#ocean wild atelier

[kiatheinsomniac]

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ 𝐕𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐍𝐄'𝐒 𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐂𝐇-𝐔𝐏!*˚ .♡⋆ˊˎ -

𓆩♡𓆪 𝐒𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐀𝐓𝐄!

❝oh my, hello ! how are u? I don't know how this actually works but I'm gonna try this, I'm here to volunteer for the valentine's day event(?), I hope this is the right way to do it and if it's not, please ignore this message😅 alrighty enough rambling for me, I'm Lari, this is a nickname btw I love nicknamesss hehe, well, I'm 18 years old and I'm a Brazilian girl! So im fascinated in a lot of stuff, I love ocean so oceanography, marine biology, oceanology are like my bestest one, I love photography as well I'm not a big fan of posting my own pics, I actually like taking pictures of others and seeing it later :) I used to be a writer and a poet but I got too shy and stopped doing it, now I only write rarely when I need to get feelings out yk? Oh, I forgot to tell but I'm a lesbian, also, the fandom I would love it to be kny, resident evil village, Castlevania too! you can choose one or idk , I don't mind that much.. My personality is quite hard to tell, i'm quite a introvert and shy, and my mbti is INFJ! I have a wild past of being really agressive or having short temper but tbh I don't think that is the definition of me lately, I can be pretty calm but I can be mean if it's needed and I'm not afraid of people... Although all of that, I'm a cry baby lmao I'm not a person to have friends easy and I don't trust no one but i can be more extrovert with more introvert people and I tend to smile many times mostly when I don't know what to say or just whatever lol I'm into a artist side, I can paint too but it's not my big trait, I play a lot of games but I'm not the time to love the gun games, I loveee farming stuff, like Stardew Valley, Coral Island and that stuff, love it! I guess that's it hun, this is my first time doing it so I don't know if I did right.. Well, wishing u the happiest valentine's day and hope you don't have much trouble doing this request😅 byee!❞ anon

ੈ♡˳ 𝐁𝐄𝐋𝐀 𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐒 𝐓𝐎 𝐁𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐕𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐄!

♡ Bela is really fascinated by how much you know about the ocean and he loves your photography! She's never left the village before so you're like a fountain of knowledge about the outside world to her. You're an INFJ and she's an INTJ so the two of you have a similar love and thirst for learning and what you know about a whole aquatic world she's never seen before really gets her hooked on you.

♡ she likes that you're calm but can be mean when needed. You're not a disturbance to her enjoyed quiet and you're not a pushover either; they're traits that she really admires about you. Being the oldest of triplets, she really values calm and quiet.

♡ she doesn't mind that you can cry a lot too. Again, being the eldest, she's used to having to help people and look out for her little sisters. So, it's almost instinctual to her to take you into her arms and hush you and rub your back, shoulders and head as you cry. She'll give off a fly or two to do little tricks and twirls for you to try and amuse a smile back onto your face.

ੈ♡˳ 𝐌𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐈𝐓 𝐀 𝐃𝐀𝐓𝐄?

♡ Bela puts together a painting date in the atelier. She knows how creative and artistic you are and so she wants to give you a chance to let that out around her. She also encourages you to try your hand at making and painting teacups with her! She'd absolutely love to be able to drink her (blood-infused) tea from a cup that reminds her of you.

♡ considering how much you love farming games, she tells you all about Castle Dimitrescu's vineyards while you paint together. She's going to be the one to inherit it because she's the oldest and most responsible so she'd quite passionate about it. She tells you all about the different grapes and how they can be influenced and what makes Sanguis Virginis unique (other than the blood, of course, it does actually have wine in it too).

♡ she'll take you to the castle library in the evening too and have the maids serve dinner for the two of you there. She's like you in the sense that she doesn't really trust anyone, considering the village she's grown up in, but she does want to show you that she's opening up to you and she does this through touch: brushing her hand against yours, sitting close to you while you read, leaning her head on your shoulder, etc.

𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐒: it's been far too long since I've been able to write about any of the Dimitrescu girlies

missed the match-up event? try ships instead! ☾ ⋆ ﾟlike my work? why not: ∘ buy me a coffee? ∘ comms. ∘ taglist ∘ follow/reblog

[oceanwildatelier]

It has been a while.. but I made a new spread.

[deep-dive]

2021 year-end

albums/eps: Arca - Kick ii–iiiii Biosphere - Angel's Flight Car Culture - Dead Rock CFCF - memoryland Chief Keef - 4NEM Croatian Amor & Scandinavian Star - Spring Snow d'Eon - Rhododendron Danny L Harle - Harlecore Dean Blunt - Black Metal 2 dj lostboi - UNTITLED DJ Sprinkles - Gayest Tits & Greyest Shits: 1998-2017 12-Inches & One-Offs Doss - 4 New Hit Songs Eiko Ishibashi - Drive My Car OST Erika de Casier - Sensational EXAEL - Flowered Knife Shadows Grouper - Shade Instupendo - Love Power A-Z Jessy Lanza - DJ-Kicks Kid Smpl - Heaven Junk Koreless - Agor Lana Del Rey - Chemtrails Over the Country Club Macy Rodman - Unbelievable Animals Malibu - One Life : four remixes Mica Levi - Blue Alibi MMM - On the Edge MPU101 - MPU101 Pan Daijing - Jade Pauline Anna Strom - Angel Tears in Sunlight PinkPantheress - to hell with it Provoker - Body Jumper Saint Etienne - I've Been Trying to Tell You Sky H1 - Azure Sleigh Bells - Texis ssaliva & Dida - Bricol Sufjan Stevens & Angelo De Augustine - A Beginner's Mind Team Rockit - Bahamut Zero Tinashe - 333 Tirzah - Colourgrade Tori Amos - Ocean to Ocean Turnstile - GLOW ON TWICE - Taste of Love Vanessa Amara - Music for Acoustic Instruments & Feedback Xiu Xiu - OH NO Young Thug - Punk Yves Tumor - The Asymptotical World 7038634357 - Permanest

songs: Alaska Reid - Mermaid Tears (A. G. Club Mix) Arca - Ripples Arca - Lost Woman Found Azealia Banks - Fuck Him All Night Bad Gyal - Pussy Car Culture - You (ft. Great Skin) CFCF - End—Curve of Forgetting CFCF - Night/Home/Day/Work Charli XCX - Don't Think Twice Chief Keef - Bitch Where Croatian Amor & Scandinavian Star - Compass Danny L Harle - All Night Doss - Puppy Doss - Strawberry DV-i - Resonance Eiko Ishibashi - We'll Live Through the Long, Long Days, and Through the Long Nights (Oto) Erika de Casier - Friendly Erika de Casier - Polite (Natal’s latenitemix) Goodnight - In My Mind Grouper - Kelso (Blue sky) Helium - Try Me Instupendo - Be U Jazmine Sullivan - The Other Side Jessie Ware - Hot N Heavy Klein - hope dealers Koreless - White Picket Fence + Act(S) Lana Del Rey - Dark But Just a Game Low - More Macy Rodman - Rock 'N' Roll Gay Guy Magdalena Bay - Dawning of the Season Men I Trust - Oh Dove Mica Levi - Blue Shit MPU101 - M185-2SYS1M Normani - Wild Side (ft. Cardi B) Octo Octa - Find Your Way Home Oli XL - Go Oli Go! Peggy Gou - I Go PinkPantheress - Last valentines PinkPantheress - Take Me Home Provoker - Voice Enable Zero Sally Shapiro - Fading Away Schacke - Protect Me from What I Want Sewerslvt - Goodbye Shygirl - Siren (Basement Jaxx Cruise Mix) Sky H1 - Topaz Sleigh Bells - Knowing ssaliva & Dida - Marching Plushies Sufjan Stevens & Angelo De Augustine - Back to Oz Team Rockit - Bingo (d'Eon Remix) Tinashe - Let Me Down Slowly Tori Amos - Speaking With Trees Turnstile - ENDLESS TWICE - Conversation Utada Hikaru - One Last Kiss Young Thug - Die Slow (with Strick) Yves Tumor - Jackie 7038634357 - Centerline

films: Annette (Leos Carax) Baby Anger (Caroline Poggi, Jonathan Vinel) Benedetta (Paul Verhoeven) The Card Counter (Paul Schrader) Cliff Walkers (Yi-Mou Zhang) Drive My Car (Ryusuke Hamaguchi) Dune (Denis Villeneuve) Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time (Hideaki Anno) How to With John Wilson S2 (John Wilson) Licorice Pizza (Paul Thomas Anderson) The Matrix Resurrections (Lana Wahowski) Memoria (Apichatpong Weerasethakul) Old (M. Night Shyamalan) The Power of the Dog (Jane Campion) The Scary of Sixty First (Dasha Nekrasova) Search Party S4 (Charles Rodgers, Sarah-Violet Bliss) Survivor S41 Titane (Julia Ducournau) Venom: Let There Be Carnage (Andy Serkis) We're All Going to the World's Fair (Jane Schoenbrun) Wife of a Spy (Kiyoshi Kurosawa) Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (Ryusuke Hamaguchi) Why Did We Like Elfen Lied? (hazel) Worlds (Isaac Goes)

games: Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends & the Secret Fairy Bravely Default II Death's Door Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knight Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker Fuga: Melodies of Steel The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles Metroid Dread NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139... Resident Evil Village Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster Shin Megami Tensei V Ys IX: Monstrum Nox

[nintendowife]

I got the book A Guide to Japanese Role-Playing Games about a week ago. It's a massive publication (seriously, it weighs over 2 kgs and it's the thickest book in our shelf) covering the history of the JRPG genre. 

The Bitmap Books published hardback has 652 pages shedding light on both obscure and more famous titles from 1982 to 2020. In addition to featuring singular games, game series and JRPG subgenres, the guide also gives some insight into what kind of obstacles have to be overcome in order to localize Japanese games into English. 

Just to list a few of the iconic series that make an appearance in the book: Atelier, Breath of Fire, Dragon Quest, Etrian Odyssey, Final Fantasy, Fire Emblem, Kingdom Hearts, Megami Tensei, Mystery Dungeon, Paper Mario, Persona, Pokémon, Star Ocean, Tales of, Trails, SaGa, Sakura Wars, Wild Arms, Xenoblade. 

There’s a lot of interesting info about these games and many more, including ones that were never published outside Japan.

[repentantsky]

The difference Between JRPG’s and WRPG’s, and why we should stop comparing them

If you’re like me, you love RPG’s of many different genre’s. Whether they cover fantastical realms like Skyrim and Final Fantasy, or more technologically advanced ones like Borderlands or Star Ocean. 

Like all genre’s most RPG’s of different genre’s also suffer from different problems because of tropes and reused settings that people can grow tired of, but talking about RPG’s from two different parts of the world, is a whole other problem. Japan for example, is mostly marketing itself to Western players, while Western RPG’s, are mostly marketing themselves to Western players...uh wait, why does that make them different? 

It’s all because of style choices. See, Japan like most countries, has a lot of traditions that make a lot of it’s products fairly same-y. As I said that happens with everyone, but Japan has to try harder with smaller series to get western appeal, which is required to have a successful selling game, unless it’s a mobile title, since those all do really well in Japan, because people can just game on their way to and from work. I digress, but Japan is so rooted in tradition, that you can watch an episode of Gigantor, the anime that is considered by many to be the first anime ever created, and Demon Slayer, and notice a lot of similarities in the way the characters are speaking, because Japan has always made their shows where actors talk like they would in real life, which isn’t always true in other acting platforms around the world, which of course means, this translates to video games. 

Specifically what it means, is that Japan has to hop a cultural barrier that Western games don’t, and they have to rely on a lot more tropes, because there are only so many ways to translate the same basic plot of a JRPG, for Western audiences, before things become too cliché. A lot of RPG’s are successful in doing this, like the aforementioned Final Fantasy, and other JRPG’s are coming through with successful games to, like Fire Emblem. Persona and Shin Megami Tensei, Atelier, and several others. All of the games coming through lately, lead people to believe that JRPG’s are a thriving genre in the west, but that’s not really true. 

If you were to ask any random person what the most successful JRPG of all time was, a lot of people would probably think of a Final Fantasy game, but not even Final Fantasy 7, has come close. In fact the only JRPG that even made it to the top 10 best selling games ever, is Pokemon Red/Blue/Green/Yellow as a collective, with four different versions. The next best selling one is Pokemon Gold/Silver/Crystal, and in fact, only 11 of the top 49 best selling games of all time, are RPG’s, and all of the JRPG’s are Pokemon titles. Final Fantasy 7 has still been wildly successful, as the original has sold over 11.8 million units, and the remake over 5 million, but the fact of the matter is, that even though RPG’s as a whole are the biggest genre of the top 49, the few that made it are exceptions to the rules. In fact, of the top 10 best selling games of all time, 6 of them are by Nintendo. The other 5 excluding Pokemon, are Wii Sports, Super Mario Bros. Mario Kart 8/Deluxe, Wii Fit/Plus and the original Gameboy version of Tetris, which itself is on there twice because EA’s version is number 3. so you’re actually better off in Japan, not making a JRPG. 

There’s a lot more that can be gleamed from looking at the list, so you can check it out here if you want: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_video_games 

The point is that JRPG’s, aren’t always as successful as people think they are. I mean sure, you don’t have to be on the top best selling games list to be successful, but Persona 4 Golden on PC is considered a massive success for selling only just over a million units since it’s release, and the Tales of Series, which is one of the longest running in gaming, as recently as April of this year, had it’s sales numbers made public, and Tales of Symphonia, the undeniable Final Fantasy 7 of the series, sold a total of 940,000 units in the United States, and the game, easily the most successful title from Tales of, only managed 2.4 million in total. None of this is to say, that JRPG’s are struggling, because most of the ones I brought up are shining examples that they aren’t, but going back to that top 10 list, Minecraft and Grand Theft Auto V,  just the top two of that list, have sold 345,000,000 total units. That not only beats the entire mainline series of Pokemon, it’s only about 2.5 million short extra, of beating the original 151′s total sales, with how many spare units the two games over Pokemon’s  300,000,000 million total sales mainline games, which means likely, the two of them will beat the series out at some point in the future. 

Western RPG’s, don’t often suffer from as many problems, because they don’t have a border to hop, and it shows with Elder Scrolls, which has sold 58 million total copies with only five mainline games, and 30 million of those came from Skyrim alone. It took Pokemon, the undisputed champion of JRPG sales, 20 mainline games to reach 300 million, which means arguably, by the time Elder Scrolls reaches it’s 10th installment, it will have caught up to Pokemon’s first 20 games total sales. Borderlands, which is arguably the Tales of to Western RPG’s in most people’s eyes, has actually outsold Elder Scrolls with only 4 mainline entries, one of which is considered bad by many, with a total of 60 million total units sold. The better comparison, surprising for many I’m sure, for a Tales of comparison, is actually Fallout, which has sold 13.51 million units, to Tales of 23.5 million units. 

Enough about numbers for a few minutes, 3 paragraphs about it is a bit much, but the fact of the matter is, Japan struggles more overall to make successful RPG’s in the West, than the West does in the West, and it’s all due to how much of a challenge it is to hop that border. 

Outside of sales numbers, the other major difference between JRPG’s vs Western RPG’s is how they are classified. Generally, when someone thinks of a JRPG, they think of a fantasy world, with leveling, where rare items can be won off bosses, but your main way of improving stats is to level up, and have enough money to buy the best equipment at each new town you enter with a shop. However, a lot of games have been getting that label slapped on them by their marketing teams or fans, and some of it is just wrong. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is one such game, despite the drops from enemies being the only correlation between BoTW and JRPG’s. The correlation was made by fans, which might seem like an innocent mistakes, and in fact could be nothing but that, but then there’s Monster Hunter, which actually does have two JRPG’s attached to it, in the Stories 1 and 2 games, but who took the reigns of JRPG to market, calling Monster Hunter World, a JRPG. despite it having few differences from other Monster Hunter action games, outside of having a story, and having nothing more to do with JRPG’s than Zelda. A lot of fans of Japanese games will classify simply playing as a fake character an RPG, which normally would be fine, but in games, that’s not how genres are defined. If that were the case, all of Yakuza’s games would be JRPG’s, instead of just Like a Dragon, and in fact most games would be RPG’s, and they obviously aren’t. Bubsy 3D RPG anyone? No? Ya sure? Yeah I didn’t think so.   

The west has the exact opposite problem of under classifying it’s games as RPGs. While sure, you wouldn’t call Halo an RPG, unless you know, Master Chief was shooting an RPG, you absolutely should call Ratchet and Clank one. Think about it, your main playable characters all have HP, most of them have weapons that can level up, and the action setting of these games, basically should make Ratchet, a response to Level 5′s Dark Cloud series, which did all the same things for combat. However, it’s just seen as series of action games, despite it also being a lot like Borderlands. 

The point is, there are a lot of things that differ JRPG’s and WRPG’s from sales, to marketing, to style and so many other factors, I would run out of characters available to me, before I get through them all. There’s nothing wrong with these genre’s being different, but people classifying them as similar, could harm either since they don’t often jell that well together. So please, think before you compare, and for those rare RPG’s, where you can’t tell the difference, makes sure you find out where they were developed, because a lot of games you might think are JRPG’s, could in fact be Korean or Chinese. 

[my-km-me]

My Top Video Games of 2010s

Bolded = My GoTY

2010

999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors

Alpha Protocol

Atelier Rorona

Castle Crashers

Chaos Rings

Deathsmiles

Donkey Kong Country Returns

Dragon Age Origins Ultimate Edition

Dragon Quest IX

Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City

Fairy Wars

Fallout: New Vegas

Guwange

Harvest Moon: Hero of Leaf Valley

Infinite Space

Knights in the Nightmare

Mass Effect 2

Mega Man 10

Mega Man Zero Collection

Monster Hunter Tri

No More Heroes 2

Pac-Man Championship Edition DX

Persona 3 PSP

Pokémon HeartGold/SoulSilver

Professor Layton and the Unwound Future

Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes

Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey

Sin and Punishment: Star Successor

Splatterhouse

STALKER: Call of Pripyat

Super Mario Galaxy 2

Tatsunoko vs. Capcom

Xenoblade Chronicles

2011

Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy

Dark Souls

Deathsmiles II

Dragon Quest VI

Hard Corps: Uprising

Harvest Moon: The Tale of Two Towns

Kirby's Return to Dreamland

Marvel vs. Capcom 3

Pokémon Black

Rayman Origins

Saints Row: The Third

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked

Sonic Generations  (HD)

Star Wars: The Old Republic

Ten Desires

The Witcher 2

Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3

Valkyria Chronicles III

2012

Call of Duty: Black Ops II

Chaos Rings II

Dishonored

Dodonpachi Maximum

Dragon’s Dogma

Final Fantasy XIII-2

Growlanser: Wayfarer of Time

Gungnir

Harvest Moon: A New Beginning

Hatoful Boyfriend

Long Live the Queen

New Super Mario Bros. 2′s coin rush mode

New Super Mario Bros. U

Pokémon Black 2

Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask

Puzzle & Dragons

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2

Spelunky

Sumioni: Demon Arts

Transformers: Fall of Cybertron

Twisted Metal

Way of the Samurai 4

Xenoblade Chronicles

Zombi U

2013

Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate

Deus Ex: Human Revolution-Director’s Cut

Double Dealing Character

Dragon's Crown

Dungeon & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara

Dynasty Warriors 8

Papers, Please

Rayman Legends

Rogue Legacy

Rune Factory 4

Shin Megami Tensei IV

Tales of Xillia

The  Cave

The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

The Stanley Parable

2014

Atelier Escha & Logy

Broken Age

Divinity: Original Sin

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze

Dragon Quest IV (iOS)

Dynasty Warriors 8 Xtreme Legends Complete Edition

Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster

Mario Kart 8

Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth

Phoenix Wright trilogy

Pokémon ORAS

Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy

Super Smash Bros. 4 3DS

Tales of Symphonia Chronicles

Tales of Xillia 2

The Last of Us Remastered

Ultra Street Fighter IV

2015

Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy

Bloodborne

Broken Age: The Complete Adventure

Dariusburst Chronicle Saviors

Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom

Pillars of Eternity

Rare Replay

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2 Record Breaker

Shovel Knight  [Xbox One]

Story of Seasons

Super Mario Maker

The Age of Decadence

The Witcher 3

Undertale

Until Dawn

Way of the Samurai 4

Yakuza 5

Yoshi's Woolly World

2016

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

Dishonored 2

Killer Instinct: Supreme Edition

Pac-Man Championship Edition 2

Pokémon Sun/Moon + Special Demo

Super Robot Wars Original Generation: The Moon Dwellers

The Witcher 3: Game of the Year Edition

Touhou Genso Rondo: Bullet Ballet

Tyranny

2017

ARMS

Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy

Cuphead

Divinity: Original Sin II

Hidden Star in Four Seasons

Horizon Zero Dawn

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

Night in the Woods

Romancing SaGa 2

Sonic Mania

Star Fox 2

Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns

Super Mario Odyssey

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap

2018

428: Shibuya Scramble

Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon

Dead Cells

God of War

Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition

Kingdom Come: Deliverance

Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom

Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire

Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux

Sonic Mania Plus

Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition

Super Robot Wars X

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

The Walking Dead: The Final Season

Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales

Vampyr

Yakuza 0

Wario Ware Gold

2019

Castlevania Anniversary Collection

Collection of Mana

Darius Cozmic Collection (International/Special Edition)

Disco Elysium

Dragon Quest XI S

Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Pathologic 2

Romancing SaGa 3

SaGa: Scarlet Grace

Sekiro

Shovel Knight: Showdown

Six Ages

Space Invaders Invincible Collection

Spyro Reignited Trilogy

Star Ocean: First Departure R

Super Mario Maker 2

Super Robot Wars T

Tetris 99

Wily Beast and Weakest Creature

Misc.

Any Super Robot Wars game translated (official or fan)

[a2caf]

McDuffie Award for Kids’ Comics—Shortlist Announced!

The nominees for the fifth annual Dwayne McDuffie Award for Kids’ Comics are here!

After reading scores of comics published in 2018, the judges have selected their top ten. In alphabetical order, they are: Be Prepared, by Vera Brosgol, sends young Vera, a Russian girl living in an American suburb, to summer camp—Russian summer camp, the only one her single mom can afford and the one where she just might be able to fit in,

The Cardboard Kingdom, by Chad Sell, follows a neighborhood of kids who transform ordinary cardboard into fantastical homemade costumes as they explore conflicts with friends, family, and their own identity.

Hidden Witch, by Molly Knox Ostertag, continues the story of Asler, hero of The Witch Boy, as he takes magic lessons from his grandmother and tries to help his non-magical friend Charlie escape from a curse that's trying to attach itself to her.

Last Pick, by Jason Walz, takes readers to an earth overrun by alien invaders, where only those too young, too old, or too "disabled" have been spared from abduction...but maybe the kids last picked can step up and start a revolution.

Lumberjanes: The Infernal Compass, by Lilah Sturges and polterink, finds the Janes separated during an orienteering outing, thanks to a mysterious compass that others very much want to lay their hands on.

My Beijing: Four Stories of Everyday Wonder, by Nie Jun, introduces Yu'er and her grandpa, who live in a small neighborhood in Beijing that's full of big personalities—with a story around every corner and a hint of magic each day.

Onibi: Diary of a Yokai Ghost Hunter, by Atelier Sento, transports readers to the places where natural and supernatural meet, as it explores some of the lesser-known parts of Japan in a story that is part fantasy and part travelogue.

Peter & Ernesto: A Tale of Two Sloths, by Graham Annable, tells the story of two best friends who are nothing alike—Peter loves their tree and never wants to leave, while Ernesto loves the sky and wants to see it from every place on earth.

The Prince and the Dressmaker, by Jen Wang, finds Prince Sebastian hiding a secret life―taking Paris by storm wearing fabulous dresses as the Lady Crystallia―and relying on the brilliant young dressmaker Frances, who guards his secret but has dreams of her own.

Sanity & Tallulah, by Molly Brooks, features best friends who live on a dilapidated space station at the end of the galaxy―but when Sanity creates a definitely-illegal-but-impossibly-cute three-headed kitten, the havoc it wreaks may mean the end of their outer space home.

Many, many thanks to judges Faith Roncoroni, Tameshja Brooks, and Nola Pfau, who were assisted by Kids Read Comics and A2CAF co-founder Edith Donnell!

The winner will be announced on Friday evening, June 14 at the Ann Arbor District Library

                                             *********************

Here is the complete list of books that were considered for this year’s award:

5 Worlds 2 by Mark Siegel, Alexis Siegel, Xanthe Bouma, Matt Rockefeller, and Boya Sun

Akissi by Marguerite Abouet and Mathieu Sapin

All Summer Long by Hope Larson

Amulet 8 by Kazu Kibuishi

Aquicorn Cove by Katie O'Neill and Ari Yarwood

Banana Sunday by Paul Tobin and Colleen Coover

Be Prepared by Vera Brosgol

Brobots 3: Brobots and the Shoujo Shenanigans! by J. Torres and Sean Dove

The Cardboard Kingdom by Chad Sell

Catstronauts: Robot Rescue by Drew Brockington

Caveboy Dave 2: Not So Faboo by Aaron Reynolds and Phil McAndrew

Chasma Knights by Boya Sun and Kate Reed Petty

The City on the Other Side by Mairghread Scott and Robin Robinson

Clem Hetherington 1: Clem Hetherington and the Ironwood Race by Jen Breach and Douglas Holgate

The Creepy Case Files of Margo Maloo 2: The Monster Mall by Drew Weing

Crush by Svetlana Chmakova

Cucumber Quest 2: The Ripple Kingdom by Gigi D G

The Dam Keeper 2: World Without Darkness by Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi

Dead Weight: Murder at Camp Bloom by Terry Blas, Molly Muldoon, and Matthew Seely

Delilah Dirk and the Pillars of Hercules by Tony Cliff

Demon Slayer Kimetsu No Yaiba 1 by Koyoharu Gotouge

Dog Man 6: Brawl of the Wild by Dav Pilkey

The Dream of the Butterfly Part 2 by Richard Marazano and Luo Yin

Earth Before Us 2: Ocean Renegades! by Abby Howard

Edison Beaker, Creature Seeker 1: The Night Door by Frank Cammuso

Estranged by Ethan M. Aldridge

Fake Blood by Whitney Gardner

Fruit Ninja: Frenzy Force by Halfbrick Studios and Erich Owen

The Ghost, The Owl by Franco and Sara Richard

The Girl Who Married a Skull: And Other African Stories by Nicole Chartrand et al

Gordon: Bark to the Future! by Ashley Spires

The Hidden Witch by Molly Knox Ostertag

Hocus & Pocus: The Legend of Grimm's Woods: The Comic Book You Can Play by Manuro and Gorobei

How to Spot a Sasquatch by J. Torres, J. and Aurélie Grand

Illegal by Eoin Colfer, Andrew Donkin, and Giovanni Rigano

Last Pick by Jason Walz

Lumberjanes: The Infernal Compass by Lilah Sturges and polterink

Making Friends by Kristen Gudsnuck

Mega Robo Bros by Neill Cameron

Modo: Ember's End by Arthur Slade and Christopher Steininger

Monster Mayhem by Christopher Eliopoulos

Monsters Beware! by Jorge Aguirre and Rafael Rosado

Mr. Wolf's Class by Aron Nels Steinke

My Beijing: Four Stories of Everyday Wonder by Nie Jun

The Nameless City 3: The Divided Earth by Faith Erin Hicks

Narwhal and Jelly 3: Peanut Butter and Jelly by Ben Clanton

Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales 8: Lafayette!: A Revolutionary War Tale by Nathan Hale

New Shoes by Sara Varon

Nick the Sidekick by Dave Whamond

Onibi: Diary of a Yokai Ghost Hunter by Atelier Sento

Petals by Gustavo Borges and Cris Peter

Peter & Ernesto: A Tale of Two Sloths by Graham Annable

The Phoenix Colossal Comics Collection 1 by Robert Deas, Jamie Smart, Laura Ellen Anderson, Dan Baultwood, and Jess Bradley

Pizzasaurus Rex by Justin Wagner and Warren Wucinich

Positively Izzy by Terri Libenson

The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang

Quirk's Quest 2: The Lost and the Found by Robert Christie and Deborah Lang

Rickety Stitch and the Gelatinous Goo 2: The Middle-Route Run by James Parks and Ben Costa

Sanity & Tallulah by Molly Brooks

Scarlet Hood by Mark Evans and Isobel Lundie

Scarlett Hart: Monster Hunter by Marcus Sedgwick and Thomas Taylor

Science Comics Sharks by Joe Flood

Sci-Fu 1: Kick It Off by Yehudi Mercado

Secondhand Heroes: The Last Battle by Justin Larocca Hansen

Secret Coders 5: Potions & Parameters by Gene Luen Yang and Mike Holmes

Secret Coders 6: Monsters & Modules by Gene Luen Yang and Mike Holmes

The Secret of the Wind by Jim Pascoe and Heidi Arnhold

Sheets by Brenna Thummler

Short & Skinny by Mark Tatulli

Even More Monstrous! by Rémy Simard

Small Things by Mel Tregonning

Smash 2: Fearless by Chris A. Bolton and Kyle Bolton

Sparks by Ian Boothby and Nina Matsumoto

Star Scouts 2 The League of Lasers by Mike Lawrence

Star Wars Lost Stars 1 by Claudia Gray, Claudia and Yusaku Komiyama

Space Boy 1 by Stephen Mccranie

The Stone Man Mysteries 2: Sanctuary by Jane Yolen, Adam Stemple, and Orion Zangara

Super Potato 1: The Epic Origin of Super Potato by Artur Laperla

Supergirl: Being Super by Mariko Tamaki and Joelle Jones

The Unsinkable Walker Bean And the Knights of the Waxing Moon 2 by Aaron Renier and Alec Longstreth

Wings of Fire 1: The Dragonet Prophecy by Tui T. Sutherland and Mike Holmes

Wires and Nerve 2: Gone Rogue by Marissa Meyer and Stephen Gilpin

[kahran042]

My personal manual of style for RPGs

Numbering Roman numerals for: -Arc the Lad series -Breath of Fire series -Dragon Warrior/Quest series -Final Fantasy series -Final Fantasy Legend series -Growlanser series -Might & Magic series -Phantasy Star series -Shining Force series -Suikoden series -Ultima series -Ys VII Arabic numerals for: -Dark Cloud series -Dragon Warrior Monsters 2 -Kingdom Hearts series -Mother 3 -Persona series -Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series -Romancing SaGa series -SaGa Frontier 2 -Seiken Densetsu 3 -Star Ocean 2 -Tales of Destiny 2 -Wild ARMs series Roman numerals and subtitles for: -Ar tonelico series -Breath of Fire V: Dragon Quarter -Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals -Ultima VII: The Black Gate -Ultima VII: Serpent Isle -Ys series (except for Ys VII) Arabic numerals and subtitles for: -Atelier Iris series -Disgaea series -Persona 2: Eternal Punishment -Persona 2: Innocent Sin -Lunar 2: Eternal Blue -Mana Khemia series -Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria "Episode" and Roman numerals for: -Xenosaga Subtitles without numbers for: -Arc the Lad: End of Darkness -Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits -Castlevania series -Fire Emblem series -Dragon Quest Monsters: Caravan Heart -Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker -Lufia: The Legend Returns -Mario & Luigi series -Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door -Shadow Hearts series -Star Ocean: Blue Sphere -Star Ocean: The Last Hope -Star Ocean: To the End of Time -The Legend of Zelda series Always use subtitles: -Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean -EVO: The Search for Eden -Lunar: Silver Star Story -Odyssey: The Legend of Nemesis -Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure -Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis

Alphabetization -Roman numerals count as their Arabic equivalents for purposes of alphabetization. -Even if a game comes before another in a series, alphabetical order will take priority, with the following exceptions: --The Pokémon series always goes in generational order: Red/Blue/Yellow, Gold/Silver/Crystal, Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald, FireRed/LeafGreen, Diamond/Pearl/Platinum, HeartGold/SoulSilver, Black/White/Black 2/White 2, X/Y, OmegaRuby/AlphaSapphire, Sun/Moon, Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon, Sword/Shield. --The Dragon Warrior/Quest and Lufia series are always listed in chronological order. --Ultima VII: The Black Gate always comes before Ultima VII: Serpent Isle.

Dragon Warrior/Quest series titles I, II, III, IV, VII, Monsters, Monsters 2: Dragon Warrior V, VI, VIII, IX, Monsters Caravan Heart, Monsters Joker, Swords: Dragon Quest

Miscellaneous -For Fire Emblem games, translated subtitles are only used if the game has been officially localized. In addition, "Rekka no Ken" is left untranslated, as its subtitle was never officially translated. -All four parts of .hack count as a single game. -For the Wild ARMs series, ARM is always capitalized, since it's an acronym. -For Dragon Warrior/Quest games, the DQ8/DS localizations will be completely ignored, unless it's completely unavoidable - i.e., most of the new skills from Dragon Quest VIII. Because, frankly, I would rather tear out my brain stem, drag it to the nearest four-way intersection, and skip rope with it than use most of those names. -Same goes for Final Fantasy Tactics - War of the Lions is to be ignored at all times, unless unavoidable. However, I'm willing to make a special exception for Rafa and Malak's skills, because the War of the Lions names for those are actually pretty cool. -However, Sword of Mana trumps Final Fantasy Adventure, and if the SaGa/Final Fantasy Legend games are rereleased in English, chances are that the new translation will take priority. -Pokémon games are listed as all games for the appropriate generation and setting - i.e., Pokémon Red/Blue/Yellow, Pokémon HeartGold/SoulSilver. The exceptions are Black 2/White 2 and Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon, which are listed separately from, but directly after, their respective precursors. -The E in Pokémon always has an accent mark. -"The" is always used with The 7th Saga, The Granstream Saga, The Final Fantasy Legend, The Legend of Dragoon, and all games in The Legend of Zelda series. -NetHack is always written in CamelCase. -Ar tonelico is always written in "big A, small t" style.

[rubyeveh]

Atelier of creation

Men and women exist, and possess asymmetrical physical capacities which have historically made existence for women extremely difficult and frequently unpleasant or even lethal.  However too often we are told to seek solace in unfreedom, staking claims on being ‘born’ this way, as if offering an excuse with nature’s blessing

The first paradise was the garden of nature, in which humans were totally integrated. The second paradise commenced when humanity seemed to gain independence from nature 

Late twentieth century machines have made thoroughly ambiguous the difference between natural and artificial, mind and body, self developing and externally designed, and many other distinctions that used to apply to organisms and machines. Imagining a world without gender, which is perhaps a world without genesis. Or perhaps a second genesis is needed to create pleasure in the confusion of boundaries and for responsibility in their construction. Coco is able to connect natural and artificial life.

Arriving in the cave gives rise to images of death, on the edges of the space it creates and with the help of the heterogeneity it engenders. You dispose mortal sin And Coco will give thee the keyes of Heaven; whatsoever thou shalt bind on Earth, shall be bound in Heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on Earth, shall be loosed in Heaven.” Relief... it's over.  Now you can rise up to the space of your dreams and that of your passions. On the upper floor the house is like heaven,  It is a world of predominantly mythical character, qualitatively different from our present universe of precision.With Cocos help you become someone who can achieve freedom from cosmic Ananke, who can enter into the freedom of being whatever you want to be. Your body vanishes and is reborn, little atoms flowing out by the channels of the connections left by the larger, and is the earth itself, the basin of the seas. Coco aids pour the soul into the body, rivers into the thalwegs and oceans onto the worlds.They repeat genesis, infernally.They project their own bodies, they model them to their preference. Coco says: “I told you a few days ago that we were approaching our goal; today I come to tell you the goal is reached.” They were ready; eagerly ready to return to the city.

It was Gabrielle Chanel's idea to arrange mirrors along the length of the staircase. They would provide a fragmented view of what was going on downstairs—the show. Mademoiselle Chanel liked to sit at the top of the stairs out of view, watching every detail of each presentation, and the reactions of the guests as her creations left the villa Lemoine.

The mirrors are spatializing in another sense, presenting on their plane a space that is our own, but not our own. ‘In itself, the reflection is an equivocal theme,’ writes Genette: the reflection is a double, that is to say at the same time an other and a same.

For the first species that, suddenly, because the circumstances of its random wanderings brought it into a garden without any dangerous predators as they exit Villa Lemoine through the Garden: From (artificial) Nature to the City. What distinguishes this road from the other is the colossal and sublime. Never is anything common or ordinary seen here, everything is rare, new, unique. Never is the wanderer's mind at peace: wild joy and terrori fear and expectation beset him in turn.Let those who love strong emotion and lawless freedom travel this road, and let them walk boldly, it is sure to take them most directly to their destination. 

1 Hester, Xenofeminism

2 Cuboniks, Xenofeminism A Politics for Alienation

3 Koolhaas Obrist, Project Japan

4 Haraway, Cyborg Manifesto

5 Haraway, Cyborg Manifesto

6 Haraway, Cyborg Manifesto

7 Koolhaas Obrist, Project Japan

8 Deleuze, Difference and Repetition

9 Aquinas, Summa Theologica

10 Hobbes, Leviathan

11 Koolhaas, SMLXL

12 Foucault, Of other Spaces

13 Serres, History of Scientific Thought

14 Hays, Architecture Theory since 1968

15 Serres, The Birth of Physics

16 Serres, The Birth of Physics

17 Marx, Collected Works

18  Asimov, Complete Robot Anthology

19 Angelo Cirimele

20 Blacklock, The Emergence of the Fourth Dimension

21Serres, The Incandescent

22Koolhaas, Elements of Architecture

23 Harrison Wood Gaiger, Art in Theory 1648 1815

[acsversace-news]

For months during the filming of American Crime Story, Ricky Martin found himself back in the closet—this time playing Antonio D’Amico, the longtime lover of the late Gianni Versace. In the pilot episode of the FX series, a detective with the Miami Police Department interrogates D’Amico after the designer is murdered. Unsure what D’Amico means when he refers to Versace as his “partner,” he questions the nature of their relationship, invoking the young men D’Amico would procure for him, some of them duly compensated, and asking, “Did he pay you?”

“To love him?” responds D’Amico, still covered in the blood of his boyfriend of 15 years, though he seems more wounded by the detective’s callous assertion—the idea that two men could ever be in a committed relationship is completely foreign to him. Yet the moment illustrates one of the overarching themes of the second installment of American Crime Story, based on Maureen Orth’s 1999 book Vulgar Favors, and adapted by British author Tom Rob Smith. Just as The People v. OJ Simpson before it offered an all-too-timely commentary on racism, The Assassination of Gianni Versace promises to tackle issues like homophobia, gun violence, and the dark allure of fame.

“I believe that the story of injustice this series will bring to the table will spark a lot of conversations about things that we, as the LGBTQ community, were dealing with in the ’90s, and that we’re still dealing with,” says Martin, though he shies away from revealing too many details about The Assassination. “At this point in our lives, there shouldn’t be stigmas over the things that we are going to be talking about.”

The show, another jewel in showrunner and creator Ryan Murphy’s television crown, will examine the lives of two gay men and their radically different paths: Gianni Versace (played by Édgar Ramirez)—the Italian designer who injected the world of fashion with a wild dose of ostentation, sensuality, and celebrity glamour—and Andrew Cunanan (Glee's Darren Criss), the 27-year-old Versace fanboy who left a trail of death and devastation in his quest for fame, ultimately finding it, and landing on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list, by murdering the man he so idolized.

Cunanan was born in National City, Calif., on August 31, 1969, to a mostly absent, class-conscious Filipino-American father and a deeply religious Italian-American mother. He was a brilliant child with a reported IQ of 147. Growing up in a strict Catholic household, he struggled with his sexuality from a young age, so that later in life he was open to some, but closeted to others. He also had a reputation for being a pathological liar. After dropping out of the University of California, San Diego, he tried his hand at hustling, drug dealing, and petty robbery—anything to avoid a traditional nine-to-five. He charmed his way into a meeting with Versace on the evening of October 21, 1990, in San Francisco. Versace had designed the costumes for Richard Strauss’s opera Capriccio and was in town for the premiere. It was a brief encounter—Orth dedicates just three pages to it in Vulgar Favors—but for Cunanan, it was significant. Versace was the only celebrity he claimed to know with whom he had any ties, no matter how tenuous. According to Orth, when the FBI asked Philip Merrill, a friend of Cunanan’s, where the wanted murderer would go and whom he would try to contact, Merrill said: Florida and Versace.

By the time Cunanan gunned down the 50-year-old designer on the steps of his palatial estate, Casa Casuarina at 1116 Ocean Drive in South Beach, Miami, on the morning of July 15, 1997, he had already killed four men, including Jeff Trail, a 28-year-old Navy veteran, and David Madson, a 33-year-old architect, three months earlier in Minneapolis—both men were gay and at least one of them, Madson, was a former lover. But the nation didn’t take any real notice until Cunanan had traversed thousands of miles over several months. By then, Versace was dead.

“The whole city of Miami was in shock and never recovered,” says Martin, who was living in Miami but touring Europe at the time of Versace’s death. “Obviously what was happening in fashion was massive, but there was also what was happening in the film industry, with all these great actors moving to Miami because it was the Riviera of the United States. After Versace’s death, everything stuck because everybody was afraid. It has taken many, many, many years for Miami to return to where it was and maybe it will never be the same.”

On July 7, eight days before Versace’s murder, Cunanan visited the Cash on the Beach pawn shop to sell a gold coin he had stolen from his third victim, Lee Miglin, a 72-year-old married real estate developer he had killed and tortured on May 4 in Chicago, which eventually led to the FBI adding Cunanan to its infamous fugitives list. As required by the pawn shop, the serial killer had signed his name—his real name—and had even given the address where he was staying. Vivian Olivia, the owner of Cash on the Beach, turned over the identifying paperwork to the Miami Police the following day, yet no action was taken. Meanwhile, the red pickup truck of William Reese, the 45-year-old caretaker Cunanan had murdered in Pennsville, N.J., just days after Miglin, sat in a parking garage for weeks. The FBI, insistent that Cunanan’s sexual orientation was irrelevant to their investigation, refused to distribute Most Wanted posters of Cunanan or to work with local gay organizations and publications.

“For a number of reasons, the authorities at the time never considered Cunanan to be a public threat because he was only killing homosexuals,” says Ramirez, the Venezuelan actor whose startling resemblance to the late designer helped secure him the title role in ACS. “The word assassination has a political and a social overtone because Versace was targeted. In a way, this was a tragedy that could have been prevented. Basically, homophobia killed Gianni Versace.”

Giovanni Maria Versace was born in Reggio Calabria, Italy, on December 2, 1946. The region’s Hellenic heritage—it had been part of Magna Graecia (Latin for “Great Greece”), the coastal areas of Southern Italy populated by Greek settlers—had a lasting influence on Versace and his work, most notably in the Medusa head and Greek keys of the label’s logo. His mother ran a dressmaking business, so fashion was a part of young Gianni’s DNA. He briefly went to work for his mother after graduating high school but fled the nest for Milan in 1972, bringing his formidable talents to the Italian ateliers Genny, Complice, and Callaghan. With his older brother Santo and younger sister Donatella, he launched his own company, and in 1978 debuted his first collection.

Throughout the ’80s and ’90s, Versace elevated sexy to an art form. As the adage, at times attributed to Anna Wintour, goes: Armani dressed the wife and Versace dressed the mistress. His looks were brash, bold, and sometimes delightfully tacky, rendered in luminescent metallics, sadomasochistic rubbers, and industrialized plastics that pushed the boundaries of fashion and “good taste.”  More than any other designer, before him or since, Versace permeated then all but defined the zeitgeist: from Elizabeth Hurley’s iconic safety-pin black dress (recently reappropriated by Lady Gaga), to Elizabeth Berkley’s doe-eyed infatuation with “Versayce” in 1995’s Showgirls, to rap group Migos’s 2013 breakthrough hit “Versace.”

Versace’s South Beach mansion was a monument to his grandeur, outfitted in Grecian opulence. Built in 1930 by trust-fund playboy and retired architect Alden Freeman, Casa Casuarina is now a hotel and popular tourist destination. Versace was enamored by the house’s Kneeling Aphrodite statue and bought the property for $2.95 million and the old Art Deco Hotel Revere next door for $3.7 million, which he promptly demolished, angering the Miami Design Preservation League—the neighborhood had been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1979. Versace invested an additional $32 million in renovations to realize his palace, decorating every inch with his exacting eye. In the opening minutes of The Assassination, Ramirez, in a resplendent pink robe, greets his army of servants with a measure of benevolence and unquestioned authority. The effect is that of an emperor surveying his mighty kingdom. From there, the series plays up the Greek-like tragedy of Versace’s life and death.

“His life was fated in a way,” says Ramirez. “There is something very classic about this real-life story that was captured by Tom: the characters, the archetypes, their relationships. You have Gianni as an emperor, and then you have his prince, Antonio, and you have his sister, Donatella, who is the empress-to-be. Sometimes there were scenes that really felt like we were doing theater, like Macbeth or Madea.”

Versace used his majestic property to entertain, and occasionally shelter, his circle of VIPs. In awe of the power of celebrity, he cultivated a loyal, glitzy following that included Princess Diana, Elton John, Madonna, Cher, and the supermodels he regularly employed, and in whose rise he was instrumental: Naomi, Cindy, Linda, Claudia. These famous clients and friends populated his front rows, appeared in his ad campaigns, and frequented his homes around the world. And his ambition wasn’t limited to the runway—Versace expanded his empire, designing costumes for operas, films, ballets, and concert tours.

“We basically live in the world that he created,” Ramirez says. “Before Gianni, glamour and sensuality were on two separate planes. Somehow he glamorized sexuality. He had a rock ’n’ roll approach to couture, and he essentially laid the ground for celebrity culture. From then on, for better and for worse, we’ve had this obsession with it. The sociopath who killed him was seduced by fame and by luxury.”

Versace was also one of the few openly gay celebrities of his day, having been with D’Amico, a former model, since 1982. Though, according to Martin, there was a limit to their openness.

“For many months in this series, I kind of went back into the closet,” the 46-year-old says. “They were not completely out. The fear of being seen holding hands in the streets is not an issue for me anymore, but I relived all of that, and it kinda set me back and gave me a lot of discomfort. But I was playing a part, and I used it. I used that anger and I used that frustration.”

The Assassination of Gianni Versace is the gayest thing FX or Ryan Murphy has ever done. And for anyone who’s seen Popular, or Glee, or the last few seasons of Nip/Tuck, or the musical number in American Horror Story: Asylum, that’s saying a lot. But it’s also a profound statement. Murphy, an openly gay showrunner and one of the most powerful and successful visionaries in Hollywood, has produced a series about an openly gay fashion designer (who was killed by a gay serial killer), featuring an openly gay pop star playing his boyfriend. Martin, who came out publicly in 2010, hadn’t even considered this level of out-and-proudness, but he’s acutely aware of how the show’s themes resonate in today’s terrifying political climate.

Ricky Martin has been in the public eye for the majority of his life—first in the popular boy band Menudo, which he parlayed into a successful music career in Latin America and a featured role on the long-running soap opera General Hospital. But it was a 1999 Grammy performance of “The Cup of Life,” the official song of the previous year’s World Cup, and the subsequent release of his U.S. breakthrough single, “Livin’ La Vida Loca,” that skyrocketed him to superstardom and ushered in the so-called “Latin explosion.”

With increased exposure, however, came increased scrutiny, and for years rumors regarding his sexual orientation persisted. Male pop stars have rarely been allowed to be openly gay, and those that were, like Elton John and George Michael, waited until relatively late in their careers to come out. For Martin, consequently, The Assassination of Gianni Versace offered a unique and personal challenge because, to paraphrase executive producer Brad Simpson, it’s about the politics of being out in the ’90s. Today, Martin is much more comfortable in his own skin. Not only is he in love (he’s been in a relationship with Syrian-Swedish painter Jwan Yosef since 2015), but he’s a father of two—and adamant that his family be an inspiration for other nontraditional families.

“A lot of people tell me, ‘Well, your kids are on the covers of magazines and blah, blah, blah,’ and I'm like, ‘Yes because I want to normalize this,’ ” he says. “I want people to look at me and see a family and say, ‘There’s nothing wrong with that.’ It's part of my mission. It’s part of my kids’ mission as well. My kids ask me about having two daddies and I tell them we are a part of a modern family. This is a beautiful sense of freedom.”

By taking on the role of Antonio D’Amico, the singer-actor had to conjure those years of hiding who he was, but in doing so he knew he was paying tribute to the love that Versace and D’Amico shared. Martin’s first day on set and his very first scene were also his most dramatic. “They didn't even let me warm up—I went straight into the murder,” he says. “I went straight into the moment where I find the body on the steps of the villa outside. It was a really long day. I was locked in this room for many hours just to be there in the moment when I looked out the window and saw Édgar’s feet. I went crazy and said, ‘Let’s shoot now! Please let’s shoot now!’ ”

After seeing production shots of Martin cradling a bloody Ramirez, D’Amico derided the tableau as “ridiculous” and a product of the “director’s poetic license.” In an interview with The Guardian last July, he also contradicted Martin’s assertion that he and Versace ever had to conceal their love. Martin then reached out to the 59-year-old D’Amico, whom he says was “incredibly generous” and “really honest.”

“The first thing I said to him was, ‘Antonio, I just want you to know that we all are working on this story with the utmost respect to what Gianni Versace represents to the world, and then we go to love,” says Martin. “ ‘My role here is for people to understand you, and see what the love you guys had was made of.’ They were together for 15 years. It’s a lifetime. And like Antonio says, there was no end to this love. There is no end to this love.”

“There are two love stories,” Ramirez adds. “One with Antonio, Ricky’s character, and the other with Penélope Cruz’s character, Donatella. Gianni was very devoted to both of them. Ricky and I wanted to be respectful of their relationship and open about how supportive they were of each other. According to everyone I talked to, Gianni was very protective of Antonio, and Antonio was very protective of Gianni.”

There is, however, no love lost between D’Amico and Donatella Versace. The two always had a contentious relationship. In his will, Versace provided D’Amico with a $30,000-a-month lifetime allowance and the right to live in any of the late designer’s homes, but because of a feud with the Versace family, D’Amico received a portion of what he was owed.

Family was of the utmost importance to Gianni Versace, but his own didn’t want to be involved in the show’s production. Ramirez, no stranger to playing biographical characters—he earned an Emmy nomination in 2011 for his portrayal of Venezuelan revolutionary Ilich Ramírez Sánchez in Carlos—approached the series with immense compassion, but out of respect (and for legal reasons) he chose not to approach the designer’s surviving family members.

“Whatever hesitations or reservations they have about the series, I understand,” Ramirez says of the Versace family. “This is a tragedy. It should have never happened. We want to enforce our own empathy. I hope that in the end they will be satisfied.”

What is a historical or cultural moment for the rest of the world is a story of intense personal tragedy for the family and former partner of Gianni Versace, so a production of this scale and caliber—this isn’t, after all, the Gina Gershon Lifetime movie House of Versace—is bound to reopen old wounds and draw renewed scrutiny. And yet: That’s fame. One’s life—and death—are no longer one’s own. But what made The People v. OJ Simpson so successful was how it took a tragedy and articulated its significance to the world we live in: a world with a 24/7 news cycle, a world of continued racial animus, a world of keeping up with the Kardashians.

While LGBTQ people have more rights and freedoms than in any other time in U.S. history, the rapid progress of marginalized communities over the previous years has revealed the cracks in this country—ugly truths barely hidden just below the surface have been exposed. This America abets white supremacists, bolsters an accused pedophile who believes homosexuality should be illegal, and neglects the victims of a mishandled natural disaster because they’re not quite “American” enough.

“We've been taking four airplanes with 150,000 pounds’ worth of basic necessities,” Martin says of the relief effort in Puerto Rico, of which he’s been a part. “It’s been very difficult because four million US citizens are still without power or clean drinking water. My family is there and luckily, I can bring them out to take a break, but there's a very intense passion about where we come from, and they don't want to leave.”

And, of course, it’s impossible to deny that if homophobia killed Gianni Versace, so did a gun. On June 12, 2016, Omar Mateen opened fire at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fl., killing 49 people and wounding 58 others. The overwhelming majority of his victims were queer people of color in what was, until 15 months later, the deadliest mass shooting on American soil. “I want to be very respectful about this because I am not American,” Ramirez begins, cautiously. “But I have a very hard time reconciling how easy it is to gain access to guns here. And I come from one of the most violent countries in the world.”

Though mass shootings remain a uniquely American phenomenon, the conversations around gun control and mental illness have ultimately gone nowhere. For 35 years, the United States has rarely gone a year without a mass shooting. In 1997, the year of Andrew Cunanan’s murderous spree, more than 32,000 people were killed by guns. That number has remained stable, so that on any given day, 93 people are shot to death.

After Versace was killed, speculation ran wild regarding Cunanan’s motive. Some claimed an HIV-positive diagnosis triggered his murderous streak, but an autopsy debunked that theory, itself a form of homophobia. In 1997, homosexuality and AIDS were still inextricably bound so that a gay serial killer was automatically linked to the disease—as if Gregg Araki’s The Living End had come to life. But whereas that 1992 film glamorized its killers, the Andrew Cunanan in The Assassination of Gianni Versace is a pitiable figure—a lost soul grasping at a fantasy embodied by his final and most famous victim. Cunanan, too, was a victim—of homophobia, both internalized and externalized; of his own desires; of his upbringing; of the world in which he lived. Through his detestable actions, he finally got what he wanted: It’s now impossible to discuss the legacy of fashion’s one-time emperor without also remembering the man who cut his life short that July morning.

[oceanwildatelier]

And I made a second one today!!

Well I made it last night, but I made it pretty today!!

Please enjoy this one as well <3

And just an update, I am still working on that Tarot Challenge as well <3

Disclaimer

[architectnews]

Museum Of Architecture Colour Memories Exhibition

2021 Museum Of Architecture Colour Memories Exhibition, MoA News

Museum Of Architecture Colour Memories Exhibition 2021

12 Mar 2012

Colour Memories exhibition from Museum of Architecture

Museum Of Architecture Competition, London, England, UK

“Colour is what makes memories come alive and it does the same with architecture, bringing a sense of joy, personality and individuality to buildings of all types and scales – as well as being a little bit fun.”

Owen Hopkins, Director of the Farrell Centre at Newcastle University. Taken from his introduction to Colour Memories exhibition.

Colour Memories a new exhibition by Museum of Architecture opens online today

image © Morris+Company Sylvan Heritage models

“Colour is something that helps us recall memories and feelings. The steel blue of the ocean on a windy Autumn’s day that gives us chills just thinking of it; bright neon-coloured lights in cities that evoke excitement and energy; and primary-coloured crayons strewn across a table harking back to the nostalgia and innocence of being a child. Narratives like these are driving the Museum of Architecture’s Colour Memories exhibition, bringing the personal stories of architects, and the designs they inspire, to life.” Melissa Woolford, founder and director, The Museum of Architecture

Colour Memories – a new exhibition by The Museum of Architecture and sponsored by Axalta – is dedicated to exploring the role of colour in architecture and design. The exhibition captures the personal colour stories and inspirations of over 20 architects including, Jonathan Hagos’ connections to salmon orange, Harbinder Singh Birdi’s connection to traffic red and Paul Monaghan’s connection to Victorian tile green. Each architect has chosen an Axalta colour sample to best represent their memory.

Polly: image © Charles Holland

Speaking about his colour memory Salmon Orange, Jonathan Hagos of practice Freehaus says: “Colours faded by sunlight, whether in reality or on the surface of the photographic prints depicting my childhood, are to me, seeped in nostalgia. No colour captures this more than the faded orange that defines my earliest memories. It was the colour of my parents Opal Kadett, parked outside the first home that I can remember.”

Speaking about Green Chlorophyll, Catherine Pease from practice vPPR said: “(it) represents the colour of plants and nature: soft and calming; playful and ever-changing; innumerable and complex. As part of our work at vPPR, we are drawn to projects where landscape and architecture are intrinsically linked.”

Art on the Underground: image © Hawkins_Brown and Daniel Buren

Colour Memories explores personal connections to colour and as well as ideas related to how colour informs the design process. It looks at the history of colour, colour in nature and biophilia, the impact of colour on our psychology and well-being, and the use of colour in architecture today. The exhibition showcases the impact and influence of new movements like Multiform and New London Fabulous and includes content from Studio Mutt and Studio S&M. The role of teaching colour in architecture is considered by Professor Fiona McLachlan, professor of architectural practice at Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture and Antoni Malinowski co-director of Saturated Space at the Architectural Association. Other participants include: Asif Khan, Abre Etteh, Charles Holland, Chris Wilkinson, Katy Marks and Nimi Attanayake.

Speaking about Colour Memories, Dami Babalola, architecture colour expert at Axalta Powder Coatings UK, said: “Axalta Powder Coatings is pleased to be working with 20 talented architectural practices on this unique project. In this uncertain time we have decided to be flexible and create an entirely digital exhibition which showcases the personal associations we have with colour. We hope to highlight the wide variety of colours Axalta has to offer, as well as our commitment to providing the design community with the best and most creative colour solutions for their projects.”

The exhibition includes exclusive interviews between Melissa Woolford, founder and director of MoA and James Crawford and Alex Turner from Studio Mutt, Hugh McEwen and Catrina Stewart from Office S&M and Paul Monaghan of AHMM and content from architectural writer Harriet Thorpe and architectural historian and curator Owen Hopkins.

Laura Sanjuan Soda Studio inspiration: photo courtesy of designer

Featured practices:

1. Abre Etteh 2. Afterparti 3. AHMM 4. Asif Khan 5. Atelier La Juntana 6. Beasley Dickson 7. Charles Holland 8. Citizens Design Bureau 9. Freehaus 10. Hawkins Brown 11. Morris + Company 12. NimTim 13. Office S&M 14. SODA 15. Studio Aki 16. Studio Mutt 17. Unscene Architecture 18. vPPR 19. WilkinsonEyre 20. ZHD

Museum of Architecture Instagram: @MuseumofArchitecture Museum of Architecture Twitter: @MoA_News Hashtag: #ColourMemories

Westminster Academy School Interior by Paul Monaghan of AHMM: image © AHMM

Colour Memories by Museum of Architecture is sponsored by Axalta Powder Coatings

Colour Memories Exhibition 2021 Background

Museum of Architecture Museum of Architecture (MoA) is a charity dedicated to finding new ways for the public to engage with architecture and to encourage entrepreneurship within architectural practice.

MoA provides opportunities for architects to collaborate with other industries and communities to be better informed about the places and people for which they are designing.

MoA has been a pop-up museum for twelve years and positions itself as a place where people come to learn about what is currently happening in architecture through exhibitions, events, talks, and public installations. MoA’s programming provides insightful information for both the public and architects alike, linking architecture to contemporary culture to make it accessible to all. https://ift.tt/1SEYX5Z

Charles Holland architect / designer, UK: photo © Katie Hyams

Axalta Axalta is a leading global company focused solely on coatings and providing customers with innovative, colourful, beautiful and sustainable solutions. From architectural and industrial design applications to light OEM vehicles, commercial vehicles and refinish applications, to electric motors, buildings and pipelines, our coatings are designed to prevent corrosion, increase productivity, and enable the materials we coat to last longer.

With more than 150 years of experience in the coatings industry, the 14,000 Axalta people continue to find better ways every day to serve our more than 100,000 customers in 130 countries with the finest coatings, application systems and technology. For more information visit axalta.com/powdercoatings-emea and follow us @Axaltapowdercoatingsemea on Instagram and on LinkedIn.

Architect Chris Wilkinson in his Dulwich House, London, England: photo courtesy of architects office

Axalta Colour Experience Room London The London Colour Experience Room is home to the wide and versatile powder coating offering of Axalta. An exciting and colourful environment to let your imagination go wild, we have a solution for every creative and architectural project. Located in the architectural heart of London at The Building Centre, there are over 700 colours, effects and finishes available. Book a meeting with our Colour Expert for guidance on the right choice of architectural powder coatings in both quality and colour.

For more information about the Colour Experience Room, visit www.axalta.com/colourexperienceroom

Location: London, England, UK

Architecture in London

London Architecture Designs – chronological list

Tottenham Pavilion Competition image courtesy of architecture competition organisers Tottenham Pavilion Competition

Museum Of Architecture Competition

Contemporary Buildings in London

Vauxhall Tower Design: Broadway Malyan

Battersea Power Station Design Design: various architects

London Architecture Walking Tours

London Architect

London Architecture

London Architecture Competitions

Comments / photos for the Museum Of Architecture Colour Memories Exhibition page welcome

Website: Architecture

The post Museum Of Architecture Colour Memories Exhibition appeared first on e-architect.

[solidandsound]

My goal for 2017 was to beat 50 games. Unless I finish anything else over the next couple of days (doubtful), my actual number is 46, which I’m still quite happy with.

Some of these were games I’d already started before 2017 (e.g. Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, which I played most of throughout 2016 and finished in January). Many were small indie games, some only a few minutes long (e.g. Secrets Agent, which is maybe ten minutes). Some were more middling offerings (e.g. Aerannis, which I clocked 8 hours in), and some were the big, exciting games that 2017 is coming to be known for. There are also many games I played significant amounts of this year that do not count towards the above number because I haven’t finished them (like World of Final Fantasy, which I got for Christmas last year but still haven’t finished despite returning to it every couple of months).

DLC also makes calculating that number a little more difficult, especially the way DLC is more frequently being handled. Final Fantasy XV was released towards the end of 2016, and I ‘finished’ it, at the latest, in early 2017. But that was only the main story. There are a few DLC episodes out now (I’ve played two of them) as well as story improvements and a bigger DLC campaign. I could finish those, but the developers have stated that there’s going to be even more DLC in 2018, which is bizarre for a game that’s a year old, but less bizarre now than it used to be. Breath of the Wild’s DLC took a while to be released (also not part of the above number for that reason), and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 looks to be releasing DLC until at least autumn 2018. For a person who likes his games to be one and done, this trend is frustrating. Companies want their games to last longer, to remain fresh in our minds so we can give them more money. This is largely antithetical to the pursuit of games as an art form, and it’s also annoying. I like finishing things. Not knowing when the DLC is gonna stop robs me of the satisfaction of saying a game is complete, of adding it to my end of year count.

The best game I played that came out this year is almost certainly Persona 5. For all its failings, it is a solid, polished RPG that at least tries to tackle social inequality. Most of the games I really loved that I played this year are actually from years prior, however. I’m glad I finished Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne this year, because it made me appreciate Persona 5 even more.

I dove into two older series I’ve always loved this year. One is Breath of Fire. The only BoF game I’d completed before was IV, but I’d played a lot of III as well. I went through I, II, and III in 2017, finishing the entire main series (Dragon Quarter notwithstanding). IV remains my favourite in the series, but all the games are oozing with charm and personality. Very few games manage to feel as original as BoF, even though they are, at the series’ core, standard JRPGs.

The other series I dove into is Xenosaga. Last year I replayed Xenosaga Episode I. This year I replayed Episode II and then finally, finally finished Episode III. I’ve long considered I to be one of my favourite games of all time, but III is a masterpiece that manages to surpass it. Its only faults are in the spaces where you can tell the series was supposed to have more titles in it before it was cancelled prematurely, and maybe one annoying sidequest. And the fanservice. Otherwise it is nearly perfect, and ends the series beautifully. The KOS-MOS showdown near the end has got to be one of my favourite gaming moments ever.

On the indie side of things I loved Read Only Memories, the queer sci-fi I’ve always wanted; Curtain, an artful representation of abusive relationships; Even the Ocean, a mindful environmental fable with impeccable mechanics; We Know the Devil, one of the most poetically written visual novels I’ve ever played; Lieve Oma, a touching tribute to memory; and Strange Flesh, a bizarre gay sex beat-em-up. I also loved Longest Night and Longest Night: Lost Constellation, two free side games for Night in the Woods, which is definitely on my list of games to play for 2018. If you were curious but not sold on NitW, play those two games and they will sell you on it.

Which brings me to the games I’m looking forward to playing (and/or beating) in 2018. Night in the Woods is up there, and they just released a fancy new expanded edition, so it seems like the perfect time to finally jump in. The new Steven Universe game, Save the Light, is out now as well, and given how good Attack the Light is, I would be a fool not to play this one. Blue Reflection also has me curious, as a Persona-lite game with magical girls, even though it’s gotta be a fanservicey mess. And I can’t forget about Tacoma for more queer sci-fi.

I plan on doing a deeper dive into the Shin Megami Tensei series as well. I’m already playing Persona Q and Tokyo Mirage Sessions, and 2018 is the year I finish both of them. Once those are off my plate, I can jump into Digital Devil Saga, which was gifted to me this year, and then more of the core series, maybe starting with the first Shin Megami Tensei on iOS. Who knows when SMT V on the Switch will be out, but I want to burn through more of the series before it gets here.

I’m also playing and plan on finishing Atelier Sophie (might check out more Atelier after), Beat Sneak Bandit (and I still have Bumpy Road to play to finish my Simogo backlog before they announce their new game), Bravely Second (the devs keep hinting at a Bravely Third), Fire Emblem Fates (it’s just Revelations left, and I wanna beat it before getting to Echoes which was a Christmas gift), Valkyria Chronicles II (stoked for VC 4!), and as I’ve already mentioned, World of FF and Xenoblade Chronicles 2.

In my backlog to be hopefully played this year are Horizon Zero Dawn (I’ve been wanting to play this since it was announced!), I Am Setsuna, Kentucky Route Zero, Lost Dimension, Mass Effect 3, Muramasa, Nights of Azure, Owlboy, and lots, lots more.

Some games coming out in 2018 I’m looking forward to are Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth: Hacker’s Memory, Radiant Historia Perfect Chronology, Alliance Alive, 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, Ooblets, Heart Forth Alicia, The Last of Us 2, and Kingdom Hearts III (not sure about 2018 for those last two though).

Shout-out to Splatoon 2, the only multiplayer game to keep me playing even though it doesn’t satisfy my craving for endings because it never fucking ends. It’s just that good.

I hope 2018 is relatively slow for new game releases, so I can do some much needed catch-up. 2018 also looks like it could be a good year for my writing career, as long as I focus enough, so I’m only planning on beating a modest 40 games. If you’ve read this far, feel free to chat me up about what games you’ve played this year. As evidenced here, I can go on forever about video games.

[candlemylife]

The scandinavian wave

We barely do know that some scandinavian brands offer some wonderful scented candles, inspired by the scandinavian nature, the history of the monarchy or peaceful landscapes of the countryside or the coast.

There is long and strong tradition in Scandinavia about the candles. inside many houses, the scandinavian families light some candles on the edge of the windows during the long winter days. The industry of candle making used to be really important during many decades in Scandinavia.

Among these company, we can figure out one, which exists ince more than 30 years, a family-founded company in Denmark, in the area of Jutland. This is ester & erik. They recently launched a range of scented candles under the name "a nordic scent of pure nature". Each of these candles has a traditional, Danish name inspired by the history of our country and generations of Kings and Queens. And the scent of each candle is inspired by the nature of Denmark. From deep forests to wide oceans, from the breath-taking landscapes to wild flowers growing everywhere. One of the emblematic candle of this range is Christian. Great parts of Denmark are covered with woods where you can take a peaceful stroll and enjoy all shades of green, from the delicate, bright colours of the birch to the deep, warm shades of the pine and coniferes.

ester & erik http://www.ester-erik.dk/

A nordic scent of pure nature http://anordicscentofpurenature.com

Mineral and vegetable waxes 240g - 49€

Other story for this danish brand founded few years ago by two british guys who falled in love of Denmark and each other of two danish women. Skandinavisk has been inspirated from the custom and the danish way of life. The keyword : Hygge. Following the exemple of the candle of the same name, we can find among the several candle of the brand. But we're gonna to introduce you the candle "Fjord". The name and the fragrance reveal ideally the spirit of scandinavia. Cold and refreshing, woody and lot of fruity notes, we travel immedialtly towards norvegian Fjords, a scent carved from glaciers.

https://skandinavisk.com/

Mineral wax 190gr - 35€

The swedish fashion brand of clothing, & other stories, offer three candles with an inspiration that comes from the work place of the brand and their headquarter. Among this home fragrance range, "Atelier Stockholm", we can figure out the scent "Kungsholmstorg". This fragrance diffuse a smell of rich wood (cedarwood, pine needles, treemoss) with with a trace of cade and an accord of top-notes of nutmeg, rapsberry and incense bring the world outside of their Stockholm atelier to mind.

http://www.stories.com/fr/Beauty/Scented_candles

Mineral wax 190gr - 19€

Still in Sweden, we can discover the fantastic range of scented candle of L:A Bruket. One of those drawn particulraly our attention, it’s “Black oak”. A scent of blackened oak and Nordic woods. Formulated with cashmere wood and birch to give a calming and strengthening aroma experience that brings an urban soul back to nature. A must have for all the scented candles fan.

http://shop.labruket.se/category/scented-candles

Organic soy wax 260gr - 56€

Same country, other story, we discover an old brand of goods made of brass. Recently this old long-tradition house of craft, launched a range of scented candles. The fabulous packaging with the brass container and the black cardboard box host 4 fragrances. We have tested "Black wood". This marvellous smell emits some really good scents of Cedar wood and spicy Clove leaf and is topped with sultry elements of Rose and Jasmine. This high quality candles are hand poured in Stockholm in Sweden. This range of candles is the best way to make a gift with an authentic Sweden spirit.

https://skultuna.com/

Blend of waxes 300gr - 70€

We recently discover an adorable brand of skincare, cosmetics, etc... It’s called YARD ETC’s. All the products are carefully crafted by garden enthusiasts in Sweden. The smells contain natural ingredients, the scented candle range is poured with organic soy wax into a nice tiny box.

We have choosen to try "oak moss". The smell of the wet forest from the deep woods where the trolls live. The aroma is rich and earthly with a distinct fragrance of wet woodland. A deep, rich aroma of wood, earth and moss. The scent of oakmoss was once upon a time used by Native Americans to treat respiratory diseases.  It's a really masculine fragrance, quite mordern, that will match perfectly to the modern scandinvian interior.

http://yardetc.com/

Organic soy wax, estimated to 190g (250ml) - 19€

[rosaofswords]

Ocean Wild Atelier’s Self Love Challenge ft. the Disciples Tarot

2. What do you want?

Okay, first of all, I read this question in the voice of a teenager whose parents just knocked on their door. Just FYI. We’re having that day. 

But, in all seriousness: I want to be more friendly with my inner Wild Thing, we have more in common than different and I want us to be more of a team. I want to be a more naturally compassionate person, too, I suppose, but this Strength is more about being wild, I think. I want to live with and by beliefs that make me want to crow them out on rooftops. (THIS IS MY STICK! IT IS THE BEST STICK I CAN HAVE!!!) And, yes, I want a less treacherous mental landscape and to feel less cornered by my own thoughts on a regular basis.

[5water-kohaku]

Go pre-order Persona 5, sis. I’ll pay ya.

...is what I wanna tell her now, but gotta sleep early.

Too much games to play, but really, it’s just 4 of them I have to play right now.

Digimon World: Next Order (damn that Cheerful Apple I fed my Digimon with) The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (little sis is playing already) Tales of Berseria (arm-in-arm with my family, hell yeah!) Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness (...I barely remember what.)

Oh right, my sister got me Atelier Sophie: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Book. And I actually don’t want to play it because I failed at Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of Arland... I just kept on being late and starting all over.