#Should I make a review tag?

[louiesselfshipramblings]

Thoughts on the media my f/os are from!

The MCU kinda sucks these days. The last good thing they put out was GotG Vol. 3, and you know that was all Gunn. Granted, the series's highs are still very high—Iron Man, Avengers 1, all the Captain America movies, Thor 1, Thor Ragnarok, the Guardians trilogy—and there is occasionally some good. And of course I have a soft spot for the Hawkeye tv show. It was good!

The Legend of Zelda is still one of my fave series, and while I did enjoy Tears of the Kingdom on initial playthrough...man, this game sucks. And not even in a bad game way; it's just so derivative. Which like, yeah, sequel literally built off the back of BotW, but there's no innovation. It has all the issues BotW had, but worse. Like, I'm biased of course, but Purah's redesign is legit one of the best things about the game. Like, it's not bad, I like it, but man...and the story! Jeez, what a waste of time...

ENA is weird cause like, I knew about, then my friend showed me it, and I thought it was neat. Still a cool idea and such. It's just I kinda joined when the "original" Ena was ending and stuff with DreamBBQ was starting. My pref is still towards OG Ena, but I'm excited to see where Joel G takes things.

I have an interesting relationship with Sonic the Hedgehog; I don't play his games too often, but I love the lore, and side material like the comics and shows. Sonic Lost World is not a game I played, but I heard negative things about. Basically a Mario Galaxy clone...but Mario Galaxy is good, no? Considered by many one of the best games of all time? I dunno. The main thing is the Deadly Six...like I love Zeena, naturally, but the others. Eh...neutral. There's a reason my sona is Mobian and not zeti lol.

I was originally gonna watch the One Piece anime, but I eventually decided to go with the manga cause I heard it was paced better, plus I always wanted to read manga. Overall, I like it! It's very good. Simple at points, yet powerful too. I just wish Oda was a lil less horny, or at least reeled back the likes of Sanji and Brook. And drew women differently. And fixed Usopp's design. Yeh. Aside from that, it's good.

I haven't played Overwatch! I just think Sombra and D. Va are pretty. Mei, too. And Venture is kinda snazzy. It looks fine. Blizzard sucks but you knew that.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure was my first real anime (outside of like the Pokemon anime), and it was good! David Productions really nailed the art style and colors, especially the color choices! Might check out the manga some day, but very excited for Part 7 to be animated!

Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur is the perfect show to watch if you're a Marvel fan and fed up with the MCU. Creative, striking, and actually progressive when Disney isn't banning episodes like the morons they are. I need to watch a few more episodes, but the show is VERY good. Track down that banned one if ya can, it is WORTH it!

I've been a fan of Five Nights at Freddy's since I was a wee lad...never played an entry lol. Yeh I was more into the lore with MatPat, Dawko, 8-Bit Ryan, Razzbowski, those guys. It was fun! I still enjoy it but it def fell to the back burner. The movie was good, prob gonna see the sequel.

For the record I would totally give Danganronpa a chance, but ugh I just cannot do visual novels. There's just not enough "game" for me, if ya get me. No shade to people who do enjoy em, more power to ya. Just not for me. From the gameplay of 1, 2 and V3 I've seen...seems okay. Outdated at parts, and kinda on the nose with its 'hope v despair' theme, but each seems a solid mystery with a colorful cast.

I was late on the train for Kid Icarus: Uprising, but damn when I hoped on, did NOT regret it. Some of the greatest writing, voice acting, voice direction, story, and characters yet to be put to a single Nintendo game! The greatest come back for ANY Nintendo franchise! Gameplay is kinda standard but plays well. A sequel would be nice, but honestly a port to the Switch would be lovely as well.

For five bucks, Pseudoregalia is a steal. N64/PS1-looking 3D metroidvania with great music and solid controls. Plus the main character is my wife. I've been meaning to finish it, but I've been busy...will one day tho!

Indigo Park is another game I haven't played, BUT I did watch MarKatoto play through all of chapter 1, so that counts right? Anyways, cute looking game. Charming. Nice atmosphere. It doesn't feel like it's trying to crib FNAF's style, which is to its benefit. I have high hopes for the game moving forward, especially when compared to slop like BanBan, yuck.

The Mario + Rabbids games, both Kingdom Battle and Sparks of Hope, are the most not-me games I ended up likely. XCOM-esque real time strategy where Mario crosses over with Ubisoft's Rabbids? But it works! I still need to play the DLCs all the way through, but again...busy! Maybe some day...

The Wild Robot truly is a triumph. A phenomenal film with gorgeous animation, amazing voice work, a simple yet effective story, and just an air of coziness to it. It's a nice film. Can Chris Sanders just direct every movie from now on?

I got into Doki Doki Literature Club when mascot horrors were in their peak. Ya know, Hello Neighbor, Bendy, Tattletail, that stuff. Again, like FNAF and Indigo Park, I never played it myself, but seen it played enough to know it well. Maybe it doesn't have the best presentation or execution, but I still feel it's effective at what it's trying to do, all while still having a lovely cast of characters and a very cute art style. Would check out DDLC+, but again...visual novels.

Pokémon...ugh. What a franchise. Most profitable franchise in the world, backed by one of the most beloved and successful gaming companies of all time, all to releases, well...Scarlet & Violet on release day. Gen 7 was the last game I considered good, and maybe I'm biased. Last game you could have every mon in. At the very least, I still love the series for its ideas and designs, and I am looking forward to Legends Z-A. Legends Arceus was surprisingly good, so with how long Z-A is taking, not to mention FINALLY being the long coveted third Kalos game, I'm hopeful.

[stealingyourbones]

Never will I stop with the steadfast notion that folks in the DPXDC fandom should interact with at least some form of canon DC media.

There are comics, tv shows, radio dramas both old and new, podcasts, movies, magazines, so much shit that intentionally avoiding the media is simply preventing yourself from spawning new ideas and gaining a new appreciation for a fandom that you’re already in.

The Superman Radio Show has episodes 11 minutes long. A lot of the TV shows don’t have episodes that surpass 30 minutes and most are nearly fully clipped on the official DC YouTube channel. The amount of fan made motion comics is astounding. The amount of fanmade animations is equally as incredible.

[i-like-forcefem]

Oooo darling~

I just bought the most lovely pair of shoes for you! And I decided that if you promise to be a Good Girl I’ll release your foot constraints and let you walk around in them!

“MmHHHMMmM”

Awwww, that gag never gets old does it? This will be just lovely~

These shoes match you cute little dress and make up better then I dreamed, now raise your cute little foot for me, doll, lets make you even cuter~

[curly4830]

Finished ISAT last night, this game was an emotional rollercoaster from start to end, tbh. I've got a lot of thoughts about the game and they're all pretty short, but I'd like to list some of them here.

The coin is interesting! I think mechanically it's a good way to check Siffrin's internal monologue of the same thing, regardless of area/party status. But story wise, it's a whole other thing to me. Loop and Siffrin have their own kind of Heads/Tails duality, and Odile's coin flip makes me think that it could have/might have been Loop in our Siffrin's place instead, if things had gone just a little differently. Siffrin's forgetfulness being both a foreshadow to his home country AND the potential years worth of time stuck in the loops. and the player's forgetfulness, that too. Another angle I'd like to explore in the future is Siffrin's sprites, and the (possibly intended) idea of taking the growing space covered in shadow on his face as a loss of humanity/the concept of self. It helps take the idea of Siffrin seeing himself as an actor to the next level for me. You could extend this to the Mal Du Pays/Bigfrin sequences being the total loss of self, Siffrin being sent over the edge(and subsequently grounded by his party members). But he made it back! and that's really what matters, isn't it. It's very in line with the literal context of the scenes but I appreciate that the lines are there to be read between, even if not everybody cares to. i definitely think about faces/the self a normal amount, you can trust me i swear. Siffrin clearly did not have enough problems on his own so I had to push my whole faces/sense of self thing on him too. Loop. oh god Loop. I have a lot of thoughts about Loop and their Identity, and it's going to take a while to figure out! but i'm totally fine with that. is it morally wrong to feel a deep kinship to loop?? i don't know!!! i'm gonna find out though. i was actually just recently thinking about how i don't like using the term kinning for characters because it feels very intimate and I can't say i've felt the same thing other people who kin characters feel. BUT. i think loop gave me some kind of disease i think i'm not well I just couldn't do most of the Dagger dialogue. It was too much for me personally. I did it once and it made me feel bad enough to return it and swear off the idea. until i go back to finish achievements, that is. Fucked up, though!! The loops and their infinite catharsis started to mean nothing at all until they make the even more fucked up mega catharsis. I thought Signalis and it's ending hit me hard but this game reduced me to a crying mess by the end. And lastly I'm very appreciative of @usefulnt0409 for being there to help me through the entire game. I like sharing my first playthroughs of things with people that enjoy them. Having them around to help with mechanical stuff I'd never pick up on(Loop dialogues and the conditions associated with most of them) and when I'd accidentally skip a dialogue just made the experience very special. I don't think I'll soon forget this game, it was an incredible experience even through the gas leak 5am vcs. I think they made it better.

[the-gayest-show]

just finished all the remainder of the episodes of fop a new wish that i didn't finish (so crocker to the future to lost in fairy world) and i really liked it!

overall, banger after banger this show really is a fun one, nickelodeon better give em a s2 PLEASE THIS IS THE ONLY CURRENTLY RUNNING SHOW I HAVE-

episode reviews below!

Crocker to the Future: genuinely loved all the parascience things. I do 100% feel like that award for preserving in the face of adversity or whatever truly belonged to Crocker. my guy was at this for like. 10+ years! AND THAT"S JUST THE OG FAIRLY ODDPARENTS!!! MY GUY WAS ON HIS "fairies are real!!! trust me!!" thing for ENOUGH TIME FOR FOP A NEW WISH TO TAKE PLACE!!!!!! i'm so glad he (sort of) got to have the award in that ghost containment thing.

AJ in the episode was interesting but honestly major L for AJ. I thought he'd be like the next einstein, not a parascience mf. maybe Timmy Turner fucked him up a bit, who knows...

Battle of the Dimmsonian: Genuinely felt bad for Peri here. Like DUDE. You are stuck with this asshole kid (Dev I love you but be nicer plss) who just sorta demands things from Peri like all the damn time? poor kid. Reminds me of what Remy Buxaplenty had with his godparent but at least wandisimo had a semi-similar personality so it kind of worked. Not saying that Peri and Dev don't work, it might since Dev has been shown to be nice underneath but I can't stand the blatant mistreatment for now.

But also, damnnnn he IMMEDIATELY recognizes his parents and goes "oh shit" it's crazy how he managed to do that when they're fidget toys on a kid's backpack.

I also liked the whole back and forth thing ("Mom? Dad?" "Son?" etc), Cosmo being the only one to not do that is so true for him.

I wonder if Peri not seeing Cosmo and Wanda was intentional, we'll see!

Patty Possum's Party Playground: I almost thought this episode was gonna be like Five Night's At Freddy's or somethign with the animatronics but I guess not! I liked Patty Possum, she's so rad! I can defo see why Winn liked skateboarding after that. I love Cosmo and Wanda being certified idiots in this episode. They took "you can't use magic" seriously (as seriously as "oh Wanda shrunk into the claw machine so we could actually get a prize" can be) and stuck BOTH of their wands in the claw machine. If there's anything I love about this show, it's Cosmo and Wanda being two halves of a whole idiot. Truly can't function without magic fr fr I liked the gag of Hazel's dad literally being punctual as hell. That scene where he's like "oh it only takes 29 min and 30 seconds to get there" and then it hits 7:30 and he's panicking is so real (what if I headcanoned him as autistic. what then? just like me fr fr).

A Date To Remember: A really cute episode where Hazel essentially has to compete against Cupid (who looks like a baby now, I guess they got rid of his looks from the main series and gave them to Peri lol) [look how they untwinkified my boy /j] to make sure Hazel's parents fall back in love again. The ending where the parents think it was just another puppet show was crazy, wasn't expecting that tbh!

Lost In Fairy World: WE GOT THE FAIRY TRIO INTERACTING LET'S GOOOOOOO

It seems like their dynamic is basically just over protective coddling parents vs their son who really doesn't like it. But despite what I used to think before seeing this episode (that maybe Peri had some kind of resentment or something) it doesn't seem that way? Peri seems to like his parents overall and maybe even might enjoy the affection (if it weren't for the godkids there), but I get why he turned off the tracker and such. My guy wants independence! You go boy! Them sneaking in to Jorgan's office was really funny and stuff. I hope we'll see them all together in the next episodes because I like their dynamic and want to see where it goes!

Dev and Hazel were great here too! Dev is still kind of an ass to Peri but not as much which is an improvement! I like how he gets that "dimmadome face" or whatever it was called where he basically looks as deranged as his dad. Like father, like son I guess. Dev and Hazel actually having fun together is a step up from where they used to be, it seems like they solved their argument somehow. Dev sort of took that to mean that they weren't friends anymore, poor thing.

Dev taking advantage of the loopholes is so smart lol, Peri having a crisis and his parents like "AWWW, baby's first loophole wish!" is crazy.

The rule that "you can only go to fairy world if you're being tested by jorgan" doesn't really make sense if you think about original FOP though. Timmy got to go there almost recreationally! Dude probably attended like 90% of all fairy world events and shit and he was the talk for the town for an entire episode! Make it make sense!!!

Overall tho I LOVED these and they were enjoyable af. Would watch again. Judging by what I saw for descriptions of the next episodes, Peri's anti fairy (or Foop, now known as Irep, which if you ask me doesn't have the same ring to it) will be working with Dev? Crazy. Anyways yeah I had a lot of fun and woah this post got kinda long

[adobe-outdesign]

omg can you review the mighty poogle 🥺

The Poogle is one of those really abstract Neopets wherein it's just a Creature(TM). What kind of creature? Who knows. I guess they're meant to be vaguely dog-like (seeing as Poogle racing is a thing, and it does sound vaguely like "poodle"), but they really don't lean towards any one specific animal, which is always something I enjoy.

What makes Poogles appealing is undeniably how chubby they are; it makes them look extra cuddly and is part of what gives them their distinctive noses (or lack thereof) and double chins. It also comes with a bit of lore about them living primarily in cold-weather regions, kind of like how seals have blubber to keep them warm.

Beyond that, I also like their stripes; they break up the design just enough without feeling too distracting, similar to their underbellies. The shape of the stripes is also mimicked by their distinctive ears.

I will fully admit though: Poogles got the raw end of the deal when it comes to customization. Not the absolute worst conversion job, mind you, as for the most part they look pretty dang similar—same pose, same proportions, same markings, etc.

However, what got completely messed up is their faces. Originally, Poogles had a soft, fleshy snoot that had two sets of lines to indicate that it was mostly fat and that it went back in space a bit. Removing this upper line makes their snouts look hard, and also has the side effect of making their snout and even their entire head look too wide.

Likewise, the chin got messed up. The Poogle originally had a pretty distinct double chin/fat neck that, once again, showed how chubby they were. More importantly, their chin lines weren't closed off, so their heads bled directly into their bodies. On converted Poogles, they now just look like they have one weird normal chin instead of a chin and neck. The end result is actually kind of uncanny if you stare at them for too long. It's a shame, because like I said, everything else about the conversion works, and there was no reason to change the elements they did. They're still cute, mind you, just slightly less so.

Favorite colours:

MSP: Species-specific colors always tend to be iconic and a delight, and MSP Poogles certainly are no exception. They're basically the same thing as a regular plushie Poogle, except Evil(TM), with red eyes and a nasty set of sharp teeth (side note: canonically, all Poogles actually have sharp teeth; you just rarely see them). The unconverted version also is bipedal, unlike the regular unconverted plushie, which was quadrupedal.

Both converted and unconverted MSPs have a super fun chaotic gremlin energy to them, and both designs are good depending on which stance you prefer (I kind of like the converted quadrupedal, though granted, the loss of some stitching and extra softness is a bit of a shame.)

Toy: This color literally just released last month, but a toy Poogle based off of the good old iDog is just delightful. Even if you don't know anything about iDogs, the design is still good, with the eyes serving to complete a multi-colored hexagon that draws attention to the head, and the rest of the body considering of just a smooth off-white and black.

Zombie: The mindless eyes on this one are just absolutely delightful and give it a ton of personality. I also like the details, such as a few stitches here and there, a scraggly mouth, scratch lines against the usual stripes, and liver spots. As a bonus, it looks good both with PB clothing and without.

BONUS: I don't normally mention "recolor" Neopets as much on these reviews just because they tend to be mostly by-the-numbers, but the pastle Poogle is honestly gorgeous, with subtle gradients and a low-contrast blue and pink color scheme, helped by colored lineart. It's nothing fancy, but it's definitely one of the all-time best pastels out there.

[elvenchevalier]

Assassin's Creed (Game)

Hoo boy let me tell you about THIS hunk of prime rib.

First of all, just to, you know, unleash the hounds a little, to HELL with Ubisoft. I own the game on Steam, right? Bought it some time ago for my nephew. So I figured, aight, no need to find AC1 on PS5 or Switch, I’ll just fire it up on Steam. I settle in, put on my headphones, get my cat into my lap...

...then disaster struck.

Every two minutes, the game would lock up for ten to fifteen seconds at a time. You can imagine that this makes the game completely unplayable, so I took to the greater internet to suss out the problem and find a fix for it.

As it turns out!

It’s stalling like that because every couple of minutes, Assassin’s Creed sends a ping to a server at Ubisoft dedicated to AC1

That No Longer Exists

The server AC1 (a fifteen-year-old single-player game) wants to ping hasn’t existed for years, but Ubisoft seems to be outright refusing to go back and patch the Steam version so it’ll stop doing that. So the only way to play on the Steam version is to completely disconnect from the internet so the game CAN’T send any pings. And I ain’t gonna do that, so I took to the Switch and PS5 online stores.

...Turns out AC1 isn’t on either of them. Both of them start with the Ezio trilogy.

So I had to sail the high seas and learn how to get the bloody thing running on RPCS3, which was its OWN bucket of templar droppings but at least the game was playable, despite the occasional crash!

In the end I think getting this game started took me something like...four or five total hours. I was almost too tired to play at that point.

And with my complaining out of the way, how did I feel about the actual game?

I thought it was brilliant. It’s not hard to see why this series became popular right from the get-go. I particularly enjoy games where I am rewarded for being stealthy (never mind that I haven’t gotten around to Dishonored 2), and Assassin’s Creed delivered wonderfully.

One of the main draws of the series—the parkour—was...I’ll say unpolished. It can have some leniency because it was the first game, but if that was in a newer game I would riot. Even with that being said, though, it was still very fun to jump across rooftops and shank archers. (Also sometimes I’d be climbing a building and some rando throws a rock at me to knock me down??? I’m not even being chased, it was just some guy! Multiple times!!!)

Actual combat I could have...had a better time with, to be honest. It felt like the optimal play in basically any situation was to wait until an enemy struck and then counter, right up to the endgame. That didn’t stop me from mowing down dozens of guards at a time, but still!

I did of course prefer to avoid fights where I could—I AM an assassin, after all. So blending into crowds and becoming anonymous after shanking a dude provided endless satisfaction, even if it makes the game feel a little slow at times. Scholar groups in particular always felt very fun to blend in with, especially since Altair is still armed to the teeth—you’re telling me the guards can’t see the daggers on my shoulder? Guess not. Maybe they've got that perception filter that the TARDIS has.

I appreciated that the assassination targets felt like puzzles, for the most part—although a couple seemed nearly impossible to do normally. Talal and Majd in particular I simply could not get in a position to shank so I had to fight them. That is proooobably a skill issue on my part, though.

There were a couple of problems I had with the game, and not necessarily because it’s early AC. For one thing, it sometimes felt nearly impossible to break line-of-sight to escape pursuers. After one target, I very genuinely spent five solid minutes running around the city just trying to break line-of-sight long enough to find a hiding spot to vanish. It was the longest five minutes of my LIFE lemme tell ya.

And on the subject of escaping pursuers, sometimes when I got caught, it was simply easier to let myself get killed and reload from checkpoint than to waste time trying to escape, precisely because of the difficulty of it.

My other issue was the fact that you had to press a button when the screen shows glitches to change the camera. Just show me the cinematic scene, don’t make me actively choose it. But that’s a very minor issue, personal preference and all that.

(Two things in this game did nothing more than irritate me--the beggars who constantly block your movement, and THESE GOD DAMN DRUNKARDS who want to push you every time you so much as blink at them. They are responsible for SEVERAL failed investigation attempts. I hate them dearly.)

Spoilers under the cut, as per the yoozh!

Sibrand was the easiest target by far. He literally just stands at the helm of his ship, alone, no guards, so you just climb up and shank the guy. Getting to him was the real challenge, considering Altair for some reason Cannot Swim??? I’m just going to assume Altair likes to collect cool rocks and his coat is just. Full of rocks. All of them cool as hell.

The way the targets made me feel like the villain for most of the game was really well-done, especially when Altair recognizes that though their causes were just, their means were very much not. It is the action, not the goal, that is evil. That being said, Altair does go around killing a whole lot of people. Like a lot of people. A loooooot. We’re talking shades of gray here, guys.

The final few fights vs Robert and the Crusaders, starting from the first attempt at his assassination in Jerusalem, actually got me tilted a couple of times. It felt genuinely unbeatable at first. The Jerusalem fight had a checkpoint right after the cutscene, meaning after I died, the archers came back, and since the fight has already begun at that checkpoint there’s no easy way to get rid of them. I ended up having to kite the mobs to a space that was difficult for one archer to reach and impossible for the other, and even then I had a fair bit of trouble with it because they just did many damage. so many damage

After that, though, the run through Arsuf felt like a victory lap. Every group of enemies fell to my sword like so many knives through so much butter, or some cliché analogy like that. Right up to the end, when the very last fight against Robert and the Crusaders ramped up in difficulty. It’s to be expected, though, given that it is endgame.

And then the game dropping the bombshell that was Al Mualim on me? OOF. I mean I saw it coming, but still, it was a masterclass. And that fight against him was perfect.

I absolutely intend to play the next game, but in the interest of not getting burned out, I’m gonna be alternating AC games with other stuff. Next will be Oracle of Ages, and then I’ll do the two Oracle games together on this blog.

‘Til then y’all,

またね！

[catastrophicalcat]

Lex and the City

It was fine as an anthology of short stories! I rather liked it. Specific thoughts:

The titular Lex story was a tiny bit hard to follow, but I got the sentiment--I wish that it would have gone a bit harder, if that makes sense.

The Harlivy story was cute. I get the critique that it's another example of Harley being recognized over Ivy, but I also get that she's an easier character to write.

The Freeze story was really well constructed! Props to the writer for packing so much in such a short space. In response to the discourse, I appreciate that the henchwoman who complains about her landlord being scarier than Batman is the probably the one who hurts the protagonists boyfriend unjustifiably. I also like that Batman gives the tools to the struggling couple to get financial support instead of becoming villain goons

I loved the Titans story and particularly that it celebrates the most unrecognized group of people for Valentine's day - guys spending time together.

The Robin story. It was great! It was funny! People had unexpected cameos! Yes Tim's backstory no longer makes any sense in continuity but so what just roll with it! I like that it celebrates Gotham!

Speaking of celebrating Gotham and cameos, I adored the Riddler story! So funny. Such good cameos! And great representation that sometimes, just because you're alone on Valentine's day, doesn't mean you have to be lonely, and you can always do what you love (which, in this case, happens to be trapping Batman in riddles in Gotham, but you get the point).

I could not power through the other two lol.

[supercantaloupe]

so. circus rigoletto!

this production was by an indie opera company based in dc called inseries opera, who apparently focus on performing both new works and old works with creative, "irreverent" (their word) takes on them. this is my first production of theirs i've seen. it was the second show in their 24-25 series, which is based around the theme of shows which were censored and/or banned when they were written. this production took verdi's classic and gave it a new english translation, new chamber orchestra arrangements, and slapped some greasepaint and glitter all over everything.

it was a small production -- cast of seven, very reduced orchestra, small theater and smaller set, but i have long thought that verdi would be suited for more intimate, pared-down settings. and i would say tonight proved my theory correct. while there were a couple of times i wished the orchestra could have had a bit more oomph behind it (though i really liked the organ accompagnato), in general i think it suited the production well and the intimacy invited between the physical closeness between the audience and performers really added to the experience. it's like an oklahoma 2019 thing for me i guess. story's about social ostracization and complacency with oppression, the actors should be able to look you in the damn eye right back lol

i thought the circus setting was used remarkably effectively. there is a heightening and ridiculousness to the clowning that, besides just being funny, works to stand in for the cruelty and carelessness of the courtiers and lend kind of a morbid irony to the whole story by the end. and they use the visual language of the circus to its fullest, thematic/symbolic effect.

for example, the use of balloons: gilda is introduced with a red balloon, tied to her wrist. it's a symbol of her innocence and youth. after her encounter with "gualtier malde," she uses a cup of greasepaint (see more below) to draw a smiley face on the balloon, and then caresses it and dances with it in dreamy bliss. then, at the end of act i when she's captured, the last we see of her after she's taken behind the curtain (and her shadow is cast from the other side -- shadowplay is used a lot in this production), the balloon is loosed, deflates, and falls to the ground. then in act ii when rigoletto is trying to find her, the courtiers all hold white balloons to mock him, and release them to deflate when he discovers what's happened.

another example: everyone in act i except for rigoletto is dressed for the circus. there's a female ringleader (later maddalena, also fills the role of countess ceprano, but mostly she's an unnamed accomplice to the courtiers), a couple clowns (marullo/ceprano (they two rolls are basically combined here) and borsa), a strongman in goofy bodysuit and leotard (monterone), and a mime/clown (duke). everyone (except the ringleader...i'll get to it) is in a goofy costume and greasepaint except for rigoletto. even though he participates fully in the mischief of the court in scene i, visually he's othered from everyone else, with his unpainted face and plain overalls. (also, while the actor does not feign disability through physical mannerism or through any kind of costume prosthesis, throughout the show he's referred to as "hunchback" "hunched" and "crippled" so they definitely aren't overlooking WHY he's so hated here lol). anyway, act i scene ii comes along, and sparafucile arrives -- he's not in a clown suit, but he IS greasepainted, because he's actually doublecast with monterone and the costume change here happens onstage. he's othered too, but still participates in the system of violence his own way. after that, when rigoletto arrives at home, we see gilda, and she is similarly non-circus -- just a normal dress and no face paint. (also, the gilda they cast is TINY. i think their rigoletto was a little on the tall side, but even still, in heels gilda only came up to his shoulder. barefoot in act ii she only reaches his chest. with the balloon and the way she was costumed and acted, this is easily the youngest-seeming gilda i've yet watched, which suits the story.) fast forward to act ii, and rigoletto is frantically searching for gilda while the courtiers watch in silent amusement -- their faces are painted in exaggerated expressions of joy and sadness, both mocking rigoletto and refusing to reveal anything sincere from the people underneath the paint. then, at the end of act ii, when rigoletto swears vengeance on the duke, what does he do? he grabs a cup of greasepaint and smears it onto his face, where it stays through act iii and the end of the show. effectively he became what he hated, tried to join the society that rejects and mocks him -- embodied by the circus makeup -- and it leads to his doom.

now, a word on that ringleader, as i had promised above...she never appears in greasepaint, which i think is something of an oversight, personally. i think by having her and gilda both never appear with their faces painted, it sets them apart from the sins of the courtiers, and is trying to make a point about how all women in the opera are made victims of the duke and the courtiers' behavior. which is fair enough, i suppose, but it only really works if that actress ONLY shows up as countess ceprano and maddalena. but in fact she goes right along with the courtiers as a willing participant at the end of act i and through act ii. this is why i've chosen to call her a "ringleader" here, even though in the program she's only credited as maddalena. sure, i can understand her doublecasting as countess ceprano in act i scene i, and obviously she's maddalena in act iii. but in act i scene ii and act ii, neither of those characters are present, but the actress certainly is, and is just as involved as borsa and marullo (and...monterone? he's also there. he might be intended to be Unnamed Courtier #3 here or something but it's the same costume as monterone so it really reads as monterone. which doesn't make a ton of sense if he's supposed to be in jail awaiting execution but. moving on). at any rate, she also closes the opera by setting off a confetti canon over rigoletto cradling his dead daughter's body and sobbing, so i think she's kind of serving as a leading player from pippin or a cabaret emcee kind of role when she's not specifically being the countess or maddalena. hell, maybe the countess IS the ringleader. not really sure. anyway -- i think she should have also been in greasepaint. even if maddalena is also meant to be a victim the way gilda is, she does also, like, participate in murder and stuff. and if sparafucile is guilty enough of that that he remains greasepainted as monterone was, then i think maddalena should be greasepainted too. it would make gilda's innocence and tragic death stand out even more in the end as the only person left onstage without any makeup or clown costume on whatsoever.

now that's a very longwinded nit i've picked there. but really, i am nitpicking -- i don't have a lot to complain about with this production. my only other big complaint is that the surtitles weren't totally accurate to what was sung, which is weird considering that it's a newly written english libretto, so it's not like we're dealing with translational liberties in the titles. it reads to me like they programmed the titles with the version of the libretto they were using before rehearsals started, and then the libretto got altered here and there during the rehearsal process as things needed to be adjusted to fit the music and facilitate ease of singing/intelligibility, but the titles were never updated to match? which is strange. definitely felt like an oversight. but that's another nit i'm picking. the differences between what was sung and what was written in the titles were all minor wording differences, nothing that changed the actual plot or meaning of the scene.

overall: a great experience, as long as you aren't completely put off by clowns LOL. but i do think the circus design suited the material; they were quite clever to make that connection and draw it out so well. there's more i haven't mentioned here for brevity's (lol) sake, and because some stuff is harder to describe in words than others. the performances were great, with particular kudos to the duke for really nailing the physicality of everything, for doing a great job with the vocals, and for the remarkable talent of being able to juggle while singing "women are featherbrained" (la donna è mobile). he was really entertaining, both funny and sinister/hateable. bravo. but the whole cast did a great job.

i don't know if i'll get to their other shows this season, but i definitely see myself coming back to see what else inseries opera has in store. i might also check out their video archive, since they seem to have videos of past productions available to stream online -- which is an amazing surprise treat from such a small company! i suspect, then, that rigoletto will find its way online at some point to watch -- there were cameras set up to film tonight's performance, so i'll definitely keep my ear to the ground about that. if it goes up online, it'd be good to check out if you're at all interested.

anyway, the show was great. i really enjoyed it. but i could also be swayed by a lot of shows if they sold me movie theater popcorn at the concessions stand.

[kazumimishimadaily]

today's mishima is: is it obvious that im also at the peak of my jjba hyperfixation rn/j

(the background is not mine, see below for the original screenshot)

original:

[puppytoast]

Me glancing at steam d@wntrail reviews

robert downy jr meme: They are missing the point that this is a slow journey before destination story about trying to sincerely learn about, communicate with and work with others because we all have differing perspectives and lives that could benefit one another. That we should not jump to judgements of people we only see the basic surface of because there is always a reason for people's actions. That everyone is worth saving, yeah even that one that did unforgivable shit.

[ygoartreviews]

Abyssal Dragon Lord Abyss Poseidra

The main monster here (Abyss Poseidra) is so confusing to look at, but damn do I love all the details put into it. There's of course, the human part, showing off a golden, highly detailed breastplate (including hippocampi and other water related details), a multitude of flowing white ribbons with golden tassels, a fancy purple scarf, a bisected cape held in place by some seashells, killer kraken tentacles (that may stem from either his cape, his hair, or his back), and a golden laurel crown that appears to include the aquatic details of: some tiny shells, what is likely sea urchin spines, coral branches, and a mini, narwhal-like tusk. From here... Things get a little more confusing. His torso is attached to what is basically a dragon body, except the latter half of his legs morph into horse appendages (hooves included). The details mean the transition from scale to hair is unclear. In fact, the only place scales are really implied is on his back legs. I almost forgot to bring up his lance, which, while cool, has the rather unfortunate illusion of being severely truncated in length, looking like it ends at his left hand (which is extremely loosely gripping it at that). Of course, I can't forget those mythological creatures with him! On the left half of the card we have an array of hippocampi, and on the right we have Cetus. Both are from Greek mythology and heavily associated with Poseidon (who Abyss Poseidra here is obviously based on), so their inclusion here really drives the point home. I love that all these creatures seem to consist solely of water, but in a way that is evocative of like a glass or crystal figurine. While the hippocampi are more simple in their details, I adore that parts of their bodies explicitly look like crashing waves. I gotta give props to all the water details put into this, and not just in the prominent waves at the bottom, but in the little reflective spray of bubbles that forms a circle around his main body and in the incredibly water-like nature of the two halves of his cape, even going so far as to be see-through. All the water and even the lightning strikes in the background create so much dynamic motion. At the very end of this I'm just now registering that Abyss Poseidra's tail does a whole loop around him at the back and kinda seems to confusingly loop through the left and right sides as well (do what you will with this information).

Rating: 8/10, If you zoom in, he has a little fang :)

[svtskneecaps]

feel like the global tasks sweep strat should probably be nerfed somehow. my thought would be, give each team an individual ten minute overall cooldown on global task claims. that is to say, a certain team can only claim one global task per ten minutes. say, deliver gas masks, and then in ten minutes you're allowed to deliver tea, and then after another ten minutes you can claim hot chocolate.

another teams would be able to claim a global task for bananas during this time, and their own ten minute cooldown would start.

(the global tasks can either keep their individual ten minute cooldown [i.e. after tea is claimed no one else can claim tea for ten minutes] or a slightly shorter cooldown, say 5-7 minutes)

when a global task is claimed, everyone is notified, right? if not, in my hypothetical, they will be.

then, a team trying to sweep six tasks at once would actually take sixty minutes to do, allowing another team to swoop in and have a chance to stop it in cinematic, entertaining fashion rather than tubbo having to grind resources and then log out in front of the merchant to counter this, which is boring for everyone (including the person delivering). plus, if a team cuts it down to the last second and ends up getting delayed, they physically wouldn't have time to make a delivery, meaning even being a BIT of a nuisance could be a viable strategy, even if you can't manage to kill; if you can STALL you could still wreck their plans.

that's my dream anyway idk i'm not a game designer. just think it would be interesting for most players

(i elaborate under)

red team would have to shake up their strategies, which is fun since they're a team that kinda has to rely more on strategy than outright brawn (overall the team's pvp can't be relied on unless they have carre or phil, as seen today when pierre, bad, and etoiles attacked phil cellbit foolish and baghera, and cellbit and foolish both died to etoiles in the attack, despite it being a 4 on 1 at the time. baghera was killed by bad soon after. phil was the one to get the kills. the first day, when blue attacked [niki, tubbo, and bad as i recall] carre got both kills)

the other teams would then still have a way to stop a global sweep since a sweep would have to start earlier, allowing not only more time to arrive at global to pvp about it, but ALSO allowing another team to swoop in and steal the goal out from under the team again

i'm gonna use it in a scenario bc i'm badboyhalo and i can't stop myself from making examples:

so, tonight, if the proposed cooldown was in place, bad and tubbo would both still had roughly 17 minutes when red team would have HAD to start the sweep process if they wanted all six global tasks: 1 hour until the server closed at absolute MINIMUM. more for safety's sake.

therefore, in this scenario, there's a lot to happen

blue team could wait at globals, knowing red will probably try this strategy, and attempt or perhaps SUCCEED in killing red. if they kill red entirely, the operation is a wash; red doesn't have to gear to come back from scratch and take out blue team, and even if they could, the travel time to return to globals alone would mean they wouldn't get all the global tasks, potentially meaning they don't take the lead. if blue team is unable to kill red and dies themselves or has to retreat, but succeeds in delaying red, red would face the same problem.

if red sends in all of the task items on one person, and that person dies, even if the rest survived, blue could loot the items from that person and would be able to either use the items themselves, if green is currently the owner, or could run away with the items, effectively wasting red's time and again, meaning they wouldn't get all tasks claimed even if they were able to overtake the runner and reclaim their items.

i'm unclear what would happen if red divided the task items between them since it seems like the person claiming the task doesn't have to have all (or any? again, unclear) the items in THEIR inventory in order to claim so long as a teammate is nearby with the items in their inv (evidence: pac's vod "voltei... o que tá acontecendo no QSMP?!" at roughly 3:00:00; tubbo claims tea and tea is taken out of pac's inventory. i don't know the limits of this strategy)

blue team also has time to swoop in and steal a global task out from under red during this time. say, if red team had claimed the task for 10 tea leaves, upping the price to 15 tea leaves, and then blue team snuck in and claimed the task and set the price up to 20 tea leaves, (since the proposed 10 minute cooldown on claims would be TEAM LIMITED; red's cooldown applying to red only and so on). if red waited until the last second, they wouldn't have the time to reclaim this task even if they did have the resources, possibly forcing them to start their sweep earlier to counter this possibility, at which point team members who had logged on earlier and are out of time by the end of the night, OR members who live in time zones that don't allow them to stay up until server close, may have an easier shot at participating in defending against a global sweep.

all of this DIRECT CONFLICT would make for good audience entertainment and heighten the stakes of an attempted global sweep, since it would practically have to be one team defending globals for an hour while they pipe all their resources into it, knowing that if they die another team could easily swipe their task resources and use it themselves (along with the rest of their gear). it makes it more interesting, while still mostly viable.

plus it would force more strategizing for red team which is maybe just a personal plus, i just really like seeing people planning both in advance and in spur of the moment. it's really satisfying to see how a plan comes together and succeeds or fails; plus, since red team is the main team using this strategy at the moment and their main draw and strength as a team is cohesion and communication this would be completely fucking riveting for me as a viewer so maybe this is just a personal thing. but i really really think it would be fun

but again, i'm not a game designer, or a qsmp player, or a qsmp admin, or honestly even really a gamer? so maybe i'm off my rocker and out of my gourd and this isn't viable or balanced in any way shape or form but YKNOW what is this blog except putting stupid thoughts into the void and seeing if this time the void spits back hate mail so. i'm folding this into a paper airplane and throwing it into the abyss. hopefully it made sense.

k love you appreciate you getting this far, have a good week!!

(i hope your team gets a win in dramatic fashion and celebrates together!!! i hope they come together and unleash a plan so spectacular it takes the server by storm!!! i hope it's so good it becomes a vod you go back to even years in the future!!!! i hope you have a good week!!!!!)

[stagbeetleboy]

Ok I finally finished blood red sky and I think it was a beautiful story about a boy losing his mother to illness. It also brings up topics of racism and weaponized prejudice against arabs and Muslims following 9/11.

I think some of the scenes were too long and it got muddled near the middle (the flashbacks kinda carried) but it the ending was satisfying and tragic.

I don’t usually enjoy vampires being made zombie ripoffs, but the mother loosing her humanity and love for her child was heartbreaking.

I would highly recommend blood red sky if you like action and tragedy.

It was also visually appealing and the creature design was simple but effective and progressed in a way that portrayed the loss of humanity beautifully.

[m0nolitard]

there's is one thing i hate more than Wendig**n himself and that's his ''S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'' fan film ''Shadow of the Zone''. Shot in what is clearly an modern still functioning facility, ''mercenaries'' running around with their (clearly new and freshly washed) tacticool gear, the ''free stalker'' character decked up in american gear and camo wielding an expensive fuckin gun and the most basic knowledge of the Zone (despite being a guide? i assume that's what he is but there's no real characterization to him so), when any lore is mentioned is either just wrong or misinterpreted, and the correct bits of it are just read off the wiki (im not gonna bitch about them calling shit ''paranormal'' cause i dont actually expect anything from this dumbass). Other than thta it's just badly written, had the most basic story you could possibly think of, the characters and their motivations are dudebro macho bullshit. It could take place in any generic ''post apo'' but they needed to cash in on the hype surrounding the release of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 (they released their slop on october 30th i think)

[dawns-jp-babbling]

今日は私のさいごのファイナルしけんがある… がんばりなさい :3

My very last final exam is today... will do my best :3