#A dream sequence made to set the tone of dread and intrigue

[immediatebreakfast]

I have noticed something when it comes to vampires bites in this book, or the concept of watching the vampire feeding itself. The book has said how the vampires feed, how the Weird Sisters feed, and how Dracula hunts his prey; however, so far, the actual act of biting and feeding is never described nor shown.

Jonathan sees the Count give the Weird Sisters a child, he hears it cry again and again, then everything goes silent as the horrifying implications hang over his head. Yet, there are no words for teeth sinking into flesh, of blood bubbling as it escapes the arteries, or pained expressions, the act that is so characteristic of vampires is... not seen in what is considered the Vampire Novel.

However, it fits, it fits a lot with how the gothic is constructed. We don't need to read how the Weird Sisters kill a baby in front of Jonathan's eyes, it doesn't need to be described because the implication, and the poiting towards what is happening away is far more terrifying. It creates a sense of helplessness that permeates everything around the biting. You can't save those children, they are already "dead" the second the Count grabbed them.

Weirdly enough, I thought that since Jonathan isn't being actively bitten in front of our eyes, then It could mean that the Count is not biting him to bide time with his new favorite "lady" before consuming him, but no.

He was either dead or asleep, I could not say which—for the eyes were open and stony, but without the glassiness of death—and the cheeks had the warmth of life through all their pallor; the lips were as red as ever.

The lapses of memory, the tiredness, the blurriness between what is real and what is not, Jonathan is suffering from these while he is slowly drained in moments that we don't even know about, but it happens. Dracula now has the warmth of life coursing through his body as Jonathan becomes weaker, his lips are red while Jonathan is more ghastly as the days go by.

I thought he might have the keys on him, but when I went to search I saw the dead eyes, and in them, dead though they were, such a look of hate, though unconscious of me or my presence, that I fled from the place, and leaving the Count's room by the window, crawled again up the castle wall.

The rage of the Count to see Jonathan try to escape once again despite the pure torture he has been subjected. How dare he keep fighting when his body gets weaker every day?

We may not see the bites happen since the aftermath of those bites is what is important. What the victim feels both physically, and mentally is the focus in the story; just because the bite is finished doesn't mean that the horror stops.

[oosteven-universe]

Hotell #1

Hotell #1 AWA Upshot 2020 Written by John Lees Illustrated by Dalibor Talajić Coloured by Lee Loughridge Lettered by Sal Cipriano Cover by Kaare Andrews     You won't find it on any map, but if you happen to be driving down Route 66 late at night and you're truly desperate for shelter, sanctuary or secrecy, you might see a battered sign on the side of the road: The Pierrot Courts Hotel. - where many check in but few check out.     The description made me start singing Hotel California and that is never a bad thing. Also I love the way that this set up for us and the introduction of Jack Lynch. Now he reminds me of a modern day Rod Sterling and that makes for a much nicer change of pace than trying to compete with the Crypt Keeper or other horror icon hosts. It is a really nicely done introduction not only to him but to the series as well. John is smart and he's got this amazing way of approaching his storytelling and it is nice to see that he thinks this through for that optimum impact.     The way that this is being told is exceptionally well done. The fact that as the story continues to move forward and builds this crazy tension along the way that continues to build and build until the climax is just bloody lovely. The story & plot development that we see here through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented beautifully. The character development is great and as we get to know Alice and the reasons we see her here makes her extremely relatable to and someone for us to root for. The pacing is fantastic and as it takes us through the pages revealing the twists and turns along the way it helps to create this great ebb & flow.     I adore this book for the fact that it is a modern psychological thriller more than it is a straight up horror book. It makes this a really interesting book and that we are seeing this in a one and done format is even more impressive to me. To be able to do a complete story in one issue showcases some strong talent from John. There is also something intriguing by how Alice is dreaming and yet not realising they are anything more, this just fills us with this dread for her and as we learn more and more it just has the effect on the reader of screaming at the screen to NOT go into the basement!     The interiors here are fantastic! The strength of the linework is incredible and how the varying weights are utilised to bring out this level of attention to detail is astounding. Those flashback panels with how they are filled up and all the patterns we see in the furniture, walls etc., really just makes things pop even more. It is some damn fine work I gotta tell ya. How we see the backgrounds and their utilisation within the composition bringing us this depth perception, scale and this overall sense of size and scope of the book. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a masterful eye for storytelling. The colour work is gorgeous. The way we see the various hues and tones within the colours utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is rendered extremely well. Plus to do the same thing in those flashbacks to create those tones is really some quite extraordinary. ​     This is exciting both this title and this new company. I have been saying there's always room for more outlets that provide high quality books and that's what we are seeing right here. This fresh, new and engaging plus it feels like it is establishing a new franchise and that's the best possible scenario I can think of.  

[snkpolls]

SnK S3E1 Poll Results

The poll closed with 1,336 responses. Thank you to everyone who participated!

This is just a general warning for potential manga related spoilers in the comments! Tread carefully!

Rate the Episode

Overall, viewers were excited about the new episode and ranked it well. It seems everyone is fired up and ready for the anime to pick up where it left off. Bonus points for a short one year hiatus this time!

I'm really excited to see this new version of the Uprising arc unfold. This episode did a great job at highlighting the paranoia and "on the run" aspect better than the manga counterpart, with the safety net feeling well and truly gone. The tagline for volume 13 was "No Safe Place Left", but it's the anime that really made me feel that was the case.

Trust WIT studio to surprise even the manga readers with their content. Everything from the OP to the pacing was completely unexpected, but I love it!

GREAT start, a good way to hype both Manga readers and anime only fans into the start of the new season !  (putting it in the ‘was this a good start’ question)

Is it 7/29 yet?

Rate the OP

There have definitely been mixed reviews on the new opening. The majority of voters were happy or content with it, while about 22% of respondents could have thought better on it. Maybe it will grow on people as the anime continues!

For me the opening was a masterpiece. The melancholy and the foreshadowing for those who don’t read the manga is fantastic. As I am current with the manga it made me sad for the kids because I know how things are now and I was also excited to see them again in animated form.

I must admit, on my first listen, I was thoroughly disappointed by red swan and thus hated it with passion. But shockingly I LOVED it just on my very second listen (which was when I actually watched the episode)! I then understood that there was nothing wrong with that beautiful song nor the opening itself. It was all my personal expectations, biases and unwillingness to accept something new.

Something about the animation in the OP was weird and the still shots they included looked like someone else's fanart.

I'm disappointed with the opening. I just feel like it's not on bar with the previous ones. But I guess people are right about it being more suitable for an arc that's focused on character development, so I don't hate it as much now. I just hope that we get a second opening when the action kicks in (since they're covering up to the ocean) that makes the viewers more hyped. My problem with the current opening is that it doesn't feel like Attack on Titan anymore. I'm also not super happy with the drawings in general.

The opening really fits this part of the story because this is the part when shit gets real.

This OP is very different from the previous three. What is your favorite opening so far?

Shinzuo wo Sasageyo took the lead by a huge margin (including votes for our lovely typo version, “Shinzuo no Sasageyo”), managing to outdo the iconic first opening, Guren no Yumiya!

Bring Linked Horizon back.

Regarding Red Swan: While it is a departure from the bombastic hype we've had before, this is such a good OP for this arc. It takes the OP in the complete opposite tone, which is exactly what this arc does with the rest of the series. The visuals are stunning, and the song itself is an absolute tune. #RedSwanDefenceSquad

Also, regarding the OP, the song isn't bad, but it doesn't really fit the AOT style of epic openings. To me, it feels more like an ED, which have always been softer. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a more epic second OP as we move into the RTS arc.

There was no ending theme this time. Will this become a consistent thing?

Respondents were confident that we’ll be getting an OP. Of course, as we’ve learned over the week, this is true! And surprise! It will be Linked Horizon!

Which of the below were your favorite moments?

It was close to a tie between “Kenny’s explosive entrance” and Levi’s “KENNYYYAHHH!” with the former barely taking the lead. Safe to say, the cliffhanger in this episode left us all impatiently awaiting episode 39! Other notable favorite moments were “Moblit ready to throwdown for Hange,” “Hange promising to torture Sannes,” and seeing Eren at the ocean.

Still salty about not seeing Eren build a house in his Titan form

I really enjoyed that they moved certain conversations like Eren and Historia to that particular part of the episode. It just fit so well! My kids. :')

Where is my jeankasa moments???

KEEENNNNYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!1!!11

I am just glad to get to watch SnK again.

hanji hot

I liked the moments between Levi and Mikasa - she asked him about his wounded leg and she was really worrying about him. I'm glad that she shows some interest in other people (not just Eren and Armin).

What do you think of the new episode’s pacing?

The largest denominator are waiting to see how more of the season plays out before making a final judgement call, and many are confident that everything will be okay. Still, there is a small percentage who are concerned that they won’t get to see everything they hoped for.

Uprising is my least favourite arc, mainly due to the pacing issues. So I am very excited that they will be tackling those. I'm going to need a few more eps to correctly judge things, but I am hopeful.

I was kind of disappointed. I know they want to change the pacing and all, but I don't accept them sacrificing some important and necessary scenes for character development. I've yet to see how the rest of the season will unfold before judging it, but yeah, I really hope they won't rush things again, especially when it's my favorite arc!

I watched with an anime only and he was confused by the pacing, and how we got to the cabin from seeing the beast titan at the end of the last season. I hope they don't keep rushing through the manga chapters. I was not enthusiastic about the episode.

The pacing was really fast, but that's the price of having to condense such a complex manga into an anime, that probably had limited time/budget, as they all do. So I am happy to get what I can, and enjoy the hella beautiful animation, instead of complaining about all the scenes they cut out…

A lot of stuff really quickly, but it's understandable. This is my favorite arc and I love political intrigue, so I'm hoping we start to fill in some of the scenes we've already skipped past as we go along and the Anime-onlies are already hooked. I *really* hope we get to see the badass competence of our Vets - they deserve it!

Which main character got the best S3 glow up so far?

Levi is (unsurprisingly) the clear winner in this competition. We think his new bedhead hair is charming, too! In second place came Eren, followed by Mikasa and Historia.

i don't think there was any glow up this season. kenny's great tho, 10/10 would stan

The girls aren’t animated with lipstick anymore. Yay or nay?

The vast majority are either unphased or delighted by WIT moving away from the colored glossy lips of the girls. A small percentage of respondents are going to miss the look.

Don't actually care about the lipstick, it just makes sense that they won't put it during the whole action.

The characters are finally starting to look truer to their manga counterparts this season! How do you feel about it?

76% of respondents are thrilled about the anime starting to match the appearance of the characters’ manga counterparts.

The changes to animation and character styles were kind of weird but I got used to it eventually

How do you feel about Mikasa taking down Reeves and his cronies by herself?

46% are happy with the development and seeing Mikasa get a chance to shine on her own. Meanwhile, 18% are disappointed that Levi didn’t tackle Reeve’s cronies with her, while 14% are simply upset they didn’t get to see Levi do his iconic chokeslam at all. Let’s be hopeful WIT will make up for that in the future!

i proper wanted to see the Ackerman duo but watching Mikasa chokeslam some bitches made me pop a boner and i don’t even have a dick

I would have LOVED the duo action, but I anticipate to see that in the following episodes (or else Wit and I are gonna have some words). At least it's nice that Levi trusted Mikasa to handle this mission without his supervision!

Mikasa was great! A little sad they cut Jean being protective over her safety after Sasha shoots the arrow though.

It was alright but developing her personality and relationship with the other characters is more important than constantly just giving her ~badass~ scenes.

Considering that Levi had to be somewhere else, I'm fine with it since it's such a small scene. But I still want some Levi/Mikasa duo action

i liked it, but it was mikasa AND sasha

too OP

Manga readers, what best describes how you felt about seeing Eren at the ocean?

Nearly half of voters were surprised to see this animated so early, followed by 28% who were moved by the scene. A small percentage weren’t happy that WIT implied about the ocean so early.

I NEED MORE EREN WITH LONG HAIR!!!!!!!!!

It was a great decision to show it in the beginning. It sets the tone for the following episodes.

I'm already finding delight in the sense of dread anime-only watchers will have when things start going off the rails and they have Eren alone in this scene in the back of their minds.

It was the most beautiful "eye close-up" this anime could have ever done! Amazing scene - wonderfully colored, animated, and sad and touching. 10/10

Interesting choice, nice way to bring it all back at the end though

As a TV producer it's understandable. They would want to hook people early on, esp for anime only viewers

stop lowkey spoiling ffs

I watched the season premiere at the movie theatre and when that scene came up I could hear a discrete general gasp coming from the audience. I liked how everyone was shocked but still tried to contain their excitement for anime watchers.

Felt like they’re trying to make it seem like a dream sequence rather than a reality.

I felt it gave more mystery to how the plot will develop for anime-onlies. It was a great decision to show it at the beginning, especially Eren alone.

Anime only fans, what best describes how you felt about seeing Eren at the ocean?

An uncertain number of voters are most definitely certain they read the manga! Meanwhile. 37% of anime only viewers were really pumped by the implication of getting to see the ocean. A smaller percentage are confused but still here for the ride, while 18% don’t really feel anything about it either way.

My sister is anime only, and she said a mix of options - confused and shocked and excited - looking forward for the rest!

Anime Only, don't know how I feel. It was played out well so looking forward to it.

I was shocked yet I was amazed on that scene

shocked and excited - looking forward for the rest!

Your reaction to Kenny?

The overwhelming majority are #readyforkenny and excited to see him! We suspect that the 7.6% of voters who don’t know who he is are anime only viewers. We’re excited to see how you guys think of him in a few weeks!

I'm not sure how I feel about Kenny. I imagined him a bit differently. While reading a manga I saw him as harsh, cold, mysterious man with deep voice and scary looks. In the anime however he looks too young and his face is different.

Looks like WIT was really anxious to introduce Kenny. I didn't mind it overall, but I hope their shuffling scenes around doesn't become overwhelming.

Kenny: Omae wa mou shindeiru Nifa: Nani? *bangbang*

Rate Eren’s abs on a scale of 1-5

The majority of respondents are thirsty for Eren’s animated abs! 105 of voters will take a hard pass, however.

I was so scared they were gonna draw Eren with the body of a 12-year-old like so much of the official art back in the day did. Thank you WiT for keeping him manga-accurately ripped

Do you feel this episode was a strong start to the season?

While a fair number of voters are tentatively waiting for more of the season to make their judgement, the majority of respondents agree that the season started off with a bang and are looking forward to more.

GREAT start, a good way to hype both Manga readers and anime only fans into the start of the new season !

Which group are your favorite characters?

All of the characters are winners in this poll! 

Do you read the manga or do you only watch the anime?

The majority of respondents are loyal manga readers. We had 162 anime only respondents this week! 

Where do you primarily discuss the series?

Reddit takes the lead!

Additional thoughts on the chapter?

I miss Levi’s speech about how he’s ‘just being an asshole’ when eren can’t harden his titan 😰 it was cute

It really was just an extended trailer, everything included in the trailer was in the episode, it was very good and I enjoyed it nonetheless!

I'm so glad to be seeing my loves in animated action once again

I’m excited for the rest of the season!

The episode was definitely awesome for a first episode. I’m kinda disappointed that they skipped Historia’s explanation about her past, but I hope they will show it in a future episode. Also, the opening was stunning. Seeing my favorite characters as kids made me smile so much. Overall, this episode got me excited for the next episodes.

Amazing! Glad that it was not Eren centric and We'll be seeing Levi alot. I hope they show more of Mikasa and Levi moments. It was awesome. I first watched the episode at the cinema so I couldn't watch it with the opening. But I loved it!

Small Levi in the opening is so beautiful I want to cry !!

Where is abswin?! I have priorities, WIT, where are yours??

This is so good! I was at first worried that they will shove Levi down our throats (as much as I love him), but now I'm surprisingly confident in this new season! I trust Wit to make great changes in the pacing, because the anime version definitely need some improvement. The animation is stunning and Mikasa and Levi were amazing, they can slay me when they want.

Trust WIT studio to surprise even the manga readers with their content.

MANGA SPOILERS: I'm most curious to see how different the plot will be now that they seem to have skipped the whole SC/Reeves company collaboration. The OP was honestly a shock at first watch but now I can't stop listening to it. I think it's perfect, especially for us manga readers, because it really tugs at your heartstrings when you think of what's currently happening in the manga. Especially that scene with kid!Eren bumping into soldier Eren. I'm still crying. :( All in all, brilliant episode, can't wait for next week!

RIP to my bae Nifa

They cut out a shitload of little dialogue that isn't important to the plot between the characters I was hoping to see animated so that was pretty disappointing. I'm expecting that trend to continue. On the opening, I'm a manga reader, I get what they were going for and all the undertones and such but I still didn't like it much. I don't like how some of the characters got the shaft completely and how characters important to this season like Erwin, Levi and Historia and characters related to them barely got any parts in the opening.

Baby Erwin!!!

I can really now feel the connection of the anime and manga! Can't wait for the other episodes, it was spoiling some parts (if you read the manga) but either way if you watched or read or both Attack On Titan you'll still love and appreciate it

Thank you everyone who voted! We’ll see you back with episode 39!

[luisneer]

selected tweets 2016-17

These are tweets from my first @luisneer twitter account. Recently I made a new twitter account with the same username, after having deleted my account and having been without twitter for several months. These tweets are from August 2016 to March 2017, which was most of my first year of college at Shepherd University, in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. I don't go to Shepherd anymore; I transferred to West Virginia University, in Morgantown, WV, after my second semester. My tweets from late March 2017 to [July or August] 2017, when I deleted my twitter, were not archived. 

I'm creating this blog post so the world will have access to some of my tweets from the deleted @luisneer, in case they have any merit as literature. I'm still not sure if I will continue to use twitter in 2018/the future. Usually when I use twitter I feel like I'm actually wanting to be doing something else, but I don't know what; or wanting to be using "another app" that doesn't exist. Twitter generally seems bad for me. Questions about my tweets August 2016-March 2017 can be directed at luisneer@gmail.com. Thank you

    2016

   morgantown has ~48 vape shops

 **morgantown has ~480 vape shops

 siri has werner herzog-like inflections

 considering changing outfits when i take several walks in one day (so nobody thinks im a serial killer, stalker, spy, alien)

 think i remember ~5% of things i said today

 imagined vague connection btwn 'vitamin d' and 'reptar'

 felt distinctly that i was a monkey or chimpanzee while crouching in the corner of my dorm room eating peanuts out of a jar

 just thought (as a request to my mom) 'fax me my skateboard...'

 looked at toilet in bathroom stall with expression of 'utter terror' for what felt like ~15 seconds while it flushed

 listening to bright eyes with headphones at house show

 feel that the toothpaste i use is advancing decay of my teeth

 feel 100% certain that i could train myself to use telepathy to operate my phone during classes

 enjoying the sensation of my right leg 'falling asleep' during psychology class (left foot is also 'asleep')

 felt 'sociopathic' after eye contact w library worker who watched me pick up & pocket a pair of apple headphones someone had left on a chair

 left stolen apple headphones on gray bench across the street from my dorm

 repeatedly placed/removed sunglasses while walking in hallway

 strong desire to remove all positive patterns from my life and perpetuate/embrace all negative ones

 feel that my laptop 'knows' which parts of its screen im looking at

 in winchester, VA

 thought of my own music as having 'no compelling audible elements'

 thought of myself as being legally named 'the fuck up', then couldnt remember my actual name

 successfully, i feel, duplicated 'sociopath facial expression' during eye contact with arch-nemesis in stairwell

 ive taken 13800mg ibuprofen since i got to college

 feel compelled to ask my 9 yr old brother for advice re 'college-level' personal issues

 feel smart after sitting on couch in painting studio + reading art magazines for 2 hours

 persistent notion that 100% of students at my college personally hate me

 psychology professor muttered something like 'scary snake... endocrine system...'

 feeling heavily drugged/sedated in psych class

 psych professor seems obsessed with/terrified by snakes

 imagined kanye smoking crystal meth and tweeting something like 'please help me... cant feel mouth... need help'

 saw a moth at open mic, thought about god

 experiencing difficulty trying to smile

 enjoying using numerous cliches ('the case is closed', 'taking a step back', 'harsh realities') in an essay

 intrigued by conversation i had 9 hrs ago w/ 2 boys who countered my tone (calm, eloquent) exactly by being loud and rude in a friendly way

 felt simultaneously really cute and really lonely while giggling with my mouth closed in french class

 imagined kanye inventing the word 'compactualize' and using it in a sentence during a televised interview

 enjoyed 8-sentence john updike bio in norton lit anthology

 perceived person standing outside bathroom stall occupied by me could 'sense', via something like echolocation, that i was/am depressed

 spoke to french professor in what felt like a distinct persona/alternate luis neer called 'marge simpson voice' luis neer

 feel confidently that the public debut of 'marge simpson voice' luis neer was a success

 feel that 'marge simpson voice' luis neer is the culmination of an unconscious process that initiated in my mind maybe 3-5 years ago

 i want to identify/analyze additional alternate luis neers

 i dont like videos

 i came to college and got weirder, better at writing, more arrogant, more defeated, more sensible

 simultaneously feel that i should run 3 miles and that, at this moment, i would be incapable of running any distance

 feel urged to draw new attention to my 'marge simpson voice' tweets

 huge power outage at shepherd lol

 realized theres no such thing as a 'nation'

 remembered ive blown off obligations to several people, not just one person, so my irresponsibility doesnt 'have a focus', felt comforted

 feel that my follower count is 'crystallized' / will never increase or decrease ever again

 struggled to convert 'stick-and-poke' to past tense during conversation in line at sheetz

 feel it would be pleasurable to take a donut + bottle of coca-cola from this sheetz via armed robbery

 crossed busy road, felt really surprised i didnt get hit by a car, also i wasnt wearing glasses, was walking to sheetz, bought an icee

 laughed alone in my dorm thinking that i should print out a picture of barack obama to put on my wall

 drank from separate glasses containing soymilk, coffee, iced coffee, apple juice, cranberry juice, water, sprite for dinner/breakfas

 just thought 'from adorno to zizek' sans context while shitting

 opened gmail, emailed my father, closed gmail, opened gmail again, viewed email to my father, forwarded it to myself

 'camcorder' would be a good band name

 i thought arnold palmer had already died

 willem dafoe doesnt make me uncomfortable

 i want to stop being mean

 i hate bfs but i want to be someones bf

 wishing i was in a car with friends and no cellular service

 tangled up in myself and others

 twin peaks is depicted as a small town but its population is greater than that of every city in west virginia including the state capital

 eating shark

 thought of my own intelligence as 'frightening'

 thought while walking to class that ginger ale should be made public domain

 had the stitches on my chin removed today, touched the scar tissue for the first time

 i miss being in therapy

 i love carpet

 i love carpet !!

 just thought about my own tweets and lol'd

 mood lately very fragile

 this is what i get for staying up til 5 am

 all night i've felt a wave of dread swelling up, now it's really hitting me

 sound of laughter in public still frightening + unnerving

 my instinct for when to unfriend people on facebook has adapted so that i unfriend people over statuses that make me feel no emotions at all

 fuck, im feeling so much terror

 gucci mane was born 3 days before conor oberst

 the other day i mentioned that i was a poet and this vape guy interrupted me to say "and you didnt know it" and i went fucking nuclear

 interacted with mailman who was picking up mail as i was trying to mail chapbooks, he didnt notice at first that i was talking to him

 what if old people have secrets

 my dad is making me root for a football team but im in pain emotionally

 i feel guilty in general

 thought of my poem "portrait of a nation without any people" as the "lead single" for my full length; it appeared in potluck 14 months ago

 im close friends with satan rn

 feel like travis scott never intended for people to spell his name with a $

 from now on every time i get honey on something ill list the thing in this thread

 finger

 desk

 coffee cup exterior

 pajama pants

 knee

 carpet

 chin

 phone

 shirt

 shoe

 thought that my elderly geography prof. moves by "shuffling"

 feeling shorter, broader

 the only part of the new bright eyes box set i want is the booklet

 is there a booklet? i know there are nvr b4 sn photos

 the song "lime tree" came to conor oberst in a dream

 i like citing things in MLA

 i write essays by pretending im werner herzog

 doesnt seem to be getting later

 lit professor gave my project (sequence of 6 sonnets) a C, i wish she would have gotten me expelled, shelley + ginsberg both were expelled

 heard someone in another room ask "where's wal-mart?" as if wal-mart were a person whose location could change

 i think i just swallowed a filling while eating popcorn, i am very scared, please help

 crazy how things get worse

 there are people on my floor having tons of fun and im upset

 bit my mattress while sitting in the chair next to my bed

 weird that chance the rapper only has 2.4 million followers when he's sort of one of the most famous artists in the world rn

 also weird that donald trump has made 34,000 tweets, seems like an incredibly large number

 the strangeness of yesterday was, for me, augmented by people on the internet talking about a tv show that ive never seen or heard about

 the sunlight is obscene

 im so upset about the sun being so bright im afraid to go outside

 im glad im the only poet who likes trailer park boys

 i slept in a blanket fort under my bed and havent left it all day

 yr = your ur = you're

 my favorite things are pdfs

 now that ive adapted my living space to allow me to never leave my blanket fort i feel like my roommate, omar, exists in a parallel universe

 i hear him but i never see him

 i love latte art, i drink many lattes

 thought that twitter "isn't worth it" in an upset tone while drinking mtn dew

 felt pleasant considering uniqueness of all parent-offspring relationships

 went through my closet + made sure all shirts and jackets were zipped/buttoned

 my blanket is generating flashes of light from static electricity

 record store guy became visibly sick of me several months ago; feel a little guilty every time i enter his store to spend money

 i prefer EPs

 felt "out of control" walking downhill listening to dead kennedys with headphones

 writing an essay is difficult because idk how much relevant information other people have already considered / moved on from

 have been wanting to write at least one poem inside my blanket fort but i don't think it's going to happen, i don't know why

 the internet isn't big enough

 usually when i think "i dont understand the uproar about [event]" i realize there is no "uproar"

 "uproar" is media's way of manipulating the public spotlight and distracting people from important tasks

 feeling helpless + melancholy after dying 15 times and killing 2 stormtroopers in star wars battlefront

 the only way to attain conor oberst-level emo hair is to lay in bed and sob for hours

 i'm sad

 my mom was confused when i told her my first book comes out today

 was luis neer in odd future

 thought "sometimes i just want to end it and start all over" in an exasperated tone re my goodreads account

 becoming increasingly convinced it would be best for me personally to take myself extremely seriously/never joke about myself

 thinking that my tweets would seem terrible if i were a senator/governor/other politician

 imagined doomsday device for future @starwars movies: the "death train," a normal train that exists in space and destroys planets

 how does anyone do it

 in science fiction movies, spacecraft usually look like shopping malls

 everyone in the world is high except me

 feel like i want to have poems published immediately

 having delusions of grandeur

 im sitting on my record player

 my most-used word in 2016 was "bleak"

 prepared and ate garbanzo beans w a lot of rosemart at 2:00 AM

 my brother has a friend over and is being mean to the friend

 all i want for christmas is to never cheer up, ever

 watching eyes wide shut and hugging duckuc

 my nose feels like it's going to bleed

 im sad because every bf looks like me

 getting better at eating ice cream by punching it with my tongue

 the internet is too freaky...

 i think 2017 will be a year of realizing things

 im watching the angry birds movie

 the angry birds movie is so shitty... why was it made...

 ive never had a new years kiss

   2017

   im weird

 eating medicinal ice cream

 im not going to do any drugs in 2017

 made a medicinal phone call

 i want to drink some blood

 i dreamed that roger ebert wrote a negative review of life after ppl and called it "liner notes"

 years dont kill people

 feel inexplicably/explicably really scared about the future of my poetry career

 i've felt stoned since i was a baby

 downloading google earth

 made eye contact in starbucks with possible luis neer incarnation from ~50 years in future; bon jovi "dead or alive" played through speakers

 realised that at some point in the future i will become extremely interested in watching football

 i recommend reading poems extremely slowly while touching the text with your middle finger/index finger

 experiencing cognitive dissonance

 used phonetic clues to correctly predict meaning of & use the word "tandem" while discoursing with myself internally

 i miss steel pedal guitar sounds on conor oberst songs

 my previous incarnation "college luis neer" has evolved to become "high school luis neer-like luis neer in college setting"

 thought "man, i got to stop caring what people think about me" in an emphatic tone that seemed confusing/interesting

 mediocore

 beyonce is cool i think

 i want to re-read "v for vendetta" and to not tweet about it

 remembered that i own a pinata

 i will be at awp

 how could i make twitter a better place

 i saw 4 people wearing yeezys in dc this weekend

 feeling increasingly self-conscious about how much i use the phrase "in the world" or refer to "the world" in poems

 felt robot-like while attaching detachable headphones cord to my headphones while wearing the headphones

 watching shepherd univ lacrosse team practice from "safety of" student center

 i invented releasing two chapbooks in one day

 im dumber than me

 reasoned mentally that im more likely to produce accurate drawings of myself because "i basically look like a bird, so i just draw a bird"

 i want to have a "fake tweet" (e.g. a simple phrase) to tweet repeatedly every time i feel urged to tweet an uninformed/unimportant opinion

 my fake tweet for the foreseeable future will be "i dropped my textbook in the stairwell". when i tweet this it means i have an opinion

 i dropped my textbook in the stairwell

 does anyone remember the chapter of "the hobbit" where bilbo avoids starvation by ingesting peanut butter, honey, cherry nyquil, and water

 sensed that all my college friends just simultaneously shifted from having vague/non-serious negative feelings about me to hating me

 resulting from continuous building of irrepressible/inevitable conjecture in the friends' conscious thoughts

 eating chicken and squash

 i click on 100% of poetry links tweeted by poets i follow

 when i was writing Waves i was obsessed with waves (e.g. energy waves, frequencies) and used the word "waves" at least ~10 times every day

 i dropped my textbook in the stairwell

 white nike swooshes on shoes of boy in library look vibrant/magical

 terrified of being cool

 walked to library really slowly while listening to noise music through big headphones

 i was really, really yung when i started publishing and i'm still really yung

 2 chainz always looks like he's walking in an airport

 i have 5 twitters

 i didnt know what bill paxton looked like, i was thinking RIP gene hackman

 why doesnt anyone blog about me

 thesis statements arent real

 thinking about my book

 i deleted both my tumblrs by accident

 sad about my tumblr

 my name is all over the internet

 im a lizard

 someday there'll be no more ppl

 a lot of conor oberst song titles have parentheses

 feeling sad about the actions of my clone, who passed away

 idk how to use venmo or what it is

 present-day tumblr is like the end of the never ending story where atreyu is talking with the rock biter and the nothing is swirling around

 when someone, anyone, is upset with me im afraid im going to be assassinated

 the views-era apple music ads that depict drake working hard in the studio have really affected and inspired me

 on tumblr i have 4 followers

 almost all of my tweets seem unimportant

 feel that if someone told me that one of my tweets made them upset i would just apologize and delete it

 ground control to commander venus

 i like my new tumblr

 i would be wearing a cardigan rn but i dont have one

 feel that i will continue to generate bright eyes-related content throughout my life

 is everything ok

 i look like michael moore

[gamerszone2019-blog]

Erica Review - Grab The Popcorn

New Post has been published on https://gamerszone.tn/erica-review-grab-the-popcorn/

Erica Review - Grab The Popcorn

Erica never lets you feel at ease for long. In one scene, a character teaches Erica how to play a song on the piano–you’re encouraged to memorize the cute little melody and try to perform the correct timing. But just when you start playing along, somebody suddenly starts coughing up blood everywhere, it’s messy and gross, everyone starts screaming, and the vibe is killed. In Erica you have to treasure those sweet breaks before they’re swiftly swiped from your hands and replaced with a solid helping of worry, stress, and a side of confusion.

A fully filmed playable thriller in which the titular character is on a mission to help solve a murder case that she has strange family ties to, Erica utilizes some subtle yet effective film-inspired techniques–like match on action and screen wipes triggered by touchpad interactions–to tell its enigmatic tale. To progress each scene, you choose dialogue options and make various adventure game-like actions. The game bounces back and forth in time between Erica’s childhood with her father to the mess that is modern-day life, in which she has to move to a strange hospital her late parents helped create for her own safety.

Erica, played by real-life actor Holly Earl, is a relatable, if malleable, protagonist. Earl regularly looks like she’s bewildered or uncomfortable, exactly how you feel as a viewer in most of the situations. She seems thoughtful and patient, but other than that there isn’t too much of a set personality for her. You decide through your in-game choices if she’s more passive or aggressive or unhelpful during the case, and because of the high stakes murder circumstances, switching her attitude and approach never feels abrupt nor out of character. Even if you spend most of the game being rude, you can be friendly to someone and it doesn’t feel weird. Your reactions, and in turn Erica’s, are likely to change frequently during a playthrough every time new information pops up, objectives change, and new, incredibly peculiar characters enter the picture.

Somehow, every new character you meet is more suspicious than the last. Everyone talks to you like they just poisoned the food you’re eating. There’s a sequence in the courtyard where you can choose a girl to hang out with and get to know better, and right after you pick a possible pal to spend the afternoon with, the head of the hospital says, “Just remember that some of the girls here… Uh… They can be quite manipulative,” and just walks away. The guy is nowhere to be found after that, and you’re left sitting there wondering why would he say that–and before you know it, you’re overthinking every interaction because you don’t know which person he was insinuating was going to manipulate you. All of the secrets, ulterior motives, and Erica’s own faulty memory cause for some very intriguing “Trust nobody, not even yourself” gameplay.

Perpetual disorientation is the central feeling of Erica, and it’s what keeps you searching for the truth no matter how many crooked obstacles stand in your way. The plot is ever-changing and chaotic; you’re attempting to solve a crime by talking to a plethora of weirdos in an unfamiliar, creepy place while having stifling flashbacks of your messed-up childhood. There’s so many forces clashing and intense situations going on that you find yourself yearning to make sense of even the smallest mystery just to feel grounded. There was a time where Erica was being gaslit by a character and I ended up shaking my fist and yelling “She’s not crazy, you’re just lying!” at my TV–but even though that character annoyed me I kept listening to them in case they accidentally dropped a small hint to steer me in the right direction, and they did. Erica is a striking example of a whodunit that’s heightened by its enthralling characters, shady occult science, and recollections of previous trauma.

From the overall murder case to smaller questions like what kind of hospital you’re staying at, there are a number of mysteries weaving together concurrently throughout Erica. It’s easy to miss context that’s vital to understanding the full picture. You might get an answer to a question that’s been burning in your mind for the last half hour, but that answer could be a truth that presents new pathways to choose from or a lie that leads you astray. That mystery management is exciting and makes every experience with the game its own curious, isolated thriller molded by whatever answers and stories you care about at the time.

You can use either a DualShock 4 controller or a companion phone app to play Erica; the latter is smooth and seamless for the most part, while the former is bogged down by a clunky implementation of touchpad controls and is the far less preferable option. As you move through the narrative, you alternate between selecting which areas to explore, choosing dialogue options like “contempt” or “desperation,” and performing no-stakes everyday actions like cleaning the fog from a mirror or turning on the sink. Potential actions are shown as silhouettes on-screen, and there’s also a mock trajectory of where to swipe your hand on your phone if you’re using the app. The inputs are all done by small, comfortable hand swipes, not extending to the full horizontal or vertical reach of the screen.

Most actions are intuitive, and you feel like you know where to swipe and what you can do before the game even tells you. There’s a moment where you and a detective walk up to an empty reception desk that has a bell sitting on it, for example. I lit up when I saw it and I started tapping on the screen a bunch–Erica didn’t hesitate to mimic my actions in her world and ding away, so much so that the detective swatted her hand off of it because he got annoyed. The straightforward motions make navigating trouble-free, and being able to quickly deduce what moves you can make adds a connection to the moment-to-moment gameplay. It keeps your focus on the important things, like figuring out what the heck is going on in the story.

Choices and quick-time events happen every 30 seconds or so, which may sound overwhelming, but it isn’t so in practice. Most of the time, they aren’t high pressure actions; they’re a chain of a few choices, and those chunks are separated by longer cutscenes every so often. They do eventually get mundane and feel unnecessary, especially if you choose to use the DualShock 4, though. The game is controlled entirely with touch, and while the swipes are supposed to be a convenience for your hands, it’s difficult to perform them on the small DualShock touchpad without your fingers slipping off or hitting the joysticks. There were also a few occasions where the companion app was slightly unresponsive, which is something that can have game-changing consequences if it happens at a critical moment. It takes a second to get back into the game’s rhythm after there’s a blip in the controls. They’re small things, but those shortcomings pull you out of what is otherwise a really engrossing experience.

In general, the filmic elements are integrated so carefully that it’s a genuine and mostly calculated mix of two mediums. Erica is in the middle of game and movie, and a lot of small mechanics add up to show that. For example, the character Erica is an artist, and there’s a scene fairly early on where you can flip through the pages of her artbook. Looking through a character’s personal items is a common feature in interactive adventure games, but the detail that went into shooting the natural angles of each flip makes it an even more intimate way of gaining insight into who the character is. Outside of the footage itself, all of the trophy pop-ups are paused until you complete the game, which goes a long way to keep you from getting distracted. It’s a small, fitting touch for a game that values story so much.

Perpetual disorientation is the central feeling of Erica, and it’s what keeps you searching for the truth no matter how many crooked obstacles stand in your way.

There are also some sneaking situations that are made better by the film aspect. There are always conversations happening behind closed doors, and because you have so many questions that you need answered, sometimes you have to be a weirdo and eavesdrop on people. If you peek out for too long or open the door too fast, they’ll see you, stop their conversation, and share an awkward glance with you. Because it’s footage of actual peoples’ facial expressions, it makes you cringe a little more–and that is one of the most high-tension fail states I can imagine.

The whole time, the game marinates you in a constant anxious energy that fuels a curiosity for the dodgy, mysterious world that you’re influencing. Some scenes you’re just holding a book or a photo and staring at it for details, but since it’s paired with an insidious sting it transforms what would be a normal occasion into bitter dread. There are flashbacks, dreams, and abnormal things happening frequently; oftentimes you’re forced to decide on the one secret you want to uncover the most and drop the others. Should you pick up the phone that’s been ringing in the lobby or check out that weird ghost thing in the hallway? There are some decisions that are straight-up difficult–high-stakes ones where, in the bottom of your heart, you don’t know what the right thing to do is, but you know you have to do something. Those times will have you wishing that this game was just a movie, but Erica is more than that.

Erica has a strong, fleshed-out narrative full of twists and turns that each bring their own unique piece to the story. Its cryptic tone is carried through the audio, visuals, and writing; it never lets you relax. Sometimes weird controls jolt you out, but there is an abundance of enticing threads to follow, and it’s a treat to be able to mold your own adventure out of it. Using a combination of crisp cinematography and FMV-specific game mechanics, Erica never fails to hook you into its haunting, mysterious world.

Source : Gamesport