unjust abuse of power, but while this thread seems like the most important theme in the story, after a while so many other elements come into play it ends up lost and doesn’t really make much of an appearance except to highlight the differences between Yuri and Flynn’s approaches to life and how they prefer to help people. On its own it’s a compelling idea, but it never gets the follow-through it deserves, and my expectations were certainly subverted—but in a bad way.

It’s hard to talk about the third act without spoilers so I will probably come back to it for a proper analysis at a later date, but its ultimate message was already kind of limp in 2008 and is even more laughable now. For a game whose initial premise was so strongly against authority, the ultimate resolution of the main conflict reads as incredibly daft in light of just about everything that is happening in politics at the moment. There’s a very strong environmental allegory and the comparisons to climate change are not subtle, but the writers probably bit off more than they could chew because realistically trying to solve this problem in the time the story allotted would have been next to impossible; I still would have hoped the implications of the given solution had been actually explored instead of settling for an “oh well, guess everything’s been fixed now”.

I’m being harsh about the plot because to me Vesperia has a lot of wasted potential. Don’t get me wrong: I do love this game. It is in fact up there with the holy trinity as far as my opinions of the series go, but it lands in third place out of the three because it just fails to live up to what its first half promises about the world it created. To put it bluntly, if the story had just ended at the conclusion of the second act, it would have been much stronger. That the game continues for another 20 hours on a completely different track with an unsatisfying, unrealistic conclusion is a huge shame because it brings down what could have been a real masterpiece of tropey anime JRPG narratives. I live for that stuff, there’s a reason I want to play every Tales game, but that’s what makes this letdown the most disappointing. At least the characters themselves get good conclusions; it is unfortunate I can’t say the same for the main plot.

Despite all this I think Vesperia is a worthwhile experience, and one of my favourite things about is its aesthetic sense. Every location is immersive, polished, and the pinnacle of what I want to see in a videogame, to the point I dream of Symphonia and Abyss remakes made in the same style (and every other game in the series, to be honest, but that seems unlikely with the direction it’s taken since then). I genuinely cared about the party and I wanted to see them succeed and I was ultimately happy that they did even if I did roll my eyes a lot. The combat was so satisfying and so fun to play with a player 2 it makes me twice as mad that Zestiria’s camera goes completely wild during multiplayer and prevents me from joining in. I should note that for someone who plays as many games as I do I am notoriously terrible at them so I heavily favour story over mechanics, but Vesperia is a game that reminds me that engaging gameplay can make a huge difference. Yeah, I suck, but at least I’m having fun while sucking. That’s more than I can say for a lot of games.

If you like JRPGs, games that let you run around and hit things, or fun and intriguing character dynamics, you’ll probably like Tales of Vesperia. If you’re looking for a coherent story from start to finish, you’ll probably disappointed, but there’s just enough there to keep you engrossed until the end. Overall, Vesperia is solid, and the parts it fumbles aren’t bad enough to ruin the whole thing, but hopefully the extra content in Definitive Edition helps to smooth it out; I’ll have to find that out for myself.

Aside from how it messes up the voice acting this time around. Oh, Bamco.

[4colorrebellion]

4cr Plays - Persona Dancing: Endless Night Collection (PS4)

It’s a testament to the strength of the casts in the Persona series that its characters can appear in spinoffs in so many disparate genres and feel like naturals. Fighting game? Sure, they can duel each other to submission. First-person dungeon crawler? That’s basically what they did already, from a new perspective. Dance off? Why not?!

The last one is our focus today. A couple of years back, the Persona 4 cast took to the stage in Persona 4: Dancing All Night. Despite the absurdity of the core premise - the investigation team must dance to protect missing idol singers from monstrous shadows - the game was a delight. It was pure fanservice, but damn, I adore those characters and that soundtrack. I’ll dance the night away with Chie and Rise any day of the week.

Now, Atlus has returned to the rhythm genre with a pair of games applying the same formula to the soundtrack and casts of Persona 3 and Persona 5. Persona 3: Fancing in Moonlight and Persona 5: Dancing in Startlight launch this week on PS4 and PS Vita - either separately for $60 each or in a dual pack - with a PS4 version of Persona 4: Dancing All Night - for $99.

I should start off my impressions with a disclaimer. I am not a big fan of rhythm games. I love music, but I am basically tone-deaf and have the reaction times of a pineapple. I suck at games that require matching any sort of beat. I am, however, a massive fan of the Persona series. So, this review is going to be from that perspective more than a look at the games as a fan of the rhythm genre.

That said, the gameplay of the Persona dancing games is thoroughly in the vein of something like Dance Dance Revolution or Guitar Hero - pressing the right buttons in time with the notes. Basically, as you work through a song, notes will stream from the center of the screen to the edges. You must press one of six buttons as the note nears the edge of the screen - the down, left, and up buttons on the d-pad and the triangle, circle, and X buttons on the right. When the note lines up with a circle on the edge of the screen, press the corresponding button. 

There are also a number of special notes that require some more effort. Some note must be held - press the button in time and keep it down until indicated. Others require two buttons to be pressed simultaneously. The last element are the “scratches”. When these circles near the edge of the screen, you need to flick one of the analog sticks (scratches can also be mapped to the triggers). The scratches are important, as hitting the right ones will activate a special “fever mode” - where a score multiplier is activated, and where you can save yourself if you’ve been falling behind. 

Scoring is based on how well you landed notes, ranging from perfect, to very good, to good, and to a miss. Too many misses, and you’ll fail the song. At the end, the number of hits in each category and your combo will determine your final score. An early miss will harm you less than a miss at a critical moment that breaks a long-running combo. Keep in mind - “good” ratings are a hit, but will also break a combo. You need to make a lot of “perfect”s and “very good”s to top the boards. 

This is the same basic formula at the heart of Persona 4: Dancing All Night (P4D). As a rhythm outsider, I don’t think there have been any fundamental changes - if you liked it there, you’ll be fine. If you hated it, I doubt this will change your mind. For my part, I think it works well. The controls feel responsive enough. There are multiple difficulty levels - higher ones up the speed and number of notes. I tended to stick to “normal”, and did just fine. I didn’t go near the higher difficulty levels, but know some fiends will work to master the highest tiers. I wish them, and their superhuman reflexes, the best of luck. 

Of course, the attraction here is definitely the music. The Persona series features some of the best soundtracks in gaming. The great part too is that those soundtracks are quite different. The music in Persona 3 is vastly different from that in 4 and 5, so the experience feels fresh across games. That said, splitting the soundtracks over games makes each feel a bit thin. Some of the same basic songs appear multiple times, with remixes and live versions. As a result, the tracklists seem a bit thin. Few songs are true duds, but I didn’t care for some of the remixes. 

Still, the soundtracks are great, and the presentation is top-notch. Both games look great - clean, colorful, and sharp. I realize that creating the sets for a rhythm game is a smaller task than creating a full explorable world, but seeing all of the Persona 3 settings recreated in HD really made me wish that Atlus would remake P3 and P4. This is the sharpest, cleanest presentation of these settings and characters that have existed. It can be a little hard to tell what is happening on screen at times, with all of the effects in full blast. However, this is definitely a fun game to watch. It’s a visual treat. 

A number of factors can be customized during dancing. There are track modifiers that can be enabled to make the experience either easier or harder. For example, one modifier prevents “good” hits from breaking a combo. However, the modifiers that make playing easier will cost you points. Other modifiers make the experience more devilish. You can also outfit dancers in a huge variety of outfits and accessories - from wigs, to glasses, to headphones. The more you play, the more clothing options you can unlock. After the first playthrough, you can also select different dance partners. Both costumes and the backup dancers are pure fanservice, but some Persona fans will have fun playing with different options. 

P4D had an extensive story mode to supplement the core dancing. A lot of people found the story mode boring, but I really liked it. I love the Persona 4 characters, and thought the story was an interesting look at the issues with idol culture in Japan. 

Sadly, the two new games have both dropped the story mode entirely. Instead, a basic “it’s a dream” framing device is used to justify the dancing, and that’s about it. Instead, checking off requirements in the dancing mode will open up “social link” scenes with the individual cast members. These are fun little fully-acted vignettes, and progress a bare-bones overall plot. Later scenes let you explore each character’s bedroom. If you have a PSVR, you can activate it and walk through each area in first-person. As a fan, these scenes are cool. I love spending a little more time with both casts. However, you definitely notice the loss of a dedicated story mode. The scenes feel inconsequential without any central driving plot - just a bonus for fans of the series. 

Ultimately, your enjoyment of these games will depend on how much of a Persona fan you are. The soundtracks are incredible, the dancing is fun enough, and the presentation looks great. However, the experience is thin on content, especially at full price. I’m not sure I could recommend either game at $60 each. These feel like budget releases tossed out at full price, and should have just been one game from the start. The $99 collection has more merit - especially since it includes a PS4 version of P4D. Looking at is as $33 per game, it doesn’t seem bad at all. If you’re a fan of the series as a whole - if you love those casts and the soundtracks - the full collection may be worth your time. If you aren’t already a Persona super-fan, I don’t think there’s as much to recommend at the high cost of entry. 

This review is based on a copy provided by the publisher, Atlus.

Official Website

[canaryatlaw]

OKAY. today was pretty nuts but almost entirely in a good way. I had set my alarm for 10 but ended up waking up at 9:30. I still hadn’t gotten a call back from the people about the cat yet so I called them and they picked up. I did a short “phone interview” then where I was asked questions that seemed like questions but actually weren't lol because they’d be like “do you plan to keep her inside or let her go inside and outside?” and I was like “oh probably just inside, I live in an apartment building” and they were like “good, outside is too busy in the city” and then basically the same thing about declawing, I knew it was bad and said as much and they very emphatically agreed. So we decided we’d go there at 11 and check out what the situation is. at this point when I get off the phone it’s like 9:40, I’ve been texting Jess all through this so when I got off I was like okay let’s get breakfast and then we can walk over to where they are because they’re legit in walking distance of our apartments, lol, so we got breakfast at our usual place (I decided I was going to abandon my approach of trying everything and just got the banana bread french toast again, which was very good. at like 10:47 we started walking, not terribly far to a house a few blocks west that had a cat flag out front, lol, so we knew it was the right one. so we rang the doorbell but didn’t hear it and we were like oh did it go? But a minute later a woman came and opened the door and welcomed us in. It smelled very strongly of cat, which is probably to be expected because apparently they had a shitton of cats both inside and outside. They seemed to have all their stuff together like regulation and code wise though so I wasn't worried about it being a bad environment. the kitty we had asked about was right there in the front room and immediately warmed up to us and was letting us pet her, and even sat in my lap at one point. according to the people there she was very friendly and had no major issues, she’d already been vaccinated and spayed and microchipped and all that good stuff so she was good to go. Apparently she’d been one of a litter of kittens that had come there earlier in the summer to be adopted and she had originally been placed with a family who really loved her, but at some point (I’m not sure how much time passed that she was actually with them) the man’s mother became ill and had to move in with them, and she was highly allergic to cats, so they had to “tearfully” return the kitty, so she was the last one left now with mostly older cats. she seemed good to me so we planned to walk back to Jess’ place and take her car to petsmart where we would buy all the things we needed while they got all the adoption papers ready, then come back and pick her up. so we headed out and drove to the petsmart that wasn’t terribly far away from us, so we set out to get all the things we would need. a litter box and kitty litter, obviously, I had food and water dishes and an old brush we could use so we were good on that, apparently they’d been feeding her a combo of wet and dry food because its been shown that cats who eat only dry food are more likely to develop kidney problems apparently (and like, we just lost our yorkie to kidney problems) so we got both wet and dry food, along with a small scratching post, a soft carrier that’s basically like a duffel bag but with netted fabric so you could see the cat and she could breathe obviously, and it was good for like airports and trains and shit. we got one toy thing, and then a collar and a tag, which they had this giant machine that was supposed to do the engraving on the tags after you bought them. So we got this cute one that says “hello my name is _____” on the front and then planned to put my phone number on the back. so we buy everything, then go to the engraving machine and have it scan the barcode for the tag- but oh wait, it’s not scanning.....not scanning....try again, still not scanning. so we’re like huh. so we got an employee who continued to try to get it to scan to no avail, then tried to take it into like employee mode or whatever and ended up having to like, open the entire thing up to reset it and at this point there was us and another girl who happened to also be getting a cat today and was waiting for it to work lol so we waited and it rebooted and they were like yeah, we don’t know how long it’s going to take.....and we were prepared to leave for another petsmart because apparently they all have the machines, but just as we were walking out it restarted and was working so we ran back in and started to use it. we had to open the little door and stick the tag around a little raised section that went through where the hole on the top is, then when it recognizes the tag you type in the info you want and it engraves! so I hadn’t mentioned up to this point what we were actually planning on naming our kitty, but we basically decided we wanted a kitty named NICKZANO, spelled just like that, one word and all caps, because that’s how the human Nick Zano’s twitter handle is. I figured we could use “Nicky” as a nickname and tell that to people who aren't legends stans and wouldn’t understand why a kitty named NICKZANO is fucking hilarious. So we got it engraved so it says “hello, my name is NICKZANO” on the front and then my phone number on the back, which was really fucking hilarious honestly. we got everything in the car and drove back over to the house, signed some papers and sent them a donation through paypal, then got the kitty and stuck her in our carrier and headed out! unsurprisingly, kitty was not terribly happy about being put in a bag and taken away by strangers, and she meowed basically the whole ride back to my place, which thankfully was only a few minutes lol. So we grabbed what we could and took her upstairs, let her out and let her explore the apartment a little, then went back to the car to grab the rest of the stuff. bad plan. we got back up to my apartment and.....kitty was nowhere to be found. there were no windows open, no doors open, no way she could’ve gotten out, so she HAD to be in the apartment, but we looked and looked and looked and looked and could not find her for our lives, at which point I was like WELP she’s gotta come out sooner or later so we tried to stop stressing about it (probably not terribly successful at doing so) and watched Brandon’s fireman cat movie on the logic that maybe hearing other cats in the movie would help her come out? or something like that, lol. the movie was actually really cute, and of course Brandon looked amazing as a firefighter, which I’m sure is not a surprise to literally anybody. so when that was over I was like okay, let’s regroup and do some more searching. I had checked under my bed before and hadn’t seen anything, but I thought if I pulled my bed away from the wall (it’s in the southeast corner of my room currently if you’re standing in the door) so I pulled it away from the walls and then suddenly heard a “meow” and I was like AHAH! GOTCHA! so we were able to coax her out and got her out of my bedroom, then closed the doors to the bedrooms and bathroom so she could stay in the main area with us, which probably would’ve been the smart thing to do all along, but hey, we’re new at this. she started to become more sociable and played with us a bit, she went ahead and used the litter box without any prompting being needed by us which I was relieved about because the prospect of having to clean up anything that didn’t make it to the littler box was probably my biggest concern at that point, lol. we had had a conversation at the petsmart with an employee over the types of kitty litter, apparently at the place they had been using pellets which doesn’t like clump together but instead you basically just have to toss the whole batch of it after a while which doesn’t sound terribly practical, so we went with the clumping clay-based one instead, but were somewhat concerned to see if she would transition to it okay, and she did, so that was a relief. we kind of settled down after a bit and Jess wanted to show me “Fling”, a movie starring Brandon and Courtney, some sort of indie film they decided to do not long after getting married and well. this movie was....something. I’ve seen a lot of odd and quirky movies and indie films over the years, mainly in college because I hung out with all film majors most of the time and they love their quirky movies. but this one was....unique, to say the least. the basic premise is that Courtney’s character is in an open relationship with this guy, and she starts seeing Brandon’s character while the guy she’s in a relationship with starts seeing his best friend’s 18 year old sister, which as I’m sure you can imagine goes horribly wrong, Courtney’s character ends up pregnant and not sure whose child it actually is but basically decides to leave her original boyfriend to be with Brandon (which was a good choice because her original boyfriend was shitty) and then it ends with “five years later” boyfriend gets an invitation to the opening party of a boutique owned by Courtney, so he comes and he sees them all, and he sees there kid and like......that child looks overwhelmingly more like boyfriend than he does Brandon. like it was obvious they specifically cast him for that reason. So the boyfriend’s just kinda like WELP and leaves and that’s pretty much the endV of it. So yeah...unique. after that we discussed what we wanted to watch and decided on Superman Returns because I hadn’t seen it in like at least 10 years and didn’t have that great of a memory of it, I remember watching it at our family friend’s home theatre (and they have a VERY serious home theatre) during a party at some point (they have a big italian family so the parties are frequent) and basically just remembered Lois’ kid is actually Superman’s son because he shows he has powers at some point. I’ve obviously become much more familiar with Superman lore since I’d last seen the movie given that I got entirely obsessed with Smallville, so I’m a lot more invested in the characters and such much more. A lot of characters can be done justice by different interpretations, such as Jimmy Olsen who has been played by a lot of great actors, but for me nobody will ever be as good as Michael Rosenbaum as Lex and Erica Durance as Lois. Rosenbaum’s Lex was just perfect in every way. we got to see his entire transition from actually being a good hearted person to very intentionally choosing a path of villainy, often spurred on by Clark continually lying to him about his identity. As for Lois, god Durance just had the perfect rapport and attitude for Lois, she embodied her so well, and her dialogue and relationship with Clark was spot on. When Supergirl was casting Superman some people wanted it to be Tom Welling, but it would obviously have to be a different Superman than Tom Welling’s one on Smallville because it’s an entirely different world and like, I wouldn’t want that, I would want him to be the character he actually established. Erica Durance as Lois and Michael Rosenbaum as Lex are characters I’d 100% be okay with them portraying in different universes, because they just embody them so well, and nobody can ever match them IMO. But I say all this to say that while the actors in Superman Returns did a fine job, many of them just didn’t stack up to my opinion of the characters and how they should be portrayed. It sucks that Brandon didn’t get a better quality Superman story to work with, because his portrayal of Clark Kent is spot on, and with a better script and better external factors he could’ve been absolutely stunning. Apparently now that Henry Cavill is supposedly not coming back as Superman, some people want Brandon to play him again, and apparently Brandon likes this idea quite a bit lol. I doubt that would happen though. But anyway, this movie. I completely forgot Kevin Spacey was Lex, and he was pretty meh for me. Lois was alright I guess, she didn’t quite have the journalistic prowess that is so emblematic and iconic of Lois as a character. the story is really like 75% exposition up until the actual climax, where Lois for some reason takes her like 5 year old child on a secret mission to infiltrate Lex’s boat and ends up getting them stranded and basically volunteered to be hostages. the best scene really though is when the little boy is playing the piano and got the henchman to join him for a second while Lois tries to send a fax with their coordinates, then the henchman sees and he attacks her, and the little box starts breathing heavily (it was already established he has asthma) and looks like he’s going into an asthma attack, then all of a sudden the entire damn piano goes flying across the room, crushing the henchman who was attacking Lois. And like, there’s just this moment afterwards when everyone (audience included) is just like oh shit, did that really just happen?? And it’s really such an epic scene to realize that he’s actually Superman’s son. The rescue at the end and all of that is also very cool of course. but yeah, I enjoyed it, even if I am somewhat critical. After that finished Jess had to leave, so it was just me and NICKZANO for a bit. I started watching more episodes of the baking show I started on netflix a few days ago and NICKZANO did random funny things which I took pictures of. She curled up in my lap at one point which was really damn cute. Some time after 10 my roommate got home, and she was of course enthralled with the cat as well, and was able to move one of the lower pantry shelves so her litter box could fit in there perfectly which is much better than it just sticking out. She said she keeps seeing all these DIY pinterest posts about making stuff for cats like scratching post-bed-climbing things so she might try to make some of that. Then she got in the shower and I started writing this, paused midway to take a shower myself, then came back and finished it and here we are. I know that was a lot of details already so I won’t keep you any longer, plus it’s 1 am and I’d like to be asleep now. Goodnight my dears. Have a lovely Thursday. 

[lasorciereviolette-blog]

On Witch

(So RP’s are a bit slow right now so I might as well continue down the saltapalooza that has been opened up due to a post on how Sega’s flanderized Amitie over the years. 

This one’s kind of all over the place, because it’s not a strict flanderization argument per se and since Witch is my favourite I like to gush about her. I’ll try to keep on topic as much as possible though.

So I’ll start by saying that honestly, this could be a lot worse in several ways. Sega’s done at least a little homework on Witch. It took them nearly a decade to put Witch in one of their games (no, 7 does not count since she has no lines) but it looks like she’s here to stay seeing as she was kept on the roster for both Tetris and Chronicle.

But... Now what? See, my analysis has led me to the conclusion that Sega have absolutely idea of what to do with Witch.

I didn’t always have that viewpoint. At one time I thought Sega had done a pretty good job with Witch. She showed up, her story was reasonably funny, and she was actually allowed to behave like a selfish jerk unlike certain characters. 

However, a little while ago I came across a translation of Yon’s cutscenes. And I came across an unfortunate discovery: Witch’s campaign in 20th is nothing new at all. Nope. It’s just a copy-paste of her few scenes in Yon, and one cutscene in Sun.

Let me elaborate. See, in 20th Witch is trying to collect ingredients to create a potion in one of Wish’s spellbooks. Collecting these ingredients involves taking parts off of certain cast members, namely Draco’s tail, the Acorn Frog’s eye, an imp’s horns, a ladybug, a dark wizard’s hair, and a fish’s scales. On the surface this isn’t a bad premise. I didn’t mind it too badly before I knew anything about Yon. Except in Yon, Witch’s goals are almost identical. She needs Draco’s tail and Seriri’s scales, and wants to collect Carbuncle’s finger grime (... somehow) just in case she ever needs it. When she comes across a sleeping Dragon, she also tries to seize the opportunity to grab some snot.

The details aren’t exactly the same, at least. Which is nice, because if the scenes were word for word the exact same I’d be even more peeved. I can at least give the writers that much. The thing is, after waiting so long for a beloved character’s comeback, why did they decide just to recycle half the cutscenes from other games? I suppose this can be forgiven since it’s an anniversary title, but it’s still a little odd.

And then we get to Tetris, where Witch has a total of... One scene. When DLC was released, she got another very short scene. While these were both original, there... Really was nothing to them. All she wants to do is perform an experiment with blocks in one, and in the other she mocks Draco, which would have been absolutely unsurprising if you had played either Saturn or Yon in the past. Witch’s appearance is very much a token one and she doesn’t even really interact with other characters besides Draco Centauros when there was an opportunity to have her bounce off of the members of the Starship Tetra, or Amitie, or Ringo. Or maybe to put her in Primp and have her hang out with some of the people she used to. Talk about a waste. Witch is a fun and dynamic character who has been allowed to remain a bit of a jerk. There was plenty of room to have her interact with new characters, but instead they threw her into space and called it a day. Hell, she’s a comet witch and she doesn’t even notice she’s in space!

Which leads me into the next part of this rant, the fact that Sega only really seemed to look at Yon and one cutscene in Sun and determined her entire character from there. Before Yon Witch was primarily a comet witch. While she did make potions in Seriri’s Happy Birthday, Witch’s gameplay was focused more on flight and spellcasting. Based on her moveset in other games, Witch not only shares most of Arle’s spell set (being proficient in fire, ice, and lightning magic, as well as being able to cast Brain Dumbed and Jugem) but has her signature Meteor spell and a few other comet style magics such as Big Bang. These spells have a distinctive star theme when she casts them, distinguishing her from Arle.

Pretty cool, huh? She is also somewhat of a melee fighter, not being afraid to swat people with her broom. (this isn’t the greatest of examples but it’s cool so)

Coming back to her broom flying, a whole game was built around it called Comet Summoner. It didn’t have much of a story, but it did feature a bunch of cute levels and a powerful boss that may or may not have been Witch’s future self. And this future self was strong, with a huge red aura, several health bars, and the ability to not only zip around the stage at high speeds, but cast spells of her own and combo you with a mix of melee and magic if you fuck up and get too close to her.

Witch would make a good fighting game character. 

This is getting a bit off topic, but point is, Witch is versatile. But unfortunately it seems that apart from her spell names Sega can’t be bothered to remember her versatility and just wants her to make wacky potions. I’m not opposed to her making wacky potions, it’s not necessarily bad, but at one time she was a lot more than that.

She was more complex as a character than she seems to be in 20th or Tetris. Maybe not in Yon, where she appears very little, but in Madou Monogatari she got some attention. Yes, Witch is selfish. Yes, she’s pretty power hungry. Yes, she’d probably sell quite a few people out for a single corn chip. But there are some people who are dear to her, like for example her grandmother Wish. While again, I can’t read Japanese, Witch Leeroy Jenkins’s into a room when she sees her grandmother’s body on the floor in Tower of the Magician. Afterwards, Witch’s body language is pretty clear to see.

She’s clearly very worried about Wish and does not appreciate any harm coming to her. Even jerks have loved ones, I guess?

Let’s give Sega the benefit of the doubt, maybe that one trait just hasn’t come into play yet. After all, Wish hasn’t appeared (but she has been mentioned). Sure. However, there are other traits that the Sega games ignore when it comes to Witch’s character.

First, Sega has arguably made Witch into an even worse jerk. In Compile’s games, Witch is often abrasive and rude, but she will defer to an expert’s judgment in a situation she doesn’t understand. Case in point, Saturn. Upon coming across the Yog smoke, she avoids possession because she immediately listens to Arle and Rulue’s advice. She doesn’t argue, she just does it. 

Contrast this with 20th. 

In general, Witch is crafty and rather full of herself in Saturn, but not so much as Rulue. She has a low opinion of martial arts and so that makes her play well off of Rulue (It probably also explains her animosity towards Draco), while she has a high opinion of her magical skill and loves to soak up praise. Witch also shows little ill will towards those who quit the tournament after a Yog presents itself, which might hint at some sensibility the character doesn’t tend to have much of after this. 

Witch is also a bit of a snarker in this game:

There’s character here besides her excitability, or getting pissed off when things don’t go her way. Now Saturn does bring up Witch’s legendary temper, but we don’t really see the results of that in-game. 20th really pushes that informed attribute into the spotlight, where all her thoughtfulness and cleverness go out of the window for her to make a bad potion that obviously contained too many substitutions, to the potion not being useful in the first place, to her beating up Lemres for stating the blatantly obvious. Witch doesn’t really come off any smarter than Draco at the end of this, because all of this was obvious! She just comes off as an even worse ass than usual because of Sega’s wackiness mandate.

I also really don’t get what the point of her fighting Lemres even was. Lemres seems disappointed at the end that he didn’t get to talk to Witch more, but the story just ends. There isn’t any kind of payoff or character growth here. Just... Nothing. Again, a total waste of potential, having the two comet mages meet and then do absolutely nothing of value. Love it, Sega.

Oh yeah, there were two more things Sega forgot about. First, this.

Witch is probably an actual pervert, to contrast with Schezo’s fake perversion (which may or may not be real perversion too sometimes, because Saturn’s fun like that). So that’s another thing Sega forgot, for better or for worse.

Which leads me to the last bit that Sega’s forgotten. This too I can’t really say if it’s a good thing or a bad thing. I like that it exists in Compile’s games, but if Sega remembered it would likely devour what remains of Witch’s personality. In certain games, there are implications that Witch may have a crush on Schezo. She fawns over him in athletic clothes in Puyolympics and as seen above, asks if he’s cool and wants to touch him in Saturn. Then of course there’s the whole “I want you” scene that solidifies the thing. For all I know there could be evidence for or against this in Tower of the Magician, which is a game where the two spend quite a bit of time interacting with each other, but since I haven’t learned to read Japanese in the last few hours I can’t comment on that, as much as I want to.

Now whether this is a good or bad thing for Sega to ignore really depends on your interpretation of this trait. I’m personally torn, because again I’m glad that Witch has not been reduced to a lovesick one-note failure. On the other, it’s a facet that a more competent writing team could have explored with some success. So it sucks that it’s been abandoned completely, but the end result could have been really terrible had Sega noticed this, so... Yay?

Okay, so I’ve written blocks of text. What does it all mean? Well, it means Witch isn’t immune to being flanderized in Sega’s works. It could be a lot worse, but there’s plenty of Witch’s character that’s been left out of current Puyo and plenty that has been aggrandized into a worse person. Right now Witch reminds me of a mixture of herself and Saturn’s take on Rulue, which... Really sucks, because no wonder Sega can’t figure out how to make Rulue stand out if they give her traits to other characters! Poor Rulue. Give her some love, Sega. She doesn’t deserve this kind of shafting.

As for Witch, you’re not going to get a total sweet kindhearted girl out of her. She was never that kind of character and that’s not a bad thing. But throwing on Rulue’s most boastful traits and making her a worse jerk, then giving her cameos because you don’t know what to do with her isn’t a good way to characterize her. Return some of that sense into the mix! Like I said in my Schezo comments, not everyone needs to be a wacky joke 24/7.

[the-crippled-god]

Steam Next Fest, October 2021

Here’s a few sentences on the demos I’ve played thus far. We’ll see if I get to more...

A=B: Of the genre of 'Esolang programming games' (of which there are many), this might be one of the easiest to get into. However, nearly all the fun is going to come out of weird tricks you can pull off with the new instructions added in each section, which kinda defeats the premise. That being said, I was pleasantly surprised at how clever the game let me be with the the base 'one instruction'. It's not really programming, it's pattern matching and replacing (that being said, folks are starting to work out that well implemented pattern matching is one of the most powerful tools a programming language can have), and a condition that if a rule matches, the instructions start over, rather than continue. I wonder if there's any real world langs that behave like this, but support regex patterns (including capture groups), it might actually be a neat way of building things like custom file renaming rules... Games like this always feel like I'm doing work while not at work, but the simplicity of the base instruction makes this feel more like a puzzle game than something like TIS-100 or Shenzen IO, so provided the extra instructions don't make it feel more like programming (avoid adding branching, don't let me loop beyond the base loop, etc.), I'll probably enjoy this. Verdict: interesting, I'll probably buy it if it's cheap.

Galaxy's Extreme: This is another "Nintendo won't make a new F-Zero game so we'll do it ourselves", and it's... fine. Momentum feels good, and the controls feel good, it's just, too simplistic. I really feel like a spiritual successor to F-Zero needs the strafe and slide turning of GX (or some equivalent), without absurd goofy snaking, it's just, not the same, let alone an escalation of the style. You also only seem to leave the ground and prescribed points, rather than behaving like a hover craft, which doesn't quite feel right. Verdict: I'll probably pass on this one, if it gets rave reviews on release, and has online multiplayer, I could see grabbing it to play casually with friends.

Rayze: There's a good idea here, this isn't a good implementation of it. Momentum feels weird, and the game doesn't use raw mouse input, for some reason. An 'Aim racer' feels like a good idea, but this is more of a puzzle game where you're trying to work out how the level designer wants you to click things. Verdict: pass, absolutely not for me.

Dread Delusion: Open world immersive sim, focused on being weird. Seems alright, demo is a little too limited to tell, and I allocated my stats wrong to be able to see all of it (you seem to need high Lore to get to a few areas), but I enjoyed what was here, and will probably pick it up as just a weird thing to explore. Verdict: neat, be interested to see how the full version is.

Titanium Hound: This one looked cool, but it's really not good. Sounds in the menus are ear piercing, control scheme makes no sense on either the keyboard or controller. None of the attacks feel like they have impact. Controls are floaty and weird, like everything is on ice. Enemy sounds are muted, music is boring. Verdict: Really disappointed in this one, hard pass.

Transiruby: C...Cute... This seems like a fun light hearted metroidvania. Dialogue is witty, Siruby and pals are cute. Music is charming. Controls are tight. Graphics lean a little to simple for my tastes, but otherwise no complaints. Verdict: I'll probably buy this, seems like a good coping game for me.

Gastova: The Witches of Arkana: Meh. Some of the cutscene and character detail art is cute. Writing feels like it has a good premise, but could use an editor to punch up the jokes and quips a bit, since they don't quite land. It's almost like English isn't the writers first language, they have a good grasp of how to put words together so they're coherent, but they're not great at pacing dialogue so it feels natural. Gameplay is, bland? This feels aggressively like a 3rd party SNES platformer, like a Super Adventure Island or something. This is in all respects. It eats inputs randomly, attacks have no impact, enemies take too many hits, basic platoforming requires you stand on the very edge of the platforms, etc. I'm sure there are people who will get a kick out of this, but it's not for me. Verdict: pass.

Ex-Zodiac: It's a Starfox clone! Kinda halfway between SNES and 64. It's pretty good, not really doing anything original, but it plays well. Only weird issue I noticed is that enemies behind you can shoot at you, and there's not really a way to avoid it. Other than that my main complaint is the camera feels a little tight, definitely more like Starfox SNES, and it's a bit annoying. Verdict: I'll wishlist it, purchase is going to depend on the length and price of the full game.

Exo One: Interesting, likely not for me. I dig the movement scheme, though certain aspects of it suffer from the minimal UI/HUD. Manoeuvring through big wide open Unity terrain maps is not really compelling to me, I think I'd really like this if it was a more concentrated experience. Verdict: Pass, but I'll keep an eye on it.

POSTAL Brain Damaged: Hell yeah, this seems good. Think I like it more than Postal 4, at least in its current state. Writing is very Postal, except weirdly more subtle than usual? Dunno, this I like it more than Postal's usual crassness. Weapons are all versatile and cool (in the demo the rocket launcher weirdly feels the worst), and level design and aesthetics are on point. Didn't finish the demo cause I'd kinda rather play this on release, but really liked what I played. Verdict: Wishlisted, to pick up next time I'm in the mood for a boomer shooter.

Hypnagogia: Boundless Dreams: I was expecting something different. This seems to be a mostly linear 1st person platformer set in a childish dreamscape. It's fine for what it is, but at least as a demo, it didn't grab me. I think Anodyne 2 did this aesthetic better, this kinda feels like someone looked at Spyro the Dragon, and decided that's what dreams looked like. Maybe it gets weirder later, but I'm not sure I want to wait around to find out. Verdict: Pass for now, but I'll check the reviews when it comes out.

Cleo: A Pirate's Tale: It's alright, for a one person game, it seems pretty dang good. But, I don't think I'll play it. Everything about it is just a little off. Writing isn't quite funny, voice acting has weird intonation and direction, controls don't quite work intuitively, art style feels a touch unrealized, etc. Definitely give this one a try, especially if you liked old LucasArts games, you might love this, but I didn't. Verdict: Pass, but I have a few friends I'll probably recommend this to.

Hunt the Night: There's a good (potentially great) game here, but it leans just a little too into being difficult/punishing for my taste. You can animation cancel into a dash, except when there's hit stun from contacting an enemy with your sword, so you can't dodge ranged attacks while you're engaged in melee? Sometimes enemies are hit stunned by your attacks, sometimes the same enemies can attack through your hits? There's no stamina bar, but there's like 4 different meters to manage, and they work pretty well at forcing you to use all the options available to you. The weapons I found seemed to only differ in attack speed, melee combos did not change meaningfully, which is disappointing, but I didn't experiment much. Otherwise, for a 'bloodborne but as top-down zelda' it seems pretty great. Story seems interesting enough, if predictable, gameplay has a lot of good ideas, but it maybe needs another round of polish. A range indicator on the dash, and a solid explanation of if I'm suppose to be using it to dodge (and when I can cancel into a dodge and when I can't), along with a clear timer on how long I need to hold the heal button, would go a long way into making the game feel more fair. Verdict: On wishlist for now, because the trailer makes it look really fun, but I'll likely take a look at the reviews on release.

Anuchard: I swear I've seen this main character design before, I think they were a cameo design in CrossCode? Oh wow is English not the writer's first language, grammar issues all over the place. Thankfully, not so bad as to be incomprehensible, but I really hope they get an editor fluent in English before release. Gameplay wise, this seems a little too simple? Combat is satisfying, but you can stun lock the boss? And while the shield/heavy attack system seems like a good idea, it doesn't add much depth. Puzzle solving by bouncing the gems around feels bad. You can't aim in more than the 8 cardinal directions, and even that's inconsistent, and hit detection requires you to be really precise. Art is cute, writing seems like it has potential, if it gets a good proof read, music was interesting to good. Verdict: I think I'll pass, but I'll look into it after release.

Marmoreal: Can you tell this game wanted to be a Touhou fangame, but the art was worse than even ZUNs so they couldn't get the license? Joking aside, ignoring every art asset in this game (except the animation, but we'll get to that), this game is great. Gameplay feels really good, though I feel I need to re-map the abilities buttons a bit, I kept hitting them at inopportune times. And, the animation in cutscenes, along with the writing, make this a stupid ridiculous romp that nearly had me falling off my chair in laughter. This game knows exactly what it is, and I'm here for it. Verdict: Wishlisted, and I'll probably play more of the demo, since it's pretty substantial.

Transmute: A very clearly inspired by Axiom Verge (and maybe Environmental Station Alpha) metroidvania. My biggest complaint is the writing falls flat. Crazy shit is happening to and around the protag, and she hardly reacts (the writing puts more emphasis on her being 'anti-colonialist' than it does on the fact that she'd been in stasis for several years). Game plays well, though not being able to shoot at an angle, or downwards feels weird. Has an augment and retrieval system like Hollow Knight. the augment system even let me combine 2 things I didn't think it would allow me to. Difficulty spikes up after the 2nd boss, so I peaked my head into the 2 areas that open up, but wasn't really interested in banging my head against them when I know I'll have to start over when the game comes out. Verdict: Seems pretty well put together for a metroidvania, I'll wishlist it.

Tunic: This seems so close to brilliance, but it's just not there. The game looks adorable, but here's the issue: There's a massive amount of latency to the controls, you constantly feel like you're manoeuvring through muck. Even the most basic enemy can react to you faster than you can to it, enemies do a lot of damage, healing is very limited, and it has retrieval mechanics on death. This game feels really difficult for no reason. It's clearly trying to look like zelda, why does it play like a wannabe took-all-the-wrong-lessons-from-dark-souls game? If this game played closer to a 2d zelda game, it'd be a lot of fun, but as it plays right now, I have no interest. Verdict: Pass.

[ourmuse-s]

Luisa Fischer

Writing About Music

Professor Loughridge

Due Feb. 28. 2021

Artist Interview

Eph See on Finding Her Sound, Balance and the Music Industry

     This past week I had the chance to have a FaceTime interview with Felisha Cabral, otherwise known by her stage name Eph See. A third year Music student, Eph See has been making a name for herself around the Northeastern campus, with tracks such as “Field Recordings”, “Body” and “April”. We sat down together (virtually) to talk about the singer-songwriter’s processes, past and upcoming projects, as well as what it’s like to be a female and non-binary artist in the music industry.

When and how did you first start getting into music?

Music… I feel like every artist says this but music has always been a pretty prominent part of my life. Yeah, I remember doing theatre and choir and stuff since like elementary school and it just continued and continued. I did that throughout middle and high school as well but it wasn’t until I got to high school… we had something that was called Jazz Combo - we never really played jazz - but it was like rock band essentially and I was a vocalist for it and that got me into performing and I was like ugh it’s so cool to be able to you know sing all these songs in front of audiences and stuff even though it was like friends and family… but I really liked that. And then I started writing my own music seriously probably around freshman year of high school. I was a very musical person. If someone said something like a line that was stuck in my head I would just start singing it… I was definitely that kid. But yeah, I remember writing my first song ever ever, that I performed, when I was I think ten or eleven years old? And it was at summer camp and I got all the counselors to sing it with me as well as my backup singers. Oh my God it was sooo dramatic, but that’s the first thing I remember, like writing a song and performing it for people... and I guess here I am now!

What’s the first song you remember writing and really liking?

Okay that’s easy! That was a song I wrote at fifteen called “The Shelf”. It’s a song about unrequited love but someone that always comes back to you, I guess, because you’re there. And the whole premise is like “I’ll just stick to being another book you put back on the shelf and take down when you want”. I was fifteen, I don’t know what I was thinking… Like what was I feeling, what was I going through?

It’s funny that a high school crush as a fifteen year old can turn into a song like that…Did you ever end up recording it?

No. But I did perform it in front of my grade. That was the second time I performed an original song just me and my guitar and I performed it at school. I was like… pretty bold back then, which is kind of cool but also looking back at it I felt bold but during the performance I was so nervous.

Do you still get nervous when you’re performing today?

Oh yeah, all the time, but I think it’s just because I care. I want to do well and I want to connect. It’s less so about looking good or not messing up now… that used to be my fear. But now it’s, you know, what did I write this song for? To help other people and to help myself. And if I can do that well, I care a lot about it and when you care a lot about something, that can become nerves.

Yeah that makes a lot of sense… It’s funny because you seem like you’re a real natural at it.

Thank you! It definitely took time. But that’s another thing I forgot to mention, I did acapella for a while and that was a lot of performing very consistently.

And probably a lot of pressure too.

Oh yeah, especially with some of the crowds that we got. We did like a competition too, I remember my first year second semester in that group, we did do a competition and that was… terrifying. But we won and the feeling after that was insane.  

Do you think you like performing in group settings (like with Acapella) more or when it’s just you and your music?

Mmmmmm… That’s a great question.

I love performing my own stuff, but I always love being with other people. I know for me community is such a big thing and I love people that I can create with consistently. Maybe it’s just me but it’s easier for me to create and be vulnerable with people that I trust and if I’ve worked with you a lot then we have built that sense of trust.  I’ve always - still do - wanted to be in a band and everything, so I definitely see myself being someone who has a touring band that stays pretty consistent or people that I make music or write with pretty consistently. Or even if I work with a producer I’m probably going to keep my circle pretty small and just work with the same people.

Are you looking to form a band or have you taken any action to start one?

I haven’t… you’re calling me out… I think for me it’s just that some things should come together organically and I have tried posting on NeuGigs because I wanted specifically a band of women or non-gender conforming people because I already have to work with so many cis white men and it’s just not the vibe anymore. So definitely non-men, or non-men of color that I relate to more and I’m able to be more vulnerable and open and free with those kinds of people and that’s what I want out of my experience with a band. So, I definitely could do more to find those people but…

But I feel like you’re doing really well as a solo artist right now too.

Yeah. Yeah, that’s true too. I just found this band the other day called Hard Car Kids and I was like wow these voices all sound so familiar. Then I realized they were a bunch of little artists that I listen to who are friends and they made a band so I was like ugh that’d be sick. Something like that.

That’s so true, I love it when bands are all solo artists or have their own side projects. That way you can see different sides to each of them and sometimes the music they make as a band vs the music they make on their own is so different.

Yeah, I think it definitely allows for artists to have more creativity. Because you’ll find that everyone will tell you “Stick to one genre so you can be more marketable!”. With this one producer I’m working with right now, I’ve made six different songs… none of them sound anything like each other. But I think that it’s so good to get that stuff out because that’s kind of what writer’s block is. When you’re not allowing yourself to get everything out or only letting certain things out then of course you’re gonna have blockages because you’re not fully allowing yourself to create. I found that’s what I was going through a little while ago, and then we [producer + Eph See] started working together and now it just comes more naturally because I’m like okay anything that comes out I’m gonna let come out. Instead of only releasing things that would be good as singles because that just kills your creativity.

That’s so true. I think that you have to write some bad songs or ones you don’t love to eventually get to the ones that you’re really excited about. You have to lay the groundwork and get everything you’re feeling out into the world so you can move on and then get the songs you love.

I could talk all day about the pressure that capitalism puts on artists. Like only releasing “good” music… what is that? Good to who? What is the criteria? You know we can’t all write “Driver’s License” so. And when you look back, this is something I went through in quarantine, you know early shut-down - I was forced into a lot of alone time and I’m living alone now - well I don’t want to say forced because I benefited from it. But going through that and having to really see who I am when I’m not trying to be somebody for somebody else has reflected in my music. It’s gotten more honest. Instead of just writing about love all the time - because what is that? - I’ve been writing more about things like childhood and growing up, self expression and exploration.

Especially as a femme artist everyone expects you to write about love and heartbreak. But, there’s so much more to me than that. So I definitely had to let go of the pressure to only release like billboard charting songs because I want to look back at my discography and see growth. You know what I mean? And it’s not that my songs are bad now, but there’s going to be an evolution when you look at my discography. Like Ariana Grande’s Yours Truly and Positions sound nothing alike but they’re still great and I love being able to see her trajectory.

And to see how an artist grows after a couple projects.

And life! Like life changes you and that’s the whole point!

Exactly! Because sometimes you are in the mood to write a love song but… that’s not all there is to life.

There’s so much more.

And because it’s the main topic of most songs, especially for female artists, I feel like it’s easy to get caught up in that.

Right.

You recently came out with “Body” on Spotify, but do you have any other recent projects you’ve put out?

So “Body” was my latest Spotify release, but in December on New Year’s Eve I released a song called “April” on Soundcloud. Sometimes I just like to put stuff on Soundcloud… not as much as I should probably. One of my songs on there, “The Things I used to care about seem to stupid now”, has started to gain likes and plays again which is really cool to see.

...But it’s actually so true like the things I used to care about do seem so stupid now. But I wrote that last March so it’s about to come up on its one year anniversary and I still feel that way so I think it’s a song that will definitely age well with time which makes me very proud. In the comments there’s people really relating to it and that’s what makes me really happy because I think that was one of the most honest songs I’ve ever written. And it wasn’t easy to write because it was very vulnerable but it just shows that it’s worth it because I feel like the more vulnerable you are, the more people are drawn to it. It gives other people permission to feel that as well and to go that deep.

That’s a really good way of putting it. So how did you go about writing a song that’s really and intimate and how did you come up with the idea for that song specifically?

So that song was kind of funny because I just tweeted “I feel like writing an indie song right now” and people were like “well don’t just not do it then”. So then I did! I wrote it in like six hours. Wrote it, recorded it, produced it, mixed it all in six hours and then just posted it to SoundCloud and… Wow I’m actually getting kind of, I don’t want to say emotional but the way it all happened was so just on a whim and it’s the most streamed song on my SoundCloud. I just had a guitar riff that I played and then it just kind of flowed. But the first line is “lately I’ve been feeling like my past self is slowly peeling away” so I was dealing with a lot of identity issues. Two years ago in November I had what people would call a mental breakdown and it was really scary but needed. I think sometimes people think about mental breakdowns in a very nutcase kind of way but what a mental breakdown really is is the way you’ve been living your life or viewing the world or viewing yourself… your soul is just like “this is not it anymore and we can’t go on thinking about life like this or acting like this or being like this”. So then it’s like okay, purge, total recall, burn it all to the ground. You feel really raw for a bit but then slowly you start to reevaluate and piece things together in a way that fits better.

… That’s a bar. I’m gonna write that down. “Piece things together in a way that fits better”.

That’s another thing, I have a lyric dump so I just put anything there.

On your phone and on your laptop?

Mhm *as she’s typing away*

A lot of my songs are just like stitches from my lyric dump.

So, do you think that [“the things I used to care about seem so stupid now”] is your favorite song, or what would you say is your favorite song you’ve released?

Hmmm… Yeah!

I think… ooh… that’s a really good question. I think it’s the most authentic and most cathartic song that I have released but “Field Recordings” was probably my favorite writing process and releasing process.

I definitely want to release more music but I also have to honor the fact that  I’m very much in my own winter season right now. But spring is coming. My life follows the seasons. Fall is all about releasing what you don’t need. Winter is, humans don’t hibernate, but I feel like… well let me not generalize. I don’t hibernate but in the winter time the world is telling me to slow down. Because when spring comes and you’re gonna have all these ideas and all of this stuff that you’re gonna want to do but you need to recharge first. And then summer is like, okay, bask in all the glory!

I get a lot of sunlight from my windows, like so much natural light in my apartment, as well as the view of the moon right outside my window.

I feel like that’s very on brand for you.

Oh my God, it is!

I was thinking about it yesterday and the universe really snapped. But yeah, I have all of these windows, just drinking tea, and I felt like a cat that just sprawls out in the sun. I was trying to get the sunlight all over my body, like my back and I was thinking how these parts of my skin have not felt the sun for so long so I need to soak it all in while I can. But spring is coming!

Do you have any songs on the backburner that you’re planning on releasing anytime soon?

Yeah. It’s about getting into recording and stuff but I’ve been working with the producer that I’ve really enjoyed working with. The only thing is my writing has been all over the place, in all different genres. So I might just set the precedent for anyone who listens to my music that if you listen to me you’re gonna get seven different things at once. And that’s okay. I know there’s a lot of people out there who listen to all different kinds of music. So it may not be as marketable, but I can be your one stop shop!

I also hate the idea of having to make only one type or genre of music. I feel like artists should just be able to write and go with how they’re feeling, and do a bunch of different things.

Yeah and you should be able to! There’s so much emphasis on marketability but how cool would it be to look at it in a different way like you do so much let’s show that. Because that will draw so many people to you. I just think sometimes marketing is really backwards.

Sometimes it feels like nowadays music is just based on how marketable it is.

I feel like there were people in the past that I’ve worked with and before I even wrote the song we were discussing marketing tactics. And that just made me not want to write the song because it gives you so much anxiety like this has to complete this and do this and that before it’s even, you know, been born. And I think again, with the whole killing an artist’s creativity, I do think there’s a beauty in wanting to do what you love as your job. I think everyone who wants to make music should be able to do that and survive. But there’s this whole system like you’re either a superstar and you’re rich or you’re starving.

And that alone, that fear, of putting all your work and energy and time and love into a project and not receiving anything from it… it’s criminal in my opinion. It doesn’t just kill your creativity. It kills your will and your love for music. That’s what I was just going through. I was focusing so much on release, release, release that I was like I don’t even want to do this anymore. Do I even want to do music? That’s so crazy. Music will always be part of my life, but that mindset made me question it.

So when you’re writing your music, are there any artists who influence you the most?

I grew up listening to all different kinds of music so let me look at my playlist… There’s an artist that I just discovered. I was scrolling through Tik Tok and they were singing and it was so beautiful. They’re name is Leith Ross, let me text it to you. I’ll actually text you the track, because it’s so good. But basically I’ve been listening to a lot of artists where their music is more conversational or more personal and raw. So even if I don’t directly relate to that experience, hearing them talk about what they’ve been going through, again is that idea of it’s okay to feel this and if this is what you’re going through, you’re not the only one.

I feel like you hear so much of this idea of I partied until 3am last night and now I don’t remember my name! Or I have all this money and I don’t know what to do with it! And in this world, especially right now, it’s just not relatable and it can give people an unrealistic world view and then they get dissatisfied with their own lives like “I’m not clubbing on a Tuesday night so I must be doing something wrong”. But I’ve seen this kind of revolution, of people romanticizing mondanity and the little things in life. And we’re shifting from instagram baddie culture to just I am who I am and I love that. I’m just in my little house, cooking my little things, but life is great! So that’s what I’ve been drifting towards.

Lizzie McAlpine is a really great example of that, and obviously I listen to songs like SZA and Frank Ocean, Chloe and Hally I’ve been listening to a lot. Also a lot of Arlo Parks and Hayley Williams also just dropped an album. So that’s what I’ve been listening to now, but if you want to make this a point then I can literally bop to almost anything. I would say expect country, but I like Kacey Muscgraves. But yeah, I listen to a lot. I think listening to a lot of music helps me write better music.

What’s the best advice that you’ve been given as an artist or do you have any advice that you would give a smaller or DIY artist just starting out?

I think it’s what we’ve been talking about.

It’s good to remember that just because you’re not famous now does not mean you’re not deserving of love and praise. Sometimes it’s just about the right person hearing your music and maybe not every song is meant to have a billion streams but I guarantee you, the right people will find it. And maybe someone who is really struggling heard your song and it made life a little more okay. We never know, but I think it’s better to think about it that way. Because the fact that you’re creating at all is really cool. Nobody can make what you make, so it’s like your duty to create.