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leonstamatis · 4 years

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i’ll have you in between

mike townsend/sebastian telephone, post-hall stars incineration 1.7k, title from “ghost” by misterwives

(also published on AO3)

Mike has to look away when Sebastian dies.

Or. Not dies, exactly. He’s already dead, has been for months. It should be a blessing that Mike got to see him again at all, even on TV, even semi-translucent and tinted blue. He was out on the field again, playing the most important game of his entire career. Of anyone’s career.

But the unmistakable sound of a rogue umpire had ruined that. The cameras turned to catch the transformation, showed a man bursting apart at the seams and turning to a writhing mass of shadow and bone and flame. Mike had seen all that before, often up close and personal.

Then the camera cut to Seb, standing on the field with a ball in his hands.

Mike has grown a lot since the early seasons, since Jaylen was incinerated just inches away from him mid-sentence. But he’s still human. He’d seen Seb staring that ump down, and he’d turned the television off.

There’s bread dough that needs attention, Mike tells himself as he walks into the kitchen. No point beating himself up about it. Besides, it’s not like he can do anything about whatever happens in Baltimore. He should focus on keeping himself sane ahead of elections.

He grabs flour from the pantry and gets to work, pounding the dough out on the countertop. It’s hard not to think of Sebastian; his busted end table is still in sight in the living room, chipped and wobbly and covered in old mail. His coat is still on the rack where he’d left it last time he visited. Mike can practically see him, sitting on the counter and knocking his heels on the lower cabinet while Mike works.

Seb, staring down a rogue ump on the field for the second time. Seb, replaced with a column of smoke and scorched grass.

Mike shakes his head and looks down at his hands. “Stupid,” he mutters to himself. “He had to go and be a hero.”

“Well, yeah. You would too, dude.”

Sebastian is right where he’s supposed to be, on the counter next to the sink. His Hall Stars jersey is singed, still lightly smoking in some places. He’s watching Mike with three wide, bright blue eyes.

He’d had brown eyes, before.

“Seb,” Mike whispers. His chest is tight; he thinks he might be hallucinating, having some kind of episode. Maybe he fell asleep on the couch. Maybe he’s dreaming.

“Hey, Mike,” Sebastian says, offering a wry smile. “Sorry I didn’t call.”

Mike rushes forward, heart pounding. He doesn’t even notice Sebastian is frowning until he reaches out to touch him, to run a hand along his cheek. Mike’s hand passes right through, disturbs the soft blue glow emanating from Sebastian’s skin but never makes contact.

“Seb, what’s – what’s happening?” Mike asks, reaching out again. It doesn’t help; once again, he fails to make contact.

Now that he’s looking closer, Mike can see the signs: Flour is dusted over the countertop, undisturbed by Sebastian’s form. His heels knock against the cabinet but make no sound.

“Long story,” Sebastian says, but his hand comes to hover over Mike’s chest too, like he wants to touch him back. “Unfortunately, I don’t think I have a lot of time.”

“How long?” Mike asks, and there’s no way any of this is real but he’ll pretend for as long as he can.

Sebastian bites his lip, eyes flicking up to the ceiling. “My guess is, end of the game. Maybe a little longer. Pretty sure it’s still the third inning right now.”

“You died,” Mike says, goes to rest his hand on Sebastian’s knee and ends up gripping the edge of the countertop instead. “Again.”

“I was incinerated,” Sebastian corrects him. He pushes his hair out of his eyes; Mike wishes he could do it for him. “Or, more accurately, thousands of peanuts belonging to me were incinerated. And now I’m here. With you. For a limited amount of time.”

“Why?”

“I can’t help them anymore,” he says. Mike isn’t sure whether he means the Hall Stars or the Pods, or even just Jessica. He doesn’t ask. “I thought maybe I could help you, though.”

Mike knows he’s staring. He doesn’t bother feeling bad about it. It’s a struggle, though, not to keep reaching out, not to lean his head forward and try to rest his forehead against Seb’s. All those little familiar things he misses are somehow still out of his reach, even with Sebastian sitting right here.

But if he’s only got a few hours, well. Maybe it’s better to act like that’s enough.

“How can you help?” Mike mutters, and Sebastian frowns but he pushes on. “You can’t exactly knead dough like this.”

The corner of Sebastian’s mouth twitches upward, very nearly a smirk. “I can supervise,” he says.

Mike closes his eyes and takes a breath, lets it out as a heavy sigh. And then he steps away and returns to the bread, abandoned in a shapeless lump on the counter. He dusts some more flour over the surface and gets to work.

“Written any new songs lately?” Sebastian asks.

Mike shakes his head. “Nothing special. The band is doing another collab with a bunch of people, they don’t need anything from me.”

“Aw, bummer,” Sebastian says, and it almost feels like a normal night together so long as Mike doesn’t look in his direction. “I was hoping you’d sing to me.”

Mike snorts. “You don’t want to hear any of the new stuff. It’s all emo and boring as hell.”

The oiled mixing bowl is on the counter near Sebastian. Mike gets as far as stretching a hand out for Sebastian to pass it over before he realizes he’ll have to get it himself. The bread is a brioche, still on the first proof; even if Sebastian were really here, there’d be no opportunity for him to snatch up bits of filling like he used to, not until tomorrow.

“What, are you writing about busy signals and voicemails?” Sebastian teases. “Memorializing the great Sebastian Telephone? Legally, you have to tell me.”

Mike hesitates, hands pausing in their work. But they’re on the clock, he supposes; might as well make the time worthwhile.

“Feels like running out of quarters at the payphone, waking in a bed where I’m all alone,” he sings, barely loud enough for Sebastian to hear. “Wish I had a third eye to show me where we went wrong.”

“Oh,” Sebastian says.

Mike shrugs. “You asked.”

Sebastian stays mostly quiet after that. Mike finds himself glancing over every few minutes just to make sure he’s still there, to make sure he’s not alone again. When they were together, the apartment had felt cramped and very nearly too small; now Mike frequently finds himself thinking it’s cavernous and hollow.

“I’m sorry,” Sebastian says.

It’s not as sad as Mike thought it would be. “I’m sorry too.”

He tucks the dough into the bowl and covers it, turns to put it in the oven to prove overnight. He can see Sebastian watching him out of the corner of his eye. Mike starts rinsing off the dishes in the sink if only to distract himself from trying, impossibly, to touch him again.

“What inning do you think it is now?” Mike asks. Sebastian has migrated into the living room and is looking around sort of absently, casting everything in that watery blue light.

“You kept the end table,” he says back, which isn’t an answer.

Mike closes the dishwasher and makes his way out of the kitchen, wiping his hands dry on his jeans. “Of course I did.”

“They’re probably in the fifth or sixth inning by now,” Seb says.

He wanted to know. He asked the question. Somehow, knowing it doesn’t make Mike feel any better.

“Did you know you snore?” Mike asks. “It’s annoying as hell. Even more annoying now that I can’t fall asleep without it.”

Sebastian laughs, caught off guard. Mike misses that, too.

“I swear I haven’t gotten a good night’s sleep since you left,” he presses on, and he doesn’t know where the words are coming from or why but he can hardly stop now. “It sucks, Seb. I don’t know what to do. Some days I think that fucking end table is the most valuable thing I own.”

“That’s not true,” Sebastian says, and he’s smiling but his voice is shaky. He steps closer into Mike’s space, not that it actually matters. “You still have half my clothes here, you could make thousands off those after tonight.”

“Finally made a name for yourself after all this time, huh?” Mike asks, and reaches out to run a hand over Seb’s arm before he can catch himself. “All you had to do was die.”

“Twice,” Sebastian says.

“Twice,” Mike repeats.

Making a name for themselves was never the point, exactly. They got to know each other specifically because they’d never been in the spotlight. Things are a little different now; Mike’s got an entire album written in his honor, practically, and Sebastian was brought back from the Hall of Flame. Those things don’t happen to just anybody.

Mike would give anything to go back to being nobody if it meant Sebastian would be nobody with him.

Sebastian tilts his head to the side, eyes running over Mike’s face. “You look tired, Mike.” One of his hands comes up to rest against Mike’s cheek; he tries his best to lean into it. “You need to rest.”

“If I go to sleep, you’ll disappear,” Mike says, and he knows it’s neither logical nor fair.

“I’m going to disappear anyway.”

“I know.”

And that’s it, really. Mike allows Sebastian to lead him to the bedroom, lies down on top of the covers and pretends he can feel Sebastian’s arms around him. He doesn’t sleep; they both know that. But Sebastian is still and quiet the entire time, running a hand along Mike’s arm and holding him as best he can.

In an hour or two, Sebastian will push up off the bed and walk out of the room. He’ll vanish into thin air, like he was never here. A few hours after that, Mike will get up and force himself to finish the bread he started, even though it’s the last thing he wants to do.

For now, they have this. It’s not enough; Mike will pretend it is.

#townseb #blaseball #blaseball fic #mine #my fic #me this morning: what if after seb was incinerated the second time he could still go see people #jaz: he could go see MIKE #will i move this to ao3? who the fuck can say

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duanjuanriverarpg · 2 years

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INMATE 765239 01

“901...you got a visitor.”

Duan wasn’t in the mood for any visitors. After the news that he had heard, it didn’t want to see anyone. “Can you at least tell me who it is?” He looked at the officer who was on duty that night. His name was J.T. Jay was pretty cool. Duan did favors for him when it came to giving him little insides on where to get some of the best weed on the outside. It was only right, for J.T. to help him out a little bit. “It’s one of ya ladies.”

Duan looked up from his book. There was only one....one only, who would visit him. None of the other women in his life, had that bond the way that this one did. DuanJuan didn’t allow himself to get close to any but her. She was loyal, she was trustworthy, and she held shit down while he was locked up. If that wasn't the full definition of a bottom bitch, then he didn’t know what else to call it. “I’ll go.”

He got up, put a bookmark where he stopped reading, placed his beanie over his braids so that he could walk out see about her and what she may have wanted. “Jazmina...never visited unless she had to inform him or update him about something. Yea, he figured she had some feelings for him, but they wasn’t the type to let it be known. He knew already, she knew already, so there wasn’t much to discuss about that. Business had to keep going. The last thing he heard from her was that Dro had them working, and he was working with some guy named Mike. Supposedly, they were supposed to be “dancing” for him. Duan had his doubts, but money had to be made, and he would have to swallow his pride and trust that Jaz could take the girls in to do what needed to be done.

He sat down across from her. “Sup Jaz...whats going on?” He was actually relieved to see her, because he also had some news to share with her, that could possibly change their whole lives. @justxjazmina

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imagining-supernatural · 4 years

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The Thanksgiving Party

Part 22 of Seventy Percent

Series Summary: When you left on your trip to Vegas, you’d planned on letting loose for one last weekend before heading back to reality and getting your affairs in order so your best friend wouldn’t be left cleaning up your mess when your cancer finally ended your life. What you hadn’t counted on was waking up married to a celebrity who has a knight-in-shining-armor complex, connections with an oncologist, and amazing insurance…

Chapter Summary: It’s Thanksgiving day and you spend it with Sebastian and his friends

Word Count: 1,927

The door closed with a soft click and you made your way through the unfamiliar room to ungracefully collapse on the bed. Three hours into the Thanksgiving celebration and you were ready for a nap.

Surprisingly enough, you hadn’t wanted to leave the group. If it hadn’t been for your body warning you to take a break, you would have still been socializing with Seb and all of his friends. Large groups were never your thing. The nine other people in the apartment would normally be enough to spin your mental wheel of excuses to leave early.

I’m sorry. I have to go. My (spin wheel) chipmunk just (spin another wheel) gave birth and I obviously have to go help.

But your mental wheel was becoming dusty with disuse.

It was strange.

You settled on the bed with some pillows to prop you up into a lounging position and pulled out your phone to call Jasmin. She picked up on the fourth ring.

“Hey Y/N! Great timing. You just saved me from having to change Zander’s diaper.”

The cry of her nephew came through her phone and you smiled. “You’re welcome. How’s he doing? And the rest of your family?”

“They’re great. Well, not my dad. I think he’s finally going to have to change a diaper. First diaper he’s changed since… well probably since I was out of diapers.”

“It’s his grandson. He should change a diaper.”

Jasmin laughed and the sound was immediately followed by the slam of a door. “Sheesh, that was a doozy. I don’t think I’ve seen that much poop since… I don’t think I’ve seen that much poop ever.”

“That’s what he gets for bragging that he’s never changed his grandchildren’s diapers.”

“Yeah. Anyway, enough about my family’s shit. How’s your day going?”

While you spoke, you pulled a blanket over yourself and burrowed further into the pillows. “Not too bad. Seb’s friends are great and I’ve actually been having fun.”

“Good, I’m glad.”

“Yeah. Brittney and Josselin actually set up a lunch date with me next week. So I might have some friends here besides Seb, Sean, and the nurses.”

“Not that Sebastian’s just your friend.”

Jasmin just couldn’t stop fishing. She kept wanting you to admit that you were in love with him or something. Which, honestly, might not be too far off base. You doubted you’d ever meet anyone more amazing than Sebastian. But with the intense situation you were in, how could you believe the feelings that came out of it?

Sebastian was, quite literally, your knight in shining armor. Or knight with a shining arm for most of the week.

So, no. You weren’t going to admit anything to Jasmin. You didn’t want the weight of that on your shoulders. You were simply enjoying whatever the hell you had going on with him at the moment.

“Mmm, no, he isn’t,” you mused, hoping she would get her hopes up. “He’s also my husband for insurance purposes.”

“And tax purposes,” she pointed out.

Holy shit. “I’m going to have to file my taxes as married, aren’t I? Fuck. That’s… fuckin’ weird.” There was a moment longer where you pondered on that before shaking your head. “Anyway. I just figured I’d give you a call while I had a moment alone. I should probably take a nap for an hour or so.”

“New treatment that bad?”

“Let’s just say I have a feeling that I won’t have the energy to even be bitchy for the next few weeks. But mid-January I’ll have the surgery and it’ll have been worth it.”

The two of you shot the shit for a while longer before hanging up. Within five minutes of closing your eyes, you were asleep.

“Hey, Y/N. Time to wake up.”

You shifted away from the hand on your shoulder with a groan. “No.”

The bed shifted and you felt someone lay down on top of the blanket behind you. Sebastian’s familiar arm curled around you as he fitted his body against yours. His lips were at your ear when he whispered, “Josselin and Mike are pulling out the pies.”

“I think I’d rather stay right here with you,” you murmured as you freed your arm from the confines of the blanket to grab his hand. Cuddling up with you was really the worst possible way he could have chosen to try and get you out of bed.

“But… pie. And ice cream.”

“I’m comfy.”

Despite your stubborn words, you forced yourself to start waking up more. Sebastian trailed his finger up and down your arm before heading toward your face, making you scrunch up your face and pull away from his finger. You felt his laughter at your back and couldn’t help your own smile.

By that time, you were awake enough to pull away and lay on your back, looking up at him.

“Hi,” he grinned down at you.

“Hi yourself.”

“How you feeling, sweetheart?”

“’m good. Still tired, but that’s not new.”

“Good. You really wanna stay in here?”

“Nah. Ice cream sounds good. And I like your friends, so…”

God, you could just stare into his blue eyes for ages. You never understood the phrase drowning in their eyes until Sebastian. And his soft, pink lips pulling up into a smile? That rough stubble on his cheeks… How in the world was he so fucking perfect?

His smile grew for a fraction of a second before he leaned down and kissed you. It lasted just a second before he pulled back and sat up. “They like you too. C’mon, let’s go.”

This time, you let him pull you up and guide you back to the kitchen. Several people had bowls with ice cream and pie already, so Sebastian headed right over to the counter to start filling his own. When he offered you a bowl, you held your hand out to refuse.

“I’m still full. I’ll probably just steal a few bites of whatever you’re having and call it good.”

“Why do you think I’ll share?”

“Why do you think I said steal?” You shot right back, tilting your head. “I’m not asking for your permission; I’m just giving you fair warning.”

Mike came up and threw his arm over your shoulder, motioning to you with his other hand. “C’mon, Sebastian. How can you say no to that face?”

Playing along, you gave Seb your best puppy dog eyes and pouty lip.

“Ganging up on me, I see how it is,” he muttered, unable to curb his own smile.

“Hey, you and Jaz gang up on me all the time. Turnabout’s fair play, babe.”

Once everyone had their desserts in hand, you all moved to the living room. You tried to claim a corner of the couch to hopefully fade away and just enjoy observing the witty banter and friendly insults that were being flung around the room, but Sebastian sat right next to you and pulled your legs over his lap. With one of his arms curled around you and the other balancing the bowl of ice cream and pie in your lap, you were right in the middle of every conversation Sebastian got pulled into.

After an hour or so, you felt yourself drifting off. A few people had left and the energy in the apartment simmered down to a more intimate setting. That, combined with Seb’s warm body against yours, lulled you into that space between consciousness and unconsciousness. You were floating just outside of dreamland.

“I like her,” you heard someone say quietly.

Sebastian shifted enough to get your head more comfortably on his shoulder and he hummed in agreement.

“She seems good for you,” the other person said again. Josselin, maybe?

“I like to think so,” Seb murmured.

“She gonna come to Thanksgiving next year, too?”

“You’re nosey, you know that Joss?”

“And you’re avoiding answering the question.” There was silence, then a heavy sigh from Josselin. “I’ve known you a long time, Sebastian. And I’ve never seen you with anyone that you literally cannot keep your hands off of. And not even in the I can’t wait to get you in bed kind of way.”

His hand absently rubbed up and down your thigh. “Yeah, well…”

“Well…? Well what?”

He took a deep breath. “The original plan was to get a divorce once she’s recovered.”

“Plans change. Your plan was to have a fun time in Vegas and get back to your life like normal. Now look at you. This isn’t what your life was like before. At all.”

“Yeah,” he agreed. He pressed his lips to your brow and murmured, too quiet for Josselin to hear, “It’s better.”

“Hey, Y/N, look at this.” Sebastian plopped down on the armrest of your chair, careful of the wires and tubes attached to you. “So, you know how Joss was taking pictures like crazy yesterday?”

You nodded. The only time Josselin didn’t have her camera aimed at one of her guests was when she was eating, or when Mike stole the camera to take pictures of her. Never in your life had you met anyone who took so many pictures.

“She sent me some. Look at this one.” He handed his phone to you, keeping his eyes on your face for a reaction. No pressure for you, or anything, right?

A snort of laughter escaped you and you grinned. The screen was lit with a picture of a laughing Sebastian trying to feed you ice cream, while you leaned back as far as you could without falling off his lap. Ice cream was smudged on your cheek and your own lips were caught in laughter. You hadn’t known she’d gotten that moment on camera.

“That’s a good picture,” you said softly, zooming in on your faces. Both of you looked so carefree and happy… you doubted you’d see that side of yourself until well after the surgery.

Assuming you made it to surgery.

“I was wondering…” Sebastian said hesitantly. Immediately, you looked up at him, waiting for his question. Rarely was he unsure of anything. “How would you feel about me making an Instagram post with that picture?”

What could it hurt, right? The hype around you and Seb had died down since neither of you commented on the hype. So his post would bring you back to the spotlight for a day or two… you weren’t going to look online anyway.

“That’s fine. It might be nice to have a non-paparazzi photo of me online,” you joked.

“You sure?” he asked, but he was already half-smiling, ready to start making his post.

“Yeah. If there’s one thing I remember from Jasmin’s, uh, fanatical Supernatural phase, it’s that fans like to know that their favorite celebrities are doing well when something big happens. You’ve been quiet about… us. Being married. The cancer. I think a post showing you laughing would go a long way with your fans.”

He dropped a kiss on your brow before moving back to his chair across from you. He was tapping away on his phone for quite a while before he finally sat back. Your phone vibrated, alerting you that he’d tagged your neglected Instagram account.

Pulling out your phone, you saw the picture and immediately saved it to your phone. Beneath the picture was the caption:

According to Charles Dickens, “There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor” and I’m so thankful to have Y/N in my life to infect me with her laughter and humor. #Thanksgiving2019

Four fluffy parts in a row?? What has come over me?? But doesn’t that picture just seem so adorable??

CHAPTER 23: THE FIFTH CHECK-IN

#sebastian x reader #sebastian stan x reader #sebastian x reader fluff #sebastian stan x reader fluff #bucky barnes x reader #bucky x reader

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sole-cuore-amore-e-droga · 5 years

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Tel Aviv 2019: Straight outta United Kingdom to Eurovision with a blatantly non-blatant Melodifestivalen reject

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Yes, obviously, Eurovision: You Decide might as well be the safest NF to ever exist. We get that you don’t want to even try, the UK, but can you please act like you’re not in Big 5 for a year and ATTEMPT to try your hardest with the song??? I doubt that, despite SuRie’s bubbliness, “Storm” would’ve pulled numbers if it were in semi, unless the anti-neo-Nazi stage invader were to butt-in there and people would then send sympathy televotes the Brits’ way or something. Unsatisfying. (The man, that is.)

And so we have gotten another safe as ever British entry this year, performed by an excited personality that got a side-dish song and now is tasked to sell the side-dish as greatly as he’s possibly able to - the first season of All Together Now winner, Michael Rice! The dish is “Bigger than Us” and I’m neither glad nor sad the song has not enough factor to eat up Michael as a whole if it’s that much BIGGER. Not even the fact that it’s a Melodifestivalen reject (yes, the title IS correct, one of the song’s co-writers, whom I’ll name later, has possibly said it at some point, and he couldn’t keep it to himself anymore so he sent it over to another country!) could help this poor number out.

If you strip the singer off, you just get a stereotypical Eurovision-y ballad you overhear when scavenging through foreign NF catalogues, wondering which kind of rent-a-songwriter-program person contributed to it. Well John Lundvik (yes THAT one) doesn’t sound like THAT kind of name you’d hear when you think of songwriters of such shtick but Laurell Barker is, so there you go. These are just the two masterminds behind this one, as there are more but icr their names and honestly idc to.

And there’s nothing wrong about these typical ESC NF shlocks. Only when you’re young and dumb enough to enjoy these kind of songs, but I had to unfortunately grow up and see just how “useful” they are... n’t. I mean, it’s great for the artists whose big dream is to taste Eurovision and NOT as a backing singer, but most of the time the singers that get these songs can’t even slightly relate to what they sing, and thus we get people like Bishara entering Melodifestivalen and Isaiah entering Eurovision.

Maybe Michael did get to experience the kind of love that’s BIGGER than him and his partner, idk. I certainly don't want to bother asking him. And frankly, it's only me overthinking this issue, because ain't nobody in the world really got time for that, definitely. Well, at least the relationship’s going on nice! (except for when Mike sings “‘cause I can heare the universe when I’m feeling you breathe”... spooky. o.I)

Anyway, time to get to talk more about the song. It's actually not THAT bad, just a little too typical and unextraordinary, where in the current times the Eurovision has to not be predictable in sound and to excite the viewer with... well, anything that can excite anyone. Be it the visuals OR the song. OR both. What's so special about "Bigger than Us" that can keep the viewer on toes? Probably just that keychange. I wish there were more things about it but not every commentator out there would have enough time to let them people know Michael works in a waffle shop, let alone the time that "HE WON A TALENT SHOW'S FIRST SEASON BUT THE SHOW ISN'T THE X FACTOR OR THE VOICE ZOMFG!!". Let alone people even listen to any Eurovision commenting these days, lol. It might be a charming little piece for some people though, but I don't see them voting for people selling their songs vocally much more than songs that draw in viewers with different ways. It's just a standart talent show winner song for a standart talent show winner that sounds like it's slightly too stuck in the mid-to-late-00s-early-10s rather than the 90s, which is warm and cool and all, but it's likely gonna not do the cool lad Michael the justice he'd need, just like SuRie's song for SuRie. Mayhaps a top 20-ish, or, in Lucie's case, even a top 15, is possible (although it's mostly thanks to the juries - they're the only ones eating up big voice ballads. And anything Maltese. And anything Australian. And anything Swedish... that only represents Sweden. Sorry Lukas Meijer), but when the British optimism levels are set in a deep deep ditch by default every year when the BBC comes with their platter of choices for EYD, what else could be there to raise them up after even Lucie hasn't done that amazing enough for everyone to believe that the UK are capable more than just always finishing last with 0 every year? Of course, a better than average song, but does BBC care about even pulling one out of a songwriting camp? These kind of songs are too shite for their taste, apparently, so with songs they send like these, it's probably yet another meander-er.

Which is a shame, because once again, it's not bad. It's just too plain Jane for Eurovision anymore. It's like everyone dressed up gorgeously for Miss Universe's National Costume event and you went with a cheap-ish designer dress that is decorated by small details that are notoriously known as the country's symbols just to count as something "national". It's like everyone brough their best baked (and dare I say extreme) dish to a dish competition and you only brought in a nice looking baked cod and circled the fries around it. It's like a prom night where everyone dresses casually and you come up all in a dull olive colored jacket and jeans with torn out knees. There might be something hidden in its niceness that can conquer (nice piano, nice chords, nice vocals, nice chorus, nice song formula, nice choir, nice keychange, nice message)... but with everything too nice, it just feels like that the UK are not feeling like getting a 'nice' result. Unless there's something that can make Michael do a 'male Lucie' and launch it around the 14th-19th place at best, but...

And here's the section where I repeat myself some more of what I think of the song as a whole and chances as a whole:

Approval factor: Eh I'll probably have to approve this but only reluctantly somewhat, maybe because I felt positive on the first listen unlike these people who wanted UK to dare to do something else than safe... yeah lol

Follow-up factor: It’s rather marginably favourable song than SuRie’s and only because I like it despite its ‘blandness’. “Storm” is just a song that I don’t really care about. Provided Michael gives all out personality-wise though and the revamp’s not gonna suck balls (if there’s one), this is a decent step in a decent direction for the UK... hope Michael’s not getting stage-invaded by anti-Israel people!

Big 5 factor: Thanks to all this pre-partying kicking in heavily as I put out these reviews (and actually having finished), it turns out that Michael is one of those people that clearly works his hardest to sell this typical British averageness (like he sells his waffles), with his live being so decent enough he was thought of to be a perfect EYD winner this year, so, if he keeps building up his vocal strenghts and rehearses a lot (and stays well and such), he’s actually likely to at least achieve something above bottom 7! Yes, yes, John Lundvik is still the master that will beat his pupil in the end, but that wouldn’t seem that excruciating for the UK anymore if they happen to have a place that’s not bottom 3 or anything. Just for the Michael to do his utmost best out there, and if he does, the UK won’t be in an extremely bad position this year - just not a very high reacher, because at the end of the day there are more nations that run straight with their A-game and therefore continue leaving the common-appealers in the dust. Only Sweden (and Australia until 2018 or so) usually excels at their safeness. The others must outstand to survive. And to wrap things up on this factor section, imo the UK just meanders in the safeness for another year - but at least the good enough safeness that might even be able to qualify if it were sent by a semifinalist country! (apart Sweden ffs, of course Mr. Lundvik would qualify with this one if he kept it to himself, jeez)

NATIONAL FINAL BONUS

Thankfully EYD didn’t really stink this year, because of certain key factors:

• There’s always this one or two act(s) that acts like a saviour each year. Bianca and Dulcima (or Darline idk) from 2016, Holly and Salena from 2017, Asanda (and maybe Jaz? or even Raya??) from 2018 and... ponder no more, Kerrie-Anne’s got you covered in that spot! Her version of the two one’s of “Sweet Lies” was arguably the greatest possible choice for the NF (or, in this case, the “very least bad”, and eventhough it’s incredibly reminiscent of Sigala’s “Sweet Lovin’” (vocals provided by Bryn Christopher, who - controversial opinion - is probably my fave male singer of all time), which makes it “dated” (to a 2012-2014 pop radio degree, yes), it still was a bop that I’d want to dance to in rollerskates (if I had any!!) and spray the colourful smoke things that... well idk what it is but the said video of “Sweet Lovin’” demonstrates the action. Get back to me to let me know what’s that, anyone reading this. K-A lowkey underperformed though (just like Asanda from last year) but the bop remained AND she was rightfully included in the British televote’s superfinal trio! ^^

youtube

• The hosts were, yet again, the ever-so-loveable comedienne of Lithuanian roots, Mel Giedroyc, and the witty-ass Eurovision 2015 winner Måns Zelmerlöw. The duo is charming as usual and delightful to see on the Beebs when there’s the Eurovision case. If I didn’t know him better I’d even say Måns is a native English speaker. When there’s at least the drought of the ever-so-good entries in an EYD, we can look back at the hosts provided us some entertainment we’ve probably been missing while trying to find some on those competing entries. My favourite moment throughout that evening was the “next up is” jokes, all randomly stringed together, all in one row - all of those “next ups” were so hilariously random (until one hit the point - I think it was something about adverts or another performance being next up).

• The postcards were lovely too. With the format of EYD upgraded to make it as a three-song duel between two different versions of each one and the juries deciding on the best one for each (one vote per version), we got to see some nice friendships over there (I mean, a postcard for two people who did duel over whose version is the best - they had to listen and compliment each others’ versions) and some nice things the artists said themselves on separate postcards. Like the time when the only band of the competition of the year’s, MAID, named Buranovskiye Babushki as one of their girlband idols (a ‘so random yet glorious‘ answer) and the victorious Michael confessing that he’s “never been to Tel(iv) Aviv”... that’s true Michael, I believe ya. You’ve so never been there that ou struggle to even say it right! Not to mention that the postcard setups were cozy, too.

• Can we all just kind of agree that at least the jury for EYD made THE BEST CHOICES POSSIBLE??? I mean, yeah, it’s a biT cruel they’re the ones to choose the superfinalists without the audience’s interference, but they still made the best choices possible, at least imo. Anisa’s “Sweet Lies” was a godawfully dreary sex slow-jam (no really, I can’t not imagine a scenario where you can’t use it anywhere other than a sex scene in a movie, or a steamy hot shower scene. Call me crazy-minded but it’s true), MAID’s “Freaks” was godawfully too creepy, strange and unbearable, and Holly Tandy’s “Bigger than Us”... well... while much more chill and way less overbearing (also with not enough “BIGGER” memes potential), it would have probably not stood out all that much - just written off as a Kygo remix rented for a cheap price of half a pound (but still co-written by John Lundvik though!!). So thanks to Rylan and the other two for picking the superfinalists reasonably, unlike A Dal jurors this year. It still wrenches my gut whenever I think about it, ugh.

• What even would be an appearance of Måns if he didn't try to remind y'all of his enthusiasm for Eurovision. No one really cares he won Eurovision 4 years ago, if anything, I dread that he's only being remembered as the "male singer guy of Love Love Peace Peace song" by the newer fans. At least Pepperidge Farm I remember how Måns really wanted to get to Eurovision (even if he didn't participate in that many Melodifestivalen editions). So in this year's EYD he went all out to be a part of the Eurovision best (British?) songs medley (and we got Katrina and the Waves later in the show, performing the nation's last winning hit, 22 years later... and that wasn't even a fully British-branded win, if yanno what I mean!), and it's all courtesy of the Melodifestivalen's best known scriptwriter and an occasional Eurovision commentator (and Melodifestivalen's narrator too), Edward af Sillén. Or at least I remember it being written that he has written some stuff for Måns to do in EYD, IDK. Eitherway, it was kind of a fun thing, the interlude. Just remembering all the nice Eurovision entries out there, even including Gina G (whose ESC entry was also sung by another person in another NF whose review will be up next I suppose!).

• Heyyyyy, wasn’t it all kinds of nice to see SuRie doing an interval act and a reprise of her own run-of-the-mill entry “Storm”? I applaud her of doing a tremendous piano rendition of it, with even singing some notes a little higher than in the actual song. Maybe THAT version could have done so much better in Lisbon - showing off SuRie’s vocal decency, intimacy and... idk about the intruder part, hopefully he’d have had no way to wrestle the mic out of SuRie’s hands that time. At least SuRie had just enough support from Eurofans to be wanted to represent the UK one more year in a row, with a special EYD designed for her, where the songs could be mostly composed by her and not by the useless songwriting camp. While it’s a nice idea for some British and non-British people to get to know each other on these camps, the end results barely end up satisfying because the artists barely get involved in the songs they’re singing - not even a song line, not even a hum of contribution! Why can’t you at least take examples from German songwriting camps... (except for the time “Sister” was invented, that one could have been a perfect contribution for an EYD (not necessarily in this year’s format but still)

All in all, this may seem like an improvement of things, but I still am really hoping that BBC will give into a decent internal selection... afterall there are good names that are down to do Eurovision and didn’t even say it will harm their ‘reputation’ (*cough* Paloma Faith *cough* Hurts), and yet BBC refuses them somehow, not thinking that Eurovision is more than just a SONG contest (while ironically not even having their songs sounding THAT ‘great’, oops)? Or at least reformat EYD big time and make it exciting a la Australia Decides is (you know you suck when even your colony does better NFs than you). For now, I’ll just grit my teeth and nicely wish Michael Rice all the best in Tel(iv) Aviv. You’ll need it, chap! And in secret I hope that you’ll get it xx

#eurovision 2019 #tel aviv 2019 reviews #united kingdom 2019 #michael rice #bigger than us #united kingdom

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jessisthepenguinwhowrites-blog · 7 years

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Want You Back (Annie x Luke)

Hello! This was just a little something I wrote on Wattpad, and I’m really proud of it so I thought I would share it with you guys!

A request made by my friend Annie, and I based it upon 5SOS’ Want You Back bc what. A. Bop.

Requests are open! Plz send them in :)

🎶Can't help but wondering if this is the last time that I'll see your face Is it tears or just the pouring rain? Wish I could say something Something that doesn't sound insane But lately I don't trust my brain You tell me I won't ever change So I just say nothing🎶 *Annie POV*

"Annie? Luke is here!" I frowned to myself as I put down the shirt I was trying out and walked downstairs slowly, "Luke? What's up?" I asked as I nodded at my friend to give us a moment. "Can we talk outside?" He asked, glancing behind me, I turned - so much for her giving us a moment. "Sure" I followed him outside into the rain. "I uh - we got another tour deal" he said, though something in his tone made me think he wasn't totally happy about it. "That's great, Luke? Where are you going this time?" I asked him, trying to be the supportive girlfriend I should be. "Well, that's where the problem is. It's uh, it's a worldwide tour, and we'll be gone for a year and a half." Luke's gaze didn't leave the ground as he spoke, and I was grateful for that, it gave me a moment to catch my suprise and conceal it with excitement for him. "That's amazing" I told him, cursing myself when my voice caught in my throat, he finally looked up at me, he nodded slightly, "Yeah, I knew I needed to come and tell you in person though, so we can decide what we're going to do." I took a deep breath, feeling the tears finally start to trail down my cheeks, blending in with the rain. "I- you'll be gone for a whole eighteen months, Luke, a lot can happen in that time. It - it would probably be best if we break up. And if we're both still single when you get back, and our feelings for each other haven't changed, we can always start again." I watched as Luke's facial expressions showed he was fighting to find something to say, "You'll never change, will you?" I forced a giggle as I stepped forwards, "Goodbye, Luke" I whispered and placed a kiss on his cheek. 🎶No matter where I go, I'm always gonna want you back No matter how long you're gone, I'm always gonna want you back I know you know I will never get over you No matter where I go, I'm always gonna want you back Want you back🎶 *Luke POV* "Hey, c'mon now man, you know it's gotta be for the best. We're gonna be gone a long time, you'd both be unhappy and suspicious of the other, it'll have ended much worse than that." Ashton tried to convince me when I told him what had happened. "I love her, Ash, I love her. How am I gonna get over her?" 🎶I remember the freckles on your back And the way that I used to make you laugh 'Cause you know every morning I wake up Yeah I still reach for you I remember the roses on your shirt When you told me this would never work You know even when I say I've moved on Yeah I still dream for you🎶 *Annie POV* "Luke!" I giggled as I felt hands on my stomach, tickling me awake, by the time I had opened my eyes he was turned over, facing away from me, pretending to be asleep. I took a moment to look at him, the sunlight coming in through the curtains, his blond hair practically glowing like a halo around his head. The imperfectly perfect light freckles that splayed across his broad shoulders and back. "I love you" I whispered as I got up to straddle his waist, "I love you too" he smiled back, turning onto his back to better look at me. As I opened my eyes I was faced with the harsh reality - Luke and I split four months ago. We haven't spoken since. I still talk to Calum and Ash and Mike every few days, I told them that I'm over Luke - I couldn't have told a bigger lie. "No matter what I say, I still dream for you" I whispered into the morning air. 🎶No matter where I go, I'm always gonna want you back No matter how long you're gone, I'm always gonna want you back I know you know I will never get over you No matter where I go, I'm always gonna want you back Want you back🎶 *Annie POV* "C'mon Annie, it'll be fun and you know it!" Jasmine smiled, trying to convince me to leave the hotel room. She had somehow talked me into driving down with her to Florida and staying there for a week, using the excuse 'You need to liven up'. "I don't really feel up to it, Jaz, I'll see you later." I told her, once again refusing her invitation to accompany her to some beach bonfire with these guys we'd met earlier. She sighed, saying a quick goodbye before leaving. I took a deep breath before turning my attention to the balcony outside our room. The fresh sea air felt refreshing in my lungs as I sat on one of the two chairs placed outside, "No matter where I go, Luke, I feel like I'm never gonna get over you." 🎶You know even when I say I moved on You know even though I know that you're gone All I think about is where I went wrong🎶 *Luke POV* "Alright, we'll see you later bud" Ashton waved goodbye to myself and Cal as he left the hotel room with Mikey. "You can go with them y'know" I told Calum as he sat beside me on the double bed. "Nah, I'd rather keep you company than go out to another club." He shrugged and picked up the TV remote. "What do you wanna watch?" He asked me, his eyes trained on the screen, flicking through the TV guide onscreen. I felt my eyes well up, finally having a night to myself suddenly wasn't a good idea as my mind was filled with Annie. "Hey, Luke, what's up, man?" I looked up to see Cal looking at me worriedly, "I messed up. Man, I shouldn't have let her say that. I should- I should've asked her to come with me. I screwed up!" 🎶You know even when I say I moved on You know even though I know that you're gone All I think about is where I went wrong Yeah I still dream for you🎶 *Annie POV* Calum told me Luke had moved on - met some girl in a club, stayed away from the media to keep it a secret until he was ready to tell me. I couldn't get my head around it when he told me a week ago - I'm still a little shocked now. I'm happy for Luke, I am, but I'm also upset about it. "Talk to me" Jasmine whispered as we sat in my bedroom, "I keep dreaming that I'll wake up, and Luke will be laying next to me, like these past six months have been a bad dream or something. I can't stop thinking about splitting up. I messed up. I should have said we could try to make it work, or something!" 🎶No matter where I go, I'm always gonna want you back No matter where I go, I'm always gonna want you back I'm always gonna want you back No matter how long you're gone, I'm always gonna want you back I know you know I will never get over you No matter where I go, I'm always gonna want you back Want you back🎶 *Luke POV* "Hello L.A!" Ashton shouted into the microphone. "We've got a new song for you, you guys are gonna be the first to hear it!" Michael yelled happily, "This is called Want You Back!" I yelled before we stepped back from the microphones and nodded at each other. "This is for you babe" I whispered to myself.

#JessisthePenguinwhowritesImagine #Luke Hemmings #Annie #Annie x Luke #Request from Wattpad #Enjoy!

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symbianosgames · 7 years

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Video Game Deep Cuts: Hitman vs. Edith Finch - Go!

The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.

[Video Game Deep Cuts is a weekly newsletter from curator/video game industry veteran Simon Carless, rounding up the best longread & standout articles & videos about games, every weekend. This week's highlights include Hitman level design, What Remains of Edith Finch, and much, much more.

As I battle jetlag after my return from Asia to a sunny California spring, I've been thinking a lot this week about discoverability for games again. Shouldn't there be more niche game subscription services out there for those looking to support underappreciated/'different' titles? I love Humble Monthly, but some of the more mainstream subscribers seem to get grumpy about the quirkier indie titles in it at times - much like PS4 players litter indie YouTube trailer comments with fist-shaking.

And how about adding context to the games in a subscription with dev interview videos, 'Let's Play'-style playthoughs, or even analysis videos? Would any of you sign up for something like this? Curious...

- Simon, curator.]

-------------------

Passing Through Ghosts in Pac-Man (John Harris / Gamasutra Blogs) "This is an excerpt from my book Bug Voyage: A Tour of Classic Game Glitches, available in the current Rogue Souls Storybundle [SIMON'S NOTE: which I curated!]. The book also contains information on pseudorandom number generation, doing low-level math in binary and decimal, and how you can crash any Galaga machine without even putting money in."

Writing Indie Games Is Like Being a Musician. In the Bad Way. (Jeff Vogel / The Bottom Feeder) "Over the last couple years, I've gotten a fair amount of attention for my articles about the Indie Bubble and the Indie Glut. (And even a GDC talk.) At last, I can complete the trilogy of articles. Now we can look around and see where we've ended up, a phase which I suspect will be permanent. [SIMON'S NOTE: Please read this.]"

Legendary Game Maker Peter Molyneux Talks Regrets and What's Next (Chris Suellentrop / Glixel) "That enthusiasm for the unknown is the hallmark of 57-year-old Molyneux's long career. He stopped by the Glixel offices in March to talk – barely – about his next game, Legacy, as well as to speak at length about everything from No Man's Sky and Pokémon Go to his aborted Kinect experiment, Milo."

toco toco ep.49, Yoko Taro, Game Creator (toco toco TV / YouTube) "In this episode, we spend the day in Osaka with Yoko Taro, director of the famous Drakengard and NieR series. Our first stop will be at PlatinumGames, the studio that was in charge of developing Yoko’s most recent title: NieR: Automata."

How Hitman’s Hokkaido level was made (Alex Wiltshire / RockPaperShotgun) "The latest Hitman['s]... levels are a jetset tour of places you believe could exist, but these aren’t just credible environments, they’re also machines for killing in. And the first season of Hitman closed with one of its best. Hokkaido is at once compact and expansive, melodramatic and credible, and I talked to IO about how it was designed."

Game Over, Uwe Boll (Darryn King / Vanity Fair) "The man known as the world’s worst director is now retired and running a Vancouver restaurant. But he’s still not done waiting for the world to give him his due. [SIMON'S NOTE: you really should read this one, if only for Boll's random Chris Kohler diss, haha.]"

Inside the Resilient ‘Team Fortress 2’ Community on the PlayStation 3 (Aron Garst / Motherboard) "To say that PS3 players got a raw deal is one hell of an understatement. But they've managed, and made friends along the way."

THOTH, And How I Talk About Games (Errant Signal / YouTube) "Just a little thing I made at the end of last month while fighting off some sickness. [SIMON'S NOTE: an interesting - if a bit self-doubt-y - meta-analysis from one of the better YouTube game analysis folks on how you should approach mechanics-led games in terms of commentary.]"

Valve has cut Dota 2 royalties, and workshop creators are crying foul (Arthur Gies / Polygon) "There’s unrest in Dota 2’s community this week, as several artists responsible for many of the free-to-play game’s popular cosmetic items allege that Steam owner and Dota 2 developer Valve Software has systematically reduced their earnings and may be permanently damaging the long-term viability of Dota 2’s business model."

Magic: The Gathering's Head Designer Has A Damn Hard Job (JR Goldberg / Kotaku) "“Magic is secretly, not really … it’s not one game,” head Magic: The Gathering designer Mark Rosewater told me. “It is actually a bunch of different games that all have a shared rule system. Every time I make a card set, I’m making the game for everybody, but for each person, it’s a different game to them.”"

Roam free: A history of open-world gaming (Richard Moss / Ars Technica) "Open-world video games bear the impossible promise—offering compelling, enjoyable open-endedness and freedom within the constraints of what is, by necessity of the medium, an extremely limited set of possible actions. These games provide a list of (predominantly violent) verbs that's minuscule in comparison to the options you would face in identical real-life situations. Yet, we can't get enough of them."

Tom Clancy's Inherent Silliness: Why Ghost Recon Wildlands Couldn't Escape Its Fate (Cameron Kunzelman / Paste) "Ghost Recon Wildlands is a silly game. One might be tempted to think that it’s an intentionally silly game bordering on satire. I mean, after all, it’s almost a parody of games in its genre: it’s a third-person shooter game where four operatives, a handler, and some almost-Communist rebels take on and fully dismantle the infrastructure of a country that’s been fully taken over by a drug cartel."

The Game Beat Weekly: The pressure to stay in line (Kyle Orland / TinyLetter) "These apologetic quotes both get at a truth that's rarely explicitly acknowledged in the world of game criticism: being out of step with the critical or fan consensus on a big-name game or franchise is often not an easy thing to do. At best, having a contrary opinion about a big game these days means being subject to a huge stream of nasty comments, tweets, and e-mails about your view."

The Last Game I Make Before I Die: The Crashlands Postmortem (Sam Coster / GDC / YouTube) "Crashlands was developed by a team of three brothers in response to one of them being diagnosed with late stage cancer. In this 2017 session, Butterscotch Shenanigans' Samuel Coster tells the parallel stories of one family's battle with cancer and the creation of a cross-platform crafting RPG, and find yourself inspired to continue your great work no matter what life throws at you."

The Growing Indie Game Development Scene of South Africa (Lena LeRay / IndieGames.com) "South Africa's video game development scene has been through a lot of ups and downs since it got started in the mid-90s. The indie scene in particular got its first big break in 2010, with the entry of Desktop Dungeons on the world stage."

Destiny's meta shifts are fascinating (Cole Tomashot / Zam) "A meta shift is usually the result of a content release, player discovery, or patch. What makes these meta shifts interesting, is that while they are occurring a push and pull relationship between developers and players reveals itself as both parties play a role in a game’s meta."

Meeting Andrzej Sapkowski, the writer who created The Witcher (Robert Purchese / Eurogamer) "Andrzej Sapkowski has something of a reputation. To start with, he's a big deal. He invented Geralt, witchers, Triss, Ciri, the whole thing - it all came out of his head. He has won awards and his work is revered, especially in Poland. More than once I've heard him described as the Polish Tolkien. But I've also heard he can be difficult - and I'm on my way to meet him."

The sound of SID: 35 years of chiptune’s influence on electronic music (James Newman / The Conversation) "Fortunately, Yannes did know something about music, as well as semiconductors and designing chips. And so in 1981 he began work on what would arguably become the most important milestone in videogame music and one whose influence still resonates to this day: the MOS Technology 6581, also known as the Sound Interface Device, but much better known as the SID. [SIMON'S NOTE: quite a few game soundtracks analyzed in this neat piece!]"

Balancing Cards in Clash Royale (Stefan Engblom / GDC / YouTube) "In this 2017 GDC session, Stefan Engblom, game designer on the Clash Royale team, talks about the philosophies and principles used for balancing cards and gameplay in Supercell's Clash Royale."

The Ten Most Important Early Computer and Video Games (Jaz Rignall / USGamer) "Today's gaming industry is a massive, multibillion dollar entertainment juggernaut. But what are its roots? I thought I'd take a trip back to the very dawn of gaming history and take a look at the devices, inventions, and innovations that gave rise to our favorite pastime."

Mike Tyson's Punch Out NES Nintendo 30th Anniversary (Gajillionaire / YouTube) "30 years ago on March 31, 1987, Little Mac defeated the Super Macho Man for the W.V.B.A. World Heavyweight Title. We look back with YouTube personalities from all over and remember back to that epic night. Then, sit back and watch the original “broadcast” of the classic Championship title fight!"

Three reasons streaming is replacing the Let’s Play industry (Michael Sawyer / Polygon) "YouTube personalities recording themselves playing games is big business, and it seems to be the dominant way for gaming influencers to make money on the platform. The art form is known as “Let’s Play,” although that term doesn’t have much in the way of a set definition. But why does it seem like so many personalities on YouTube are moving to livestreams?"

Jonathan Coulton - All This Time (Official Video) (Jonathan Coulton / YouTube) "From his new album Solid State, out April 28. The album has a companion graphic novel written by Matt Fraction and drawn by Albert Monteys. It's a science fiction story about the internet, the future, artificial intelligence, and how probably only love will save us. [SIMON'S NOTE: this song is wonderful, but the music video is what permits its inclusion in this roundup, heh.]"

Why Video Game Guns 'Feel Good' (Emmanuel Maiberg / Motherboard) "Six out of the top 10 bestselling video games in February heavily featured guns and shooting. The same was true in January and all of 2016. Like it or hate it, video games and guns have gone hand-in-hand for decades and there's no reason to assume that this will change in the near future. [SIMON'S NOTE: part of a series - also see Veteran Developers Remember the Weirdest Guns in Gaming, heh.]"

The sublime horror of the unknown: Ian Dallas and What Remains of Edith Finch (Kris Ligman / Zam) "Director Ian Dallas, as it turns out, was more than willing to discuss the artistic and literary influences behind What Remains of Edith Finch with me -- as well as chat about a few paths the game did not end up going down."

The Game Archaeologist: How DIKUMUD Shaped Modern MMOs (Justin Olivetti / Massively Overpowered) "Even though there are hundreds and thousands of MMOs spanning several decades, only a small handful were so incredibly influential that they changed the course of development for games from then on out. DikuMUD is one of these games, and it is responsible for more of what you experience in your current MMOs than you even know."

The art and joy of video game photography (Simon Parkin / Eurogamer) "Now, when facing up against a Hyrulian monstrosity, my first thought is not, 'Which sword should I use', but rather, 'To which spot should I lure the beast to make the best use of the light?' In 2017, in my game at least, more Links have died taking compendium shots than in encounters with sharks (and not only because the sharks in Hyrule are talkative, handsome and kind)."

Classic Game Postmortem: Maniac Mansion (Ron Gilbert / GDC / YouTube) "In this 2011 Classic Game Postmortem, Maniac Mansion developer Ron Gilbert revisits the classic adventure game and recounts tales from the game's development process. "

Strange Beasts, a sci-fi short about an augmented reality game (Jason Kottke / Magali Barbé / Kottke.org) "Magali Barbé wrote and directed this short sci-fi video about an imaginary augmented reality game called Strange Beasts. It starts off with a “hey, yeah, cool, augemented reality games are going to be fun to play” vibe but gradually veers down the same dystopian path as a lot of augmented reality fictions (like Keiichi Matsuda’s Hyper-Reality)."

-------------------

[REMINDER: you can sign up to receive this newsletter every weekend at http://ift.tt/2dUXrva we crosspost to Gamasutra later on Sunday, but get it first via newsletter! Story tips and comments can be emailed to [email protected]. MINI-DISCLOSURE: Simon is one of the organizers of GDC and Gamasutra, so you may sometimes see links from those entities in his picks. Or not!]

#IFTTT #Blogger

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symbianosgames · 7 years

Link

Video Game Deep Cuts: Hitman vs. Edith Finch - Go!

- Simon, curator.]

-------------------

#IFTTT #Blogger

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symbianosgames · 7 years

Link

Video Game Deep Cuts: Hitman vs. Edith Finch - Go!

- Simon, curator.]

-------------------

#IFTTT #Blogger

0 notes

symbianosgames · 7 years

Link

Video Game Deep Cuts: Hitman vs. Edith Finch - Go!

- Simon, curator.]

-------------------

#IFTTT #Blogger

0 notes

symbianosgames · 7 years

Link

Video Game Deep Cuts: Hitman vs. Edith Finch - Go!

- Simon, curator.]

-------------------

#IFTTT #Blogger

0 notes