#even the “lived-in” version (last 3 screenshots) still looks pristine

[of-fear-and-love]

Great little kitchen interior from A Gathering of Eagles (1963)

[advrik]

A Farmer’s Recollection ~ Harvest Moon 20th Anniversary Celebration :: Part 3 [2000]

If you’d like to read the previous two parts, you can find them below: Part 1 | Part 2

Man it has been a trip writing up these recollections thus far. Digging up a bunch of memories that I hadn’t thought about in years. Good times, and the best hasn’t even come. The year of 2000 for me was probably my favorite year of all time as I have so many memories looking back at it and so many great things happened. 

It was also the year that my all-time favorite Harvest Moon game was released.

Spring 2000

Life was great. I was 12-years old, full of energy and living life by the second. I had a brand new camcorder, a copy of Harvest Moon 64 and I... was sharing a room with my 3 siblings. Granted it was the largest room in the house by far and we kept it divided up between the boys and girls but I was still lacking my own space. 

What little I could call my own was atop the brand new set of bunkbeds that our parents bought for us with their tax refund. They were made of metal and were pipe-based; The posts that made up the head and foot boards were capped off by little plastic caps that you could remove, granting you access to the inside which was wide enough to stick your arm down, so naturally I used this as a place to store things. Cramming an old shirt halfway down to create shelf of sorts, I began storing candy and other junk down there. I ended up stuff

At one point, there was travel ban between the four of us. We were restricting each other from venturing onto our beds. This came after I tried building a bridge between two ofthe beds. Obviously not my best idea.

My adventures in Harvest Moon 64 continued on. I was now at that point where I was done with the story and just hammering away at making a really nice looking farm and collecting recipes. But even though I had only owned Harvest Moon 64 for just a month, I was already beginning to feel the hype for an upcoming release that recently had made its presence known.

We were getting Harvest Moon on Playstation!!!

Though news was scarce and only a few screenshots were available at the time, I still remember how excited I was over this. I loved my Nintendo 64 sure, but my console of choice for that generation was the Playstation as it was where all the RPGs were. 

The two earliest screenshots released for the game were these below (Courtesy of HMFarm.com)

The boat screenshot in particular filled my mind with wonders and excitement; Were we going to be able to travel to the city at long last? Could we take it out and fish for deep sea fish? WHAT COULD IT MEAN???

I discussed the game and what new features it could bring to the table extensively with my sister. I say extensively, but she wasn’t nearly as interested in the games as I was.  One such subject I brought up - and I have this on tape even - was my hope for a butcher system where you could send your livestock off to have them turned into meat products that you could cook with. An idea that I just up until last year thought I’d get with Stardew Valley, but that’s not important right now.

Aboard the hype train, but considerably way more sane in how I was going about it. Partly in thanks to having just bought Harvest Moon 64 fairly recently. That, couple with everything else that was going to be coming out that year really helped.

Summer 2000

More and more info trickled out about the game over the coming months. Things like how it used the same characters from Harvest Moon 64, but changed their personalities around/who they were related to/what they did. The legendary fish, asking Harvest Sprites for help. All of it just sounded so cool, but nothing as cool as the new cooking system that was being implemented. No longer were the recipes that you earned from villagers just collectables. You could cook now, using various ingredients and utensils. I thought that was the coolest thing ever. 

It’s a huge shame that the cooking system would get progressively worse as the series went on, like many of the elements that made the series great. It has been slowly approaching dating sim levels with tacked on watered down farming systems.

I had such a blast through the summer of 2000. I would spend my days either hammering away with Harvest Moon 64, even going back to Harvest Moon GB for another playthrough. 

The music on the radio at the time was phenomenal and still something I listen to this very day, in my very own “Greatest Hits” collection called Definitive 2000, which currently boasts over 150+ songs; ranging to everything from NSync and Beastie Boys to Creedence Clearwater Revival and Saliva. It took years to build, but it fills me with incredible nostalgia every time I listen to it. Now I bet you’re wondering though why the likes of CCR would be a thing on the radio in 2000, well I’ll tell you: I wasn’t overly picky about what I’d listen to and I developed an ear for golden oldies thanks to my father, so I enjoyed listening to the older stuff as much as I did the modern hits. And yes, there’s a video game music folder too.

Pokemon was its peak, with the first movie hitting VHS earlier that year and the second movie featuring brand new Gen 2 Pokemon set to hit theaters that summer and the new installments in the games - Pokemon Gold and Silver Versions - later that year. 

Pokemon wasn’t the only ‘Mon on the street that year. Digimon had aired the previous August on Fox Kids, and it had gained enough steam to warrant a whole slew of toys, clothing items and cards. There was even a video game at the time: Digimon World on the Playstation. And in October of 2000, it was receiving its first movie, which was super cool. I enjoyed the Digimon anime far more than I ever did Pokemon’s, and with Digimon 02 starting that August - nearly a year after the series initially aired in the US - it was a good time to be a fan of little collectible monsters.

RIP Monster Rancher.

Another great event that happened that year was that we got an actual Japanese Godzilla movie in theaters, nationwide! It was the first time I had ever seen Godzilla on the big screen(not counting GODZILLA from 1998, which wasn’t the REAL Godzilla). I had been a Godzilla fan all my life, so that was some wild stuff seeing him on a huge theater screen after so long. I was mesmerized from start to finish. That night, after we got home from the theater we did some night swimming in our pool and recreated scenes from the movie with my nephew and sister.

Holiday Season 2000

Unlike with the previous release, I was more versed and knowledgeable on the gaming industry and was keeping up on release dates and whatnot. I guess in a way, this was also the year that gaming really became something for me that would amount to more than just a simple pass time. 

The month of November that year was pretty hype. Final Fantasy IX was launching early in the month and I already had that on my Christmas list to Santa, in addition to Resident Evil 2 and 3. I had in my possession  $60 from my grandmother which she gave use each year to pick something out for Christmas, which would then go under the tree - wrapped up - and not be touched until Christmas Eve.

Each trip out to Wal-Mart and K-Mart ended much in the same way as the trips for Harvest Moon 64. Finally, after a few failed attempts and locating it in stores, my father finally caved in and we made our first online purchase ever in the two years since we obtained a PC and the internet, and it was for Harvest Moon: Back to Nature. I mean, there could have been worse things that could have had as first purchases, am I right?

And so the great wait began once more. The game was in my possession in a way, but I had no patience in waiting for it to be delivered. Every day was grueling. I’d sit by and wait for the mail to come, watching the mail man or lady reach their hand out to the mailbox to place mail inside and hoping that within their grasp would be a small box or envelope.

Weekends devolved into me sitting in my room, on my bed, complaining and listening to music. I could only assume that it was the holiday season that was holding up the delivery as mail was quite frantic that time of the year and delays happened, but knowing that did not help me. I was impatient and wanted my game NOW, knowing that I couldn’t actually HAVE it once it did arrive because it had to be wrapped up and placed under the Christmas tree.

On a following trip to Wal-Mart one night, we walked back to the video games once again and guess what? It was there. Wal-Mart had actually stocked Harvest Moon: Back to Nature. But that wasn’t all they had, oh no! They also had Harvest Moon GBC2 as well. To say that I felt disappointed would be an understatement. I was crushed, knowing they had actually stocked it while I was waiting for MY copy to come in the mail, now a week and a half out since placing the order. The rest of that night was miserable.

It wasn’t until the first week of December. Nearly three weeks since placing the order, that my beautiful baby arrived in the mail. I was playing a rental copy of Majora’s Mask at the time (and failing miserably at it). It was the most beautiful thing, in its pristine jewel case beneath the cellophane wrapping. The beautiful booklet slash cover art screamed “Intense farming action” to the now 13 year old me as of the previous September. I begged and begged if I could just demo it slightly for that night and that night alone before wrapping it. I wanted to see what it played like, what the music was like and how the cooking system worked.

And do you know what I did after my mother caved and let me try it? I fired up my Gameshark with an unlimited money code and I CHEATED. It was the only way I was going to be able to experience what I wanted to experience within the short amount of time I was alloted. I achieved it too, upgrading my house and nabbing a few utensils in order to do some cooking. It was amazing two hours, and I almost missed dinner over it, but I eventually caved and wrapped the game up and placed it under the tree, which sat in the corner of the den beside the big TV.

The remainder of the month was delightful. I discovered Green Day as a new musical interest with the premiere of their ‘Minority’ music video. Outlaw Star began airing on Cartoon Network towards the end of the month, a show that would go on to become my all-time favorite. Towards Christmas we even got some snow, which was cool. That didn’t and still does not happen very often.

December 24th arrived and I spent the morning preparing for my oldest sister and my nephew to visit. Planning to roleplay some Dragon Ball Z and whatnot and show him the newest Harvest Moon game. 

Christmas day finally came and I was treated to a bunch of nice gifts. Including some more blank VHS tapes for my camcorder, Resident Evil 2 and 3. Some more Dragon Ball Z stuff, and of course, Final Fantasy IX. Even got the new Green Day album and a portable CD player! Sadly the fun and excitement of Christmas morning was cut short, as during the opening segment of Final Fantasy IX, I developed a killer migraine that put me out of commission for much of the day.

Once I recovered, I was up to my neck in RPG and farming goodness. An awesome year was topped off by an awesome Christmas. Final Fantasy IX, Harvest Moon, Outlaw Star, good music. Not to mention the awesome roast beef Christmas dinner my mother made that night.

And so concludes part 3 of my little trip into the past. Expect two more parts throughout the year, in slightly less detail. After Back to Nature, things started getting spotty with what I bought and played, even going for several years without picking up a single game. 

Thanks for reading!

[skincare-us-blog]

The Tom Ford Cleanse

New Post has been published on http://skincareee.com/the-tom-ford-cleanse/

The Tom Ford Cleanse

A variety of things come to mind when I think of Tom Ford. A heady over pour of virility. A languid transatlantic (???) drawl. An almost lifelike brow. And that’s just appearance. By now, his dogmatic convictions are almost as sentient as he is. He’s condemned everything from wearing shorts in the city, and his son’s “tacky” dinosaur shoes, to chewing gum in public. He is as deft as he is fastidious, and it seems every photo I see of him has him sprawled out, spread eagle, and on a chaise lounge.

I’ve always found this network of information compelling because, typically, unrelatability has a direct correlation with appeal. It’s universal. This curiosity is the basis of why Shark Week, serial killers, and the concept of childbirth are all enthralling while Ryan Reynolds, pants with an elastic waistband, and marketing emails that address me by my first name bore me to death. This intense curiosity drove me to gain insight into his lifestyle, because who wouldn’t want to live like Mr. Ford?

I started with the most accessible window to his soul: his diet and daily regimens. For structure, I looked to another ITG cleanse centered around folding a successful person’s habits into yours—The Oprah Cleanse. After reading every interview with him the internet had to offer, I ended up with a week-long crash course. I present to you the Tom Ford cleanse.

The general parameters:

–Punctuate a very healthy diet with junk “I try to stick to a diet of fish and vegetables, but my one remaining vice is cheap candy and baked goods… Hostess Donettes are my weakness.”

–Cold beverages only “I don’t like warm drinks of any kind.”

–Only consume scentless foods “I don’t eat onions or garlic. Ever. Fresh breath is important.”

–Take baths instead of showers “Yes, I still take my baths all day long. They’re meditative.”

–Only use Tom Ford Beauty products “Naturally, I use my own beauty products.”

–Look your best in order to be your best “Put on the best version of yourself when you go out in the world because that is a show of respect to the other people around you.”

DAY ONE The folklore surrounding Tom Ford purportedly taking five baths a day has been around since, well, Tom Ford. While the exact number of baths he currently takes is unknown, I make it my goal to take at least two baths a day (but bonus points for more!).

6:30 AM Tom Ford said in Harper’s Bazaar that his day starts at 4:30 a.m. I set my alarm for this time and, after snoozing my alarm for two hours, give up on waking up that early for the remainder of the week. I begin drawing my first bath.

I make a giant iced coffee and lower myself into the water where I sit in cannonball position until the water reaches my chest. The feeling is as unfamiliar as it is initially unpleasant. I briefly wonder if I will get heatstroke.

8:00 AM I drain the tub, brush my teeth, shave, and draw my second bath. This time with soap. I am running late for work because I have taken more baths this morning than I have in the past decade. I bolt to work.

9:20 AM For breakfast, I have a scoop of bran cereal, half a banana, and several slices of pineapple. An archetypally Tom Ford breakfast. I almost never eat breakfast because I am always nauseous for the first several hours after waking, but I enjoy taking the time to collate the ingredients into a bowl and pick at it while I begin work.

9:45 AM Second breakfast: two Hostess Donettes. In case you haven’t had one of these recently because you don’t grocery shop at gas stations—they are soft, delicious, and taste nothing like doughnuts. Here, the word “donettes” is used to indicate that they are not real doughnuts in that way that the words “cheez,” “froot,” and “Cap’n” are used to distinguish between real cheese, fruits, and Captains.

I get powdered sugar all over my slacks.

12:00 PM Lunch is catered at my office today, so I stand in the lunch line and sniff each platter looking for entrees that don’t have onions or garlic. I end up with a scoop of dilly orzo, potato nubs, three balls of mozzarella, and several florets of raw broccoli.

6:50 PM I prepare for a bath the second I get home. This time, I shower beforehand. Cheating, I know, but I am unable to mentally surmount the idea of atmospheric grime seasoning tonight’s bath.

9 PM I drink a banana, peanut butter, and almond milk smoothie with a bendy straw for dinner.

Total bath count: 3

DAY TWO

9:15 AM Breakfast: a half-banana smile with two Donette eyes. I fashion a nose out of a pineapple chunk.

12:20 AM I order an expensive vegetarian burger for lunch. I throw out the onions and eat in complete silence at my desk. I chase it with a shard of dark chocolate.

6:30 PM Tom Ford’s sixth grooming commandment, according to GQ, is “get a pedicure.” I’ve put this off for years as I am a germophobe, and am truly terrified by the idea of fungal infections. A friend recommends the ITG-approved JinSoon Natural Hand & Foot Spa’s Tribeca outpost, so I heed his advice and go after work. After checking in with the receptionist, I am offered a glass of prosecco, which I politely decline. (Tom Ford told Esquire that “becoming teetotal completely altered [his] life.”) I might as well give it a shot this week.

The experience is blissful start to finish. It involves me alternating my hobbit legs in and out of warm water dyed blue, droppers filled with fragrant tinctures, delicate trimming, and fervent sanding. I’ve been missing out! At some point, I have an out of body experience. I see myself, posturing like Jonathan Rhys Meyers as King Henry VIII in Showtime’s Golden Globes-nominated drama, The Tudors—shirt unbuttoned to my navel—without even a hint of irony! I lean into this tableau, and when the technician offers me my choice of essential oils, I pick lavender.

9:15 PM For dinner, I eat poached arctic char with peppers, plums, and eggplant.

11:00 PM I graze my feet against each other until I drift off into a full night of uninterrupted sleep.

Total bath count: 5

DAY THREE

8:30 AM On my way to work, I exchange several messages with Emily Ferber, and we talk shop about Tom Ford Beauty.

An excerpt: Emily Ferber: I have a skin illuminator that I don’t use but can’t get rid of The dry body oil— I use it in my hair. Or Gotham: Is there an actual difference between the body oil and the dry oil? EF: The dry oil is a spray. OG: Oh, like Pam!!! EF: Lol like Pam. I hope I get a cameo in your piece. OG: I’ve already taken several screenshots.

10:00 AM I pull my bare feet out of my loafers and interrupt my coworkers’ productivity to show them how pristine my feet are. They all coo at my wiggling toes as I do slow motion fan kicks in my desk chair.

12:30 PM I plate several pieces of salmon sushi and get up to take a lap around the office. My coworkers question this behavior.

“For lunch, Tom Ford sometimes wanders around his office eating salmon sashimi off of a plate,” I explain to them, slinking off into the office’s atrium.

I don’t catch their reactions, but I assume they react to this statement with unbridled understanding and acceptance.

7:00 PM I decide to try out Tom Ford’s Intensive Purifying Mud Mask. I wash my face with the Purifying Facial Cleanser which leaves my face feeling very clean. I then spackle on a thick layer of the mud. Its light citrus scent is pleasant. I smile, like the Babadook, at the mirror and sink into the tub. It is now Friday night, so for the first time this week I enjoy my bath with all the urgency of a glacier. I play Abel Korzeniowski’s score for A Single Man. A lit candle sits irresponsibly on the edge of the tub, filling the room with Neroli Portofino. I feel dour and cinematic in my nakedness—quintessentially Tom Ford. I soak long enough to let the water get cold and wash the mask off.

Spoiler alert: my skin looks very clear the next morning.

Total bath count: 7

DAY FOUR

10 AM I sleep in because it’s Saturday. For breakfast, I have a sugared doughnut and two iced coffees. I spend thirty minutes doing calisthenics half-heartedly, start the crossword, and take a three-hour nap.

1:30 PM I eat four pineapple spears and get indigestion.

6:00 PM I begin preening before a friend’s birthday party in the East Village. Tom Ford directs us to use “cold packets” to get rid of eye puffiness. I have no idea what a cold packet is, so I rub two ice cubes around my eyes instead. I brush my eyebrows with Tom Ford for Men Gelcomb. Using a magnifying mirror and Tom Ford for Men Concealer in Medium, I begin covering my imperfections. I swipe it over my dark undereye circles, a broken capillary I obtained by abusing Bioré strips last winter, my eyelids, and the sizable area of pores flanking my nose. Checking my work in my bathroom’s catastrophically unflattering light, I realize I have screwed the pooch. The color is entirely too pale and very full coverage. I look casket-ready. I, however, was supposed to be there an hour ago, so I spray Neroli Portofino “everywhere” (Ford’s mandate!) and leave the house as is.

On the subway, I pray that people assume I am a RealDoll, rather than a highly-perfumed corpse.

7:30 PM Luckily, the bar is dark, so no one comments on my appearance.

Total bath count: 10

DAY FIVE

11 AM The sheer number of baths I’ve taken this week has dried my skin out considerably, so I counteract this by squirting several streams of Neroli Portofino Body Oil directly into my bath water. I immerse myself into the very expensive scented water and try out every repose depicted in The Land of Cockaigne by Bruegel. Immediately, I feel like a 1990s mogul.

Scented baths are one of the several commodities (along with limousines, the sweater department at Barney’s, two-day shipping, and mint Milanos) that were once regarded as luxuries and have lost their clout over time. In the December 2008 issue of Details magazine, Tom Ford says “time and silence are the most luxurious things today.” His statement holds up. It becomes clear that the multi-bath ritual was never about compulsive cleansing but rather about the accommodation of those two indulgences.

My bathtub remains dangerously slippery for the next day and a half.

1 PM For lunch, I eat two poached eggs over a frisée salad in the West Village. The waiter comments on my fragrance neutrally, which I attribute directly to the fact that I am wearing too much.

“Tom Ford?” he not so much asks as broadcasts, sniffing the ether above me.

I nod uselessly and vacate the premises.

10 PM I forget to eat dinner entirely and put on Nocturnal Animals before bed.

Total bath count: 12

DAY SIX

8 AM I skip breakfast and get an iced coffee on the way to work.

6 PM I get an email that the Fruit of the Loom undershirt I had tailored to make my arms look more attractive is ready for pick up. The sleeves were hemmed just above my triceps to mirror Tom Ford’s “off-duty” uniform.

There is a strong correlation between successful people and people who get their clothes custom-fit. It’s the kind of permanent adjustment that balks in the face of 30-day return policies. One of the reasons successful people look, well, successful is that their clothes fit them exactly. There’s no cuffing, or bunching, or billowing. Simply going to a tailor is a status symbol within itself because it says “I can spend $20 getting this $3.58 undershirt professionally altered.”

7 PM I change into it the second I get home and study myself in a full-length mirror. Any improvements to my appearance are imperceptibly mild. (My arms, however, are unremarkable to begin with so I write it off as user error.)

7:15 PM I keep my bespoke Fruit of the Loom shirt on and plaster the mud mask on my face.

8 PM Dinner is grilled branzino with radish and parsley.

Total bath count: 15

DAY SEVEN

9:10 AM I arrive at the office, sweating profusely because I am wearing a turtleneck. I head to the restroom and give myself another spray of cologne in case I smell like a damp ox.

11 AM For lunch, I eat sushi. I’m exhausted by the amount of fish I’ve consumed in the last week. I’m sure Tom Ford doesn’t face this problem (because he doesn’t get sushi from the cafeteria-style “premium” lunch hubs that pop up around New York City like gophers) but I’ve had a low-grade stomachache all week.

7 PM When asked about his last meal, Tom Ford said it would be salmon with “Hostess Donettes around the outside of the plate.” (It is in this same interview that he says Hostess sends him a box of their confections every time he mentions them to the press, his eyes gleaming behind his Snuffaluffagus lashes.) I decide to have this as my last meal of my cleanse. Rather than cook the salmon myself, I order it on GrubHub. It arrives an hour later. I plate it and encircle it with Donettes before squeezing lemon onto the ingot of salmon. Its appearance is grandiose and frightening like a TOILETPAPER magazine spread. I eat all of the salmon and six of the doughnuts.

10:30 PM I take my last bath and my stomach is lurching.

Total bath count: 16

11 PM I have an early meeting tomorrow morning, so, I end my week like Ford (who relies “completely…on sleeping pills and tranquilizers”) and pop two OTC non-habit-forming sleeping aids.

In an interview with CNBC, he’s described himself and, through transitive property, the Tom Ford Man as international, multilingual, well traveled, and possessing disposable income. This week, I didn’t even remotely get closer to obtaining any of those traits. I did, however, gain a deep sense of respect for his obsessive level of discipline, even without wearing his trademark suit. But, the way I see it, if I’m not a Tom Ford Man now, I was never one to begin with—or at least that’s the story I’m sticking to.

—Or Gotham

Photographed by the author.

Ready or not, here are 30 Tom Ford fragrance reviews.