#technically this is the intro but i dIGRESS

[iconuk01]

Pouches - Who's to blame (Not entirely serious)

Now, we remember that the king of the super pouches is Cable, and for good reason... Since his intro in 1990 he has tended to be more than slightly... pouch intensive

This isn't even a spoof cover, it's an accurate representation of his costume at the time.

But did he START the trend?

I think not.

Leaving aside Batman from the 1966 series, who had hefty pouches in his belt...

Though still not remotely large enough for some of the stuff he randomly produced from it, even if it DOES fold up... sort of.

But I digress....

I did consider the Silver Age bat villain Cluemaster

But those are specifically "plastic-glass pellets" containing assorted chemical weapons, like explosives, gas, acids and the like, so not sure they count.

It's been suggested that one of the first in the modern era to develop this was Longshot in 1986, when he did indeed have pouches on his belt, because artist Art Adams thought he needed practically-sized pouches to carry things in.

But even then are there MANY pouches? His bandolier was to store his throwing knives for easy access, so weren't pouches per se.

So technically, the first X-Men character to really lay into the pouches side of things isn't Cable, not by a long shot... it's this guy, slightly later in 1986

So Doug Ramsey was leading the field of poucher-y in the X-Verse side of things.

Just look at that vest and belt, LOADED and lined with pouches, and we never even find out what's in them... Though I think it would include pens, pencils, notepaper, some money, spare keys to the Xavier school, first-aid kit, lock picks (because he's always wanted to carry lockpicks), string (Everyone should carry string), breath mints and other things a relatively sensible teenager would want to be sure he was carrying if he had the room in his outfit and wasn't given to cargo shorts!

And yet, there are other contenders, so let's work backwards...

Also from 1986, Batman (again) from "The Dark Knight Returns" where even his BELT looks to be on a course of serious steroids!

And in 1983 we got this stylish new costume retconned into the history of the Golden Age Tarantula in All-Star Squadron who, up until this point, wore a purple and yellow spandex outfit that was, oncufsingly, identical to the Golden Age Sandman's spandex costume outfit.

Notice that he has rings of pouches on both boots, where he keeps things like spare cash in case he needs to hire a taxi and probably some spare ammo for his wirepoon gun.

But I think I've found patient zero as, from 1981's New Teen Titans #3. we have the inventor and technologist par excellence, the man who would be known (Eventually) as Mikron O'Geneus, though he would, perhaps thankfully, becomes better known by his codename:

GIZMO!

Look, even his LOGO has pouches!

In fairness, given his speciality is creating techno-widgets and devices out of other technology, him carrying dozens of gadgets and components makes a lot of sense, to the extent that he even manages to carry MORE weapons than Robin's utility belt (Which is TARDIS like in and of itself)!

So I think we have a winner!

Gizmo started the modern pouch trend!

If anyone can find earlier/other contenders, then please feel free to add them!

[infernaltenor]

one more niki analysis.

for now.

ok this one technically i've had in mind for MONTHS but couldn't figure out how to word it until just now because i a) read hot limit about three months ago and it hasn't left my head since b) the idol exploration event.

anyway. the actual crux of this is: niki's character is specifically written to be content, not happy. these often get confused imo. the second part of this is his contentedness isn't natural, it's forced. the third part of this is no one fucking notices, except for one rinne amagi, because of course he does. by no one, i'm talking specifically character-wise here; niki in game tends to get written off as childish or otherwise doing well, and that comes directly from his other unit members.

side note: i'm fairly confident in my own reading of "niki will pretend to not be bothered by anything, ever" and this is bolstered by a few different things; a) the honeycomb summer lyrics in my last post where there's a part of the intro, "hidden the true feelings out of habit / and now you're regretting it" (rinne amagi you slick bastard) b) hot limit. like the entire story. mostly because he was being troubled by multiple different things throughout it (work, idol activities, and his family last name/father's scandal) and the only person who noticed was rinne, and that's probably because he knew the damn guy for five years c) also in hot limit, the exploration into niki seeing himself as a burden because of his illness. why did they add this into his character and then not elaborate further? i don't know. if it never gets elaboration, i'll implode. anyway, it's a part of his character that he usually doesn't show, but he references it as "not wanting to inconvenience the people around him" REGARDLESS of if the people in question don't mind him inconveniencing them (rinne). in general, the only thing he makes a fuss about is food, likely because of his metabolism and the fact that he does become more of a danger to people when extremely hungry (he has bitten hiiro before.); i.e. the inconvenience for everyone else is a 19-20yro trying to bite them, not complaining that he's hungry.

i digress.

niki has referenced himself as being content with certain things before. for instance, in hot limit, it's phrased distinctly as "just getting to eat every day is a bliss to me - i need to be satisfied with that", which comes up again in his letter from the idol exploration:

"it feels like happiness is there to fill my stomach, too!" oh, is it? is it niki? is it now?

basically, what i'm getting at is niki's expectations for life are so incredibly low, so he's satisfied with getting to eat every day. that's it. just satisfied. side note: this is why i went insane when survival was added to his profile; the way he lives/talks about living, he's been surviving more than living. this is also why i think rinne and niki work so well as a pair, rinne's into living and niki's busy surviving. though, to be fair, rinne and niki's relationship is built on this crux anyway. rinne intends (hopes, maybe? his goal?) is to help niki with what he has identified as a problem. thank you rinne amagi.

(for the record, right after i read this, my live reaction was "WHAT IF I KILLED MYSELF". that's quite dramatic, and i won't, but i figured someone might get a laugh out of that.)

this isn't the first time that rinne has referred to niki (well, more so implied) as "not happy", as it happens in hot limit, too.

"that's why i'll grant his wish and make him happy" oh ok i see.

anyway. niki's fascinating, because this forced contentedness vs happiness is so interesting to me, because beyond rinne's own read of niki, it's easily bought by everyone else he knows. most notably, kohaku and himeru, as their impressions come off of reading niki quite differently to rinne's:

(i grabbed these screenshots after i finished the event for the time being. rinne's i grabbed before LMAO)

both of them appreciate and even look up to niki in certain ways, and they both like his focus on food. but what's interesting is how both of them see him vastly different from rinne; where rinne focuses on his low self impression, himeru thinks niki's perspective of the world is interesting, as well as i think he gives credence to niki being selfless, which kohaku sees him as both childish and reckless. i'm pretty sure both himeru and kohaku see him as more naive than themselves, which is a fair read. this also does line up with what happens in hot limit; while rinne is aware of the troubles niki's going through, himeru and kohaku are both surprised at the end.

niki's own effort, i think, to convince himself of being satisfied and content pays off, because the only person who notices otherwise is rinne. which, imo, is a whole other source of depth to their relationship; rinne probably saw niki working that out. he was 14 when they met, and likely the shiina parents leaving was recent (side note: i'm a certified niki's parents hater. i know we don't have much info on them, but i don't trust them after that burden thing), which is something i've mostly extrapolated by the contact he seems to have at 14 vs at 19, where they're pretty much never mentioned. yes, i know, niki chose to stay in japan. i just don't think you get through your parents leaving you in your native country at 14 while they gallivant around the globe and your communication with them steadily dwindles results in anything good.

ok. i'm sorry for the parent hating.

but unless proven otherwise i'm expecting them to be the source of these problems.

[protosymphonette]

apparently I shouldn’t ask you your fallout 4 opinions? Now I want to ask you your fallout 4 opinions :)

i warned you about my fo4 opinions bro. i told you dog.

most of these are like. technical and story related. bee tee dubs

ok under cut because i have a lot to say and most of it is TOXIC because i LOVE TO COMPLAIN

listen. listen. i have a lot of feelings about this game. most of them aren't very good. so lets start with the ones that are mostly positive.

i think a thing fo4 did really well was the companions. a lot of their arcs are more realized than the other fo games (despite the fact that 2 of them don't even have full names, but i digress), they have more unique voicelines... and being able to romance them doesn't hurt either. honestly, half the reason i found myself willing to continue playing the game was getting all of the companion questlines and such. i also like how connected it was to fo3 character (like with li, maccready, maxson) and storywise (the institute, railroad, synths), made me feel Smart for getting the references. the way weapons... work? i guess is the best term? is also pretty decent- though the more advanced display hurts my eyes whenever i use energy weapons (which is always because they are the only guns worth using in any fo game)

i'll probably add more positives as i go, but- now time for parts of the game that i don't particularly enjoy... i don't like how many gameplay changes they made. like with the perks and special system (why would they change it. why remove skills?? why start all special stats at 1? the removal of skills really gets me; like, they were a more tangible and easier way to recognize what, well, SKILLS you had and just removing them entirely makes no sense) and the pip boy ui (WHY did they make holotapes go into general "misc" as opposed to having their own "notes" section??? you use holotapes like 40x more often in this game why. what the hell todd) the weapons and armor system irks me too, somewhat- the fact that once you progress to a point in the game in which you are like, unable to see if an armor/weapon is better than what you have because of all of the goddamn superfluous adjectival modifiers. i wish single piece armors were more practical- the mix-and-match nature of the new armor system is... i don't mean to be like, petty, but its Fugly. i know it's the wasteland but, DAMN, my guy's fit is trash! there are too many modifiers to armor, too, i feel. like, ballistic v energy v whatever damage resistance... all i want to know is if this thing is better than this thing, and you're tellin me it is SOMETIMES but not all the times? my iddy biddy pea brain came here to have FUN and SHOOT not to think about strategy in armor. tldr for my technical qualms with this game: they shouldn't have changed allat. it was great and fun as was.

storywise i don't... to put it succinctly, i don't like this game's story. it's boring to me. i don't necessarily care about my son, or my spouse, with the 5 minutes i spent with them during the tutorial and the "hey honey!" holotape you gave me is doing nothing to change that in any way. also, while on the subject of spouses, the game tries SO HARD to railroad (heh heh) you into being the male sole survivor- he NARRATES the damn intro ffs (and replacing the legend ron perlman is a crime which can never be forgiven) AND is a veteran (combat+power armor experience) and nora... is a lawyer? a job in which it would make no sense for her to already have power armor training or experience with weapons. (oatus the power armor ui is fucking ugly and gross too and i've literally never used it outside its introduction with the minutemen because of this) i think the fact that i don't give 2 shits about my son is why the institute is soooooo dry to me. like, why am i supposed to side with these assholes? because my son who is an old man is, what, their dad? or something? (also shaun being the gen 3 synths "father" and you being able to romance a whole slew of gen 3 synths is... weird, plainly put) also the factions are just boring to me. like no flavor at all. i don't want to bring up Beautiful Golden Child New Vegas (but i do) but like... obsidian did the "choose a faction" thing a whole helluva lot better. like i don't really give a shit at all about any of the stakes or factions within fo4 like even a little bit all i care about is my Guys who are my Friends and we Kill People Together.

also this is like very petty and opiniony but i don't like how good the graphics are i feel like fallout is a game franchise meant to look a little shitty

tldr; fallout 4 would be such a good game if it was a good game

[wlwsuperheroine]

I just finished ms. marvel the show for the first time. so short answer is: wowwww but long answer is: it has some positives and negatives.

Let’s start with negatives.

Changing Kamala’s powers. I know kamala isn’t as popular as some long time heroes but embegging is her whole gimmick! It’s like if someone took Peter Parker and gave him the powers of a snail and was called snail-man. And her powers are so cool too. I was so excited to see CGI stretching and polymorphic powers, you can do the hands part via literally iPhone camera, how could the whole marvel budget didn’t cut it?? No we got to have… light, for some reason. I’m just scared that other adaptation are going to do the same like in some new comics or games or something, I really, really hope not

Misrepresentation. This one is debatable, because as Muslim, the bar we have for American shows to represent us isn’t even on the floor, it’s lower, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that they didn’t 100% mess it up. But still there are so many minor technicalities, that might seem minor for someone outside of the religion/culture but for those are part of it, it’s a really big deal. Like some scenes, doing wudu with nail polish on, posting in the masjid, a dad telling his son to stop praying, so many words used in the wrong context, the whole djinn concept just shows that there was no Muslim opinion taken into consideration during filming.

the so many love interests. Like, 3, seriously, one wasn’t enough?? There shouldn’t even be one, but I digress. And just all the scenes involving the romantic subtext of each one literally made my blood boil. Literally this whole point could summarised to just the boys, they were so unnecessary.

And now let’s get to the positives, because despite the points made previously, I really enjoyed this show.

The representation. As I said before, it’s perfect, but it’s not bad. Then again, the only thing we share is us being Muslim. I’m Arab where kamala is Pakistani and these things heavily affect how people practice Islam, and also I live in a Muslim, Arab country where almost everyone is Muslim where kamala live the US, a place where she’s a minority. So of course there will be differences between our experiences. But I love how many arabic phrases were spoken during the show, the Eid scene, the masjid scene, the whole wedding episode. It was all so good and nice and representative.

My favourite thing about the show honestly is how artistic and stylised it is. They weren’t very consistent with it, but it was still good. All the different fonts and styles for the ms marvel intro was so amazing, I want to screenshot every frame. The credits are so well done too. When they want to show how daydreamy kamala is and there’s doodles around and different pieces of media incorporated in that. It was all so creative. The intro captain america scene was one of my top 5, to be honest

I love the costume design, especially kamala’s. They were all so modest, obviously. But they also showed Kamala’s personality, through her drawing and patches and just the colours and everything. They were so many stars and bolts, It’s just so similar to how I dress.

The progression of her relationship with her mom. I genuinely think that there’s no greater or stronger or closer bond between two people in this whole wide world than between a mother and her eldest daughter, and this show is only one of the many many examples of that. And it’s so relatable and realistic, like her mom being overprotective and hovering because that’s the result of generational trauma and how her mom was too distant, and she was just doing her best and just wants the best for her daughter and Kamala is such a sweet girl. So many of their scene together made my heart melt.

Centralising not just family, but the matriarchs in the family was such a smart move. because mothers truly are the ones who make families and heritage and everything is always tied back to them. Something something the souls of mothers residing in their daughters. The whole partition train episode had me bawling my eyes out.

The rest is just some things I love about kamala generally in every adaptation/timeline/universe

I just really love how unapologetically nerdy and dorky kamala is. She’s such a fangirl, she loves comics and superheros (usually women) and of course captain marvel. And she engages in that, she draws and make projects and her whole room is decorated in what interests like her. I just really love people like that, both fictional and in real life. (I may be projecting but I feel like it’s giving adhd, like it’s giving hyperfixation.)

Showing the brown girl experience of idolising older white women and wishing that we could do everything they do, but still believing that we can’t because of a variety of reasons but then overcoming that and doing the things you wanna do your way anyway

Just how good kamala is. She’s so polite but still speaks her mind respectfully. She helps people all the time even when she doesn’t have to. she’s always so nice and sympathetic to everyone. And even though she can become a giant, that is her greatest strength because people always want to repay her goodness and they always want to help her back. And it’s just so heartwarming.

[dru-reads-writeblr]

What is one cool thing that you like about your WIP or have read about in someone else's WIP?

Hi 'Mous!

Since this is my "promote other Writeblrs" blog I'll answer for ones I've seen around (if you want me to answer for myself, feel free to send another ask to @druidx).

The 'utility artificers' in @ashen-crest's Rosemond St Series (it is technically a series now, right?). I'm a big sucker for 'high fantasy, but make it urban' (as opposed to urban fantasy's 'take IRL and give it magic' (though I do like that - but I digress)). Plus the whole setup she's got going on in that series is a huge itch-scratcher for me, filling the niche left by people such as A. Lee. Martinez and KE Mills.

Cyberpunk hackers, my beloved! @digital-chance's Nova Futurum looks awesome, and their main character in that is a hacker. I'm excited to see more of their work!

I'd be horribly remiss if I didn't mention @artbyeloquent's Hill To Die On. This looks at the paranormal from a distinctly Jewish POV which is utterly fascinating to me, and also Elo's writing style is just 🤌️ *mwah*!

Talking of writing style, for that and her just truly epic worldbuilding, I have to recommend @faelanvance. Both The Last Wild Place and The Whale God's Wife** will be an epic of the ages from what I've seen from the excerpts and snips. I'll take 'things I want on my shelf' for 10, Alex 😅️

And last, but not at all least, is my darling @aquadestinyswriting's The Wizard's Tale and The Trouble with Meredith. Now, with these, I'm highly biased, because the 'cool' thing about these are they're set in our highly modified version of the Fighting Fantasy World of Titan TTRPG. Also her characters are epic and I loves 'em ur honour.

...Oops. I was supposed to go off with this right? 😅️

Anyway, thanks for the question and have fun checking out some of these superb writers, 'Mous!

🫖️🌿️

(** Fae - is that the right intro post for that WIP? Please let me know if not so I can fix)

[waterparksdrama]

have you done a track by track review of Cluster? not an album technically but it is very beloved to me

sure :) i listen to it all the time so

crave - sometimes you want some good ass pop punk that stands out little and this song is the one you want. what else can i say. lyrically, the song follows geoff's perspective during a breakup he was going through at the time (and awsten would soon have himself by the time the ep was released). it uses the imagery of awsten's room because they lived on the same bunk bed together there for a while so it all makes sense on why the song is the way it is. i love the geoff solo even if you can't tell it's him on the first listen bc his and awsten's vocal tones are so similar. - 8/10

territory - i listen to this song a lot but i could not tell you what it's about for sure, specifically those first lines. from what i can gather, it's mostly about contemplating over the state of a relationship, and the obsession that comes with staying despite things going pretty stormy. musically, there's these pretty jangly guitars throughout the song, its simple parts contrasting with the rolling thunder of the drums. good ass song. i still do not know what the "filtered mood swings oh wait they're indie" lyrics are supposed to mean - 8/10

mad all the time - this is legitimately my most listened to song on spotify. it's so good and it does not help that with every year it keeps being relatable. a song about writer's block that turns into venting about awsten's life at that point. it begins with this haunting, stuttering melody of guitars accompanied by a drum pad that evolves into the wailing riffs and drums in the chorus as awsten repeats the title. it's too good of a song i have to listen to it at least 10 times to feel like i listened to it enough. - 9/10

pink - a song about being obsessed from afar over someone you've known for a long time. it's a cute little pop punk song with electronic embellishments that add the parx touch but wow this song. of course, i think we're all familiar with the "it's just that it's not fun when i find out you're playing for the other team" lyric that awsten literally refuses to explain other than say the song isn't about a lesbian. he probably shot himself in the foot with that a little, but i digress good song, we are never going to find out what he meant by that for real - 8/10

no capes - i feel like no one really notices how well pink segues into this song whether on accident or on purpose with its sparkly intro building into the verses. a song about the doubts coming with getting bigger as a band and managing expectations if things go wrong. it's one of those songs that sound happy until you actually listen to the lyrics when awsten starts pleading for someone to listen and doubt himself. it's sad but it's also fun (musically). it's one of those songs that make you sit down and go fuuuuuuuuuccccccck - 8/10

god this is a good ep. the fact that this could've been an album is its only crime but i get it, they were a newly signed band so i'm relying on awsten to leak those damn demos when he can. i like this ep in particular because of that desolate feeling the guitars will have on most of the songs on top of some of the subject matter. this is an indie album (to me). stream cluster everyday all day you won't regret it. - iz

[asoulofatlantis]

Hello and welcome! Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates. Today we start replaying my very first Final Fantasy ever. This is obviously by far not my first time playing this game, but just like with FFX last year and all the other games I have already played before and did only now make a live reaction for, I will tell you how I felt way back when when I played the game for the first time. So you will still not exactly miss out on most of my blind reactions to this game.

(I might have to add tho, that I am not in a good and I am not really feeling it today, so we might not play this game for long...)

I didn't screenshot the introduction Sequence because it was really fast and most of the stuff we will see again in the game anyway. Aside from Squall and Cifer fighting, but... what else is new? XD

*achem*

These days I honestly miss those moments where you could choose what your character says. I mean... the silent protagonist is really not so great compared to someone with an actual character and emotions (tho some games manage to give us a silent protagonist and still give him plenty of character and emotions, but I digress...) but to every now and then be allowed to just chose was my character things or says or answers is something that doesn't happen so often in games anymore and it really made you feel more... connected to your character back in the day.

Anyway... this is literally your first interaction in the game.

Oh, I am pretty sure in Germany it was written Ceifer, for some reason. But changing names to make it easier to read or to pronounce was normal back in the day. Anyway... bear with me if I keep writing the names a bit differently, as I did grew up with the German version of that game.

Back then this was so weird. I mean, we just started a game. Got some confusing intro and then get thrown into this scene without knowing anything about anything aside from our heros name and that he apparently is at odd with that misbehaving Seifer guy. And while we are still wondering were this is going this random girl shows up like this and gives us no context at all.

He has just recently woken up after receiving such a deep wound in the middle of his face and here she is, his teacher, not saying much aside from that he has to go because todays the field exam. Yes, the doctor told her that he would be fine. But still! Give to poor guy a break! (Its tough to be the Teachers favorite student, I tell you XD)

He really isn't ^^' Seriously, if you compare Squall with his father (you will meet him later) then they are totally different characters but they do share a brain cell in the weirdest way possible XD

I don't want to be on Seifers side here or anything, especially since we know he started it and all that, but he too has received a wound from Squall which will also become a scar. So... TECHNICALLY, she should have also reprimanded Squall for childishly repaying the favor. So I can kinda see while Seifer is a bit pissed off about this.

(Ich hatte total vergessen wie schrecklich die Steuerung war V.V)

With Squall you can make your dream come true and truly be a very silent protagonist XD

The game's idea of showing you around, by making Squall show someone else around is not per se a bad idea. It makes definitely more sense this way, given that he himself is not a new student in that school.

I've got spontaneously invited to an afternoon christmas event, so I have to get ready. So that will be all for today ^^' Not much I know, but you can not save whenever you want in this game, so I can not go any further without risking being late.

[verse-and-vibes]

Intro

Hey folks,

I don't know how this site works yet, so I figured I'd make an introduction to my current audience of 0 followers. (Though I'm sure that won't be the case for long, considering how quick the porn bots are to find new accounts. But I digress!)

My name is Liam Kadel, and I am a hobbyist poet/musician/etc. You can check out my WordPress page (CW: the majority of my poems on there are about mental illness) here, since that's where I'll be taking a lot of my content from at first.

I kept an anonymous blog by this same name a couple of months ago on Tumblr, but I was discouraged when I couldn't simply crosspost my stuff from WordPress without breaking that anonymity, so I had it deactivated. This morning I remembered that being anonymous isn't great for copyrighting my work (though still technically possible), so here I am for all my future employers to see. /genuine

Wonderful. /sarcasm

Anyway, please enjoy. /gen

[muppetjackrackham]

elvis (2022) / wait for me — hadestown

[asherlockstudy]

How to do perfect staging: a lesson from Italy

I mentioned at some point I might actually make a post drooling over Italy's Måneskin performance and staging. I was kinda bored to be honest and decided against it but then all those trashy rumours that try to bring the winners down seemed so disgraceful and embarrassing to me that I decided again to do it. Now, the truth is that their performance was a little better in the semi-final introduction act. Perhaps this was due to the anxiety of the Grand Final. This is why I am going to use photos and gifs from that act and perhaps this will show to some that the perfect package might need a little bit of everything, and not just slap your language on the audience's ears with the expectation that this alone is always enough. *Did I make this too personal?*

Anyway, I digress. And I don’t mean that the Grand Final performance wasn’t still the best of the night, I just mean it wasn’t at the same God Tier level as the semifinal one.

Here's why the Italians took advantage of the Dutch stage until its very last millimeter and way more cleverly than any other country.

This is the only act that starts from the back of the stage, where the singer Damiano David waits for us alone.

Even with the rest of the 25 competing countries, this intro makes you forget that you are watching a contest with 26 countries as guests. Unlike anyone else, Italy looks like the host, like this place belongs to them and the frontman waits for you to show you around and possibly drag you to the world of Måneskin. In fact, you almost forget it’s Eurovision - this now looks like a Måneskin concert or, even better, a more private space of theirs with an ominous industrial feel. One of the most impactful things now is the lighting. Take a look at it. Almost all contestants throw all the lights on themselves or on some important prop they have prepared. The Italians are the only ones who chose to just light the stage itself. The simple white lights on the black stage give the impression of depth and it is the only act which shows emphatically the size of the stage. Why this? Well, we already established that in the first seconds the viewers feel they are in a new space belonging exclusively to Måneskin - the lights make us feel that their area is vast and dark and we are about to be drawn to its depths.

Damiano indeed guides us to the front as he sings, where the rest of the band are on the top of a platform. The other members won’t come down and join Damiano until he sings the appropriate verse “Buona sera, signore e signori” (=Good evening, ladies and gentlemen) and accompany it with a theatrical flamboyant bow (that feels very Italian). That’s when, technically introduced to the audience after the official greeting, bassist Victoria de Angelis and guitarist Thomas Raggi come off the platform and join Damiano.

There’s nothing excessive about the visual effects. Only the use of white lights that give the perception of depth and in the background the big shadows of the group’s silhouettes. They are in the front and they cast their shadows in the back; they create to you a feeling of being trapped by them but do you really want to escape?

When the second verse starts, Victoria and Thomas take the paths left and right of the stage and leave Damiano alone. They take even more advantage of the stage and in a typical classic rock band way. These two play with the side cameras but the focus is more on Damiano, whose verse sounds more like a tongue-twister. Since the cameras are rightfully on Damiano, I must now address the elephant in the room. Damiano is particularly attractive. In fact, the whole band is almost mind-bogglingly attractive and they clearly take a lot of care about how exactly they are going to look but Damiano, as the frontman, does especially so. So let’s talk about the outfit. They all have essentially the same outfit, however it is cut differently for each based on the person’s looks and personality. Isn’t it fantastic?

Damiano, who oozes confidence and sex appeal, has accordingly the most “provocative” outfit of the four. His chest and arms are bare so that his many tattoos can be seen. I’ll talk about the other outfits later as they all have their place in the... uh... white lights.

During the second chorus Victoria and Thomas return at the center and after the chorus it is time for the first solo; Victoria’s. The cameras are now on her but the lighting remains modest to accentuate the dark beat of her bass.

Victoria is the only girl of the group and the most dressed of them all - how refreshing! Her outfit is more similar to Thomas but she is buttoned up in the front. How does she wish to underscore her uniqueness as the woman of the band? But of course, with long flamboyant girly sleeves that come to delicious contrast with her aggressive stomping and her wide strides. Both her hairstyle and her outfit is inspired or basically just outright 70′s classic rock look.

It’s time for the bridge of the song right after her solo and Damiano has his attention on her and also draws the viewer’s attention to her some more. This part of the song is lower and softer - in relative terms - that’s why Damiano “chooses” her to sing it to. The lights now turn red, the intensity rises but there’s light flirtatiousness between them, with many smiles to each other and the camera that turns around them as they launch at each other playfully.

Then the song gets darker, more intense, the guitar stronger than the bass and Damiano’s voice turns to a scream. For this part, he turns to his bro, guitarist Thomas and he now draws the attention to him.

He grabs Thomas by the neck in an intense, intimate way (that doesn’t mean sexual, just intimate. His interaction with Victoria wasn’t sexual either). It is clear that through different ways Måneskin want to stress how good and close their relations are and that their singer, who is apparently a show stealer by birth, wants to ensure that they all get equal amount of attention from their audience. I love this.

True enough, nobody is left behind! The last chorus starts with a drums solo and Damiano goes up to the platform to now meet and introduce to us Ethan Torchio. Ethan stands up and his giant shadow is on the now blue background: this is the moment for the - so I hear - somewhat shy drummer to shine in his own aesthetic. The Italians leave none of their assets to fall down and Ethan’s impressive hair rightfully steals the show.

Just like Victoria and Thomas look alike, so do Ethan and Damiano, that’s why their costumes are the most similar. Ethan has a vest that covers him more than Damiano but leaves his arms bare. Because whose else the arms do you need to see if not the drummer’s?

This song has something peculiar because it was not a song originally written for Eurovision; it slows down in the end and  does not end on some impressive note from the singer as usual but with the last solo we expect, that of the guitarist, because everything is fair in Måneskin! The focus has to leave Damiano, so now it’s the time for the visual effects to finally catch fire, literally,  because nobody is allowed to take their eyes off them! Måneskin use a huge amount of pyro that however feels appropriate for the intense chorus and the ending guitar solo.

Thomas steps up for his solo and I forget we are in 2021. This is the most 70s thing I would ever hope to see.

In a hell of pyro, Thomas looks like he was tranferred right from a 70s rock ‘n roll concert. His outfit would be gladly taken by Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones. The unbuttoned jacket with this boho tie, such a classic 70s fashion touch. His haircut and even his FACE are the epitome of the 70s - what an ending sequence!

But hey we reached the end and this is Eurovision, the song slows down dangerously. Like I said, the Italians forbid us to get distracted. The attention must return to Damiano ASAP. Damiano says one last line and takes the audience with him to the very end with a death drop.

There you have it. Måneskin had me holding my breath for the full three minutes and I did not want to take my eyes off my TV. There are countless shows that are awesome - in this very Eurovision as well - but I was impressed by how they seemed to have found the perfect balance for everything in every single moment. They found the perfect stage concept for the song, they relied on visual effects only when they needed them and they stressed every twist and turn of their sound with a perfectly fitting move or interaction. They also all effortlessly could hold your attention and they made sure that they all would, with members often helping bring out other members. This performance was beautiful and, above all, clever which is why it was undoubtedly the worthiest of the win.  

[caffeinatedfantasy]

Mammon is the main love interest not Lucifer, Mammon is the “default” character the game uses and the guy who cares for you 24/7, Lucifer is hardly romanceable with his intimacy taking forever to level up and being so focused on Diavolo, but he is the one who moved the plot forward and if you want a good story you need a character that moves it forward (e.g all stories in Lovestruck)

Alright, so. I’m gonna start this by saying: I’m not coming at this from a “best boy” or “who MC is supposed to end up with” or “who’s canon” or anything like that. There’s nothing wrong with whoever is anyone’s favourite, either. 

This purely my opinion of the roles from a development standpoint. And I’d like to note that I believe that the Beta changed some things, though I can’t be certain what. I also don’t know how the Japanese version of the game differs [I can’t find it and don’t know if it differs at all.]

Also. This contains spoilers.

Moving on. The question is: Is Lucifer meant to be the Main Love Interest? 

Short answer: It’s… Complicated, since I personally don’t believe the “romance options” have officially been released, but if this had been written with only one romance option, it’d be him. 

From a narrative point of view, Lucifer is the most important brother. I don’t think that’s up for debate. 

He’s the reason everyone fell, the reason they’re all bound to Diavolo, he’s the one who locked Belphegor away, he’s the one credited for choosing you for the program, and he’s the one “in charge” of you [Mammon is your guardian, but that choice was Lucifer’s, not Mammon or Diavolo’s]. It’s his trust you’re breaking, his respect you’re trying to get. 

The narrative focuses on him more than anyone else. And this isn’t technically his “route” yet either. [If they do specific routes, that is. We’re on wait and see for that.]

But, as you say, Mammon is the one with you all the time, so why isn’t he the “Main” Love Interest? 

Well, because his narrative role in the story is often more of the clown or, in general, a humorous one. He is actively shown to have a crush on you, and is greedy for affection/attention from you, but his potential romance scenes never quite hit in the way they should if he was meant to be the main. 

When Levi goes to attack you, its not Mammon who saves you. It’s not even whoever you call for. It’s specifically Lucifer swooping in because Mammon couldn’t. 

When you go to the retreat, it’s Lucifer who swoops in to steal you for a dance when Mammon is [rather obviously] trying to ask you. 

He does this again in the hard lessons while in London. 

Lucifer is the one to turn Mammon’s idea of matching keychains between you and him into a group thing. [And it’s mentioned later on only for Lucifer.] 

There might be more examples, but I’m going off of what I remember. And from a narrative perspective, Mammon’s attempts at romance lean towards silly, light hearted, etc. If this were a traditional love story, he’d be meant to be the awkward loser with a crush. Used as a foil to show you how cool the real love interest is.

From a Marketing Perspective, which is what I was referring to with typical Otome game pushing their “Main”, it’s a little foggier, and it makes me think that Mammon and the other brothers “tested” better than expected. 

In nearly all marketing material that include all of the brothers, he is at the fore. He’s either first if it’s a list, or in the center if it’s a spread. 

His CGs tend to be featured the most often in the ads, and even the anime intro focused on him more than any other brother, more similar to if he were the protagonist.

[”But Samie!” You say, “he’s the oldest, so of course he is often first/featured!” Well, sure, but that was a narrative choice, as traditional demonology does not have them consistently aged/ranked like the game. Hell, Lucifer isn’t even universally grouped with these specific demons. Only the Laterne of Light and Binsfield’s [the “seven sins model”] classifications even include Lucifer.  But I digress…]

Also of note, in otome game marketing, in terms of how the Shall We Date? Games tend to market/focus on their characters, I’ll look at all of NTT Solmare’s Ninja series’s. [Ninja Love, Ninja Shadow, Ninja Assassin], They tend to have a formula for their “mains”, which is noticeable, but changes as they add more options. The Official Leader of the group is rarely the emotional leader of the group, who is almost always the “main” romance option. Which. Diavolo, as a currently unromanceable character who is literally the next in line to the throne, fills that role. [Hanzo, Makoto, Kinshiro]. 

Lucifer is second in command to Diavolo, though, which is actually notoriously their favourite spot for the “main romance”. [Saizo, Ukyo, Soji.] Mammon falls in third “role”, which in all of these examples, is the more flirty/cool character [Goemon, Asagi, Aoi]. 

I’ve written more than I intended, so I’m now all kind of rambled out, even tho I could probably go more in depth with the thought process behind the marketing and why I believe that they altered plans when Lucifer wasn’t as popular as expected. [Mammon definitely stole the show in the beta.]

And once again, since this is an otome game, there’s no correct answer to who you’re supposed to romance, so they can only clearly cut off a romance option in a specific route. Which, we haven’t reached their romance routes yet, so I might be proven wrong.

Also, alternatively, my view of Lucifer as the “Main” love interest could be because he was originally planned to be the “main” antagonist instead. It’s hard to say for sure.

I also didn’t proofread this or anything, so. Sorry if it’s only marginally coherent. 

EDIT: I forgot to address the Lovestruck comment of this. Voltage tends to have different practices than the Shall we Date? Series. Both with their Lovestruck, the Love 365, and their Party stories. Ayakashi would be the closest [of theirs] in design, but I could write a whole thing on how those vary.

[death-burst]

Voting systems Masterpost

First thing first: There is no perfect voting system, but there are clearly bad systems. The one we’re currently using among them.

You’ll see nerds like me fight endless battles about what’s the best voting system, but keep in mind, nerds like me enjoy endless debates, it’s all good fun. So don’t get fooled by all the battles: pretty much ANY system is better than the one we have now. If you have the opportunity to support an alternative voting system, even if it’s not your favorite, you’re most likely better off supporting it than fighting against it.

And among the top 4 or 5 best methods, the final choice should probably be more about logistics, social acceptance, etc. than about mathematics, and this is a discussion that should NOT be left to nerds like me.

That’s what this series of posts will attempt: give y’all the basics to have this discussion yourself. To push for change in your local elections, in your non-profit organizations, etc.

Below the cut, the list of articles:

Intro -- What is a voting system A few basic notions to set up the context and explain the problem.

What makes a good system? -- Simple yet expressive Real voting systems must find a trade-off between expressiveness and complexity. This post discusses various alternatives.

Gibbard’s Theorem or “Strategic voters will doom us all” Introduce the notion of Strategic Vote and explain why voting systems are inherently a complicated topic.

What makes a good system? -- Resistant to Strategy After Gibbard’s Theorem showing there is no perfect system, a discussion on what’s still possible nevertheless. Starts with some technical explanations on how to measure the impact of strategy, and continues with the results for some possible systems.

Voting Systems -- Conclusion Summary of the main take-away points.

Voting Systems -- Annexes Sources, notes, ---and potential future topics: have a look and let me know if you’re interested. (Yes, this is just a trick to get you to look at a boring bibliography :p)

[Bonus] Arrow’s Impossibility Theorem: The Curse of Voting Systems This is one of the most famous theorems and I wanted to use it as a starting point, but in the end, it’s not necessary to follow the rest of the discussion, and it’s an over-hyped result, so I cut it out. Except the post was already written, so might as well publish it for those who are interested in digressions...

[mr-meekers]

Crescent City by Sarah J. Maas

This review will be spoiler free and safe to read before you buy the book. A more in depth review will be posted on March 4th, the day after the book is released.

Final Rating: 7.5/10

I actually had a really hard time coming up with a rating for this book. I’m stuck between a 7.5 and an 8. This is a good book, but I think I wanted it to be better sooner. To clarify, this book is long. Like, almost 800 pages. And I really only fell in love with it in the last 150ish pages. But those pages were so good, it kinda made up for a slow start. So, for now, 7.5 it is.

The story begins with you being introduced to the main character, Bryce, and her best friend, Danika. We spend the first several chapters world building and exploring the environment, culture, customs, and various denizens of Crescent City. The first few chapters were.... hard, for me, personally. The chapters read like someone had finally taken the muzzle off of SJM and she just puked out all these “adult” references she’d been holding back on over the years. Bryce and Danika are party girls. Drug and alcohol references are made almost immediately, and “fuck” is the standout vocabulary word for this book. Which is fine, of course, but it felt so in your face that it almost came across as trying too hard. Eventually, as you continue to read, you get used to the language and lifestyles of the various characters, but still.

The main motivator in this book a gruesome murder, which is connected deeply to Bryce. The trauma she endures the night of the crime is immense, and the fallout we learn about as the rest of the book unfolds is almost as bad. As I learned more about what Bryce went through and where her head was at, I started to understand her more and her decision making at least made sense, even when I didn’t agree with it. However, it took a long time for me to see her in that light. Like many of SJM’s leading ladies, Bryce is a strong, independent woman with a sharp tongue and a quick wit. She keeps everyone at arms length and you have to break through her barriers to see her soft, mushy, lovable inside. Admittedly, I like this character. It’s a common one, but still enjoyable to read about none the less. My only issue with Bryce is that the process of unraveling all of her trauma and allowing her to grow took so long- not in world, but for me, as the reader. Hunt, her love interest and the other main character of this story, also points out one of my personal pet peeve’s about Bryce right to her face- she has a giant chip on her shoulder when it comes to men (”males” in this world, since these beings are neither human nor mortal). Any attempt from a non-female person to control any aspect of her life, from suggesting she eat or go to bed or see a doctor, etc, is considered in Bryce’s view to be “aggressive and possessive”, and yes, she even has her own made up label for the type, called an “Alpha-hole”. And Alpha male who is an asshole. Alpha-hole. 

Side note: made up swear words are also a huge pet peeve of mine, but I digress.

The saving grace of these issues I have with Bryce’s story is that, in the end, they are resolved. All of them, for the most part. I am 1000% happy with how everything turned out in the end. I want to talk about it so badly, but I will save that for the full review later. I devoured the last part of this book. I was sobbing, cheering, grinning from ear to ear, and am now eagerly awaiting book two when book one isn’t even technically out yet.

However, getting to that point took, like, 500 more pages of reading.

Don’t get me wrong! I was intrigued, for the most part, by the mystery the main cast was trying to solve. As new elements were added here and there, I kept finding myself strung along just a little bit further. But when I stop to think about it, I find myself wondering: was I truly enjoying the story, or was I just so happy to have new SJM content that I didn’t mind reading through the admittedly sometimes boring middle stuff because it’s Sarah J. Maas. All I really know is that I didn’t love it like I wanted to, but I think I did like it. I at least liked it enough to keep going, and I am certainly not the type of person who can keep reading a book I have no interest in. 

In the end, I think I’d have to consider book one of the House of Earth and Blood series to be more of an intro to the world and characters than anything. It sets out a well-thought out foundation for what will most definitely be an epic series. Now that all the players are on the board, I’m chomping at the bit to see what they’ll do next. I’m also going to need some epic fan art of these characters because, as is in every SJM literary world, everyone is smokin’ hot and deserves to have their portraits created.

On one late parting note, I’d like to give credit where credit is due. In her previous series, I know some of the biggest criticisms was a lack of diversity, both in coloring and in sexuality/gender identity. I don’t know if it was her publishers her held her back on that front, or if she’s just grown as a person, but SJM had been freed from those restraints and has taken full advantage. Yes, there are black characters. And brown ones. And white ones. We have at least one canonically gay character, and lovely lady couple, and likely more on the way given the tone the book takes in regards to sex. I look forward to seeing how this progresses even further in the following books.

Thanks for reading this review! Be on the lookout for my full, full one later on in March, and don’t forget to get your copy from your local bookstore March 3rd! :) 

[gaming-rabbot]

Salmon Run and Presentation

A (not so) brief dissertation on narrative framing in video games, featuring Splatoon 2

With the holidays in full swing, I took advantage of a deal one day when I went into town, and finally got my hands on Splatoon 2. Having loved the prior game as much as I did, waiting this long to get the sequel felt almost wrong. But like many another fellow meandering corpus of conscious flesh, I am made neither of time nor money.

Finally diving in, I figured I might take this excuse to remember that I write game reviews, sometimes. You know, when the tide is high, the moon blue, and the writer slightly less depressed. I ended up scrapping my first couple drafts, however. You see, a funny thing was happening; I kept veering back into talking about Salmon Run, the new optional game mode the sequel introduces.

Also I might look at the Octo Expansion later, on its own. After I get around to it…

Look, the base game already has a lot of content to explore, and as previously stated, I am sadly corporeal, and not strung together with the metaphysical concept of time itself.

My overall thoughts, however, proved brief, so I’ll try to keep this short.

(Mild spoilers coming along.)

Gameplay wise, I think the story mode is much improved upon by handing you different weapons for certain levels which were specifically built with them in mind. Whereas the prior game left you stuck with a variant of the starter splattershot all the way through. This keeps things interesting, pushes me outside of my comfort zone, and it’s a good way to make sure players will come from a well-informed place when deciding what weapon they want for multiplayer; which, let’s face it, is the real meat of these games and where most players are going to log the most time.

I also love the way bosses are introduced with the heavy drums and rhythmic chants and the dramatic light show. It endows the moment with a fantastic sense of gravitas, and manages to hype me up every time. Then the boss will have an aspect of their design which feels a bit silly or some how rather off, keeping the overall tone heavily grounded in the toony aesthetics the series already established for itself.

Narratively, I felt rather okay about the story aspect of Story Mode. The collectible pages in the levels still have a certain amount of world building, though this time it seems more skewed toward explaining what pop culture looks like in this world, such as, an allusion to this world’s equivalent to Instagram.

Cynical as it is…

That’s definitely still interesting in its own right, though perhaps it’s less of a revelatory gut-punch as slowly piecing it together that the game takes place in the post-apocalypse of Earth itself, and the inklings copied ancient human culture.

We still got some backstory for this game’s idol duo, though. And that, I appreciate. It means Pearl and Marina still feel like a part of this world, rather than seeming obligatory for the sake of familiarity, given the first game had an idol duo as well.

Meanwhile, perhaps it is a bit obvious that Marie’s cousin, Callie, has gone rogue, and that she is the mysterious entity cracking into the radio transmissions between her and Agent 4. If I recall correctly, that was a working theory that came about with the first trailer or two. That, or she had died.

As soon as Marie says aloud she wonders where Callie has gone, I knew right away. And that’s just in the introduction.

That said, on some level, after stomaching through certain other games and such that actively lie or withhold information to force an arbitrary plot twist for plot twist sake, it feels almost nice to go back to a narrative that actually bothers to foreshadow these things. Plus, having gotten already invested in Callie as a character from the first game, I still felt motivated to see the story through to find out why she went rogue. And, loving the Squid Sisters already, there was a hope in me that she could be redeemed, or at least understood. In terms of building off the prior game’s story, Splatoon 2 is moderately decent.

Also, I mean, c’mon. The big narrative drive might be a tad predictable, but hey, this game is for kids. It’s fine.

That, I think, is something I love the most about Splatoon. Despite feeling like you’re playing in a Saturday morning cartoon, and being aimed primarily at children, it doesn’t shy away from fairly heavy subjects. Such as the aforementioned fact that the humans are all long dead and you’re basically playing paintball in the ruins of their consumerist culture.

Which brings me to what fascinates me so much about Splatoon 2: the way in which Salmon Run is framed.

You see, on the surface, Salmon Run appears to be your typical horde mode; a cooperative team (typically comprised of randoms) fights off gaggles of foes as they take turns approaching their base in waves. Pretty standard for online shooters these days, as was modernly popularized by Gears of War 2, and Halo ODST.

I say “modernly,” as the notion of fighting enemies as they approach in waves is not exactly a new concept for mechanical goals within video games. Rather, the term itself, as applied to multiplayer shooters, “horde mode,” became a point of game discussion when Gears of War 2 introduced the new game mode by that same name back in… 2008?

No, no that can’t be right. I played Gears 2 back in high school (I had worse taste back then, okay?). Which, from my perspective, was basically yesterday. That game being ten years old would mean I myself am old now, and that just can’t be. I’m hip. I’m young.

I am, to stay on theme here, fresh.

But okay, existential crises and game talk terms aside, the writing team behind Splatoon 2 probably decided to absolutely flex when it came to the narrative surrounding Salmon Run. It is one of the most gleaming examples of the nontraditional things you can do with writing in video games, to really elevate the experience.

Let me explain.

You see, narrative in video games typically falls into one of two categories: either the story sits comfortably inside of the game, utilizing it like a vehicle to arrive at the destination that is its audience’s waiting eyes and ears. Or the narrative, on some level, exists rather nebulously, primarily to provide something resembling context for why the pixels look the way they do, and why the goals are what they are.

Not to say this is a binary state of existence for game writing; narrative will of course always provide context for characters, should there be any. It’s primarily older, or retro games that give you a pamphlet or brief intro with little in the way of worrying over character motivation, and the deeper philosophical implications of the plot, etc (though not for lack of trying). These would be your classic Mario Bros. and what have you, where the actual game part of the video game is nearly all there is to explore in the overall experience.

Then you have games like Hotline Miami that purposely sets up shop right in the middle to make a meta commentary about the state of game narrative, using the ideological endpoint of violent 80’s era action and revenge-fantasy genre film as inspiration and the starting point to draw comparison between the two. It’s bizarre, and I could drone on about this topic.

But I digress.

Despite falling into that latter category, that is to say having mainly just an introduction to the narrative context so you can get on with playing the game, Salmon Run is a stellar example of how you can make every bit of that context count (even if it does require the added context of the rest of the game, sort of, which I’ll explain, trust me).

First, a (very) brief explanation of how the game itself works, for the maybe three of you who haven’t played it yet.

A team of up to four inklings (and/or octolings) have a small island out in open waters. Salmonid enemies storm the beaches from various angles in waves. Each wave also comes with (at least) one of eight unique boss variants, who all drop three golden eggs upon defeat. Players are tasked with gathering a number of said golden eggs each round, for three rounds, after which their failure or success in doing so shows slow or fast progress towards in-game rewards.

And it’s all an allegory for the poor treatment of labor/workers, utilizing the fishing industry as both an example and a thematically appropriate analogue. Yes, I’m serious.

First, Salmon Run is not available through the main doors like the other multiplayer modes. Rather, it is off to the side, down a dingy looking alley. And when you’re shown its location, either because you finally entered the Inkopolis plaza for the first time, or because the mode has entered rotation again, Marina very expressly describes it as a job.

A job you should only do if you are absolutely, desperately hard strapped for cash. You know, the sort of job you turn to if, for one reason or another, you can’t find a better one.

An aside: technically, playing Salmon Run does not automatically net you in-game currency, with which to buy things, as regular multiplayer modes do. Rather, your “pay” is a gauge you fill by playing, which comes with reward drops at certain thresholds; some randomized gacha style capsules, and one specific piece of gear which gets advertised, to incentivize playing.

The capsules themselves drop actual paychecks in the form of aforementioned currency, or meal tickets to get temporary buffs that help you progress in the multiplayer faster via one way or another. Which, hey, you know, that helps you earn more money also. Working to get “paid,” so you can get things you want, though, still works perfectly for the metaphor it creates.

When I first saw it open up for rotation, I found out you had to be at least a level four to participate. Pretty par for the course, considering it’s the same deal with the gear shops. But, again, it’s all in the presentation; Mr. Grizz does not simply say something akin to the usual “you must be this tall to ride.” He says he cannot hire inexperienced inklings such as yourself, because it’s a legal liability.

After returning with three extra levels, I was handed off to basic, on-the-job training. Which is only offered after Mr. Grizz (not ever physically present, mind you, but communicating with you via radio), the head of Grizzco, uses fairly typical hard sell rhetoric when it comes to dangerous, or otherwise undesirable work: calls you kid, talks about shaping the future and making the world a better place, refers to new hires as “fresh young talent,” says you’ll be “a part of something bigger than yourself.” You know, the usual balancing act of flattery, with just the right amount of belittlement.

Whoa, hang on, sorry; just had a bad case of deja vu from when the recruiter that worked with the ROTC back in high school tried to get me to enlist… several times… Guess he saw the hippie glasses and long hair and figured I'd be a gratifying challenge.

The fisher imagery really kicks in when you play. Which, I figure a dev team working out of Japan might have a pretty decent frame of reference for that. A boat whisks you out to sea with your team, and everyone’s given a matching uniform involving a bright orange jumper, and rubber boots and gloves. If you've ever seen the viral video of the fisherman up to his waist in water telling you not to give up, you have a rough idea. Oh, and don't forget your official Grizzco trademark hats.

It’s on the job itself where a lot of what I'm talking about comes up the most; that is to say, despite buttering you up initially, Mr. Grizz shows his true colors pretty quickly. While playing, he seems to only be concerned with egg collecting, even when his employees are actively hurting. This is established and compounded by his dialogue prior to the intermediate training level, in which informs you about the various boss fish.

Before you can do anything remotely risky, even boss salmonid training, Mr. Grizz tells you he has to go over this 338 page workplace health and safety manual with you. But, oops, the new hire boat sounds the horn as you flip to page 1, so he sends you off unprepared. “Let’s just say you’ve read it,” he tells you, insisting that learning by doing is best.

This flagrant disregard employee safety, in the name of met quotas; the fact we never see Mr. Grizz face to face, making him this vague presence that presides over you, evaluating your stressed performance with condescension; that we are not simply given the rewards as we pass thresholds to earn them, having to instead speak with another, unknown npc for our pay… It all drives toward the point so well.

The icing on the cake for me is when a match ends. You, the player, are not asked if you’d like to go back into matchmaking for another fun round of playtime. Rather, you are asked if you would like to “work another shift.”

The pieces all fit so well together. I shouldn’t be surprised that, once a theme is chosen, Splatoon can stick to it like my hand to rubber cement that one time. It has already proven it can do that much for sure. But it’s just so… funny? It’s bitterly, cynically hilarious.

Bless the individual(s) who sat in front of their keyboard, staring at the early script drafts, and asked aloud if they were really about to turn Mr. Grizz into a projection of all the worst aspects of the awful bosses they’ve had to deal with in life. The answer to that question being “yes” has led to some of my favorite writing in a video game.

All of these thoughts, as they started forming in my skull, really began to bubble when I noticed Salmon Run shifts become available during my first Splatfest.

Splatfest is, to try and put it in realistic terms, basically a huge, celebratory sporting event. Participation nets you a free commemorative t-shirt and access to a pumping concert featuring some of the hottest artists currently gracing the Inkopolis charts.

The idea, the notion, that a hip young inkling (or octoling) might miss out on one of the biggest parties of the year because they need money more than they need fun? It’s downright depressing.

It got me thinking. I looked at my fellow egg collectors. In-universe, we were a bunch of teen-to-young-adult aged denizens missing out on all the fun because we desperately needed the cash. We became stressed together, overworked together, yelled at by our boss together. But in those sweetest victories, where we’d far surpassed our quota? We celebrated together.

Spam-crouching, and mashing the taunt, something changed. I felt a greater sense of comradery with these squids and octos than I did in nearly any other coop game. And it’s all thanks to the rhetorical framing of the game mode.

It accomplishes so many things. It’s world building which wholistically immerses you in the setting. But mainly, its dedication to highly specific word choice does exactly what I mentioned earlier: it elevates the experience to one I could really sit down and think about, rather than use to while away the hours, then move on to something else. So many games make horde modes that feel inconsequential like that; it’s just for fun.

There’s nothing wrong with fun being the only mission statement for a game, or an optional mode of play. But this is exactly what I mean when I say this is the nontraditional writing games can do so much more with. And Splatoon 2 saw that opportunity, and took it. And what a fantastic example of bittersweet, cold reality, in this, a bright, colorful game meant mainly for children…

Happy Holidays, everyone!

[liz-and-the-blue-bird]

First Video Review

Am I allowed to do this for such a minor thing? Whatever, I’m gonna do it. If you somehow missed my spam (apologies, btw), here’s the video. 

I’m gonna run down the feedback I received and also a lot of thoughts of my own. 

Recommended soundtrack

So, btw, Youtube Analytics is like way more detailed than I expected. I guess this is what happens when your parent company is a massive search engine that makes money on incredibly specific targeted ads. 

I digress. 

It’s been about 24 hrs since I published the video, and it’s gotten about as many views as I’d expected (which is to say, less than fifty). Here’s the breakdown: 

33 views with 120 minutes of total watch time (audience retention of ~45%). 2 comments, both positive (thanks guys!).  Pretty much all my views came from discord, where I shared the video and asked for feedback.  All the discord views are complete watch throughs, other sources are a mixed bag, most people dropped after around 2 minutes. 

With that in mind, this video is basically unlisted on youtube, given that no one has seen it, nor will it be recommended often. 

That’s fine, I don’t really mind. I think the video deserves around maybe 100 views. Max. Seriously. 

Let’s start with feedback: 

1) Audio balance is the worst 

Yea sorry about that. I’ll be honest, when I recorded then put the music, I thought it was fine, but now that I watch it, yea the music is a bit too loud at points, and the ed cut in was way louder than my talking volume, it’s a bit of a mess.  I suspect it’s because when I’m just listening to audio, I close my eyes and focus, but on a video, I’m watching a thing so the audio gets messed up more in my head, so the parts that need to stick out need to be more emphasized. I’ll get it sorted for the next time. 

2) Text on screen is weird 

There’s a few pieces to this. First of all, the transition is just really bad. The slides in particular. @shinbec made a great point about how dated they feel. I’ll defend myself, I chose the slide transition because I thought it provide a specific energy to the video. It does, but he’s right, they feel like they’re made in powerpoint. The fade ins are less problematic, but they do lack variety. Moving forward, I’ll probably have to come up with some more interesting transitions. Especially between scenes. 

Secondly, the use of the text in general. @chuuni-p made a good point saying that the text at the beginning with the direct quotes felt weird. Yea, it kind of does. I suspect it’s a combination of the poor transition and the strange phrasing (saying “quote” “end quote” very much cuts into your mental flow of the paragraph). But he did like the quotes near the end where I didn’t directly quote. I’m a bit torn on this. I like the direct quotes and then the text because it adds a sense of proof. Like, here it is! I’m not lying! kind of thing. If that makes sense. But the transition fails to emphasize that. This is all just something I should keep in mind for future text on videos. I don’t think this is something that is going to go away, it has to get better. 

3) My voice is nice 

Hey, thanks. I like my voice, I’m glad other people like it too. 

Now then, on to my own personal criticisms. 

The video now feels far too long to me. You may recall my surprise at my recording being 8 minutes and 30 seconds long. But it makes sense. I wrote about 1300 words, and I speak at about 175 wpm (this is above average). Of course it was gonna be 8 minutes long. It would be great if it needed to be 8 minutes long. 

But it doesn’t need to be. 

The video meanders, I think. When I wrote the script, I set out to post an interesting video about how Project No Chikara actually ended up revitalizing anime, even though its shows failed, with an interesting minor point on how the theme of the first show (So Ra No Wo To) actually lines up fittingly with that premise. Yet, due to the structure of the essay, it ends up being something else.

Here’s the structure of the video: 

Intro (what is anime no chikara?)  Body 1 (What So Ra No Wo To does well)  Body 2 (What So Ra No Wo To does poorly)  Conclusion (How did Anime no Chikara end?) 

Just looking at this, you might see the issue. If you look at the topics of each paragraph, they don’t line up together. The Intro and the Conclusion are related, and the two body paragraphs are, but they aren’t technically related to each other. 

And that’s the rub. 

Essentially what I did was write a So Ra No Wo To review (6/10 btw) and then forced a structure into the intro and conclusion so that I didn’t have to title the video “So Ra No Wo To Review.” I don’t think that’s a very good strategy, and it lacks a sense of cohesion. Like seriously, you could rip out the middle two paragraphs (starting at around 1:00 and ending at about 6:50) and put the “thanks for watching” at the end of Amazing Grace and it would be cohesive. I could call that video “So Ra No Wo To, A Review on Moving Forward” and I think it would be a decent generic anime video. 

I talked with another friend about this the other day. I think I could rip Body 2 out entirely, and restructure Body 1 to be more about Anime no Chikara and the integration with So Ra No Wo To. It would require more research and less “oh btw the show did x” but it would be a more flowing and exciting viewing experience. At least I think so. 

My favorite book on writing, On Writing Well, has multiple chapters dedicated to ruthless cutting. The author mentions his distaste for adverbs because they rarely add to a description, unless you are using poor adjectives. He talks about how when he was a teacher, he’d tell his students to make their 10 page articles into 5 pagers, and once they’ve finished, ask them to make it a 4 pager. 

If you’ve paid attention to The Nerdwriter, you may know that he used to make a video every single week. To be frank, that’s an ungodly amount of production for a single man making tightly edited videos. But it speaks volumes that when he slowed production down from 4/month to 2/month in order to “focus more on each video,” his videos remained short—they did not grow longer. 

You might read all this and think I’m being kind of hard on myself for my first video. I got quite a lot of compliments, lots of people excited for where my channel is headed. (spoilers, it’s headed straight into a million kyoani videos.) 

Maybe I am hard on myself. But if you consider video essays a form of art, and I certainly do, then I should learn to color in the lines. 

[starfirebird]

It has been nearly 3 years since I discovered that Lestat: the Musical existed, looked it up on Youtube, and decided to watch the video of the San Francisco version first because it was longer. Even though I have a pdf of the Broadway sheet music, I’ve only referenced it for specific songs and just now finally got around to watching the whole video of the Broadway version. I’m kinda glad because now it’s ‘new’ stuff for me, but also, I tend to have Opinions to release, so my play by-play reactions are beneath the cut (yes, this is just how I am about musicals, but I usually don’t have the opportunity to write immediate responses)

-Wow the intro lyrics are way more dramatic

-Why did they change ‘In Paris’ like that? SF version was more book-accurate

-So /that’s/ how the lullaby song is supposed to sound (I had looked at the sheet music for it)

-There are some slight changes that explain why the sheet music doesn’t mesh with how I learned the songs by listening-like the added stuff at the end of ‘The Thirst’

-The Nikki and Gabrielle dialogue?

-What is this extra song before ‘Make Me as You Are’ (and why did I never notice it scrolling through the sheet music)? This version really goes for the Nikki/Lestat angst apparently and I love it

-Did they cut twenty minutes just by making everyone talk faster? Otherwise what is left out later?

-The transition into the slower part of ‘Make me’...why is it like that?

-Scene transitions were revised to less clearly resemble melodies, mostly by changing rhythms, and it feels weird but only bc I’m used to the other version

-They cut the kidnapping? /Why/? That was literally like one line of dialogue...

-Ugh who thought the choral echo in ‘To Live Like This’ was a good idea? It was not. 

-Oooh more slightly different lyrics

-Oh they added in the line about Allesandra!

-Oh /now/ we have the kidnapping-oh, huh. Huh.

-There’s so much more intro to the theatre scene now

-Oh wait they changed this /completely/ I liked the overly cheerful ‘hacking and stabbing’ what the fuck is this metaphor stuff where is the simplified backstory

-Why...have they changed the plot just enough to be deeply annoying IT WAS FINE THE FIRST TIME YOU GOT IT (mostly) RIGHT THE FIRST TIME

-Okay at least the mixture of gayness and hatred is there

-Nikki goes with them?!?

-It was a “quest to cure Nicolas”?!?

-Literally WHY is Nikki the reason Gabrielle leaves in this one? No one asked for this! You got it right the first time who rewrote this show!?

-At least the ‘Crimson Kiss’ is the same…(but I knew that bc it was one I actually sang from the sheet music in voice lessons two years ago and it was the same as the SF version)

-Reprise of the previous new song-well scrambling the plot does give you some more Nikki/Lestat angst, so I suppose it’s not all bad...I mean it’s bad but...in a good way y’know

-No WHY? That is so OOC and also just why, and also why was there a fire there without the whole coven sabbat explanation implied, like, the plot scrambling makes NO SENSE

-And Marius is still bald (sigh)

-The percussion parts in ‘Welcome to the New World’ are quite nice and hearing the different version just feels refreshing. Overall, the song is more cheerful and less problematic, I think I like it alright

-Nice, same music for Louis’ turning

-I have /seen/ The Magic Flute and I still have no idea what part of it that quote is from, but glad to see it kept

-They literally just accelerated the tempo again on ‘Embrace It’ like, this is allowed to be slow and angsty was the director just really pushing for a shorter runtime or were they trying to make the show more upbeat and like, not well?

-‘I Want More’ seems the same, since it was up-tempo already- oh wait, more added drums. (I learned this one as a possible solo in high school, too-although it can technically be spun as a small group for Thespians, as I once had the misfortune to witness (the Claudia was decent, the Louis and Lestat were utterly unenthusiastic, anyhow, I digress))

-Ah the Dracula scene, lol, anyway the second act seems to have survived more intact than the first

-‘I’ll Never Have That Chance” was unchanged, too, but this video is definitely better quality-not bad for a camera 12 years ago

-I just realized they made an entire musical about vampires with no fake blood and I bet every single person working on that show was very happy about that because fake blood is a NUISANCE

-Yep, ‘Sail Me Away’ is the same, I will hesitantly posit that the second act was untouched (Also this is probably the one I can sing best these days)…oooh, but the ending /is/ up instead of down

-The dialogue is a bit switched around, but not much

-It’s in both shows, but ironically the only reason “Until you have been forced to live forever in the body of a child” makes proper sense as a line is because they! refuse! to! portray! Armand! properly! (since musical! Claudia is turned at 10) (although honestly I like the casting of musical! Armand and I think the actor could’ve been made up to look somewhat younger if the show hadn’t decided to go with the movie aesthetic) (OK obligatory rant over)

-“’To Kill Your Kind’ creepy and tragic as ever, no apparent changes

-Did they cut the ‘Embrace It’ reprise?

-Finally lost my vague dislike listening to ‘After All this Time’ that I developed after practicing it to death a couple years ago (it became my go-to performance piece for a bit. I wound up singing it during karaoke at a cousin’s wedding, and at the orientation week talent show my first year at college. It’s kinda sad but I’ve not touched it for long enough that I can like listening to it again) Okay, where were we…

-New angsty dialogue…I feel fandom pain

-Added the ‘Sail Me Away’ reprise

-Huh the ending is very different but I kinda guessed since they cut the origin story song

-The ending is a ‘Crimson Kiss’ reprise before going into “From the Dead’? Okay

-Noooo they got rid of all the closuuure, you can’t get rid of the closure that’s mean! No! Come on I thought you were just getting rid of Akasha! That thing with Gabrielle and Marius was not enough to dissolve the angst!

 Anyway, hope you enjoyed my commentary. Also here Are links to the recordings:

Broadway:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQOsZsCTmxs

San Francisco:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCv7D56O_w0