#but people often seem to think trivia is actual geography

[captious-solarian]

I far prefer the JetPunk quiz to Sporcle's.

Why Jetpunk is better IMO:

Countries are shown in a light yellow when unguessed, darker green when guessed; no question marks that block you from actually seeing the borders.

They're filled in instantly; no distracting animation.

Arrows and circles to show small nations, rather than insets that force you to look in both places.

You can click to zoom.

Much more consistent about abbreviations. Why does Sporcle accept "png" but not "nz", or "st vincent" but not "antigua"? It's a mystery.

There's an alphabetised list at the end to easily see what you already guessed. You can use it for additional help since it gives you an idea of where missing countries are in the alphabet, or choose not to scroll down to it if you want more challenge.

Shows your score percentile.

Data-wise, there's one difference: Sporcle uses a complicated definition of what counts as a country (using mainly UN status and recognition by other countries, but Taiwan is an exception), whereas JetPunk uses territorial control in practice. As a result, Sporcle includes Palestine (total 197 countries), and JetPunk excludes it (total 196 countries). So if you're really set on having your online quizzes acknowledge Palestine then that's a reason to prefer Sporcle; also if you already have an account on Sporcle tracking your scores.

actually inspired by recent geography posting lets see where we're all at. go here & complete the quiz to the best of your ability, no cheating:

[writingwithfolklore]

5 Film Jobs You've Probably Never Heard Of

Films are so huge and require so many people and yet it seems people only ever talk about the directors, producers, actors... If you’re looking to go into film or are interested in a creative career, trust me, there’s so much more than just the jobs you hear about the most, and these less talked about or more uncommon jobs are incredibly important to the end product and are seriously rewarding careers on their own!

                My point is, there’s more than just director/producer if that doesn’t interest you that much, so today I want to introduce you to some film jobs that are less commonly known but are so important to creating the final product and are seriously rewarding careers on their own.

SFX makeup

A subcategory of the costuming and makeup department are people who specifically do makeup for aliens, monsters, wounds, and basically any special effects on the actors. If you’re artsy and interested in horror or sci-fi, this is definitely the position for you.

2. Intimacy Coordinator

An important job on set during any scenes where actors may have to be nude or are wearing less clothing or performing in a way that might be less comfortable for them, that’s where you come in to protect them and make them feel as comfortable as possible! You get to create a real connection with actors and play an important part in making sets safer every day.

3. Prop Master

When we think of props often we think of the gun, the bottle, the car keys—but my favourite thing to make were paper props. Newspapers, journals, ticket stubs, books, they’re all created by the prop master. It requires not only artistic and writing skills, but knowledge of history, fonts, random trivia, colours, geography, culture, etc. etc. etc. What’s more iconic than the protagonist’s trusty journal, or the dark book full of secrets? This job is perfect for scrapbookers, writers, and other very visual creatives.

4. Foley Artist

‘Foley’ is the sound effects that we record separate from the takes the actors are in, in a little studio called a foley studio. Thus, the foley artists are the people who make those sounds! I’d really recommend looking up a video of these guys working because it is the coolest thing ever. Would you believe that the footsteps you hear in a scene are actually separately recorded with someone slapping a boot against a piece of wood? Or even more unexpected, the bone-crunching injury was just a lettuce being ripped in two? The sounds things make in the real world often aren’t picked up (or aren’t very clear) on the mics while the actors are working, thus, foley artists come in to save the day and get to build an entire world through sound!

5. Production Designer

I took two production design classes in film school and they were both a blast. Production design is all about building and designing the sets, and there’s always so much more that goes into it than you might think. One of my favourite parts of this job is the idea of telling a story about someone based off their possessions, or how they have their room set up, or how they’ve organized their desk. If you’re interested in interior design, construction, or architecture, this is definitely the place for you.

                And there’s so many others. Sound designers, DOPs, Location managers, casting, grip, composers, colurists, DITs, sound mixers... I could go on. If you’re really interested and passionate about film, trust me, there’s a place for you.

Feel free to ask me any film related questions!

[eclecticwordblender]

Since @the-rambling-maiden gave me the kind of validation that makes one cry with joy. I couldn’t wait to publish part 2 of Mahabharata High School AU. Ik it’s too long I’m sorry 🥺.

Senior students in the limelight:

Yudhishthir:

The headboy.

Tries really hard to excell, still is barely above average.

Is driven by the idea that everyone likes him while most of his classmates find him plain annoying. Some of the teachers too.

Is the headboy because for some unknown reason Bheeshma likes him and no one likes to disagree with the principal. Dhritrashtra tried opposing but no one really listens to him.

this kid, Krishna ran a campaign that convinced everyone that Yudhishthir is the best headboy they could have. Without that he had no chance.

Everyone else just accepted and now listens to him because that’s what Krishna wants.

“Okay I’ll give a very interesting lecture in Moral science class.”

- everyone, even the teacher struggles to stay awake.

Draupadi:

Head girl.

Has witty comebacks to everything.

An all rounder.

Looking at her, everyone wonders why someone as under achieving as Yudhishthir gets to be the other school captain.

Changed her name to Panchaali. But everyone still calls her Draupadi. Doesn’t like it, but has made her peace with it.

Is already done with the world’s patriarchal ways which are the basis of the school’s sexist rule book.

Is EXTREMELY, EXTREMELY beautiful.

Once, some juniors went to the principal’s office and saw a picture of the first headmistress. They were all admiring her beauty while Draupadi walked in. And suddenly all the admiration shifted to her.

An iconic friendship quadrent of Arjuna, Satyabhama, Krishna and Draupadi exists right since they joined school.

Had a beef with the Geography teacher, Kunti because had a thing going with Arjuna for a while.

“🧚🏻‍♀️🥰 How are we ignoring our beloved head boy today?🥰🧚🏻‍♀️”

Arjuna:

Heart eyes uwu.

Soccer team captain.

Is some sort of a ladies man. However, always prioritises his ECAs and Krishna.

All rounder. Had the achievements to be head boy, definitely not the time.

Girls are always crushing on him.

Dated Draupadi in the freshman year, it didn’t work out. Is still best friends with her though.

Currently in a relationship with Subhadra, she’s two years younger, but our boi doesn’t really care because he’s so smitten by her. Bestfs still above her though.

Is Kunti’s favourite kid. Kunti is an actual sweetheart exclusively to him.

Everyone loves him.

Sometimes sick of all the attention he gets.

Major enimity with the soccer team’s vice captain, Karna.

“I WILL PROVE THE VICE CAPTAIN IS NO MATCH TO ME!”

Bheema:

Really tall, really husky, Fitness freak.

Still loves food more than right about anything.

There’s only one person he’d choose over food. The head girl. Some say he has had a crush on her since junior school. Draupadi values him a lot but doesn’t seem to reciprocate the attention he gives her.

Is stupid, but it’s okay because he’s also the good-est boy in town.

Not very bright academically.

Doesn’t get the recognition he deserves.

Literally the BEST basketball player, but all everyone in school seems to care about is soccer and track events :/.

Has anger management issues which land him into trouble very often.

“Panchaali! You should be proud of me, I prevented a murder today, BY CONTROLLING MY ANGER.”

Nakul:

Is a year younger to everyone in his class.

Really cute, really handsome. Is also well aware about this.

Is not much of a ladies man but SO MANY PEOPLE have crushes on him.

Is practically never seen without his guitar and bestf, Sahadev, who is the only one who shares his birth year.

Can be found giving out personalised skin care routines for fun. And Sahadev, being the brains of the duo, charges in cash, that is how both of them get their pocket money.

Goes to the restroom after every period to make sure his hair are still on point.

Has a successful band. Obviously he’s the lead.

“Wow! Who is this beauty!? Oh my God! This is why I use mirrors as mood boosters.”

Sahadev:

Smartest kid in the school. School topper.

Can talk about random trivia for hours, and people like listening to him.

Is either in the library or hanging out with Nakul.

Hates school A LOT.

Sahadev doesn’t attend a lot of classes because he knows teachers aren’t of any help to him.

Always attends maths class, even though he doesn’t like Sir Shakuni. Prolly because he wanted to be Shakuni’s fav but Shakuni only likes the bad boys. Sigh.

Is a walking human encyclopaedia.

��Why is everyone so stupid!? I WANNA GO HOME! I HATE YOU ALL! (Except my boi Nakul).”

Krishna:

(Ik everyone in the fandom loves him v much. Please don’t hate me for this.)

Manipulative to a point its very toxic.

Doesn’t like taking responsibilities and being held accountable

so just tricks people who take up responsibility into listening to him.

The OG heart eyes in the campus.

Still ships Draupadi and Arjuna for some reason. Even though he treats Arjuna’s girlfriend as his younger sister.

So stubborn.

Is good at everything but doesn’t like the lime light.

A Krishna-Shakuni Feud is the best source of entertainment.

Krishna seems to think that every body who disagrees with him is absolutely wrong and would go any length to make a point. Is also sort of disrespectful to the teachers he doesn’t like.

However, has a very captivating charm that makes him most people’s favourite. Shakuni sees through his well planned schemes because he has fully functional brain cells.

Loves his friendship quadrant and a girl from some other school who visits often, a lot.

A feminist. Hates the school’s rule book in a positive manner.

“🧚🏻‍♀️🥰 What mischief should I do today? And how do I trick someone into thinking it was their idea, not mine?🥰🧚🏻‍♀️”

Karna:

Soccer team vice captain.

Here on a scholarship.

Every girl with daddy issues is head over heels for him.

Uses Hating Arjuna as a personality trait.

Also uses his love for Duryodhana as another personality trait.

Has lots of rumours about him. He doesn’t care because all he cares about is defeating Arjuna.

A lot of students ship Draupadi with him. It’s just stupid. Both of them dislike each other, but are too evolved to care about stupid rumours.

Is extremely generous.

Since the owner’s kid, who is RICH is his bestf, he never misses a chance to slide a meal from the overpriced canteen to any one who forgot lunch.

Suffers from classism and tries very hard to fight the inferiority complex he gets because most kids around are super rich.

Dronacharya dislikes him, he dislikes him back, however, still tries to win him.

Has abandonment issues.

Some say he looks upto Ma’am Kunti for validation.

The cricket coach, Pashuram, likes this kid though.

“Are you challenging me Arjuna!?”

Duryodhan:

Thinks too highly of himself.

Being the owner’s kid makes up for half his personality. The other half is his devotion towards his beloved Karna.

Is probably bi and Has a not so subtle crush on his bestf.

Has another personality that is devoted to trying to convince everyone he should be head boy.

He once started an intervention demanding “Duryodhana should be headbody” and he was also the leader on the intervention. Karna was unwillingly in his support.

Is Sir Shakuni’s favourite bratty kid.

Only listens to Shakuni or Karna.

Comes up with evil and downright mean mischiefs but always fails.

He once tried to full on flirt with Draupadi but got his a*s whooped.

Tried to sabotage Yudhishthir’s reputation but Krishna’s interference led him to fail.

“Where’s Mitr Karna!?!? I get anxiety when I don’t have him or Sir Shakuni around for long!”

“I should be headboy! No head girl. Karna should be headboy 2.”

Dushasan:

Befriended Duryodhana first year of school.

Looks up to Duryodhana. Only imitates his bad qualities. That’s it, that’s his entire personality.

Even Shakuni who loves bratty kids, dislikes this one.

Has more haters than the headboy. Except people hate on him openly.

Total failure.

A bully.

Dushasana can be found in the last room on the third floor of the oldest block very often. That’s the detention room.

Tries to flirt with every girl around, and girls just ew this creep AS THEY SHOULD.

Doesn’t have a personality of his own.

“Dury Bro! HOW DID YOU DO THAT? CAN I TOO PLEASE?”

Sikhandi/Sikhandini:

FEMINIST.

Gender fluid and ready to teach a lesson to anyone who invalidates her.

Strong and independent.

Important member of the soccer as well as the cricket team.

Also, a star athelete.

Has a very strong bonding with Ma’am Amba because VERY similar.

Sikhandi/Sikhandni can be seen gossiping with Amba on the stair case a lot, some claim to have heard them trash talk Bheeshma.

Bold and not afraid to stand for what they believes in without caring about the consequences.

Once they gave herself a third ear piercing, using a compass when Kunti told her a double piercing was a distraction after Yudhishthir complained about it.

Emerges as a parent figure to juniors who are bullied for being different.

“As long as you have the right intentions you’re valid okay?”

Drishtdyum:

Introvert.

Minds his own business.

Manages good grades and a spot in the sports squad.

He found out he shared his birthday with the Draupadi in second grade. Loves her like a sister since then.

The basketball coach sees some spark in him that no one else does.

Is liked by all but doesn’t get the attention he deserves.

Is pretty content with life in General.

Ashwatthama:

Soccer coach’s kid.

Is self aware.

Realistic and practical.

Suffers from major attention deprivation.

Duryodhan lent him a pencil case in second standard. Asshwatthama tries so hard to become his favourite ever since.

The Iconic Karna Dury duo however, ignore almost always.

Expanded the “Duryodhana should be headboy” intervention but his efforts weren’t recognised.

Closeted gay.

Respects superiors while disliking them.

Quite bitter.

“Will this win me Duryodhan’s love?”

Subhadra:

Eyes like forest pools.

Looks up to Draupadi as a role model.

Arjuna is her weakness even though she’s dating him.

Kunti likes her. Doesn’t mind if she’s dating Arjuna.

There’s this brilliant student in the junior section, Abhimanyu. Subhadra and Arjuna spend a lot of time with him together. They sort of look like a very happy family.

Always tops English and History class.

Gossip queen xoxo.

“Draupadi Didi and Krishna bhaiya said so, Arjuna you know I cannot say no to them.”

Dushala:

Is the sweetest person around.

Believes there is some good in every person.

Even hangs out with Duryodhana and squad thinking they’ll change some day.

Karna and Dushala often discuss how to mend this group’s ways, assisted by Dury’s girlfriend, Bhanumati.

Is stuck in a relationship with a jerk but doesn’t have the heart to break up with him.

Is literally kindness personified.

Dushala’s favourite teacher is Gandhaari. Probably because no one else gives the teacher validation and Dushala doesn’t like when someone is sad.

Jayadaratha:

Terrible person.

Only the size of a grain of sand better than Dushasana.

Started Dating Dushala Sophomore year.

Dushala really wants to break up with this jerk but she’s too sweet to hurt someone even as terrible as him so she just avoids him.

Once Draupadi slapped him in public. Dushala cheered the loudest.

Is only relevant because of his girlfriend.

Bhanumati:

Says Duryodhana is an excellent boyfriend.

Corrects her man when he’s wrong.

Is also close friends with Karna.

Led the intervention against the “Duryodhana should be headboy intervention.”

It hurt Dury but it’s okay because Bhanumati has her own thoughts and he respects that. Guess he is actually a good boyfriend.

“OMG DURY!!!! STOP IT! KARNA HOW DO WE STOP DURY FROM DOING ANOTHER F*CK UP?”

Yuyutsu:

Is very lovable.

Boy has no hater.

Somehow was befriended by Duryodhan in junior school.

Feels stuck in the Dury gang ever since.

Secretly, very strongly admires Yudhishthir, Arjuna, Draupadi and of course, KRISHNA.

Is everything you’d wanna fix in Yudhishthir.

Yuyutsu, Dushala and Vikarna trio is bff goals.

“Is there any way I can change my friend group? Face palms”

Vikarna:

Counsels Duryodhana on Yuyutsu’s advise.

There isn’t much to say about him. Dude’s a good guy with humanly flaws.

Feels stuck in Dury gang but has made his peace with their ways.

Dushala, Yuyutsu and Vikarna are often found gossiping with Ma’am Gandhaari, she often warns them about how their other friends are bad kids and they should not get influenced.

“Why!? Because yuyutsu says so that’s why!”

Eklavya:

Here on scholarship.

This poor kid was bullied so much initially when he joined school because of his economic status.

Coach Drona wouldn’t let him into the soccer team because he’s afraid someone might out shine his favourite.

Stays away from the dirty politics in school.

Became a star athelete despite all the odds he faced.

Eklavya was once locked in the washroom before a 100m race on the sports day. No one knows who did that for sure. Although some people claim to know it was Coach Drona.

Rukmini:

President of the theatre club.

Crushes on Krishna for an unknown duration.

Krishna does give her attention because EXCUSE ME, she is impossible to ignore.

Rukmini befriended Nakul in the corridors as they bumped into each other after every period, while going to/coming from the washroom to check their respective hairdos.

Satyabhama:

Is Draupadi’s psychological twin.

President of the debating society.

Another one of Krishna’s closest friends.

The school is full of Satyabhama-Krishna shippers. But their friendship quadrant knows Krishna is smitten by this girl from some other school.

Radha:

The girl from some other school.

Probably goes to an all girls convent school.

Is shy but can be seen having a a gala time with Krishna after school. Friends w Subhadra too.

Nobody in school knows much about her but it’s evident Krishna and her are 11/10 soulmates uwu.

Rukmi:

Rukmini’s twin brother.

Is overly protective of his sister.

Thinks he’s well sorted but almost always creates a mess.

Has some sort of minor feud with Krishna.

Is neck deep in a very toxic friendship with Shishupal.

Shishupal:

Rebel without a cause.

A headache.

Wants to fight Krishna but is scared of him.

Wants to join the Dury gang but no on lets him in.

Shishupal is known to spread the most problematic rumours in school.

Hidimbi:

Stays occupied in her small social circle of not so popular kids.

She’s famous, though doesn’t talk to many people.

Proposed to Bheem in middle school.

Bheem gently turned her down because he was already mad about Draupadi. Hidimba moved on with life without sulking about it. Probably still likes him though.

Also, really close to this Ghatotkutch person who is in fifth grade.

Ulupi and Chitrangada:

Dated Arjuna for a few weeks each.

Then bonded over how he’s not a good boyfriend and not as perfect as everyone thinks he is. they do have a point though.

Are now bestfs and don’t like anyone else in school.

Since, I’m an attention wh*re tagging: @bigheadedgirlwithbigdreams @soniaoutloud @supermeh-krishnafan @incorrectmahabharatquotes @chaanv @hoeticulture @lemponkoira @1nsaankahanhai-bkr

Also, link to part 1: https://eclecticwordblender.tumblr.com/post/625462681921568768/foundation

[thecartoonuniverse]

Carmen Sandiego Spoiler-Free Review!

My video review of the first five episodes of the Carmen Sandiego Netflix series is up! Check it out here, or read the script to it by clicking the read more

The Carmen Sandiego franchise debuted in 1985 with the educational video game, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, and now has a total of 22 video games as well as three tv shows!

All of these entries had the goal of teaching children about geography and history. I watched a few episodes of the old cartoon and definitely think it pulled it off well.  

Now Carmen is back with a new show, and like most reboots of older franchises, quite a bit has changed. Here’s a quick summary of the plot:

Starting off as a student at VILE academy, an organization that teaches people how to steal treasures from around the world, Carmen later turns her back on the place she grew up and does her best to return any goods they steal. Along with her friends Zack and Ivy, as well as her online friend Player, she becomes a thief who only steals from other thieves. But to law enforcement agencies like ACME, she is perceived as a criminal, and they try in vain to capture her. Carmen travels to many different countries during her adventures to stop VILE, and along the way ends up learning about who she truly is.

So, if you know anything about the older incarnations of Carmen Sandiego, it is easy to see that there are some pretty big differences. In the original, she was an agent of ACME who left when she sought out a greater challenge and became a thief. She would steal literally anything, which included things like the Statue of Liberty, and would even go back in time to steal languages!

But she left clues about the things she took, so any smart ACME agent could try and get back what she stole.

In the old television show, she was pretty clearly a villain. This version paints her as a person that is trying to do good things, just in an unusual way, and could easily be called an anti-hero. And even more explicit is the marketing for this show, which makes sure we all know that she is indeed a heroine. She is also younger than before, but she has been training her whole life so she’s not totally inexperienced.

I have already heard a lot of contention regarding her new status as an anti-hero. While I would have loved her being a villain since that is a very rare thing in modern shows for the main character, I do not expect a show for children in 2019 to showcase a character like that, with the exception of Villainous.

Her being younger is also no surprise to me, as most reboots do that as well.

But if you ignore what Carmen’s character used to be, then it is easy to see that this is a very well-made show.

The art style is one of my favorites for any modern cartoon. It reminds me a lot of the Tangled series because both use the lineless style, and both of these shows execute it very well. But the lighting in this one brings it to a whole other level, and the little details like dust particles make the visuals just overall amazing.

Every character in the show is unique and their designs do a good job at conveying their character. I really love the leaders of VILE and the way they are designed.  And since this is a show about geography and exploring the world, the diverse cast is appreciated.

Carmen Sandiego is very much a modern cartoon, and since it is on Netflix they have the opportunity to start the series off with her origin story. And while the show does seem a bit more episodic after the two-parter introduction, there is always something in each episode that alludes to a bigger story that will eventually come into play. So, not only do we get the where, but we also get the who is Carmen Sandiego?

I really enjoy Carmen as a character as she is very clever and determined to make things right.

Along with Carmen are a few notable characters I mentioned before.

I’m not sure how I feel about Zack and Ivy just yet. Like in the original, they are siblings, but this time they are on the same side as Carmen. They also made them the same age as Carmen, and Zack is no longer a blonde... guess they wanted to make them look more like siblings. They are often comedic relief, but they still do a great job with helping Carmen out.

Carmen’s other source of help is from the character Player, who is never actually there with her but helps by looking up information online. I’ve always enjoyed characters that help remotely like Player, and if you know the old series, you’ll appreciate the callback. In the past, he was a live-action unseen character that communicated with Carmen via a computer, since the show implied that the whole series was just a video game. But since the new show decided not to go that route, I still think it’s very cool they did something similar by giving Carmen and online friend.

Much like all Carmen Sandiego shows and games before it, this version has a focus on education. Honestly, it’s been a while since I watched a show with any educational value besides ones that teach moral lessons so I think I can safely say that it did take me a bit to adjust to the moments when characters did just start uttering a bunch of facts about geography and culture. But I would be lying if I said I didn’t learn a thing or two from these segments.

However, I enjoyed the educational aspects of the older show more since they had a bit more humor to them. But this series in general is a bit more serious so I don’t really have a problem with this, and overall the educational aspect isn’t too in-your-face.

While there were a bunch of things I enjoyed about this series thus far, I do think there is room for improvement.

A lot of the side characters, especially those that were Carmen’s classmates from VILE academy, are pretty bland personality-wise. Hopefully each of them gets some more spotlight in the future.

And while I enjoyed seeing Carmen travel and interact with people from different countries, so far I haven’t seen anyone speak any languages other than English, which is a bummer since I think it would be cool to learn some phrases from other languages through this show. When they’re at a Spanish speaking country, I do expect to hear some Spanish!

Personally, I am a bit conflicted on the direction the show took as a whole. I feel like it would have been amazing to see the show mimic the original one and have the whole thing be a video game where the player is representative of the person watching.

And with that, they could’ve added some more interactive features, because the lack of them with this show is a bit of a missed opportunity. There could be trivia that players can answer throughout each episode, which could definitely help in the retention of all the facts they learned. Or maybe even different scenes could play depending on the answer the player chose.

But who knows, maybe they can add some interactive features later down the line.

Finally, I think keeping Carmen a villain would have been neat, or maybe at least have her do bad things at first, and then slowly realize it’s the wrong thing to do. I suppose there is some of this in the backstory, but a slower redemption for Carmen would have been a nice alternative.

But that is more about what this show COULD have been, not what it currently is. The show that I have seen so far is pretty great.

I’m looking forward to see how the show explores Carmen’s origins, as that is a big theme in the series so far. Like I said, there is clearly a bigger story at play and I am curious to see just how dark the show will go. It probably won’t ever get too dark since it’s a show for all ages, but here’s to hoping the plot gets really good.

If you are adamant that Carmen must be a villain, then this show may not be for you. But for everyone else, I would say give it a watch!

Netflix has been releasing so many good cartoons lately, and this is another one to add to the list.

Also, there is going to be a live action movie in 2020, so hopefully that is good as well!

Carmen Sandiego will be on Netflix on January 18th!

[worlduniversityrp-blog]

Accepted Sweden App

Accepted! Please have a blog up within the next week, and send the URL to this blog so we can add you to the members page. @dolcexsnaps​

OOC

Name: Drey Pronouns: He / Him / His Contact URL: dolcexsnaps.tumblr.com

Character Wanted: Sweden Activity Level: 5-6 Time Zone: GMT + 8 / Philippine Standard Time Password: accepted Members Page Icon: http://red-panda-tea.tumblr.com/post/157333309833/can-you-draw-one-of-the-nordics-plz

Extra : None / Can’t think of anything at the moment.

IC

Full Name: Berwald Hendrick Johansson Age / Year: 23, 3rd Year Gender / Pronouns: He identifies as a bisexual male. He / His / Him

Appearance : One of the his most noticeable features, is his averagely-large sized body. You could say quite well-built, too. A broad chest, broad shoulders, slightly muscular arms and legs, and, of course, his calloused hands. Hair is somewhat of a light blond, and uneven on the tips, and is often shown lazily combed. His hair also parts to the right. Like the shade of the tropical marine seas, his eyes spots an unusual blue-ish green color, on most days. Quite ironic, due to his rather prominent nose, thin eyebrows, chapped lips, and very fair complexion, given the fact that his home country spots a northernmost location. In terms of clothing and fashion, one can infer that he dresses, like the modern Scandinavian man, in mind. Scarves, and / or turtlenecks, if the weather demands it. But on normal terms, you usually can find him clad in button-up shirts, often adorned with a minimalist design. His upper body also has some freckles scattered about.

Personality: Taciturn and stoic, but is actually quite playful on the inside. If one wants to summarize him into a single sentence, that would be it. A rather odd addition to that, Berwald is adamant person. He keeps his beliefs intact, and it’s quite hard to make him re-consider. Even if it means that he is wrong. Paired with his stubborn attitude, is the fact that he might come out as slightly nonchalant about the things around him. Though, he is not a lax individual, and will always try to persuade, and coax someone into perceiving his way of thinking. Setting aside, he can be quite the patient person. Berwald is genuinely nice, and will not hesitate to lend a helping hand. Concerning speech and language, he chooses to speak in truncated words, in a seldom manner, but aside from that, he is quite well-spoken, and his lexicon is rather large, due to his curious nature. But, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t cuss or curse, especially if the situation demands of it. He, especially, finds it pleasing in using both Swedish, and English, in his everyday life and conversation. He has select hobbies and interests, too. He likes The Arts, especially Woodworks and Wood-sculpting, and finds them quite interesting. Literature and Baking, both comes in as close second. To add to that, he also adores things related to, or pertaining to, international affairs, issues, and globalization, as a whole. He is openly drawn to the twists and turns of the outside world.

Skills :  - Musically-inclined : Berwald grew up with music. His mother was a musican, and he was taught how to play the violin at age 6, and later on, the piano at age 9. He likes surrounding himself with tranquil, and classic melodies. Noteworthy persons of interest are Tchaikovsky, and Mozart.

- Baking : This hobby is an essential in Sweden, a country known mostly for a wide range of baking traditions, most notably, fika. From an early age, he was already taught the basics of culinary delights, and is proud of himself, for the ability of making himself his own food.

- Bookworm / Avid Reader : He adores, and loves reading. He has this unique hobby of collecting books, not just for the heck of it, but it makes him feel intelligent, and vintage-like. Due to his penchant for this, he normally would know much, things ranging from useless trivia- to wise and sane advice.

Flaws : - Perfectionist : He tends to dabble much, over things that would normally be, considered a bit over-dramatic. Stuff like symmetry, general cleanliness, or his work-ethic.

- Adamant : Due to his rather, rambunctious upbringing, it can be quite difficult to change his mind. He’ll certainly protect it, whether he’s true or not. He’s not always like this, though. It depends on his mood, and the topic at hand.

- Mischievous : He can be quite sarcastic, and misleading at times. Other times, he’s a prankster, who tries his best to be secretive. This side of him, shows up more noticeably, whether he’s feeling vengeful, or something malicious happened, that may concern himself, and others.

Back Story: Berwald experienced the early years of his life, in the Kungsholmen district in Stockholm, and into a family that consists of his father, mother, and older sister. Growing up, he developed a mischievous attitude, and would often cause trouble, in some way or another. This leading to his family doubtingly classifying him as a ‘rambunctious’ child. It would also be a cause of surprise for other people, due to usual calm disposition, it would be hard to guess that he’d hide his frolicsome behavior underneath. Random skirmishes, often provoked by him and his older sibling, would ensue and cause tantrums every now and then, usually with the latter one having a higher probability of winning over the younger. But, it wasn’t really like that, all the time. He’d usually help his mother with baking, especially before 'fika’ time arrives, and got into loving the activity at heart as time progressed. Him and his older sister would, either read books together in a mini-library inside their home, or spend their afternoons, aimlessly walking around their garden, or the broader neighborhood if they felt like it. Picking the fat, black cherries that hang in a tree over another garden wall, on their way back. One by one, then comes his father. Whom he’d always admired, and watched from afar. Whilst working in a private workshop antiquely tucked inside their home. Working for a company that specializes in finance, he uses his spare time into woodworks, due to the fact that it seemed to please him, and ease his stress. Berwald was, then eventually allowed to work alongside by his father, and they’d spend all the available time they have, and made wood sculptures, petite ornaments, and small furniture. Then, they’d talk about everything that would cross their minds. Traveling elsewhere. New experiences. Life choices. Getting a top-notch education. Frequent subjects and topics of interest that arouse every afternoon. And, all that constituted his childhood, and pre-teen life. but not everything was made to bring joy to light.

By the time he was 15, his father and sister were both caught up in a fatal car accident, which left them both dead, and his remaining family, now reduced to shambles. His mother became afflicted with so much grief, and reduced herself, both in physical property, and in personality. She became reduced, and colder, and took over as the breadwinner, for the remainder of the Johansson family, which consisted of him and herself. That threw things off for Berwald. It seems like everything became lopsided for him, and he had to endure the tremendous amount of pain by himself, which somehow made him close off himself from others, in the process. Friendships grew weak, and life became bleak, and dull, even for his studies in high school. To which depression soon followed, leaving him in an austere manner of things, even after he graduated.

Luckily, for him, his mother had been assigned to relocate to New York, chosen to work there to further the global foothold of the company. In all of his life, leading to now, Berwald felt a spark of hope inside of him. He’d always wanted to go to the States, to further his rightful thinking of the world, and its processes. Knowing that it would help him realize both his, and his father’s dream. To be successful, and try to flip the coin, and revert things to the way it should be.

And he was going to make everything worthwhile. It could’ve- No. It will be great, he’ll make sure of it.

Headcanons:  Berwald likes to be minimalistic. Personality-wise, it’s his aesthetic, not just in clothing.

After everything that has happened, he still hopes, and clings to the thought that his mother would break her facade, and re-invigorate their frigid relationship.

His favorite / preferred coffee drink is a caffè latte, and even has his own recipe, which suits his tastes.

Classical, Rock, and Pop are some of his more well-received genres / styles when it comes to music.

Major(s): Majors in Cultural and Global Studies & Interior Design Minors: Minors in  English Literature, Language, and Writing Courses: Human Geography and Globalization ( C&GBS), Design History and Criticism ( ID )

Ships:

OTP(s): SuFin / DenSu / SuNor / SuIce / I don’t mind.

NOTP(s): None, really.

Writing sample : ( Based on an RP that I did )

Sitting down on a chair, he eloquently picked up a book, and began to read. It might seem a bit too much, but it’s his way of concealing all the emotion that was forming in inside of him. Even though he calls him all these nasty nicknames, petty accusations, and throws downright, frigid insults at him, he still loves his Luther. His most precious younger brother. It was just that, he’s not really that keen on showing it off on a regular, open, and more expressive basis. But, what made today an exception to this rule, was just like the times when he’d think, and ponder on and on, for answer that seems, oh-so fleeting. Was it because of him receiving his paycheck yesterday? Was it because he saw a group of brilliant musicians performing in the park? Was it.. Was it because he made a cake for his brother? This array of thoughts swirled, like swings and roundabouts, in his mind. It also began to hinder his progress with the book, which, sort of, irritated him. But he made no lasting comment about it.

Brushing it aside, and continuing to read, he spoke with a more soft tone, eyes flickering with an unknown glint, “Was? Nein. Don’t. That’s all for you. It was- It was just an extra baked good. For you. ” On top of this, he was greeted with an unfamiliar feeling. It wasn’t toilsome, though. He hid his face behind the pages, and smiled.

[justanothercinemaniac]

Epic Movie (Re)Watch #191 - 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (1954)

Spoilers Below

Have I seen it before: Yes

Did I like it then: I think so.

Do I remember it: More or less.

Did I see it in theaters: No.

Format: DVD

1) According to IMDb:

Richard Fleischer was surprised at being considered for the director's chair for this film, as he was the son of Disney's biggest competitor, Max Fleischer. He approached Walt Disney to inquire if Disney knew who he was. Disney told him that he was well aware of who he was and hired him because he thought he was the best man for the job. Richard Fleischer also asked his father if he minded having his son working for his rival but Max Fleischer made no objection and even asked Richard to tell Disney that he thought he had made an excellent choice for his director!

Just some fun trivia to start with.

2) This film’s brief opening explosion does quite well to establish the danger of the seas and some of the film’s stakes.

3) Kirk Douglas as Ned Land.

Douglas plays land as a traditional roguish action hero in the best sense. He has this wonderful sense of humor and charm, playing a character who could’ve easily been a hated jackass as someone you like/root for. He’s lovably devious and just fun.

4) I know this movie is from 1954, but quite calling anything that you consider the east, “the orient!”

5) Paul Lukas as Professor Aronnax.

Lukas plays Aronnax as a remarkably patient and considerate character. You invest in him easily because he’s reasonable, curious, soft spoken, and just genuinely kind. The performance is what makes the character here and it’s great.

6) The film really takes advantage of its oceanic setting with brief moments of spectacle, featuring grand shots of dolphins and whales in real life. Although unfortunately this can come at the expense of pacing.

7) “A Whale of a Tale”

While this song serves mainly as an extended distraction from the plot & an opportunity to let Kirk Douglas sing a song, it’s just incredibly fun too. It’s a classic of the Disney canon, appearing on Classic Disney: Vol. 1 (albeit with a different third verse), and even getting a reference in Finding Nemo. All in all, it’s just a standout moment of the film.

8) There’s a nice sense of tension in the skirmish between the ship and the “monster” before Ned, Aronnax, and Conseil (Aronnax’s assistant) fall into the water.

9) So, because it’s 2017 and I’m a sucker for gay ships, I head canon that Conseil is in love or has feeling for Aronnax. He jumps into the water without a second thought when the professor falls in and the entire time on the Nautilus he is very adamant about not leaving without the professor. It’s most likely intended as loyalty from an assistant to his professor, but my way is more fun.

10) The Nautilus.

(This is just concept art but it’s the best visual representation I could find.)

The wonder which the film gives the steam punk submarine upon simply realizing what it is helps make the vessel seem miraculous even in a world where submarines exist. The further exploration of the Nautilus helps establish a sense of place and geography to the vessel, while the visual design is also wildly imaginative/spectacular. This is all incredible important as the Nautilus is as important a character to the story as Nemo or Ned, in some ways more so. So the fact the film puts os much stock into the Nautilus just shows the filmmakers understand it.

11) James Mason as Captain Nemo.

Unfortunately Mason’s casting as the iconic character is part of a long line of Hollywood white washing, since in the source material Captain Nemo is the son of an Indian Raja. This effects some of how Nemo’s backstory comes across (who held him in slavery? Why? I don’t really get that part of the movie, just that he lost his family because of it), but Mason is very strong in the part. He breathes incredible complexity, intelligence, interest and power into the captain of the Nautilus. Which is important as Nemo is one of the most complicated and complex antiheroes every to appear in fiction. Within a few moments Mason is sable to establish that Nemo has these complexities, that there’s so much to him we don’t see, with just his performance.

Nemo is filled with contradictions. He makes a point about how he is not civilized but gives Ned a hard time for not using a fork. He criticizes Ned for going after treasure when Nemo has a whole closet full of it. And while he uses his pain to justify the murder of countless sailors to stop war from spreading, are they not as innocent as his family? I thought they didn’t know what they were carrying, but are instead the same people who we see getting whipped like Nemo once was a slave.

But more than anything else Mason is able to show us a lot of Nemo when he’s not speaking a word. We see his intense pain at times when playing the pipe organ and we understand just how deeply he loves the seas. How it calms him, how it is his paradise. While the whitewashing of the character is more than unfortunate, Mason still does a strong job in the part.

12) Nemo’s pipe organ can actually seen by the general public and not in a museum. It currently resides in Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion ride and has done so since 1969.

13) The hunting expedition sequence is another showcase of how the film will often place wonder over pacing. The scene is incredible, with visually compelling elements and unique action. The finding of the sunken treasure is especially nice, as is the ensuing shark attack. But it’s just so freaking slow.

14) Oh, professor…

Aronnax [about Ned]: “His life means nothing! Nor does mine or yours compared to what’s behind all this.”

I disagree, but whatever. i think I’m meant to.

15) I mentioned this before, but I don’t fully understand Nemo’s backstory. He calls the island prison a, “white man’s grave.” Does that mean this film is trying to tell us non-white people are kidnapping white men and using them as slaves? That’s a fucked up narrative device and makes me wonder (as someone who’s never read the book) how this all fits with Nemo’s original heritage.

16) When Arronax says Nemo is, “not only a murderer but a hypocrite,” that was when I learned what the word hypocrite means.

16.1) I would also like to point out taking life is always much easier than maintaining it. There was probably another solution to Nemo’s problem of war spreading other than killing sailors over and over again, but death is much easier.

17) Ah, the racist and outdated “dangerous natives” trope. Yeah, please let this die soon.

And these cannibals are the only fucking black people in the movie. And they’re all dudes, of course. The only two women in this movie were Ned’s girlfriends from before. This whole part of the movie just makes me sad.

18) The Nautilus sinking is actually an excellent example of stakes in the film. There is an incredible tension and pressure throughout where the slower pacing is actually beneficial.

19) THE GIANT SQUID!!!!

This is the best damn part of the entire film, honestly. The fight with the giant squid has become wildly iconic and brings an incredible sense of fun that is born out of incredible imagination. There is strong action, stakes, and pacing throughout. While the practical effects are crazy strong, especially for the time. 63 years later and you’re not pulled out of the scene. Kirk Douglas even gets a real action hero moment to shine when he kills the beast. All in all, it’s just great.

20)

Nemo [after Ned saves him from the squid]: “Mr Land, you saved my life. Why?”

Ned [after a beat]: “That’s a good question.”

21) Honestly the giant squid works as a better climax for the movie than Nemo blowing up his island based. It is the greatest moment of tension in the film, far more so than what we get on Volcania. HOWEVER, the ending on Volcania is a much more fitting emotional conclusion. This story could only have ended one way and that is with the death of Captain Nemo.

22) Oh thank god, they save the seal! I was worried about that.

23) Okay, so one final thought. Everyone is like, “we have to get off the Nautilus before the explosion of Volcania goes off and kills us all!” But then the island blows up and it’s nowhere near Nautilus.

While an unfortunate example of white washing and problematic handling of non-white characters, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is still in many ways a classic. It can drag at some points but Mason commands as Nemo, the design and imagination that went into the film is clear, there are a nice amount of fun moments, and then the giant squid is awesome! Especially if you’re a Disney fan, a fan of the book, or a sci-fi fan in general, you should watch this film. If you’re not those things you still might want to give this movie a try. See if you like it.

[ciathyzareposts]

Game 46: Haunt (1979)

Haunt doesn’t have a title screen

Well, I had a week off.  I’ve been pretty good about keeping to a schedule of late, but ever since I started playing Rogue my desire to blog has somewhat dimmed.  The problem is, I don’t want to play anything else, but the blog cannot survive on Rogue alone.  It’s a great game, but after a while it’s hard to find things to say about it.  On top of that, I’m really into Dungeons & Dragons right now.  My interests run in cycles.  Sometimes I’m obsessed with D&D, sometimes with comics, and sometimes with video games.  At the moment, video games is near the bottom of the cycle.  Never fear, it’ll get to the top again.

What all of the above means is that I’m cutting my posts back to once a week, for the most part.  On Sundays(ish) I’ll post about whatever game is next on my chronology.   On Wednesdays(ish), I’ll post about Rogue, if I have something new to say about it.  Once I’m done with Rogue I might pick up the pace again, but I’m not sure about that.  We’ll see what happens.

For today’s post, I’m tackling Haunt, which is another mainframe-based text adventure.  (It’s often written as HAUNT, all caps, and I don’t know why.)  I’m not sure why I get so trepidatious about the mainframe adventure games.  Zork was one, and it’s undoubtedly the best game I’ve played for the blog so far.  Colossal Cave Adventure, Acheton and Battlestar have all rated well.  The mainframe games do tend to be better on average than their home computer equivalents, but they also tend to be longer.  Perhaps that’s it.  I like making progress on the blog, and short games are great for that.  I’m at the point where I’d almost rather play a short but terrible game than one that’s long and pretty good.  I have no idea how big Haunt is, and that makes me nervous.

Haunt was created starting in 1979 by John E. Laird, who is currently a computer science professor at the University of Michigan.  He would have been studying for his Ph.D at the time.  Laird worked at Xerox PARC for a bit before getting into academia, and he’s significant enough to merit his own Wikipedia page, but I don’t think he did anything else in gaming beyond creating Haunt.  The game was developed from 1979 to 1982, but as usual I’m playing it in the year that the game’s development started.

Getting the game running was a bit of a nightmare.  It requires TOPS-20 emulation; I gather that TOPS-20 was the operating system for the DEC-20 mainframe.  To play the game, I had to go to twenex.org and create a TOPS-20 login.  Then I needed to download a telnet client; I ended up going with PuTTY, which can be found here.  It was a lot of rigmarole, and not the sort of thing I’m used to, but I got there in the end.

The game kicks off with its backstory, and, well… it’s weird.  Get a load of this.

This stuff is wild.

For those who don’t want to squint at my screen caps, the gist is that there’s a bloke whose wife got killed by a moose.  He bought the land where the incident happened, built a mansion called Chez Moose, and set about trying to return her to life.  He wasn’t seen again for seven years, and was declared dead.

What also happened on the fateful day of that picnic was that the man’s child was kidnapped by gypsies (which I’m aware isn’t a word I should be using, but I’m going with what the game says. Apologies to any Romani people who may be reading.).  Only that child will apparently be able to enter the house and find the treasures inside without going mad and committing suicide.  So yes, it’s a treasure hunt, but the story around it is bizarre enough that I can excuse it.

Also wrapped up in this story is an obscure hereditary disease called “Orkhisnoires sakioannes”.  I’ve no idea what this is getting at.  Google just points back to articles about this game, so I gather that it’s completely made up.  I guess it could be a pun or an anagram, but I’m not at the stage where I’m going to try and solve it just yet.

That’s mighty nice of the government, who are always wonderful chaps.

The game began with me standing at a bus stop. My inventory contained a watch and a couple of bus tokens.  I tried moving off in various directions, but there’s nowhere to go from the bus stop.  The only thing to do was to wait until a bus pulled up, get on board, and exit when it dropped me at the front gate of Chez Moose.

I could see the mansion from the front gate; it was dark, but there were lights coming from the windows.  There was seemingly no way to open the gate, so I did a lap of the perimeter wall.  I found a gate with a buzzer on the east wall, but decided to ignore it for now.  The wall was surrounded with a forest, which I’m pretty sure is only there for show.  I tried to explore it, but it very quickly became impenetrable.  The road to the south was bordered by a similarly impenetrable forest, but I discovered that if I went far enough east or west I’d end up back at the bus stop.  I could wait and catch the bus again, but only once.  After that, I had no tokens left, and being unable to catch the bus I sat down on the corner and starved to death.  Going home and living the rest of my life was not an option, I suppose.

Another weird thing happened while I was exploring the wilderness.  At the stroke of midnight, a ghostly moose appeared and charged right through me.  It didn’t seem to have any negative effect, but I’m a little concerned about it.  I wonder if there’s a way to avoid it somehow, or if it’s tied into the whole going mad and committing suicide thing?

Yep. It’s a ghost moose alright.

There’s also a weird area just off the south-west corner of the wall that has no description at all.  It’s just a blank space.  I’m not sure if this is significant or not, but I’ve learned not to dismiss this kind of thing.  I’ll have to remember it when I’m thinking of ways to earn extra points.

With nothing else to do I approached the east gate and pressed the button.  There was a buzz, but nothing else happened.  At this point, I got really stuck, and I almost searched for a walkthrough, which would have been pretty shameful at this early stage.  It turned out that all I had to do was press the button a couple more times.  The buzzing woke up the person on the other end, and after a series of questions he let me through the gate.  Some of those questions were simple (name, quest, etc.) and some of them were weird trivia.  The most common one I’ve gotten is “What was the first production system with more than 1500 productions?”  The answer to this is “Haunt”, which apparently has something to do with the language it was coded in; I only knew the answer to this by looking at bluerenga.blog.  The other question I keep getting is “What is the capital of Assyria?”  I’ve tried Assur, and the alternate spelling Ashur, but it keeps telling me I’m wrong and I’m not sure why.  Google wouldn’t lie to me.  (Actually, I’ve just realised that the answer is probably “A”, which is the sort of dumb thing I would write on geography tests when I didn’t know the answer.  I’ll have to try that next time.)

After answering the questions I was let inside, and informed that I wouldn’t be getting back out through the gate.  The mansion grounds were mostly areas of lawn, with the mansion at the centre and an empty garage to the north-east.  I also found a grave in the north-east corner, which I dug up.  Inside was a bone from the Missing Link, which I took with me.  Taking it increased my score, so I gather that it’s one of the treasures I’m seeking.  There’s also a dry garden bed, which I’m thinking I need to water, but at the moment I don’t have anything appropriate.

The mansion has two entrances.  On the north side is some ivy, which I was able to climb up to a balcony.  Inside was a master bedroom, and a bathroom.  I tried flushing the toilet, and it spun around so rapidly that I was knocked over and cracked my head open on the bathtub.  A “10th level cleric” came by and resurrected me, and I found myself back outside the wall with an empty inventory.  I was able to buzz myself back into the mansion grounds, and I tried climbing the ivy again.  This time I tried to test climbing back down, which was also fatal.

There’s something very undignified about being resurrected by a bus driver.

I wonder if maybe I can jump down?  I dismissed it at the time, but it’s worth a shot.

On my next try I gave up on the ivy, and decided to go through the front door.  The only way to open it was to knock, and the game gave me a very unusual greeting.  I hadn’t mentioned that the guy on the other end of the buzzer asked me about my sexual preference.  I’m not sure if it factors in elsewhere in the game, but it does get a mention here.

I’ve been called worse.

Once I was inside the house, the door slammed behind me and couldn’t be opened.  This game just loves cutting off the path back to the start…  In the foyer was a bowl of candy, which I took with me and resisted the urge to eat.  Exploring west, I found a closet containing a wet suit with fully functioning scuba gear.  I was pretty skeptical about finding a place where this would come in handy, but I put it on anyway.

North of the foyer was the main hall, with passages heading east and west, and stairs leading upwards.  The game mentioned that there was a horrible noise coming from upstairs.  There was also an old chair, which I took with me.  It had a plaque on the back that said it was made by Louis XIV, so I figured it was another treasure.

I explored west, finding a dark hall with a safe.  The safe was shut, and had a combination lock with three two-digit numbers.  The game gave 10-10-10 as an example, and I tried it.  I wasn’t surprised that it didn’t work, but I was a little surprised that the game acknowledged that I was being a bit of a smart-arse by trying it in the first place.  Haunt responds to quite a lot of things I wouldn’t expect, and generally has something amusing to say.

West of the safe was an art room, with a modern art painting inside.  I tried to take it, only to be told that it was worthless.  I held on to it anyway.

East of the main hall was a library, with a bust of Homer and shelves full of books.  I tried to read a book, only to be told that all of the pages were “virtual”, and that the book disappeared.  I tried again, and found a book about vampires, and how to kill them.  Just the usual methods, nothing too revelatory here.  Trying another book, I was told that the rest were all made out of wood, so I left the library and headed upstairs.  (The stairs creaked ominously, and I started to think that I’d only get a few shots at using them before they’d collapse or something.  I went up and down them about a dozen times, with no trouble, so it’s probably just there for spooky ambience.)

The upper hall had passages heading north, west, and south.  The stairs also continued up, but I decided to save those for later.  First I went south, into a dark room with a casket.  I’d already been warned by the book to expect vampires, but I went and stupidly opened the casket anyway.  Sure enough, I found Dracula inside.  He got up to try and bite me, but I quickly left the room, and he didn’t follow.  When I went back in he was back in his casket.  I didn’t have anything I could obviously use to kill him, so I left him where he was.  (Dracula’s been in quite a number of adventure games that I’ve played for the blog.  He’d have to be a front-runner for the most frequently recurring character or monster.)

Exploring east, I was getting closer to the “horrible noise” I’d heard from downstairs.  Eventually, at a dead end, I recognised it as an Alice Cooper record.  Seriously, when it comes time for me to give this game its RADNESS Index, can I knock it down a couple of points for this?  Alice Cooper rules, particularly in the 1970s.  He sings about getting it on with skeletons.  Anyway, there was a wire running along the floor, so I pulled it and the noise stopped.  I’m not sure if this affected anything.

North of the upper hall was a “dull room”, with a closet to the west.  Inside the closet was some gold (another treasure) and a ventilation shaft leading south.  Of more interest, though, was a skeleton and a note scrawled on the wall.

All of our dads are skeletons, deep down.

Plot development?  In a game from the 1970s?  I’d come into this game expecting another treasure hunt with arbitrary puzzles.  For the most part that’s what Haunt has given me, but there are hints that it has deeper mysteries to unravel.  Who is Bas?  Is it me?  What’s the deal with the illness, and the crop?  I’m intrigued by all of this, and I really hope that it plays out further and isn’t just a bit of story detail thrown in at the beginning.

I explored the ventilation shaft heading south, which led into a maze of ducts.  The maze was small though, and the areas easily differentiated by their exits.  It didn’t take me long to navigate, and I soon found myself in a ventilation shaft over the torture chamber. I couldn’t open the grill to get down though, so there was nothing to do but retrace my steps back to the upper hall.

I decided to go upstairs, and found myself in a laboratory.  There was something under a sheet, and a lever on the wall.  First I tried looking under the sheet, but either the game wouldn’t let me or I couldn’t find the right verb-noun combination.  So I threw the lever, and was not entirely surprised when a monster emerged from under the sheet.

I really want to know what he does for a trick.

The monster’s “trick or treat” greeting was a little more unexpected.  Luckily I had a bowl of candy on me, and when I gave it to the monster he left, crashing through the west wall.  I followed through the hole, and found a bar.  There was no alcohol, but there was a bottle of turpentine (or “turps” as its known around these parts) which I took with me.

I had an instant brainstorm upon finding the turps, and decided to pour it on the modern art painting that I’d found.  The paint washed off to reveal a valuable Rembrandt underneath; I’d found another treasure.

I was somewhat stuck at this point, and did quite a bit of stumbling about achieving not much of anything.  Eventually I found myself back in the library, and on a whim I tried turning the bust of Homer.  This opened a secret door to the east.  I wasn’t able to get through while wearing my wetsuit, so I took it off and slipped through the opening into a secret room with stairs leading down.

The stairs led down to a wine cellar, where I found a diamond corkscrew (another treasure, which brought my tally up to five, I think).  I went exploring among the empty wine racks, and was lost in a maze.  The racks apparently stretched on infinitely in all directions, and try as I might I couldn’t find any way out.  Just as I was about to give up (and the game started mocking me) I found a trapdoor in the floor.  It was open, so I slipped through.

It led down into a room, where I found a drunk ghost.  Despite being drunk, the ghost blocked every single action I tried to make.  Even basic commands like INVENTORY and LOOK were unavailable to me.

This game has a lot of euphemisms for being drunk.

I figured that, whatever the solution was, it must be completely divorced from my inventory.  At least I hoped so, as I couldn’t look to see what I had.  I tried all sorts of things, including various levels of invective and a quote from Thor: Ragnarok, before hitting on the amusingly simple solution: BOO.  The ghost disappeared, and I was able to continue on.

Beyond I found the torture chamber that I’d seen from the ventilation shaft earlier.  Someone rushed out and closed the door behind them.  Of more interest was the supposedly sexy female who was imprisoned there.  I set her free and, well, one thing led to another…

I am a female lover, after all.

I opened the duct and crawled my way back to the main house, but at that point I was really quite stuck as to what to do next.  I was also well overdue to write this post, so I decided to call it a day and switch off.  I don’t think I have anywhere else left to explore inside the main area of the house, but I also don’t know how to get back outside.  Well, I guess dying gets me back outside, but it also loses points, and dumps my inventory, so that’s not a good solution.  And I’m pretty sure that I do need to get back outside to beat the game.

One thing I haven’t mentioned is that while I was doing all of this exploring, my character was slowly going mad.  I’d occasionally get a message about how the house was getting to me.

On my next game I’m going to try STAY SANE or DON”T GO MAD. You never know.

The messages gradually ramped up in intensity, until I went completely mad and killed myself.  (Oddly enough, this is the second game in a row that I’ve played with suicide as a theme; Space II had it as well.)  After I died I was resurrected by a passing cleric, and was able to continue playing, and had no more problems with going crazy.  I’m not sure what effect it has on the game, aside from a loss of points.

That’s as far as I’ve gotten with Haunt.  It’s quite fun so far, and has enough of its own style and quirks to stand out from a lot of its contemporaries.  If it actually follows through on its promise it could be a real stand-out, and a game that’s well ahead of its time.  I suspect that it won’t quite get there, but I’m still holding out hope.

source http://reposts.ciathyza.com/game-46-haunt-1979/

[paradox-oflife]

massive q and a post part 5 ignore this pls

(unless ur interested) 

1. Do you have a favourite mug? Not really. I had one that was literally so cute it was like a neko atsume art style and it was a cat going uwu

2. Do you know any self defense or martial arts? Yes, actually. My mom was pretty supportive for it because the women’s side on our family is all under 5′2″. I did Aikido and Muay Thai throughout from the beginning of high school to the end. I don’t have as much time in college anymore though, but I’m looking forwards to starting it again. I’ve had to use it one time in my life. Hey Angelica, if you’re reading this you should ask me about it. That’s a story for later though.

3. Who's your favourite movie action hero? uuuuuh Thor? idk

4. Have you ever ridden a motorcycle? Haha in Taiwan that’s the main form of transportation. It’s an electric scooter.

5. Do you collect anything? I wear retainers when I sleep so I have an ongoing collection of retainer cases. 

6. Is there anything you wished would come back into fashion? i was never really one for fashion haha

7. Do you stick to conventional fashions or like to try and be original? bro i literally wear like a sweater, tshirt, and black jeans.

8. Have you ever given someone a handmade present?  I did a woodburning painting of kermit the frog for my friend’s bday

9. Are you introvert or extrovert? I used to be an extrovert, then I turned into an ambivert. High school made me more introverted. So on the spectrum, I’m in the middle but more towards introvert now.

10. If you could have any feature from an animal what would you want? Hmmm. I’m not sure actually. Wings? But that’s kind of inconvenient when I want to sleep.

11. Whats your prefered swimming stroke? Freestyle all the way

12. Have you ever been scuba diving? No

13. Have you ever had a disasterous interview? So far, no, but an interviewer once said I seemed very nervous lol.

14. What makes you nervous? A lot of things really. Too many.

15. Which of the 5 senses would you say is your strongest? Not eyesight because I’m slightly colorblind. Not hearing because I was born with tinnitus. Maybe smell? Or touch? But how do you compare that to taste? Idk

16. What colour are your eyes? Your average asian dark brown

17. Have you ever been to an Art gallery? Yeah. It’s pretty nice, but it’s hard to enjoy it when your impatient brother thinks it’s boring and wants to move on 

18. Do you shout out the answers at the TV whilst watching quiz shows? All the time man. Granted that I actually know what the answer is

19. Are you a valuable asset on a Pub Quiz team? (equivalent to trivia quizzes) To a certain extent I suppose

20. Have you ever won any kind of quiz yourself? Yeah, name the countries. My geography isn’t too bad

21. Do you get over-involved with TV or movie plots at times? Um yes haha

22. Do you own any inflatable furniture? No, but I’d totally get one if it looked sick

23. Whats the highest hill or mountain you've ever climbed? Yosemite’s “Oh my Gosh Point”. The hike up there is so freaking hard because it’s like a 2 hour uphill climb. But the view is so worth it. It literally took my breath away.

24. Do you have a piggy bank? Nope

25. Whats the fastest you've ever travelled in a car? Not that fast. Like idk, maybe in an empty highway. 

26. Could you ever hand milk a cow? I mean... if I had to

27. Do you have popcorn with a movie? Yeah, if I’m hungry. But otherwise I stay off movie snacks because it’s hella expensive.

28. Whats the futhest you've ever got a paper airplane to fly? 20 feet.

29. Have you ever built an igloo? Nope

30. Can you play the harmonica? It doesn’t sound good but yeah

31. Have you ever made a ball of twine or rubberbands? One time, it took forever to make though. My brother and I were being a bit too careless and it somehow exploded.

32. If given the option of having sprinkles in your ice cream do you always take it? Nah. Some ice cream is so good without any added sugar.

33. Could you ever be a living organ donor? Uuuuh, maybe. God my answer sounds so pretentious but if I was a dead body, yeah, sure go for it! Do whatever.

34. Which was your favourite science? Biology, Physics or Chemistry? Bio and Chem were hard but I’m taking it rn so it’s fine. Physics was lowkey boring but it was easy due to being math based.

35. Would you ever go out with someone just cause they're rich? Nope.

36. Have you ever contemplated sueing someone? haha no 

37. Are you pretty devious? Only when it comes to fun games. If it’s a legitimate match in Martial Arts, or some type of thing like that I don’t cheat.

38. Have you ever had a surprise party? (that was an actual surprise) No, the parties I ever go to are just small get togethers.

39. Are you any good at giving massages? No, I kinda feel awkward when I do it.

40. Whats been your worst date ever? Haha imagine having a relationship ;w;

41. Have you ever slapped someone in public? My brother, but it was in a playful manner

42. Have you ever drawn on a sleeping or inebriated person? Yes. Good thing they’re pretty chill. Me and my friend were wheezing.

43. Have you ever warn clothing with the labels/tags still attached? Yeah, and I didn’t even notice until my friend pointed it out.

44. Have you ever slipped on a banana skin? No, but I have seen someone do it before.

45. Are you scared of the dark? Nah.

46. Do you have a lawyer? Nope

47. Have you ever been wolf whistled in public? Uuuh my friend did it out loud in public to me before and I punched her so hard.

48. Whats the worst pickup line you've heard? Something to do with chickens and impeccable?? Can’t remember exactly what it was but I remember cringing.

49. Have you ever been water skiing? Nope

50. Have you ever hopelessly failed a test? Omg yeah in Alg 2/Trig I bombed the HELL out of my first trig test.

51. If you had a year off, what would you want to do? Um, I guess there’s not much I can do because I’m not that rich.

52. How many sms/txt messages do you recieve on average a day? From my discord group chat, a lot. But actual direct text, maybe like 3.

53. How long did you last phone call last? 5 minutes.

54. Do you go to flea markets? Sometimes, if I have time.

55. If you saw someone drop a $10 note, would you claim it for your own or try to return it to them? Return it to them.

56. Have you ever helped someone across the road? No, haven’t stumbled upon that situation yet.

57. Have you ever been horseriding? Nope

58. Have you ever walked a tightrope? Nope x100

59. Have you ever demolished a wall or building? Yeah, it was a thin wall and I used a hammer.

60. If you and a friend both wanted the same thing would you let the friend get it first? Of course, they’re my friend and they deserve the world :)

61. Have you ever argued over who should pay for something? um YES have you ever been to an Asian dinner with other asian families??? The fight to pay the bill for your mates is a war.

62. Do you have any family heirlooms? Nah

63. Are you related or distantly related to anyone famous? No, but it’d be kind of cool.

64. Whats your favourite ocean? The pacific I guess? Idk there’s only seven to choose from

65. Do you correct peoples mistakes? Nah, unless it’s a super important one.

66. Have you ever helped out an injured animal? Yes it was a hummingbird that crashed into my window

67. Do you throw bread for the ducks? I did in New Zealand, but I found out that it was bad so...

68. Do you think babies are little bundles of joy or smelly noisey things? Both

69. Do you give money to street performers? Nah

70. Have you ever tossed your own pancake? Yup

71. Are you any good at egg and spoon races? Bruh i’ve never actually done it before but I’d probably be bad lol

72. Are you allergic to anything? High dosage of cortisone cream

73. Are you ticklish? If you taser me and squeeze my thighs

74. Do you prefer tea,coffee or cocoa? Tea all the way baby

75. Do you like Turkish Delight? If I’m thinking of the right thing, I think they’re alright

76. Do you buy people presents to bring back when you go on holiday? Only for those that ask me

77. Are you tired of answering questions yet? Not yet Angelica!! Keep ‘em coming

78. Have you ever been wheelbarrow racing? No

79. Do you ever forward or reply to chain mails? Never

80. Do you often have a tune in your head you can't name? YEAH it’s classical music so i can’t search up lyrics

81. Has anyone ever approached you thinking you were someone else? Yes. Their excuse was all asians look the same (?!)

82. Have you ever been approached by someone who knew you but you couldn't remember them for the life of you? Yes it was so awkward I kept calling them “dude” until they went away

83. What do you do to keep fit? All I really do is jumprope, some pushups, planks, that sort of thing

84. Are you the sort to step in and try to break up a fight? Depends on who’s in the fight. Sometimes if you try to get involved, they’ll start attacking you

85. Have you ever been in a fight? Yes, ask me about it

86. Have you ever started a rumour? Nah, ya girl aint like that

87. Have you ever heard any outstanding rumours about yourself? YES. Some boy said I got into a car crash. Then one day after school some of my acquaintances asked me if I was okay and I was like ???? what?? Weirdest rumor ever

88. Have you ever been in or had a food fight? Nope

89. When its your birthday do you always wear an age badge? I think this is another UK thing because i’ve literally never heard of anyone doing this before

90. Have you ever starred in an amateur or professional video? Nope. I mean, depends what you mean by amateur. I’ve been in a couple of school projects.

91. If you were comfortably rich would you work hard for more or rest on your laurels? Work, but in a laidback job. Like a flowershop keeper or something.

92. Have you ever been in a position of authority? Yeah, one time in elementary school when the teacher left for the bathroom, she put me in charge B)

93. Have you ever been caught in a compromising position? even despite a valid explanation? uuuh no

94. Have you ever tried to make your own alcohol? Nah because I’m underage

95. If you were ruler of your own country what would you call it? No idea

96. And what title would you give yourself? I’d be the founder, but leave the government stuff to other people. Like I’d be in textbooks, people will be like “Oh yeah, that’s esther she’s pretty cool, she founded this country.” But I wouldn’t do anything.

97. Have you ever had a dream you chased only to be let down when you achived it? Mm it’s comparable to buying an outfit and thinking it’d look nice on you but when you put it on you look bad.

98. Is there anything about the opposite sex you just don't understand or comprehend? How oblivious they can be sometimes. like learn to read between the lines man..