#one because it has a lot of redundancy with another section

[hellsite-proteins]

I LOVE THIS BLOG… would you be able to explain the stuff you’re doing to someone who knows nothing about proteins? all I can remember is something to do with dna ..?

of course! ill do my best to give an entry level crash course here, but if any of this is unclear please leave a comment or send an ask so i can better explain.

DISCLAIMER: all of this has been simplified, and because biology is messy, there are exceptions to pretty much everything i've said. the point is not to give a perfect explanation, but rather a general understanding

the central dogma of molecular biology is pretty much our version of "the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell", and since you've alluded to it already, i'll start there. it states that genetic information goes from DNA to RNA to proteins. inside of almost any cell is DNA, which codes for all of the genetic information allowing the cell to function. for our purposes right now, just think of DNA as an instruction manual. when a protein is going to be made, the part of the DNA sequence encoding it is copied over to make a RNA sequence.

RNA is structurally similar to DNA, but while DNA is usually found as a double helix (with two complementary strands), RNA is more often single stranded. it is less stable than DNA, so it does not work as well for long term information storage, but is smaller and can cary out numerous crucial functions.

prokaryotes are things like bacteria, and are distinct from eukaryotes (which includes us) because they lack a nucleus. this means that their DNA is loose inside their cell, rather than sectioned away. in prokaryotes, transcription (which copies information from DNA -> RNA) and translation (which is the process of going from RNA -> proteins) can happen at the same time, while in eukaryotes these processes are separated, as DNA is too large to leave the nucleus. messenger RNA (mRNA) is the specific type of RNA used to code for proteins in all cells. inside a eukaryotic cell, mRNA must be processed to increase its stability and allow it to exit the nucleus.

now, getting to the part about proteins! proteins are made through a process called translation, which translates the information stored using a sequence of nucleic acids on RNA to a string of amino acids known as a protein. each set of three nucleic acids, which on mRNA can be A, U, C or G, makes up the codon for one amino acid. the code is referred to as 'degenerate', since there is a lot of redundancy built in and so some information is lost along the way. there are more possible codons than there are amino acids, and so there is a lot of overlap with several codons coding for the same amino acid.

translation is accomplished using organelles known as ribosomes. these bind to the relevant RNA sequence and help join together the amino acids that are encoded by their sequence, forming peptide bonds. this is done using another specialized type of RNA called a transfer RNA (tRNA), which sticks temporarily to the three-letter codon on the mRNA and carries the corresponding amino acid to the ribosome so that it can be joined with the others in the sequence. all proteins start with the same codon (AUG), and subsequent amino acids are added one at a time. RNA and proteins both have directionality, which means that the two different ends of these molecules are not the same, and the direction you read the sequence in matters.

as a protein is assembled, the N terminal end is put together first, and so this part exits the ribosome while the rest is still being built. at this point, it comes in contact with the liquid inside the cell, and starts to bend itself into different shapes in order to make the most thermodynamically stable structure. this happens spontaneously, and is an effort to minimize the free energy of the protein and the surrounding water molecules. basically, everything wants to be in a state that requires as little energy as possible, and will fold itself to get there. think of this as a similar process to getting home after a long day, and trying to make yourself comfortable as fast as possible. protein folding is the equivalent to you taking off your jeans and lying down on your couch.

the thing is, proteins are complicated, and they need to fold quickly, because the inside of a cell is crowded and chaotic. the way they fold is influenced by several different factors, including how fast translation takes place and whether anything else is nearby to help them fold correctly. proteins do countless different highly specific things in any given cell, and their ability to function is based entirely around their structure. just like how you probably have numerous different tools in your home made of plastic, but each one is a different shape and therefore does something unique. if someone came along and melted your plastic cups until they were completely deformed, they wouldn't be of much use.

the primary structure of a protein is its amino acid sequence, and the secondary structure is made by interactions between nearby backbone atoms, but the tertiary structure is the main thing you'll see looking at any real protein structure. it is the combination of interactions between all the atoms within one amino acid chain. if this gets damaged (which can happen with things like heat and strong chemicals), the protein is said to be denatured. some proteins also have a quaternary structure, which is formed as different folded chains of amino acids each making up one subunit assemble together to make a bigger, more complicated protein.

whether they folded wrong from the start (like your plastic cup getting made with a hole in the bottom at the factory) or they started off fine but then got broken (like your plastic cup melting after you leave it on the hot stove), misfolded proteins are the wrong shape and therefore cannot perform their function correctly. these can do a lot of damage in an organism, and are generally a waste of resources to keep around, so they get destroyed and their parts are recycled.

hope this helps!

letter sequence in this ask matching protein-coding amino acids:

ILVETHISLGwldyealeteplainthestffyredingtsmenewhknwsnthingatprteinsallIcanrememerissmethingtdwithdna

protein guy analysis:

this protein is strange, terrible and filled with holes! just like many of the other structures, the myriad of loops want nothing to do with each other, and everything is all over the place. this whole structure is disordered and likely wiggling around trying to find something else to stick to and mess with. just a toxic trainwreck that should never have existed.

predicted protein structure:

[coldgoldlazarus]

Something else I've come back to while thinking about my theoretical Metroid II re-remake, is another interesting thematic element of the descent.

I commented in a previous post several weeks back, that it's kinda interesting how for the most part Samus Returns and AM2R are pretty similar in how they interpreted most of the areas, with the distinct exception of The Tower. But on looking back at fully-detailed stitched map for Return Of Samus, it actually makes a lot of sense, and I was somewhat underselling the strength of its design before. The fact that the remakes mostly match up on what's a temple, what's a factory, and so on, stems in no small part from the tilework in the original game.

(Even the divergence between interpretations of The Tower comes from emphasizing different aspects; AM2R focuses more on the interior with all the beams, and the lake of acid/lava at the bottom, to make it a weapons facility and geothermal plant, while Samus Returns instead focuses on the twisting vines and thorns climbing up from the surrounding caves, to make it into a marshy jungle.)

---

But taking a step back to look at the big picture, there's a very very interesting progression as you delve deeper. The first section you visit seems to be a temple or a place of residence. Some weapons in the basement, and expansions out the wazoo, but the actual area is pretty innocious.

Second area, some sort of water processing facility given the pipes and the lake out back, which AM2R stuck close to, while Samus Returns reenvisioned it as more of a big dam structure. I actually like that slight modification a lot and will be incorporating that, partially because it fits slightly better with the following thematic progression IMO.

The third and fourth areas are sorta thematically linked with two sides of manufacturing; the factory, and the mines supplying it with raw materials. Here we see a more heavily industrious side to the Chozo, something AM2R in particular picked up on and emphasized further in a lot of ways.

Then there's The Tower. Has one of every beam, sits atop a lake of lava, thorny vines growing up the sides of the cavern it resides in. Setting aside both of the remakes' more colorful interpretations, there's something just very grandiose and dark about it, and one area where MII's level of screen crunch is kind of a detriment to fully appreciating. And I think, even in the absence of the need for redundant beams, AM2R had the right idea in labeling this a weapons facility.

(Following this is where AM2R inserts the Distribution Center. I love it, and it is a great extension of the industry idea, but in hindsight the placement after the Tower feels a little bit awkward.)

Long long tunnel, classic Metroid bubble area and Omega gauntlet. This all seems to be nature, so less relevant to this discussion, though the bit in the middle where the first Omega is introduced is something I wanna shine a spotlight on in a later post. Anyway, it's a long remote trek away from all the other places of civilization, ending with ascending a huge abyss to the final facility built above it.

And that final location, where the Queen resides, is a lab. Even before it was ever explicitly stated anywhere that the Chozo created the Metroids, I have zero doubt that the implications here were intended when the game was originally made. But it's an especially interesting thing when you look at the sequence it is the capstone to.

It's easy to miss otherwise, but looking at them all in context to each other, you wind up with a clear progression in the roles each facility plays. Simple hallmarks of civilization, to mild use of nature for that civilization, to heavier industry, to war. And beyond that, genetic engineering and extinction.

The Ice Beam is available again in the laboratory, behind a shattered statue. A gameplay convenience, but also a key piece of storytelling.

[aquatark]

kind of randomly spurred post, but i was just wondering how many endless ocean fans knew about the development screenshots we have of the first game... so i figured i'd share them with you all, along with some light analysis for those interested in this game's development history!

so the development photos i'll be going into in this post were revealed to the public in 2014-2015, shared on the twitter account of ichiro mihara, the vice president of arika and series producer of the endless ocean games! nowadays, he mostly just posts food pics and pokemon go stuff... kinda living the dream ngl

below is the complete set of screenshots:

the most obvious difference here to most players would be creatures placed where they shouldn't be, such as the yellow boxfish in an atypical zoom, and the presence of false clown anemonefish in the abyss and ship's rest. while the boxfish photo i don't have any explanation for other than the creature moving around a little at some point in development, the anemonefish photos i have a more interesting explanation for!

we can use these photos, along with multiple other photos of clownfish in eo1 zooms taken during development (which are used on the plaques of eo2's aquarium), to deduce that this clownfish species was used as a test creature for zoom environments! i mean, it's pretty obvious they weren't intending for you to actually find clownfish in the depths... and due to their order in the game's internal d code life system, we can assume they were among the first zoom mode creatures to be added. it all lines up! though i'm glad the little guys don't have to suffer that insane water pressure anymore...

now, another big difference is the lack of water fog in most of these photos! it's especially obvious in the photos taken in zoom mode that this portion of the game had yet to be figured out at the point those photos were taken. for comparison, here's the yellow boxfish photo compared with a photo of the same staghorn coral zoom in the final game:

big difference, huh? this fog would be even stronger if i weren't using an emulator to take my photos - dolphin tends to skimp a little on the fog. but, this lines up with what we know about this game's development: during a post-release developer interview (which you can view translated into english here), they mentioned struggling to make this fog feel right - more oceanic than foggy feeling, and accurately changing with the player's current depth - and these photos illustrate that there was a time where fog in zoom mode spots was neglected entirely!

the screenshot of the open encyclopedia also has a lot of interesting differences from the final game. take a look here, comparing the same page:

(note that of course, the development photo was taken in japanese, while my screenshot is in english: "fish who live in the ocean" is actually what the deep sea section is called in the final japanese release... trust me, i checked)

so obviously, the layout of these pages is completely different! i imagine the details on these small fish would have been barely legible on the average person's tv at the time, so making them bigger was a good call. additionally, the encyclopedia used to be navigated using arrow buttons and a back button to exit! this back button is completely unused in the final game, probably just because it's redundant when in the final game, you can just press the b button to go back. three other small changes are that:

in the dev screenshot, the encyclopedia's page background is just a texture, as opposed to a 3d model as seen in the final game. this means it's likely the pages didn't flip like a real book does at this point.

the scientific names of the giant squid and the oarfish was altered.

there are no page numbers in the encyclopedia.

now, for a quick lightning round of smaller changes!

in the final game, there is only one place to find remoras: accompanied by the whale shark in entryway slope, in small numbers. this contrasts with the whale shark photo, in which way more remoras are seen surrounding it, and in an area deeper than entryway slope allows. since this photo was also an old promotional image, and we have footage of the game from previews around the same time, the most plausible explanation is that this whale shark was placed in the game's unused test stage (which i should also make a post about at some point lol).

the penguin photo was taken with an angle impossible in the final game, as was the polar bear photo and the starck's demoiselle photo.

also in the penguin photo, there are two hatches typically present on the deck of the gabbiano (one on either side of the mast), that are absent.

the water surrounding the gabbiano in the polar bear photo is a different color than in the final game.

the starck's demoiselle photo has a bright cyan water color in the background, which is never visible in the final game without camera hacks.

finally, one fun fact regarding the starck's demoiselle photo: it's actually used in-game, both in this game and in the sequel! in eo1, it can be found occasionally placed in the fake magazine spreads sent to the player for a C grade photo request, and in eo2, it is the photo used to represent "DIVING MAGAZINE" when viewing photo requests!

that's all of my rambling for now, i hope you found this interesting! if this kind of longpost is something you'd like to see more of in the future, let me know! i've got all sorts of topics in the chamber that i just need an excuse to write about lol

[torchship-rpg]

Dev Diary 8 - Identities: Terrans & Lunars

Happy International Moon Day! Torchship is set 200 years after Neil Armstrong first set foot on the moon, with history diverging when Alexei Leonov followed him a few days later, keeping the space race hot through moon bases, Mars, and beyond. A bit like For All Mankind, if everyone was a bit less of a complete drama queen.

In celebration of the incredibly cool feat of somehow putting boots on another world, we’re going to be focusing today’s Dev Diary on the two human Identities which descend directly from the event; the Terrans who went there and the Lunars who stayed.

Terrans

We touched on Terrans in Dev Diary 2, as an example for how even the most ‘standard’ of human identities still has a lot of interesting Traits to draw from. Still, Terrans are very much the ‘default’ human identity, being the most populous human group. They’re called Terrans because they got upset about everyone calling them Earthlings, and it had a nice symmetry with Lunars.

Even before we get into the specific sub-Identities, each Identity is divided into a bunch of subsections which dive into various details about the group; where they live, what the environment is like, and what specific biological or genetic details you might need to know. Any of these can come with Traits; the Biology one is where aliens get their signature features, and humans get the developmental and genetic distinctions that set them apart.

(As an aside, these Identity entries are big. They’re not just a couple of paragraphs, they’re thousands of words about history, culture, and biology. Sometimes I get distracted and go on for four paragraphs about the Zinovian biological and cultural concept of sex and gender. Sorry not sorry.)

For Terrans, our Biology section includes our first two Traits. As mentioned last time, 1g is unusually high for humanoid life in the setting; most other species evolved at around half to maybe three quarters of that, and the various spacers will have grown up under even less.

This means that Terrans are a great fit for the Heavyworlder trait, which is one of the Gravity traits. This gives you better tolerance for high Gs (important when you’ve got to work on your spacecraft while under thrust) in exchange for worse penalties in 0g. Compared to a spacer who could spacewalk before they could normal-walk, you’re going to come off clumsy in freefall. You also get a bonus to Physical Instrument, the cert used for basic physical strength and endurance, and do more damage in melee.

The other Terran biological Trait is Baseliner. An assumption underlying every biological Identity is that unless we say otherwise, there’s genetic engineering afoot, either ongoing or in the species' past. While some of this is awful Gattaca-style eugenics nonsense, for Torchship’s humanity this has mostly been just some tidying up. Evolution settles for a lot of ‘good-enough’ solutions, so with a little bit of targeted editing we can do stuff like prevent cells from hoarding molecules they’ll never use, or use a chemical that’s actually good at the job instead of one that the body just had lying around.

Baseliner is the Trait where we say otherwise. You pretty much can’t survive off Earth without some genetic engineering; turns out even a pretty small reduction in gravity long-term is going to be bad for your heart, nerves, muscles, bones… your everything, basically. But if you and your family have always lived on Earth, you could well have gone the last hundred years without genetic editing. 

The downside is that it costs more XP to upgrade Physical Instrument and you take extra consequences from different levels of gravity, but on the upside you have an extra ten minutes in low Oxygen before consequences start setting in, and you have a higher tolerance for drugs and poisons. You might not be peak human performance, but all those redundancies can come in handy.

Once we’re done with biology, we move into the sub-Identities, which are specific regions or subcultures. Right now Terrans only have two; rural and urban. (I’ve played around with some others but I haven’t been happy with anything yet, send in your suggestions!). Urban Terrans live in the dense, futuristic megacities that dot future Earth, in communal archeologies that are like self-contained villages. Theirs is a life of beautiful buildings, abundant greenery, a different kind of library for everything, and a joyous excess of monorails. It’s everything you could have wanted from Usborne’s Book of Future Cities (1979) come to life.

Urban Terrans get recommended the following Traits; Polyglot (to get across the cosmopolitan nature of the cities), Well-Connected (to show your closeness to the Star Union’s bureaucracy), Divergent (because urban Terrans are exactly the sort of people who do recreational genetic modifications), and Communal Spirit, a trait which boosts the effectiveness of working together. This is a common Trait for many Human identities; it’s pretty much the one that models prosocial production practices in action. 

The Rural Terran trait represents a much smaller proportion of the population. These are the mix of farmers, ecologists, and indigenous groups piecing the planet back together after a close brush with climate change. Outside of lithium, there’s not a lot of on-world mining anymore (space mining has made it uneconomical) so this is mostly agriculture. These communities are relatively isolated, bypassed by the high-speed trains connecting Earth’s cities; the saying goes that Mars is closer to the cities than the farms are.

Rural Terrans get these Traits suggested: Biome Specialist (representing a familiarity in whatever regional ecology you grew up in), Stiff Upper Lip (farm work tends to toughen you up), Natural Esper (a lot of psychics try to get away from the crowded cities), and Trusting, a trait that rewards you for helping others, but makes you more vulnerable to manipulation and makes it stressful to initiate violence.

Finally, at the end of each Identity is a section dedicated to how this group fits into Star Patrol, and how their presence can result in extra Traits through social interaction with other groups. Here, the privileged, ‘default’, often somewhat thoughtless Terrans are recommended the Imposing trait, which gives you some bonuses for being intimidating, but makes it a little harder to get people’s trust. It also does a decent job representing how Terrans are simply more heavily built than anyone else in the Sol system; when you’re comparing to tiny Martians and spindly Spacers, Terrans are collectively a bunch of Conans the Barbarian. 

You grew up somewhere where air is free and water falls from the sky, and people are understandably sometimes hesitant to correct your ignorance because you’re three times stronger than they are. Terrans often have some growing up to do as they realise how they come off to others.

Lunars

In Torchship’s world, there have been moon bases since the early 70s, and people have lived on the moon full-time since the early 2000s. The Soviet moon base program eventually withdrew due to budget problems, leaving the ever-increasing network of American bases the sole full-time real estate on the moon. In the 2040s, Armstrong City took one look at the unfolding disaster that was the collapse of American capitalism and seceded. Playing up its neutrality, it eventually became the de jure capital of the Solar Union and, now, the Star Union, though in actuality this is mostly symbolic.

This is because living on the moon is genuinely very difficult. The gravity is just 16% of what it is on Earth, it’s airless, and there’s no atmosphere to stop the radiation. When people started living there, its only selling point at all was being closer to Earth than Mars was.

Now that people do live there, though, in a vast underground city, there turns out to be a second advantage. The Moon is very rich in mineral resources and very poor in biospheres you might destroy by aggressively mining them, and it’s incredibly cheap to get things to lunar orbit. This has ended up making the moon the industrial powerhouse of the Star Union.

Lunars are living in the most extreme conditions of any of the human Identities, which is reflected in their Biology Traits. Like Spacers, they get Freefaller, a gravity trait that is in most ways an inverse of the Heavyworlder trait. They might not actually be living in freefall, but the gravity is so low it might not make a difference. The very low gravity also means they are recommended Medical Dependency; humans simply were not meant to grow up in these conditions. Even with genetic modifications, some ongoing medical treatment for bone density or nerve issues, arising from being seven feet tall and effectively 30 pounds, is to be expected. Finally, Lunars are recommended the Wireless Brain Uplink Trait, an extension of the implanted medical monitors which were once standard on US moon bases for long-term survival.

Lunars also only have two sub-identities. The first are the Mazedwellers, those who live in Armstrong City itself. Armstrong City is built out of the subterranean mines of Luna, using the thick crust of the planet to protect against solar radiation. This makes the city a twisting, sprawling web deep under the surface, where space is at an absolute premium even beyond what Spacers experience. To live in these conditions but still contribute your industrial might to the Union, your town doubles as a factory floor, converting back and forth every day.

This gives Lunars a distinct identity in their work ethic; while everyone else can be more content working at their own pace, on Luna the faster you get the job done the faster you get your living room back. Your recommended Traits are Claustrophile (giving you a bonus in a space suit but mild agoraphobia), Driven (representing this unusual work ethic), and Shifting Gears, a trait which lets you have two sets of Personality Impulses, in this case representing the strict work-life divide that is at the centre of Lunar culture.

The other Lunar sub-identity is being a Yardworker. The Lunar Yards are the reason that humanity won the big space war; turns out running a slower-than-light multiplanetary civilisation requires an absolutely ludicrous number of spacecraft, so Lunars built an absolutely enormous and ever-expanding space station to do that with, using a giant railgun to shoot raw materials up to it and commuting every day with short-hop shuttles. In the post-FTL era, the sheer scale of the Lunar Yards means humanity can produce an almost comedic surplus. During the war, Lunars couldn’t serve in Star Patrol (see the end of the dev diary for why), so people started living on the Yards to make as many rockets as possible instead as a way of contributing.

Being a Yardworker is a prestigious job for a Lunar, and also a competitive one. Work never slows down, six shifts twenty-four hours a day. For this reason, Yardworkers share the Driven and Claustrophile Traits with their Mazedweller counterparts, as they aren’t that divergent. They gain the Voidborn trait (which gives bonuses for making repairs, cheaper upgrades to the Cosmonaut cert, and stress when your rocket is experiencing shortages) and the Cultural Tool trait, which gives you a bonus 4d6-era item you can carry atop the normal inventory. For Lunars, that’s your Yarkworker’s Marker, the thick-nibbed, vacuum-writing pen workers carry to leave each other vital notes about problems that could potentially kill them and/or draw dicks on the spaceship. The Yardworker’s Marker and all the little notes that crews would find in their spacecraft developed a mythology, which is why now it’s as much a badge of honour as a practical tool.

Finally, the Lunars in Star Patrol section touches on an important consequence of Lunar biology; being a Lunar was for life up until shockingly recently. They couldn’t even survive something as tame as Martian gravity even a few decades ago, which meant they could never visit Earth and couldn’t serve in Solar Patrol because their hearts couldn’t take the acceleration. This only changed in the past few decades in the form of an intense, and often rather painful, two-year series of treatments and acclimation.

This comes with two suggested Traits. The first is Augment, the trait we use to represent attempts at genetic engineering that go above and beyond the normal evolutionary cleanup, which can represent some of the extreme intervention and above-average effects it might have had. The other is Stiff Upper Lip, as per Rural Terrans, representing the adjusted pain tolerances you’re going to develop after undergoing something like that.

As you can see, Trait overlap is pretty common in these things, and of course these are just suggested Traits. Despite all the differences, everyone is a lot alike in most ways.

[dahvampire]

I was looking at the chart for the MHA best hero or what it's called, the poll in which you can vote the characters and the 1st one will have a film, and basically in every section the top three is made of Shouto, Deku and Bakugou.

Why? I mean, okay, they're the main characters, they're good characters, no hating on them, but we already have two films about them. I mean, come on. We have the chance to get some in-depth about some obscure character like, I don't know, Kurogiri or Dabi, or Shigaraki himself -because even tho the last two are two of the most popular characters we actually don't know a lot about them before their first debut on screen-

I understand that 1A class is the main character, but there's so much more to exploit instead of going again for another three-days-adventure during summer break

Give us Dabi's life on the streets, his struggles and his determination; give us Shigaraki's twisted vision on reality given to him by AFO himself; gives us Kurogiri's lapsus of memories about his previous life, about his past, about who he was.

Don't give us another redundant "we'll save the world with the power of friendship", please, I'm getting sick of it. It's a great concept, okay, but it has already been done too many times.

The world you want to save has some darkness in it, too, has some rotten realities that are the only ones known by too many people. Show them too, please.

[amrv-5]

HI ⭐️! (loved Droughtland, would love to hear commentary) :)

HELLO and THANK YOU FOR THE ASK and I'm SO GLAD YOU LIKED IT I loved WRITING IT ARGHH!!!! Also tagging in @catgrub who asked the same just a few minutes later -- HELLO and THANK YOU ZANE!!! Since there were two recs for Droughtland I feel like the extreme length of the following Commentary can be excused.

(For context: I realized I've got 0 idea of how to do a Director's Commentary except for ones I've seen where directors just rewatch their own movie and speak overtop of it, so, I did the same except with reading and typing. This is my read-along author commentary on Droughtland, arranged in chronological order--feel free to look at it with the OG, or not, it should stand alone just fine. Or ignore it entirely. My god it's fucking long, so sorry. Anyway, onwards.)

Okay close reading. Okay commentary. Engaging on this journey together yaaaay.

[Iowa, 1962]

Okay, from the first line, we’re invoking concerns of location, identity, belonging, otherness—Radar struggling to adjust to home because he senses he’s been changed by his experiences in a way that makes him incompatible with the life he used to lead. He’s good at his job, we sense that he’s well-respected, but he’s undeniably not entirely present. Everything he does, sees, thinks, remembers, ends up in service of the Project, which I think I’ve (maybe not obviously or even all that consciously) tried to imply has an element of spiritual or religious calling to it, given that we’re introduced to it in a church. 

And retrospectively enjoying the complexity of Radar running the line between escapism and catharsis in his writing at the end of this first section. He misses the people he was close to, that much is clear, and writing is a way to feel close to them. And yet he’s also mentally returning over and over again to a war. A theme I’ve played with in the background of my BeejHawk fics, and more centrally in Droughtland, is one I sort of cribbed from Michael Herr’s Dispatches: Who are you after the most defining event of your life has ended?

[Iowa, 1952]

...And who are you when you KNOW the most defining event of your life has ended? That’s not to say the War Was A Good Experience and One To Reminisce Over. In fact the war being experientially horrific only complicates this idea more. I’m fascinated by how somebody goes about the rest of their life knowing with near-certainty that anything / everything they experience will likely never be as impactful on their sense of self and arc of life than a single past event. Anyway, this ends up concerning Radar greatly, who moves from that Defining Event—Drafted Into the Korean War—back to the rhythms of family and farm life, where he expects himself to be content with the life he’d always assumed he’d have. Actually I’ve read more and realized I had him state that concern textually, rendering this redundant. Ah well. Moving on. 

Okay, something else—Radar and writing and fiction and voice. I wanted to get across very clearly that the driving force of his writing is a direct desire to communicate—his first attempt at beginning the book takes the form of an introduction (“My name is Radar O’Reilly”), and he states that writing lets a fellow talk to people who aren’t around. The silent implication being, then, that he’s got no-one real to talk to. Another important set of questions getting kicked around in this piece: Why do we write? Is writing still communication if it’s never shared?

I wanted to play with the idea specifically of writing in relation to loneliness. If you’ve got nobody to talk to, or no way to express yourself meaningfully, or nobody who is interested in understanding you, it makes a lot of sense to sink into the realm of the creative, which we see Radar do here very explicitly. He doesn’t have any close connections, really, or at least not ones he thinks he can explain his new sense of self to, so he turns to writing. Summoning the last people who really understood how he felt, in some ways, writing to communicate with people who are dead or gone from him. Making some record of himself, his experiences, the way he sees the world—an attestation of self, or something, in direct defiance of a landscape and life that feels flat, uncaring, inaccessible—he starts writing alone in a field.

[Iowa, 1959]

Next—mm, field fire section, which was my favorite to write. I’m clearly and obviously soft for rural concerns. I know it’s been pointed out that my voice is significantly different in this fic than in my others, and I’ll admit that I did dip into the author-voice I usually reserve for my personal fictionalizations of family histories, which largely concern, go figure, rural American questions of identity, place, belonging, family, fulfillment, etc. And yet the usual Vonnegut-y sensibilities aren’t wholly gone—the idea of Radar being a volunteer fireman was lifted both from Vonnegut’s life AND volunteer firefighters' positioning in his work as bastions of selfless humanity and civic duty. I like the idea of a latently lonely Radar doing all these very quiet upright civically-minded things. Frequently good people are dealt bad hands, and aren’t cared for by their communities, and still go on doing good anyway. 

[Iowa, 1963]

Reading on—and the arrival of BeejHawk. It’s been long enough by this point that Radar’s sort of been subsumed by the Project. We see that tendency in him as he anticipates seeing ‘Dr. Pierce’ and meets Hawkeye instead.

And then—AH! At last! The title is Droughtland, obviously, and that’s a multivalent image, but here’s at least one moment and facet of relief: Sometimes, he thought, a fellow just needed words. Words and words and words like rain on a drought. And the good doctors Pierce and Hunnicutt had always known how to talk up a storm. 

As much as it’s a relief, it’s also destabilizing to suddenly have people notice him after so long living almost entirely within himself—Hawkeye calling him Radar shocks him into silence—wow, I’m realizing belatedly just HOW MUCH this fic is about loneliness, actually. Funny the things you can catch on a reread. His name is important, that’s all, and Hawkeye would understand that. 

Meanwhile BeejHawk as a unit are very clearly sensing something wrong—not wrong, maybe, but not all right, either. Radar’s Restaurant Allegory is key here as he admits that ‘enjoyment’ is absolutely meaningless in the context of his life—it doesn’t matter if you like the restaurant if it’s the only option. It’s not that he likes or dislikes it—it’s that forming and expressing an opinion would be pointless. This is a stand-in for his opinion on life, which Hawkeye finds distressing, though I think he’d agree with Radar to a degree on his related idea that happiness, delight, joy are intentional practices more than consistent feelings (another idea cribbed from elsewhere: Ross Gay’s Book of Delights, which I am coming to realize sunk way more deeply into my psyche at age 19 than I thought. I may elaborate someday if there’s ever an interest in Parker Creative Nonfiction because the story’s sort of ???, but also, maybe not).

Anyway, Hawk at last manages to drag a bit of real sentiment out of Radar: writing, and the Project, where so much of his internal life is focused (Hawk makes a Lot’s wife joke, because of course he does, but also I like him invoking a story where somebody looks backward on something terrible and suffers for their inability to turn away). 

And from here Radar takes the plunge and finally gives all that lonely writing an audience. Terrifying, but it pays off—Hawk affirms that he’s very good (important to me that Radar’s very good as a writer coming from outside a formal academic context. Everybody has the potential to create resonant art, and I wanted to be clear that Radar’s interest in something like the Iowa Writer’s Workshop isn’t the need to be Validated by the Institution or to Escape some sort of poorly-informed or condescending vision of Rural Nonintellectualism (bad themes!!! I hate them!!! NOT at play here, or at least consciously attempted to subvert) but as an extension of the desire for artistic community. To be seen and heard, instead of all the silent listening he’s been doing for years.)

The tradeoff of communicating, by the way—Hawk is a good listener, and picks up on a number of things maybe Radar wasn’t even aware he was revealing in his work—loneliness, vague dissatisfaction, a focus on finding interior fulfillment when the external world fails to provide. Scary, destabilizing, embarrassing… but eventually very, very good. For Radar, at least, who’s suddenly feeling like he’s allowed to want something. 

Moving on. Hawkeye’s reaction to learning he’s a part of Radar’s Project. Obviously he’s worried about how he’s going to come across. I think it’s a very scary thing to be the object of cameras, of writerly gaze, all of it, because it creates an image that exists entirely outside the object's control. How horrifying/enticing/awful/fascinating it’s got to be to be able to find out how you exist in another person’s mind… and when that image was formed in the lowest years of your life… of course Hawk’s apprehensive. And clearly it rattles him—but maybe in the way any really, really resonant art rattles us, based on his next-morning response. 

Hawk comes downstairs and we get this baffling little kiss scene, which I’ll be honest I wasn’t entirely sure what it meant when I was writing, only that it felt right. But now I’m thinking it’s clearly an exchange of seeing—Hawk feels he’s been thoroughly Seen in Radar’s work, for better or worse, and comes downstairs to communicate in this abstract way that he sees Radar, too—and affirms what he sees. 

So we end with these moments, finally, of communication and understanding and connection. Very obviously there’s the Hawk-Radar connection, which is so intense and emotive it’s basically psychic (what's good writing if not successfully communicating an idea or image with all original emotive force and vividness from one mind to another?). There’s also Beej, who isn’t Hawk’s brand of incidentally clairvoyant, but is all around a very bright, kind, warm person who’s able to give Radar the sort of horrendously necessary everyday sort of conversation and care that makes life bearable, the kind it’s so easy to take for granted when you’re experiencing it regularly. And then there’s BJ stepping in to hold Hawk even if he doesn’t fully understand what’s transpired between Hawk and Radar, because he knows Hawk and knows that he needs a second of support, which is sort of psychic in its own way. 

And that's the end. So, overall, I’d say the thing is very directly related to the title—drought of the soul which is only starting to lift by the end of the piece. One storm doesn’t solve a drought, after all—you need consistent rain, and time for ecological repair. And still the first few drops of rain after a dry spell feel awfully good. 

[mushroom32x]

Physical PS4/PS5 copies of Re-Sparked are being sent out because they finished manufacturing first; Switch copies come early July apparently. I am at the mercy of LRG expecting the cassette soundtrack, plush, and Switch game together so hopefully I won't be waiting too long in July.... (Knocking on wood as I type). Anyways, ahead of the digital version some footage has appeared here. The uploader said the colors are a bit off because of the PS5's recording.

More impressions under the cut:

Lovely little animated intro that sums up the collection nicely: fast, colorful, and full of action. Thankfully from what I saw all the games appear to look and sound just as they did, no off-sounding instruments or graphical oddities that didn't previously exist. Edit: Some say the sound is a bit muffled? It reminds me a bit of how it would sound playing it on my actual console… or enabling the low pass filter in an emulator. Maybe it was unintentional?

However, the games are slightly edited to remove stuff like "Licensed by Nintendo" from the SNES game title screen, skip past copyright/Konami logo when starting up (although it shows up for the SNES game so maybe the player just skipped past it in the other two games?), and the options appear to only let you modify the difficulty. You used to be able to change the controls and hear the sound test too. Not exactly sure why you cannot remap the controls anymore but the collection relegated all the game's music into a single area to listen, so the sound test options were omitted for redundancy. (The options screen sure looks a lot lonelier without all the other stuff present lol.) There is credits for everyone involved in this collection and it even includes those who worked on the intro animation!

As for the menus, for each game is a boss rush mode, rewinding, and overlay with several configurations for the visuals and load/saving your game. Sparkster on the SNES has a "boost mode" which appears to reduce/eliminate the game's slowdown which is very present if played on an actual console. Screen size options include Full, Native (320×224 Sega, 256 x 224 Nintendo), Native 2X, Stretch, and 4:3. You can use a variety of borders (or leave it all black) and enable a CRT scanline filter. You can change the game's region and language for main menus (English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, and Japanese.) Though, I haven't seen word of a Japanese release for this collection... would be silly to have to make Japan users have to go through extra hoops to play this game.

The boss rush simply has you face every boss in order for each of the respective games. It tracks the total time and bosses defeated then gives you an overall rank. Though, I didn't see any difficulty options for this, like playing it on Crazy Hard or something. It loads a state just as each boss begins with a score of 0 and 0 lives, so dying ends the rush.

The museum is filled with lovely artwork, some which I haven't seen before. There are magazine adverts, box art, design documents/artwork, and art/videos regarding the animated intro. I thought the video section was going to include the game's commercials too but that was wishful thinking on my part. Their scan of the SNES box art is leagues better than mine ha ha. The sound test has all the soundtracks and main menu music accounted for in one tidy area.

I am glad this collection exists and I can't wait to play these games another 1000 times. 😛

[cerealandchoccymilk]

Trigun Bookclub: Trigun Vol.1, Chapter #07 (Part 2)

previous | all | next

I’m doing a deep-read of the Japanese original print (reread) and Overhaul 1.0 (first read) side-by-side, and writing down everything I notice from small details, version differences, translation differences, etc.

This one’s divided into two parts since it surpassed the desktop image limit of 30. whoops

Here are the ME BEING GAY panels:

And the rest is under the cut.

[link for if the images aren’t in horizontal rows]

This part is significantly more text- and analysis-heavy than Part 1.

I know this part isn't supposed to be funny but I can't get over the way they exchange glances. Kaito is just absolutely jaw-dropped. I can't tell if he's shocked by the fact that there were gang members where he didn't expect, or if he got scared by the fact that he heard the #1 thing you don't want an adult to say during an emergency.

Also... Vash raising his voice... hello..........

This angle of Kaito kind of reminds me of Gag Manga Biyori... (this really stupid '00s anime with like. Monty Python humor)(please tell me if you know of gag manga biyori. it's my entire childhood. i can quote so many bits)

In Japanese, Kaito's phrasing is more like "You've been missing vital organs on purpose!?"

Does Vash keep first aid on him at all times, in case of situations like this?

The nuance here is a bit different - Kaiyo says "However skilled your arm is... this is ridiculous!!" (real kids don't talk like that but. yk what i mean)

I forgot to transfer the Japanese annotations onto the English version... whoopsies

He's taken a hit...!! Despite having taken quite a lot of damage, he's still more worried about his enemies than he is of himself... Take care of yourself more......(second time saying this)

YAOI SHOULDERS He's so damn cool augh...

The "dame dane" in blue is because he says "baka mitai" lmao

I initially corrected this line (to "I probably look stupid, don't I?"), but it becomes redundant with what he says after this so I crossed it out.

This is the first (direct) connection between Vash, Rem, and the Big Fall. The space imagery is of course representative of the setting of the Big Fall and Vash's backstory, but it also shows the sheer scale of Vash's trauma and love for humanity. This will be expanded on in a bit.

Here you can also see the self-hatred that Vash has....

Rather than a matter of forgiveness, Vash says that he's "sure [Rem] would be saddened."

In the Japanese version, Kaito's echo of "She?" is in brackets/quotes.

More interspersed space imagery.

There's something about these occasional shots of space that *gets* me.... Vash's thought patterns, ideals/values, etc. vastly transcends anything of a regular human's, I think.

Most of what I want to say can be summarized into that. I probably have said this before and will say it many times in the future, but Vash's stubborn pacifism and determination is something that can only be achieved because he's inhuman. His physical abilities are ridiculous, either because he's a Plant or due to his training and long lifespan (or both), and he has experienced things far greater than anyone can imagine. No idea where I was going with this but...you get it.

I think the ガッ bubble on the top right is onomatopoea , possibly for the gunshot or the bullet hitting something? Vash's pose must be ridiculous here. I can only imagine how insane he would be at Twister. And he shot that guy's arm completely without looking too!? This guy's insane. like we knew that already but damn

Honestly I'm not smart enough to understand what the rest of these commands are saying, but I think they're referring to "the three teams" in the port passenger section, rather than "team 3".

We can see Vash's wound slowly getting to him...

Here's the only time we see Kaito's backstory!! It looks like after his father died, his mother left Kaito? Or she left her family for another man and his father died after that.... He ended up being homeless.... He either killed someone or found a body??? Is that the stepfather his mother ran off with??? NIGHTOW GIVE ME ANSWERS!!!

The scene...... I can't help but imagine where Vash thinks he falls in this. It's something he has been doing for the past however many years it's been since July, the century and a half since the Big Fall, or even [trimax vol.7] during his childhood. But I don't think he ever counts himself as deserving of this, to be on the recieving end of the forgiveness.

More weak Vash... It's just so rare to see Vash in such a state. no other reason im putting this here no sir this is purely analytical (←me when i lie)

The way this page's panels are arranged really highlight how slow each action is and that Vash is running out of energy, which I think is a neat detail.

And that's the end of my Japanese copy of Trigun Volume 1!! I wanted to do at least rough translation of the omake, but my Apple Pencil died (and this chapter had so many images) so the omake will be a separate post, probably all 3 at once.

The Japanese annotations for this chapter are reblogged from the Part 1 post. (There are less than 30 of those, so they're all in one reblog.)

[calypsolemon]

Have you seen Dragons Rising yet? If yes, what do you think so far? If not, what are your overall impressions of it? I'm just curious is all (so you don't HAVE to answer if you don't want to)

ive seen it yeah! my general impression is that I REALLY like the new characters and writing style when it's focused on their interactions. I think it was about damn time to shake up the main cast and I think the format of having lloyd teaching while the other ninja pop in and out is great! Arin is like probably one of my favorite new additions to ninjago. The new season also takes some steps to break down some of those issues ninjago had with making so many of their conflicts about these sort of species vs species issue where one species is painted as inherintly evil and another is inherintly good, which I appreciate.

I will admit i did get kind of bored near the end with the sort of like... two episodes of fighting between the dragons and the ninja and imperium. I think the action animation has suffered a little from the enjoyable bounciness of the previous seasons, which is unfortunate? And also just that whole section had a lot of redundant and repetative stuff in it that probably could have been paired down to make room for something else. But the stuff with the source dragon was based.

Its actually a little hard to give a complete opinion this time around because we really only have half a season so far, im curious where its going. Overall my feelings are pretty positive and im just glad to see ninjago taking risks and seeing it pay off relatively well

[pampergirl1]

Ballerina nursery👶🏼👶🏻👶🏽🎀

(Eyes slowly opening)

 I lay here , in my huge white bared crib. With big pink bows, and lace. As I start to gain consciousness I hear cries from poor sweet infant babies, that used to be adults, well at least in mind. Also as I continue to wake up, I smell an aroma of Johnson Johnson and poop. I so hope it isn’t coming from me, but I would t be surprised… it had been a whole year of training. I don’t even know when I’ve went anymore. The only sign given is a stinky smell, and mushy bottom, a soggy fat crotch or when I’m playing and I happen to look down and that thing that helps grown ups know when a baby needs a diaper change. Other than that, I don’t know until I’m laid on a huge wooden table with my legs crossed and someone is wiping my bottom. 

The door opened and mommy comes through it as usual, ready to wake us change our diapers, and give us her breast to nurse or a bottle. I understand because she can only nurse two at a time. 

Mommy walks in “Hi mamas girls and boys, uh oh I smell duties”. “Goodness who pooped their pants, who did it”?! As she cooed us.

She has us on a routine, and it’s like clock work. 

Diapers changed at 6am.

We get a warm bottle to nurse us back to sleep. We lay down for about two more hours. By that time, I don’t know any baby in here who doesn’t at least need a #1 diaper change. But we get another diaper. We then get laid back down until about 10am and then it’s bath time 🫧🛁. Then mommy gets all 10 of us dressed. She has a mothers helper. Our diapers get pretty dirty so she needs a lot of help. Then we have play time in our play room, this is my favorite part. Lunch is afterwards and then we have another diaper change. We then get a bottle of juice or milk and laid in our giant bouncers and we watch Barney, seaseme street, Dora, or Mickey Mouse club house. Then mama takes two of us, gives us our last diaper for the night and then nurses us and then lays us down for bed 💤 👶🏽👶🏼👶🏽👶🏻🎀

I can’t say I hate my life, I don’t. I’m use to it now. I just wish I didn’t have the brain of an adult. If I didn’t maybe doing these infantile things wouldn’t be so redundant. It has its perks though. I got transformed in the bathroom of a club when I was drunk. Mommy changed me right there and from that point on , I needed her milk , I needed a diaper and I can’t walk, I can crawl. I also can’t make full sentences. All I can do it say “ma-ma” “hungie” “stinky”. She allows you more teaching and training as she builds trust with you, that you won’t leave her. She taught me those words so far, so I can’t at least tell her when I’m hungry, or need something, or better yet when I’ve got a mound dukie packed on my ass. My diapers get so dirty I start to cry when I’m in my crib because any shifting wafts my dirty diapers smell. Mama has a sache in all of our cribs that smells like baby powder. But then all I smell is powder and diarrhea from below. I’m used to it , it’s just the smell of a nursery, not to mention it’s not always me, sometimes it’s one of the other babies who’ve dirtied their pamper. 

Mama walks in and crabs her cady as usual. She loads 10 diapers, we are all pretty much in pampers, in the day time, in the night we sleep with a Huggies over night because they absorb more so we don’t leak. She grabs her large dispenser of baby wipes and our destin diaper rash cream. I get diaper rash a lot. Mama says I have sensitive skin. 

Mama picks us up out of our crib, she takes us over to our changing section of our nursery. She lays each of us down and unbuttones the crotch of our onesies. Typically all of our diapers sag, in our defense we were sleeping for 10 hours without a change. At this point what else could you expect out of us, we’re incontinent… 

To be continued 🌸🎀

[emoishcatgirlfriend]

PROG ROCK RANT WARNING

PINK FLOYD: PROG OR NOT

Honestly, I'll never understand people that cling to the idea that Pink Floyd is not prog rock.

First of all, I know labeling something as a certain genre has a practical purpose to add context and isn't meant to interfere with the listening experience, so it's equally dumb to insist that they are prog rock just for the sake of it. The important thing is that it's music regardless of genre and it's there for our enjoyment, amusement, and/or to give a message.

HOWEVER...

If you are already willing to go the extra mile and want to force a label or the removal of said label into a band, album or song, at least try to have a solid argument, or any argument in the first place, as to why they shouldn't be called "prog rock".

Personally I think they are, and I'll list the reasons/elements that make me think so:

Essential rock instrumentation (Drumset, electric bass & guitar)

Song structures with more than just verses, a chorus and a bridge

Lengthy compositions, most of the times including lengthy improv sections.

Use of keyboards, more especifically synths, and second in importance for this statement, Hammond organ and Mellotron.

Philosophical lyrics

Time period. Historical context matters when labeling and most of their work happened during the 70's

Albums more focused on a concept that linked all the songs together as a whole, rather than a collection of songs unrelated to each other.

Experimentation beyond the time's standards (use of certain samples, pedals, tape manipulation, instruments, field recordings, etc previously unused or barely used in rock/psychedelic music at the time)

Inclusion of elements from other genres like classical, folk, blues and jazz, while keeping the rock music elements prevalent. (structure, scales, chord progressions, etc)

Are these elements exclusive to the so-called prog rock genre? No, but it's the combination of those that narrow the label options into this one. I didn't list every element that puts something into the prog bag, because not all would be accurate for describing Pink Floyd's music. For example, they don't have a mainly classical background or focus in their compositions like some of their symphonic contemporaries. ELP, Yes & Genesis for example. They tend mostly to a psychedelic sound, sometimes leaning to a blues sound and even song structure, important in rock music development. Atom Heart Mother Suite and The Trial may be exceptions, but I'm listing generalities.

Also, those elements obviously aren't meant to apply for every song they composed, it's for a general context and it doesn't restrict other genre labels from being applied to their music either. I'm well aware of their psychedelic rock background as mentioned earlier. They also fit that category and, if I'm not mistaken, the middle ground for both prog and psychedelic rock was/is called Space Rock. Basically, psych rock with a synth predominance. Space Rock is a subgenre of prog even if said subgenre is not overall the most known, popular or common "face" of the genre. Take Eloy as an example. Psychedelic met its peak during the 60's. Whatever came after that with their due changes has another name. Again, historical context matters, like the year some music instruments were invented and where they were used.

And if you don't trust me, you can look for dedicated sources that back up that context, like ProgArchives.

So, yes. This rant's especifically for the people that enjoy belittling others just because they listen to complex music but don't actually understand what they are listening to. I've had the misfortune of finding a lot of these gatekeeping cunts along the years and I'm tired of them.

There you have it. Hopefully I made myself clear even if I fall into redundancy and didn't leave important things behind. I'm willing to address them if found.

Listen to whatever the fuck you want, let others enjoy things and if you wanna nerd it up, have common sense in your statements.

I went full ACKCHYUALLY 🤓 mode and I don't regret it.

[crowandtalbot]

with my very minimal experience in game development (interned at a company where I worked on 2 game jams but I've never finished a game on my own) this is a part of scope issues. now hear me out because the people I was working with and the game devs at the various lan parties and mixers I worked at were all receptive to the idea of making games more accessible, even the concept of making games that could be played silently or without the ability to see. stuff that really challenges the "video" part of the video game

because the problem isn't can we code it, it's how to design around the target effect. the same way most wannabe game devs (I'm one so scoff all you want) never actually make a game because even though the game they envision is code-able they don't have a way to get the complexity they want without hiring more people onto their project and outsourcing aspects they don't specialize in. they don't want to make a card matcher, or a solitaire clone, or a stack game, or something which completes the objective of "make a game", they want to make COD but better. From scratch. By themselves. They don't really have a vision even for what "but better" looks like they just know they like COD. that or they actually just want to write a book because what their game idea lacks in game it makes up for in story.

To make a game decently accessible, you have to start out with the idea to do so and accept that, yeah it might effect what you can do with it depending on which target accessibility you want to focus on. If you take a finished game and then add a palette swapper feature and subtitles, well the palette swapper might make important notifications difficult to see even for the target color blindness by making different effects the same color or the subtitles might be too tiny, in a script that is difficult to read over the section they are placed in, too big or too much at a time or not timed correctly.

You have to think when you are in the process of designing the notifications: do these have to be text? how many of these do we want on screen at a time? do we need redundant ways of notifying the player? is there a way to avoid putting too much to look at on the screen at the time?

with subtitles, you need to consider where other information is already going to be placed, and set the camera somewhere that makes space for the text or maybe even cover parts of the screen to put the text on. How many times have you put subtitles on an Assassin's Creed game and the subtitles were tiny and set over a background with a lot of texture so you struggled to read the text before it disappeared?

the truth is that maybe not every game is possible to make perfectly accessible for every single variant of every single disability, but not trying at all is frankly a skills issue. it's more difficult to design around changes in the game settings or in player experience and comes down to the basic elements of making a game, instead of just downloading some asset packs, ripping some code from substack, and churning out yet another pixel art roguelike in 3 days.

whereas you can potentially make a smaller scope game than DOOM Eternal with tighter gameplay elements that can be made accessible in the settings, or maybe already is designed accessible to a specific disability. like Lost and Hound, which is designed to be played without being able to see. either completely blind or vision impaired. It still has graphics that look great, but it focuses on the soundscape for gameplay elements and has after the fact settings in the options that can be messed with. It's a smaller scope game with tighter gameplay within the Scope of an indie team. it's not Dark Souls or Skyrim or Halo, but it's a good fun game that most people can play even if they are completely blind.

like, do you want to be a game maker or do you just want the glory of being associated with Overwatch (or to get paid to play video games let's be honest)

i will never understand the insane takes against having games be more accessible

[stiaral]

Starbomb and music theory 🦌🎵

CW : Strong Language

After 3 albums of greatness, it seemed like the magic of Starbomb would be a long gone memory, but miraculously in a tweet on the 27th of February 2023 our prayers had been answered ; the kings shall return.

And returned they have, with their new album Starbomb Boom: Rise of Lyrics. At the time I'm writing this post, their music video for Kiss the Elden Ring has recently been released and hopefully we'll still see new content for that 4th album.

If my username on most platforms is Starceptor it's because of Starbomb and Egoraptor (Arin Hanson), who's a member of the band alongside Danny Sexbang (Dan Avidan) and Ninja Brian (Brian Wecht) - listening to their songs on loop for years has significantly helped me become more casual with English (swears included), they introduced me to a whole new side of online and gaming nerd culture while also making me more interested in music-making in general by ensuring a place in my heart as one of my favorite bands of all time. By talking about them, I am somewhat also going back to the roots of my own motivations for making music, so I find it fitting that I refer to them in the context of my personal journey with composing.

I'm usually not a big fan of the kind of humor that Starbomb embraces but, they use it in such an over the top and self-parodic manner in their songs that it loops back to being funny again. As a celebration of their new album I wanted to go back to this awesome band in order to analyze what constitutes their musical identity.

Unfortunately, they already beat me to it :

This is usually the part where I sing the chorus out. But we haven't established what this song is all about. Then I chime in real quick for a just a second as the character delivers a line that reminds us of the joke. And I'll respond with harmonies, isn't that dope ?

This is when the song concept should heighten for effect. If you think we use that formula a lot, you are correct.

Danny said everything there, Starbomb does rely a lot on very similar patterns from one song to another. They are a self-described (in the about section of their website) synthpop/hip-hop band, and these pop influences can definitely be found all throughout this "formula" they "use a lot". Since the late 1970s, synthpop focused mainly on minor key songs, and if we take a look at the first Starbomb album :

I choose you to die / C-Minor

It's dangerous to go alone / A-Minor

Mega-Marital problems / D-Minor

Rap Battle : Ryu vs Ken / F#-Minor

Book of Nook / A#-Minor

Regretroid (my personal favorite) / Bb-Minor

Kirby's adventure in Reamland / G-Minor

The Simple Plot of Final Fantasy VII / A-Minor

8 songs in minor key, but the repetitions do not end here. Without going into much detail, most of the progressions within the first album are very common, almost cliché in pop music and well, there are some other redundant patterns...

To poetically quote this review of the first album ;

"[...] the phrase “What up b*tch?” is used so many times on this album, you begin to wonder whether Jessie Pinkman had a hand in its creation."

Point is, the instrumental at first never was the focus of Starbomb songs, the lyrics and their punchline were. But once you fall for the charm of these dumb jokes that get overextended to the full lenght of a song, you begin to love these same synthetizers you hear almost every time or even appreciate in what ways the instrumental might differ from the usual (shoutout to the chilled out groove of It's dangerous to go alone). The band is very aware of this, in fact, while all of their songs in the 3rd album sound quite unique, the one that ressemble the most the formula of their earlier songs is precisely the parody of their own repetitions : This song sucks. And from the first to their fourth album you see their progression with making the back-up music for their songs thematically coherent (starting at first with songs like Luigi's Ballad that alternate to a different tempo whether Luigi or Mario are singing, to reallly taking full effect with the second album onwards. For example how can't I mention one of their most recent songs Nintendo's Greatest Announcement done entirely in whispered rapping as said "Announcement" supposedly is a secret leak).

Arin is hitting that yoinky spoinkly like a champ.

If it weren't for Starbomb, well first of all I wouldn't have named myself Starceptor and therefore later on Stiaral, but I probably wouldn't have been introduced either to an awesome passion project on the internet that would have influenced me to work on my own stuff using also back-up synths and some chiptune soundfonts I'd end up playing around with on MuseScore.... Oh and fun thing the base for my fursona's hairstyle actually is Starbomb Link's cut.

Best Link design ever /hj - love what they did especially with the eye lashes.

[greatandquestionablecontent]

a ramble about coaptation plot and trystan employment issues

Ive been in such an In the Mirror zone lately but I abruptly brainteleported back into Coaptation zone.

Fun fact about my plans for that: I have a scrivener doc split into three sections: Before Trystan Comes Back, Trystan Comes Back, and After Trystan Comes Back. And like fully a third of After Trystan Comes Back is various plotlines about Trystan and employment. Nevermind the basic fact that it's hard to get a job as an ex-con with 0 employment history, Trystan just has Issues with work.

Idk if ALL of these plotlines will happen or in this exact order but basically here's what I've got so far.

At first he's just happily unemployed, but then he gets depressed and feels stuck in Gavin's apartment, so Gavin talks him into getting a job, which is a big source of conflict at first, because Trystan hears "I think you seem unhappy being in my apartment all the time, maybe you need enrichment, getting a job was good for me yknow, also we're broke always" and jumps to "you're useless and annoying and should just fucking leave forever."

This is another recurring relationship issue. Trystan approaches every problem with "fight or flight" and Gavin is so freaked out by the idea of Trystan leaving, which sometimes also freaks Trystan out and makes him feel trapped, even though he also desperately wants Gavin to want him around.

So anyway Trystan gets a warehouse job and feels so martyric about it, but the job sucks physically and mentally, and he has an entire crisis about how he can't quit or Gavin will be So Upset with him, and maybe it's kind of romantic slowly destroying his body like this. And Gavin's like "bro ur forgetting im literally disabled from a factory job? Ur forgetting every workers rights rant ive ever gone on?? Just quit!!"

And then the next job is soul sucking in a different way, it's like a desk job shuffling papers or something, and Trystan quits and is like actually I was right, jobs suck and authority sucks and I'm gonna be unemployed 5ever, fuck the system. And Gavin's like bro maybe you're just depressed and you haven't found the right one? #notalljobs. And Trystan's like sorry I'm failing to find joy?? Sorry I'm not the happiest little worker bee??? Sorry I'm failing to delight in finding some meager way to apologize to society for my existence and be less of a useless parasite??

And Gavin's like bro, ur not a parasite, ily, you can be unemployed, also pls stop threatening to leave every time you have a problem. yes i know you dont mean it as a threat but i feel threatened

And then this fic I just wrote, where Trystan just dissociates out of a job that he actually finally liked, and Gavin actually successfully gets him to agree to therapy. It just occurred to me and I scribbled it out today so I'm not sure if it fits in with the timeline or how it fits in. I think it's kind of fun that Trystan's scared he's gonna like, accidentally break up with Gavin and leave for good, but also the topic doesn't even come up, unlike many other times when it very much does come up.

Eventually endgame is that Trystan has a series of odd temporary jobs, does a lot of traveling and different things, is still often between jobs but just embraces the inconsistency of it instead of trying to stay at one forever and be trapped on either side of a permanent employed/unemployed binary.

So, yeah, definitely some recurring patterns here. I'm aware it gets kinda redundant, but also it be like that? But also I don't want the whole book to be overwhelmed by WORK DRAMA lmao. They have plenty of other drama.

Trystan domestication plotline is hard for both of them lmao

You can kind of see why Gavin's mom is like "ah, yes, we just need to teach ur chronically unemployed partner to be a happy housewife and homemaker" even though she's incredibly off the mark with that

[thewul]

A noticeable modification in the back of the machines room, by extending the inner center frame further away to support the keel, also we are making the service bays on the sides slide into position where they lock in the front, safer that way vs coming off entirely

The water tank seems to be on 2 levels, to lest the front, and maybe we can have an air purification module with charcoal and UV treatment, keep anything cooling related separate from power management below, atleast that's the general idea

Also at a certain speed the boat pivots on that water tank which is like a dome on the keel, and so it pushes over water and becomes a pivot

Under that consideration it's worthwhile that its core is filled with water, because water balances itself

Thank you for having followed

design notes continued: so basically 2 water flows, on each side of the ship, doubling as airflows, and piloted by 2 central MHD systems

by fixing the rebellious tip of the cockpit we have the beam pod of the sonar, sometimes these drawings can be difficult, sometimes they're helpful, if you stick to it you find out that even difficulty teaches stuff

and now it makes a lot of sense that the water intakes are mechanized, because the 2 MHD modules are too close to one another to be effective in a bi directional mode, maybe at slow speed while anchoring

conversely closing or reducing the water intakes on one of the sides allows for changing course effectively and rapidly or maybe we can have both one would think just the intakes in the front, but no, that halves the efficiency of the dispositive leading to the conclusion that airflow and water flow intakes on both sides work in tandem, this ship is also a sailboat... that explains why the airflow conduct is much more than the water flow conduct, the different volumes are correlated to thrust above and below the ship we have used the speed of sound as a constant, it can't be density because water is 800 times denser than air, so if not density its volume the speed of the ship itself at a given time is equivalent to how fast it accelerate its volumes of water flow

and that has to do in MHD with how much voltage can you pump into the system and the strength of the magnets used, we're using supercapacitors and electromagnets

of course sea the sea isn't always flat, so there is a speed limit inherent to that

we are going against jet powered speedboats, it would be beautiful if it beat jet powered boats with not a gallon of fuel

it may take ten thousand volts each, but we cannot exclude that possibility, maybe 12000 volts each, now we understand why the constant preoccupation with the boat remaining on the surface not above it, because it can go very fast, as fast as it is able to remain on the surface

Thank you for having followed

design notes continued: so it's not an all nighter, although we pulled several during the design of B1000 BAT, and we are done completely insulating anything high voltage in the machines room

added the sonar complete with its resonance chambers, the design of the machines room is a check

what if MHD propulsion won't start, shouldn't we add a small electrical engine in the back just in case, well MHD is pretty basic in how it operates, that said the MHD modules are split maybe in 3 different sections on distinct systems, to build a triple redundancy on the side modules in the machines room we already have a built in redundancy of several components, supercapacitors, batteries, inverters so forth

design notes continued: considering there is always the possibility of a fire risk with high voltage equipments we have added 3 firefighting foam reservoirs in the center on top of the modules of the machines room, on the sides the panels in front recede above the reservoirs

and importantly we have brought, and extended, lines from the back of the seadeck in both deck for supporting the keel, while making the central front module correspond with that of the machines room below

[the-firebird69]

Watch "STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE | "The Enterprise" Clip | Paramount Movies" on YouTube

This is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen is this s*** and these three comments on it each time. This time it was a thrill. You said it looks like an airplane fuselage I can decide it as a child like I designed it when I was a child just like my Bradley GT which is kind of from one of the carnival rides I was on at Disneyland school I mean Disney world no no it was Disneyland so he's saying that last part now but it was Disneyland he went to California and Paris Hilton wanted him to design things like that for men to drive around real fast and engage each other and still behind and he did design it like an airplane cuz he didn't really know that much but he knew he wanted to make it work in the atmosphere and in space it's slightly different for speed and he had the two help of engineer it. It's like a carriage it's very strange that there's the saucer goes into it what is for escape velocity and speed in space and so you can have redundant system and save the crew and data everything is a wonderful design it's only one of the very few number of ships that has an escape system except for the ones make the warlock make and they have tons of them that separate the bridge and there's your data and your higher ups and they escape and with everything they need and they're not really big ships so not too many people get hurt. But this ship can take all of the crew on to one section and we separated the many many times due to that particular reason. It's also a thrill to hear them talk about the shuttle cuz he's making fun of it but then it turns out he's designed it and space considerations it fits into a slot and there's not many much space on a spaceship and as soon as quick simple purpose I'm transporting people around or working on the ship and it's not the one that goes to Earth and back but wow this is an incredible s*** it's beautiful and it's one thing the design it's another to fly around in it and have experiences in space and I've had many thousands of space battles a lot of them go the same way but there are people out there who know what they're doing and you have to watch out for it the Chinese or one of them they're really like space he says of course that makes sense. It gives them something to think about. Where is the Japanese are thinking about it ahead of time. And actually that's kind of what it's like the forced into it and then they like it because they can do it and the Japanese are swearing they do it because they are preparing. And this movie series and reality does have other races and we do work together well the only one we're not so working well with is actually it's it's not Nemesis it's from into darkness and he does have a name he is really general zod but he has other people play his character and he does it to be smack them and to ride and teases cover. This motion picture is very important it is coming up shortly but we don't know when it could be a month two months or a week or a few days. It is because of the modules that were found in the Giants and yeah they're all the same Giant and we don't know what is with Dave and Carol or their parents if he wants to make Giants he needs both of them and he wants to make Giants out of him he needs Paris Hilton because she is out of reach so we have two women to look for and his dad and it's very important. You also know that he's been producing Giants and we don't know from what and we are getting on it shortly

Admiral Kirk

Hey house with some of the commenting

Scotty

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And this is what we're saying this is what it's like too with ours it's very strict you have a uniform you respect it is very clean and kept me and you do the job with perfection there are some differences and we will note them. It does not deviate too far from this

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