#i still really like this tradition it's way better than resolutions

[owlbelly]

2024 bingo review

no bingos. half-hearts are for things i started or did occasionally but didn't feel like i really completed to my satisfaction, which is maybe a little unfair because some of them (especially the garage clean/organize & woodchipping) i did make serious progress on but it's a huge job. so idk maybe i should have counted those! i counted "stretch/walk" because i did WAY better with stretching (almost every day for my legs/feet!) & i think i walked more than i did last year but i was hampered by tendonitis for a lot of the year again. i did a fuck ton of yard work though so that should count! i'm very bad at "going for a walk" as an activity in itself - i don't like walking the same route over & over again, i don't like walking up the big hill RIGHT at the start of the walk we always take, but i DO like doing hours of yard work to actually accomplish shit i can see.

my creative goals got put on the back burner again (as usual) due to putting most of my art energy into freelance...i need to not let that happen next year. i mean i need to continue to make money but jfc i also need to feel like i experimented & accomplished something new with my own art!!! feeling very hopeful about woodcarving, i'm really enjoying it now that i started. i just have so many things always that i want to make/do, & so little energy/time (executive function?). music also just didn't happen but i did acquire MORE instruments (stole my dad's mountain dulcimer because he doesn't play it, picked up a few hand drums at thrift stores, got a vintage keyboard for free) so like. bitch. either play them or get rid of them!!! i need to play them!!! i got a tuner as a holiday present so guitar/banjo are back on the menu too. i need to find local people to play with, i do much better with music when i'm not alone.

some of these are definitely gonna roll over to 2025 because i feel strongly about them, i also need to like...think about how to word things so that they're more doable or i can't look at them at the end of the year & go "welllll did i REALLY accomplish that?? probably not" because that's not a good feeling & i tend to be somewhat unfair to myself. i appreciate seeing other people's bingo sheets without bingos though, because it reminds me i don't HAVE to get a bingo! also there were a ton of accomplishments i made this year that weren't on that list at all, like organizing the fuck out of the house.

gotta work on the 2025 sheet now!

[sirfrogsworth]

I use AI upscaling to help with my photo restorations. And it is the one use of generative AI that I think has serious merit. I use Topaz so it is ethically trained on licensed images. It helps me preserve memories and give people photos of their loved ones with a clarity they have never seen. They get a much better sense of what their grandpa looked like when he was young.

But AI upscaling is not a push button solution. And I don't think it will be for a long time, if ever. It's part of a larger workflow. It doesn't save me time or effort. In fact, it adds quite a bit of time to the restorations.

Sometimes I have to upscale the background and people separately. Often I have to adjust the contrast and detail on people's faces so the AI renders them accurately. I have learned how to set things up for success before the AI does its thing. And sometimes there is a lot of trial and error to get a non-nightmare result. Each try can take several minutes to render. There are several algorithms to choose from, several intensity sliders, and once the upscale is at a place I am happy with, I have to use traditional techniques to make the people not look like wax figures. I use things like custom film grains and LUTs to make the pristine AI result look like an old photo again.

In other words, I care about the photos I'm restoring.

I saw people talking about restoring Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. It's a very difficult problem due to how the show was produced. The live action was captured on film—which can be re-scanned at a higher resolution. But the digital effects were all done on analog 480p video tape. Not only would they need to be re-rendered but they would also have to be recomposited. Odo's shapeshifting is especially tricky. There isn't an economical way to remaster the show. TNG was only possible because they filmed practical assets for most of the VFX. They still had to redo all the compositing and it was very costly just to do that.

AI could be the answer. But only if the studio is willing to see it as a tool to be used in conjunction with artists and not a push button solution. Every frame needs to be checked. Different scenes will need different techniques to upscale them properly. And some scenes will just need to be cleaned up manually with traditional tools.

Upscaling to 1080p or 4K is often a mistake. The more extra pixels you try to add, the harder it will be to get a natural result. I think 720p would be a happy medium to shoot for. Combined with modern TVs traditional upscaling you will get a good viewing experience.

There are already fan upscales that are decent. I would say they managed to get the equivalent detail of maybe 600p. If you remember playing games on an old CRT monitor, going from 640x480 to 800x600 is actually a decent bump in detail.

Even though the files are outputted at 720p, it doesn't look quite as sharp as native 720p video. It's complicated to explain, but the short version is... detail and pixel resolution aren't really the same thing. Even if the file is upscaled to 1080p or 4K, that doesn't mean it has equivalent detail.

Which means we use a really shitty metric to give people a sense of how much detail a video will have. Ks and Megapixels are near useless these days.

Do your 200 megapixel phone photos really look sharper than my 24 megapixel DSLR photos?

My point is... detail is complicated.

And AI is currently unable to handle all of that complication without supervision and care.

In any case, the fan upscale of DS9 is definitely superior to the DVD versions. Feel free to seek that out (use a VPN). And because fans did it, the upscales were done with great care. They didn't push the tool beyond its limits and they reviewed every episode to make sure no nightmares snuck in.

I really don't know how to prevent studios from cheaping out and just running content through an upscaler with no care or supervision. But I also don't think fans should outright reject AI as a solution. It can be done well if they let actual artists leverage the tools and do it correctly.

[momo-t-daye]

“Hey, Sirius,” said James Potter, “Why has Snape got your scarf?" “The little asshole was whinging about being cold,” Sirius shrugged, unconcerned by the chilly evening air. “I thought he might gag himself but no luck yet.” “Huh,” said James.

“I still think it’s just a marketing ploy,” the little asshole swathed in woolen scarves said thoughtfully.  “Everyone knows he doesn’t sell firewhiskey to students and his butterbeer is near rancid, but once you’ve hiked all the way up here to check out the goat it’s almost a waste of time to not buy something.” “A giant goat is quite the statement given his, ah, past legal entanglements,” Narcissa said with the sort of obvious delicacy that teetered dangerously close to turning suggestive. “It really must be seen to be believed and the last few have hardly lasted any time at all.” “It looks so flammable,” Lily Evans gushed, bubbling with malicious anticipation. The best thing about the magical world, Lily maintained, was the sheer number of holiday traditions that eventually included lighting something on fire.  Her mother’s nerves had never been up for a proper Bonfire Night and Cokeworth’s Catholics weren’t the type to celebrate it either.

“Hey, Sirius,” said James Potter, “Why has Snape got MY scarf?" “Because Evans said it was cold and you gave her your scarf to be gallant and she then handed your scarf over to him” Sirius replied, without any worries over his best friend’s apparent memory issues. “Right,” said James.

“He’s bound to have put up some anti-arson charms on this one after the fiasco with Dumbledore’s pet phoenix last year and inexplicable triple lightning strikes the year before,” Severus scoffed.  “If it’s properly phoenix-proofed— and I doubt the rest of Hogsmeade would allow him to put another goat up that wasn’t properly phoenix-proofed— we’d need a miracle to burn it down without being caught.” “We’ve got the blessings of tradition with us, Sev,” Lily replied. “Can’t you see? The goat must burn again!”

“Hey, Sirius,” said James Potter, “Why has Snape got Remus’ scarf?" “Because I was foolish enough to take my scarf off inside and Snape picked it up and put it and just looked at me when I asked for my scarf back,” Remus interjected, slightly bitter at his ignoble defeat. “Gosh,” said James.

“Twice is hardly sufficient grounds to claim a tradition,” Narcissa opined. “Three is a far more magically significant number.” “So you’re saying it’s up to us to ensure the sacred fires once more hold back the darkness!” Lily said, full of pyromaniacal resolution. “I say it’ll take planning and proper intelligence gathering, neither of which I’m inclined to do while my mouth still tastes like something died in the Hog’s Head butterbeer barrels,” Severus sighed. “Let’s stop at the Three Broomsticks, Potter will buy us all a round of the special seasonal cinnamon spiced butterbeer, and we’ll work on preparations back at school.”

“Hey,” said James Potter.  “Why hasn’t Snape got—” “Unlike you all, I know better than to leave my clothes and stuff unattended in Snape’s vicinity,” Peter interrupted, smugly snug and cozy. “Oh,” said James. It really was quite cold.

_______

For an assortment @snapecelebration's Snoliday 2023 prompts

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

If it were up to you how would you change the Hunger game’s story to make it more cohesive?

I don’t have a ton of opinions because the core premise is just kind of silly to me. If the point is a government forcing its children to fight to the death over food rations then I simply would not focus on the pretty dresses or the protagonist making eyes at a love interest for cameras. But then that would drastically alter the series identity. So I don’t think that’s necessarily fair as a way to approach reworking the books

So with the understanding that I think the base idea and execution is flawed, my strongest opinion is that Catching Fire needed to be about Katniss participating as a mentor and essentially being forced to be complicit in the games. Putting her back in the arena feels like a major cop out, when according to the books’ own rules that never happens! I could live with her refusing to kill anyone in the first book. I think that made a lot of sense, and the penultimate moment with her and Peeta threatening suicide was basically what the entire book hinged on

But past that, if there are going to be more books, then she needs to get her hands dirty. And I think getting into the wheeling and dealing of the Capital would be an interesting way to do that. We could basically still meet all the same victors as mentors instead and get actually meaningful looks into their lives outside of the arena. And forcing Katniss into situations where she cannot rely on scowling or being the subject of the pageantry could be really interesting. I want to see the moral crisis of what she’s willing to do to keep her tribute(s) alive and how that will actually necessitate the deaths of others— until maybe The Plan is introduced to her. Much fucking earlier than in canon lol

The Great Info Dump Of Doom after the plot twist is just so staggeringly fucking incompetent and handled in such a bad way. I cannot believe Collins ever got away with that. Her sense of pacing and structure is genuinely just absolute garbage, idk look at Mockingjay and how Katniss’ disastrous side mission accomplished literally nothing narratively aside from shock value deaths to teach us that… idk no one is safe or whatever? I truly think Collins just needed to give Katniss something to do and just jammed that in. But that’s a tangent. Anyway Catching Fire just being entirely different to avoid that massive info dump would be great. Maybe Katniss can actually be in on fucking anything before it happens

Mockingjay was like mostly fine for the first half and then… yeah it devolved. I don’t have many thoughts on how to fix it beyond a) nix the dumb Katniss mission b) don’t tradwife her???

Worth noting, I did think Coin being awful as well and Prim dying were good beats actually. I think the former simply made a lot of sense given Thirteen’s refusal to help anyone else thus far/what it takes to successfully be in power. And exploring moral complexities in revolution is fine

But with the way the narrative completely discards Gale as a radical, while Peeta deserves to be deprogrammed, and Katniss gets tradwifed in a way that surreptitiously basically affirms Snow’s values (when all his plot contribution is basically being ridiculously over invested in forcing traditional femininity on her!) that adds up to something extremely weird in quietly thematically siding with the Capital

And yeah my answer is… simply do not do that? It is not very hard! Resolve it in any other number of ways! Primarily, like I said in my other post about the ending, I would like the resolution to focus on Katniss as herself a child. If we’re making a point of Panem’s children having a future now, that could and should focus on her? She has been forced into the role of unwilling caregiver from the very beginning. What better way to show that the children are no longer in danger than show her having the opportunity to heal and rest, and have the luxury to rely on other people? Anyway I think it should end with her decidedly not married, going to school, and like idk maintaining a hobby garden at home with some Meaningful primrose

[hysteriaww]

Hi ! It's going to sound weird but....

How do you think Kai would have influenced Luke's personality if Luke actually won during the merge ?

I know Kai was stronger, but let's say Luke wins.

He was already pretty strong since he was able to break Liv out of the spell she was trying to do. He was stronger than his sister. He would have won if they were to do the merge. I don't exactly remember how powerful he was but I suppose he was fairly quite good with magic.

And magical powers aside, he has quite a strong personality. He's fed up with the Mystic Falls gang bullshit. He was not even that scared of Kai. I mean, he knew his brother was a freaking threat, but he did not hesitate to go on his own and do the merge with Kai. Even when Kai didn't want to do it Luke was like "Hey bitch, you scared I could win ?"

I don't think Luke really thought he could win or maybe he did, anyway he just wanted it to end. He wanted to project his sisters.

So, with Kai's personality inside of him, what would he be like ? I think that guy would at least find a way to end that Gemini tradition crap about the merge, and the lives of the whole coven linked to the leader.

Apart from that I don't know.

That would not be as fun as seeing Kai struggle with new emotions 🤣 but I want to see Luke being even more badass you know.

Yup, really long question sorry not sorry. X)

This is a very interesting question! Tho I have wondered what Jo would be like if she merged w Kai & won, I've never wondered about Luke until now... I think it could be a very compelling arc for him & the gemini coven. Here's what I think would happen! (I wrote a whole ass mini-fanfic in my answer lmfao):

Fresh after the merge: Luke would initially act & feel almost exactly like same old Luke, except maybe he'd rightfully be a bit more grim, traumatized and world-weary after defeating Kai. Liv & Jo would be concerned but he'd tell them not to worry bc he just needs some time to recover & leading the coven rn is more important than his mental health anyway (aka the FIRST Red Flag). Liv & Jo would disagree but let it go for now to avoid stressing him out.

First few months as leader: I think Luke's first order of business would be to undo the damage Joshua did as a terrible coven leader. That might mean overturning fucked up coven laws, etc. but Joshua doesn't like this, so he gets his supporters in the coven to back him & veto Luke's changes. Meanwhile, Luke's own coven support is growing bc I do believe he'd be a MUCH better leader than Joshua, so old man's resentment grows more. Eventually, it reaches a point where Luke feels boxed in like he can't make any real GOOD change bc of Joshua's puppets & THAT is when... the whispers of Kai's voice begin to awaken in Luke's mind. Uh-oh...

Conflict resolution 101: The part of Luke that's in control tries to be diplomatic about getting rid of Joshua's supporters but it just. doesn't. work. The assholes are FLUENT in gemini bureaucracy bc they've been around longer so they outmaneuver Luke constantly. That's when Kai begins suggesting some... less diplomatic solutions, including the idea that Joshua's supporters wouldn't be such a problem if JOSHUA was gone. Luke spends a long time rejecting this & literally warring with himself, so Liv & Jo are like "dude are u ok" and in a moment of weakness he admits his idea about taking joshua out. They're shocked, but after a sec, they're like "wait this is the same man who tried to off his own kids more than once. Uk what? yes lets do it." And suddenly all 3 (ahem, 4) Parker kids are plotting to put dad in a magical coma (hmm does that sound familiar? I wonder which sibling's idea this was...) so he can't influence his supporters anymore. And the siblings succeed! Joshua's out! but it becomes their lil secret, hidden from the coven...

A Good Ol' Frame Job: Lo and behold, Joshua's supporters still stay loyal to the man in a coma instead of Luke! Liv & Jo are like "it's fine luke, dad isn't gonna wake up so eventually they'll have no choice but to listen to you" but KAI isn't convinced... and neither is Luke. Diplomacy didn't work, sleeping beauty-ing joshua didn't work, so now he needs to play dirty. He doesn't jump to violence or anything - he simply frames a few of them for crimes they didn't commit. Snakey, but simple. Only problem is... Luke can't recall if this idea was his own, or Kai's...... bc they're both equally likely to have thought of it. Kai's influence is growing... So when Jo & Liv come to him like "wow crazy how those supporters got revealed as criminals right? That worked out conveniently," Luke goes w the safest option & says "haaa yea what a coincidence! no idea how that happened" ......and now he's lying to his sisters (Big Red Flag #2)

Calm before the storm: Now that joshua's remaining supporters (who haven't been framed) are very few, Luke doesn't face much resistance anymore & he actually succeeds at reforming a lot of fucked up gemini practices & making positive change. Maybe he even succeeds at eliminating the merge altogether! Luke's flying high, believing he's a true protector of the geminis & the best leader and savior (which, to be fair, he rly is better than the shitty leaders before him)! Kai's influence here is very sneaky bc some of Luke's old sense of humor comes back to him, with some new hints of cockiness that weren't there before. Luke's golden boy charm & Kai's cockiness creates the perfect politician cocktail & liv and jo appreciate the good he's done for geminis but also lowkey resent the big-headed self-important persona he's growing.

But THEN there's trouble in paradise: joshua's leftover supporters find a piece of evidence that proves Luke framed the others & they threaten Luke w it, deducing that he also had smthg to do w Joshua's coma. They order him to step down but he can't do that. Not now, when he's finally *this* close to changing the coven for good! These pricks will wake joshua & bring the old laws back! No, he can't let that happen, he can't let it- ....Luke snaps. He blacks out, then wakes up in horror to realize he violently killed. them. all. He panics, calling Jo & Liv for help BUT to cover his ass, he lies & says he had to kill them bc they found out about "all 3 of them" cursing Joshua... while choosing not to mention how they also discovered his frame jobs. Liv & Jo are horrified yet they help him cover this up bc he's falsely led them to believe their asses are also on the line for cursing joshua... but then Jo notices some of them were killed in very "Kai" ways (bled to death from their spleens getting cut out, etc.) & Liv finds the piece of evidence they had that links Luke to the frame jobs...... the 2 of them realize Luke is not in control anymore.

The Climax: Liv & Jo confront Luke, asking him to step down but warning him that they'll MAKE him if he doesn't agree. He doesn't agree. A fight ensues & Luke is pretty OP despite the 2 v. 1. Luke gets *this* close to killing them (while Kai cheers him on), but then says SIKE and kills JOSHUA's comatose body instead, shocking everyone. Jo, Liv AND Kai are like "wha- why?!" & Luke the politician diabolically reveals that he can't bring himself to kill them - but he can frame them for Joshua's death & turn the coven against them.... OR he can frame the dead supporters for Joshua's death & save his sisters, IF Liv & Jo stay loyal to his cause. At this ultimatum, Jo & Liv finally give up, saying they'd rather get framed or killed than let him rule the coven like this. The Kai in Luke gets triggered by their abandonment bc he's a gOoD LEADER can't u SEE?! Kai's increased presence & Luke's increased lack of control make his SIPHONING manifest for the first time & he unintentionally starts siphoning the sisters. And Luke gets triggered by them trying to overthrow him bc he's the OnLy one who can PROTECT the coven!! Just like he protected Jo & Liv from Kai!! At this point the sisters' resentment RLY comes out like "WE DIDNT ASK YOU TO!! YOU chose to merge to protect us WITHOUT ASKING what WE wanted!! U literally knocked out Jo when she was ABOUT to merge! You protected us bc that's what U wanted, not US. And now the coven doesn't need to be protected BY you anymore, it needs to be protected FROM you!!" Like a bucket of ice water, Luke realizes he's siphoning his sisters rn. He has become Kai. They're right. He is not in control anymore. He steps away & realizes the whole coven itself is broken. The best way to save it is to take the ruling family nonsense out of it & free everyone. He agrees to step down & Jo & Liv help him break the coven link altogether and they free the coven! For a moment, it seems like Kai is going to stop them, but then even the Kai in his mind realizes the coven fucked him over his whole life & he'd much rather see it gone. So all 4 kids unite in Sibling Solidarity and liberate the coven!

Epilogue: Luke gets therapy & that means Kai begrudgingly gets it too bc he's stuck in luke's head. They both start healing & finding a medium ground of how to share space in luke's head. Kai even uses Luke to apologize to Liv & Jo for his own crimes. I'd like to think he'd even get Luke to go to Bonnie and apologize on his behalf & maybe help her out whenever he can, tho i don't think it would be sexual, bc in canon the merge didn't change kai's sexuality so i doubt it would change luke's. But yea I think bonnie would still at least have a new ally in luke thanks to the Kai in him xD

THE END lol I hope my impromptu mini-fanfic here answered your question ahaahaha thank you for asking!!!

[nemesis-is-my-middle-name]

I don’t know why but I suddenly can’t stop thinking about Irida and Her choices in Ounce of Prevention. Feel free to just ignore this if you’re still planning to update it someday, absolutely no pressure, but I’m just so curious as to where her arc would have taken her.

Thanks for infecting my brain btw, genuinely.

OH YEAH OK THIS IS FUN! uh. i don't wanna say i'm Not gonna update oop ever again but we are firmly in the malev mines rn and all my writing energy is going to other projects, lol. and yeah regardless of whether i do go back to it or not, it would probably still be fun to yap rn about the stuff i had plotted out!!

(contd. PLA character rambing + OOP spoilers(???) under the cut)

so irida's arc is, probably obviously, kind of inextricably tied up with adaman's. they both develop as mirrors of each other. like, they do not get along as people because they have been arguing nonstop for years, BUT, by the same token, they have been fighting for years & so know each other really well, on a surface "i can predict your next words with almost perfect accuracy" way. and the rift crisis in OOP is, even moreso than in canon, the impetus for them to finally work out their differences and bond and etc.

and in irida's case this means, like. she is someone who is and has been under enormous pressure to Be A Good Leader. not just for her people, but for The Pearl Clan as an entity, as a body of tradition and faith. she has to do everything right, make all the right calls, be wise and just and worthy of sinnoh's faith in her. as a consequence she second-guesses herself constantly, and tends to fall back on the guidance of those she views as more experienced than herself... whiiiich is what led directly to her agreeing to imprison ingo. rip. so her arc is abt her recognizing that actually, she can't be a perfect leader all on her own, that trying to force herself into this individualism just leads to her unconsciously trusting the wrong people and getting others hurt.

and like i said, this whole coming to terms with her flaws happens parallel to adaman's own arc, bc they were going to be traveling around together for the next solid chunk of the fic (i decided to split all the PLA fetchquests between parties, so adaman and irida were going to be plate collecting.) which also means that she's forced to recognize that while adaman is very bad at holding to formality and tradition, and weak on the spiritual side of leadership, he is legitimately very good at managing his people. (likewise, adaman has to recognize that despite irida's youth and lack of confidence, her knowledge of hisui and the clans is deep & she's good at managing that side of things.)

the ultimate resolution of this in the very sketchy outline i have that far was that it comes to light that the clans were formerly one single entity that underwent a fracturing in the last rift crisis, and after all the Character Growth™ (on the part of the leaders and also just sort of everyone in hisui generally), they decide to reunify the clans bc they've realized they are much better leaders as a pair than they are apart. BUT like i said that was a very sketchy outline so it could have changed along the way, who knows !

[seaofreverie]

Sparkstember Day 12: In Outer Space (Cool Places)

Oh boy, it's finally here!! Having been a Sparks fan for nearly a year by that point, I finally got to an album I just straight up don't like! I honestly forgot by then that this was even a possibility. But a world where I can enjoy everything in such a vast catalogue of a favourite band of mine would be too perfect. It would be pretty strange and unsettling even. Not to always make it about my other favourite band whenever I'm talking about the first, but with TMBG also I eventually got to that one studio album release that I just couldn't bring myself to like, no matter what. So I think I discovered a bit of a personal repeating pattern here.

Alright then. My verdict on this album, which already got a pretty mixed response from fans as far as I know, is that it's not very good, or at the very least, it's not for me. Even the songs I like here I mostly like in the sense of, well, this one I could listen to again outside of the album every once in a while, but they're nowhere near being an actual favourite (besides one song, or two, mayyyybe four if I'm feeling particularly generous).

So I think that my main problem here comes down to how the arrangements / instrumentals seem rather empty to me but not in a cool minimalistic way. And, dare I say, they're pretty damn uninteresting - very few elements of suprise or anticipation to be found here. This is the only Sparks album that just... doesn't feel Sparks to me. (And that's coming right after Angst, which might really just be one of the most Sparks-like of Sparks albums in a way). Something is TERRIBLY missing here and a couple catchy melodies and fun synth lines aren't enough to make up for that. It drags on quite a bit and is underwhelming to listen to as a whole. With only a couple moments of change and something more interesting and engaging. It's this sort of situation where I feel like the whole time I'm waiting for some kind of resolution that never happens ultimately. First instance of me putting on a new Sparks album and forcing myself to sit through the whole thing. And last one I hope! (and expect...? well, better not jinx it)

Ok, having said all that... This will be a historical event because I can't finish this post before I have my obligatory listen to the album of the day on its day. So, time for some real time documentation of my changing opinion, or lack thereof. Time to hear IOS in it's entirety for the first time since april!

...Ok, I'm glad that I didn't say all this in vain at least, LOL! Because I'm still underwhelmed! No major change here. Definitely still not something I'm going to return to more often than very occasionally and the "waiting for nothing" effect was very present and real once again. And it just dawned on be, but do most of these songs not have a bridge?? Maybe that could be part of why it all feels pretty predictable! But alright, as per tradition, let's look at some highlights anyway.

Favourite songs (and other highlights):

Cool Places: never felt in any strong way about it but repeated listens made it an enjoyable little ditty over time, lol. One of my first impressions here was how LOW Russell's voice is, this must be the lowest he's ever sung, right?? And oh, quick shoutout to the 21×21 version of it too

All You Ever Think About Is Sex: ok, this one's really cool and exactly what convinced me that the rest of the album would be enjoyable in the same way. Not for me unfortunately!!

Please, Baby, Please: my definitive fav here that I like a whole lot and that for whatever reason doesn't seem to have any of this album's problems that I described earlier. And I'll always be partial towards songs that I can interpret as being aspec-coded, thanks to my predisposition to do that as often as possible

I Wish I Looked A Little Better: very similar case to All You Ever Think About Is Sex

Dance Godammit: it's funny. It's fun to listen to sometimes

[elminx]

Numerology, Part 4: 1, the Magic of Starting Over

Note: This is part of an ongoing series about numerology, how it is used in astrology and magic, and its uses in spellwork. If I've made a master post, you will see it linked here. If not, bug me to make a master post.

Why Numerology

At its most basic, numerology is a study of the occult meanings behind numbers. Numbers have intrinsic significance in modern society and carry specific meanings that come from folklore, magical traditions, and mathematics. Using the art of sympathy, we can apply these meanings to our magic by using numbers in our magic to bring their energy into our work.

For the purposes of this work, we are looking at Western numerology that focuses on the numbers 1-9 (sometimes 1-10). By this system, all numbers are reduced by adding each digit together until you have a single-digit number. It is best in the beginning to view numerology as an ascending story with 1 being the beginning and 9 being the ending. Note here that the number 10 (1+0) is, in this way, a number 1; this is an important part of the "story" of numerology. When something ends, something else begins.

The Magic of the Number 1

I wanted to start to write this yesterday on 2/1 because it seemed like a fitting beginning to a post about the number 1. And that is, inherently, the point of the number 1. Number 1 is the number of beginnings. Any time we want to start a project or forge a new future, we begin with the number one.

You know this already: this is the magic behind making a New Year's resolution on 1/1.

You see this in Tarot where the Aces cards all represent new beginnings. It is also reflected in the natal birth chart in astrology where we start the chart with house #1 or the point of the Ascendant (your "Rising Sign") calculated from the moment of your first breath. If you want to dig deeper into the meaning of the Number 1 in numerology, a study of Aries and the 1st house in astrology or the way Aces are used in Tarot is a great place to start. 1 is the seed of creation - it is the reminder that the egg MUST have come before the chicken because all ideas hatch from somewhere.

In American culture, there's a lot of bullshit wrapped up in the mythos of the Number 1. On the one hand, it is heavily celebrated through our rampant pursuit of individualism and exceptionalism. Still, on the other, it is demonized through our toxic family values and obsession with coupledom. Everybody criticizes and fears the eternal bachelor or the "Crazy Cat Lady", those oddball individuals who choose (or are forced into) bucking our societal conventions to pair up and settle down. As the song goes "One is the loneliest number" but, with a caveat: if you do not want to be a Number 1.

That said, if you need to put aside all of the noise and focus, or if you're at a point in your life when you want or need to go at it alone, the magic of the Number 1 can be highly supportive of this.

Some magical associations of the number 1: birth, Aries, the 1st house, The Magician, Aces (tarot or playing cards), Spring and more specifically the Spring equinox, New Year's Day (any tradition - Wicca, the modern calendar, the Lunar New Year), new moons, January, Mondays, Dawn/Morning, the Dagaz and Jera Elder Futhark runes

The Magic of Starting Over

One of the most important lessons that the cyclical nature of numerology can teach us is that there is always another chance to start over. If you've had a bad day, tomorrow can be better. If you've had a bad month, next month can be better. If you've had a bad year, next year can be better. This is a great way to think obviously, but we can do more than just think because we're sorcerers.

We can MAKE tomorrow/next month/next year better.

It really is that easy. Number 1 magic is incredibly simplistic, all it takes is a general proficiency with magic of some kind. It's not stuck up in a single magical paradigm or belief system - you use numbers in your everyday life and you can use numbers in your magic, too!

At most all you need to harness 1 energy is to craft one intention, use one correspondence, or perform one action. And, since 1 is a correspondence in and of itself, if you are willing to wait a hot minute to do your magic (1 energy comes about at least twice a month with the 1st and the new moon), you really only need an intention or one action. See also: writing out an intention for the month ahead and putting it on your mirror so you'll read it every morning. See also: carving your intention into a candle and burning it.

Yes, I know that there is more to magic than this (most times) but as I said above - I am expecting you to bring your own magic to this circus. This isn't a how-to on magical technique here, this is about using the Number 1 as a correspondence in your magic.

You can use this correspondence in many different ways: you can take one action, you can craft one intention or one mantra, you can enchant one object or light one candle.

The idea here is that you are taking 1 step to start over. That keeps it simple and doable. This isn't about making a complicated resolution that you can't keep. We're not overhauling our entire lives here: we are pretending today is the first day of the rest of our lives.

Because it IS. That is the magic of the Number 1.

Note here that as a correspondence, 1 can be used as a demarcation of time OR as a number (of objects).

If you are looking to incorporate 1 as a demarcation of time, you want to cast your magic of a day associated with the Number 1. The easy all-of-the-time choices here are the 1st of every month, the new moon, or Mondays as the defacto "start of the week". January is also considered a "1" month and Aries is the "1" astrological season which puts 1/1 and the Spring Equinox (the first day of Aries Season and the astrological New Year) as the two of the most auspicious days of the year for 1 magic.

Additionally, each year, month, and new and full moon carries specific numerological energy that you can use in your magic. (I wrote more about that here) You could also use your solar return as a "1" day of profound significance for you.

You can use the Number 1 as both a demarcation of time and as a number in your spellwork: for instance, casting a spell with one candle on the 1st of the month. You can incorporate as many aspects of 1 Energy into your spells as you like: this is why it's highly auspicious to have a new moon on the 1st of the month and even more so to have a new moon on the first of the year!

Putting it all Together

As stated, using 1 Numerologically in Magic as a correspondence of "Starting Over" is quite easy. As it's most simple, you are choosing a day with which to Start. This day will be most auspicious if you incorporate 1 "Date" energy but this isn't necessary because the magic of 1 inherently is that every day that you wake up to is a new chance.

If you can't wait until a new moon or the 1st of the month, a Monday will do just fine. If you can't wait until Monday, tomorrow is just fine. If you are inclined towards working with the runes, the Dagaz/Day/Dawn rune is a good place to start when you are working with the energy of A Brand New Day and Jera/Year/Harvest is a great rune to work with for new moons (each new moon in a sign happens once a year), new year's work, and work around your solar return/birthday. The Magic of Starting Over can be as simple as drawing either of these runes on a candle and lighting it in a way appropriate to your magic. (You, as always, bring your own intentions to this work) Or, instead, pick the Ace Card that represents where you wish to start over and burn a candle near the card. Alternatively, find a free-to-use copy of the card (Rider-Waite cards are in the public domain) and print it out as a petition paper underneath your candle.

You can add oils, herbs, or other accouterments, but you definitely don't have to. If you need a bit more oomph, perform a banishing or cleansing on one day (say that dark of the moon) and then perform the candle lighting ceremony the next (on the new moon).

The timing of the spell can matter a lot here. If you want to work with the lunar cycle, remember to check the time (in your time zone) of the new moon - you would want to cast your spell AFTER the Sun and Moon meet up in conjunction and perform your banishing/cleansing (if using) BEFORE the conjunction. In this way, it is sometimes better to cast a spell of this nature on the day after the new moon if it is later in the evening and inconvenient for you.

That said, this spell can be cast at dawn or in the morning on every single day of the year. It is that simple.

You could cast it every single day of the year. (though that does sound exhausting to me)

A Note on New Moon Magic* and Rune Spells

Of all of the dates mentioned, New Moons are unique in that they can be used for both short-term "brand new day" spells and longer-term "brand new month"/"brand new year" spells. To determine whether you want to use Jera or Dagaz for a new moon spell, I would consider how quickly you wish for the turnover to manifest itself.

This is built into new moon magic.

We often talk about the cycle from new moon to full moon as complete. A lot of magic needs more than 14 days to fully actualize though. For that, we look at a full lunar cycle of six months, from the new moon in a particular sign to the full moon in that sign. The short moon cycle is Dagaz and the long moon cycle is Jera.

*I think that, to a degree, this also applies to New Year's Day magic, but most people don't set short-term goals for the New Year. *********

I've decided that will finish off this piece and set it to publish on 1/10 which is the start of the Lunar New Year. Of all of the modern New Year's days that exist on our planet, this is one that strikes me the most true as it coincides every year with the Aquarius new moon.

To quote Robert Jordan: it isn't THE beginning, but it is A beginning. *********

Read more about Numerology here:

Part One: Years, Months,and Lunar Events Part Two: Numerology Uses in Spellwork Part Three: 3x3 Spell Format

Do you like my work? You can support me over on Kofi.

[c-e-d-dreamer]

I had to come here and say how much I loved the Elucien sequel to your regency series so much! All these ACOTAR men are such simps for their wives and made for regency 😍 is there any chance we'll get Feysand next? I would love to see Rhys and his non traditional courting methods 🤭

If I tell you what happens in Regency Feysand, will that count? 👀

Unfortunately, the chances of Regency Feysand escaping what is just my daydreams for now and becoming actual written words are low. And the chances of me taking those written words and actually publishing them with my name attached to them? Even lower.

But here's what happens in my head and daydreams...

Now that Nesta and Elain are married, it leaves just Feyre in the house with their parents, and unsurprisingly, she's like get me the fuck out of here. I cannot be around Mama anymore. So, she decides she's going to go visit Nesta in Glasgow!

Now, Rhys is of course like Feyre, darling, you can't travel all the way to Glasgow alone. I will accompany you. Like the gentleman I am.

And then shenanigans ensue.

For example, at the second coaching inn they stay in, there's only one room and one bed. And Feyre is like aren't you going to offer to sleep on the floor like a gentleman? And Rhys is like didn't you spend the last 2 days calling me a prick and not a gentleman? Didn't you say you want a man who views you as a partner? Why don't you offer to sleep on the floor? Or better yet, why don't we share the bed? And we all know Feyre is stubborn, that she'll never back down. So of course she shares the bed with him. And she swears she hates it!

Also, they're attacked by highway robbers. Because of course Rhys brought his flashiest carriage to impress Feyre but that's now back fired! Meanwhile, Feyre is fighting off these robbers like a badass and Rhys is like seriously. Marry me. I'm in love.

But they eventually make it to Glasgow in record time! Feyre is like after spending days with this man, get me as far away as possible. So she's stalking through the house looking for Nesta desperately. And Rhys is like I wouldn't do that if I were you, we arrived earlier than expected. But Feyre scoffs and swings open the study doors only to find Nesta and Cassian in a compromised position because it's Nessian. What did you expect? It's awkward for everyone except Rhys who's like I told you so.

But it's really seeing Nessian that starts to soften Feyre. In case you didn't pick up what I was hinting in the epilogue of But I'm Only Looking At You, Nesta is pregnant. But even more than that, Feyre is just shocked to see her sister like this. Her cold, stubborn sister, who would only marry for power and never for love is happy. She's wearing her hair down. She's glowing and not just from the pregnancy. She's smiling and laughing. Cassian dotes on his wife hand and foot. Very clearly adores her. Also, he's made her a partner at the MacLeod factories. Feyre is confused by this but Cassian is like Nes is the smartest person I know, of course, she does all the factory books. Feyre is just very much surprised Pikachu at the whole thing and is like is this what a marriage could actually be??? And meanwhile Rhys is in the corner there like yes. Now marry me lol

I haven't reached the point in my daydreams to know what the resolution would be exactly but hopefully reading all that was still fun and gives you the fix you were looking for 🥰

[vorfreudevortex]

arguments part 2 was SO SO SO SO GOOOD!! like you wrote the nuance of complicated relationship stuff and that’s hard to do in traditional writing styles. but in smau???? where you’ve gotta work in a really limited viewpoint??? AMAZING STUNNING SHOWSTOPPING

you’re so good at capturing different dynamics like!!!! and i personally LOVED that the apologies where clearly only the start of longer conversations and not an easy wrap up of part 1. has me daydreaming about what they say and how they treat reader after 🥰

standing ovation for a reader that refuses to not be valued by the beautiful anime man 👏 always room for different types of reader and stories about diff types of relationship ofc! but these are prob my personal faves 💕

choso’s punched me right in the chest oml 😭😭 he’s a sweetheart he totally would let yuji do and say anything to him and not have any boundaries 🥲 but he’s learning how he wants to be loved!!! aaahhh!!!! 💕💕💕

oh my god thank you so much i will cry rn (threat) ??!! okay so:

thank you SOOO much for this. making smaus make sense in a limit of a screenshot or two is so hard sometimes for me and other times super easy, and i try so so hard to make them make sense !!

i try my best at making sure the relationship dynamics and viewpoints are all in character as well as making the reader's "personality" a little different for each one while trying not to be too vague!! i had so much trouble coming up with a good way to wrap them up until i realized that these are literally just fake text messages, of course the real conversations are going to happen in person and they can be left unresolved over text if i need them to be.

YES THANK YOU!!! SO MUCH!!! i had mentioned it before in that post but i wanted these arguments to be actual, believable ones over real-life problems. i also didn't want the resolution to just be "it's okay ily!" and act like nothing ever happened. it's really tempting to do sometimes but i want my smaus to be somewhat realistic even though they're literally made up lmao. couples have arguments all the time and i wanted to create a situation where the jjk boys were less than perfect (they're still perfect, thank you gege).

choso's ALSO punched me in the chest ;((( like he just doesn't know any better!! he's still learning!! boundaries and things!!! but it's okay, yuji didn't realize he was hurting choso's feelings, apologized, and won't do it again. i would die for both of them.

thank you thank you thank you for reading my works and leaving me your feedback and thoughts :')))) i literally LOVE hearing these things and they help me feel validated that i'm producing good content for you all!!! ILYSM ANON!!!! <333

[bam-monsterhospital]

Wrothgar's Main Quest

When you look for people's overall opinions on the main quest in Wrothgar, you'll inevitably get the response that it was one of eso's stronger questlines; better written, not about a world-ending threat and so more down-to-earth and relatable, better characters, on and on. Then you go to play the main quest...

Wrothgar has the same problems as the rest of elder scrolls online. While it doesn't suffer the skeletal, bare-minimum, idiotic, did-you-just-use-chatgpt-to-produce-this? lack of writing skill more recent dlcs suffer from, Wrothgar still carries the root attitudes present all throughout eso that drag everything else down:

Spoilers for orsinium down below

The new king who is promoting change -in this case, progress- in a civilization is evil. His progressivism, enabling women of an entire species to step out of the unchallenged traditional role of marriage-slave and actually be people, is actually evil and needs to be stopped. It's toooooootally not about allowing women to be people because he too has an entire harem of wives in his palace. No really guys, he's bad news and you shouldn't go along with him or like him because he killed a guy!

His mom is eeeeevilll. Never trust an old lady. Never trust a mom, OR a momma's boy. The new religion she's pushing is pushing out the old religion, and no we're never ever going to talk about how (even in orc cultural knowledge) the otherworldly foci of these two religious movements are the SAME BEING. NEVER ADDRESSED. NEVER TALKED ABOUT. What, you want a solution to this problem? you want integration or mixing or acceptance? fuck you, this is eso. Religions that the writers don't see as xtianity stand-ins are evil cults; that's how things work right?

Lesbians? hahaha, no lesbians don't exist. Why would orc women be into other women, they're state-mandated to not be. Those two ladies running the bathhouse in orsinium? no shhh don't pay attention to them.

you have to kill the change. obviously the best resolution for this entire questline isn't to allow space for more than one way of orcish life, no. we gotta go back to the butchering mormon-izing of malacath, and every woman needs to be a wife. that's the only way.

orcs are barbarians. look at this landscape littered with ruins; those ruins are from previous attempts at building up orsimer civilization. all destroyed by humans: bretons, nords, redguard. But shhh, don't think about that. Just traipse right on in, don't feel bad for the orsimer, that's not what this is about, pshhhhh ignore it. orcs are barbarians.

Of course there are good bits to it. Eveli's character is refreshing in that she actually goes through an arc: what starts as a naive eager-to-adventure person realizes adventuring involves a lot of politics, it's all very complicated, and people will always get hurt no matter what you do. Does she swear off adventuring? No, but she needs a breather to re-think things. It's good. They butchered her in blackwood, but in orsinium she's got the foundation for an interesting character.

And honestly I think that's what people remember most about the main questline in orsinium. That it had characters who acted like characters: consistently, in ways that make sense to what was established before, y'know, the basics of writing competently.

It's been a while since I've done orsinium and I enjoyed that aspect of it back then (also i love the architecture of the city of orsinium, its tall towers and how it actually looks like a city... not to mention wrothgar is beautiful)... but woof... yeah wrothgar is not devoid of its faults. I only really touched on one aspect, and didn't even go into detail on it; just tip-of-the-iceberg stuff i could remember off the top of my head.

[semper-legens]

165. Goodbye, Eri, by Tatsuki Fujimoto

Owned: No, library Page count: 201 My summary: Yuta's mother is dead. It was a long death from cancer, and she asked him to film her throughout the end of her life. But when Yuta premiers the film (with his own fantastical additions), it's panned by his schoolmates. Despairing, he seeks to end his life - until he meets a mysterious girl on a rooftop who wants to help him become a better filmmaker. But what secrets is Eri hiding? My rating: 4/5 My commentary:

This was yet another random pull. I saw it on the shelves at work, flicked through a few pages, and decided I liked what I saw enough to give it a shot. It's an odd little story. And I mean that entirely in a good way. Goodbye, Eri is ultimately about loss, about grief and how grief manifests itself, about narratives and who gets to control them. We never get to know how much of what occurs is real, and how much of it is part of the story that Yuta wants to tell about the people in his life, the people he loved who left him. It's a poignant, bittersweet little story and I'm gonna be thinking about it for a long time.

The framing of the narrative is that we are watching one of Yuta's movies - though at first, it doesn't seem that way. Everything is viewed through the lens of being filmed, and the angles the art is drawn at and the way shots are framed really sells this premise, at once being shaky handheld camerawork, static shots from a camera left on a shelf, more staged scenes with traditional framing, et cetera. All of the panels bar a couple of larger splash panels are the same height and length, mimicking the resolution of a screen. It's exceptionally well done, working even on a subconscious level, as the reader will automatically understand what the framing means even if they don't consciously put it together. Everything we see is through this camera lens. We barely ever see Yuta's face, because he is the one filming most of the shots. When he turns the camera on himself, it tends to be in moments of great vulnerability, describing ways his life fell apart.

Or is he? That ambiguity I mentioned is at play here. It takes a while to sink in that what we are actually seeing here is Yuta's second movie, the one about his new friend Eri. Like Yuta's mother, Eri is living with a terminal illness that eventually claims her life; like Yuta's mother, Eri is being filmed through the process to make this movie, and it's stated that Yuta has framed her personality in a much more positive way than she might have been in reality. Yuta's mother was not the saint we see in the opening film. We get a montage later of her being outright horrible to Yuta, including cursing him when this teenage boy finds himself unable to film his mother dying, at her request. By contrast, we don't really see much of Eri's bad side, but another of her friends comments that she wasn't always as nice as Yuta makes her out to be. The ending, though, is where the ambiguous nature of the narrative really comes into play. An adult Yuta, after his life fell apart once more, finds a still-young Eri in the abandoned room where they used to watch movies. She's a vampire, she explains, who goes through cycles of death and rebirth periodically and has been reborn. Now, Eri was always pushing Yuta to have more fantastical elements to his movie. The implication here is that these scenes were filmed with Eri when she was still alive, and were spliced into the footage of adult Yuta - notably, I don't think they share the screen ever. But the reader is invited to make their own interpretation here. We aren't told what is literally happening, we're just shown what was filmed and invited to draw our own conclusions.

This is a story about grief, and people manifest grief in different ways. Yuta's first movie about his mother ends with him leaving the hospital as it explodes - something that was ridiculed as bizarre by his contemporaries. But I get it. It's about closure, about putting the sad things behind you; the scene is repeated with adult Yuta as he leaves Eri for the last time. It's a bittersweet triumph, the victory of moving on over being consumed by despair over all you have lost. I really liked it, and I'd totally encourage anyone who's interested to go out and read it too.

Next up, motherhood and childrearing, as we see just what happens to Bad Mothers.

[8bitsupervillain]

End of the Year 2023: Pre-2023 Good Games

Now we're talking, it's time for good games. As with previous years I decided on separate lists to talk about games that came out before 2023 and those that came out during the year itself. I agonized over this list. Hope you enjoy it

10: Diablo III

In the meh games list I mentioned that I'm not a fan of Diablo III. In fact for the longest time I was fairly cold on this game and really disliked it. There's something to Diablo III however, every few months since finishing the Reaper of Souls expansion way back in 2014 that kept the game popping up in my mind. You should play it again, it would say. Roll a new character, it's probably better than you remember. Then I would inevitably try it again, play a few hours and then just sort of peter off it. Perhaps it's simply because of the sheer ineptitude of Immortal, and my complete and utter lack of caring for Diablo 4 that made my most recent playing Diablo III feel so much more fun. I think enough time has passed that I can freely admit to enjoying this game for the most part. I just never go out of my way to play it, but it'll probably happen again that I'll be doing whatever and the urge to play it will occur

09: Doom 3

It's something of the black sheep of the Doom franchise, but I recall quite enjoying the games when I played them spur of the moment this year. A lot of people bemoan the fact that they just made Doom 3 a horror game, but I'm not so sure I agree with that assessment. Sure it has spooky lighting, and impenetrable darkness, but you're never really put into a less empowered state compared to the original Dooms. You're never starved for ammo, and except for the odd jumpscare there's never anything really scary that happens in the game. More so in the Resurrection of Evil expansion, where they give you the super shotgun. It's slower, and more methodical than the other Doom games, but I really don't feel it's any lesser as a result. It's truly unfortunate there's no way to really get the original versions of Doom 3 an Resurrection of Evil outside of looking in nefarious places, because I played the BFG Edition as well as the original Doom 3 and it made me feel physically ill. The originals are surprisingly forward thinking made games because it's wild to me a game from 2004 has support for a 1080p resolution.

08: Higanbana no Saku Yoru Ni (The Unforgiving Flowers Blossom in the Dead of Night)

A delightful horror themed visual novel that I freely admit I never would have ever heard of if not for Umineko. It's more of a straightforward horror tale than a Umineko because this is about the local ghosts and monsters that haunt a school. I haven't finished the second of the two games, but I did quite like the stories in The First Night. Well worth checking out if you want to see some of Ryukishi07's lesser known works.

07: The Witcher II

A lot more competently put together than the original Witcher. It's also much more action focused compared to the original. I kind of miss the different fighting stances that were in the first Witcher game, but I can understand that the series needs to undergo some streamlining as they become a more cross-platform series. It's a fine story as well, where it seems to be pulling from more contemporary fantasy stories of the time like your Game of Thrones with all of its fantasy political intrigue. But it also includes troll fart jokes, so it still remembers some of its origins as well. One of the only things I didn't really like in this game was the inclusion of the odd Quick Time Event. There's not a particular lot of them, but they just felt weirdly out of place.

06: Dragon Age II

I think it handled the transition from traditional CRPG to a more action focused one rather well honestly. It's not the deepest combat in the world, but I never really had any particular complaint with how it was implemented. I liked the time skips in the story as well, jumping to more important parts of Hawkes' life rather than meander and get bogged down in the weeds of showing their entire time in Kirkwall. A fine enough story, even though its attempts to make the final endgame events bigger than previous plot points just fall flat on its face. It was fun seeing the fantasy RPG equivalent to a Like a Dragon game.

05: Might and Magic X: Legacy

I don't know a thing about the Might and Magic series. I know one of the strategy spinoffs is regarded as the absolute pinnacle of the genre, but as far as the mainline ones go I know nothing. That being said however I did quite like the first person dungeon crawling and combat here in MMX. It's nothing groundbreaking, and I doubt it was anything particuarly special when it came out nearly a decade ago in 2014. I appreciate that the game is more than willing to let you screw up making your party and going in with a "suboptimal" team. Rather than hold your hand and tell you which classes to bring or how to level them. I wish Ubisoft would let some developers make another one of these because I enjoy these lower budget RPGs that aren't these massive open world fiascos. Also you could make bank by upsetting the crowd who cries about ruining beloved franchises by making new entries in older series. But really I just greatly enjoy this type of RPG, and I would love to see more of them. I don't know if it will save Ubisoft from their impending implosion, but I would love to see them take chances on this type of game again rather than see them put out another big open world game that takes a hundred hours to finish.

04: Bravely Default II

With series like the Bravely Default series I usually try to play the games in release order. I know developers go to great pains to make it so you can follow a narrative for a game without having played every single entry prior to it. Regardless I try to play the first entries first. Sometimes this is a double edged sword because who's got time to play the eight or so entries before you play Ys VIII? Other times you got two entries, Bravely Default and Bravely Second. But here's the thing, while I played Bravely D 1 way back on the 3DS I know I never actually finished it, and I never touched Bravely Second. But towards the end of December 2022 I decided what the hey, I'll play Bravely Default 2 and just try to figure it out from there. This game was an utter delight to play, something about the turn based combat, good story, and charming visuals just combined to make this game a real treat for me. Even when I was going out of my way to suck the fun out of the game by grinding up the job levels I was having a heck of a good time. While I enjoy the story that's not what kept bringing me back to the game. I kept coming back to it just for the sheer enjoyment of playing the actual game. A novel concept! Bravely Default II was just an immensely enjoyable game and I highly recommend it to those who enjoy turn-based RPGs.

03: Potato Flowers in Full Bloom

This is as late an entry as one could possibly get. I went into this completely blind and I came away absolutely stunned. This is a great turn-based dungeon crawler RPG that I cannot recommend highly enough. It's clearly done by people who have a great love for the DRPGs but it isn't so bogged down with the ideas of what a "hardcore" DRPG should be that it loses itself in the fine details. Rather than get super in depth with the challenge one would find in a Wizardry Potato Flowers just focuses on a superlative gameplay loop that is just extremely enjoyable to play.

02: Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire

It seemed like a lock way back at the start of the year. Sure Bravely Default 2 was a sheer delight, but it couldn't match Deadfire. The combat, the look, the storyline, everthing was just such a marked improvement over the basic perfection I felt playing Pillars of Eternity 1.

01: Umineko: When the Seagulls Cry

But something came along in May that just swept the legs out from under it. There has not been an experience that has just taken up permanent residence in my head since finishing it. I went into Umineko knowing basically nothing, and by the time I finished it my mind just kept going over it again and again thinking about the characters, and the story, just replaying and rethinking events over and over again. Just a masterfully crafted narrative, and a killer soundtrack to boot.

01: Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire

But the thing about games is that there's more to them than just the story, the gameplay also matters. The short of it is that Pillars of Eternity II quite handily beats Umineko on the gameplay front. Plus, I really don't want to downplay the story of PIllars II because it stands strongly in my memory as one of the most superbly written stories I have ever experienced in any RPG, much less games in general.

01: Umineko: When They Cry

But the story contained within the one hundred and twenty hours worth of Umineko is without hyperbole some of the best written I have had the pleasure to experience. Just some of the most astonishingly well-written character I have ever seen in any medium. Such dedication to the crafting of some of the most vile duplicitous bastards you have ever seen, it's staggering.

01: Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire

The storyline in Deadfire takes the already major stakes from Pillars of Eternity I and manages to raise them even higher without making it seem like it's going to ridiculous lengths. The many characters you meet in this game are some of the strongest and best written I have seen in an extraordinarily long time. It's such a wonderful balancing act that you have such a range of characters who have their own plots and schemes that can affect the world but they all gel really well together. Even the overtly optimistic characters are played in a very realistic way where it doesn't come across as the game trying to pander with naive cheerful characters.

Umineko no Naku Koro Ni

I find it incredible that a series of such gargantuan length was able to maintain and hold my interest for the majority of its length. There were a couple of times early on where I felt my interest waning a bit, but everytime it was able to draw me back in and just revitalize my enjoyment. I am also immensely surprised at just how strongly it has remained lodged in my memory since finishing it. I feel reasonably confident if pressed I could give a summation of the entire VN just going off of memory and lose very little in the retelling.

Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire

As with the original Pillars the sequel does an amazing job integrating the DLC expansions quite seamlessly into the main narrative. There were times that I would embark on what I thought was a simple sidequest but was actualy a large add-on that was just as well crafted as the stuff in the main game. It was a very nice and greatly appreciated attention to detail.

02: Umineko no Naku Koro Ni

I adore this game, I will sing its praises even while carrying the small issues I have with the production. It is such a genuinely great piece of work that I worry that I might be overselling how good it is. But I genuinely feel that it is certainly worth all the praise the visual novel has accrued since its release.

01: Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire

However, games are more than just their story. It comes down to gameplay as well as the story that determines what I think the best of the year (pre-2023) truly is. And that's Pillars of Eternity II. I went in to this game with very high expectations, and I was truly surprised at how masterfully the game had met every single one of them. Despite some minor character and story wobbles I adore everything Pillars II set out to do. I highly, highly recommend this game to anyone who has even a passing interest in CRPGs.

What do you think everyone?

But in my heart I know the award goes to Umineko.

[icarusthelunarguard]

This Week’s Horrible-Scopes

It’s time for this week’s Horrible-Scopes! So for those of you that know your Astrological Signs, cool! If not, just pick one, roll a D12, or just make it up as you go along. It really doesn’t matter. Better yet! Check out “Heart of the Game, Fredonia” and see if they can sell you those D12’s with the symbols on them. Tell them “Shujin Tribble” sentcha. And “Hail, Hail, Fredonia!” Home of the Blue Devil!

Sooooo…. Theme, right? (*Sigh*) Ok, ok. So once again a theme has been suggested, and I seriously considered how to twist this one around on the requester. So you know what? Santa’s already done his thing and I’m SAFE! That’s exactly what I’m about to do. So with no further ado, here are New Year’s Resolutions no one wants to do.

Aries 

You get to set the stage presence here with something known as “Film Academy 2×”. It’s a format specifying an aspect ratio of 1.37:1 that was laid out in the 1930’s because no one could agree on a motion picture technical spec. These days it’s a digital resolution of 1828 × 1332, which is better than any monitor you’ve got right now. So This Week… watch some old Buster Keeton films… and remember, he was the ORIGINAL Jackie Chan for performing stunts!

Taurus 

Swinging over the pond and into true weirdness for Television Broadcasting we get to your resolution system: “Undecoded PALplus”. It was a re-do of the PAL broadcast system that brought 16:9 Widescreen broadcasts, but still supported traditional PAL receivers. So This Week… Learn how to add onto your existing knowledge base without breaking what you had already… meaning just read a damned book for a change, would you? 

Gemini  

A true digital system for once, you’re getting “SVCD” aka the “Super Video CD”. It was a digital movie file, encoded in MPEG-2, and came in one of two varieties: 480i (or 480 pixels square), or 576i (or 480 x 576 pixels). The system came out in 1998 and honestly it’s best use was in early shoot-em-up CD games with video cutscenes to them. So This Week… find your collection of old games and play some again. We’re pretty sure Cookie from You Don’t Know Jack misses you.

Cancer Moon-Child 

Another Disk, another digital format. This time it’s the most prolific media adoption in history: the DVD. Bet most of you didn’t know “DVD” stands for “Digital Versatile Disk”. With a MINIMUM storage capacity of over 4 and-a-half Gigs of data, you could backup most computers completely to one of those puppies. But as a movie disk you’re relegated to the venerable standards of NTSC at 480 lines tall, or PAL’s at 576. The system came out in 1996, and these days it’s impossible to find a movie or TV show NOT on this format. So This Week… Just admit that “DVD 3D” is a Dead Format. You bought all that super expensive stuff and now it’s just not worth it. Get over yourself.

Leo 

Look at you, Leo! Scammin’ off the pack! More laser disk goodness, but this time you get the “CVD”. That’s not a typo; CVD stands for “China Video Disk” and that’s exactly what it sounds like. It was a way of making video disks without needing to go through the whole SVCD standard. It was close, but lacking in resolution. So This Week… Your ability to run under the Patent Lawyers' radars is impressive. Keep up the good work, but don’t get caught.

Virgo 

We know you think you’re superior to everyone else, but that doesn’t mean you’ll succeed in all areas. Your format is “Betacam”, which we’re guessing some of you already kinda know what’s coming. Yes it was as-good or better than VHS for the home market, but for the professionals, it was GREAT! Get a short-play cassette at home, but the Long Play version in the studio, and it was basically The Same Cassette! Sad it got shanked in the end, but sometimes that happens. So This Week… Take some pride in knowing your format may have come out in 1982, but it’s STILL got Technical Support through this past year! 40 Years of Active Duty for a supposedly Failed Format’s pretty damned good in our book! 

Libra

Just when we thought the Analogue Film Industry was an anachronism and lost its relevance… just like Michael Corleone they’re pulling us back in again. This time it’s the “Film 8K” format. We’re not dealing with 1.85:1 any more, but with a resolution of 7992 × 4320… and really, WHY?!?! The only reason this is important is if you’re watching this on a freekin’ MASSIVE projection screen! So, good luck with all that on a computer: VLC will CHOKE to death if you’re running a 1440 monitor and a GTX-1660 Super! So This Week… LOSE SOME WEIGHT!

Scorpio 

We’re just gunna call it right now. You! ARE! BASIC! White-Bread Toast, generic as hell NTSC. The format that swept North America because 60Hz power signals are just a wonderful way to make sure everyone’s receiver works right. Your format supports both Black and White and Colour receivers without breaking anyone’s machine. So you've got that going for you. So This Week… Try replacing your mayonnaise with Caesar Salad Dressing for a new kick.

Sagittarius 

Your format cannot be overstated in how great it was! And, sadly, yes.. “Was”. You need to look up what “Laserdisk” looks like, because, holy HELL, that’s a gorgeous disk. And the output was better than standard NTSC and PAL or SECAM and testing proves this. So This Week… check out Linus Tech Tips on YouTube and see the side-by-side comparison between VHS and Laserdisk, and weep at what we were denied.

Capricorn 

You’ve just GOT to be the Odd One Out, huh? Your format is literally called “405-line”. And the fun part about this is it ISN’T 405 scan-lines in format! Nope! It’s KINDA 503 × 377, give or take a little smearing. It’s a monochrome television broadcasting system introduced with the BBC Television Service in 1936, so it’s done well for itself for a while. BUT! In the United States, the FCC had briefly approved a 405-line color television standard in October 1950, which was developed by CBS… only to find out that it was incompatible with existing black-and-white receivers. So This Week… Don’t think of it as “Conforming to the Norm” so much as “Making sure you don’t destroy everyone with your awesomeness.”

Aquarius 

Going fully to the WebCam, or PervCam, systems, you’re getting the Video Conference System “CIF”, aka the “Common Interchange Format”. Developed for company teleconferencing it was a low-rez 352 × 288 pixel image, and if you want to know what that looked like, you’ll have to watch a fair adaptation of a great book. So This Week… watch the movie “Contact”. The teleconference windows are JUST what it used to look like.

Pisces  

You just HAD to be the personification of annoying A-Hole Cat, huh? Take your pick: VHS, Betamax, or Video8. They all had just CRAP picture quality. About 320 × 486 scans in NTSC, or kinda 310 × 576 in PAL or SECAM, they were all just a cluster of sub-optimal tech sold as just this GREAT stuff, and it really wasn’t. So This Week… Learn what the Sunk Cost Fallacy is and stop falling for all the Wiz-Bang-Shiny-New sales pitches. 

And THOSE are your Horrible-Scopes for this week! Remember if you liked what you got, we’re obviously not working hard enough at these. BUT! If you want a better or nastier one for your own sign or someone else’s, all you need to do to bribe me is just Let Me Know - or check out the Ko-Fi page ( https://ko-fi.com/icarusthelunarguard )! These will be posted online at the end of each week via Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, Discord and BLUESKY.

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

You already mentioned how making him worse would have worked. How do you think making him not suck at a conceptual level (re Darlington?) would have worked if his situation was the exact same?

Oh I forgot to answer this. This was re: the Familiar discussion where I was saying Santangel being worse (or alternatively less shitty) would have been a better choice rather than the lukewarm place he occupied. And hm the thing is, I'm def biased towards favoring terrible characters, and that's the most interesting to me. But I think a traditional route would have been having him trying really really hard to discourage Luzia because he does Not want her to get stuck in a similar position being forced to serve either Victor or the King. I'd remove her servitude earning his freedom as a sense of stakes for him, he's only teaching her out of loyalty to Victor/because he's forced to serve him. So freedom seems like it's never going to be on the table for him *anyway* and he's just organically starting to empathize with her. Seeing himself in her (both in ambition and yearning for knowledge/magic specifically, and how she's going to entrap herself) is itself like how he could connect to her vs it being such an obvious conclusion with the replacement thing that him coming to that conclusion holds no weight. I'd then remove the betrayal entirely. Something that struck me when I was reading it is that the redone bargain's terms didn't make sense to me. Because in the OG Teo (who would become master) would lose what he valued most, and then Santangel (who would become the familiar) would lose what he valued least. So why in the redo would Victor lose nothing but then Santangel who is simply exiting this bargain has to lose what he values most? Idk it didn't make sense to me that it would work like that. So I would have the Act II reveal be that Victor planned to bind Luzia to him in the same way. It's never established... how this spell is performed at all, or how Teo even found someone who could credibly do it if Santangel had spent that fucking long searching for immortality with no results. But whatever. Lets say it's something he newly unearthed in his ancestor's stuff. And they're both horrified, and Santangel tries to tell her to cut and run as per canon. Sidenote: I would probs have her learn about his backstory much earlier. Some sort of scene well before they're obviously romantically interested in each other and she just asks him to tell her about himself because she's curious. And maybe he tells her some unsavory stuff he's done on Victor's family's behalf to scare her a little bit, but then things turn to him telling her about the bargain and his relationship with Teo. Where she stuns him by offering to take his place-- somewhat naively, but also with the understanding that she's someone's servant anyway/is going to be forced to listen to Victor and maybe she does want immortality/maybe if she has a massive crush on him already then she surmises that he and just their magic lessons might be what she values most already because she has so little joy in her life so losing that won't actually be much harm. And he would laugh this off but also feel like someone fucking gutted him lmao. And that could be where the Feelings stem from for him, but also an ironic callback when they realize that Victor meant to enslave her as well all along. Anyway I'd probably have the resolution be that Luzia somehow gets her hands on that spell— actually she shouldn’t find it like Victor did, show of trust Santangel tells her bc he still remembers it— and she performs it, tying him to her instead? It's not freedom but neither is burning to ash every morning and depending on her to heal him lol. I think in terms of likeability and there being more of a relationship arc I'd generally have him be more reticent towards her and all around just more of an annoying curmudgeon. Which can be fun for silly banter earlier and have a more distinct feeling of him being someone who's emotionally super super guarded and has had those muscles completely atrophied. So when feelings do come into play he just falls to pieces. Fwiw I get the sense that he is somewhat meant to be these things already, but I'd just heighten it.

[badedramay]

zindagi gulzar hai has soured soooo much for me over the years lmao. kashaf as a character was so interesting from the outset but to see her have to be the one to make concessions constantly in order for her relationships to survive or for her mistrust of people and subsequent loneliness to resolve itself got to be so depressing at some point when coupled with how little umera actually bothered to question the society that surrounded kashaf. the fact that zaroon never truly made an effort to understand her or internally question why she acted a certain way and simply idealized his marriage with her bc she was conservative and not flashy was so.. and i have even worse problems with durr e shahwar! one of my parents’ favorite dramas i think bc the letters between durr e shahwar and her father made them really emotional but to see her have to bite her tongue and just wait for things to resolve themselves if she was compliant enough truly broke my heart. i know she had her quite rebellions with her husband too but it’s still a really painful series to watch in retrospect and i hate that recycled idea of women conceding to make a relationship survive that populates so much of umera’s work (which is ironic considering the existence of those other dramas you listed, daam and kankar in particular)

in general that is i think something i really dislike both zindagi gulzar hai and humsafar for repopularizing. there’s this tendency to romanticize women who are “strong” bc they withstand all of the suffering in their marriage and come out alright at the other end, but where does it lead us really? we’re popularizing a whole litany of dramas where women are chained to those traditional expectations regardless of how horribly they’re treated or misunderstood in their marriage. and interestingly, i’m not sure if you kept up with kuch ankahi, but i was so surprised to see how many people complained about saif and samiya’s marriage bc i feel like it addressed that exact phenomenon really well. that saif was actually explored in depth and given background to explain his own cowardice without removing accountability from him; that we saw samiya try to be compliant only to realize that compliance doesn’t actually make a marriage and she deserved better; that she stood her ground on separating and made saif have to do the work to start to win her back if he really wanted to, and as a friend first on top of that. i loved it! i don’t think anyone is opposed to marriages having problems, but it’d be nice to see more balanced exploration where not just women are held accountable from start to finish, and i really appreciate kuch ankahi for tackling that. in general i feel like it was a drama that acted a lot more mercifully towards its female characters than umera ahmed dramas typically do so the occasional comparisons people made to umera ahmed characters struck me as a little odd lol

I remember back when the show was on air the PRIMARY reason Kashaf resonated with me was because of how vocal she was in her dislike for her father. it wasn't something we get a lot. the relationship between a father and daughter in most desi households is always so much more complicated and Pakdramas only show a tiny facet of it. Kashaf and Murtaza's dynamic in the earlier episodes of the drama is something that I still haven't seen other dramas do. sure, ZGH as a drama hasn't aged really well considering how blatantly forgiving the show is of Zaroon's misogyny and how there's just no growth or resolution of that and the show just ends on this weird note where all of the serious problems in their relationship are just brushed under the rug as "oh she's just being silly~" instead of being actual barriers to their long term happiness. Zindagi aise hi nahin gulzar bhayee. all the compromises came in Kashaf's account while Zaroon continued to roam scotfree because in UA's world, characters like Zaroon are never the wrong ones because the way they uphold patriarchy is for the women's benefit and not just theirs.

the criticism against ZGH are valid and they were there back when the show was onair as well. but i feel a decade later..the issues become more glaringly obvious because the rose tinted filter of the Fawad-Sanam chemistry has lost its effect so we can see the show for what it was actually trying to say more clearly now.

DeS toh I didn't like when it was on air because of how it much it focused on the women being the sole person in the relationship to compromise as a wife and as a daughter in law. the ultimate lesson of the show really was just "hey..quietly suffer in silence for some time and then you'll definitely get the reward!" not something I particularly support but I could see how this hope for reward resonated with the women around me. so many of women either had to suffer what Shehwar suffered in the early years of their marriages or they were still suffering to this day so this idea of light at the end of the tunnel is became something they clung to for their own sanity and peace. the idea of the end to the troubles is what keep us going anyway. so yeah..i don't support it but I get its appeal.

I didn't watch any of KA to add anything to your point but I do agree that in PakDramas the narrative always 10/10 puts the onus of makign a relationship work on the women. the success and failure of a marriage is always due to women even if we see the husbands being disloyal or unappreciative of the marriage. by all teachings of religion that our society is supposedly built on, marriage is supposed to be an equal partnership between two people where both husband and wife are meant to ensure the happiness and peace of each other. but since our culture only seeks to benefit men, their part is almost always downplayed. by any chance we get a good husband toh we still see that marriage suffer because happy marriages just cannot exist in our dramas. problems exist in aLL marriages, we know. but dramas mein jo problems hain woh toh matlab bass tabahi level hi ki hoti hain jo lifetime ka trauma de den.

not defending KRQ here at all but i think what he did with the ladies of Mera Naam Yousuf Hai is something that I haven't seen happen in a lot of dramas. specially in the character and ending for Afia Khatoon (Hina Bayat). she was in an unhappy marriage with Noor Mohammad and it was evident that despite like 25+ years of their marriage, she never loved the man. and when things came to an end, it was Afia who walked away with her freedom and dignity while Noor Mohammad was left with nothing. THAT was the kind of justice given to the right characters that other dramas cower away from. at least in MNYH KRQ's writing completely sided with the women as one of the central themes of the drama was a woman's right to choose for themselves and how it's wrong to strip away that right from them. Zulekha's fight was never for Yousuf but just for her right to choose, to either accept or reject, and to do it without being pressured into it. Afia got divorce from Noor Mohammad when it became abundantly clear that the man basically cheated on her all his life. the drama showed a woman who was a mother of three reclaim her maiden name as her the only identity she wanted for herself. marriages without loyalty and respect between spouses should end regardless of them being 25 years old or 2 years.