#and i'm ALWAYS a sucker for that kind of thing in soundtracks

[moonsidesong]

the soundtrack version of splatoon 3 is SO good i can't believe ive never listened to it before now

[catartac]

When i was younger and my brother still lived with us i would sometimes go to him asking for piano improvisations based on different themes i would give him. Often times this would be based on my OCs or scenes from my "story i will someday totally write but for now daydream about and monologue to my siblings". It was nice to sit back, eyes closed, imagining the action with my own background original soundtrack. He was pretty good at it too.

He was the first one to leave home as he went to uni, and he was the only one to never really come back to live with my parents at any point. He was never really the easiest to communicate with and being away didn't make things much smoother.

However, every year, on our birthdays, we will compose songs for us. He knows what we like, so he always crafts them based on our preferences. He knows I'm a sucker for a repeating melody, for violin and piano sounding sounds, he knows I dream of vocals and man he's come close. My sister is all about rhythm and a bit more electronic. One year we collaborated and I made a moving backdrop to his song for her (which also included audio from Kermit the frog in the background... it kinda worked ngl).

He's been working on a game for some time (you know, if being a talented mathemagician and musician wasn't enough) and even though we are definitely not the target audience (it's a rythm game and man i suck at anything that requires reflexes) he kept asking us for feedback every step of the way. He made it very clear that even though the game has a very high skill ceiling he wants to make sure "even mum can play it".

For context, my mum is first adorable and also she's an og gamer. As in, she got carpal tunnel from playing too much tetris when she was younger. Now she loves playing overcooked and animal crossing with us but she get a bit overwhelmed with more complex games (she's just like me frfr).

It came out today! I bought it (he did offer me a key but I kinda couldn't be bothered and also he was one of the first people to but from my Redbubble so i gotta do what i gotta do). I started playing it. Immediately changed my settings to four keys maximum because i was honest with myself. Actually, that's a lie, the first thing i did was change the colours because that's the kind of person i am. Started playing, really loved the first song, quickly realised another one was waaaay out my league, liked another one. Tell my bro, he says "oh you should also check out Bi Katuak, I think it's your birthday song" I check it out, love it but doesn't ring that much of a bell but now that I am on the second page i see it

La Danza del Fenix

Immediately i am transported back, i imagine Amanda, the character, riddled by anxiety and regret, that i then thought i related to the least but have since then came to realise portrayed very accurate parts of me, dancing surrounded by fire in a joyous way for the first time, the freedom, how her daughter will dance at a ball carefree and excited on what will be the real proof that war and tragedy is over

My brother only gives side hugs and half smiles

It's an easy song. With a lovely repeating melody that makes me want to dance around as I play it even if that makes me make mistakes. You're not penalised for mistakes, you can only see your records get higher. The songs never end unless you want them to, and yet they don't loop in any obvious way (something to do with the algorhythm he kept trying to explain but I kind of gave up understanding at some point.

This game may be for you if you like music, rhythm games, or just videogames in general. Though in a way I am sure it will never be for you in the way it was made for me.

It's called EnternAlgoRythm Give it a shot! There is pretty much nothing you can't customise in terms of gameplay and cosmetics and if there's anything you notice you can tell him and he'll do his very best to fix it or improve it. There are plenty of songs for any skill level (some i dare not even touch) and the songs are named in different languages based on the countries we have lived in/had influence from. My favourites are the aforementioned Danza del Fenix, Bi Katuak (defs also made for me, it's an easy cat themed song), Violet Voyage, and Ingranaggi Striscianti.

TLDR: im very emotional pls go play my brother's game

[anartificialsatellite]

So I can't play a lot of video games because anything 3D where the camera moves around a lot with the player character makes me very motion sick pretty quickly. I used to be able to play these sorts of games, but as I've gotten older it's gotten worse and I haven't been able to for a few years now. (I thought finally getting glasses would fix it and it does kind of help, but not enough.) This sucks because it does mean that I miss out on a lot of games, but it also has forced me to broaden my horizons and try games I might not have found otherwise.

One of the places where this becomes more of a problem for me is the horror/thriller genres - I think there's especially a tendency to rely on 3D first and third person perspective (and especially first person) in games that are meant to be scary or creepy or whathaveyou, because when you limit the player's field of view it's not difficult to make them feel trapped and uneasy, and it lends itself well to jumpscares.

...Which makes it all the more impressive, imo, when a game that doesn't use that still succeeds at building that sort of atmosphere and immersion. So!

Here's three of my favorite scary/spooky/creepy atmospheric games without a 3D first or third person perspective:

The Excavation of Hob's Barrow

This point-and-click adventure game has 2D pixel graphics, an excellent soundtrack, and a fascinating and compelling folk horror mystery at its center. Antiquarian Thomasina Bateman travels to an isolated English town on the moors to pursue research for her book on the barrows of England, and (as one usually does in this genre) discovers something strange and sinister lurking beneath the surface. I finished this game in about 2 sessions, by which I mean I've got 10 hours of playtime on it and the only reason it wasn't one session was because I had to stop and do normal human things. (I found this game because I'm a fan of one of the publisher's other titles, The Shivah, a kind of weird and super short detective style adventure game whose main character is a bitter, depressed rabbi, and I really recommend that one as well.)

Oxenfree

Not really horror, I guess, but definitely a supernatural thriller? We'll go with that. Another adventure game, this time one where your choices affect the story. The main character is Alex, a teenage girl who, along with some friends and some non-friends, is spending the night on an island that was once home to an old military base. Using a radio, you unintentionally open a portal and find yourself facing the supernatural effects of a decades old naval disaster. The art is gorgeous, the music is absolutely tits, and there's some really cool gameplay mechanics, as well. I'm also a sucker for spooky radio shit, so when I came across this game I was all over it.

It's got a sequel, Oxenfree II: LOST SIGNALS, which is a similar style game set on a nearby island some time after the events of the first game, and I also super recommend that one, too.

FAITH

I'll start with a caveat for this one: I've only played Chapter 1, because when I first bought and played it that was the only part that was out. I can't speak for any of the rest of this game, and annoyingly, it looks like you can't buy Chapter 1 by itself anymore.

In this retro-styled game you play as a priest returning to the site of a failed exorcism, so if demonic posession and that kind of Catholic religious horror isn't your bag this game probably won't be either, but even as someone who is not Christian, I super enjoyed it. It features 8-bit graphics that remind me of Atari and some old DOS adventure games I haven't played in almost two decades, as well as some truly creepy rotoscoped pixel art. The sound is just as old school as the art and is used to deeply unsettling effect, and I was continuously impressed by how the dev managed to make such a creepy game in this style.

If you've got any others, please share them with me! I absolutely love this kind of thing and am always happy to add more to my "to play" list.

[brb-on-a-quest]

BIRBBBB

For the ask thing!! (Sorry there’s so many lol)

ballpoint pen: tell me about the day you’ve just had

highlighter: what are your best qualities?

felt-tip: describe your aesthetic

sketching pad: describe yourself from a stranger’s point of view

(so sorry for the delay in answering needed brainpower and laptops)

✒️ It started off as a really dead day at work at 5am (always strange fo a Saturday, of all days) and then got really really busy. I have only burned myself twice and only sipped and fell on my face once (I am fine just am a klutz and permanently in a constant battle with teamwork to make things more accessible/less likely to spill (for the love of TARDIS PLEASE DONT DROWN THE CARROTS YOU No ONE LIKES SOGGY CARROTS). I then, apparently, got even further swept up in the #the unmasking of the aussie anon debacle (you know, *that* one). Can't speak much about it, yk, messy legal stuff. I do have a lawyer I have complete trust in so I pray that justice will be delivered soon...

Just finished watching the 2011 recording of the Phantom of the Opera stage play and lskdfjlskdjflskdfj (honestly one of my favorite musicals I am a sucker for theater and a epic soundtrack). Even got to hear Andrew Lloyd Weber go 'oh Gosh' in his very British accent at the end, and it was beautiful (he currently reminds me of one of my school profs and it's making me nostalgic kinda). Now catching up on all of the Tumblr things I have been so delightfully asked in tagged in that I had no brainpower on until... well plot things happen ig.

✏️highlighter: i have an imagination, a pretty good one. I am very funny sometimes. I strive to be kind and present and empathetic. I can bake pretty good. I am trustworthy and I am friendly.

🖊️felt tip (copy and pasted from @hiddenvioletsgrow ask):"In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort. It had a perfectly round door like a porthole, painted green, with a shiny yellow brass knob in the exact middle. The door opened on to a tube-shaped hall like a tunnel: a very comfortable tunnel without smoke, with panelled walls, and floors tiled and carpeted, provided with polished chairs, and lots and lots of pegs for hats and coats - the hobbit was fond of visitors. The tunnel wound on and on, going fairly but not quite straight into the side of the hill - The Hill, as all the people for many miles round called it - and many little round doors opened out of it, first on one side and then on another. No going upstairs for the hobbit: bedrooms, bathrooms, cellars, pantries (lots of these), wardrobes (he had whole rooms devoted to clothes), kitchens, dining-rooms, all were on the same floor, and indeed on the same passage." (Tolkien took my aesthetic and gave it to biblo, minus the hole in the ground). Think like... soft and cozy and a bit academic and warm and inviting and there's always a pot brewing for you and we can sit and do nothing or go on an adventure together dearie. Think like fantasy adventure cozy core. Low fantasy if you will.

📃 sketchpad: hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. i have two little feet with three pointed toes that I can use to perch on your shoulder. I have a pointed beak that I'm very proud of and can speak pretty fluent English. working on Spanish and pronunciation but it's a step up from birb song. I am very round and soft and good for cuddling. My plumage varies in colors from seasons but now I am decked out with raven-like plumage with a iridescent sheen to them

[drivinmeinsane]

Hi! Just super curious about what are your top three favorite Ryan Gosling movies and why?

Firstly, thank you for the question!!! You had me fighting for my life trying to decide, but I think I've narrowed it down to these three in order of favoritism based on what I have watched. There's still a (very) small handful of movies with Ryan Gosling that I haven't seen.

When it comes to picking a favorite movie, the characters and the themes/overarching motifs are what speak to me. So these picks are based on vibes, not anything technical... if that makes any sense?

1. Drive

This is my favorite movie even outside of the Ryan Gosling qualifier. I was hooked from the minute I heard Driver's opening dialogue. Driver's swinging between violence and tenderness? The futile destruction of everything to keep a found family dynamic intact because he needs it so badly? The intensity of Driver himself? The way he's largely silent, but there's so much to be read in the absence of words? I'm feral for it all.

The threads from some scenes connecting to others in unexpected ways was phenomenal (the no good sharks scene tying into the car chase with Nino gets me every time). I loved the setting, the characters, the lighting, the soundtrack... just all of it. 10/10. I could write entire essays on this movie.

2. Blade Runner 2049

I found the character of K to be so compelling. His devastating exploration of what it means to be a human being, to be important in a way that he feels matters... it's heartbreaking. I was also drawn to the relationship he had with Joi. It was a bittersweet insight to K's mind and his desire to be wanted, loved.

It's a movie that has stuck with me ever since I first watched it. There's numerous scenes and lines that have taken up residency in my thoughts. The performance that Gosling gave was truly incredible. He breathed so much life into a character that, by all rights, should have been a soulless, stoic machine. As with Drive, I could go on and on about this movie.

3. The Gray Man

This is a movie I don't mind watching again and again (It's turned into a bit of a comfort movie, I'm afraid). I absolutely loved the character of Courtland Gentry/Sierra Six. He stands out in a sea of misogynistic, arrogant "macho men" that tend to populate movies of this genre. He's resilient, he's personable, and, most importantly, he's kind. Despite his line of work, there's this massive capacity for care that we see throughout the movie. It doesn't make his life any easier (we see it negatively affect him time and time again), but he doesn't lose that aspect of himself regardless of the outcome. That's the kind of thing that makes me root for a character and actually get invested in their story.

I also really enjoyed his dynamic with Claire and Fitzroy. I'm always a sucker for found family and grouchy, fictional men metaphorically adopting kids.

It was so difficult not to put Barbie or Stay on this list.

I adore the Barbie movie so much, but it didn't feel right to put it on a Gosling-centric list because it's at least as much a Margot Robbie movie as it's a Ryan Gosling movie. Ken is such a great character and I think Gosling went above and beyond and put his whole heart into the performance. It's a ten in my books for sure, so just because it's not one of these three, that doesn't mean I forgot about it or didn't like it!

Stay very nearly unseated The Gray Man for the third position. I love the character of Henry Letham. I also love dang near everything about the movie. It's just a hard watch for me, too personal in a way that makes it difficult to have the same rewatchability as its competitor.

[joyful-patient-faithful]

Little Women Ranked

One of my favorite books of all time is Little Women. Last fall I watched and read everything related to the series. Here's a simple ranking of all of that.

The Book (obviously)

Whether you consider the book just Little Women or with Good Wives, there is no deny this is the absolute best version of the story.

2. Little Women (1978)

This is, in my opinion, the best adaptation of the novel. The characters felt real and accurate and it was just a delight. It had so much heart. Also I am a Greer Garson as Aunt March stan. William Shatner did his absolute best at Fritz. I just adore this version. I will say that I am a sucker for tv movies though.

3. Little Women (2017)

I love this version. In accuracy, it's not always the best (especially character wise) and the third episode feels very rushed at times, but I still love it. I'm absolutely obsessed with Meg and John in this version. Meg and Beth are my profile picture lol. I just really enjoy this version.

4. Little Women (1994)

In terms of movies, this one is the best. This is the one I recommend to everyone and despite my (minimal) issues with it, I still watch it all the time. It's just so lovely. Also this one just has a more distinctly Christmas feel than any of the others.

5. Little Women (1933)

While not my favorite, I still enjoyed watching this version. Katherine Hepburn played a great Jo and I would love to watch this again sometime.

6. Little Women (1949)

This has the same script as the 1933 version, however, I am not a fan of a few small changes made, such as Beth being younger than Amy. June Allyson is not my favorite Jo, which also lowers this one slightly. Margaret O'Brien played an amazing Beth and was definitely the best thing about this version. I also just recently listened to the Lux Radio Theater adaptation of this movie and it just solidified my opinions of this being a mid adaptation.

7. Little Women (2019)

The Most controversial version on this list, I cannot say that I enjoy it. It makes so many changes from the novel, that it honestly makes me mad. However, this one places so high on the list do to it's watchability. Every other entry under this one I would never watch a second time. This one at least has the benefit of being high quality. Plus all my friends love this one (none of them have ever read the book and it makes me sad), so if I try hard enough I can separate this version from the book and at least watch a decent movie (although it is hard).

8. Little Women (1970)

I wanted to like this version, I really did, it was so extremely book accurate, but it was also really boring. This does have the most book accurate portrayal of Laurie in my opinion, though.

9. Little Women (2018)

This just overall was not that good. Jo was very mean and aggressive and Laurie was kind of creepy, in my opinion. I also disliked that this was made by a Christian company and did not include any of the Christian themes and statements made throughout the novel.

10. Little Women Meg's Story and Jo's Story

This two parter was hard to watch. It made it so love story heavy, and was also just not good quality or fun to watch. Everything was so rushed. I did like the focus on Meg and John in the first part though. I also enjoyed the random 1950 commercials throughout the version on youtube.

11. The March Sisters at Christmastime

This was just bad. Nothing really redeemable about it. It was a very hard watch.

Bonus:

These were some adaptations that I watched, but find hard to rank, due to them not being movies or tv shows.

Little Women (1958) Soundtrack

This is the soundtrack for the the 1958 CBS tv musical, which is not technically lost media, but is not available to the general public. The first half of the soundtrack is songs from the special, and the second half is covers of some other songs from musicals or were popular at the time. The songs are quite fun, but what I hear from reports of what happens in the special, it is not accurate to the novel at all.

Little Women (2005) musical

I am not really a fan of Sutton Foster, nor am I a fan of this musical. It is a classic case of not understanding Jo March, her writing, and her relationship with Professor Bhaer.

Little Women Ballet

This was fun to watch. I don't know much about ballet, so I cannot really judge it. If I remember correctly, this is just an adaptation of the first half of the novel.

Tales of Little Women

Little Women (1981)

These are both anime adaptations of the novel. I only watched the first episode of each, and from what I know they kind of make up plot lines. I enjoyed them for what they were, but I will probably not watch them again.

I unfortunately did not watch the Little Women Opera or the March Family Letters as Operas and vlog series are not really my thing, but maybe I will get around to them.

Anyway, this concludes my ranking of Little Women. If you see this please let me know your thoughts on any of these adaptations.

[jacksprostate]

Do you like classical music? What are your favorite pieces?

Decently; I was a Band Kid back in the day lol so instrumental stuff has been a decent chunk of my life. I don't really listen to any of the classical greats or anything niche because I'm teeeerrible about finding new music in general much less like that; unfortunately, I've heard a lot of really good classical and jazz, but it's pretty hard to identify and retain songs (not to mention the difference of live vs recording), so all I've got is pretty well known recommendations haha. That said, they're still enjoyable and I recommend them both to people with classical and jazz exposure and people without.

Holst's suite The Planets is something I imagine everyone sort of interested in classical style music (feels weird to say. Not classical period but You Know What I Mean) already knows but they're damn good and I recommend anyone who hasn't listened to them, do so. They're essentially the blueprint for movie scores, to the point that *cough* some people just blatantly copy them *cough starwars cough*. Among those, beyond crowd favorites of Mars and Jupiter, I'm really partial to Saturn but suuuper picky about which recording I listen to for it. This is the one I like (though I recommend listening to other tracks I've linked here before this one because it's just. a lot of investment):

It's a little more uptempo than I prefer for the piece but the ending is fucking exquisite, man. A lot of recordings will have one or two musicians slide just slightly out of tune or a bit of a hard tongue and on a piece like this it's super noticable to me (in other times not at all lmao, this makes me sound like a snob), but this one is CLEAN. I'd kill to experience this in person

Otherwise, I generally prefer another album. I made myself a playlist with that album but the Saturn track is swapped with the one above, which I'll link here:

Dvorak's New World Symphony's 4th movement is fun too. I'd say it also falls into the genre of 'movie soundtracks got based off this so it feels more modern than it is'. It's also one of those songs that definitely is better live I can feel it in my bones where I should be feeling the low brass yk:

Beyond older stuff, I also like this piece:

And a favorite album of mine is:

Though obviously that's getting into jazzier territory. I'm kind of a sucker for more bigband type stuff. In particular I really like some latter sections in The Curtain, but really the whole album is fantastic.

Along similar lines:

I also enjoy some classic jazz standards like Take Five and In the Mood but who doesn't lmao there's a reason they're still insanely popular. Idk this shit rocks:

The upside of my instrumental music taste being very generic and friendly means if you haven't really listened to much, you should actually find something you like, here, though! If you're real in on it you can judge me for my answers but I will not listen to anything but recs.

I actually do want to explore more, especially with jazz honestly. Which I know you technically said classical music and those aren't always close things in people's heads but uhhhhhhhhhhhhh I did music theory for a bit and jazz is nuts man. If you think you don't like jazz there is 100% a genre of it that you'd be into it's so varied and cool as hell

I also want to go to (classical and jazz) concerts more. I miss live music. It really hits like nothing else. I really recommend anyone to look up local university bands and see if they have free concerts; they probably do. You don't have to really dress up or anything. I recommend going to full range ensembles over instrument specific stuff but that's just because I overwhelmingly prefer a more varied music texture and range. So stuff like jazz bands, wind ensembles, string orchestras I will technically count. Yea

[tsunderesalty]

Well, well, well. It has been quite some time since I last left you an ask of any kind (more like rambled forever on a tangent, but whatever lol). Anyways, this game seemed super cool, so I decided to return to Tumblr to do the thing... and here I am now! So onwards...

1 - So... this is very well timed, with you falling back into Arcane, but my favorite fic (beyond your lovely gift fics for me) was actually It Carries Over! And mind you, I'm not just saying that as a general sucker for 900 word fics (though that was a clear bonus, but because it felt so same-brainy in a way? The presentation, the emotional and relationship evolution between Cait and Vi over the three scenes feels like the perfect intersection between your style and my own, so it was very ooooooh to read and my brain really clicked on it! Of course, that was also a fic I reread (answering #12, alongside the gift fics).

Speaking of the gift-fics - both of those works, A Flower in Hands and A Brush in Hands, were super thoughtful and amazing (and were the 900 word type too)! Seeing you and @sliebman10 (who also wrote two super cool gift fics in my world... and I just realized I forgot to mention that in my ask to her oops, time for a part 2 ask after this XD) get your brains invaded by my idiots and writing pieces that are uniquely yours, even if closely aligned to my stuff, was really special and technically fascinating! Naturally, I've reread those pieces too XD

8 - The same-brain is strong, but the whole "building a scene in your head, and playing it like a movie" deal! I love how our brains are really similar in that outcome, but the way we get there is so different but similarly effective! But you already know that I revel in the details XD

9 - I am super excited for your new project! I don't want to spoil so much here, but after seeing you ramble on and on about the Lethal Company AU! It's always so delightful to see you ramble on about something you're super passionate about! That, and Part 2 of your inevitable Arcane brainrot, naturally XD

-Mizuka

I swear, every ask of yours starts with "Well, well, well", and all I can picture is us facing off like Perry the Platypus and Doofenshmirtz XD

Anyway, onto this wonderful ask!

I see you're still gloating about my Arcane demise -_- But seriously, all of the Arcane fics were so much fun to write, but It Carries Over holds a special place in my heart! I think it was the only real angst I wrote for CaitVi, and I liked exploring the changes they went through and how the world had to change just so they could keep meeting.

I'm very honored that you like the gifts I wrote for you so much, but I have to say only one was planned. Beau really went "Nah, you aren't doing a One-and-Done, pal! Get over here and help me with my beautiful hair!" It's like @udaberriwrites always says, blame Beau!

Look, my brain puts in soundtracks and cinematic angles for basic fics! I hear quivers in voices and can see facial expressions change! My brain is operating in 4K UltraHD! I just wish it would do the same for my own writing, that is, for actually writing the damn fics and not just daydreaming about them! Though I have to say, our brains seeing nearly the same thing while reading, down to the color of the scene, is just eerie and cool as fuck!

LETHAL COMPANY AU

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

IT'S GONNA BE SO FUCKING EPIC AND COOL AND ANGSTY AND HEARTWARMING AND HEARTBREAKING AND AND AND AND AND

*Ahem*

Yes, I'm still very normal about it. I'm as normal about the Lethal Company AU as I am about Arcane. Also, how dare you decide I'm writing more Arcane!

*Shoves the five ideas I already have under the rug*

Come on.

[lovelandresort]

@jamboreeofsurprises tagged me to post my 10 favorite songs!! this is going to be insanely hard, so just to make it easier on myself, this is my CURRENT, RECENT top ten songs and not my all time. if i did all time i'd be agonizing over trying to remember every song i've ever loved LMAO

also because i'm annoying i'm going to say some shit about each song

matenrou - iri PLEASE GOD LISTEN TO THIS SONG SHE IS SO HOT!!!!!!!!!! my bestie introduced me to iri a year or two ago and i've been obsessed with her ever since. her voice is so deep and sexy and she has that exact type of casual calm charisma that makes me go wild for a woman lol. also whoever produces her songs just does bangers after bangers, it's definitely a little bit of that overly popular Lo-Fi Hiphop Beats genre so i wouldn't call it revolutionary, but it just makes for fun easy listening. i like her raps too <3

the loneliest time - carly rae jepsen i'm on tumblr i probably don't need to explain to any of you mfs why i like CRJ. actually i kinda thought the album this was from was mid but the standout songs were REALLY standout. shoutouts to bad thing twice, too

salamander - deco*27 it ain't that deep this one just gets stuck in my head like once a month lol. i also love a vocaloid song that kinda utilizes the fact that vocaloids are weird and can make weird sounds or sing strange vocal melodies that you wouldn't necessarily write for a human. the "ya-ppa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa daimondai da" in the chorus is a favorite bit for me

wait a minute! - willow i've loved this song ever since it came out :o it's so good

F wonderful world - ano i'm a sucker for this brand of cute front woman singing extremely dark lyrics lol. ano also did an ending for chainsaw man! she did the one about vomit kisses!!!💘

into free from dragon's dogma LOL reals will know ok. reals will understand. this scratches the same part of my brain as the metal gear rising soundtrack

E S P R - mikitoP mikito has been putting out some of my favorite vocaloid music from day one, but this one was really special!!! i feel like he's really peaked where his acoustic music is concerned. the bass tone, the drums really building the anticipation in the second verse, all of it is so well performed and recorded. also a really crazy use of SynthV, not to be mistaken with vocaloid!!! the voice synth is so mellow and melts perfectly into the music. i'm not always a "more human = better" person when it comes to vocal synths, but in this one, the naturalism of her voice is fitting and really cool. the lyrics are just also my favorite flavor of mikito, kind of fantastical but also really grounded in reality and a little bit bittersweet. my other flavor of mikito is "songs he wrote about his cat that sound weird if you don't know are about a cat" which to my knowledge he's only done twice but it's funny that it happened twice

tokyo shandy rendezvous - maison des this one just really wedged its way into my brain haha. KAF has such a weird cute voice

zurukunai? - punipuni denki this song is giving casinopolis!! it's smooth and sexy! i've been into kan sano's singing lately. she's got that exact kind of cool effortlessly pretty voice that i can't get enough of

juicy - doja cat i really don't even know what to say, this song is like a pacifier for my brain. it needs to be the version without tyga in it though or i get aggressive. did you know tyga opened a popup restaurant near where i lived in orange county called tyga bites? i heard it wasn't good. nuff said.

[gogwyllgi]

So, let me tell you a story about how I got into STAR WARS Jedi: Fallen Order.

A concert-going friend of mine was excited that Five Finger Death Punch was coming to town, so we bought tickets to the show. Touring with them was Fire from the Gods (who?), Megadeth (ugh), and The HU. I'm honestly ambivalent about FFDP, so I was mostly excited to go to see what The HU was all about.

As soon as they started, I was transfixed.

I mean, seriously, their hair game was on point and they seemed like they'd be absolutely fantastic guys to hang out with, but their music was also something that I hadn't come across before, particularly in person.

As soon as I got home, I queued up playlists on Spotify and bopped along, not paying much attention to the songs themselves but instead absorbing the general vibe. Eventually, of course, I began to develop favorites, one of which was Sugaan Essena.

Now, I'm not a huge Star Wars fan. I saw the original trilogy (it's kind of unavoidable), watched Episode I, and went through a phase wherein I devoured the Jedi Apprentice series of books. (I had a crush on Qui-Gon Jinn. Shut up.) Every now and then I would sit down and try to watch the series from start to finish, but I could never make it through Episode II, so I'd get disgusted and abandon the whole thing until the urge struck again. I'd been peripherally aware of other Star Wars games but largely ignored them.

"Well," I said to myself, "it's kind of neat that this awesome, unique band contributed to this game soundtrack, so I think I'll give it a try."

So I bought Jedi: Fallen Order.

I spent the next couple of weeks screaming about vertigo while hunting for collectibles and cursing the lack of fast travel and the proliferation of slides. (Fuck you, Origin Tree.) I also spent the next couple of weeks adoring Cal and BD-1 and Greez and, eventually, Merrin. (Sorry, Cere. You're an interesting, well-drawn character, but I never warmed to you. Not sure why. It's not you, it's me.)

Mind, this was all just after Jedi: Survivor had launched, so I was a bit behind the curve.

By the time I'd finished Fallen Order and started a New Journey+ to polish off trophies, it wasn't enough. I'd intended to sit on it a while and hope for a sale, but... well... I'm weak, and soon I was downloading Survivor. Three days later (My internet is powered by squirrels in wheels and it sucks.) I finally got started on it and was immediately sucked back in.

I believe my first excited remark was something along the lines of "SURVIVOR HAS FAST TRAVEL!!!!!!!!!!"

Seriously, never underestimate my lack of desire to walk anywhere. Or swing. Or slide. Or glide on some poor, unsuspecting cat bat. Fast travel FTW, baby!

Anyway, it went downhill from there, because I am a sucker for found families.

Long story short (too late!), I now can't listen to Sugaan Essena--or The HU in general--without smiling, because I can always picture Cal as soon as the song starts and it makes me want to go back to polish off those trophies as quickly as possible so I can start my New Journey+.

Even if it does mean running parkour force tears.

(Incidentally, if The HU are ever touring in your area, I definitely recommend making it a point to go! I get to see them again in October and I'm stupid excited, even if I couldn't swing the interaction experience and reserved balcony seating. Sorry, m'dudes, but I'm too old for general admission to be appealing. Guess I'll have to learn how to play traditional Mongolian instruments some other time.)

[choices-binglebonkus]

Wake The Dead: What they did well and what they could've worked on

With Wake The Dead now behind us (I know, I'm sad too), I figured I would make a post kind of like I did with It Lives in the Woods where I list things I thought PB did really well with the story and things that they didn't. Before I start listing all the aspects of it, let me just say I REALLY liked Wake The Dead. It wasn't a *great* book, and it actually had a LOT of issues, but it was a huuuuuge improvement over what we've been getting recently. Alright, let's get into it. 

Before you go any further there are SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS for obvious reasons.

What they did well

The art: The first thing I absolutely HAVE to mention is the art. The art in this book is AWESOME. The characters all have cool designs, the backgrounds are well-done, the zombies are horrifically creepy and disgusting, and I love it. But honestly? Where the art really shines is during the art scenes with Eli, Shannon, Troy, and Angel. PB really outdid themselves there. And I haven't even mentioned the cover yet...WHEW. When I first saw it I knew the book was going to feed us so good.

The soundtrack: The music in WTD does its job really well. Need a song that'll chill your bones and cause you to break out in goosebumps? You've got Wake the Dead • The Dead Are Rising - YouTube. Need a song that fires you up to kill some zombies? Wake the Dead • Locked and Loaded - YouTube and Wake The Dead • Time To Hunt - YouTube have got you covered. Need a song that breaks your heart while also echoing a distant glimmer of hope, a distant shining of the dawn of a new day rising? For that, we have Wake the Dead • Rule No. 3 - YouTube. Every song for this book is just perfect in my opinion.

The points system: Having been around since the very beginning of Choices where The Crown & The Flame and Most Wanted both presented us with points systems, I'm a sucker for any book that has a points system in some form or another. This one presents us with several: Fighters, Research, Defense, Food, and Morale. Depending on how many points you get, each one serves a different purpose. Granted, all they really do is alter some dialogue at first, but they also contribute to how well your colony fares against the horde during the solstice. If you have good scores, your colony is well-defended and for the most part, still standing. If not...well, your colony isn't doing too hot, but they still pull through. When it comes down to it, I have pretty mixed feelings on how unimpactful the points system was here, but I still felt accomplished whenever the score went up.

The other colonies: I personally loved getting to see the other survivor settlements. In zombie apocalypse stories, I always find it really interesting how each settlement survives and even thrives in some cases. I know it's corny, but I thought Ironmount was cool as hell. Renaissance faire turned post-apocalyptic medieval stronghold? I love that shit.

The hard choices: This is another one I have mixed feelings about but otherwise really liked. There are only seven of them, but the majority of them were tough to choose from and pretty strong choices. My personal favorites were the first (let Brynn work on the lock or smash the glass), the third (Help Shannon or Minna), and the sixth (Put Dirk and the other traitors to death or spare them). The one where you choose to either shoot Eli or break through to him was...well, it felt like they were out of ideas, and in the grand scheme of things, a lot of the hard choices don't have much impact at all. But overall, the hard choices were pretty cool in my opinion.

The zombies: I've said it before and I'll say it again: I do NOT like advanced zombies. I have always preferred the type of zombies in Romero's and Kirkman's works where there’s only one type of zombie and they’re slow-moving and stupid. With this being said, I actually didn't mind the different zombie types in Wake the Dead. Each one was vastly different from the others and they didn't outnumber the ordinary drones. It kept the zombies scary without making them stupidly overpowered and annoying.

The Lore Documents: In zombie media, I am SHAMELESSLY crazy for lore regarding how survivors fared in the early days, what happened leading up to the apocalypse, and so on. My personal favorite of the lore documents was the bunch of letters we read in Reno. The lore documents added a humanistic element to the story that we needed, because honestly, PB kinda fucked up the character development in this book.

Brynn: Brynn was unfortunately not terribly present in the story after she sacrificed herself in chapter two, but from what we saw of her in the story, she was strong-willed, able to keep a clear head, brave, and selfless. In short, Brynn was a survivor to her very core. I only wish we had gotten to know her for a few more chapters before she sacrificed herself, as that would have had a much more profound impact.

The gear: Before I say anything else, the knight gear was ugly as fuck. There, I said it. But overall, the gear was cool (NOT THE KNIGHT GEAR, DEFINITELY NOT) and benefitted the main character by allowing them special defense perks. I will say, though, it was ridiculous to have our main character armed to the teeth in armor and weapons while our friends fought the zombies in t-shirts with no other protection whatsoever. Barring that, I loved decking my character out with various armor, gauntlets, helmets, and weapons.

What they really could've worked on

The love interests: Yes, I'm going there. I personally was not a fan of any of the love interests because, as another Tumblr user so eloquently put it, they were basically the Blades LIs on crack. That statement has gripped me tight ever since. All the love interests follow the same generic personality types from other love interests. We have the sweet, demure female LI (Shannon), the cocky, charming rogue male LI (Troy), the wild and unpredictable female LI (Angel), and the emotionally distant, brooding male LI (Eli). Shannon and Eli were fine, but Angel and Troy constantly annoyed me, specifically Angel, because she was a huuuuuuuuge liability. My favorite of the love interests was Sledge, and even then, I wasn't wild about her because she was too cold in my opinion. The worst part about any of the love interests was the minimal amount of character development and backstories they had. We spent most of our time in the book traipsing around with the four of them, and I still feel like I barely know a thing about them.

The plot holes: There was a lot left unsaid in the book. How the hell did the Sunflower Creek Colony survive TWENTY-ONE YEARS and two solstices if they refused to kill any zombies out of pacifism? How did the entire main crew go twenty-one years without encountering different types of zombies? Ironmount and the Raiders captured scouts and soldiers respectively, so obviously, those two groups were aware of their existence. Furthermore, there's still so much we don't know about zombification. In the Walking Dead, if a person dies from a non-zombie related cause and their brain is still intact, they turn into a zombie. Is that the case in Wake the Dead? It's never explicitly shown or stated, so we don't know, and in zombie media, that's a pretty huge thing to leave unknown.

May: Honestly, May deserves her own mention in the "things they really could've worked on" section. From the moment May is introduced, PB urges us to buy diamond scenes with her. We are presented with the diamond choices to help her gather flowers, bring her back a souvenir (which doesn't even do anything IIRC), tell her a bedtime story, and let her and the other kids build flower beds. All in all, PB wants us to spend 60, yes, 60 diamonds to make May happy. We also spend an embarrassing amount of time trying to save May, and somehow, May is the sole survivor of the zombie hive. The plot armor on this child is RIDICULOUS. She forced Feather to save her and cost him his position as an Elder, she forced us to spend an entire chapter chasing after her, another chapter mounting a desperate rescue mission...I mean, my god. The worst part is, PB has given us NO REASON to care for her as much as the main character does. Look at Clementine from The Walking Dead video game. Telltale got us to like Clementine because from the very beginning, it was evident that her parents had died, so her situation became that much more complicated and dangerous. And unlike May, she also didn't require us to save her ass all the time. May, however, has no compelling traits other than the fact that she's a child, and constantly endangers herself, and by extension, other people. To sum it up, May’s a pest.

Dirk: Dirk also deserves his own mention, but not because he was an unlikable character; just that he was a wasted one. He was introduced as Brynn's right-hand-man of sorts and served as her closest friend. The issue I have with Dirk is how predictable his betrayal was. As soon as he was introduced and we had a hard choice that potentially resulted in him getting injured, people knew he was going to be a traitor. It only grew more and more obvious as time went on and we could either be nice or rude to him as he got pissier and pissier. The betrayal "twist" was so predictable that people were SHOCKED that PB actually went through with it. The betrayal would have been much more impactful if we spent more time with him, maybe if he joined us on our missions, because really, we spent way too much time with the love interests and not enough time with Dirk and the other side characters. Look how impactful Noah's betrayal was in ILITW. It struck deep into our hearts because we spent so much time with him and got to know him and care for him, and it shocked us when he turned on us. That's the kind of betrayal Dirk's should have been.

The side characters: Remember how I said we spent too much time with the love interests and not enough time with the side characters? Well, that's a HUGE flaw in my opinion. We barely got to know any of them, and what's worse is, a pretty large chunk of them don't appear in the final chapter. May (thank fucking god), Feather, Aliyah, Minna, Knuckles, none of them appear in chapter 20. The worst part though? A lot of the characters you could have saved earlier in the story ended up dying during the solstice. Yeah, that's pretty realistic, but I think at least some of them should have made it out. Darren dies, Mack dies, Trent dies, Dirk dies. You can save Boots, but he's one of those characters who doesn't appear in the final chapter. Overall, PB really could've handled the side characters much, much better, because half the time, it felt like they had forgotten about them.

The main character: Not much to say here. The main character starts the story going on their very first mission. They have no experience whatsoever. Then in a chapter or two, they're suddenly the brave leader who's a hardened, experienced survivor. The character growth was minimal, if it was even present at all. I would have much preferred Brynn as the leader while we were her second-in-command, but...well, PB made up their mind on that one, I guess. The most disappointing thing about the main character in my opinion is the lack of a determinant death. In every horror book (except THoBM), the main character dies or CAN die in some way. Bloodbound and Nightbound’s MCs die and come back to life while the ILITW and ILB MCs’ deaths are determinant. I would argue that Wake the Dead is the book with the highest stakes (I mean, it’s literally a zombie apocalypse with hordes of the undead, limited supplies, and a nearly extinct human race) so why not give us consequences if we fuck up by making the MC’s death determinant?

The setting: This is my biggest gripe with the story. For most of the story, we amass supplies, defenses, fighters, and build up a strong, functioning colony. We also spend a lot of the story trying to research zombies and see what makes them tick, because for a group of survivors who made it twenty-one years into the apocalypse, the crew sure is pretty fucking clueless. So my question is this: why not have the story set at the very beginning of the apocalypse? I personally think it would have been much, much more interesting while also functioning the same, or at least, similarly with a few tweaks here and there.

[starlit-stray]

From the winter asks…

Blizzard- Have you ever been caught in a snowstorm?

Champagne- Do you do anything special for New Year’s Eve?

Cold- What is the best movie marathon?

Dance- What’s your favorite winter or Christmas song?

Gingerbread- Do you Like baking?

Hoodie- Do you prefer hoodies or sweaters?

Hugs- What is your love language?

Lights- Do you like decorating?

I hope you have a wonderful day, love 🥰

Blizzard - I have and it was miserable! 😂 I was on my way back from a wedding when this freak snowstorm hit in Wyoming. Luckily I was able to pull over at one of those awesome giant truckstops and pass the time.

Champagne - Not usually. It's usually just me and the pug staying up late 😁

Cold - I am a sucker for the Resident Evil movies and I love marathoning them! Also, the Scream films (minus 3). But I love any kind of scary movie marathon 🥰

Dance - a group called Mediæval Bæbes has an album called Mistletoe and Wine that is kind of my winter soundtrack. And if I'm going to listen to Christmas music, Trans-siberian Orchestra is where it's at! I've seen them live so many times 😅

Gingerbread - I do like baking. I love baking. And I'm damn good at it, if I do say so myself. My brownies are superb and I can make a salted caramel sauce from scratch that will make you propose on the spot. 😘

Hoodie - hoodies. My ideal self would always be wearing hoodies. That I stole? Perhaps.

Hugs - all of them, honestly, but the gateway languages are gifts and words of affirmation. I like shiny things and reassurance. 😋

Lights - I am not the best decorator. My sister is far better at that than I. I am good at making spaces cozy, though!

Thank you, Alex! You are an absolute delight and my day was pretty damn good, darling 😁

[virtuemoired]

i'm not sure if anyone has asked this already but can you do a top 5 best costumes for scott?

hi anon, i thought you’d never ask! today was a pretty rough day, so hopefully this cheers u up, anything 2 share my thoughts w the class! enjoy :’)

5. umbrellas small town boy: 9.2/10

starting off STRONG bc umbrellas!Scott was truly a sight to behold. in this picture, he is 20 years old, and all i have to say is that they don’t make ice dancers like that anymore. EVERYTHING about this look is *chef’s kiss*, from the collar right down to the carefully sewn chest pockets. scott moir woke up at the crack of DAWN to carefully roll up those sleeves to perfection, and made sure to tuck in his shirt precisely into his cottage boy pants to really sell the program. this is au naturale soft scott, only rivaled by mahler!Scott and latch!Scott WHICH WE WILL GET TO. in my humble opinion, 2008-2010 scott is peak scott, no matter what latch!Scott supremacists might have u believe. it is ONE thing to be a good ice dancer, but it is another to completely EMBODY the character of Guy Foucher and skate ur HEART out to the soundtrack “i will wait for you” over and over to tessa virtue. this costume never missed a beat, and i thank my lucky stars everyday for it.

4. latch: 9.5/10

latch!Scott is just one of those things where you can’t not include it, bc it is so ICONIC. if i’m speaking w 100% honesty, the real star of the show is his hair™️, but bc it is all about the full ~package~ we are gonna include his hair as being part of the costume. u know how v/m always say that they let their skating speak for itself? well i think that scott let his HAIR speak for itself bc when i was coming up w this list, my first thoughts were “latch scott” before i was like wait. what did latch!Scott even WEAR? for the life of me, i couldn’t remember. it was only until i googled that i realised he was wearing a blue costume (pictured). when scott said that his job was to get people to focus on tessa, he was lying bc his hair overshadowed his plans, and ended his own career. he thought he was smart wearing this unassuming blue shirt but we know ur game, moir. ur hair had more flow than dare i say tessa’s latch dress, and that’s the tea on that.

3. mahler: 9.7/10

u must be asking urself, what could possibly top latch? in which case, dear reader, u are in for a TREAT. you see, while latch!Scott had the best hair, mahler was the og soft scott. umbrellas was just the beginning, and i am so glad that mahler!Scott came through with this LEWK. i feel v strongly about the fact that we rarely ever got a chance to see scott in white with black pants, bc i personally love the pure, can-do-no-wrong vibe™️ going for him, right down to the cut at the back of his pants that NO ONE appreciates, but i do, scott moir. i do. 

2. great gig turtleneck: 9.9/10

legend has it that if you look up the definition for perfection, great gig!Scott will show up in the results. if tessa’s green dress was revelatory, black turtleneck scott is quite possibly the GREATEST thing that has EVER happened to ice dance. this is the creation by the hands of FATE, bc if their suitcases hadn’t gotten lost we would’ve NEVER had the honour of appreciating this MASTERPIECE in all its 1080p glory. it was truly divine intervention and if u look at the men’s and ice dance field now, every single skater has tried at least ONCE to accomplish even HALF of what scott did here, but NONE of them have even come CLOSE. not even scott moir HIMSELF could replicate this iconic gem, and today we send our thoughts and prayers to this work of art sculpted by the skating gods to get them on the worlds podium. truth is, turtleneck!Scott is a mirage and quite frankly i ask myself everyday if it really did happen. he would fit in at a patisserie in paris, france and no one would bat an eye. i feel like this picture deserves to be hung in the LOUVRE, so everyone can appreciate this underrated chef-d'œuvre of a costume. look, he even got me speaking in a foreign language, the POWER. don’t even get me STARTED on the hair, bc this is i-just-woke-up-and-oh-my-god-i-have-a-competition-in-5-mins scott moir hair and i am HERE! FOR! IT! he said, screw it, let me show u the greatest serpentine lift and WATCH US get onto the podium w minimal practice and DOMINATE. the BDE of it all. one of the commentators said that they had the cheapest costumes in the entire competition, and while that MAY be true this was the beginning stages of carmen!Scott and for that we should all bow down to it.

1. long time running: 10/10

tessa virtue can claim the colour green, and scott moir could OWN the black long sleeved shirt any day of the week. this was turtleneck!Scott 2.0, and i’ll gladly take what i can get. carmen!Scott walked so this look could run, and i’m so glad their last skate at the olympics was when scott was looking his absolute FINEST™️. the simplicity of it all is just too beautiful for words, but i’ll try anyway. 

this is the person u take home to meet ur parents, the kind of guy that ur grandma wants u to marry, and who all ur other boyfriends will be relentlessly compared to. take long time running!Scott and put him with tessa virtue wearing her stunning red dress, and ladies and gentlemen, you are seeing whatever greets u at the gates of ice dance HEAVEN. i fully believe that angels were sent down to bless us with this look, and scott’s hair here is really just the icing on top of cake.

scott often talks about “showing tessa off” and so everyone pays his costumes DUST, but when the commentators said “they made ice dance a little more classier”, this is EXACTLY what they meant. the whole i put this on as a sign of respect for the last skate of our careers on olympic ice energy really speaks to my SOUL, and as i previously said i am a SUCKER for a can-do-no-wrong vibe™️ so this ticks ALL my boxes. this is like the AU of moulin rouge, and it is the place i would put under the “mentally i am here” meme. i just think it’s so beautiful how, like turtleneck!Scott, we only got to see this finished look ONCE during the olympics, and then never again. but that’s okay, because this look watered my crops, fed my soul, and made me believe in true love again.

let me tell u, it was a journey to get to this look, a long time running if u must, but u know what? HE WAS WELL WORTH THE WAIT *mic drop* 

[joanna-lannister]

Same anon! Don't worry, I completely followed everything you said! And I really enjoyed the twist, too. I'm always a sucker for twists that completely recontextualize everything, and like you said. I was sympathetic toward Jeanette, but something always felt weird? As in unsettling weird. There were a bunch of little things I kept coming back to, so this twist felt well-earned. Also...HECK YEAH KATE/MALLORY RIGHTS!!! I can't believe they're girlfriends now. 😭😭😭

Ah I'm glad you got what I meant!

"I'm always a sucker for twists that completely recontextualize everything" THIS, SAME! And Cruel Summer truly did a marvellous job with the writing. It reminded me The Sinner, another show Jessica Biel was behind too so I was confident it wouldn't be that bad unlike what some people thought, they were still having doubts because it was on Freeform, and I was also expecting some kind of plot twist and we were so well served!

And yes, I felt sympathic toward Jeanette too and yet, something was still unsettling as you said. And I really loved that because it's a character fully fleshed out and interesting. As as I said, Chiara Aurelia is an amazing actress and brought all the different nuances of her character with her performance. The way her face slowly contorts when she hears Kate and then, her smile at the end was so creepy fjdjdnwn plus the soundtrack *CHEF KISS*

I WAS SO EXCITED ABOUT KATE AND MALLORY KISS OMFG! Back during Kate's birthday "I was they gonna kiss, they gonna kiss" but it didn't happen 😔 But when they left the car in the finale I was "pleaseeee, let it happen, it's time" and it finally did fjdjdjswjwjsj I'm glad they didn't queer baited us THEY DESERVE TO BE HAPPY! 😭😭 A bit sad to see most of the viewers are still hating on Mallory tho...

[elencelebrindal]

Favourite colour, music, film, anime? I'm curious

Uuhhh, sorry for the wait, this ask has been waiting in my inbox for a lot by now, but let me answer you. Some of these answers are really long, so I marked them with a title in case people are not interested in everything. Though, I don’t think many people would be interested at all, my life is not that eventful. 

Favorite Color

My favorite color is black (even though black is not technically a color, damn you art school why did you have to teach me that), closely followed by blood red and silver. 

Favorite Music

My favorite music... I don’t really understand if you’re asking me what genre I prefer, or who do I prefer listening to, so I’ll just go the safe route and answer everything at once.  I love metal (especially power metal, epic metal and folk metal, with a significance preference for its viking sub-genre), and I am in love with Blind Guardian, the first ever band I listened to. I still remember the first song I’ve ever listened, which is “Noldor (Dead Winter Reigns)”. Being a Tolkien fan led me to discover them, and subsequently to fall in love with the genre. Among my favorites there’s also Nightwish, Epica, Alestorm, and I’m baffled by Sabaton and Korpiklaani. I do listen to a bunch more bands, but not as much and I don’t know as many songs. 

But it’s not my one and only love. Aside from metal music, I also love classic music (I am deeply in love with a ton of Italian composers alongside the others), dark cabaret music (most notably Aurelio Voltaire, Dresden Dolls and Emilie Autumn, though her style doesn’t really fall into one single category), and I go crazy with anime music and openings.  I appreciate the music of anime so much, even though a lot of people don’t think highly of it, and since childhood I’ve always listened to our “opening singers” (the most important I grew up listening to are Cristina d’Avena and Giorgio Vanni), so I simply cannot stop loving them.  On a similar note, I cannot have enough of movie soundtracks. Composers like Howard Shore, Ennio Morricone, Hans Zimmer... the list could go on forever. I never get tired of their music. Again, videogame soundtracks are on the list of my beloved music as well, especially the music from Skyrim (Jeremy Soule) and Assassin’s Creed (Jesper Kyd). 

Favorite film/movie

I don’t really have one favorite. I do have a list of movies that I could watch over and over again, though, and others I just have fun watching even though they’re not my favorites.  The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit trilogy are absolutely on the top of my list. As I said, I’m a huge fan of Tolkien, and I’m also a huge fan of Peter Jackson. Add them together and BOOM! I am a tiny bit bitter about the Hobbit movies, but seriously? I still loved it.  Right after them there’s ALL the movies by Tim Burton, Alice in Wonderland and its sequel on top. I love Tim Burton, so much I cannot even explain it. And Alice in Wonderland has a very special place in my heart. 

[story time, you can skip if you want]

Not just because I love the story and the craziness of everything, but because back in high school (my last year) we decided to do Alice in Wonderland with a twist for our theater lab, and I not only got to write the entire script, but also to play the Cheshire Cat alongside all of my friends. My best friend was Alice, my other best friend was the costume designer, a lot of other people I knew and loved were the other characters. It’s such a delightful memory for me that I never stopped enjoying Alice in Wonderland from that day onward.  I got so involved with my part that I ended up making an entire steampunk-ish cosplay of the Cheshire Cat from scratch, a cosplay I brought two times to a convention and I’m currently renovating after taking it apart. This is how much I grew attached to that play and to that character.  Some years ago, before this, we had a director guiding us for two years of theater lab. A delightful man that looked at me and decided I needed to be addressed as “Alice” because of how much I reminded him of her.  It’s just good memories. 

[end of the story time]

I also have the “classics”, like Harry Potter, Star Wars, and the like. If it’s fantasy/sci-fi/something along those lines, I probably love it. Regardless of who made it, being it the writer or the director.  One particular movie that holds a special place in my heart is “The Fall”, and I cannot really pinpoint a reason why I love it so much. I just do.  There’s many titles I can tell you, even more serious ones like “The Imitation Game”, “The Danish Girl”, or “Dallas Buyers Club” and “Fight Club”.  Even though I prefer fantasy themes, there’s significant exceptions.  Old Italian movies are among my favorites too, but they’re just a drop in the ocean.  To close this, I’m going to bring you my love for the entire “Night at the Museum” ordeal and the entire “Jumanji” series (as of now, but I will never love anything more than the original).  I get really excited when I get to talk about this kind of interests, sorry T_T

Favorite Anime

Oh boy.  This sounds like it might be an easy one, given the nature of this blog, but it’s actually not.  In fact, I forgot Saint Seiya was my favorite anime.  You see, I originally watched it when I was nothing but a child, with a memory that obviously wasn’t so good at the time. This eventually led me to forget about how much I loved Saint Seiya, even though its characters never left my mind, and I started gravitating more towards Yu-Gi-Oh!, especially 5D’s. For the longest time I was convinced my absolute favorite was Yu-Gi-Oh!, until I finally started re-watching Saint Seiya and got hit by the memory train. 

But let’s not wander too far away from the question. What’s my favorite anime? Of all time is Saint Seiya, hands down. It has so much to offer, so much diversity, so much story and so many characters. Here in Italy, it has one of the most unique dubs of all time, with dialogues that are aulic (for the Italian fans who are curious --> l’origine del registro aulico dei Cavalieri dello Zodiaco è stato deciso da Enrico Carabelli e  Stefano Cerioni ed è spiegato in questo video, ed è poi stato mantenuto da Ivo de Palma nella serie di Hades) and filled with quotes from authors like Dante Alighieri, Ugo Foscolo and more, an “oddity” that made me fall in love again and again. 

Aside from this, I have another list, because I honestly cannot bring myself to choose only one.  Above all are Yu-Gi-Oh! (in order from best to worst for me --> 5D’s, Duel Monsters, GX, ZeXal, Vrains, Arc-V), My Hero Academia, and Sailor Moon.  Honorable mentions are Attack on Titan, Black Butler, Another, Pretty Cure ( spent basically my entire childhood/teenage years watching them, my favorites are the first two series), One Piece, Dragon Ball, Naruto, Beyblade, Tokyo Mew Mew... this could go on forever.  I’m a sucker for “old” anime as well, so a lot of them are mostly from the 70′s, 80′s, 90′s. Some of them I was so little when I watched it, like for example Card Captor Sakura (I was like three years old and I dressed up as her for Carnival), that I don’t remember them but they still have a place in my heart.  I wasn’t even fixated on one genre and that was it, I watched the hell out of anime and I still do (when I have time). 

I do also watch yaoi (shame on me, I know), and since I’m here telling you about my favorites: I love Dramatical Murder, especially (and you might not believe me) for how creative the story and the worldbuilding are. I’m also shameless enough to have watched the entire game in all its incarnations, so there’s that.  Not only that, I’m shameless enough to have watched more explicit ones, but I’m not telling you ;) I have a reputation here, after all. 

This took a long time for me to answer, and I’m sorry. I legit looked at this in my inbox, tried to conjure up some will to write, failed and went back to bed or to my books. Rinse and repeat for an entire week.  And to all of you who actually made it through this entire thing without getting annoyed/bored, damn you’re determined. 

[nautilusopus]

I wrote a whole fucking review for Pokemon Shield but google ate it so I'm putting it up here and making it longer.

Pokemon SwSh is bright and shiny, but has many small systemic problems that ultimately pile up into a larger Not Fun whole. I know the easy criticism is to bring up Dexit, which I'm not happy about for a variety of reasons, but I still think they could've made a fun game in spite of that. Instead I'm going to bring up other problems the game has in the hope of having some of the game's other issues actually recognised before fans and critics alike fall into the same trap that I did. Dexit is honestly just the tip of the iceberg.

First, the good:

Trainer customisation has improved, and I'm always a sucker for the little things. Clothes are affordable once more AND come in a variety of designs, something I felt was a problem with Gen 7, and the player character model actually has facial expressions. This makes the world just a bit more fun to interact with when you're no longer a blankly-staring robot child. I often find myself spinning/doing the Leon pose just for fun because it’s nice to watch your character do something quirky and expressive like that, in the same way people are endeared to Wind Waker or BOTW Link more than Twilight Princess or Majora’s Mask Link despite both of them ostensibly being blank slates.

The curry minigame is fun even if I don’t quite understand how fanning works yet (and also another opportunity to see said facial expressions). Just a tad heartbroken I can’t import my team from previous games to play with them in camp. 

Marnie's a neat concept for a rival, and one that I've personally wanted to see in the Pokemon series for a while. I'll avoid speaking about it too much for spoiler reasons, but I think most people will wind up liking her as well.

The game looks nice. Not like, astounding or anything, but the cities and towns have a lot of atmosphere baked into their design.

Lotta bangers in the soundtrack, and the presentation of gym battles as a World Cup-esque deal, complete with hyped up audience, brings a fresh, exciting take to the Pokemon League. I like the way the music changes as the battle progresses, and enjoy the little in-universe details, like the champion walking around with all his sponsors on his uniform. 

WOOLOO

MY BOY TOBY FOX OUT HERE DOING GOD’S WORK, THIS SHIT SLAPS BEST TRACK 10000/10

Now for the bad:

The game feels very small and unfinished. It constantly implies cool things are happening in the background, but you never get to participate yourself, or even see them. The closest you get is your rival showing up with a news article explaining that a fun thing happened and was resolved in the time it took you to walk 100 feet. It makes the main questline feel flat and tedious, and something tells me maybe we were supposed to get to participate in literally anything, but there just wasn't time and they had to get the game out for the holiday season.

This pairs very badly with the second thing, which is that there really isn't very much to do in Pokemon SwSh. Most of what you wind up doing is backtracking. The Wilds are a neat idea in theory, but in execution they're kind of the worst part of the game. They're also, unfortunately, the biggest. It feels like there's really only two areas in the entire game -- the empty cities/towns with nothing really in them, and the giant, open-world-esque Wilds. 

The Wilds themselves are nothing to write home about. Pokemon catching is gated off by level, but all areas of the wilds are available simultaneously. This means if you care about filling out the dex, you'll find yourself constantly walking back and forth between town and the same areas of the Wilds you've already been to, checking things off a list. There's less a sense of exploration, and more just a sense of wandering in circles occasionally checking the weather. And if you DON'T care about the dex, then there's literally no reason for you to constantly return to this gigantic, lovingly-modeled wasteland ever again, making the game feel even smaller as you hop from empty town to empty town, and there’s even less for you to do as a result.

The game is piss-easy, even for a Pokemon title. EXP share is always on because this game shares the same engine as Pokemon Let's Go, meaning you will be disgustingly overlevelled if you make the mistake of exploring the Wilds in between gyms the way I did, and remain that way for the entire game. I found myself throwing the fight against Opal a little bit just to hear all her dialogue. Otherwise you just oneshot everyone and everything, and all the fights start to feel samey very quickly. 

Also, barren postgame. Like 30 minutes tops.

Maybe I’m a fool for expecting writing from a Pokemon game, but after Lillie from Sumo/USUM I went and got my hopes up, and Hop absolutely does not deliver. I don’t hate him like some do (Hugh is still absolutely the most annoying rival and no one will ever unseat him), but he just feels like many many missed opportunities. He feels extra redundant given Marnie’s presence on top of that. 

Bad Pokemon designs. This one’s a personal gripe so it’s at the bottom of the list, but I feel like it’s still worth mentioning that I abandoned the shit out of my starter and am left with nothing to replace it with. Greedent is now my new least favourite Pokemon ever. Fuckin FNAF-ass lookin motherfucker.

As sort of a smoking gun exemplifying my point, I have 53 Revives just from wandering around in the Wilds forever. And I have 3 Hyper Potions in my entire bag and no other healing items, because the game has given me no reason to go back into town and buy anything because there’s nothing in the towns, and it’s never required me to heal because there’s really no significant battles to have either, in the story, or ones you would seek out for your own reasons. 

On a personal note, I’m 7 badges into this mess and I still haven’t finalised my team because I can’t even find 6 designs I like that also result in at least a somewhat decent type coverage (or at least flashy variety of colour). To those of you that know me and my True 100% Run, that’s fucking unheard of for me. 

Overall, disappointed. It's not terrible, but given how robust every other mainline title was, this is a big downgrade. Not worth $60. I've played more fleshed-out romhacks. This game reminds me more of Coliseum/XD than Gen 8's big debut. Mostly I just feel bad for the friend that bought me it. 

This would just be kind of a bummer on its own, but coupled with the fact that 1. half the damn Pokemon aren’t in it and Game Freak has openly stated they plan to keep doing this and 2. in spite of that the game still felt unfinished, making you wonder what the hell they spent all their time making (Gigantamax maybe? Why? You can’t even do it in-game for the most part. At least Mega Evolution was readily available. Not to mention it won’t even be available next game. Stop making up gimmicks just to discard them), it makes me seriously concerned for the future of the franchise.