#it's just the visuals the score the presentation the everything

[manytoonepoet13]

“The Key to My Notes to Unlock Your Melody.”

A Little Thought About Character Relationships in Fragaria: Merold and Kurode (something I can write on a whim while still finishing Haikei...).

I'm pretty sure that I'm not the only one who has wondered about Merold and Kurode's relationship. They barely speak of each other, and when they do, it's not even on a first name basis.

But what I like to pay attention to is their visuals and the connection between Your Melody and Key My Notes, the little details of their character design. Especially Merold's half-a-heart necklace.

I've been interested in this particular detail for FAR too long, longer than I'd admit. Initially, I had thought that perhaps this was a part of it's design, that maybe it never had an other half, but it didn't really sit right with me, especially with his relationship with Kurode.

In the website, it is said that Merold dotes on Kurode in his own special way, even if his feelings aren't properly conveyed, and this got me wondering: “Was “Your Melody” not only an apology to Hallritt and him asking for reconciliation, but also a message to Kurode, wanting to reach out to him and rekindle their brotherly bond”.

For MONTHS, I've been constantly repeating that “Your Melody” was all about Merold and Hallritt's reconciliation, yet even with utmost confidence that I believe that this is true, I can still say that there are parts that didn't quite stitch well together as seamlessly as I'd like it.

Specifically these lines:

“As if our two hearts laid atop each other's... may we be connected by their singular rhythm.

Let me fill your gaze with bouquets of flowers blanketing the horizon.

All those fragmented things are intensifying our MELODY.

Come, let's turn the timidity into joy and dance to your MELODY in the scores.

The MELODY of your voice that I want to remain beside, what if... If you want to cloud over the future, if it is sadness that you want to echo... then please let me play it from here.”

“Even with this fragile heart, above all else, you are my dearest, (Tell me, tell me why.)

These overflowing feelings are a MELODY for you. (Tell me, tell me why).”

I must admit, what I wrote for this segment back then was so generalized and I'd like to change that, for now I have a better understanding of Fragaria and how they approach character relationships through songs and visuals.

The two hearts line may be a reference to Merold's half-a-heart necklace, one who, let's assume, Kurode has the other half.

The fill your gaze with bouquets would be related to Merold wanting to reach out to Kurode and wanting to rekindle their brotherly bond, and since we've correlated the flowers within the bouquets as emotions and/or memories, I'd theorize how Merold's approach to fixing their bond was to show Kurode how he truly cherished those emotions during the times when it was present, or how he longed to be able to share those memories and make new moments that is to last forever to be remembered again, to show Kurode that he does indeed love his brother despite all of the things that has transpired between them.

The rest of the lines directly relates to upholding Kurode, showing his support, showing that he does indeed care, that everything he did was to protect the ones who are dear to him. Kurode included.

Kurode indirectly replies to Merold in Key My Notes as well:

“If only I became accustomed to the perfect sound that makes one happy.” The perfect sound being the melody, the melody that connects people and bring them together, with the one who is accustomed to this perfect sound being Merold, showing how inferior Kurode feels whenever even the mere mention of Merold's name was present.

“If only we can be imperfect and not full of deceit.” a tie to the line “It's okay to deceive with an outright lie... because within it lingers a quiet love.”

Everyone is imperfect, everyone knows that, but there are some people (Merold included) that just can't help but do whatever they can to protect, even if it means depriving one of the truth. And Kurode's wish is to change exactly that; to have people comfortable in who they are and what they can do without having to resort to lies and instead embrace their imperfections and use it to their advantage.

“Sometimes we can let go of that hand due to weakness.” again, a tie to wanting to do whatever you can to protect. But there's also another thing I'd like to point out, this hand he's talking about might be his hand that Merold had let go of due to weakness, assuring himself that it's ok, that he can let go of that hand even though it's truly not.

"Let me protect everyone here." to “If you want to cloud over the future, if it is sadness that you want to echo... then please let me play it from here.”

Merold's stepping down and allows his brother to finally have the spotlight all to himself, only offering support and assistance if needed, encouraging him to look up, and see that there's still a tomorrow worth fighting for, and he's more than willing to play his sadness far from him as possible to let him see that.

“Even with this fragile heart, above all else, you are my dearest.”

“Inside this heart, a memory that's sincere and eternal.”

Time and time again, we have been constantly reminded of the fact that these memories, these emotions that these characters are being deprived of for the sake of being safe is one of the biggest mistakes yet. One should not deprive himself or another of the truth.

Merold's line is of him finally coming clean, finally admitting his feelings and allowing himself to be vulnerable, to acknowledge the wrongs in his doing and despite whatever front he may put up, he still holds a fragile heart who just wants to protect his dearest – brother.

While Kurode's is of him realizing that whatever that has happened between him, Merold and everyone else in the past, it's all sincere, eternal and true and never wavering. That no matter how much it'll be covered up, it still has it's way to show itself to the world and speak up, to tell everyone of the truth, to make everyone realize, accept, and cherish the truth. All along with it's flaws, it's dangers and more. It is the truth, and it is the world that they love so much.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“The knights ask nothing in return for their love.”

[rikeijo]

Today’s translation #756

Anan 2017.3.29 Honda Takeshi's comment

Part 3.

Yurio had his senior division debut this season, and the momentum that he has, that is distinctive of this special period in a figure skater's life, was really incredible. Overflowing with strength that let him ignore everything else and not think, just focus on performing. In addition to that, his performance is very ''in vogue". That he raises his arm when he jumps, for example. That he created programs that let him collect additional points here and there, and aim for additional GOE (points for visual presentation) reminds me of Russian female skaters this season. He is an incredibly 'modern' skater, while Victor and Yuuri have a different approach. Victor pursues perfection and Yuuri pursues skating that feels like him, so to speak.

As for the next season, Yuuri's homework is to polish up his programs more. At his age, it will be difficult for him to get more quads, so instead he has to create the most difficult program he ever skated and just skate it as good as he can. If he can eliminate the little mistakes, he can get GOE+ and as a result, his base score also will be higher. If I were to give Yuuri some advice, I would tell him to think more about his spins. Even if he just changes the entry position to the camel spin he used this season, he can get level 4 for that spin.

[jeyneofpoole]

hi i hate rick riordan and the obsession with movie/tv adaptations of other media. please use this ask as a chance to rant about everything you hate most in the pjo show. <3

omg hiiiii an anon after my own heart!!!! ok this is a very wide question and i do unfortunately have assignmence to do so i'll try and make it quick: my entire problem with the show is the total lack of character. the dialogue is completely expository with little to no room for relationship building or opportunities for the actors to, like, act. i fully believe that leah sava jefferies could have pulled off a really good annabeth if they didn't have her literally doing a powerpoint presentation on the plot of the episode every two minutes. walker is an incredible talent and a fantastic percy, and it would have been really nice to see him have a chance to be his character. oh also this is the tiniest nitpick but why the fuck is the score so boring??? you're going to tell me that the PERCY JACKSON show has a generic fantasy bullshit phone-it-in score??? the song for the end credits is the closest we get to any sort of theme and it's boring as hell!!!!

the exposition killed this fucking show, dude. i cannot believe that those scripts made it past a thought in rick riordans yucky little head bc that was abominable. no stakes no tension no fear no anxiety no dread like everybody's all on the same page at the same time percy is never out of his depth. never. medusa was practically wearing a name tag and the crusty thing made me actively suicidal. i do think that the worst episode was by far the lotus casino though because that was goddddddawful. first of all why were we there in the first place? to talk to hermes? to lin manuel miranda? this is what i'm fucking talking about the kids are always on top of everything!!!!! in the book they get roped in on accident and we get to learn about the characters' inner motivations (think of annabeth and her architecture game, etc.) but in the show we're in and out and spend 5 minutes driving a car around in a parking garage because we needed to pad out the runtime because our show sucks shit and we should all kill ourselves.

speaking of the hermes thing why was every single god there. like you've undercut the power of all the gods by having one show up every episode and a half to be boring and do nothing. the visual design is terrible the underworld and olympus are virtually indistinguishable and the pit to tartarus is in the open sunny sky for some godforsaken reason???? oh also having annabeth at the luke confrontation and turning it into a swordfight (like the only swordfight of the season, btw) robs the original scene of all of the horror and tragedy that makes it so good. percy is TWELVE and luke the ALMOST ADULT MAN tricks him with a SCORPION and then percy has to STUMBLE through the woods DELIRIOUS and DYING <- good and fucked up. LUKE and PERCY the PEERS OF INDISTINGUISHABLE AGE have a bad SWORDFIGHT and ANNABETH catches him with FACTS and LOGIC <- sucks shit. but what do i know i'm just a dyke on the internet. ok love you bye.

[moonlitempty]

“It’s our basic human right to be fuck-ups. This civilisation was founded on fuck-ups!”

And after roughly 3 weeks of waiting, hoping, and constant refreshing of the tracking page, here it is finally, I am able to hold it, and see it, and analyse every intricate little detail of its design, and its packaging. And it makes me feel somewhat fulfilled.

I honestly keep struggling to find the words for this caption, my thoughts are all over the place and it feels like no praise or fawning will suffice, no amount of love dumping will be nearly enough to describe how absolutely lovely this record is.

The World’s End is a film I was afraid I wouldn’t like, even when I was just getting into The Cornetto Trilogy and familiarising myself with everything around it, I could just TELL The World’s End was, not quite a black sheep, but the odd one out in the trilogy. I saw hordes and hordes of people rave over Shaun (rightfully), I saw thousand of dedicated followers of Fuzz (VERY rightfully), but at most I saw a couple hundred people campaigning for End to have more recognition. So when it came to finally watch it for the first time, I was honestly nervous and I vividly remember I had to keep pausing the movie over and over again whenever Gary said or did something dumb, I felt bad for him, he seemed enthusiastic and he longed for his old life with his friends and none of them even trusted him. So that set a very specific lens quite early on that I saw the whole movie throughout, and I think it actually helped me appreciate the movie from the get-go.

So I decided to put my big boy pants on, stop systematically pausing the movie, and sit through it, no more pauses or interruptions.

•“12 Historic Ale Houses!”

I quickly found myself enamoured with End, I loved the unapologetic and almost blatant Sci-Fi route of the film, after all, Sci-Fi in general is a genre I hardly consume, and it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that this film alone opened the doors of the genre to my once closed eyes. I grew to love the characters oddly quickly, my stand-outs obviously being Gary and Andy, but I also made room in my heart for Sam and Steven (the only survivors, ha!)

Also, it may have been the Blu-Ray doing its Blu-Ray thing but I thought the film looked PHENOMENAL, easily the most visually interesting film out of the Three, maybe it was also the use of more contemporary cameras and technology, it was an absolute treat to the eyes. The filmmaking and directing choices have been pointed out time and time again, Edgar Wright has the best directing style of any modern filmmaker.

But let’s get to the main subject, the soundtrack!

•The World’s End: Original Movie Score (Mondo Exclusive , Pressed on Crowning Glory Ale Vinyl)

This is a beautiful little record! It’s easily one of the prettiest in my entire collection, usually a splatter vinyl like this is pretty hit or miss, I’ve had my fair share of less than stellar records, but this one NAILED IT! I don’t know if you can tell from the pictures, but this record looks EXACTLY like a nice, cold, foamy and enriching pint of Ale, and the design of the centre labels is oddly satisfying, I lack the right words to describe it, but the entire film carries a sort of “vintage-ish” aesthetic in its graphic design and motifs, hopefully I’m making myself clear with that. It’s a mix of vintage and modern, if I had to describe it!

The record is very nice to the touch, it’s solid and quite heavyweight (which is a reassurance when it comes to vinyl), and it looks absolutely stunning when held up to the light. A detail I love is how the labels seem to slowly uncover the presence of The Network as they go on, by Side D the centre label makes it awfully clear that The Network is, a) a thing, and b) present everywhere in Newton Haven.

In the gimmick/fun little trinkets department, we have a small pamphlet! Styled as a tourist guide for the pubs in Newton, it features a full map of the town (the one Gary used to mark up the pubs), and the commentaries by both Edgar Wright and the composer Steven Price, these are frankly a treat to read and give so much more insight into not only the making of the score, but also the deeper meaning of the score, what Prince intended to transmit with the creative decisions he made while making and building the score, it makes listening to it a much more rewarding experience.

This will be forever one of my favourite items I’ve ever owned, period. Not favourite vinyl records, or movie memorabilia, items in general. And I feel immensely grateful to not only have it and hold it, but to also share it with everyone in a cohesive and engaging way. Writing this post has been an absolute privilege! Hopefully it is mildly decent and not just another one of my soliloquies.

If you got all the way here, you have my eternal gratitude and I love u mwah. here’s a cookie for your troubles 🍪

Let’s Boo-Boo.

[deadmomjokes]

Betwixt Christmas gift cash and Steam Family Sharing workaround shenanigans, the husband and I have finally started Baldur's Gate 3.

Went in basically blind except for knowing the names of the companions and the fact that Astarion is a vampire (couldn't miss that cultural osmosis).

We also came in on two different meta-levels as players.

He is very familiar with D&D, D&D-based games, computer games in general, and these sorts of games specifically. He's also that kind of person that plays things on Extreme Difficulty Mode for fun. He quits when something isn't challenging enough. His idea of relaxing, rewarding gameplay is ultra-hard-mode Elden Ring and Dark Souls.

I, on the other hand, am bad at games. Full stop. I have lost Wii Mario Kart to a 6 year old, repeatedly. I get hopelessly lost even when there's detailed maps, trackers, compasses, and flagged waypoints. I also panic in combat situations and have no strategic ability aside from "stand there, hit it, and hope it doesn't move." I'm more of a low-stakes visual novel sort of gamer. Stardew Valley is as intense as I get.

He is playing a Seldarine Drow warlock in a pact with an archfey. She's a noble with a ridiculously high Charisma score, a perfectly balanced spell loadout, and an even more balanced overall stat build. She's DPS without being totally squishy and helpless, and has advantage to almost everything. She also has an impeccable fashion sense and always looks put together, even when on death's door to a brain worm. Or, to put it in a way my husband would loathe, she got that drip.

I am playing a ginger himbo of a high elf fighter with -1 to Charisma and a -1000 to common sense. He's an impulsive maniac with, somehow, a +3 to intimidation despite being a truly gentle soul that believes every sob story he comes across. He's a sweaty, dusty, grubby little feral child (outlander background) with the world's messiest ponytail and greasepaint-turned-eyeliner that a 90s ex emo kid would be proud of. And that's him trying to look presentable. Despite having an impressive dexterity score, my natural disadvantage to dexterity (and Wisdom and Intelligence) as the player makes it so that this man bumbles his way into everything and only gets out by making horrifying threats he has absolutely no intention of following up on, or by being forced to stand his ground and take it on the jaw.

So this was going to be An Experience no matter what. And boy, it sure has been.

Thus far, we have:

Accidentally pacifism'd our way into every Goblin/Absolute aligned settlement we've encountered on the pure luck of husband's choice to play a Drow because he thought it would add an interesting dynamic. That interesting dynamic, he thought, would be difficulty. He thought being a Drow would make it harder because of the general hatred toward them. He's technically good-aligned, but, y'know, planet-of-hats racism means he was expecting it to work against him, which he likes because he likes when things are hard. Only now it's basically a free pass into all the areas we'd normally have to fight or sneak into. Great for our shared pacifist tendencies, but LOL

Lost a full hour of progress because my computer screen is tiny and bad at graphics and I hadn't learned all the controls yet, so while trying to investigate a hole in the floor of an abandoned church I tripped in face-first and got us into an unescapable, imminent-TPK situation, whereupon the game immediately autosaved for the first time since waking up on the beach. We have since learned to spam the quicksave button liberally.

Accepted a ton of mutually exclusive quests, half of which we have no intention of doing, just to try and get out of situations without combat, so now the mini map now looks like a cubist rendition of a simple sun drawing and I'm SO worried it's going to come crashing down and get us shanked in our sleep.

MET BEST BOY DOGGO I WILL DIE FOR SCRATCH 😭

Discovered husband's character is, build wise, a carbon-copy of Wyll. This was 100% unintentional and he's BIG mad about it LOL RIP

Impulsively pushed a button in a crypt without saving and woke up a bunch of skellies we weren't prepared for, but were somehow also saved by that same impulsivity because I had previously run around the entire area and looted every single skeleton no matter how useless it was to my character, so they all woke up without their weapons so HAH take that I TOLD YOU being a klepto would pay off

Immediately after this fortuitous stroke of fate, having learned exactly nothing, my impulsive maniac opened the shiny sarcophagus before consulting anyone or healing. Luckily it wasn't cursed or trapped or full of enemies (it was Withers, and I'm love), but I'm now not allowed to open or interact with anything bigger than a crate without announcing it first so husband has the chance to go NO WAIT LET ME SAVE FIRST

Sneaked into a secret underground passage, whereupon my husband sent his invisible'd familiar around to carefully scout the area, discovering the button that would turn off the overpowered guardian statue. My character then readied a crossbow shot to hit said button, but in trying to move out of the way of the other party members, stepped right into the statue's attack circle. I panicked, tried to move, but couldn't figure out how to unselect the attack I could no longer use, and tried to fix it by pausing. But all of that just resulted in me standing there, doing nothing, until I finally dropped dead. Luckily I passed my saving throws, and more luckily still, my husband managed to stop laughing long enough to eldritch blast the statue to pieces and come get me.

So anyway, we're having the best time. I know we're late to the party, but it really is so good. I may have even teared up a little during the dream sequence with the psychedelic neon light guardian warriors. This is going to consume my brain for the next few months, and I'm happy to have paid for the privilege. 10/10, absolutely deserves that GOTY and the $60 price tag both.

No spoilers please, we're only level 3 and just encountering the Goblin Camp. (We've met everyone but Karlach, I believe.) But rest assured, as we learn and discover more I will come yelling and seeking those who will screech with me. Probably mostly about my new sons that I've acquired, namely the lying purple sadsack trash wizard with some horrifying kind of chronic illness and/or addiction, and the prettiest most specialist murder machine who definitely won't admit it but is definitely gonna need a hug when I finish breaking down those obviously performative emotional walls.

Also, Lae'zel scares me. Please stop yelling at me, you cranky fish woman, I'm trying my best here 😭

[fushiglow]

yup yup yup 🥹

i full on sobbed and couldn’t stop. the tears haven’t been too bad over the last few weeks, but they hit like a truck at the end of the arc. it probably didn’t help that i went and watched all the stsg scenes in jjk 0 straight after the episode finished 🙃

things i loved:

depressed suguru, murderous suguru, papa suguru, unhinged cult leader suguru, just everything suguru in this episode!!!!

TSUKUMO YUKI!! she was everything i hoped for, did you see her shoulders?!?!

the way it depicted satoru’s own trauma from a distance, even though the focus was on suguru

nanami’s grief over haibara 💔

the visual storytelling depicting suguru choosing his path

yaga with satoru, especially how he didn’t even flinch when satoru yelled at him

the voice acting in this episode was phenomenal!!!

the way megumi turned to look at tsumiki when he’s talking about their parents. a really subtle touch that shows how much he cares about her 🥹

satoru’s red eyes when he wakes up in the present. that man has SUFFERED and it breaks my heart!!

megumi’s new look!! as much as i adore pretty megumi from s1, he looks much closer to his manga self now and i’m into it

things i wasn’t too keen on:

it’s the first episode where the music felt off. i had been worried about the score for this season, but it was great until this episode. i did like the new piece for the “oh nothing” moment though.

it *did* feel a little rushed in places

i’m undecided about the kfc breakup scene. did i like the weird almost optimistic vibe or not??? i dunno

the noodle character limbs when they were drawn from a distance. the animation has been incredible so far, but suguru in the shower?? satoru in shinjuku??? those proportions can’t be put down to the pair of them losing weight!!!

i loved them all in this moment, but i wish the “oh nothing” scene had a bit more weight behind it 🥺 megumi is the link that bridges satoru’s past with his present but that wasn’t quite conveyed for me

really feels like nitpicking though. i think mappa have totally spoiled us with these last five episodes and premature death was always going to be the hardest to land. can’t wait for august 31!!

although, after how much crying i did this evening, it’s the first time i’m feeling worried about the shibuya arc. i think i will not be ok 🥴

[ystk-archive]

CAPS LOCK turns ten today! Any thoughts about it looking back? (Yes, it's your time to write that essay!) And do you think Nakata should release an album like this again? I remember you saying that CAPS LOCK should've been a Nakata album, not a CAPSULE one.

It's kind of crazy that anyone would remember something I probably said when I was nineteen, but that's a good (incorrect) opinion of mine to take me to task for since it's a great jump-off point, lol.

I most likely said that not so much because CAPS LOCK doesn't use Toshiko's voice enough -- it uses it extremely well, really, better than the more recent Metro Pulse -- but because the album seems so pensive and insular and bizarrely personal. capsule's music increasingly incorporated gloomy and oppressive overtones starting from FRUITS CLiPPER (and I'll ascribe it as a function of the genre change), but capsule was fundamentally always pop, and moreover always a "good time." The music was supposed to make you get up and dance, not sit and listen in a quiet space. CAPS LOCK was him shifting his ethos, it was an abrupt rejection of what he had been doing. It was close to what I'd always envisioned a "solo Nakata Yasutaka album" to be -- largely or entirely instrumental, completely inscrutable, and room to do more than what he could (or would) with his normal 9-to-5 cubicle musician pop production acts. And it was the first time a capsule album made me feel sad and reflective instead of immersed in a fantasy of a world that I know nothing about and cannot access. It's a sobering album instead of an intoxicating one.

If those are a lot of frou-frou words, I can also call CAPS LOCK the end result of what happens when you talk to Sakamoto Ryuichi just one time (will never stop thinking about how he met him for S&R in 2012 and a year later we got this album lmao); I'll admit there's a sense of insincerity to the album that was sharply amplified by everything that followed (WAVE RUNNER and six years of silence) and it's partially just the sci-fi film score Nakata is never going to be asked to do (wish he'd fund his own, he loves movies and it's not like he ain't got no money). It's also an album that makes the listener want to know more about what's going on there -- it suggests a story (as Toshiko pointed out in this column) though there is none that can be concretely pieced together, it tries to and I think does create vivid environments through its sound design, and some tracks are unenjoyable slogs to hear for those who come to capsule for snappy pop music. There's a fetishizing of recorded sounds here instead of synthesizers; CAPS LOCK is entirely about what every moving part of each song accomplishes in tandem.

But all of this really just functioned as a declaration of capsule's plasticity. Anyone can examine their albums between 2010-2012 and see someone endlessly repeating themselves, sometimes trying to violently elbow their way out of a pigeonhole. CAPS LOCK was so much of a properly-done reversal that I got the impression that, regardless of how fans personally felt about the music itself, it piqued curiosities and got people really invested and excited for what could be created through capsule. It achieved this visually and sonically; basically, it felt like an album that was truly considered and made instead of cobbled together with a black backdrop. It presented Toshiko's voice in an entirely new way, where she actually is an instrument and to remove or replace her with something else would alter the effect, and it evoked enough familiarity with their previous work while still transforming the scope of what a capsule album could justifiably be and how it could make listeners feel.

This has been a whole lot of incoherent rambling but to answer the other question, yes, he absolutely should do another album "'like this," though I struggle to explain what exactly "like this" is even after everything I just wrote LMAO. Another album with a specific intention behind it? Something that is music for music's sake and not a collection of advertisements and safe pop?

[ghostbustershq]

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire - Teaser Trailer Full Breakdown

In the grand tradition of GBHQ trailer breakdowns, here we go with everything that’s fit to digitally print on the recently released teaser trailer for Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire!

The trailer pulls a great switcheroo in the style that has become common-place for large blockbusters like this, which really bums me out that the first experience many (if not all) of us have had with this teaser is seeing it on our phones, tablets, computers, what have you knowing that you’re watching a trailer for a new Ghostbusters movie. Can you imagine being in the theater, the lights darken, all the ads finish, the green band MPAA rating pops up, and then you see this not knowing it’s coming? The first 20 to 30 seconds of this trailer are wonderful and tense moments where you’re waiting for the turn. I have to imagine that circa-1988 Troy would have lost his mind with that unexpected firehouse reveal.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (more on the title a bit later) looks to be a great departure for the series, opening up the world both in terms of visuals and story, and seems to speak to literally all of my preferences and loves in life: Ghostbusters and the cold and snow. In other franchises like Star Wars, the ice planet Hoth continues to be among my favorites. Possibly the Colorado kid in me that I just love the aesthetic of a wintery snowscape. And it’s no secret that I hate warm weather and prefer the cold, give me those fall and winter clothes and coats and wardrobe any day.

But I’m getting ahead of myself, let’s do it, eh?

IT’S A CRUEL SUMMER

The studio logos thud with the opening percussion of Cruel Summer and Lady Liberty is seen with some very orange-hue sunshine. It’s hot. It’s summer. Is this a Michael Bay summer blockbuster? Are we about to see a teen summer film trailer? What’s happening? I do love the fact that Bananarama’s Cruel Summer is used here both because it’s such a staple of the 80’s and immediately transports you into that mindset, but also because writer/director Gil Kenan is such a proud “formerly from Reseda” resident that there’s a little but of his Daniel LaRusso Karate Kid attitude present in the trailer here either consciously or unconsciously. You have to think it’s a little conscious given how close attention a scene of teens playing with a soccer ball on the beach gets.

A radio voice tells us that it’s a scorcher out there with heat alerts and record breaking temps on the horizon for New York and New Jersey. Kids are playing with an open hydrant. The Wonder Wheel is spinning with denizens at Coney Island splashing in the water. Eric Steelberg’s cinematography is on full display here as a slice of life has never looked better and more appealing. This idealized scene certainly won’t last, will it?

Sure enough. The song grinds to a halt, as does the Wonder Wheel. Something is amiss.

From the water, a storm cloud closes in and all the swimmers flee as if they’re leaving Amity in a hurry. Heavy Jaws vibes here, and that you know is intentional.

Spikes emerge from the ground and the Wonder Wheel flash freezes. Then comes this frame which: tell me I’m watching a Ghostbusters movie without telling me that I’m watching a Ghostbusters movie:

Chaos as the flash freeze hits Manhattan and the ice spikes emerge from the ground, we’re fully in disaster movie territory as we see a taxi cab impaled from street level. Fortunately for anyone in that cab, it looks to pierce right through the middle. Whew. The rumbling subsides as we follow the street toward a familiar looking building and Elmer Bernstein’s familiar Ghostbusters twinkle plays in the score.

I love this shot for a variety of reasons. Firstly, the camera move is evocative of that teaser trailer for Afterlife that followed the ground of a farm into the open barn to reveal the Ecto-1. Secondly, what an image, right? The Ghostbusters are surrounded. Claustrophobically closed in by the ice and spikes. The threat is visual. It’s overwhelming.

Hit It

The screen dips to black and we hear an engine rev. Could it be? You’re damn right it could be.

The Ecto-1 peels out, pulling off a full U-Turn at top speed and knocking over some trademark NYC garbage in the process. I’ve seen some criticism mainly on forums that the Ecto-1 in the original two films was slow and lumbering and it’s jarring to them to see the car pulling these high speed maneuvers. And, while I completely agree that the coughing and chunky Ecto of the 80’s was the car’s personality at that point in time, the car has obviously been souped up since the 90’s. Even if it was left to rot in a barn, a gearhead like Ray and someone who loves the car like Winston would have been futzing with that thing every day for decades. People change, so can cars. And the energy and excitement that a full-speed Ecto can provide for a film gives it a dynamic that harkens back to The Real Ghostbusters which we’ve learned from Kumail Nanjiani was a touchstone for this film and the filmmakers.

The Death Chill

The trailer kicks into high gear as we hear Patton Oswalt’s new character explain that for the first time, someone froze to death in New York City in July. Phoebe, in full (snow covered) Ghostbusting gear, stands next to the firepole in a darkened and ominous firehouse. Trevor, Lucky, and James Acaster’s new character stand side-by-side looking at something unseen. A very dapper looking gentlemen is suspended in frozen animation. Callie head turns with concern, also standing in what looks like the garage bay of the firehouse.

An apartment door bursts open having been frozen as Phoebe - standing next to Podcast who is seen for the first time asks, “What is it?” And, after a quick hero shot of Kumail’s new character, the answer comes from the one and only Ray Stantz. It’s the death chill.

As Ray gives us the exposition that you are literally scared to death and the last thing you see is your eyes freezing, the trailer rapid fires amazing and tantalizing imagery including a backdraft puff of smoke sucking back through the crack of a door, a hero shot of Paul Rudd’s returning Gary Grooberson, Winston Zeddemore and Peter Venkman, suited up and standing in front of the Ecto looking at an unseen threat, and one of the New York Public Library’s iconic lions snarling and roaring at what looks to be Ray based on the denim shirt he’s been wearing since 1984. Ha!

I Think We’re Going to Have to Put a Little Overtime Into This One

If ever Ray Parker Jr.’s theme song was going to kick in and we see flashes of the team saving the day, now would be about the time you expect it to happen. But this is, after all, just a teaser trailer and both of those particulars are saved for another occasion. Instead, a quick and violent shot of the firehouse doors being ripped away as we look over the shoulder of a couple of busters (and is someone holding some sort of new handheld piece of gear on the left? Dude. Can’t wait to see what that is.)

The street buckles and tears and threatens both our heroes and the Ecto-1. Trevor, Callie, and Gary are pinned against a wall in the firehouse with the ice spikes closing dangerously close to them. The wall around the containment unit cracks and shakes, threatening to collapse (and does that mean another containment breach could be possible?).

Bathed in ominous red light in a shot that looks straight out of a tense moment from James Cameron’s Aliens, Lucky appears to be in a bit of a pickle. From behind, we see a gnarly looking creature of some sort, perhaps the new big-bad, locking a broken horn into the socket on the side of its head. Oh man, is that creature design cool and we’re not even seeing the full breadth of it, I’m sure.

More flashes. James Acaster’s new character, surrounded by darkness and using a flashlight to illuminate something (and wearing one of the much touted by fans’ parkas, more on that in a second). Gary, Callie and Phoebe all suited up and trying to keep warm (love the turtleneck and gloves look with the flightsuit that Callie is sporting). Patton Oswalt slams an elevator gate as he escorts Ray, Phoebe and Podcast somewhere unknown. And perhaps one of my favorite and very mysterious shots in the trailer, Kumail’s character opening what looks to be a false wall in a pantry closet to reveal a secret room. I love a good secret passageway. One of these days, when I win the lottery, I’m going to have a basement with all sorts of cool secret doors and compartments.

Ray’s explanation of the death chill concludes and we see Lucky, fully suited up, seemingly on the verge of freezing to death and her eyes glaze to a frozen state. Certainly looks perilous for Lucky, could this be the character’s end? Or does someone hopefully come to save the day. Stay tuned until March of next year.

Gary states the obvious, that it sounds like Ray is explaining being literally scared to death. There’s a bit of a call and response here that I think is fully editorial as Gary and Callie are standing in what looks to be the firehouse during the daytime and Patton Oswalt’s character telling us how cool it is looks to be in a darkened room elsewhere. It’s a fun moment that shows both characters’ enthusiasm but a strong possibility these two moments are from two totally different parts of the final film that we’ll see.

Just before the title reveal, Trevor struggles to wield a proton thrower that seems to be amped up to eleven, while sporting one of his notable t-shirt choices - this time an old school YMCA shirt. And then, we see the title for the first time.

I’ll just flat out say it, subtitles to films are difficult. You’re sort of damned if you do, and damned if you don’t. For the same reason parents don’t reveal baby names to the general public before the kid is born, everyone has an opinion on names. A gut reaction. A feeling and opinion that they need to express. Movie titles have come under the same microscope. We’ve heard EVERY tired soap joke about Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, but the title was appropriate to the movie. Clear and to the point.

There’s something to be said for the good ol’ days of sequels where you just flat out said what it was: Back to the Future Part II, Beverly Hills Cop II, Star Trek VI. Also clear and to the point. But as the years progressed, a stigma around numerical titles developed where the higher the number of the film the perception of the quality decreasing became the punchline. Even if it wasn’t the case, adding a numerical value to a film title fell out of fashion and the subtitle became king. It’s also possible that increasingly complex titles started weighing on marketing and advertising and even just public perception of having to know a full title like Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace. You’ve noticed that even the studios have bailed on the episode titles for Star Wars, opting just to ID them by their subtitle: Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, etc.

All of that to say, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire has the serial qualities of an old school sci-fi film while also immediately selling and stating what the film is. It’s the Ghostbusters sequel where everything freezes. Clear and to the point. And you can tell they were thinking about a play on words with the Empire State somehow but again — didn’t want to over complicate things. Forum and social banter have suggested, “Why not Ghostbusters: Death Chill?” Which yes, is a pretty evocative title but markets the film a little differently. You could see some parents resistant to taking their kids to a movie about the chill of death.

I love the title and think that it absolutely works. It also really frees up future story telling for the Ghostbusters films where they don’t necessarily have to be so wide in scope. They can be hyper focused on a scenario or threat. It takes the franchise in a great direction, in my opinion.

Okay, okay — what about the last two shots of the teaser. Which are outstanding. After the title reveal there are two more glimpses: one of presumably the big bad of the film and the other of our heroes standing atop the firehouse poised to tackle the threat.

Everyone loves the jackets. I do too. I want one of those things for this winter, that’s for sure. But I also love everything happening in the composition and blocking and pose of the characters here. It screams Shandor Rooftop. I love that Callie is wearing the Ecto-Goggles (tough to tell if they’re the Afterlife variant with the Polaroid camera capabilities) and that Phoebe has filled her grandfather’s shoes vigilantly manning the PKE Meter. You can see slight variations on the barrel of the Particle Thrower that Trevor is holding and — THE JACKETS, I MEAN COME ON. TAKE MY MONEY NOW. PLEASE.

If this composition isn’t part of at least one of the theatrical one-sheet posters, I would frankly be surprised. What a shot.

Final Thoughts

What a teaser. It gives us just enough without giving us too much. There are real stakes here. I’m worried about the futures of several of the characters and several of the inanimate objects like the Ecto and the Firehouse. And visually, I love how this film already looks in-step with the original film and Afterlife, but is opening the color palate and scope up a little bit. But also, how crazy is it that after decades of wondering when a third Ghostbusters film would be released, pouring over the glacial pace at the development of the film and every mention and update, to be sitting here dissecting a teaser trailer for a fifth Ghostbusters movie?

[cinemacentral666]

Asteroid City (2023)

Movie #1,219 • Part of my WES ANDERSON Director Focus

Today I am starting a new weekly series that will run every Thursday for the remainder of 2023. I'll be revisiting the entire Wes Anderson filmography in reverse chronological order. I had previously eschewed doing one of these in a nonlinear fashion but I'm making an exception here for a few reasons. For starters, I'm already deeply familiar with his catalog and I actually rewatched "The Big Three" (Rushmore, Tenenbaums & Darjeeling) just last year, though not for review purposes. I've actually yet to see The French Dispatch after being thoroughly turned off by Isle of Dogs. So I'll start at the present and work my way backwards, all the way to 1994's Bottle Rocket short film.

Although this post is coming out in November, I'm actually typing this in late June, having just seen Asteroid City in the theater on the weekend of its opening wide release. And, in a nutshell, I pretty much loved every facet of this. I'll do an "official ranking" at the end of this, but my initial gut reaction says this has the best chance of cracking into the aforementioned "Big Three" — it's a fantastic film, and it very well might be his most interesting and original to date.

For someone with such a unique, expertly honed and instantly recognizable style, his movies are ripe for fatigue. Like many others, I've often wondered why he never strays from not just his visual motifs but his equally identifiable approach to dialogue. He's truly beyond parody at this point, which is why the underlying themes of Asteroid City felt so fresh to me even if what we're seeing on screen is not.

But to the latter: this also might be Wes Anderson on steroids in that department and there was something thrilling about that as well. Here he blends every stock element in his wheelhouse — from stop-motion and miniatures to his trademark symmetrical framing, intricate set design and fast pans to everything and anything else — and blows it up and out to the nth degree. This movie looks so good that it would still be enjoyable even if it had nothing at all to say.

The fact that is has A LOT to say, both about the artistic process (and more to the point Wes Anderson's process) and about basic human emotions like grief and love, is what makes this film truly special. He's hit home with showcasing true humanity before (see, yet again, "The Big Three") but never has he ventured into this meta territory before. He dares to ask the question, what's the point of all of this really?

Without getting too into spoilers, the entire cast breaks away from the narrative in the final moments and begins chanting, "You can't wake up if you don't fall asleep." This isn't quite the riddle that it appears on the surface. Rather, it felt more like a simple plea.

You have to submit to what you're seeing completely if you truly want to glean anything meaningful out of the experience. Nobody involved in this production half-assed it (clearly!) and neither can the audience. It's a two-way street or none of this works. An older couple walked out of the theater deep into the second act during my viewing. This Wes Anderson IS too much Wes Anderson. And that might have been a bad thing if it wasn't so clearly the point.

SCORE: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½

[turboacek-blog]

The Love-Hate thing with XY

Something I’ve had thoughts on ever since I’ve seen more of the Anipoke community and it’s an interesting situation

XY seems to be a fan favorite series of all the Pokémon series

With XY generally being seen as one of the best from a more ranking critic review viewpoint (look at IMDb scores for example)

So why is there such a divide among fans?

1) It gets so much loved it’s hated

It’s a weird yet normal reaction

There are definitely some fans out there that praise it so much that it can get annoying

Some actually use it to put down other series which is definitely not good

And some it’s the only thing they mention which over-saturates it in the grand scheme of Pokémon discussion which can also be annoying when out of 15 posts 12 are XY stuff you can get sick of it

2) XY is the only or one of the few watched by some

I’m constantly surprised by the number of fans that have only watched XY or started with XY

Clearly, some of it is an age thing, when they were in that general age range XY was on TV so it was naturally their first series

But also for one reason or another the way XY was presented got a lot more people wanting to check it out, I don’t know for sure but apparently XY brought in a lot of viewers and it can’t be just the regular wave of kids watching Pokémon for the first time

I mention this as people are then using XY as their basis whether it’s the constant comparison to SM specifically the art style or that they never watched Original series to DP/BW so it has that affect that when you’re watching something older some things don’t look as good since it is older especially for younger viewers

3) Social Media

Social Media been around for awhile before XY in 2013

But around that time was also a pretty big boom as stuff like YouTube were getting to the point that people were YouTubers, Vine was alive, twitter and Facebook were still the general share thoughts platforms and etc

So when clips from this time are shared they were more widespread then before and since it’s more modern its less likely to be gone

For example it’s hard to get stuff from OS-DP as it was just the byproduct of being older

Not everything was digitized, and some of the stuff that was is now gone whether a website taken down, or copyright on YouTube video etc as not everything was just on Serebii and Bulbapedia

Where XY was at a time that was fortunate enough that stuff is hard to lose and copyright was better understood and etc so it was able to build up views and likes and etc

Like I saw a vid where someone who never watched Pokemon was reacting to Ash-Greninja like there's something there

4) Miscellaneous stuff

General stuff that some like but I don’t want to say is a main reason or is big enough to give its own point

Visuals: people loved how XY looked, the art style plus the animation and 3D camera

Approach: generally the most shonen of the Pokémon series and when stuff like shonen is a big hit amongst a similar demographic it gets love for it like Ash being more “mature”, him being more of a leader, etc

Romantic side plot: Serena's crush on Ash at least from what I noticed has its own community with shipping, and I can see it bringing in a lot of girl viewers as romance is a common drawing point for young girls plus it’s a general thing people can like

Preferences: some might just generally like characters like Alain over a character like Paul, which I think is just a preference thing than an objective thing, and this applies to everything naturally

5) Least amount of Problems

I have my personal thoughts on XY, some positive some negative

But I can say from a more objective/critics point of view XY has the least problems of any series

XY consistently looked great, had what feels like the least amount of “filler” episodes, had at least solid arcs for Ash Clemont Serena and Bonnie, decent rivals, a supporting cast, etc

As even though I don’t think Sun and Moon had problems it definitely got backlash from the art style change alone let alone the formula change

BW was a soft reboot so it had a negative response from existing fans

JN had production issues that had them have recaps and such plus the co-lead with Goh stuff

So when you can point to negatives for other series that don’t really apply to XY it’s easy to hold it higher

It’s like saying they all have 5 positives but XY has like 1 negative while the others have 3+ negatives. It doesn’t matter about the positives as the negatives weigh them down more

Like even though it has its weaker points if I have to grade it XY doesn’t go below a 5/10 in anything (plot, character, pacing, etc) where you can say some series do fall below that line

Like I personally don’t care for the Team Flare Arc after the league but I wouldn’t say it was bad in the slightest

So my conclusion?

XY was definitely the right place-right time series

The social media boom, plus the general improvements XY made from BW gave it a lot of fans

So now whether they think it genuinely or they just have nostalgia for it, have XY rated higher and like to talk about it regardless of how much it’s already been discussed

It’s similar to how I remember Original Series

Doesn’t matter what May, Dawn, Paul, etc would do people would still bring up Misty Gary Charizard and etc

And it’s the same with XY, doesn’t matter what the Alola Gang, Iris, Cilan, Goh, or Chloe, they get compared to Clemont Bonnie, Serena, etc, and even Ash gets compared to his XY version

But since XY is more recent and for the most part OS fans aren’t online like that they get the status of being the most vocal and etc

As someone who was older when XY came out and wasn’t around for all the YouTube and etc

They do hype up XY a little too much

But at the same time, I do get the dislike or neutralism for SM and JN, and BW

As people can not like certain aspects of XY but none really got or deserve the backlash the others did so they look better as a result of not having that issue

As if hypothetically all Pokémon series in a vacuum are 7/10’s

Things like BW’s soft reboot make it a 5/10 to those fans for example and this can be applied to all series even XY but if others have more visible issues then they get bogged down more which results in making XY look better

To XY’s credit is a feat in itself but having the least number of issues doesn’t mean any issues which are where a lot of anti’s and people that just get tired of it come from as some do genuinely think XY is perfect

Overall XY is a solid series it came out at the right time when everything surrounding it was more controversial and it was able to explode in popularity thanks to the internet

Both sides are justified as XY has its good points but the fact that it’s seemingly the most discussed and regarded series does seem a bit excessive and I sympathize with those that don’t like it for that or just don’t like that series in general

[novantinuum]

(I thought tumblr had finally changed it so you can ask shit from a side blog. Arrrrrgh did I imagine it? Well this is fanfoolishness yet again regretting this being my goddamn main 😅)

Morganite - 45, 54

Tourmaline - 28, 35, 42

Jean - 22, 31

Thank youuu! Yeah ahah tumblr defo let you send in asks from side blogs before because I'm pretty sure I saw you celebrating this in a post once.

WEIRDLY SPECIFIC BUT HELPFUL CHARACTER BUILDING QUESTIONS

_

I'm once again gonna provide a visual for all these OCs ahah. I think I'm gonna have to do that from now on out, it's fun and probably helpful to people reading 'em.

Morganite- (I am forever obsessed with this shit-eating grin sketch I did of her)

45- What’s something unimportant / frivolous that they hate passionately?

I answered this one for Morganite on another ask, but I'm gonna give another, because she just has so much hate and disdain stored up in that gemstone, ahah-

I have a silly OC headcanon that half-Gem Jean Maverick ends up introducing the game of billiards to Gemkind at Little Homeschool. Well, a modified version of the game that's about scoring points for the most mathematically "sick AF" shots eventually ends up spreading like wildfire across the galaxy proper, and plenty of Morganite's lackeys are sucked into it, playing it constantly. Thus, she really, really fucking hates billiards. It's constantly distracting her troops from their duties. Yet another way that damned hybrid keeps thwarting her plans.

54- What’s their instinct in a fight / flight / freeze / fawn situation?

Oh, absolutely fight.

With the circumstances she's lived through (a viscous war, a life partner defecting to join rebels, one's diamond being shattered and having to be re-assigned and rebuild one's reputation under a new leader-) she's easily paranoid, and always wide alert. You really do NOT want to sneak up on her, or spring anything unexpected.

_

Tourmaline- (rebel Tourmaline is soooo my scrunklie)

28- What do they tell people they want? What do they actually want?

Courtier era Tourmaline tells people that she wants to be seen as the most intelligent, knowledgeable Gem in the room. Tourmalines are like... the bookkeepers, the ones who actually WRITE the history- at their Diamonds' behest, of course- and so it is their duty to be in the Know about everything happening around them at all times.

In reality though, all Tourmaline really wants is to make people laugh. To enjoy lasting conversation. To make an impression. For so, so many years, other Gems only saw her as like... a tool, a means to access knowledge, just a living repository for facts, but she wants people to gravitate to her because of who she IS, not what she can give.

35- What is the smallest morally questionable choice they’ve made?

The SMALLEST morally questionable choice? Well... hmm. I mean, she was a strategist in a war, so there were plenty of BIG morally questionable choices... but small?

Hmm.

The reason why these memes are so fun is that sometimes they inspire me to pull shit right out of my ass on the spot. Anyways, one day Tourmaline was sharpening her sword in Bismuth's forge at her permission and accidentally like, broke one of her tools.

She never fessed up to it, and eventually one of Bismuth's weapon smith apprentices gets blamed for it instead.

42- If invited to a TED Talk, what topic would they present on? What would the title of their presentation be?

Hmm...

"Rejuvenated, But By Choice This Time: How To De-program Yourself From Gem Society In Ten Easy Steps"

It's a comedy TED Talk about her own experience in defecting from Homeworld and joining the Crystal Gems that also ends up tackling some Real and Raw topics lol. Probably a talk you'd see given as part of some evening programing at Little Homeschool.

_

Jean Maverick- (I still eternally love this lovely art my friend @cynthi-arts did for me of them)

22- What simple activity that most people do / can do scares your character?

Eating food freely without having to scrounge over the nutrition labels to look at ingredients. Like damn, how do these people live?

The reason why is that Jean has a gluten intolerance- it's not... entirely so bad that it's a full-out allergy, but life is simply easier if they go to the effort of avoiding it as much as they can. This is a big reason why they always envied Gems growing up, in how they don't need to eat or drink or sleep to remain operational- just access to light.

Jean really wishes they weren't saddled down with this half-human bit a lot, suffice it to say. Surely everything would be sooo much easier if they were just a Gem. (So they believe.)

31- When do they feel the most guilt? How do they respond to it?

In the wake of drastic events that come far later, Jean ends up saddled with guilt in how they handled their first encounter with Morganite. They feel that Little Homeworld and Beach City wouldn't have come under such fire if they had acted more decisively that day- poofed her, perhaps, instead of simply cornering her to be ultimately led off in the custody of Homeworld reform officers.

Their way of dealing with all this stress and the needless what-ifs is by completely wearing themself to the bone around the clock in the manhunt for Morganite after her vicious attack on Little Homeworld/Beach City. Jean simply cannot rest until this loose end is tied up completely, and they will absolutely face negative bodily repercussions due to this.

[kyogre-blue]

To celebrate (?) my doc for Disaster Class Hero reaching nearly 200 pages (and having to get split into two, so that it wouldn't lag as much), I finally started the novel.

I'm at only 10 chapters so far (2% completion, haha), but it's been an interesting comparison vis a vis the manhwa.

First, the most amusing points:

Lee Geon's personal characteristics include "masochist" which is not what I would have seen coming.

Hugo owns a bunch of vending machines that refuse to sell to you if your level is too low and your social score is not high enough. What does that even mean? What are you even doing....

The system has audio to accompany (?) the popups.

Hugo actually went into the Tower at one point, seems to be twelve years down the line. Sounds absolutely insane, considering the timeline (but of course my fanfic brain immediately went "but what if he did find Lee Geon back then")

I keep taking notes as I read, but tbh there's too much, so it would be inconvenient to post.

In a more general sense, I have some mixed feelings.

I want to make it clear that I am enjoying it on the whole, so the endless complaining below is just because I'm a negative person. Take all this with a grain of salt.

The biggest thing is that I find it kind of hard to tell sometimes what is supposed to be going on in terms of worldbuilding details. It feels like the author either wasn't bothering to keep track of things or else didn't convey it well. It's not the big stuff, but more like the entire logistics of what actually happened in the Tower, or what Lee Geon was or wasn't wearing, stuff like that. The manhwa isn't always great either, but it's both visual and just gives less details in general, so it feels less noticeable.

Second, the novel always refers to the "Twelve Zodiac Saints" as a collective, even though it's pretty obvious at times that whatever is being said only applies to some of them. It's just really jarring to know that, given their personalities, some saints were definitely not doing this stuff, but the novel still says "the twelve all did X."

Third, I do not super jive with how the novel presents Lee Geon in comparison to everyone else. They really emphasize how Lee Geon is literally the only useful one ever. He did everything, made everything, everyone else is just ripping off his ideas and deeds. The moment he's gone, the saints can't even win a single fight for three years straight. Given that he's not even a human per se, it really kinda grinds my gears that humanity is capable of so little, as a result.

Fourth, there's some hmm feelings about the pseudo politics going on, but nothing really concrete. I think it just feels a bit silly to make it so parallel (presumed) to the real world, because that opens you up to questions like what the heck is going with massive populations like India, Africa and Latin America, since they're not represented among the Saints at all, as far as I know.

Of course, these aren't really angles you're intended to think on. It's just that I am reading into them for no reason. The actual readthrough is going quite well.

[morningstar-warriors]

Game Eleven

Thoughts and Development

I started recording the sessions, we all play online so I figured, why not! It'd be easy to show folks what they missed if they couldn't make it, or look back on mechanical moments that felt flawed. Plus it's very easy to now find direct quotes from players which is cool!

Aside from this another large development is a new player, Button. He is playing a cat called Ashwind, and plans on making occasional appearances here and there. Button is helping me develop a new kind of Stoneteller, he's into playing Warlocks in D&D so he got me to thinking on how we could make a cat warlock that would make sense in the Warriors world. Right now we're going with a necromancer vibe for his cat, and I'm excited to update the Stoneteller post with our more fleshed out concept.

Present issues that I plan on tackling --

Ability Scores

These guys are kinda... Just there. I honestly don't know what to do with them, they feel irrelevant to how the game works at this time. I may go about adding them to dice rolls for skill checks, or scrapping them all together. In the original game, ability scores were actually meant to represent how much chips you had, but Bug and I didn't like this, it didn't feel very customizable when it came to knacks.

Skills and Dice

So there are 5 points you can have in each skill. I've been playing this in a way where, you add that to your dice roll. Which the standard role in my game is, a 2d6. So if you have 4 points in a skill, it's 2d6+4. Another test player group recommended to me that this could instead be a die pool, so it physically feels like you have more. Visual progression. Aside from dice, I realize game wise, I need to have a better grasp of the skills. Sometimes I feel like some things are... Missing from them? I still can't quite place it though. Like there are some things my dnd brain wishes there were rolls for, but I feel like if I keep refreshing my understanding of the skills that part of me would melt away. I don't think it's necessary to have a million skills, and its important in a cat game to feel like... A cat. An animal. So I think these skills are very important as is for now.

The Knack Problem

There are so so so many knacks. I'm not even sure if knacks are the route I'd like to go anymore. Or at the very least they need a lot of restructuring. I was suggested knacks that cost more chips should be higher level. Since at level 1, you dont have many chips to spare. I think thats wise. Alternatively I could give knacks the "At higher level" treatment, and state that certain actions you could take through the knack cost more/are more effective with the use of more chips. For now I don't know, I can also see the concept of knacks disappearing and becoming something else. I like the physicality of the chips though.

Misc Chips... BOOOOO

So these are dead to me. Way too confusing HAHA! I'm thinking so far everything starts off as a point buy. So you just get 5 chips, put them anywhere its up to you. but no holding onto empty chips, I feel like that just confuses people. My second test player group didnt get it at all and my first one is struggling with it as well. Third group I chose to ignore the idea aaaand that went way smoother lol.

Damage and Health

So I'm debating switching from a number based HP to concepts like Apocalypse or Monster of the Week, where you just have points of "Hurt" rather than a number that slowly dwindles. This would lead to a large restructure of many things I think, so I'm kinda nervous to tackle this right now, but considering my issues around ability scores and knacks, I think this is a necessary path to take. I'll start researching these games further and probably start making the changes once I feel satisfied with the remaining parts of V. 1 that need finishing. Which is Leveling, and the Leader Code.

Beginner and Child Friendliness

So a few times in here I mentioned some math. Adding the ability scores, dice pooling. These things were fun suggestions, but my test player groups also mentioned that the less math, the more player friendly. I know as a kid the idea of a game like D&D sounded fun, but making a character was a dreadfully boring behemoth. I know not all children are opposed to complex ideas and some adding and subtraction, but I do know that most people play role-playing games for the role-play. That's something I want to prioritize in my development. I will say I'm proud of how easy it seems for my test groups to make characters, and learn how to play. I'm glad my writing and guidance is competent.

[shadowcrash10]

GAMES PLAYED IN 2022 - RANKED

11) Knack 2

Boring, standard gameplay, visual presentation, music and story. Not much here, but a kid may be into it, especially with the co op carrying a lot of the weight.

10) The King of Fighters XV

More King of Fighters, it's solid but lacks innovation and single player content, while also being very expensive as of now. The visual presentation is a stark improvement from XIV, and the roster is very strong.

9) Chibi-Robo!

Cute and unique, provides a lot of cool ideas coupled with genius sound design, a surprisingly cool story and memorable characters. Could have done with a more focused second act, but it never stops being fun.

8) Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3

The peak of the series to me, with amazing art direction and great combat led by a simplified control system that still gives all the depth you want. Mechanically engaging all around, with a great roster to boot. Online isn't so hot though.

7) Final Fantasy VII

The glowing reception paints an accurate picture of a touchstone of the medium, with one of my favorites storylines in an RPG, alongside a dynamic, customizable fighting system, great music and a fun world to indulge. Only criticism comes from the lack of a few quality of life implementations, omissions that were common at the time.

6) SoulCalibur II

A great showcase of a single player-focused fighter, with fun controls and mechanics, a cool roster and great music, with lots of content to explore. Weird and funny mission design is coupled with light RPG elements to provide some extended playtime, and it very much works.

5) No More Heroes

A very funny game, maybe the most funny I've played in a while. It has simple combat controls that shine through in the focused, challenging boss fights, pitting the protagonist against a great roster of characters. Everything is punctuated by banger music and stylish visual direction. The loop of doing part jobs in a hub world for money to enter in new levels might turn some off, but it helped me further connect with the story. The ending is also great, a complete left turn.

4) Sonic Frontiers

Sonic's next 3D formula kicks off to a great start, with controls and level design that complement each other to create open stages that are just fun to move around. The combat is also surprisingly varied, carrying along some of my favorite boss fights in any game. An emotional, fascinating storyline and amazing score complete the package. There's a noticeable lack of polish, and the latter half of the game feels rushed, but the strong pacing and base gameplay manage to hold the game and carry it to the finish line, which - while controversial - absolutely satisfied me. Looking forward to what else they can do with this take on Sonic.

3) Resident Evil (2002)

Couldn't ask for a better introduction to survival horror. While the creepy atmosphere and jump scares are absolutely on point, the strength of the game is on its replay value, making sure it has a shelf life long after it stops being scary to the player. The puzzle design is smart and the story is fun to figure out. An absolute masterclass.

2) Doom (2016)

Provides old school design sensibilities with a modern touch, making a game with the best of the past and present. Everyone already knows about the soundtrack, but it's still worth noting what a classic on its own it became. The gameplay loop is extremely well calibrated, leading to an aggressive play style fitting of the story and main character. Everything in the presentation helps solidify the core feelings of the work, in what feels like a very focused, hand crafted piece. A joy from beginning to end.

1) Rayman Legends

Everything I could have asked for and more. My expectations were quite high and I came out as satisfied as I wanted to be. No bad levels, no lesser moments, a game that left no aspect of it without oozing polish and creativity. Absolutely recommend it.

[denimbex1986]

'With Christopher Nolan’s latest, Oppenheimer, now in theaters and IMAX, Collider’s Steve Weintraub spoke to the film’s composer, Ludwig Göransson (Black Panther), about reuniting with the auteur director for one of this year’s biggest features. Having also previously worked together on Tenet, Göransson tells Weintraub it was “extremely exciting” to get the call for Oppenheimer, not only for the opportunity but because “...the way that he works with music in his movies is incredibly unique. It's almost like it's its own characters in his films.”

Oppenheimer is the white-knuckle biopic about physicist Robert. J. Oppenheimer, played by Cillian Murphy in his first-ever leading role with longtime collaborator Nolan. To tell the harrowing account of the man behind the world’s first nuclear weapon, the movie also boasts the talent of Robert Downey Jr., Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, and Florence Pugh.

During their interview, Göransson talks about the process of working with Nolan, from receiving that first call to reading the script and visualizing the music. He tells Weintraub what about the score he learned from the very first read, why violins play such a vital part in the music of Oppenheimer, how the “spellbinding” visuals of the movie played into the music, and why this job was so daunting at first. Göransson also discusses recording the music in under 10 days, what piece proved to be most challenging, and how AI may affect his work in the industry...

COLLIDER: Let me start with congratulations. Oppenheimer is kind of good. [Laughs] Have you seen it in IMAX 70 millimeter?

LUDWIG GÖRANSSON: I saw it in London at the BFI [IMAX], and it was incredible. It was like the first time I saw it on IMAX, and the sound system there was incredible. It was a great experience. I brought my parents with me.

What is it actually like for you, after spending so much time working on the music and just diving deep into a project like this, sitting in a movie theater, especially an IMAX 70-millimeter presentation, and taking it in? When you listen to the music, do you ever hear things where you're like, “Man, I should have tweaked that. It would have been better like this,” or can you just let go and say, “This is great, it works. I'm so happy?”

GÖRANSSON: No, I definitely let go of that. I let go of that until the last day of the dub, and we're done. We do everything we can up to that moment. And, you know, I have these great collaborators, and with Chris, we're on the same page. We feel the same about the music, and we're finished when we're done. So, it's incredibly rewarding for me to sit there in the theater and just enjoy. That's why I love working on these movies…because it's always rewarding. You put so much of yourself into this; you put so much of your time and your feelings, and so you want to feel like you get something back, and that's one of the times when you feel like you're getting something back, so I love it.

I have a ton of random questions for you today, so I'm just gonna jump on it. What do you think would surprise people to learn about being a composer in Hollywood?

GÖRANSSON: Well, I think when I was a kid, before jumping into this job, I thought it was gonna be...I had a very romantic image of it, you know. So you're sitting in your cabin, and you're writing all this music for yourself, and then it's done, and you send it somewhere, and then they put it into the movie. And that image is not really how it works out in reality.

Then fortunately for me, I have been able to find these incredible collaborators, so it's a very respectful job. We're doing it together, and we push each other. We're pushing the music forward, we're pushing the boundaries of the music forward. But, you know, the only thing that's working against us is time. And a lot of people think that music and time is not, you know… They don't understand the relationship, that there [are] deadlines, you know.

Yeah, I just spoke to (composer) Daniel [Pemberton] about his work on Ferrari, and he told me he wrote the score in like five days or something crazy because it had to get done. I'm like, “I don't understand that.”

GÖRANSSON: No, no, I don't know if I could do that. That seems terrifying.

No, I couldn't do it. But that's a whole different thing. You worked with Nolan for the first time on Tenant, what was it like when he called you for not only Tenant but for this and said, “Hey, I have a project, maybe you want to do the music?” What are those calls like?

GÖRANSSON: Well for Tenant, it was incredibly surprising because I never thought that I would get the call like that. But it was also extremely exciting because, I mean, I love everything he's done with both Hans Zimmer and David Julyan. I was a big fan of those movies and the music, so getting the chance to work with Chris… I think the way that he works with music in his movies is incredibly unique. It's almost like it's its own characters in his films, and to be able to get insight [into] his mind and see how that works.

So on Tenet, it was a great experience, and then after Tenet, we kept in contact. We were watching movies, we were talking about film, we were talking about music. But he is also kind of very– He's also a little secretive. So, he doesn't talk about, like, “Hey, I'm working on this now,” and so the phone call is about reading scripts, and it always comes out of the blue. So he was like, “Hey, you wanna read the script tomorrow for my new film?” And you had no idea what you're about to get into, but that's also the exciting part of it.

Yeah, I spoke to Matt [Damon] and Emily [Blunt] about how Nolan approached them to be in the movie, and Emily had to read it at his house, and he gave Matt the script for, like, a night so he could read it the next morning. Did he make you go to his house?

GÖRANSSON: For Tenant, I read it at his house. For Oppenheimer, at the office. But it's very much in person, you know, and I love that.

It has to be weird, though, even for you when you go to the office to read the script and you know that he knows you're reading it at that time, you know what I mean? Like you're trying to digest it. Are you one of these people that can read the script and sort of get it all in instantly, or do you like having more time with it to digest it?

GÖRANSSON: Well, I like the instant impression that you get when you see or hear something, or you read or something. Obviously, it's gonna change with time, but immediately after reading that script, I’d never read anything like it, honestly. You immediately go into his head and into his mind. You're seeing the world through his eyes, and immediately I understand that that's what the music needs to feel like. You need to channel that complex, genius personality through so many different spectrums of music, and that's kind of what I took away from that first read.

When you are reading it, are you writing down some initial impressions of what you're feeling so you could sort of remember that when you start composing, or is it sort of just you're reading it and just taking it in?

GÖRANSSON: No, I'm just taking it in, just like if I would listen or watch something.

I read that when Nolan came to you, he mentioned violin, that that was the instrument that he was thinking about. Do you enjoy that when a director gives you that kind of guidance early on? And then, what was it like thinking about the violin for writing the music?

GÖRANSSON: Yeah, I love that. I love any kind of ideas. And especially the idea of the violin was extremely exciting for me because my wife, Serena Göransson, she's an incredible violinist, and to be able to work with her and start off going to the studio, and just [experimenting] with the tones of the violin and the vibratos. I think why Chris was so excited about the violin was that it's a fretless instrument; you can go from being most beautiful, romantic to, in a split second, change into something horrific and manic and neurotic. And to have those channel Oppenheimer's personality, that was something that we were out for.

Do you ever sneak in references to other scores the way that John Williams can do it?

GÖRANSSON: [Laughs] I don't think anyone could do it the way John Williams is doing. I don't actually know the way that he does it, but I don't do it intentionally. But maybe if you tell me that, “Oh, this sounds like this,” but I don't do it intentionally, no.

What are some of the sounds and themes that people can look forward to in the music of Oppenheimer?

GÖRANSSON: Well, I think one thing that was unique for this, or a couple of things that were unique for the score, was obviously the strings and the violins, but also the performance of the violins and the strings. One of the first things that Chris showed me was this– I went into a visual effects meeting at the IMAX, and I saw some of the visuals that he had been working on with (VFX supervisor) Andrew Jackson, and you see the spinning of the atoms. That visual to me was just so spellbinding, and I've never seen anything like it. And I was like, “That's how I want the music to sound like.”

It was also kind of scary because, how do I get that music to sound like that? Because I know I wanted to work with tempo and I know I wanted to record it live and play it with musicians, but how to get those tempo increasements increasing like that, doing it in one take, in one flawless take, that was the challenge. And we implemented a new recording technique that I didn't think was humanly possible to play it, but with this incredible group of musicians, we were able to do all these tempo changes all in one take. You can hear it in the piece that starts with Kenneth Branagh asking Cillian Murphy, like, “Can you hear the music?” And it starts off with this piece of music.

I read that you did the recording, and I could be wrong, like in this intense five-day period.

GÖRANSSON: Yeah.

Can you talk about that? Diving in for five straight days or whatever you did?

GÖRANSSON: I think it was five to 10 days of recording, but I think we spent just three days on figuring out how to record this unique piece of music with these tempo changes — 21 tempo changes starting from one tempo and just ending three times faster, and doing it all in one take. I think that human touch of it– First, I was thinking we have to do it in separate chunks but to do it all in one take, they really created that chaos of the spinning atoms.

When I speak to a lot of composers, directors, they always talk about how there's always something that they continually go back to because they're not 100% happy. Was there a piece of music in Oppenheimer that you kept going back to because you're like, “I think I can tweak it a little bit more?”

GÖRANSSON: For us, you know, the last piece that came to place was the music that comes after the bomb because the state that Oppenheimer is in is so complex. You're seeing these people cheering, but like, what's he feeling inside? And that took some time, and we worked on that. That was kind of the last piece of the puzzle. But other than that, I think, for the movie you have the first act of the movie, it's these complex, beautiful, melodic, intimate violins and strings. It starts off with this beautiful, intimate performance, and ends in an opera kind of, and you're going through that personal growth.

Then there's the second act of the movie, where all these theories and all these scribbles actually [turn] into an actual product, it turns into a bomb. You see them actually dealing with building it, hoisting it up, and the whole music spectrum and the color and tone of the music changes in that moment from this organic, live instrumentation to just these three sounds of, like, this pumping bass, and then you have this little ticking, like a metallic ticking, and that really propels you to these guys are about to blow themselves up, or they could potentially destroy mankind.

One of the things that's going on in Hollywood right now, and one of the reasons SAG and WGA are on strike, is AI. I've been asking other composers and a lot of people about their thoughts on AI because it can be a tool for good, but it's also very scary because of what it could mean. When you think of AI, are you scared of it? What's your take on it and what it could mean for what you do in Hollywood?

GÖRANSSON: I mean, it's interesting. I haven't fully started using it yet in whatever I do, but I'm definitely interested in using it as a tool, you know? And I think that's kind of what the conversation is about — you can use it as a tool, but it would never substitute the artistry of people and the players and the performers. Just like I said when I described the scene, you know, having so many people performing that piece of music created this breath and created this organic sense of chaos and excitement, and it's filling the room with air. That's something, when we recorded filling that room with air, that's something that we’ll never be able to– You can never replace that. So I think, you know, as long as, hopefully, you just use it as a tool for yourself.

Totally. My last thing for you, are you working on anything else now, or what's coming up for you?

GÖRANSSON: No, I mean, right now I'm here, I'm gonna watch a movie in New York tomorrow. I loved working on this movie, and I spent a lot of time into it, and a lot of my effort, and I feel like I learned something. I feel like I'm getting something back from it, and right now, I just wanna—after I'm done—I just wanna enjoy summer, enjoy my time with my kids, and just really take some time. So I don't have anything down the pipeline. It just has to be the right thing.'

[l-1-z-a]

The Sims 2 - Eurogamer - 7-17-2003

Seven expansion packs later we get the sequel!

Updated on 17 Jul 2003

Like it or not, The Sims is the biggest selling PC game of all time by some margin. It's not a success, it's a bloody phenomenon, and each and every expansion pack gets snapped up faster than chocolate drops dangled over the jaws of a slavering canine.

The Sims 2, then. An excuse to sell you the same game all over again with shinier graphics or a lovingly created sequel that'll drag in the few unbelievers that are still not convinced it's the greatest game ever? A bit of both really.

Eh, when I were a lad, it were all C64s around here

When home videogaming was a very small lad indeed, Activision released a wonderful text/icon based decision-making game called Alter Ego on Commodore 64 disk. Basically you went from the first stages of consciousness in the womb right up to (potentially premature) death, and could be as sickly sweet nice or as much of an unhinged arsehole as you wanted to be and everything in between simply by choosing your response to a series of typical scenarios. It psychologically profiled your 'individual' and really was one of the most compelling videogames experiences ever.

Just like Alter Ego, The Sims 2 lets your computer-generated creations grow from babies to children to adults and then to old age, also developing emotionally, mentally and physically. Apparently your creations will respond according to given situations depending on choices you make during your formative years. EA calls these 'Life's Big Moments' and your 'Life Score' depends on how you negotiate your way through these situations.

Included is the rather splendid 'Create-A-Sim' feature, which, shockingly, lets you customise the facial features to an almost infinite degree. On show at Camp EA were a few examples of how flexible the system is, with the ability to tweak everything, including the size, shape and colour of the eyes, width and length of the nose, hairstyle, and so on. Just to prove the point a pre-made Mr. T clone showed off the potential to tailor your avatar exactly the way you want it.

My disturbing offspring

Rather disturbingly, players can see what their offspring might look like if matched with a particular individual - and with aliens among the basic races available you can conceivably have a family of green-faced afro-sporting offspring running around. Thanks to the sure to-be-hyped-to-death DNA feature, your offspring will not only resemble the parents physically, but also pick up character traits, so if your Sims are a bunch of low life slobs, don't be surprised if the sprogs can't be arsed to tidy up either.

Another key enhancement is the much improved house building tool, which allows players to construct abodes spanning as many as four floors, with curves for the first time and various new objects to deck out your palace/slum exactly the way you want it.

Visually, The Sims 2's engine is a revelation next to the severely ageing original, with vastly improved, detailed character models sporting a pleasing array of incidental animations and individual touches that make the game a far more compelling prospect. Aside from that, the background detail and general style of artwork made even the various stills dotted around the presentation area look like renders rather than mere screenshots.

Don't hit on me!

The Camp EA demo session itself showed off a few typical Sims scenarios, with four teenage Sims (two boys, two girls) of varying levels of attractiveness and social skills. While the ladies man Bernie could charm the pants off both the ladies with his 'flirt' social skill, the slobbish Marty had no chance, hamstrung by his comparatively primitive 'hit on' skill. Similarly, the ladies don't appreciate infidelity - as evidenced by Bernie's dalliance right in front of his previous target resulting in a display of waterworks.

Upstairs in the Jacuzzi, we got to see the same foursome sharing the hot tub Big Brother style, with various examples of how the game allows players to engage in progressively complex activities the more they engage with one another. One such event was the ability to engage in some mock synchronised swimming, while later the use of a gym showed off the ability to spruce up the physical appearance of your Sim, and potentially win the heart of that shallow bint you've had your heart set on.

With the game still some six to eight months away from release, it'll be some time before we get proper hands on with the next blockbusting episode in this ridiculously large selling series [and it'll be muggins here who 'gets' to do it, I'll wager -Tom]. By then, the current relatively high minimum spec of 32MB graphics card and PIII 700 shouldn't be considered too high, especially when you acknowledge just how many expansion packs this will undoubtedly spawn.

More more more

Until then, there's another expansion pack to wade through (Makin' Magic) and, of course the more structured console sequel, Bustin' Out. As soon as we get a sniff of playable code, we'll let you know everything there is to know about The Sims 2 and its mutant offspring.