glow-wine

[glow-wine]

The funniest "book purist" complaint that I have seen about the Season 3 preview scene is that it's too much time to spend on mere supporting characters and random minor Aes Sedai that we have never heard of before!!

Well. If that's not book accurate, I don't know what is.

[glow-wine]

I finished Final Fantasy 1 (Pixel Remaster). I had never played the game properly before. I still don't think I deserve to say that I beat FF1, because I made much use of the option to switch off random encounters, so some dungeons were a lot easier than they would have been. In my defence: Getting into more battles would have resulted in the characters levelling up even more, and I already felt over-levelled. There were only three bosses that actually posed a bit of a challenge, and only the end boss forced me to reconsider my tactics and struggle a little. Then again, the gameplay is basic and there aren't that many options to customize the characters according to your battle strategy. Later games made improvements here.

The plot is extremely barebones and the characters non-existent. But it is interesting that some staples of Final Fantasy were already present in the first game: the Four Crystals, of course, and an airship built by someone named Cid ... There were also a few elements that didn't carry over to the sequels: elves and vampires and mermaids. I think Final Fantasy 17 should bring all of those back! (*sigh* As if.)

It's interesting how much of RPG story structure is about gradually making more of the world map accessible to the player by giving them different modes of transportation.

Oh, and "suddenly, time travel" is such a wild, ambitious eleventh hour story development - and it really did not land for me. Oh, a time loop? Who even figured that out in-universe? It's so random and underexplained.

And the scrolly text at the end of the game actually goes: "Remember: [...] the true Crystals reside in your heart." :D Ahahaha, the real crystals were inside you all along! They were the friends we made along the way! The real crystals are friendship! :D :D :D (I mock, lovingly.)

The music, of course, was excellent. I mostly played with the new arrangements. I'm basic, so aside from the main themes, my favourite track was Matoya's Cave. I'll practise this one on the alto recorder. It's beautiful.

Now, on to Final Fantasy 2, also Pixel Remaster. This is the one old Final Fantasy that I have never played, not even a little. I am actually really excited.

[glow-wine]

An actual scene:

Spock: Captain, shall I beam down an armed party? Kirk: Negative. Our people here are armed with phasers. Besides, there's yet to be any real... (GEESE HONKING) Kirk: ... danger.

[glow-wine]

So I started watching Star Trek: The Original Series. I watched the first three episodes, and then went to see a three-hour opera (Alcina by Händel in a regrettably incoherent production), and now these two things are linked in my brain!!!

I actually think the plot of that opera could easily be a Star Trek episode. It's set on an island where a sorceress (Alcina) is bewitching and seducing the dudes, and turning them into animals, and the protagonist disguises herself as a man to sneak in and rescue her enchanted husband! Cue misunderstadings, mistaken identities, people falling in love, lots of singing. It reminded me of The Tempest and Twelth Night at first, then of the Circe story from the Oddyssey, but also of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. The costuming, I think, went for a sort of flamboyantly colourful carneval maximalism VS sad beige mom aesthetic, but I cannot be sure if that was the idea because it did not land at all. I sat there longing for the simplicity and clarity of Star Trek's visuals, the colour-coded costumes, characters who were easy to tell apart! And I mused that THE MAN TRAP (a hilarious title that must be written in all caps at all times) was also sort of about a, shall we say, magical enchantress seducing men (and women), and there were mistaken identity hijinks, and in the end you kind of felt bad for the dead monster? Very opera. Very classic. I cannot say if it was just the staging that made this opera production hard to follow and impossible to vibe with on an emotional level. Maybe there are issues with the source material, the libretto itself? Maybe plot and characters just aren't that good to begin with? But damn, how can you tell, when the directing is a mess? There was always too much going on on stage! Costumes and stage design were confusing! Surely those things should be designed to work intuitively?!

That opera ticket cost more than the TOS blu-ray boxset, by the way!

But it was worth it, I love Baroque music. It is my second-favourite musical genre after power metal. I think it is a privilege to be in the same room as a theorbo.

The music aside, though, Star Trek: TOS really comes out on top! The stories are accessible and mostly fun, somewhat hornier than I expected ... The only problem is that they put a trailer at the start of the first blu-ray, a trailer for one of the reboot Star Trek movies. It looked like an aftershave commercial, Jesus fucking Christ, you know, one of those commercials that try to look like an action movie? It looked like a joke.

[glow-wine]

It's come to my attention that CBS has a new medical drama called "Watson" that is about John Watson, and takes place after Sherlock Holmes "dies" at the Reichenbach Falls.

What I would do with this premise is to have Watson retrieve Holmes' corpse, stitch it back together and bring him back to life, Frankenstein-style.

The twist: Watson could not find all the Holmes bits, so he had to use some chunks of Moriarty in his reconstruction. He hopes this won't make a difference, but soon his friend starts to display disturbing behaviours, suspicious crimes happen, and Watson has to ask himself: Is there something ... wrong with Sherlock Holmes? Maybe this is a Jekyll/Hyde situation? Is he just paranoid, his guilty conscience eating away at him? Or perhaps his friend is truly dead and this thing is all Moriarty, just playing the role of Sherlock Holmes as a disguise? Or is it a sinister third entity, birthed from the merging of two brilliant minds with opposing moralities?

[glow-wine]

Ok be honest

[glow-wine]

Yo, Tatort Saarbrücken.

Hugs.

You have to admit that it would be kind of neat in terms of narrative symmetry if Leo spent some time in a coma.

And aside from that cliffhanger, this was objectively a good episode, good use of the characters, and really enhanced authenticity (Lyoner, Maggi bottle, V&B Alt Luxemburg porcelain plate spotted in a kitchen, even a minor character speaking Saarländisch and a motherfucking Schwenker grill, this Tatort SB incarnation has never been more true to its location.

[glow-wine]

Reading aloud

I am not quite spring-cleaning yet, but eventually I am going to have to confront the plastic bag at the bottom of the cupboard with the cleaning supplies. Inside is another plastic bag, and inside that is my cosmetics mirror and the hellbeast I've trapped with it.

(A bug. It is a large bug.)

The true story is that I accidently summoned a demon from hell, or possibly out of another dimension. This happened last summer as I was reading Lovecraft short stories in bed. It was midnight when I decided to read a poem out loud because I liked the sinister rhythm and the evil energy ... and what is the worst that could happen? When you read Lovecraft out loud? At midnight?

The hellbeast was suddenly in my bedroom, as if it had smoothly folded into this dimension from one of the parallel layers of unreality.

(Or the bug came in through the open window.)

It was very large and it was hectic. It would not sit still, but ran across the walls, aggressively launched itself into the air and flew around in erratic patterns, towards me. It had dangerous little antannae and a threatening shape, murderous stick legs and demonic signs on its wings. It made a loud, angry buzzing noise. I undertook several desperate attempts to fight the demon: shoo it, squash it, capture it under a glass. It was too fast, too large, too terrifying and far too clever for me. In the end, the beast landed on my little cosmetics mirror and wedged itself into a narrow space between the frame and the legs. It waited.

If you've ever fought a demon, you'll know that they cannot generally be killed by normal humans such as ourselves. We can only hope to banish or imprison them in a cursed object, and guard them for the rest of time. So I threw a trashbag over the mirror, my heart pounding, closed it tight and then, for extra protection, put the bag in another bag and now here we are.

Learn from my mistakes:

(Get a bug net.)

Do not read Lovecraft aloud at midnight.

And do not open the bag at the bottom of the cupboard.

[glow-wine]

New Year's resolutions

I generally need to manage my time better so I can actually do all the activities I've been neglecting: get better at playing the recorder (and buy a nice wooden tenor recorder when I deserve it), write the story that's been gestating in my brain, do regular exercise.

I'll continue going to metal concerts and I will continue swimming once a week. I'll also get into bouldering, because it's fun! They say you can easily meet new people bouldering. That would be nice. But I'll settle for nice (functional) muscles.

I haven't read much this past year, so I'll get back into that as well.

=_= Why must I waste so many hours of my life at work?

[glow-wine]

I know that no one on this platform owes me anything, but could someone, anyone, pleeeeeease make a fake trailer for a Théatre des Vampires workplace sitcom?!

There's just something about this voice-over narration by Armand in 2x3 - "It was 1556 when the Roman coven sent me to lead the shambolic Paris coven. A face from the sub-continent, French my fourth and poorest language, I had never lead anything in my life" - that just screams "fish out of water, culture clash, workplace sitcom pilot episode". Someone please do it.

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YESsSSsss my terrible girl is here to cause problems and unnaturally prolong the lifespan of roses, and she’s all out of roses 🥳🥳🥳

[glow-wine]

WOT proving itself once again the most bisexual-gaze-catering show on the planet

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One thing I appreciate about Interview with the Vampire (TV version) is how similar its season finales are to the dramatic final moments of an Ace Attorney game. Daniel pointing out inconsistencies in someone's story, presenting evidence!

And then, bam! The truth!!! Life-shattering revelations! Someone has an epic mental breakdown! Triumph!

Now, is that the smart thing to do when it's actual vampires you're provoking into a mental health crisis? Probably not! But Daniel does it anyway! Because YOLO.

[glow-wine]

There is a common misconception that the Anne Rice novel is titled Interview with a Vampire. It is, of course, Interview with the Vampire.

But I think we can all agree that it would be most in-character for Old Man Daniel to title his book Interview with Some Vampire.

[glow-wine]

I have been taking a vitamin D supplement for one week, and I am already beginning to suspect that entire aspects of my personality are actually vitamin D deficiency symptoms.

[glow-wine]

:D But what if he did put the baby on the couch and it's on the floor because it did fall?? :D

Props to Louis for - no, not not-eating the baby, that's the bare reasonably expected minimum.

But for not dropping the baby (I was so nervous that would happen) nor putting it down on the couch from where it could have fallen and fatally injured itself.

Instead he put it on the floor where it was the safest (given the circumstances.)

He might have done it by accident/ subconsciously, but says that (deep down) there is more good inside him than he gives himself the credit for.

(At least as far as the baby event. We shall see about whatever else.)

[glow-wine]

Oh, no! Noooooo! I was referring to the adaptations! Not the books! XD I meant that it has not affected Pratchett's legacy that some of the adaptations of his books have been mediocre, bad, or The Watch.

I get annoyed every time someone tries to make Good Omens Season 3 about "Terry Pratchett's legacy".

Terry Pratchett was a novelist. He wrote over fifty books. That's his legacy. There have been various adaptations and some of them have even been bad. Didn't affect his legacy. It feels dismissive of his actual accomplishments to claim that his whole career is practically unfulfilled unless Good Omens Season 3 happens / has six episodes / whatever. This one piece of television allegedly based on mere ideas for an unrealized sequel to a co-written novel, as remembered by a known liar. Just no.

Just admit you want Season 3 because you want Season 2's cliffhanger resolved. You like the show and want more of it. That's perfectly normal! That's why TV seasons end on cliffhangers. Don't claim it's really about the interests of a respected author who is conveniently dead and cannot contradict you.