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Hey look! It’s us again!

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BTW, this is out there.

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The Banner Saga 2 - It's a Map

If enough people watch these, I’ll upload more than once a week.

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So uh, Mara and I did a thing.

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The last I’m gonna do of these for awhile.

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I’m not done talking about things yet!

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I’ve been working on my new site a lot! Some of the links and stuff still don’t work and/or aren’t complete, but I’m pretty happy with things so far.

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Emily’s Year in Review: Books

I was doing super well on reading a shit ton. Then I went to grad school. Anyway, here’s what I read this year.

Legion Skin Deep by Brandon Sanderson: the sequel to one of his phenomenal short stories. Stephen Leeds uses his hallucinations to his advantage to obtain a corpse. Great read. Sanderson should do more sci fi.

Women and Gaming: Interesting essay on how women use gaming to their advantage creatively. Though it reads like someone didn’t have the required word count for their masters thesis.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2: I know superhero movies are big and what not, but damn they do not do justice to the oddity that is comic books. Seriously.

Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch: Second book in the series, arguably the weakest so far, but I really loved it. I mean you can’t go wrong with pirates. And you definately can’t go wrong with single mother pirate captains.

Batman: the Killing Joke: Another thing we can blame isaac for. Finally read it. Just phenomenal.

Arcanum Unbound by Brandon Sanderson: In case all his randomly released short stories weren’t enough for you, here’s a compendium of them. Many never seen before! (I don’t have a problem, I swear.)

Captain Marvel #1: the Carol Danvers version, cause she goes to space. And you all know how I feel about space.

the Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch: Third book in the series and if the first one hadn’t been so great I’d say this one was the best. Let’s be real though, I just adore this entire series. Please Scott Lynch, give us more.

The Search for Wondla by Tony Diterlizzi: I’d actually read this before but needed to reread it so I could finish the series. I’m just a bit too old to have been his target audience when he wrote the Spiderwick Chronicles, but fortunately I have a younger brother. Dude knows how to write children’s literature.

Snapshot by Brandon Sanderson: This one apparently got optioned for movie rights before it ever came out. Fingers crossed something comes of that cause damn. Have I mentioned that Sanderson needs to write more sci fi?

Lock In by John Scalzi: when a strange pandemic leaves a significant portion of the populace trapped, totally conscious, but in bodies that can’t move, a whole new economic system forms...with lots of complications.

A Hero for Wondla by Tony Diterlizzi: Second book in the trilogy, this is where things get serious.

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami: Dude will never fail to amaze me in his weirdness. That being said, I felt absolutely tranquil whenever I opened this one up. Can’t even explain it, but then again, you can’t really explain Murakami’s woks to begin with so never mind.

The Battle for Wondla by Tony Diterlizzi: The final book in the trilogy. Did I mention this books also include amazing drawings with a good chunk of the chapters? By Diterlizzi. Dude’s hogging all the talent.

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood: had to reread in order to watch the new hulu series, which you all should go watch right this instance. Happy to say it holds damn true to the book.

Before the Devil Breaks You by Libba Bray: Shit’s getting good in 1920s new york. Have I ranted to you personally about how wonderfully diverse the cast of characters is? If not, please remind me next tome we see each other, cause it’s great and sooooo needed.

Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson: the big one. Third book in the Stormlight Archives. more than 1200 pages long, in which Melissa and I have decided that Renarin is a precious cinnamon roll and Adolin is too adorable and we’re worried about Shallan, and damn it Moash! and Kaladin is still my favorite.

Twelve Kings of Sharakhai by Bradley P Beaulieu: I actually stopped reading this one cause I just couldn’t care. The world building was great, and was the only thing that kept me going past the halfway point. But I could not give a fuck about any of the charactes. They were so bland and uninteresting. On top of that, I got 2/3 of the way through and still didn’t know what the main plot was supposed to be. Nothing was moving forward.

A Game of Thrones by G.R.R. Martin: After catching up on  the show in 2016, I was desperately craving more. So it was time. I caved and started reading the series. Looking forward to the rest.

Provenance by Ann Lecke: From the author (and world) that created Ancillary Justice, probably the best sci fi novel I’ve ever read. This is just as great. I just wish it was longer after reading 1200 pages of sanderson. But that’s mainly cause I read this way too fast. I think I may have found a new favorite author to add to the mix. At this rate, I’ll only ever be able to read things by favorite authors. I think I’d be okay with that.

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Emily’s Year in Review: Games Part 2

Aaaannnnnddddd here’s the long list of pc games. I’m actually impressed that I enjoyed so many this year. There really weren’t many I just felt disappointed with after finishing.

Ori and the Blind Forest Definitive Edition: I love ori. It’s such a beautiful game, with a beautiful soundtrack. I think I wrote about this in my games list from last year? (EDIT: I didn’t, I checked. I lied. But I love this game.) So I’m just gonna refer you to that, cause it’s the same for the definitive edition.

Pyre: From supergiant games, who I pretty much worship. This is their third game, and they deliver something equally different from Bastion and Transistor as they are from themselves. Gorgeous art and unique soundtrack, plus choices where no matter what you do, something is gonna suck for some character you’ve come to love. And speaking of the characters, whoever wrote them (Greg Kasavin), you deserve so much praise.

2064: Read Only Memories: I have torn feelings about this game. I tried to take my time with it, since I tend to not have much of an attention span for visual novel type games. There were characters and settings I loved from this games, but also characters and plot points that I hated. That being said, I’m kinda a sucker for exploration of the idea of AI as their own people. (I’m blaming Isaac for this one) So I’ll probably play it again sometime to explore other options in dialogue and what not.

Abzu: People aren’t kidding when they say this game is relaxing. There are a few parts that seem dangerous and ominous, but mostly it’s just happy, pretty, swim with fishes time. Also the soundtrack is amazing.

Guild of Dungeoneering: Too adorable. Aspects of deck building mixed with strategy management games. If you’ve ever played the card game boss monster, this game is like that. The one downside is I’m not sure how re-playable it is. Once you get the hang of each level, it becomes rather easy. So I’d just be playing for achievements at that point and we all know I don’t need help with that obsession (*cough* 62% on steam *cough*).

Human Resource Machine: I.E. How to teach programming without people knowing you’re teaching them programming. I can absolutely see this being one of those educational games we got to play in elementary school. Or was that just my school? Did no one else play math for the real world?

Kingdom Rush Frontiers: Fueling my need for tower defense games. Not sure how kingdom rush got the formula so right, but they did. I think I might actually like this game better than bloons tower defense.

Mini Metro: Build a subway system! Sound boring? Nope, try oddly relaxing. No seriously, somehow I found this game peaceful.

Dangerous High School Girls in Trouble: So thanks to Libba Bray, I’m kind of developing an obsession with the 1920′s. I loved the idea of this game. You get to form your own posse of rebellious girls in the 1920s and...solve things? But it’s kinda bad. It’s just a bunch of horrible mini games (mostly determined by chance) overlayed on a plot that could have been interesting but wasn’t since every good plot line kind of just gets dropped and ends. It’s...kinda a terrible game.

Fallout New Vegas: I’ve played this before but this game is still just as good. There’s so many choices you can make that impact the end. Like actually impact it. Not mass effect 3 impact it. Actually, changes the outcome, and the ending play, changes it. I’d heard very mixed things about the DLC I hadn’t played. Lonely hearts deserved it. The sierra madre however I really enjoyed. I think this game is getting old though, I couldn’t get any music to play (neither radio or atmospheric music) no matter what I tried. I just want to listen to Big Iron fifty times in a row damn it!

Firewatch: Man it feels like ages ago that I played this game. Not much I can say about it that hasn’t already been said a thousand times, so I’ll just leave it at I loved this game.

LA Noire: The ending sucked. Maybe third least favorite ending ever. The rest of it was phenomenal though. I’d totally keep playing detective and reading peoples expressions for hundreds of hours if I could.  Also wtf is with all the either sexist or racist partners? They aren’t very good at making me want to wait for them to get in the car. You can walk all the way across town for all I care.

Thomas Was Alone: So simple. So brilliant. So wonderful.

The Witness: That feel when the environment has to be used in puzzles. But seriously, great game. Reminded me of the Talos Principle which was equally as great.

Terreria: Isaac got me to gave finally. I’ve been broken. I understand now. I love it.

Aviary Attorney: Bird detectives rife with puns. So. Many. Puns. It’s delightful. Elements of phoenix wright. Okay maybe more than just elements. Is totally a phoenix wright game but with the overlay of victorian bird land.

Dishonored 2: Need to finish this game. I like it a lot and this world the series has created is absolutely engrossing. Grad school kind of distracted me...and then I played other games...a lot of other games...I will finish it eventually.

Amnesia a Machine for Pigs: Absolutley not as scary as a dark descent. Not even as creepy I’d say, and this game certainly had it’s share of creepy elements. Kinda played like a walking simulator actually, while looking like a survival horror. Not bad, just...not what was expected.

Inside: I already commented that this game is similar to Little Nightmares in feel. I wouldn’t say either is superior to the other but I would highly recommend playing both. Somehow they create this narrative that wholly intrigues you while having no dialogue. 

Orwell: I played this game twice, back to back, in the hopes that I could get a more happy (?) ending. The premise is that you’re some guy from outside the country, hired to spy (like stereotypical NSA spying x10) on potential criminals. If that doesn’t hook you instantly, just leave. Great game.

Lisa: Ugh my heart. How can a game be simultaneously so hilarious and so heart wrenching?! I’ve never played anything like it. Knowing it was made with a version of rpg maker is just astounding. If you don’t want to play this game, I recommend this video that, while it has spoilers, might change your mind.

Emily is Away Too: You can actually get a happy ending in this one, unlike the first one. Though apparently, if you lie about one thing, it’s a dealbreaker with the girls. Told one you like action movies and the other comedy? “I don’t know who you are anymore!” Super annoying and unrealistic.

Night in the Woods: Still working on this one, so NO SPOILERS (unless anyone has tips on the stupid demon tower thing. I want those achievments. *cough* 62% *cough*). Needed something a little more lighthearted after playing the previous two games. Mae is adorable so far.

Honorable mention: Games that I just keep playing. Please send help. I can’t stop.

-Sunless Sea

-Civilization VI

-Cities Skylines

-Crypt of the Necrodancer

-FTL

-Overwatch

-Sims 4

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Emily’s Year in Review: Games

It’s that time of year again! It’s cold as balls outside and I just want to be warm. Oh, and I look back at the games I’ve played this year. For starters, I got a PS4 which is the best thing I’ve ever done. Let’s look at those games.

The Last Guardian: Sarah, Michael, and Isaac watched me play a majority of this game. So they can tell you how much I yelled at the stupid kid in this one. (Yes, the kid, not Trico. Trico was my good boy weird dog-cat-bird thing and no one was allowed to hurt him!) Despite frequent frustration, I loved this game. It was gorgeous and unique and had an amazing soundtrack.

Horizon: Zero Dawn: I’ve played this game way too much. I’m currently on my third (??) playthrough. It’s absolutely my kind of game story wise. Characters and world is phenomenal, and gameplay has me hooked. Seriously, do you know how much time I spent hunting god damn rabbits in this game just to upgrade stuff? And do you know how much I actually enjoyed that? I usually get burned out on that style of play after about 10-20 hours, but not in this case! The DLC is also fantastic and added the best new skill ever. You get to harvest plants while riding a mount! Fixed my one issue with the game.

Little Nightmares: Can you say creepy? The art style in this game is super fitting to the atmosphere. Isaac and I actually played this game by switching off at deaths. The only thing is, this game reminds me a lot of Inside (another game I played this year). The art style of the two is very different, but the overall feel of the games is eerily similar. 

Uncharted Series: I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to discover this series! I only ended up playing it because the fourth game came in a bundle with my ps4 (which made it like $20 cheaper somehow).  So I got the rest of the games and OMG you guys! I love it. I love nate. I love sully. I love Elena. I love charlie (who seriously worried me there in the third game). A lot of the game play features I loved from horizon are prominant in these games, so it was also just way too much fun. 

Safe to say, getting a ps4 has been the beeeeessssstttt! Then there’s the other none PC games I played. So um...

Fire Emblem: Several years ago, Isaac introduced me to final fantasy tactics. I played way too much of that game and since have been looking for something, ANYTHING, that could give me that tactics game play feel. Enter fire emblem! Specifically, awakening. I had a set of characters I’d restart battles if they died, but let everyone else just kinda be up to fate. Safe to say that made things take a little longer, but oh well.

Monument Valley: Cute little puzzle that Isaac recommended for mobile. Very MC Escher esque in style. But so short! I know there’s a second game that people have been raving about, so that’ll probably be my next mobile purchase.

Reigns: Her Majesty: I played the first Reigns game on pc, when it was clearly meant to be played like a fantasy tindr. So when I heard there was a sequel, I got it for me phone. I haven’t played a whole lot yet, since I’ve been not wanting to drain my battery, but it’s so far just as delightful as the first one. There are a couple new things they added that I keep forgetting to use, such as items. I’m great at forgetting that.

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Doggo makes an appearance.

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Look at me! Two in a row!

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I’m doing this thing again.

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#important

This could be your last chance to stop ISPs from messing up your Internet! 

https://www.battleforthenet.com

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Another one I never got a chance to edit.

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I recorded this weeks ago but haven’t had a chance to do anything with it. Cause grad school. so here.

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Yes, That Eclipse was Special

So it’s been a few days since the eclipse. Enough time to decompress, process the awe? Good, cause I’m about to make it awesome again. I don’t think you fuckers realize just how lucky we are to have these breathtaking eclipses.

First of all, the concept of an eclipse is not that rare within the universe. All an eclipse is, is some celestial body passing in front of some other celestial body. This is the primary way we’ve detected more than 2,000 exoplanets. They aren’t spectacular sights, only blocking out maybe up to 2% of a stars light, and more frequently only blocking ~0.001%. But eclipses also occur in our own solar system. Here’s an eclipse on mars filmed by the Curiosity rover.

(Fucking phobos, you lame potato moon.)

But we have yet to find anywhere else where the apparent size of the star matches the apparent size of the body passing in front of it. The only place we know that happens is here on earth. (I mean, it probably happens elsewhere, but we don’t know about it yet, sooooo....) And here’s the kicker. With the moon slowly moving away, these perfectly sized eclipses will, someday, be a thing of the past. Once that happens, goodbye awesome crescent suns. Goodbye visible corona. We just happen to live in the astronomical era of total solar eclipses.

To make things just that much more special, while technically total eclipses happen every couple of years or so, the chances of one passing over, or close to where you live is pretty much a once in a lifetime event.

Sure, there are people that call themselves “eclipse chasers” that will travel to one whenever possible, but that’s not a luxury everyone has. So if you got to see the eclipse, even partially, feel special. Lots of things had to line up in perfect coincidence for that to happen.