#it’s like most obvious way to see your sim style change

[lilypixels]

After Tabitha I went and tweaked Morgyn and Victor a tiny bit (victors face was squished?? Idk maybe it’s just been awhile lol) no one is safe

[thedawningofthehour]

didn't you say you were making Draxum's house in the sims? Did you ever finish? :(

So I whined about this on my main blog, but I'm having issues with my computer. The power port, and I've noticed this for a while, gets extremely hot whenever I try to run anything more intensive than Powerwash Simulator, and the past few months it's become harder and harder to get it to charge. (I'm not overclocking or anything-I bought this computer for gaming and made sure it had the specs to run shit like my heavily modded Skyrim and Fallout, it should be able to run Sims) I contacted Acer about a repair and they quoted me over eight hundred dollars. The actual computer was about 1200-1300, for comparison. There's other issues with it as well-there's a chip on the screen that's really obvious on a white background, and they advertised that it would support a second hard drive, but it's never recognized the one I bought. The power port is the most grievous though, and power ports on laptops are notoriously hard to repair.

And this computer isn't old. I bought it last spring. Less than a year and a half-and I've barely been gaming on it because I've been writing this, so I spent over a thousand dollars on a turtles fanfiction machine essentially. (there's been other reasons, depression funk caused a complete disinterest in gaming and after so many mass shootings I've started feeling guilty whenever playing games with guns, but writing is mostly what I've been using this expensive gaming PC for) I only had the one-year warranty that came with the computer, but honestly I can't find it in myself to regret that too much because I have never once had a company actually honor a warranty. It's like safety deposits on apartments or insurance claims-they'll do everything they can to weasel out of doing what they're supposed to.

So back to your question-I currently don't trust my computer to run the Sims. Or anything else. And I can afford to buy another gaming PC right now, but it would be financially pretty irresponsible. I returned the tablet I bought to draw with, and I think I'm going to get one of those two-in-one laptop/tablets so I can use it for drawing and writing. Maybe I'll be able to run the Sims 4 on that-it doesn't have to run great, I use it mostly as a building simulator. Kind of sucks though, Crusader Kings 3 came out with another expansion pack and the new Cities Skylines is coming out this fall, plus I've been getting a hankering to play Skyrim again.

But enough about my computer woes, I do think I have some screenshots I could show...

First floor, I apparently took these during the first round of building because I made a lot of changes. The lab is way bigger now, and I have the rest of the house shell done. The blank space in the back right is where I was going to put in the multi-story room where the turtles find the weapons-which is probably the least completed part of the entire house because holy hell the building controls do not want to work with me.

But in the back left you can see Cass and Gale's rooms! :)

I do like how the main hallway turned out. I know it was mostly destroyed on Creation Day, but let's just say Draxum redid it in the same style. The middle picture, that's the little storage room that hides the door to the part of the house where Gale's room is. If you know the Sims you can tell where the secret door is.

And yes, I know the half-walls under the stairs look ridiculous, I've fixed it since then. I couldn't just extend the half-wall all the way back because it would delete the upper staircase, for some reason.

I'm pretty proud of how the living room is turning out. Could be a little bigger, but the symmetry of the bookshelves are just too perfect. (also the curved walls get fussy, FUCK CURVED WALLS) Needs some clutter on the mantle though.

The kitchen no longer looks like this, I moved around a lot of the pictures and added another layer of cabinets, because Draxum probably has like six sets of fine china he's received as gifts throughout the years and refuses to part with. I added more retro-looking décor, because the last time he remodeled this room was in the sixties and I wanted it to look a little old-fashioned. I also imagine he refuses to get an electric stove, saying his mystic wood-burning stove works just fine. I tried to work a pantry in, but it didn't really pan out. (lol) And the more I think about it, he probably has a legit larder somewhere in the basement, since Draxum is from a time before refrigeration and would have grown up storing food in underground cellars. (and he deffo has like several years worth of food stored away, he's pretty much a doomsday prepper)

This is also incidentally the layout of the kitchen at my old house, hence the weird octagon dining area. Except we had windows. With no curtains. In the woods. It was unsettling to cook at night.

Draxum's study is bigger now, and I think I added a fireplace? He absolutely has eight bazillion degrees and awards and he puts them ALL on his wall. He earned that shit, dammit.

His bedroom's nothing to write home about. It's comfortable, not luxurious. There's no electric lights because he prefers candlelight.

Just imagine that white bathroom counter stained with pink splotches from Draxum's hair dye.

I had BARELY done anything with the pool, but as you can see it is indeed a tank. Draxum was planning to keep a mutant or something in there.

I was actually in the process of redoing the entire greenery lol, but I think I did an okay job on 1.0. Not the mason jar lamps though, I'm not sure what I was thinking there.

Some pictures of Lab 1.0. The ooze-vine-thing looks terrible; I straight up haven't even started to recreate it in 2.0. I pushed back Draxum's alchemy area and gave him an actual medical bay in the back, which is where The Table would have been located.

That's mostly Gale's area on the left, I think it still broadly looks this way? I didn't put in stuff like the robotics table because it just looked silly-and besides, we're not actually playing this build. We know Galois only needs two hands and a welder to make a robot.

I will leave you off with a slightly more clutterfied Gale's room! Oh, but also, I GOT PURPLE CC CURTAINS FOR HIM. :D After I took this picture, but just know he has them now. He has no reason to have them because he does not have a window, but I'm happy for him.

[danjaley]

Get to Know Me - Sims Style

Thanks for the tag @nocturnalazure

Tagging whoever would like to do this - I'm just home from work on a Sunday, so only light tasks for my brain please.

What’s your favorite Sims death?

I've never been the type who enjoyed killing off their Sims, so I haven't been very interested in the various death-types. Years ago I've seen someone reply to this question "the mummy curse, because of the darkening vision effect and the sandy death-animation and ghost". This inspired a generation of my gameplay legacy, but I manipulated it so the Sim turned into a mummy instead of dying.

Alpha CC or MaxisMatch?

Maxis match, especially for clothing. I like the clear silhouettes of MaxisMatch clothing and I think they work best with most animations.

Do you cheat your sims weight?

In gameplay I prefer to achieve weight-changes the natural way. In storytelling of course I make the characters the way I need them.

Do you move objects?

In storytelling always, in gameplay sometimes to decorate.

Favorite Mod?

The technically obvious answer is NRaas because the game is literally unplayble without them. I love how many gameplay mods are being released these days.

First Expansion/Game Pack/Stuff Pack?

For every Sims game I was a bit late to the party and waited until it came with a pets expansion. This and Seasons. The world is not complete without animals and seasons.

Do you pronounce live mode like aLIVE or LIVing?

As @nocturnalazure said, I understand it as "we're live now". It's called "Live-Modus" in German and in a German word that's the only way "live" is pronounced.

Who’s your favorite sim that you’ve made?

I still think the cast of Of Chevalry are the best Sims I've ever made. I don't see characters' faces very clearly in my head, but these really turned out the way I hazily imagined them.

Have you made a simself?

It's my icon.

Which is your favorite EA hair color?

Is this a question for the Sims 2 or 4 players?

Favorite EA hair?

I like the braided updo from the basegame. I use a lot of EA hair actually, especially for male Sims.

Favorite life stage?

Depends. For babies, toddlers, and to some extend children, I wish there were more content and gameplay in the actual game. On the other hand, this makes it fun to make mods for them. Teens and elders I wish were more different from adults, and I wish the developers had gone the extra step and made all clothing available teen-to-elder, like in Sims 4. In my stories I try to show my characters' development in whatever age they currently are.

Are you a builder or are you in it for the gameplay?

I'm not a very good builder. My best own buildings are square and simple.

Are you a CC creator?

I dare say.

Do you have any Simblr friends or a Sim Squad?

I feel really old when I think of all my mutuals who are no longer active. Around 2015 there were so many historical and storytelling Sims 3 simmers! Sometimes I think of their stories and how they might have continued...

Do you have any sims merch?

Until last year there was a cardboard plumbob hanging next to our family-computer. But we finally realized every family member has their own computer now, so we removed that office corner.

Do you have a YouTube for sims?

I do, but it only has a handful of three-second screen-captures from my game. At one point tumblr's video upload didn't work, so I linked them from youtube.

How has your “Sims style” changed throughout your years of playing?

It changed a lot. I always played a historic game, but I was much more eclecticist in the beginning. Of course also new cc came out, and I started using lighting mods and later poses. And I switched from gameplay to storytelling.

What’s your origin id?

danjaley

Who’s your favorite CC creator?

There are many, but the first Sims creator and blogger I discovered was @aroundthesims . Sandy inspired me to start my own Simblr, and what would I do without her custom content?

How long have you had simblr?

Nine years this March.

How do you edit your pictures?

In Photoshop CS2. It used to be Elements but that is no longer working.

What expansion/ gamepack is your favorite?

See above.

[byrdiboo]

There is no sexism in Ba Sing Se

By now I think everyone has their opinions formed about the live action ATLA remake but as a non-fan I figured I'd offer my two cents to anyone still on the fence or who might be interested in a slightly less biased opinion. To clarify, I don't hate the show, I actually like hearing my friends talk about the fan theories and how they thought the various heavy subjects are handled, I just never got into it myself. Because my partner is one of those people who did get into it, I've at least seen up to the point of Kyoshi Village in both shows (ep2 Netflix, ep4 original). One of the things I've seen most people excited about is the special effects, especially the bending. I will say, it looks...fine. I'm not up on my fighting styles but the choreography seems decent. The effects are nothing groundbreaking - we've had these water and fire sims for at least 10 years - but it's definitely not awful to look at...when you can see it. Way too much of the show (ie more than 0%) utilizes the inexplicably popular "someone forgot to turn the lights on when filming" lighting technique and "shakeycam meets too-many-cuts" editing with motionblur out the ass for good measure (some of the opening scenes are on youtube, judge for yourself). At least all two of the creatures we get to actually look at look awesome. Perhaps the biggest thing I've seen talked about is the changes to the characters themselves. I will start by saying the actors deserve no ill will, they're clearly doing their best with a subject they love and a script written by people who thought ATLA should read like GoT. Aang and the others have a few goofy moments thrown in to keep people happy but for the most part he plays the part of Main Character Boy while the others are The Support Characters, rather than three children in extraordinary times doing what they think makes sense. This is where my knowledge of Aang and Katara is lacking, but I do want to talk about Sokka cuz his changes (rightly) had a lot of people worried (and a lot of his character arc is pretty obvious from ep 1, rather than revealed past the point I've seen). They didn't just tone down his sexism, they removed it entirely, taking him from an obnoxious but teachable idiot to a generic annoying dudebro. Maybe this is just me, but I was endlessly annoyed that they took away his sexism without addressing the things that made him sexist in the first place. After being told by the leaderly elderly matriarch character about the fire nation attacks wiping out most of the village, we are told Sokka is how he is because he was appointed the village leader at 13 for...reasons. So the village is still sexist enough to declare a 13 year old boy leader over the woman everyone already looks up to, but this didn't affect his character in any meaningful way, I guess? And for those looking forward to the Kyoshi warriors, you can go ahead and put those hopes down. The warriors themselves get minimal action time before Deus Ex Kyoshi-ghost-possession (yes, really) deals with the fire nation attackers for them. As for the love interest, they took what was a solid moment of "sexist gets ass beat by woman, begs woman for training, learns woman can do stuff too, ends up liking and respecting woman so hard she reciprocates" into the most bland "popular girl falls for cute boy at school" complete with eyelash fluttering, shy-can't-look-at-yous, and the most vomit-inducing "training" scene I've seen in a long time. No lessons learned, no character growth achieved, but hey they got rid of sexism or whatever. All this to say, I'm willing to give live action some passes, but personally I don't think this one's even worth a hate watch. I won't tell you to hate it, it does have a few moments of brilliance, but they're the glitter on a turd imo and Netflix doesn't deserve to be rewarded with your watch time. Despite my misgivings, the show is (supposedly) still getting at least mixed reviews from fans and non fans alike, so if you've bothered to see it I'm curious what you thought the remake (or my impression) got right or wrong.

[eldrichfuck666]

Get to know a simmer

Okay, soooo I was tagged by @silentsundown (thank you so so much for tagging me, I really love to talk, ramble and even most of the time overshare on this blog, so thank you! I really appreciate you tagging me, I hope you're having a really nice time of the day!! 💗)

1. What’s your favourite sims death?

Meteorite death in The Sims 3, definitely! And maybe werewolf bite death and I'm not sure if it's a mod, buut I love when humans die by being sucked out too much blood by a vampire, like blood loss death or? Oh! And being eaten by the cowplant. Also, death by a myth from High School Years pack. It's super creepy for me personally. Please note that I'm not really a player, so I don't remember much deaths, I'm sure there's so much more interesting. creepy and kinda funny ways to die in Sims 4!

2. Alpha or Maxis Match CC?

It's both! I equally love alpha and maxis match, and mix those two styles because honestly? There's too much gorgeous and unique cc to both of these styles to just choose or prefer one.

3. Do you cheat when your sims gain weight?

No? Maybe because they don't because even when (actually it's IF) I play I cheat their needs :DD OH, and I also have some MCCC marks or whatever it called in English (метки) so their appearance won't be reseted or be able to change because I'm too tired of their presets changing for some reason when I enter live mode.

4. Do you use move objects?

HOW CAN YOU FUCKING NOT USE THIS CHEAT????????

5. Favorite mod?

I don't really remember all my favorite gameplay mods, but there are some I can't play without (not including some obvious ones such as MCCC and WW and UI Cheats and cooking mods that I have a lot):

ALL mods from SpinningPlumbobs, especially the Expanded Mermaid and Werewolves! These are super detailed and amazing for players who mainly focus on occult sims. It makes occults so much more interesting to play and it brought me back to somehow enjoying gameplay.

ALL mods from PERSEA, but especially Realistic Life & Pregnancy mod because it has so much cute interaction and it truly brings in so much depth and a sense of feelings to sims. Like real emotions and buffs, also cute dialogue options!

ALL mods from Lumpinou. But especially RPO, Open Love Life, Psychic Sims and Rambunctious Religions (if you wanted to have a cult in your game, esp occult cult - it's possible!!! And god I LOVE having sexy priests that are really priests in my game). Actually, every single mod of this creator is my must-have for gameplay, so YEEEEAH.

ALL mods from Maplebell. I do think that the Acting overhaul was a very needed mod for the game, as well as the socials & more kisses mod!

ALL mods from Adeepindigo, but especially education system overhaul AND PARANORMAL CAREER & GHOST HUNTERS!! Family activities and custom nuptials are the mods I find myself using the most, as well as Pet Care Activities. Also, the tweaks & small mods are VERY useful! The only mod I don't use from this creator is dental care - although it's super cool and realistic, but it's too overwhelming for me (thanks OCD), same with the most recent - Divergent sims, it's incredibly detailed but I'm not ready to deal with the same shit I go though every day in The Sims too lmao. It's overwhelmingly realistic & very detailed!

There's so much more, but my brain is super dumb, so I can't remember, but! If you see any detailed occult mod esp for vampires - you KNOW i'm already using it because that sort of mods are the most amazing for me. I love gameplay mods. although I don't really play a lot, but I have much of them.

6. First expansion/game/stuff pack you got?

I'M A FUCKING PIRATE HOW DO I ANSWER? I got them all at ones time yeeeeeah I'm too cool for this question 😎😎😎😎😎 But if I'm being serious, although I got on a pirate ship when I was a teen, I started playing sims 4 when I think Cats & Dogs came out? So that can count as the first thing I got just because I started there. But If i'm being serious, I don't remember lmao. When I was a teen, I was pirating everything I saw on russian torrent websites, but I remember being instantly more interested in TS4 when pets expansion came out. SORRY I'M STUPID AND MY MEMORY IS TERRIBLE

7. Do you pronounce “live mode” like aLIVE or LIVing?

aLIVE. But overall, I have no idea how it should be pronounced. And with LIVing it sounds so dumb I'm sorry-

8. Who’s your favorite sim that you’ve made?

ANSEL ANSEL ANSEL ANSEL ANSEL ANSEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OH AND- LUCINDA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I CAN'T CHOOSE! THEY'RE MY FUCKING KIDS!!!! I LOVE THEM ALL!!!!!! IT'S CRUEL TO PICK SOMEONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

9. Have you made a simself?

Lucinda is enough of simself. I think. She has my appearance for the most part, and tbh, she's my vent OC so I guess?...

10. What sim traits do you give yourself?

I DON'T KNOW. WAIIIIT I searched for the post-reblog with traits, so yeeeeeah I found it! My brain doesn't know English today bc I just forgot how the traits translates in English, so....

LONER 🐺 DOG LOVER 🐕 PARANOID 👀 GLOOMY 🌧️ BOOKWORM 📚

11. Which is your favorite EA hair color?

ALL THE NEW 6 COLOURS SIMS ADDED IDK 2 YEARS AGO?? BUT ESP THE NEW BLACK & NEW VERY BLOND SOFT ALMOST WHITE COLOUR IIIII CAN'T HAVE ENOUGH OF ITTTTTTTT

12. Favorite EA hair?

Wait, howwww they even look? I haven't used any EA hair in the recent months or even years, so I had to look them up in CAS lmaooooo. Okay, so! Probably all HYS & Growing Together hair, almost all black hairstyles! AND I LOVE DREAM HOME DECORATOR AND NIFTY KNITTING HAIR!!! they're so good wowwwww! and i'm a fucking fan of Paranormal mullet! AND ALL THE HAIR FROM COTTAGE LIVING TOO! The way I didn't know about them until I started writing this tag 👁️👁️👁️

13. Favorite life stage?

YOUND ADULT. I'm scared of aging and death everywhere, so I have NEVER played a sim older than young adult. It may be oversharing (which is my love language btw and I just can't shut up SO BEAR WITH ME and my loud personality here), but the only thought about elders make me extremely sad and almost makes me hystericly cry for hours- NO IM NOT OKAY but my phychiatrist says it's getting better you know!!!! ALSO. My god infants are incredible cute and I love playing with kids because my god they're so adorable in game! I'm a child hater btw, but the game infants are super cute!

14. Are you a builder or are you in it for the gameplay?

I'm sorry but NEITHER. But if i need to choose, I'm choosing building because it's so good but also! Not nessecerealy building, but decorating! I don't build I'm fucking dumb & scared of floorplans, roofs and terrain painting. But decorating? Anytime, please!!

15. Are you a CC creator?

NO- At least yet, but we'll see! Btw, I almost forgot that I wanted to recreate a fucking pose from the sexy french anti-smoking campaign poster 👁️👁️👁️👁️👁️👁️👁️👁️

16. Do you have any simblr friends/a sim squad?

!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MY MUTUALS ARE MY FRIENDS BY THE ONLY FACT WE'RE MUTUALS EVEN IF WE INTERACT ONE TIME YOU'RE MY FRIEND AND I'D KILL FOR YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

17. What��s your favorite game?

Ummm... Bloodborne & The Forest & Alien: Isolation?? But if we're talking about Sims, then it's TS2! The townies are the best although I didn't really grew up on The Sims in the way most simmers did, I played TS2 with my older sister all the time and this game has such amazing humor (although yeah it's pretty crude and mature BUT THAT'S SO COOL WWAAAAAAH) and personality, It's super good!

18. Do you have any sims merch?

DO YOU NOT KNOW HOW MUCH DELIVERY TO GERMANY COSTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Although I want to have the merch maybe like?? Plumbob headphones or like headband? That would be so cool!

19. Do you have a YouTube for sims?

NO. I wanted to be simtuber for some time, but I'm too scared of hate that comes with particiapating in youtube community, so NEVER THANK YOU!

20. How has your “sim style” changed throughout your years of playing?

I have no idea, I'm sorry. And I don't really have my much older sims or screenshots or save files? But I think I started being more risky and using much more CC and using heavy alpha CC which I adore! Also, my sims started to become more and more gorey and dark-themed. Like- I feel like my sims were less horror-like few years before, they were casual occults. GOD I HOPE ONE DAY WE CAN HAVE TRUE BODY HORROR (MORE EYES PLEASE!!!!!!!! I WANT MY SIMS TO HAVE EYEBALLS EVERYWHERE ON THEIR BODY AND I WANT THEM INSECTS GROWING UNDER THEIR SKIN PLLLLSSS!), like imagine having open lungs. more than two hangs or other body parts?? OR BLOODY DEER ANTLERS OR- sorry im fucking unhinged and maybe one day I'd get my lazy ass and create it all myself BECAUSE I CLEARLY NEED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

21. What’s your Origin ID?

It's a secret. There's nothing and I was banned for piracy while sharing sims (no CC ones btw, and they were fucking normal like USUAL sims) TWICE. So nope!

22. Who’s your favorite CC creator?

I have 300+ GB mods folder how do i answer this.... Okay, let's do it! And BTW, I'm scared of tagging creators and tagging in general, so I won't do it this time so I won't spam or annoy anyone and won't be this anxious myself.

@pralinesims EVAN I'M SORRY BUT I'M TOTALLY TAGGING YOU!!! You- First of all, as I remember, you were the first creator with whom my journey with CC began and even then, you had a superior quality CC, and it was and still is the best CC content ever! I know I've said it a million times before, but! Your CC is a true must-have for me, I literally can't imagine CAS without it, it changes so much and adds necessary little details that give my sims a lot more personality :') AND SPECIAL THANK YOU FOR THE GORE!!!! gore forever!! I love gore!! AND FOR THE EYES!!

@lady-moriel (I know I tagged you twice in this post, but it's for a different purpose 😭😭 pls forgive me) has the most amazing fantasy/ occult cc which is really high quality AND MY GOD THE ARMOR!! AND DRUID STUFF!! It's so unique and done just so amazingly, all the details- it looks beautiful in game and I fucking swear, I can't live without your CC! And I still can't get over your Leshey set, because my god... I can talk about it for hours, it's just- It's a perfection, and you need to know that it's only thanks to you I can have literally Zone Blanche in my game-

Now, creators I'm afraid to tag in this ramble thingy. IT'S GOING TO BE SUPER LONG SO BE PREPARED LMAOOO

23. How long have you had a simblr?

Favorite skin details/skins creators — @/obscurus-sims, @/northernsiberiawinds, @/poyopoyosim, @/ddarkstonee, @/sims3melancholic, @/lamatisse, @/nesurii, @/angissi, @/twisted-cat, @/squea, @/thisisthem, @/simbience, @/sammi-xox

Favorite presets creators — @kashisun (!!!!), @/hi-land, @/viagosims, @/cinnasims, @/meeshi, @/ssspringroll, @/sammi-xox, @/arenetta

Favorite clothes creators — @/backtrack-cc, @/eunosims, @/nucrests, @/gorillax3-cc, @/plbsims, @/lumysims, @/trillyke, @/amelylinaa, @/arethabee, @/liliili-sims4, @/cinnamon-sims I don't remember more I'm sorry- I use much cc but do I remember creator names? mainly not 😭😭 my brain is not braining i-

Favorite hair creators - @/sheabuttyr, @/simandy @/ebonixsims, @/icchixxxxxx1, @/clumsyalienn, @falsogod, @/0o0ghost0o0, anto, @/leahlillith, @/aladdin-the-simmer, @/simstrouble, @/zaozzaa, darknighTt on tsr, @/1-800-cuupid THERE'S SO MUCH I'M JUST DUMB AND I HAVE MEMORY LIKE A FISH-

I came here in March, I believe! So like... 3 months? And my god I never felt this accepted in any community before, although begging was very scary and still is a bit, but the more I shared my OCs, edits and screenshots with you, the more accepted and loved I felt and my god, this is such an amazing feeling when you see how everyone share their amazing creativity and love for franchise and just- It's truly amazing to see everyone's amazing creativity and I still can't believe how different everyone's sims and game is! IT'S JUST SO COOL! I love seeing such different and unique visions being connected by the one game.

24. How do you edit your pictures?

OOOH It's a lot! First of all, I have pretty heavy and detailed reshade (but my PC is very much okay with this, so don't worry), I have a couple of favorite presets that make the game look SO MUCH DIFFERENT AHH! But keep in mind that I change a lot of settings and have my MXAO's set differently. The ultimate favorite of mine is Softee preset by Lustrousims! Its truly amazing and I use it every time. What I love about it is colour scheme and the way it DOES work with POC sims which is AMAZING! So for gameplay or build (which i have like... three, maybe?) or cas posts I don't really edit anything, maybe use a couple of color ajustments + dust + light leaks + resolution enchance + blur background a bit or make some details pop, but that's all!

But when It comes to my edits.... I do use blender, so you can see a few of my renders here. I edit them and in-game pictures either in GIMP or Photoshop (I pirate it too btw) for psd actions or if i'm editing while at work or while going somewhere - i use mobile editing apps such as Photoshop Express & Lightroom, Glitch Lab, Polarr, Vaporgram! Sometimes mobile apps are more useful for specific things than GIMP or Photoshop on PC lmaooo, so yeah.

Thirdly, I enchance resolution on PC by Topaz AI and on mobile with Remini, which is super useful because it does add details and really unblur pics.

25. What expansion/game/stuff pack is your favorite so far?

OKAY SO. Please keep in mind that my opinion may be weird, but that's because I never paid a single euro for The Sims 4, I KNOW most of TS4 packs and content in general is super overpriced and bad if you keep in mind how much you paid for it, but I haven't, I have it all for free, so I just mostly enjoy everything when I truly explore or play it. I do still shame EA tho lmaoo.

Expansions: Get to Work (mainly because of aliens and active careers), Cottage Living (HAVE YOU SEEN THE CUTEST COWS??HAVE YOU SEEN THEM??), Cats & Dogs, Growing Together, Island Living.

Game packs: Vampires (OBVIOUSLY!), Strangerville, Realm of Magic, Werewolves

Stuff packs: PARANORMAL, Vintage Glamour, Movie Hangout Nifty Knitting, Tiny Living, Laundry Day!

26. What expansion/game/stuff pack do you want next?

Okay, sooooooo......

Expansion: music groups & choirs & opera pack that will bring more ACTIVE careers for musicians, more music instruments, PLEASE GIVE ME OPERA AND BALLET THEATERS (... my russian side truly wants to have it, like pls), tours and trip-hop as in-game genre! Also, It would be amazing if they'll add something like church choirs or something like that.

Game pack: FAIRIES. And bigfoot. Please. I want to have those in my game so bad! Also, I think it would be amazing if we'd another pack where we'll get the whole funeral system, like funerals and graveyards! I WANT TO HAVE THOSE SO BAD. And I want this pack to have maybe mortician career. maybe even an active one? As well as active funerals, more coffins with cross-pack compability so that vampires can sleep in them too. Also! You know this message your sim sometimes get about their very far relative passing away and giving them money? I want it expanded & it's a great ability to add an option for a sim to own a multiple homes and apartments, like having their own and the house that was passed for them by a grand-someone.

Stuff packs: something for toddlers and infants, maybe including functional strollers & new interactive toys (like a mini piano or a book that can sing them songs) and more clothes and bb objests. I think we need more gameplay for toddlers and infants! And also, maybe a separate stuff pack for kids? ALSO WE FUCKING NEED THE SPOOKY STUFF REFRESH!

Lastly, I'm tagging @alinelie, @lady-moriel, @lunarspellsims, @noeyinthemist, @the-daydream-archives, @2013trait, @isthisdesire98. I know it's not a lot of you, but I don't remember who I've seen doing this tag, so yeah! Please feel free to ignore this and I also apologize in case I annoyed you. I hope you're having a good day! I love you all just so much!

[clarktooncrossing]

Hey there people of today and robots of tomorrow! It's me, Clark, back at least with another #throwbackthursday, just in time for the highly-anticipated Across the Spider-Verse! With Miles set to swing across the big screen again, I figured how would be a good time to show off this piece I made in 2020 featuring my characters from 3K. 3K is set in the year 3000 (hence the super subtle name) where robots are as common as people. So much so that a group of them band together in order to defend the planet from internal and external threats. One of its founding members is AH, a robot who went blind after seeing years of war now fighting for peace. Yet in another dimension she is one of a handful of robots who is infused with the powers of a spider, AH herself dawning the mantle of SpidAH-Girl. She fights crime in New York City alongside her friend ERN-E (Classic Spidey) and EMIL-E (Spider-Gwen).

In case this pic doesn't make it super obvious, I am a huge fan of Mayday Parker's Spider-Girl, her series acting as a gateway for my eventual love of comic books. Having fallen in love with the Raimi trilogy around the same time I discovered Google, I stumbled across the cover for The Amazing Spider Girl #1 and my life was never the same after. May zigged in everyway her father zagged. While she wasn't as physically strong as Peter was, I'd argue she was mentally and morally stronger than her old man ever was. Where Pete thinks that someone dies every time he fails, May sees it as somebody lives every time she succeeds. Along with that she has faster reflexes, a keener spider sense, can magnetize surfaces with her adhesion abilities, and even inherited her mother Mary Jane's sense of style. This is most evident by the fact that she looks way better in Ben Reily's spider suit than Ben himself ever did. On top of that she's a big brother, which is also cool.

I have draw AH as Spider-Girl before, as seen with this sketch from 2019-

However, this pic didn't keep me up until 1 or 2 AM. What can I say, when I get an idea in my head, nothing stops me until I see it completed. Especially when the end result turned out so great. I liked how AH looks in both her super suit and casual clothes, not to mention her lil' logo was a nice personal touch. If I were to change anything now it'd be to swap out EMIL-E's Spider-Gwen outfit for MJ's Spinneret from Renew Your Vows. EMIL-E and ERN-E are supposed to be a couple and by now I've jumped aboard the Miles x Gwen ship. It's the one time I will ever ship a Spider-Man with Gwen outside of Spectacular Spider-Man. Otherwise the reason I drew EMIL-E like this was because of a Halloween pinup my friends SIM-N and I did for Halloween back in 2016.

Looking back now, I wish we had named these pin ups something other than Playbot. Chock it up to be being a dumb teenager. Speaking of dumb, hey tumblr, screw you and your limit on image size! This is an art sharing website, I should be able to upload files regardless of size! Especially when I wanna share these old Halloween pin-ups later this year!

For now though, there's other retro Spidey art to show! Such as this DUDEL I made for SIM-N back in 2016.

For those of you wondering, the robot in the Jessica Drew suit is Monova, a bad@$$ character he designed that he now criminally underutilizes. I'd ask him why that is, but he never gives me straight answers! However, he did leave this comment when he saw this pic:

Monova: Okay you two definitively need to get married soon

So, y'know, that was funny. XD

With all that said, I hope you all enjoy this nostalgic trip through my past Spider-3K work and enjoy Across the Spider-Verse when it comes out tomorrow! I know I will! Until then, MAY THE GLASSES BE WITH YOU!

[simluvbot]

Enhypen as dates they would take you on <3

tags: gn!reader, established relationship au, fluff, bf! enha

members: all members !!

wc: 400-800ish for each member ?? this is very long uh I’m sorry I got carried away

a/n: hi, welcome to my first piece of writing on this blog 😁😁 I tried to write so that these matched the members and their personalities the most! Also as this is my first post any interaction is so cherished 🥺 but anyways,, I hope you enjoy :D

open to read

Heeseung

he would take you to so many fun places!!

Your dates would consist of going bowling together, theme parks, a walk in the park — you can count on having a fun time with heeseung!

He would just want to impress you );

He’s be always so attentive to you and remember even the littlest of details about you

You’d be in a shop together looking around and he’ll tap your shoulder, showing you a lace shirt that you instantly fall in love with

It’s just your style!

You’d ask him how he knew you would like it, to which he would simply mumble  with, “you told me a few months ago that you like shirts like this.”

You’d just stand in shock like :ooo

Not even you remember telling him that ):

Please he loves you so much, if it’s something that you tell him you like or don’t like, he’ll immediately store it in his memory! He wants to know so much more about you 🥺

Your dates are definitely what you look forward to whenever you see him!!

As much as you love fun day outs with him, you also love your chiller night dates at him <3

Meeting each other late at night after practice? A must!! No way can you let your hee go home alone when he’s the last leaving the practice room after a long day ):<

You would often surprise him by showing up at belift at ungodly hours, and as much as he would scold you with a light frown for coming to see him when it’s already half past midnight,,

You still always catch that small little smile he has whenever you do surprise him hehe

to be aware of just the fact that youre there? is enough for him. you ground him and its especially those spontaneous dates youll throw upon him and inevitably show him without the words uttered that you care for him and you love him? 

those are secretley his fave (: but he doesnt have to tell you that - youve already guessed :D

But at the same time on those late night after-practice dates he just wants to make sure that you’re not staying up too late all the time just to make sure he’s doing okay after practice, his y/nnie needs their sleep too ):

And what you’ll do together? Eat ramen of course!!

Although these little late night dates with him usually dont last no longer than an hour, he still treasures them so dearly in his heart ):

Hee sometimes needs a lot of love and assurance, even if he doesn’t mention it

And you’re the best at making him feel better instantly 🥺

but we seriously cant forget about your daytime dates too! each date of yours is always filled with so so many jokes and giggles that your hearts burn with longing for the other whenever you part ways ):

i can see that he’ll even store the memory of your dates even weeks after they’ve happened - he’ll store those memories of you; all in his heart (and the polaroid he took of you in the back of his phonecase 😳) and tucked close.

Jake

as for dates, to me he seems the type to be into really spontaneous and random things!! He’d love going somewhere fun or just simply randomly travelling with you without a destination!

He especially loves to sneak out of the dorm late at night and meet you at you and his favourite park.

It’s located at the top of a really tall hill, and you’ll both spend hours sitting on the swings, chatting away with little care for the rest of the world or the time as you both simply giggle at each other’s jokes and contentedly talk about anything and everything; watching the city lights glow from hundreds of metres below you

He’d offer you his jacket when the temperature drops by a few degrees suddenly

You’d be like no!! It’s okay you should also stay warm, I’m okay 🥺

But then because he is such a sweetheart he’d huff and sit next to you on the swing, making the single-seater far too cramped as he tries to supply you with his body heat if that’s the only way that you’ll accept not freezing to death 😠

But then you’ll both slip due to there not being enough space for both of you on the wing, and your both fall flat down on your butts lmao

You’d both freeze, staring at each other blankly on the floor

but then you’d both crack up and laugh for the longest time — hushing each other in-between giggles from the fear of maybe you were being a bit too loud and could wake some people up?

But then you’d both fall into giggling messes once again as you blame each other for causing the other to fall down ):

You’d eventually sit together huddled on a bench, sitting in silence and simply staring out at seoul’s twinkling night lights as you share his leather jacket: heavy and warm as it drapes across you and his’ shoulders

But eventually you’d both finally head home! — your eyelids soon growing too heavy and both of you afraid of accidentally falling asleep at a park at 1am lmfao

idk why but i can just see a lot of late-night dates with jake,, such as

baking cookies together at 1am???? probably has happened twice already in your relationship aha 😁

honestly you both spend so much time together casually that you end up arguing on whether that time where he randomly showed up at your house wanting to make relationship bracelets together was really a date or not lmao

he is also so <3 so incredibly sweet too though uGH. he is a sweetheart and like heeseung he will remember every little detail of you which will be useful for when he comes up with more date ideas in the future (

on dates such as eating at a restaurant together he will always bring you flowers like the gentleman he is.

it’s kinda funny because when youre both on a date together alone with no other people around you both become complete crackheads

but when meeting in front of others he acts so mature and serious suddenly lmao ?? 

but honestly he just trusts and loves you so so much that he doesnt even feel like he needs to act a certain way or try to become someone complteley different on a date just to impress you

but its okay because you love the duality of jake sim <3

someone get me him pls. i want one </3

Jay

With jay, shopping dates ??? yes of course (;

he’d simply love taking you out either down a road with many well-known clothing brands or maybe even the mall, entering several clothing stores with you

he never mentions it, but its obvious how much he simply adores seeing you wear the clothes he picks out for you :D

oh and matching couple outfits are obviously always chosen whenever you go out on these fashion dates!!

he will pick out a selection of items he thinks will look good on you, and - to admit it to himself: he does a pretty good damn job

tell me why this boy will get so flustered whenever he sees you walk out of the changing room,, looking so pretty in what he chose for you ??

he’d also one day surprise you on a date with matching couple bracelets :D

you’ll get so excited and he’ll get so shy and try to hide his smile as you compliment how good his sense of style is !! and as much as he denies the fact that he’s blushing you luckily do manage to snap some pics as evidence of the rosy colour in his cheeks hehe

and especially earlier on in the relationship, he’ll always try his best and prepare cute little dates for you both )): and the members would tease him to DEATH for how unbelievably soft and considerate he is when doing things for you when he is so cranky towards them lmfao

chill dates (:

walking in the park together, getting ice cream, going for late night drives and listening to music together </3 with jay it never has to be complicated

Just as long as he gets to be with you, talk with you and touch you then that’s more than enough for him (: he just likes to be in your company

and Idk why I can just see this but he wILL have playground dates with you. dont question it

Because like ?? hanging out on the swings or climbing frame of a kids park at 11PM when there’s no one else there but you both?? Talking and swinging quietly next to each other? very romantic to me hmm

Yes <3 

he will stare at you as he silently swings a back and forth a little; brushing the hair out of your face and looking at you with so so much love in his eyes it’s unbelievable

he especially loves just relaxing with you. watching a show on the tv together while cuddling and staying close to each other is something he loves

hearing your giggles and listening to you talk while engaging in teasing banter where he’ll pretend to think the things you say are stupid by scoffing and rolling his eyes when in reality his heart is swelling and he’s trying so hard not to laugh at how cute you are? 

shut UP

those are definitely one of his favourite types of dates with you

he’ll constantly try to impress you and will be willing to try so many different things with you

i can see him as either being openly interested about going on typical couple dates together such as painting or eating at romantic restaurants,, or every time you mention something of the sort he’ll be groaning at yet another mention of the ‘couple bucket list’ you had created lol

but actually he’s secretly really excited for that couple mug-painting session you booked for you both. but he will never tell you that 😳

in conclusion, with jay it really never has to be something complex for you both to enjoy your dates <3 he just loves being in your company, even if its one of those nights where you both share no words between the cuddling and content sighs and various little soft kisses he presses to your forehead.

sunghoon

with sunghoon gOSH

whatever you two get up to, it’d be so so soft and gentle and perfect and just ):

he would always ask the members what to take you out on as a date and you bet his naver search history would consist of questions like ‘what does my s/o like’ and ‘where should i take out my partner on a date’ lmao

he just wants to make you happy and comfy ):

dates with him are usually really cute!! Like going to cafes, going ice skating etc!

But you’d also love those dates at home with him, giggling shyly as you both sit together and watch a film 🥺

he LOVES those dates! he always gets so shy whenever he comes over and it takes him a little while to get comfortable enough with you to even hold your hand pls

So when he one day pulls you in closer from where you’re sitting side by side on the couch,, bringing you closer and tucking you under his arm ??

You’re so so surprised, and you feel your heart clench a little at how gentle he is with you and how he’s finally opening up ):

And from then on,, he only will become more and more comfortable with you!!! To the point where he’ll start pouting a lil when you don’t snuggle up next to him on the sofa like you usually do );

So cuddle dates with hoon? Yes you bet they’re his fave!!

and then when its quickly approaching your 100 days anniversary, he’ll be wracking his brains for so long trying to decide what to do for you

but then it will hit him like a light bulb switching on!

he’ll suddenly remember you mentioning this specific thing that you really liked and would want to do one day, and guess what he would plan for u both!!

he’d prepare 💔💔 a picnic 💔💔 for you 💔💔

ugh youre so lucky

he’d text you the day before your anniversary telling you to expect to go on a date with him the day after and to dress up prettily :D

he’d wake up super early on the day of the date, preparing all of your favourite foods and meals into a cute lil basket ):

and when you finally both meet at a really rEALLY pretty secluded area that you somehow had no idea existed despite you living in the area for so long - you’d maybe start tearing up?? 

because your boyfriend is so so sweet and you never saw this coming from him at all ): 

and he’d just stand there shyly in front of the picnic he set up, hand at the back of his head and looking down; cute lil blush tainting his cheeks from how nervous he is!

but then you’d run over and give him a big, big hug, exxclaiming how much you appreciate what he did for you and how youre so so incredibly sorry for not bringing him something as well to celebrate your anniversary (you were dying inside fo guilt please!! how could u forget to get him something when he went out of his way like this for you )):  )

but he’d simply shake his head, smiling and not minding at all

because if he gets to see you happy, gets to see those twinkling eyes of yours that just stare up at him with so so much love before bringing him in for a sweet kiss - then he simply doesnt mind at all.

r u crying at this like i am lol

sunoo

sunoo absoloutely adores you.

and he cant stay away from you !! lmao

you’ll leave after a date and ten minutes after youve arrived you’ll get a text from him saying how much he already misses you and wants to see his bun again ):

but its okay!! because y’all would meet up again really soon again :D

sunoo really doesnt mind what you both do together, he just loves being in your company !! if he’s doing something with you, its certain that he will have so much fun and be so so comfy!

you often like to go to cinemas together, watching a film

film/drama marathons are also something that you both do very very often as a date! he loves it when you hug him tight and throw a leg over his as you both lie down in his dorm bed/your bed, watching something on your laptop

he is very very cuddly and whenever you both do have cuddle dates/sessions (which is all the time btw) he’ll like it when you absentmindedly play with his fingers or stroke your hands through his hair soothingly

and then he’ll complain and whine when you stop lmao

seriously though, without a question if either of you meet at either his dorm or your house - its always:  ‘so what are we gonna watch?’

he also likes doing very very cute couple-y activities with you! of course he does,, youre his baby ): 

(he’s more YOUR baby actually - but he doesnt need to know about that shh hehe)

funfair dates where you will go on a ferris wheels and eat cotton candy together? sharing a kiss when you reach the top? yes! and so is going to those sets designed for couples to take cute photos together as a lil photoshoot!

he is so so sweet with you ): 

and has it been mentioned yet that you’ll go on food dates? this is a very obvious date you both do very often !! 

going to food markets and trying out different street foods from different vendors? yes.

having mini dates at the korean convinience store late at night where you’ll both sit by the window and eat tteokbokki & ramen together? yes.

its all honestly really really chill, but he also knows when to be serious when he needs to (:

he’ll take you out to the your favourite restaurants often!

and whenever youre celebrating something he’ll take you to a really good and famous restaurant with mouth-watering food, and you’ll be left wondering for the longest time how on earth he managed to get a seat in since its always so booked

or ordering take-out is good too :D

in conclusion (because i just realised how long this is help 😭): dates with sunoo are always a variety of fun activities which always leave you feeling tired yet so, so happy and content at the end of the day !!

he loves you so much <3

Jungwon

Since you both go to the same school, a lot of your little dates are actually spent there

He’s pretty shy with you at times,, but when you’re both alone it’s then that dates with him are usually so so goofy and silly; days filled with his teasing and your eye rolls and giggles.

Meeting at the rooftop before school to simply talk and giggle and drink chocolate milk? Yes.

Staying after school for small study sessions in the library? Yes.

With jungwon, you’re not able to see him as much between school and him being an idol, so every little moment together means so much to both of you ):

To me jungwon also seems like a cuddler!!! cause like?? Have you seen him ?? Tell me he doesn’t look so soft 

So, dates at home when he’s free where you can both cuddle together in your bed while eating and doing homework? They’re so so cosy,, and definitely your favourite kinda dates!! not to mention that your parents absolutely adore him too

With jungwon, lots of lil spontaneous dates are definitely his and yours trademark (‘:

He’ll turn up at your house randomly with a grin and dimple poking at his cheek, holding a bag of convenience store food and asking you if you want to go on a date with him even if it’s 10pm and dark outside lmfao

And then he’ll take you to an arcade!

You’ll be the only ones there and he’s keep flexing about how he’s going to win you this cat plush from the claw machine because he says it looks like him

He’d try several times and end up spending almost 8,000 won on the machine trying to win you this plush and at this point he’s already making up several excuses about how oh, ‘it’s rigged’ or ‘give me one more chance I will get it this time!!’

You’d giggle at how he grows flustered, gently asking him if you could have a go for fun, sighing and with him and agreeing on the fact that the claw machine is definitely rigged

You’d complain together; scolding the machine and asking it to please be nice and stop ruining your date when it’s then that the claw actually picks up a plush and you’re both like ;oo

You’d both stay stood in shock as the cat plush is dropped into the receiving box, before laughing loudly

He’d stand there flustered, blush tainting his cheek before he just walks away 🚶🏻‍♂️

You’d quickly pick up the cat plush and chase after him, giggles tumbling out your lips

and uhm after that you beTTER go check up on your boy and see if his ego wasnt too damaged by that 😤

so of course you’d wrap your arms around him from behind, tucking your face into the back of his neck ): and pressing gentle kisses where you know he’s ticklish until he finally relents, a small grin and dimple lighting up his face

and phEW because you thought he was upset ): but he laughs and says youre better at the claw machine than he is so,, all good dont worry !! 🥺

It’d end up being him taking the cat plush home, which you both name ‘jungwon-two’ because of how much it actually looks like him 😭

Expect many references and inside jokes to that date and jungwon-two in the future

and tbh you love dates with won so so much. theyre so fun plus they’re always secret.

and whenever you’re out doing whatever the hell you both get up to,

It’s like there is no one else in the world. It’s just you, and him, and the blooming you both feel in your chests.

Niki

I don’t know but I can just see niki as being so romantic

You’re both young, and although niki is the biggest dork and always likes to play around and make jokes 24/7 - he’s also so mature compared to the other boys your age

So would he take you out to a date where he’d set up classically romantic candles and rose petals for you both to eat at for your 1 month anniversary? Yes ):

And you’d be so speechless and shocked as you blush quietly and thank him before he‘s accidentally knocking over his glass of water all over the table cloth and you’re laughing out loud

But expect every other date with him to be filled with so so much food and comfort!

He’d feel so comfy around you, and really the only word he thinks is perfectly able to describe you is home. He thinks you feel like home to him.

So he’d show you all of this favourite things, the things closest to his heart and you can’t help but feel your own heart clench at how much you adore this boy

He’d take you out to traditional Japanese restaurants and show you his favourite foods from back home and teach you the customs of how to eat sushi

You’d 100% be so so interested and excited whenever he reveals to you a vulnerable part of him, and he’d stare at you so lovingly as he kisses your cheek, blushing and smiling like the 15 year old he is

Ugh ): niki ):

Dance dates!!

You claim you can’t dance to save your life LMFAO (or maybe you can 😳?) but he only grins shyly instead as he takes you to a small dance studio he rented (he didn’t want to take you the belift building where there would be other people - he’d want you to feel completely comfortable).

You’d simply stand there with your mouth dropped open as you watch him freestyle to a random song he put on like it’s nothing

You’d spend the day getting taught some moves by him and although you’re sure you look like a cat getting electrocuted, he still smiles and  nods and even claps, giving you compliments and teasing remarks

Overall, dates with niki are so so fun and goofy and perfect. You feel your heart swell every time he takes you out on another little adventure, feeling so complete and carefree between his warm hugs, jokes and words that he has to say to you

(’:

[storysims]

NIFTY KNITTING - GAMEPLAY OVERVIEW 🧶

Gameplay was what I was most excited for with this pack. As an irl crafter + crocheter, this is the dream! ✨ (Still would like a hobby pack though, EA).

I ended up going a lot more in-depth than I thought I would, so obvious “spoilers” under the cut.

I was provided with an early access copy of Nifty Knitting to review via the EA Game Changers program!

Getting started with the knitting skill is as easy as plopping a bag or basket of yarn into your sim’s inventory and picking something to create! At level one, you’ve got the choice between nine different beanie variations for all ages. 

I noticed my sims had a tendency to gravitate towards rocking chairs for knitting, unless directed to sit elsewhere. You can pick their knitting spot by clicking on any sittable surface and telling them to knit in the pie menu.

Unfortunately, the bag or basket has to be in your sim’s inventory to do any sort of knitting. In my opinion, this sort of defeats the purpose of having yarn sitting around the home. It’s honestly a shame, since my apartment is covered in random bags of yarn and half finished projects. It doesn’t stop you from placing them for decoration, but it does make for some useless spending for sims on a budget. And honestly, what was the point of voting on what this looked like if we’re never going to see it outside of inventory?

Additionally, each sim will need their own basket of yarn in their inventory if multiple members of the household want to knit.

As your knitter progresses through the skill, more things will become available.

level one - beanies

level two - socks

level three - mailbox cozys, hanging plants

level four - rugs

level five - sweaters, the ‘teach to knit’ interaction

level six - poufs

level seven - decorations (cacti, turtle, octopus, penguin, llama)

level eight - toddler and baby onesies

level nine - sweaters with scarves

level ten - child toys (bear, grim reaper), mentoring sims in knitting

completed aspiration - yarny toy, yarny sculpture, ‘sacred knitting knowledge’ trait, bonus when teaching other sims, ability to dispel the sweater curse

I was honestly pretty disappointed that onesies require such a high skill level. I’ve really been looking forward to decking out all the babies in my 100 Baby Challenge in cute new clothes. Like I mentioned in my CAS review, I don’t foresee Day having the time to devote to knitting in the forseeable future, much less getting to level eight.

Thankfully, items are available to buy on Plopsy!

According to the gurus, Plopsy can also be used on the computer - but I never even thought to try it. I was honestly surprised that it was fully functional on the phone, both for buying and selling items.

Buying something on Plopsy is just like anything else in the game - funds are immediately deducted and the item can be found in your inventory. When purchasing clothes, you’ll need to select the item once it arrives in your inventory and hit ‘add to wardrobe’ in order for it to appear in CAS.

I specifically tested purchasing baby onesies, and it seems like a mod I have prevents them from actually being applied to the baby. I have no idea which one, but I tested two onesies purchased from Plopsy in a CC free game and had no issues. 

Failed item variations cannot be purchased on Plopsy - your sims will have to make those all on their own!

Selling items on Plopsy is probably my favorite part of this pack, and has the potential to be a huge money maker! Most things your sim can craft with a quality value assigned to it will have the option to be listed online from the sim’s inventory. I was able to list paintings, woodworking sculptures, herbal brews, photographs, flower arrangements, potions, candles, and knitted items for sale!

One of my test sims knitted a sweater dress and the cost of yarn was deducted automatically from her household funds - §50. She listed the dress on Plopsy, and within 24 hours she had an offer of §747. 💰

After knitting and selling duplicates of several items, it definitely seems like the cost varies a bit depending on the buyer. But I was always able to sell at a profit.

Believe it or not, there are dangers to knitting! This pack doesn’t come with a new death, but instead a curse. In my opinion, this is a super fun change and I’m so glad for something different.

There’s a chance that when giving a significant other a knitted sweater, both sims will become cursed!

Oh no, you’re cursed! They say couples with the Sweater Curse are destined to break up, so be very, very careful. Maybe don’t try anything romantic for awhile, because it will not go well. The threads of fate can be cruel.

So naturally, I cursed Bob and Eliza and then spammed the hell out of romantic interactions. They were all rejected. Their relationship plummeted in the span of a few sim hours. I didn’t stick around to see if they would organically break up on their own, but it wasn’t looking good.

It’s worth noting that I was never able to get this to work while they were married, but the second I demoted them to dating they got hit with this nasty seven day long moodlet. So if you plan on gifting sweaters to significant others, it’s definitely worth completing the aspiration.

As fun as the failed knitting items and the forbidden sweater look in CAS, there are consequences to wearing them in game! 

The moment a sim puts them on, they’ll receive a negative moodlet:

Itchy Knits (From Clothing Item) It’s as if a thousand tiny insects are nibbling the flesh!

I’m a little disappointed that these aren’t feasibly wearable in game, but I’m sure someone will fix it with custom content. It does add another unique repercussion to knitting, though!

On a more wholesome note, the ‘teach to knit’ interaction is absolutely adorable. 🥰 Knox sat down with Bee, his daughter with my simself, and got her skill all the way to level four! 

Children can knit on their own without being taught, just like adults. But I have very fond memories of my grandma teaching me to crochet as a kid, so this was an interaction I was SUPER excited to see in the game.

I still feel like this is a small pack as far as physical content goes, but the gameplay is pretty fun. Plopsy is an amazing feature, and I definitely see myself using it often! Both with buying and selling, I really feel like it adds another layer to the game and gives more self employment opportunities for sims that don’t want a traditional career. 

There’s a bit of gameplay I feel like I didn’t get the chance to fully explore yet, but I’m looking forward to integrating it all into my game.

My initial reaction to playing this pack was disappointment, but I honestly think my expectations were too high. This is a stuff pack, it’s bound to be small. After a few days to sit and play around with it, the gameplay specifically grew on me. I still have a lot of mixed feelings - some things I really like and some things I’m just not crazy about at all (cough cough, buy mode. why did everyone vote in crazy pastels? it matches NOTHING). 

But with tempered expectations in mind, I would ultimately recommend this pack for the gameplay elements alone - especially to crafters. As always, different people enjoy different things. If this style of gameplay isn’t your cup of tea, pass it up or wait for a sale!

[needletail]

Nintendogs vs Nintendogs + Cats: a review and comparison.

There’s no doubt that most people want a new Nintendogs game for the Nintendo Switch. But when I see these posts, very few of them are referencing the 3ds variant of the game, but rather the original ds version that everyone continues to know and love.

The addition of cats is Nintendogs + Cats’ most notable feature. It was, while cute and fun for a short period of time, notably worse than its predecessor. But why is that? The formula stayed roughly the same, but the charm didn’t quite hit.

Before we dive into this: these are my opinions on the games, and personal comparisons. Every person experiences things differently, and will likely have different opinions.

We can start with breaking down the original Nintendogs. The graphics have not aged well, but the charm and entertainment factor have. While replaying, I found that the general ambience and the music used endeared me further to the game, and I wanted to play more. The half hour timer on going for walks was frustrating (as was the stamina system), but it otherwise engaged me more to figure out where I wanted to go. The map feels surprisingly big with so much to do, and the side-scrolling walk screen keeps the mystery alive in what you’ll encounter. The competitions were fun and the voice recognition system may have been even better than the 3ds incarnation. The only thing that really suffered were the graphics - but this game is 15 years old and this was advanced for its time, so we can let that slide. The dogs can be a little strange to look at at times, but they’re expressive and distinct, which is what matters in a pet simulator.

The information you can take in is optional, but an exciting part of the game for those who are interested. Your dog’s profile is detailed but easy to understand, going as far as to tell you what it ate last. There’s something so charming about it being displayed as if it were a document you had in front of you - it brings another element of immersion into this sim.

[Image ID: a photograph of the informational sheet on Nintendogs. It includes the name, gender, breed, trainer, time together, coat, hunger, thirst, and things eaten. The trick list and contest results are also on this screen.] 

From cars passing by to horns in the distance and dog barks from somewhere vaguely nearby, the sound design of Nintendogs is audibly aged, but still strong. The few tracks spread in the game are iconic, and stay in my head a lot longer than I’d like to admit. 

The competitions are another huge highlight of the original nintendogs. The banter between the hosts, Ted and Archie, is something that continues to be remembered. Everyone’s seen the line “you make me feel like a man, Archie”, and the banter they keep up in each competition is less like a mindless tapping chore and just more entertainment. The settings are surprisingly realistic - less so on the obedience, but the ring set up for agility certainly is. The balance between realism and fun is another part of why Nintendogs appealed to all audiences. 

Agility is my personal favourite event, and the same goes for a lot of people I’ve met. There’s a level of interactivity here that isn’t met by the successor (something we’ll touch on later). Guiding your dog over hurdles and through tunnels, and later having to balance speed with accuracy - it’s an event that keeps you, the player, engaged. It becomes a sort of fine art once you hit the Championship level, as your dog, by that point, is likely going to be very fast and have a mind of its own, often trying to predict which obstacles it’s going to go through. 

[Image ID: an angled photograph of the starter agility training course. The dog is laying on the green, and the hurdles and tunnels are in view.] 

Disc is in both versions, and is fun in its own way. I, personally, don’t tend to use the disc competition - in the original Nintendogs, the projectiles can be a little speedier than you intend them to be, and the dogs are a little too determined to hold onto their toys. But, with a well-trained dog, this event can be as fun as anything else. In the original, you didn’t have to contend with the other dogs - something that I’ve grown to appreciate over the years. But, like with the event that removed Agility, I’ll be looking at how the changes fared later. 

Obedience is held on a stage, and is a fun event for people who take the time to train their dogs. Your dog can typically learn three or four tricks a day (depending on the dog), and between the tricks listed in the Obedience Guide Book and the unlisted tricks that your dog can learn, you can usually blow the competition out of the park. It definitely requires the most time and effort out of all of the events, and it can be frustrating if your dog suddenly stops listening - but the rewards are surprisingly good. It’s always fun to have a well-trained Nintendog, if only because showing them off when I was a child was my favourite thing to do. 

Obviously, competitions are the main money-makers in these games. Tackle a solid few of them, and you’ll find yourself able to afford another dog or two. Though your room is limited to three dogs, there’s also a Hotel to keep some other dogs in. As time progresses and you gain more of a bond with your dog(s), you’ll unlock more breeds. 

Something that went over my head when I was a child was the method to unlock Jack Russells, specifically. You need to find an incredibly rare book - something which I don’t ever recall doing, and still haven’t. I found this information via the wikia, so I’m not too sure how accurate is, but it is an interesting breed to lock behind a time and patience-based method. 

[Image ID: an angled image of a German Shepherd laying on its side. In the corner is an idea bubble.] 

Overall, Nintendogs is a solid and fun pet simulator, and it’s clear why so many people have such good memories. The dogs are filled with personality (even being expressive enough to show you when they’re angry vs happy), the competitions are engaging, and though the format will become stale after playing daily for a long time, it’s always a fun game to come back to after a period of time. 

Which is why it’s unsurprisingly that it gained a sequel.

I remember being ecstatic when Nintendogs + Cats was shown in advertisements on television. When I got the 3ds, I also got a copy of Nintendogs + Cats. The Golden Retriever version, specifically, but I do own all three. For some reason? As people got bored with it, they usually gifted me them. 

At first blush, it’s almost as charming as the original. The graphics style handles much better than the original, with slightly more realistic movements, and less cardboard-y models. I much prefer the Nintendogs + Cats models to the originals, for obvious reasons - though their movements can be a little repetitive and strange at times, and a lot less expressive than the originals. But that said, I much prefer the Kennel system of petting and exploring the dogs and their behaviours (limited as they are) before you adopt, and I enjoy sorting through colours or getting unique colours/patterns. The rare white variants used to be my obsession, as a child. 

[Image ID: a german shepherd holding a present in Nintendogs + Cats. The model is significantly better than the original Nintendogs model.] 

Immediately, though, there’s a lot less ambience in Nintendogs + Cats. I play with my volume up all the way, and it’s typically just my dogs and cat making noises. I miss the cars going by and the general background noise that the game can provide. It feels just a little too silent, and the music tracks are repetitive and unmemorable for the most part. Obviously sound design don’t make or break the game, so I won’t harp on this point for too long. 

The gameplay is...fine? I’m not a fan of petting a shadow of my dog, but I understand they did that for 3D purposes (something which most people didn’t use, to the point that the 2DS was made. I play on a 2DS). The camera control is an incredibly nice feature to have, the showering minigame is a little more thorough. They didn’t really add anything to the care features, though. If anything, they took away a lot of experiences - reading the care books and instead guiding you through the tricks one by one instead of as you want, forcing you to learn a specific set of tricks before you can move on to the next ones. The game is far more hand-holdy, which can be frustrating at multiple points. But, hey. There’s cats! Let’s talk about the cats. 

What’s their purpose? Not much. Which is fine, although they take up a slot in your three-pet designation. As cute as the cats are, they definitely got done dirty. There’s three selections to choose from (Standard, Oriental, and Long-hair), with multiple colours, but not much depth beyond that. Obviously, the cats were just a cute addition - I do like having my little cat wandering around the house with my two dogs, and I know from past experiences that once you bond with the cat, it’ll go out and get presents for you if you leave your ds on. Gaining affection with the cats is very slow-going and if you’re someone who likes your pet simulations to be more interactive, it might be wiser to stick with the dogs. I’m not complaining against the addition of cats - it just could’ve been done much smoother, with better mechanics enabled. Be it adding some breeds and a proper grooming minigame to maintain them, or the ability to train them but have them be much harder than the dogs. There were many ways to put cats into the game, and I just don’t think they hit as intended. 

So, how did they do with the competitions? Well. 

The short answer: they’re pretty bland, and a downgrade from the original.  The long answer... 

[Image ID: a white cocker spaniel chewing on a banana lure.] 

In the competitions, there’s no more Ted/Archie banter. It’s just Ted. Doing his thing. I honestly do not read the text for this game, and instead tap quickly to progress to the events. 

Replacing Agility comes Lure Coursing. I’m not sure about other countries, but that’s an incredibly niche section of dog sporting here, and it’s also notorious for being...very boring. And in the game, it lives up to that. Instead of guiding your dog through obstacles, you wind the cog of a lure and honk it to get the dog to follow it. Sometimes you honk it to get them over hurdles. I have to admit, I usually space out when I’m training my dogs with this - it’s an easy moneymaker once you’ve trained them up to Nintendogs Cup level, but it’s easily the most mind-numbing event. Anything would’ve been better. If they didn’t want to implement Agility, there are other dog sports that could’ve suited well; guiding your dog through the Flyball course and using its name to bring it back until it could do it on command (maybe even utilising a team of three, for reason as to why you can have up to three dogs), or sledding, using your dog to pull a lightweight sled (on wheels) through a course in a race against other dogs (or, again, even using your trio). There could have even been scenting sport in which you teach your dog how to scent and go off to find a mark, or herding. The point is: lure coursing is the most unengaging thing to put in a game. 

The Disc competition barely changes, so I won’t say much. I don’t particularly enjoy having the other dogs in the ring to compete with as it becomes all too easy for them to interfere heavily with your own dog, but I understand why it was implemented and know that a lot of people enjoy it. I prefer the throwing speed and the control you can have over the disc, and will admit that overall, the Disc competition is generally improved. 

But then you come to the Obedience Trial. AR Cards are mandatory. You don’t have a surface to put your AR Cards on, or lost them years ago? Then you can’t do it. I actually ordered AR Cards, having thrown out my old ones due to damages and general...lack of use. As of this post, I have been unable to play the Obedience Trial, so I can’t say much on whether the system has improved. I do know that AR Cards can work on a laptop screen or something similar, but the 3ds camera is pretty horrible and can glitch out, making it unreliable for screen-based AR cards. Unfortunately. 

[Image ID: a white cocker spaniel standing on an AR Card.]

The walking system is fine. I love being able to go to different routes (as limited as they can be - but the original was no saint to repetitiveness once you knew the whole map), and I like having to go between grass patches, with a chance for a surprise present. I think the addition of the BARC stores are a cute touch, and the Miis walking their own dogs are cute, too. The interactions between your dog and theirs is based on your dog’s personality as well as theirs, which makes sense - but there’s basically three outcomes. More than the original, but meeting with other dogs tends to be to see if you can backtrack when you’re near the end of the walk by having them invite you to the cafe or park, or to get presents from Streetpass miis. I like the cone minigame to test your control over the dog and its leash, and as a rule, I just...like it. It’s relaxing. I don’t prefer it over the original, but I don’t prefer the original over it. They both have their benefits and downfalls. The biggest upside to + Cats’ system is that you can take your dog on as many walks as you want. 

Interactivity isn’t really a thing, with + Cats. Whereas in the original you could legitimately piss off your dog and it would bark and snarl at you for a while before you regained its trust, this game doesn’t punish you for much. I poked and prodded at my dog for a while, and it didn’t really do much for me. This is a game where you sort of just have cute looking models that hold up surprisingly well for their time, and that’s it. There’s not much game to the game, as it were - and that’s from a game where the gameplay was limited as it was. 

Adding multiple accessories to your pets is a very nice addition, albeit expected. Overall, though, the gameplay has been significantly dumbed down and while I understand that kids play it, my generation played Nintendogs as small children and we got by just fine. It’s a very intuitive game, and it’s almost insulting how little Nintendogs + Cats thinks of its audience. 

Another nice addition to Nintendogs + Cats, though, is body type for your pets. There’s a few that your pet can be: underfed, skinny, optimal, plump, and overfed. I usually have optimal dogs, but apparently plump and overfed dogs run slower and as such they do poorer in competitions, which is a pretty neat feature to have in-game. 

In the short of it, Nintendogs + Cats is fine, but Nintendogs (the original) is Good. I have a lot more nostalgia for Nintendogs which may cloud my opinion, but playing it in 2020 is still fun, and I’m especially happy to play the Agility competition.

For an interactive pet simulator with fun competitions and plenty to do, Nintendogs is the way to go.  For a pretty enough game with simplistic gameplay, Nintendogs + Cats is the way to go. 

Both games have their perks, but I certainly have a clear favourite. If a Switch edition of Nintendogs ever happened, I’d much prefer the original style with some of the quality of life changes made in the successor. In the end, it’s all up to what you’re looking for in a game - but as someone who’s looking for a fun time, I’m a sucker for the originals. 

(Note: I have not played the knock-off Nintendogs for Switch, and would appreciate input on if it’s worth buying or not. Reviews are poor at best, as far as I can tell, though.) 

[windermeresimblr]

Historical Paper Dolls: The Sun King’s Court

Last week, we discussed ruffs. Today, we’re staying in the 1600s, but focusing on a fairly specific niche: the fashions of Versailles between the 1660s and the 1690s. I was inspired to do this by @rennylurant‘s and my discussion of the “Versailles” series. 

Alun and Alasdair and Joyeuse and Guiomar are all sharing center stage today. I simply couldn’t resist getting them all dressed up and making them go on a walk to see and be seen. I originally wanted them to promenade in a “Hall of Mirrors” set, but I couldn’t figure out how to get the pictures to not show the sky instead of the second story, so we have our trusty backdrop instead.

Men’s Fashion

Louis XIV mandated that all men who appeared at Versailles were to wear a long coat, a vest or waistcoat, a cravat, and knee breeches. This ensemble also required a hat for wearing outdoors. Charles II copied these fashion edicts upon his restoration to the throne in the 1660s. Don Draper’s work wardrobe and the trope of the “man in the grey flannel suit” are directly traced back from this style.

The waistcoat often reached to the jacket hem or just above it, buttoning up the front similarly to the modern version. (Earlier in the period, it had been rather shorter.) It was a canvas for embroidery, and could be made of contrasting fabric to add to the opulence of the look. The back of the waistcoat often remained plain, as it was not often seen when the justaucorps was worn; there are some instances of waistcoats having sleeves for winter wear. (Of course, you can then say that it is no longer a vest, and is instead a short coat--but that’s what the early form of the waistcoat was!)

The cravat is the ancestor of the modern necktie. Usually made of lace or fine linen, it was wound around the neck before allowing the ends to fall loose in front. There was a fashion in the 1660s for a ribbon to be tied around the cravat, which Alun is sporting once he’s fully dressed. The ribbons around the cravat were usually red, although other colors such as blue were not unheard of. This fashion trend continued, with the ribbons increasing in size and amount, until the 1690s. Then the cravat was worn without such decoration.

Knee breeches had been fuller (and/or shorter) prior to the 1660s, but with the popularity of the long-line justaucorps and waistcoat, slimmer and longer styles became more fashionable. Breeches were often made in the same fabric as the coat. They could be tied with ribbons or buttoned shut.

Because the new style was meant to emphasize the new-found peace after the turbulent early part of the 1600s, boots were gradually eschewed in favor of shoes. They were usually square toed and decorated with ribbons and bows and shoe-roses (essentially a pompom); there was a trend in the 1680s for red heels on one’s shoes. The heel, of course, became rather high, in order to emphasize the shapeliness of one’s calves, which were shown off by the slim knee breeches.

The long jacket was also known as a justaucorps, and would remain in fashion (with a great deal of change in how it looked) until the 1800s. The sleeve length varied from above to below the elbow, allowing the wearer’s shirt to poke through at the ends. Whether it had deep cuffs or shallow, broad lapels or none, and closed in the front or was worn open, the jacket was longer and more loosely cut than in previous decades. By the 1680s, it reached almost to the knee and remained full through the waist. 

Men wore their hair long, often to mid-back. While some people kept their hair mostly straight, especially in Spain, loose curls or waves were favored. Louis XIV, who had gone bald at an early age, started a wig mania that didn’t die down until the late 18th century. He wanted something that would mimic his natural hair, only, of course, thicker and superior in almost every respect. The men of Versailles soon copied him. This early wig mimicked the wearer’s natural hair color, was not tied back in any way, and was styled with a rather severe and exaggerated center part. 

A variety of hats were worn. The most common was a hat with a wide brim and a moderate crown, often decorated with feathers; your classic “Musketeer” hat. One side of the brim was often turned up; this turned into a brim-turning craze, resulting in the tricorne. 

Women’s Fashion

From the 1660s to the 1670s, the trend in women’s fashion was a broad or off-the-shoulder neckline with full, elbow-length sleeves, a tightly corseted body, and a full skirt. While the gowns shown in portraits may look like a one-piece garment, the trend was actually for a separate bodice and petticoat, which usually were the same color and material. The bodice was attached to the skirt with tabs, which eventually transformed into less obvious hook-and-eye closures. (Terribly fiddly, of course, and essentially defeating the purpose of separates.)

The neckline became quite low in some cases, especially for portraits. In some cases, the breasts were totally exposed; more commonly, a good deal of the breast was shown, pushed up and accentuated by the tight corsetry of the period. It was a look very suited to the deceptively casual, libertine atmospheres of Charles II’s and Louis XIV’s courts. It was of course was frowned upon by the moralists, and was not terribly practical for those who needed to do anything more strenuous than embroider. 

Throughout the period, pearl earrings and necklaces were very popular. The earrings often featured very large, teardrop-shaped pearls; the necklaces were made of the ordinary round, moderately sized pearls. Necklaces were worn very tight and very high, at the base of the throat. This was a look that would continue through the eighteenth century. Pendants were not as popular as they had been in previous years, but were still worn. Gemstones were also still very popular, as Joyeuse shows; I liked the contrast of the sapphires and her pink (salmon?) dress, and took a lot of inspiration from an image of Madame de Montespan I’ve linked in the credits.

Women generally did not openly wear wigs in this period; instead, they wore their natural hair (or someone else’s, if they had the misfortune to go bald). In the 1660s and 70s, the fashion was for curls at the front with buns in the back.

Here’s the fashion trend of the 1680 and 90s, the mantua. The mantua actually began as an “undress” dress, or casual wear; it was meant to showcase elaborate and exotic patterned fabric from overseas. It started as a fairly simple shoulder-to-floor open-fronted overdress (dolman-style sleeves, no fancy seam work, etc.) with a long train However, it soon evolved into the pleated, pinned, and looped style we see showcased here. 

Although this was worn over the wearer’s shift, stays and petticoat, with only a stomacher (a decorative modesty panel pinned to the stays) and a coordinating outer petticoat keeping the underwear from becoming outerwear, the high neckline and longer sleeves were more modest than the somewhat revealing off-the-shoulder look previously popular.

In the 1680s and 90s, the hair was piled up at the front of the head and dressed with the towering mass of wire and ribbons known as the fontange. The fontange was inspired by one of Louis XIV’s “petit maitresses” doing up her hair in a pinch with a ribbon, and gradually mushroomed out of proportion into something involving starch, wire, and a serious amount of hat pins. This is a mere shadow of its extravagance.

Credits

Alasdair

Wig by Cloudwalker Sims | Waistcoat by EA | Justaucorps and Waistcoat (V2) by Fortuna/Irene-Gouret on TSR | Knee Breeches by EA | Stockings by revolution-sims | Shoes by @revolution-sims | Hat by @deniisu-sims

Alun

Hair by @chazybazzy and Anto | Waistcoat and Knee Breeches by EA | Justaucorps, Waistcoat, and Knee Breeches by EA | Stockings by revolution-sims | Bow by s-club | Shoes by revolution-sims | Tricorne by assas-sims-creed

Guiomar, 1660-79

Hair by @aikea-guinea and Sussi | Earrings by Ladesire | Necklace by Vitasims | Bodice and Skirt by EA

Guiomar, 1680-99

Hair by Chazzybazzy and Toksik | Earrings by Ladesire | Necklace by Vitasims | Fontange by Traelia | Mantua by GlorinosaVG

Joyeuse, 1660-79

Hair by Chazzybazzy and Applekisssims | Jewelry by Tankuz | Bodice and Skirt by EA

Joyeuse, 1680-99

Hair by EA | Fontange by Traelia | Earrings by Ladesire | Necklace by Vitasims | Mantua by GlorinosaVG

Poses

Walking Couple poses by Lenina90

A few necessary side notes:

Image 2: The breeches are not quite correct for the period, nor are the lapels. The shoes are also a little anachronistic. However, they look nice.

Image 6: The severe line of the corset in this period is not a look easily achievable with sliders without distorting the clothes, unfortunately. See this wax figure of Madame de Montespan for an idea of how this looked in real life. It’s not really a look for the faint-hearted or prim-and-proper types.

Image 8: I honestly don’t know what’s going on with Guiomar’s hair. It’s not spaniel curls, it’s not really a bun, but she can almost pull it off. 

Image 9: Neither of these are very close to a proper mantua, but I have yet to find a mesh I really love, or one that I can convert without it being a problem.

I’m still really pleased how much of this could be done using EA meshes. I also think I will permanently move these to Saturdays.

[casualotptrash]

Why the Persona 3 FES vs Portable Debate Makes Me Want to Fly Into the Sun Pt. 2

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Hello everybody and welcome to Part 2 of this emotionally fueled rant. In my previous post I went over a lot of the changes that Persona 3 Portable makes from Persona 3 FES, and how a majority of them can make the game more enjoyable for certain people. This spawned from the comment I see a lot, which is that instead of playing Portable people can just play FES with a controllable party mod and it makes everything hunky dory.

Below I will go over the next thing that infuriates me about this whole discussion: the idea that FES is objectively better because it has cutscenes and is not done in the “visual novel” style of Portable.

To cut to the chase, Portable gets shit on quite a bit for its presentation and some choices available in the game. One of the most popular suggestions I see when someone is asking which game to play is to first play FES and then play Portable for the FeMC route, if they want to see that one. This is in order to get the “real” experience first, and I think that is some bullshit.

It seems people forget completely that Portable has a Male route option! Newsflash, it does. As far as I know, other than the gameplay changes I mentioned in my previous post, the Male route in Portable is exactly the same story-wise as FES. However, I assume this isn’t brought up because people who enjoy FES and don’t like Portable consider the FeMC route the only reason to do a run of Portable. Normally, this wouldn’t be an issue....but this isn’t really the case.

What elevates this into being a part of the reason why I hate this debate is because I see so many people essentially demand that newcomers to the game play FES first. They say it is the “real” way to experience the game, and they say that everyone will have more of an impact from FES and enjoy the game more. Like I said, I see this so often that it frustrates me. Shout out to people who are actually cool about the comparisons and don’t sound like they’re forcing the newcomer into either game. Anyway, there is one glaring, serious issue with this type of statement about FES.

It is completely subjective.

Surprise surprise, an opinion is subjective. Now I know that sounds obvious, but remember I’m talking about the issue where people act like FES is factually better than Portable. So much so that they say it’s the “real” way to experience the game.

I’m going to be real with y’all, I know for a fact that if I had played FES first I would have taken way longer to finish it, might have not even finished it, and definitely wouldn’t have enjoyed it as much. Thankfully I had a family member who got me into Persona, so when discussing which version I would play I decided P3P would be better based off of what he said, and he also happened to have the game on Vita.

I think the main reason that this statement gets thrown around is because 1. FES was the first of the two to come out, so it could be seen as the best experience by the people who played it first or became a sort of “classic” among the fans, and 2. it is coming from a specific crowd in the Persona fandom.

As anyone who steps into the fandom can see, people play Persona for a wide variety of reasons. Some play for the gameplay, and like to challenge themselves to beat the game on the hardest difficulty with one persona only. Others play for the social sim aspect of the game, and enjoy the dating, characters, and social links/confidants. Obviously the story brings most people into the game in the first place, but some might enjoy the story and the lore of the series the most.

I am not trying to knock anyone from any of those categories, but I think the reason that this statement about FES gets thrown around is because it comes from the first and perhaps third category of people.

For the first category of people, they think Portable is too easy (despite a harder difficulty than FES being implemented and the option to just use the tactics like FES) and prefer the FES combat. I have even seen someone try to explain the lack of direct control of party members by saying that the MC wouldn’t be able to “control” the party members and they would do whatever they want, aka the party members would have autonomy if they were real. I can see this being a nice little headcanon about the gameplay, but they also don’t mention that you can do the exact same thing in Portable and set party members to something other than direct command; so it’s not really applicable to the argument of why FES’s combat is better as far as the tactics are concerned.

I assume that the main gripe with the story of Portable from FES fans, aka some changes to the plot with the FeMC route (a rant for another time because the changes to the plot aren’t that well-done in the first place...so they don’t really change the story...) and the overall presentation of the story, is from the third category of people.

This is brought up with two factors: the lack of cutscenes and an overworld in Portable, resulting in a “visual novel” type of presentation. Like I mentioned earlier, this is a bad reason to say that one game is better than the other because it is completely subjective. Some people may really benefit from the cutscenes and overworld, while others might not care that much. That being said, I can understand the issue with the lack of cutscenes a lot more than the issue with the overworld. It makes sense that a cutscene could have a larger emotional impact, depending on if it is well done or not. However, I really don’t understand the problem with the overworld. I suppose it’s cool to see Port Island in 3D...but the mechanics are really not that different in Portable? An argument could be made that moving in the 3D environment makes people feel more connected to the locations, but like I just mentioned the mechanics aren’t too different so a player in Portable is still seeing all of the locations and “moving” around in it. The difference is that they’re just moving a dot instead of a character model. Now I do like the idea of an overworld better, and I agree it’s cool to see your model walking around and to see all of the party members in the dorm and such, but I think it is the weakest point to bring up when trying to say that it affects the plot in any significant way. Lastly, for the lore bits, I assume people in this category like the addition of The Answer, but even opinions on whether or not that is worth it are very divisive.

(Side note, I forgot this in my previous post but Portable also adds the fast travel mechanic like the one P4 has, so instead of needing to run everywhere like in FES you can just fast travel to locations)

However, this is still my subjective opinion on the matter so do with that what you will. Perhaps it does really affect someone’s enjoyment of the game, but claiming it will affect everyone’s enjoyment is just a false statement to try and spout.

If you’re wondering why I haven’t mentioned the second group, it’s because I believe they would either like Portable a bit more or not see much difference between the two. I personally fall into this category. To be honest I don’t think the visual novel style took that much away from the story itself, and I really enjoyed the additional social links with the male party members in the FeMC route. I think it gave them a lot more “life” per say, and elevated their characters from being good to great. I will agree that the lack of cutscenes made some scenes a little less impactful/cool, such as the MC persona awakening, but that didn’t negatively effect my experience with the game as a whole. In fact, Persona 3′s cast is actually my overall favorite of the three neo-Persona games, and in large part because of the additional characterization that Portable gives them.

Well...I think that’s everything I had to say? Overall, just uh don’t try and force someone to play either of the versions because of your own subjective views, don’t act like those views are anything but subjective, and let people come to the decision themselves based on facts about both of the games (Ex. They can decide themselves if no cutscenes would impact them or not rather than someone stating it will impact them less for sure).

I think this all really just boils down to needing a legit, definitive version of the game...but I’ll save that for later :)

(Last side note, I know emulation is a thing but why do people suggest buying/emulating/a mix of that for two games instead of just one game or the other? This is 100% me being lazy but that just seems like a lot of work when you could either buy one game and get the content, or buy another game and get the content in a slightly different way (barring The Answer).)

[cicelythereaper]

Hello! I was wondering if you had anything on Y Gododdin 😃

hey! fellow gododdin enthusiast! what a delight

i presume this is a request for reading recommendations - i don’t know exactly what you’re looking for, or how accessible these will be, but i’ve tried to cover most bases here. i WISH there were more literary criticism, maybe there is in the welsh-language scholarship and i just haven’t found it? 

it’s entirely possible that i will have missed some obvious things here, i’m mostly sticking to stuff that i personally have read. if something mind-blowing has come out since the last time i did gododdin reading then it’s not here, i’m afraid! 

but enough disclaimers. on to the recs!

text and translation:

for a translation, i cannot recommend enough joseph p. clancy’s translation as found in the triumph tree: scotland’s earliest poetry, 550-1350, ed. t. o. clancy (1998). this is fantastic. it’s poetic, it’s a joy to read, and having used it as part of a deep read last year where i went through the welsh text in detail i am honestly AMAZED regularly at how well clancy handles the many translation issues that arise. it’s loose, and it doesn’t translate every single stanza unfortunately, but for the spirit of the poem you really can’t do better

that said, if you need another translation to check against/to fill in the gaps, i’d recommend kenneth jackson’s the gododdin: the oldest scottish poem (1969). it’s a prose translation, so it’s harder to use in conjunction with the text, but it’s pretty clear and accurate

text-wise... things get complicated. honestly, the best edition is probably still ifor williams’ canu aneirin (1938), in terms of faithfulness to the words on the manuscript page. (i also really enjoy his textual commentary, but it is in modern welsh so not accessible to everyone.) the major problem with it is that you are not going to get the stanzas in the order they appear in the manuscript - he reorders them into groups of perceived variants. this also makes it harder to distinguish between the A-text and the B-text. AND it means that the stanzas are not in the same order as in any of the translations!

if you can get hold of it, i really really think it is worth having daniel huws’ llyfr aneirin: a facsimile (1989). the introduction is SO useful for understanding the manuscript context, and it comes with gwenogvryn evans’ transcription of the book of aneirin, which you can compare with williams’ edition if need be to work out where a stanza actually goes.

there’s a conspectus of editions which i think thomas owen clancy put together but i cannot for the LIFE of me remember where it is - if you think you’ll need it, PM me and i’ll see what i can do

dating, textual criticism and historicity:

t. m. charles-edwards, wales and the britons, 350-1064 (2013), chapter 11 - this is from more of a historical perspective than a strictly linguistic/palaeographical/dating perspective, but it’s a really good general introduction and i definitely recommend starting with it. if you read nothing else, read this. this whole book is a godsend

t. m. charles-edwards, 'the authenticity of the gododdin: an historian's view', in astudiaethau ar yr hengerdd, eds. bromwich and jones (1978), pp. 44-91 - this kind of lays out the standard view which everyone has been deconstructing ever since. we don’t know anything about what’s going on with y gododdin, but at one point we thought we did know something and this was what it looked like

d. n. dumville, 'early welsh poetry: problems of historicity', in early welsh poetry: studies in the book of aneirin, ed. b. f. roberts (1988) - and HERE is the deconstruction! a pretty good overview of the issues with “knowing anything” when it comes to y gododdin

p. sims-williams, 'dating the poems of aneirin and taliesin', zeitschrift für celtische philologie 36 (2016), 163-224 - i don’t have any notes on this and haven’t read it recently, but i remember it being good (it’s sims-williams so of course it is). almost certainly contains linguistics, but is probably also written readably

o. j. padel, 'aneirin and taliesin: sceptical speculations', in beyond the gododdin: dark age scotland in medieval wales, ed. a. woolf (2013), pp. 153-75 - if you can stand linguistics talk, padel does his best to make it understandable here and gives a good overview of the linguistic arguments for and against suggested dates for y gododdin. this whole book is actually very useful

g. r. isaac, 'canu aneirin awdl LI', journal of celtic linguistics 2 (1993), 65-91, AND 'readings in the history and transmission of the gododdin', cambrian medieval celtic studies 37 (1999), 55-78 - DEEP IN THE TEXTUAL CRITICISM. honestly, my poor attention span means i find it hard to pay attention all the way through these two, but if you want a really in-depth look at the possible relationships between the A and B-texts of y gododdin, this is the way to go

historical discussion and background:

charles-edwards in wales and the britons chapter 11 again

j. rowland, 'warfare and horses in the gododdin and the problem of catraeth', cambrian medieval celtic studies 30 (1995), 13-40 - this is a pretty cool look at the role of cavalry in y gododdin and while i don’t agree with all of it, i think it’s really useful reading if you’re going for a historical take on the poem

p. m. dunshea, 'the meaning of catraeth: a revised early context for y gododdin', in beyond the gododdin again, pp. 81-114 - makes some ESSENTIAL points re the question of: is catraeth catterick? moreover, IS CATRAETH A PLACE?

c. cessford, 'northern england and the gododdin poem', northern history 33 (1997), 218-22 - a historical perspective on the poem with some very useful points, comparing the situation as sketched out in y gododdin with what we know of the area at the time

m. wood, 'bernician transitions: place-names and archaeology', in early medieval northumbria: kingdoms and communities, AD 450-1100, eds. petts and turner (2011), pp. 35-70 - a welcome look at the archaeological and place-name evidence for what was going on in bernicia as it changed from a brittonic to a germanic-dominated area. really useful to have in mind both when reading the poem and when reading more literary history

r. collins, 'military communities and transformation of the frontier from the fourth to the sixth centuries', in the same book, pp. 15-34 - pretty fascinating look at the earlier background running up to the time period depicted in y gododdin, and the possibility of continuity between the roman occupation of hadrian’s wall and the post-roman era there. useful social/archaeological perspective!

f. h. clark, 'thinking about western northumbria', in the same book, pp. 113-28 - an early medieval english perspective on the area at the time, useful for comparison and completeness’ sake 

literary discussion:

ifor williams, lectures on early welsh poetry (1944) and the beginnings of welsh poetry, ed. bromwich (1972, 2nd ed. 1980) - THE CLASSICS. an old-fashioned, not to say outdated, viewpoint, but that’s because this is the guy who INVENTED the viewpoint back when it was new! even now there’s a lot of good stuff packed into these and ifor williams’ prose style is a real pleasure to read. not to be missed

a. o. h. jarman, 'the heroic ideal in early welsh poetry', in beiträge zur indogermanistik und keltologie, ed. meid (1967), pp. 193-211 - likewise somewhat old-fashioned now, but lays out the classic viewpoint well and makes some good literary points. it may also be worth reading the introduction to his edition/translation, aneirin: the gododdin (1988). (i don’t recommend using it as an edition because he conflates the A and B texts and renders the text into modern welsh - this means it reads very smoothly but is quite a bit further away from what’s on the manuscript page.) 

h. fulton, 'cultural heroism in the old north of britain: the evidence of aneirin's gododdin', in the epic in history ed. davidson, mukherjee and zlatar (1994), pp. 18-39 - a pretty interesting read, about the mindset expressed in the poetry, its purpose and its construction

this isn’t lit crit but i’m putting in my favourite g. r. isaac quote from his article ‘gweith gwen ystrat and the northern heroic age of the sixth century’, p. 69: ‘Koch writes that the Book of Aneirin’s ‘immediate milieu is… not the Celtic Heroic Age, but the High Middle Ages’, as if the ‘Celtic Heroic Age’ were a period of comparable historical status to the High Middle Ages. This is not the case, however. A ‘heroic age’ cannot be the ‘immediate milieu’ of any literary production, a ‘heroic age’ cannot produce literature, because a ‘heroic age’ is itself produced through literature (taken in the broadest sense). It is a literary product. The Homeric epics are not the product of  a Bronze Age Achaean heroic age, but vice versa. The Irish Ulster Cycle is not the product of an Iron Age, pre-Christian heroic age, but vice versa. And the medieval Welsh poems of ‘Aneirin’ and ‘Taliesin’ (and Triads, sections of the Historia Brittonum, and much else) are not products of a sixth-century North British heroic age, but vice versa.’

honestly there just is not nearly enough lit crit for y gododdin, in english at least, especially to explain cool shit that the welsh text is doing that isn’t visible in the translation, and/or things that could be subversive or ambiguous about it - so, i don’t know what your level of engagement with the medieval welsh text is, but if you’re curious, if you want to know more about what’s going on in a specific stanza (or which stanzas are extended puns), or just which things i’ve been dying to yell about all year, PLEASE message me and I! WILL! YELL! 

articles which are almost certainly good and useful but it’s been too long since i’ve read them to say:

t. o. clancy, 'the kingdoms of the north: poetry, places, politics', in beyond the gododdin again, pp. 153-75

m. haycock, 'early welsh poets look north', likewise in beyond the gododdin, pp. 115-52

FINAL NOTE:

one of the problems with translations is that they give an impression of way more certainty about the meaning of the text... than is actually there. you’re pretty safe with clancy or kenneth jackson, but tread carefully. again, i don’t know your level of engagement with medieval welsh, but if you want to know if there are any major textual issues with a stanza, hmu and i will gladly consult my copious textual notes! but in general, BEWARE of basing anything too heavily on the following groups of stanzas:

A40, A41, B5, B6 (Am drynni drylaw drylenn; Clancy ‘For the feast, most sad, disastrous’)

A42, B25, B35 (Eur ar vur caer; Clancy ‘Gold on fortress wall’)

A48, B3, B24 (Llech leutu tud leudvre; Clancy ‘Standing stone in cleared ground’)

A62, B14, B15, B16, B36 (Angor dewr daen; Clancy ‘Anchor, Deifr-router’)

the Gorchanau if you’re interacting with those, especially the Gwarchan Maeldderw - if anyone tells you they know exactly what is going on in these, do not believe them. isaac has a full translation of the gwarchan maeldderw in cambrian medieval studies 44, and it’s useful, but i’m not by ANY means completely convinced by it, so tread carefully.  

the more stanzas there are in a group of variants (or at least a group that shares lines), the more likely it is that those stanzas are going to be SUPER DUPER TEXTUALLY FUCKED UP, is a pretty good rule of thumb.

[fightmeyeats]

ACNH: Colonial Desires in the Context of Quarantine

Since finishing up my undergraduate studies in June, one of the major things I've been doing with my free time is playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons (please don't @ me but I've already logged something like 400 hours). As much fun as the game is, one of the things that's really stood out to me is how much AC:NH depends on and reifies colonial logics, and how important it is to unpack this in the context of the game's popularity and the ongoing pandemic.

One of the first ways I want to address colonialism in AC:NH this is through the way I was first introduced to it, namely through its connection to my thesis and what I refer to as the "terraforming imaginary". Before I started playing or had even decided to buy the game, I was working on my thesis "Constructing New Worlds: An Investigation of Climate Change and the Terraforming Imaginary" (which, shameless self plug but if you're interested you can check out my 10 minute video presentation for symposium at Johns Hopkins University here). During this time I was talking about my thesis pretty non-stop with anyone who would listen and as a result probably about half of my friends independently sent me this meme

[ID: meme from @animalcrossingmemes which shows two children; the one on the left is smiling and looking off into the distance with the label "daydreaming about terraforming" while the child on the right looks stressed and upset with the label "actually terraforming". Beneath this meme is text from @kaijuno which reads "I realize this is an animal crossing meme but as an astrophysicist I was really excited for a second that someone was finally seeing the light on how fricking difficult an a huge waste of time it would be to try to terraform Mars". Beneath this text is another meme with four hands gripping each other's wrists to make a circle. In the center is the initial animalcrossingmemes image and each arm is labeled, respectively, "Minecraft Players," "Sims Players," "Animal Crossing Players," and "Astrophysicists apparently"]

Although my thesis addresses terraforming in the context of space exploration/colonization, AC:NH's engagement with "terraforming" (alongside other aspects of colonial practices and desires) helps to expand on the stakes of this. The reason I put "terraforming" in scare-quotes is because…technically, there isn't any terraforming in AC:NH, given that terraforming is "the operation consisting of rendering other stellar bodies—mainly planets and eventually asteroids—appropriate for human life" (Frédéric Neyrat, 46). While I'm all down for an interpretation of the Animal Crossing world as a non-Earth planet and the villagers as aliens, the island is already suitable for human life and the use of "terraforming" in the game is generally more readily identifiable as geoconstructivism: players redesign and restructure their islands, shaping waterways and topography to create idealistic spaces (as opposed to making the island literally livable). Either way, it speaks to the terraforming imaginary—the underlying set of logics and desires conducive to the imagining and desiring of “terraforming”, ie the logics and desires of colonization. Even though AC:NH's terraforming isn't technically terraforming, it is an embodiment of the terraforming imaginary, centering desires for the "civilizing"/"cultivating" of a space into an orderly, colonized ideal. On even a very surface level it is useful to think about this through the island rating system: islands are ranked out of five stars, with deductions made for things such as having "too many" weeds or not "cleaning up" by leaving items lying around rather than placed with intention. 

Another, perhaps more obvious, way in which AC:NH embodies colonial logics is through the "Nook Miles Tickets". Players trade in Nook Miles (an achievement based currency) for tickets which they can take to the airport and use to visit other, uninhabited islands which they can destroy to extract all of the resources slash-and-burn style. Players also have an increased likelihood of catching rare insects, fish, and sea animals to display to their own island museum or sell. As Wilbur, a dodo pilot, explains about this process: "we run the 'finders keepers' protocol here. Lumber, fruit, fish, whatever? Yours if you can carry it", going on to emphasize the importance of not leaving anything behind as there will be no returning; they "burn the flight plans" after each flight.

Although the rampantly destructive extraction of resources is the most apparent embodiment of colonial logics, the centrality of the museum and the imperative to complete each wing by finding and identifying all of the bugs, fish/sea creatures, fossils, and artworks in the game is an equally significant connection to colonialism. Benedict Anderson argues in Imagined Communities that the museum, along with the census and the map, "shaped the way in which the colonial state imagined its dominion—the nature of the human beings it ruled, the geography of its domain, and the legitimacy of its ancestry" (164). The specifics Anderson goes into differ of course, because he's talking about actual colonial states while AC:NH has the fluidity of embodying the underpinning desires which colonialism as process requires to function, but what holds true is that these specific forms of producing, organizing, and displaying knowledge which produced "a totalizing classificatory grid, which could be applied with endless flexibility...to be able to say of anything that it was this, not that; it belonged here, not there" (Anderson 184). Essentially, in AC:NH part of a player's ownership of the island occurs through a player's ability to classify and collect artefacts for the museum. Furthermore, this imperative to collect and preserve fossils, art work, bugs, fish, and sea creatures is part of the way the player's island is positioned as a place of value. 

The museum also implicitly functions to reify positions of authority, legitimizing a kind of monopoly of knowledge. In AC:NH, this primarily means the positions of the museum curator (Blathers) and, to a degree, Tom Nook (who selected and invited Blathers) are secured as the authorities on knowledge. When Tom Nook tells the player that the island(s) are deserted, we must take this as truth...yet fishing both on the player's island and the Nook Miles islands can turn up trash items like old tires, tin cans, and boots. Colonial logics depend on a management of who counts as "people" and what counts as "inhabited" and the myth of empty lands; Tom Nook's instance that these islands are all deserted is haunted by these lingering traces of some other inhabitation prior to the game's start. 

Okay, so you might be asking what does this all mean and why should we care? Let's talk about both the game's popularity and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic which contextualized its release (and continues to shape daily life). Animal Crossing: New Horizons has not only received overwhelmingly positive critical reception, but is one of the best selling games both for the Switch console and the Animal Crossing series. According to freelance journalist Imad Khan's New York Times article "Why Animal Crossing Is the Game for the Coronavirus Moment," the game's appeal centers in its function as an escape to an "island paradise where bags of money fall out of trees and a talking raccoon can approve you for a mortgage". Khan quotes Dr. Ramzan (a professor of game narrative at Glasgow Caledonian University) who refers to it as "the universe you’ve always wanted, but can’t get." Given the significantly decreased mobility and connection that has accompanied social distancing, as well as the increased stress and heightened inequality which have accompanied COVID-19, this probably isn’t particularly surprising. It makes sense that a cute, low-stress video game would be a valuable form of escapism.

Mobility is a particularly fraught discourse in this context: on the one hand, concerns surrounding containment/immobility are heightened in the context of neoliberalism and within colonial societies, which depend upon discourses of individualism and independence to demarcate the “freedom” which comes from capitalist economies. At the same time, the desire for things like connection/community, movement, and spatial autonomy/sovereignty are not inherently colonial, even as colonialist logics frequently position colonial/capitalist/neoliberal expansion as the solution. Animal Crossing is heavily situated within this entanglement, simultaneously offering a very real form of connection (and even protest) for many people while also implicitly speaking to latent beliefs that colonization is a legitimate form of mobility and escapism. To say that AC:NH is the universe we’ve always wanted but can’t get is to refuse to engage with the inherent contradictions of neoliberalism and reafirm the notion that colonial capitalist worlds are worth wanting; that the fantasy of individual wealth and success through destructive extraction and market freedom, when obtainable, is good.

None of this is to say that playing AC:NH is the same as colonization, because of course it isn't. However, the colonial undertones of the game reflect the pervasiveness of colonial logics and desires in our daily lives, subsequently further normalizing them. Journalist Kazuma Hashimoto, for example, emphasizes the importance of contextualizing AC:NH's colonial undertones within Japanese Colonialism in "Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Japanese Colonialism". As Hashimoto argues, "I am only asking that people familiarize themselves with Japanese colonialism and why something as innocuous as discovering a deserted island can be read as colonialism — especially within the context of a Japanese game".

Inattentiveness to the more subdued, invisibilized manifestations of violence facilitates their internalization and acceptance; educating ourselves and paying attention to and challenging places where we feel comfortable with these kinds of escapist fantasies is an important exercise in critical thinking which can help us to continue to refuse their real life manifestations. 

[outofcontextsimsmachinima]

Please god do you have recommendations on the best series to watch

Some of my personal recomendations that I can list from the top of my head, I will be writing a lot of text below so hold onto your horses.

My Life- NatalieFirexx

Still running to this day and in its 12th season. So amazing to see the growth over the years. The first seasons are so funny in a sense of knowing a little Christian emo kid made them, but later seasons have developed into such an interesting story with beautiful visuals, incredible cinematography and relationships that you end up caring about so deeply. Every season has a new storyline to follow and it's always so wild remembering all that's happened in its 10 year run and thinking up what else is to come. Though season 12 is said to be it's final season and I look forward to seeing what Natalie has in store for us after the finale.

The story of My Life follows the Andrews family and their friends in everyday shenanigans, you know, the usual: teen pregnancy, kidnapping, vampires, murder, identity theft, angels, ghosts, hacked kids and love.

(There's also a My Life Abridged voice acting series of season 1 currently in the works, now at episode 5)

Smooth Criminal - SaltPepperSims1408

I always have fun rewatching this. Its only 2 seasons long and once again, a sims series that evolved over it's run. Following Abby as her life goes from normal (if you can call your illegal scientist parents experimenting on criminals in your basement normal) to having visions of her parent's test subject's past and joining his gang where hes the leader and battles a disease that gives him 10x the strength and intelligence of a regular human being. Catch is, this genetic disease is rare and makes you go insane. Most people with it end up insane by 30.

A series with a lot of guns, a badass female main protag, death, once again, teen pregnancy (which will be a common sims series theme), fun dream/vision sequences and in my opinion has a great sense of humour.

SaltPepperSims1408 also has a highly recommended voice over series (though incomplete) titled Apokalypsis, a group of young adults/teens trying to survive in an apocalypse.

CINDER - GrayLeeStudios

Based on the book CINDER by Marissa Meyer. Cinder is a beautifully made voice over series, great visuals, wonderfully told it's story, though it is incomplete at 5 episodes, each running 10-18 minutes. Loosely based on the original Cinderella story but in a futuristic Beijing, adding robots, a colonization on the moon and a deadly plague that has affected the Emperor.

The protagonist is the mechanic, Lihn Cinder. Despite how well known her work as a mechanic is, she is looked down on for being a cyborg and is presented for plague research where she and Prince Kai become closer.

Y O U T H - 1998sims

YOUTH is a retelling of Youth, also a sims series by the same creator that reached its second season before discontinuing. Already a series that dealt with real life issues and involved a lot of representation in its characters. YOUTH is a different experience with all new characters, even more representation and everyone still feeling real in a way where their identities don't define them but are in NO WAY erased at all, like they're real people. When comparing the two series you can see the similar storyline but now its so much fresher and with new characters, their decisions in these situations change. Follows the story of multiple characters in their teen years and learning to deal with being a teen or in some cases having to make adult decisions despite that. Currently up to episode 5 but there is still so much more to come.

1998sims is also the creator behind Avoiding Fate, Its Complicated (currently not available online) and the most iconic series that I HIGHLY suggest you watch; My Sims 2 Emo Teen Pregnancy Kidnapping Story

SOUP - SimFilm

This sims 3 voice over series is brand new, as of this month, with one episode released but I'm already in love with it. It has this deadpan sense of humour I can get behind and I'm really looking forward to seeing where it goes. It appears the episodes will be short and sweet but I really don't mind at all.

Our protagonist, Harris Gold, alphabetizes his life's misfortunes like a can of alphabet soup.

I quote "looks pretty decent on the outside, but when you open the can, you'll simply want to kill yourself"

The filming is wonderful, I love the voice actors and how well they play their roles, the story so far is fun and silly but deals with really strong issues other teenagers might have experienced growing up. Kind of like laughing the pain away and I adore it.

Raison D'etre - Cornymio

I haven't watched a lot of sims 4 machinima if im to be honest (since life to death stories are so rampant on YouTube at the moment and I'd rather just avoid them) but this series was very well made. Only 2 episodes but the voice acting is amazing, the sims custom animations are wonderful and at times the sims can be almost perfectly lip synced to the voices. Has an indie film vibe that I adore, very calming and I adore the camera work. This is a revamp of the creators old Sims 3 series by the same title.

Reine Reynolds enrols herself into a new school, here we meet a variety of students who are all relatable in one way or another with different relationships amongst themselves. A nice watch and won't take long to get through.

Marry Me! - Tickled007

This is actually a companion piece to Marry You by Maot Productions. Marry You has more episodes and progressed it's story much further but personal preference I like Marry Me!'s characters and humour better. Not a fault to the creators though, since I believe they wrote both stories together and I do still recommend you go watch Marry You as well, just my personal taste. I also watched this very recently which is probably why it's on my mind rn.

Marry Me! Is a 2 episode long (so far) voice over series that's quite high energy, it's about a loud "bitch" fashion designer called Serafie and a "pushover" called Carmion. Two opposites that somehow cross paths and after a money hiccup, Seraphie demands that Carmion marry her. I love how silly it is, very kdrama inspired. If you can get past the overused swooping sfx in episode one (which drove me insane but will go away in episode 2) I think it's super enjoyable.

Tickled007 is also the creator of Passcode Unknown, Too Popular and And... Obvious.

I feel it unfair not to mention Maot Productions other creations either since they were also a big part of the Marry Me! Marry You project. They created Sense Me Not!, Corrupted Souls, Cruel Temptation and Retribution

Other simmers and their series that I highly recommend but realise this ask is going to get extremely long

EkolarasMagnum

Their series tend to have this grungy highschool feel to them but I get behind it. They're known for their more interesting sims style, some people love it, some people hate it but it shouldn't get in the way of the interesting stories. I used to adore their work so much as a teenager!

- Advocated

- Strangers

- Volatile

PumpkinsAtTheDisco

Made a variety of sims series based on books (before these same books were made into films) such as the Hunger Games. This creator is incredibly talented from filming, writing to composing their own music. You can really see their improvement over the years too. I love their work.

- The Hunger Games

- Miss Peregrines Home For Peculiar Children

- Dimension 17

- Post Icarus

- Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

StarsToShinex

Their concepts are fun and they have good voice actors. Their filming and editing is nice but their work does have an anime feel if that's more your taste.

- Spotlight

- My guardian

- My guardian- the next chapter

- Seeking Faith

- The last day

MajesticFilms

Their aesthetics are lovely, they make a lot of visually pleasing machinima. I admire their editing.

- Paper Boats

- Arsonist's Lullaby

- Sounds of Silence

- Machinima playlist

ViNtAgELovv11

Still works on videos now and I adore their work, been around for 10 years and only continuing to improve. I believe their most known series wou lkd have to be wasteland but please check out their newer works too!

- Scum City

- Wasteland

- Wonderland

- Runaway

- ROADS

There are so much more and i might make a pt.2 or something along those lines one day since this ask is getting long. But I also have a list of simmers and series on my navigation page if you want to search through some more works.

[letterboxd]

How I Letterboxd #9: Julie Collette.

Christmas movie lover Julie Collette tells Jack Moulton all about her seasonal movie habits, the best big screen Santa Claus of all time, disability visibility in festive films, and some of the weirder holiday picks.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year: when Letterboxd members turn to the Neverending Christmas List to help plan their Christmas movie viewing. Arrange it by highest rated, arrange it by newest release, or by popularity—any which way, there’s something for everyone, from corny TCM romances to obscure seasonal horrors.

Created six years ago by Canadian member Julie Collette, the list runs to more than 4,300 titles, and contains the word ‘Christmas’ 1,837 times at last count. Julie and her husband are die-hard Letterboxd fans, having allegedly used the platform every day for the past nine years. She’s logged every film she’s seen in theaters since 1996.

A message from John McClane in ‘Die Hard’ (1988).

What inspired your Neverending Christmas List? Can you please explain the minimum requirement for eligibility? My husband had told me about a list on Letterboxd of Every Horror Film Made from 1895–Present and that gave me the idea to start the neverending Christmas list. My eligibility rules are not strict at all. It can be a film that centers on or around Christmas time. Even New Year’s counts in my book—as long as there’s a moment in the film that has a Christmas song, a Christmas scene, or Christmas decorations. Die Hard is definitely a Christmas film. First of all, it takes place on Christmas Eve at an office Christmas party. There’s that great note that John McClane sends to Hans Gruber on a dead guy’s shirt: “Now I have a machine gun, ho-ho-ho.” Now that’s Christmas! There are a couple of titles that test my relaxed requirements. Examples would be Psycho—there are a few Christmas decorations at the beginning [and Bryan Fuller agrees]—and the documentary Beauty Day by Canadian director Jay Cheel, which has Christmas lights at the end.

And what percentage of the films have you seen? As of right now, I've watched 20 percent—that’s 882 of the 4,322 films on the list. I’ve got a lot of homework to do. Here’s a few hidden gems I recommend: Mon oncle Antoine, Holiday Affair, Remember the Night, Olivia, On the Twelfth Day…, Bing Crosby’s Merrie Olde Christmas and One Christmas, which is Katherine Hepburn’s last role.

David Bowie and Bing Crosby sing ‘The Little Drummer Boy’ in ‘Bing Crosby’s Merrie Old Christmas’ (1977).

When does your Christmas movie viewing season start? I usually start mid-November to try to keep up with the TV rom-coms because they start to air even before Hallowe’en. This year on Hallowe’en night we rewatched The Night of the Hunter and I had forgotten that there was a sequence that was set at Christmas time. It was a perfect segue between Hallowe’en and Christmas, so I started November 1st. As far as how I pick what to watch, I go through my list and randomly pick some. I try to watch as many first-time watches and mix up the genres. But the closer I get to Christmas, the more I want to watch my favorites—for the most part I go with the flow. Christmas Day is usually a day of family time, but I try to sneak in one favorite if I can.

What was the first Christmas film that got you into all of this? I’ve always loved Christmas and growing up I watched the yearly airings of vintage Christmas cartoons and A Muppet Family Christmas. When Home Alone came out it was an instant obsession, then Home Alone 2: Lost in New York was just as good. Even now it’s our yearly tradition for my husband and I to watch the Home Alones while we decorate the Christmas tree.

If not Home Alone, what is your all-time favorite Christmas film? It’s a Wonderful Life is up there for me. Partly because growing up I watched it every Christmas Eve and kind of forced my dad to watch it with me. I think he secretly didn’t mind. As a kid, I didn’t dwell on the sad parts of the story, I just wanted to go to that candy shop and run in Bedford Falls like George in that beautiful thick fake snow. Now as an adult, I appreciate the story about a small town coming together to support a man at his lowest of lows more. Jimmy Stewart is amazing as George Bailey and we can all see ourselves at some point in his journey in the film. The chemistry and comedic timing between Stewart and Donna Reed is one of the best. Every time they sing ‘Auld Lang Syne’, I always get a bit misty-eyed.

メリークリスマス Japanese style, in ‘Tokyo Godfathers’ (2003).

What have you noticed about the ways in which Christmas films have changed over the years? In classic Christmas storytelling, there are a lot more religion-centered ones like The Bishop’s Wife and It’s a Wonderful Life. The ’80s and ’90s were about the blockbusters that the whole family could enjoy; Batman Returns, Home Alone, and The Santa Clause. The last twenty years have brought us a lot of different movies, but I do find that the start of the 2000s had a better crop of Christmas movies; Love Actually, Elf, Tokyo Godfathers, Far from Heaven, Bridget Jones’s Diary, About a Boy and so many more. The last decade has been saturated by the rom-coms of Hallmark, Lifetime and their imitators, but from the last five years, a few stand out that could be destined to become Christmas classics: Carol, Little Women and The Night Before.

The best, most rewatched Christmas stories tend to be remade. Do you have a classic Christmas story that you always love, no matter who’s telling it? Hands down Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. From my favorite—Scrooge—to The Muppet Christmas Carol, to Scrooged. Growing up, I had the book of Mickey’s Christmas Carol and I loved the cartoon adaptation. I love to see the different actors’ excitement and elation at the end when Scrooge wakes up on Christmas Day. My ultimate favorite is Alistair Sim in 1951’s Scrooge. He’s so jubilant asking the maid what day it is and wishing himself Merry Christmas in the mirror. It’s a bit darker than others. When I was a kid, the intro with Jacob Marley and the build-up of the chains scared me, but I couldn’t stop watching. Patrick Stewart’s Ebenezer [in the 1999 TV movie] is also great for his relief that he survived the journey through time. What an actor! An honorable mention to The Shop Around the Corner, In the Good Old Summertime and You’ve Got Mail, which are all based on [the 1937 Hungarian play Parfumerie by Miklós László].

A Christmas Treat in ‘Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square’ (2020).

Treat Williams stars in not one but two of this season’s films (who knew he could sing?!). Which actors bring that special spark to festive films for you? Yes, and boy can he sing! Another actor who can sing and puts me straight in the Christmas mood is Bing Crosby. Those classic songs in White Christmas and Holiday Inn are favorites of mine. Jimmy Stewart is an obvious one. He has that charm that’s perfect for Christmas movies, especially in The Shop Around the Corner.

What’s your guiltiest pleasure on the list? Why do we love cheesy movies so much?! Every year I watch TCM’s Classic Christmas marathon [but I also watch] the Hallmark and Lifetime Christmas rom-coms. For me, I love them partly because there’s always a happy ending. I love to see all the decorations and all the cute small towns—some I wish existed so I could visit them because they’re so darn cute! Another reason I love them is the nostalgia, as some of the better ones star TV actors from the ’90s and ’00s like Candice Cameron Bure, Lacey Chabert, Jonathan Bennett, Adrian Grenier, Mario Lopez, Alicia Witt, Alison Sweeney and so many others.

One of the other great Christmas-themed lists on Letterboxd is the one about Christmas movie posters with white heterosexual couples wearing red and green—though many members pride themselves on having seen none of them. I like those movies because I can zone out and enjoy the predictable Christmas ride. However, like other Letterboxd members, I know that these aren’t Oscar-caliber films—though some are better than others! I’m glad that the powers that make these movies are starting to be more inclusive with more POC and LGTBQ+ characters. As a wheelchair user with a physical disability, I was happy to see that Lifetime has an upcoming one called Christmas Ever After, starring Ali Stroker.

Ali Stroker finds love in ‘Christmas Ever After’ (2020).

Indeed, our Make the Yuletide Gay list is an attempt to highlight queer festive films, but the pickings have been slim. Yes, very slim. There’s been queer characters in Christmas films but it’s your stereotypical gay friend or something like that. This year I feel there’s a shift in the air to be more inclusive. My favorites this year so far have been the star-filled lesbi-rom-com Happiest Season, The Christmas House—featuring a landmark first gay couple in a Hallmark festive film, Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square and Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey—with Ricky Martin! I’m looking forward to checking out A New York Christmas Wedding, The Christmas Setup and Dashing in December.

What is the scariest Christmas film that your horror-loving husband has made you watch? The best one is Black Christmas. I love that it’s female-centered and ahead of its time in their portrayals. The killer’s POV really gets me into it and still to this day puts me on edge, so much so that an ornament fell off our tree while watching it this year and it freaked me out!

Also, should we be watching The Nightmare Before Christmas on Hallowe’en or on Christmas? I watch The Nightmare Before Christmas on both holidays so you get the best of both worlds—the ghoulishness of Hallowe’en and the merriment of Christmas!

What other films on your list show Christmas in an unusual light? The first weird one that popped to mind is The Star Wars Holiday Special. That was weird! Also, from what I’ve watched I would say Eyes Wide Shut, The Ref and 3 Godfathers are not your usual Christmas films. I do have quite a few on the list I have to watch that seem weird and unusual like Elves, Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny and Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.

[Editor’s note: Previous How I Letterboxd interviewee Dave Vis urges you not to watch Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny under any circumstances.]

Which actor is the quintessential Santa Claus? For me, it’s the Santa in Miracle on 34th Street, played by Edmund Gwenn. He truly embodied the part in the way he plays Kris Kringle. The gentleness and innocence he shows throughout the film is magical. It’s no wonder he won a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for his performance.

Gunn Wållgren in ‘Fanny and Alexander’ (1982).

Of course, so many films in the Christmas canon are American films. What are some of the best Christmas films from around the world? This question makes me realize I haven’t watched enough Christmas movies from around the world. With that being said here’s a few; A Christmas Tale from France, A Child’s Christmas in Wales from the UK, Tokyo Godfathers from Japan and Ingmar Bergman’s Fanny and Alexander from Sweden. Mon oncle Antoine is a great Canadian film set in a small mining village during Christmas. It reminded me of the stories my mom and grandma talked about their Christmas traditions in their small village.

Are there any overrated classics you want to protest? I didn’t watch A Christmas Story growing up, so when I finally did watch it as an adult, I didn’t connect with it. The iconic scenes are funny and all, but it’s just okay. Now I’ll be on my hubby’s naughty list!

Does the film marathon continue through that purgatory week between Christmas and New Year? Do you have any film-related traditions to ring in the New Year? It does continue during that week to a certain extent. Some years after Christmas I’m done and what I haven’t watched goes to the following year but other years I can watch a few more and not feel overwhelmed. On New Year’s we have no traditions per se, but this year we might do a Tarantino marathon.

Christmas season is also synonymous with awards season. You keep track of a lot of Academy Awards history. How are you feeling about the awards season this year? First off, like many others, I haven’t even set foot in a theater this year and that is sad. I hope that the theater-going experience is not irreparably damaged. One good thing that came from the pandemic is film festivals streamed online and we were fortunate to watch some great titles from TIFF from the comfort of our home in September. I saw Nomadland, and it’s going to be a frontrunner for many of the main categories. I hope Regina King’s One Night in Miami gets some love. Miranda July’s Kajillionaire script is so unique—Evan Rachel Wood and Richard Jenkins should be contenders. I haven’t watched a lot of docs yet but Boys State stands out. I’m also eager to see First Cow, Minari, Ammonite, The Truffle Hunters, Soul, Mank, The Father and Promising Young Woman.

This Christmas is going to be weird for a lot of people. What’s one film you’d recommend for a guaranteed happiness injection? Weird indeed. If I have to pick just one it would be John Favreau’s Elf. Will Ferrell as Buddy the Elf instantly brings a smile to my face. You can feel his joy for Christmas from start to finish. From the classic claymation, to New York City at Christmas, to eating all that sugar, to that hilarious scene with Peter Dinklage—it’s Christmas gold!

And finally, are there some other Letterboxd members you recommend we follow? Emily, Flurryheaven, Guyzo997, Peter Spencer, Michael Dean, Brent Vanhomwegen, Ara Hiddleston and also some more Christmas lists.

[noconcernofyours]

Pinning Down My Kind of Movie

Warning: Wanky, self-indulgent ramblings about Hollywood auteurs to follow

A couple of days ago, I sat down with my housemate to watch Miami Vice (2006) directed by Michael Mann (Heat, Collateral) and starring Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx. Since we moved into our place, my housemate has gradually been exposed to my taste in movies, and the other day, sat in front of a strung-out Colin Farrell ordering mojitos to ‘Numb/Encore’ during an undercover sting, he finally confronted me with a crisis-inducing statement: “You know, I can’t figure out what your kind of movie is.”

If I am to be totally honest, it doesn’t take much to send me into an existential tailspin, but this observation got me thinking enough to want to sit down and write about it, so here we are. My name’s Daniel and I love movies! When I was a teenager, I was certain I wanted to be a film critic, so I started writing in earnest. The problem was I wasn’t that well rounded as a viewer. I confined myself to the world of comic book movies and Disney animation. I turned my nose up at pretty much everything else before realising that I didn’t actually know much or have much to offer about film. Instead, I turned to music criticism because that’s where my knowledge base is.

That being said, I still loved movies, and as the years have gone on, I have been rapidly expanding my film knowledge and broadened my horizons extensively. I got called a “film buff” for the first time recently, which really shocked me. I still don’t feel well-watched enough, or knowledgeable enough to fit a moniker like that. Maybe it’s imposter syndrome, but I really feel like I have a way to go yet.

My Letterboxd bio includes the phrase “admirer of film nerds”, and I think that admiration informs the entire way I look at the world of film. I read a lot of reviews and listen to a lot of podcasts by smart, unpretentious film obsessives like David Sims, Griffin Newman, Katey Rich, Karen Han and Bilge Ebiri, but that same admiration also informs the kind of films I enjoy the most. In confronting the statement from my housemate, I realised that while there are some genres I gravitate to more than others, my taste in movies is largely defined by the extent to which I can pick up on a single authorial voice driving the film. A director, writer, actor, composer or cinematographer who has a real, obsessive love for their craft whose influence and personality can be felt in every layer of a film’s construction. Franchises are a different beast, but it’s usually the entries in a franchise that feel like passion projects for individual filmmakers that I love the most, which is why Iron Man 3 is by far my favourite Marvel movie.

Over the last few months I’ve started building a fairly extensive Blu-Ray collection. I love physical media because I like to have a tangible representation of the art I love, but it also allows me to physically organise my thoughts about film rather than moving things around on a spreadsheet or in my head. It has also had an effect on how I watch films. Spending money on a film makes me feel more obligated to watch it through to the end in one sitting, to not be on my phone at the same time and to pay closer attention. It’s also made my approach to picking the films I watch more considered. I’ve been hunting down the films I haven’t seen by directors I love, fuelled by newfound completionism, and I’ve been subconsciously prioritising this kind of auteur-driven mindset in a way that has revealed, over time, who my favourite filmmakers are.

So, with that in mind, let’s transform this meandering, self-indulgent think piece into a meandering, self-indulgent listicle. Here are the filmmakers that have changed the way I watch movies:

Christopher Nolan

I know this is a bit of a film bro cliché, but I promise I’m not one of those film school douchebags who’s convinced they’re going to be the next great big budget auteur. Like a lot of other people my age, I discovered Christopher Nolan through the batman movies. I was taken to see The Dark Knight by my parents when I was 10 years old, not having seen Batman Begins, and it blew my mind. For years after that, I was one of those arseholes who had a terrible Joker impression that I whipped out at parties, until I became aware of the cliché and never did it again.

In the years since I’ve watched all of his other movies and gained a new love of Interstellar and The Prestige – movies that taught me a lot about the authorial voice and interweaving a central theme into every element of a film. I also learned that just because I find it annoying when the same tropes turn up in every Quentin Tarantino movie, recurring tropes throughout a filmmaker’s catalogue aren’t universally a bad thing.

The Coen Brothers

Representation is important. The tough thing about watching films from an auteur-driven perspective is that so many of the most important filmmakers in Hollywood are approaching their films from a white, Christian, male perspective. Scorsese is a particularly difficult director for me to appreciate because so many of his films are overtly informed by his Christianity. My Jewish identity is the most significant aspect of my identity, so naturally I’m always looking for films made from a Jewish perspective, overt or otherwise.

Whilst the Coen brothers don’t always make movies about explicitly Jewish characters or subject matters, their Jewishness always comes out in their writing, particularly in the totally undidactic way they approach the subject of faith in almost every film they’ve made. Their approach to God, fate, spirituality and religion is never one of moralising certainty, but rather a questioning one, which is a fundamental aspect of Jewish existence. I feel represented on multiple levels in the films of the Coen brothers, particularly in Inside Llewyn Davis which is my favourite film of the last decade, in ways that other directors could never manage. For the same reasons I will forever be excited about the potential of the Safdie brothers.

Stephen Spielberg

Whilst the Jewishness of Stephen Spielberg is a major attraction for me (Catch Me If You Can, his moody Christmas movie, comes across as weirdly Jewish to me), the thing that has solidified the guy as one of my favourite filmmakers is his approach to telling true stories. Unlike the Coen brothers, it’s Spielberg’s self-assuredness and didacticism that fuels my love of his work. His spate of recent, politically switched-on, historical dramas (Lincoln, Bridge of Spies and The Post) are all incredible achievements in effectively giving quiet dramas about people talking in rooms the tension and stakes of great action movies.

It’s the obvious thing to say at this point that Spielberg is one of the few genuine masters of the cinematic language, but while most will point to his massive, populist movies of the 80s and 90s as the definitive examples of that, I would point to his spottier late career with its moralising and earnestness as where his most exhilarating work lies.

Michael Mann

I like that Michael Mann is uncompromising. He makes films which, based on premise and star power, should be commercial knockouts, but they almost never are. He has an incredibly clear sense of self, and like Nolan has a lot of frequently recurring tropes in his films. Michael Mann makes films about Men Making Tough Choices™. He builds detailed, intensely researched worlds and he loves crime!

There’s something special when a filmmaker can tread the same ground over and over again and never convey the same central message twice. Nearly all of Mann’s movies are gritty, neo-noir thrillers with an obsessive attention to detail, but all of them deal with a totally distinct existential question which runs through every element of the film, from meta casting to set design, to music, to Mann’s pioneering use of digital photography. I’m just obsessed!

Stephen Soderbergh

Soderbergh is a hill that I’m going to be climbing for quite some time, I think. This is a guy who is relentlessly prolific, taking on a ridiculous number of roles on set himself, and working so fast that he often churns out multiple films in a year. With limited funds and a determination to watch movies legally, my progress through Soderbergh’s filmography has been slow, but I’ve loved every one I’ve watched so far.

As much as I love the guy’s mastery of the heist movie, and the way he slips those story telling devices into a lot of his non-heist stories, I think what really gets me about Soderbergh is the way his filmmaking style always seems to feel tooled towards portraying his characters with as much empathy as possible. Often his films are about people working or learning to empower themselves and coming to terms with their own identities. Anyway, go watch Out of Sight! It’s a damn masterpiece!

Kathryn Bigelow

Kathryn Bigelow’s career is full of insane ups and downs, but as far as I’m concerned, despite the difficulties she’s had getting her movies made and seen, she has three unqualified masterworks: Point Break, Strange Days and The Hurt Locker. On this list of directors, Bigelow has perhaps the most stylistically varied body of work, but her best work, much like that of other directors that I find myself drawn to, is largely concerned with obsession. Her characters are deeply flawed, but unwaveringly driven. What I love is that despite her drastic genre change from pulpy action thriller to hyper-realistic docudrama, she’s managed to hold on to that fascination with obsession, and an acute, outsider’s understanding of masculinity and its fragility.

Kathryn Bigelow has had to adapt to keep working, but because of that, she’s managed to develop a voice and a personality that is versatile enough to withstand her career shifts, but strong enough that it hasn’t been chipped away at by the difficulties she’s faced as a woman in Hollywood.

So, what was the point of all this?

Honestly, there wasn’t one. This was a piece of self-indulgence that allowed me to navigate an idea over which I was obsessing for a little while. That being said, I think if I had read something along these lines a few years ago, I would have delved into the world of director-focused movie watching far sooner. It’s hard to quickly and easily define the role of a director in contemporary film, particularly due to the ever growing influence of studios, but in the world in which the above filmmakers operate, the director has final say over all the creative decisions involved in putting together a movie. For me, the most exciting films are the ones that clearly and effectively communicate a single creative voice. Sue me, I love auteurs.