#remember when you just bought a disc. and it had a game on it. and you installed and played the game. and that was it.

[eff-plays]

AA wives: Astarion's asshole is the wrong color!! My self-insert would never eat his ass if that were this color. You're not letting me roleplay eating Astarion's ass even a little bit. This isn't a roleplaying game anymore it's a morality simulator. You're forcing morality into the game by making a point about only eating a certain color of ass. Also you're kinkshaming me so much. I'm an adult. I will harass you about this until you give in.

Larian, on their hands and knees wearing a dog collar: Yes ma'am right away ma'am please send us the exact hex code of the color you want it to be and we will change it posthaste

[albiclalepsza]

I had been obsessed with Lord of The Rings before I ever saw it, ever since I can remember really. My sister was a big fan and she talked about it all the time, had multiple posters of the characters (the biggest one was of Gollum for some reason). She and her friend hunted down a whole set of lotr glasses that you could collect from somewhere. She had the coolest notebook I've ever seen that's burned into my memory, with sketches of different characters, locations and monsters in the background of every page.

When I was 5 my parents finally folded and let me watch it. It was even better than I thought it would be. I was terrified of the Uruk Hai and cried at the deaths of all the characters more out of fear than sadness but that first watch is still one of my favorite memories. When I went to school I dragged every friend I made into watching the trilogy with me (my sister got the extended trilogy on DVDs as soon as it came out, I still watch them from these discs). Some of them became as obsessed with it as I was. We played together pretending to be the characters, we tried to record our own movie (though we didn't get past the prologue) and we bought almost every video game from the franchise as soon as we could.

Last year we finally went to the trilogy marathon and saw the movies in the cinema. It was fantastic, and watching them with the same people who played pretend with me 14 years before felt absolutely special.

Throughout all of this Theoden was my favorite character. As a kid I loved his armor and sword and how cool he looked as he led the whole Rohirrim army into battle in Return of The King. Now I still love him for all these things of course. But he is also a tragic character, who lost his mind in the Saruman - induced haze, only to wake up and realize his son died. He is constantly in grief, all the while trying to save his people and everyone else. And he knows that he will not return, but he still goes to aid Gondor, the very kingdom that didn't help his when they needed it most.

Bernard Hill's performance is incredible. There are so many little moments that make this role work so well. My favorite is when he is debating whether to go to Helm's Deep. Gandalf advises him and as he does so, he puts his hand on the king's armrest and leans slightly to him, just as Grima did, and Theoden just glances at the hand and immediately is that much less trusting of his judgement. It's so subtle and I just love it. There is also that bit of absolute despair when he looks at the armies under Minas Tirith that disappears completely when he turns back to his soldiers. His quick moment of grief when he talks with Eowyn at the celebration in the third movie that completely throws the conversation off its rails. The look of tragedy when the fell beast descends upon him. His quick outburst at Aragorn when he suggests calling for Gondor that abruptly stops the moment he realizes that he let emotions out. His few scenes with Merry. Actually, I could probably list every scene of his in the trilogy if I didn't stop myself here.

Anyway, Bernard Hill pased away today. I have to admit that I haven't watched any other of his movies, but that one performance in Lord of The Rings is just so special to me. Thank you, Bernard Hill, for giving me my favorite part of my favorite trilogy. You will be missed.

[8bitsupervillain]

Higurashi When They Cry Hou Ch. 7 Minagoroshi pt. 27

I was uncertain to include this in the last post or not. Ultimately since it didn’t really have much to do with their farewells I decided to move it here.

When Rika talks to Hanyuu is she saying these things out loud do you suppose? Or is it an internal psychic conversation? If she is saying these things aloud then you’d think someone would chime in, asking her why she’s saying these things to herself. Also, I know it says right here, plain as day, that Hanyuu has no memory of Rika’s deaths, but I can’t help but wonder if that’s actually true. That is an interesting question about this spectral version of Hanyuu though. Does she get hungry, or thirsty or anything? It's one thing if it's a version of Hanyuu that everyone can see and interact with, but this version that only Rika sees? Also, kudos to Rika for trying to make amends for their earlier argument about her fate.

But that’s not true, over the past couple of chapters you have had point blank discussions with Hanyuu about the exact time of your deaths. Hanyuu has demonstrated that she does indeed possess the power to tell when you’ll be killed Rika. Hell, you’ve gotten on her case about delivering this news to you. This seems a very odd time to suddenly become a skeptic. In regards to Hanyuu’s divine powers, not about your chances to fight against fate.

This reminded me of an old Playstation 1 game I loved when I was younger called Syphon Filter. It was an action game where you were a government special agent sort. I played the hell out of the demo disc we had that had one level from the game where you’re fighting terrorists in Washington DC that eventually takes you down into a subway. There was a weapon in that game, a small taser that stunned your enemies, and if you held down the fire button after it hit them eventually they would catch fire and burn to death. Young child 8bit loved that so much, because it was just so nonsensical. It was allegedly a stealth game, but I very vividly remember never actually stealthing my way through the game and just mowing down every enemy between me and the end of the level. Was that an appropriate game for me to have as a kid? Probably not, but when my grandma bought me and my siblings the Playstation for Christmas way back when the game she gave me specifically was Resident Evil 1.

Point being, I wonder if the stun guns the Mountain Dogs have are modified into uselessness like Shion’s was?

Rika proving that the old trope about white women in horror movies knows no ethnicity. But then again, I trip on perfectly level ground in my normal day to day existence, if I had to run from would be attackers I’d probably trip over everything in the world. Hell knowing my luck I’d run, fall and land in just such a way that I’d be left crying in back-based agony unable to move while my killer just sort of crawls towards me. That’s my secret tactic, I’ll make myself look so pathetic my would-be killer would just leave me alone to somehow bumble myself to death for them. Tricky devils.

Quite the predicament. Of course, there’s absolutely nothing to say that even if she does abandon Satoko to her fate Rika would keep her memories.

[meowm1x]

similar to the whole like, being old enough to remember when youtube was free and had no ads to begin with to the horrifying shit they're doing now. it's the same with video games. like everytime an AAA or other big budget over the top game comes out today and it already demands £70 upfront, and it requires Day 1 patches and there's still game breaking bugs, and grindy unfun gameplay forcing you to buy their microtransactions to make it easier and "oh if only you bought the premium edition. you start with these pay-to-win items!" and it makes me fucking crazy because it's like. remember when they just made games? like they made them, tested them, get that on a disc or cartridge, and shipped it out? you owned a physical copy of this game? you could keep it forever. you can play as much as you want. no forced online bullshit, no changing gameplay to be tiring to shove you into gacha or online stores. fun items and skins were rewards for stuff you did IN THE GAME.

like i know how i sound, it's very Older Person Pining For The Good Ol Days, i get that. but this isnt about nostalgia, it's about advertising and capitalistic agendas genuinely destroying video games. like actively scooping out content or making it painful to play, all to manipulate people into buying more shit, and sadly it works! because there are actually experts in the industry that talk about how to psychologically exploit these players and take as much advantage as possible. they ARE aware they're doing this, and they don't care because it rakes in millions.

it is actually upsetting to see this shit when like, not only is it dire compared how things used to be, BUT even right now you can contrast it to the independent scene, and immediately see the difference! actual games that are a joy to play, dont constantly demand your attention, actually have stories to tell or just exist to be silly fun, and don't need to extort you for the pleasure. like the proof is right there in front of us that AAA games' horseshit behaviour should not be tolerated. games can be a huge hit with people and dont require crunching devs and exploiting players, shocking! it's just so frustrating and i wish the ceos and shareholders of big game companies a very die :)

[foibles-fables]

What's that? Random asks? Don't mind if I do!

How did you hear about Horizon that made you want to play it, and how was that first time?

Howdy hello and HECK YES! I love this question.

So--summer 2020. I'd just come back from a decade-long hiatus from fandom in general, and was starting to learn the new ropes and spaces (this former livejournal clown breaking into discord and twitter, etc.). One night, I was scrolling through my twitter timeline and happened to stumble upon the freshly-posted E3 announcement trailer for HFW. And even though I hadn't really played a narrative video game since the PS2 era, I decided to watch it. And, huh! I remember saying, "Badass freckly redheaded archer...seems relevant to my interests." The graphics were absolutely gorgeous and what little hints of the story were present in that trailer (especially for someone who knew nothing of the narrative background presented so far) were compelling.

So I looked up some info and found out that it was a sequel to a 2017 game. Cool. Filed that away for later, deciding to get a PS5 when they released later that year.

Jump-cut to late December. I managed to get my hands on a PS5, and it was delivered a couple days before Christmas. Which was awesome, because life was not going super well and I needed a heavy-duty distraction. At this point I had kind of pushed Horizon to the backburner and was instead excited to play AC Valhalla as my first game! But when I booted up, I learned that my mother had bought me the disc version as a Christmas gift. I was left with a couple of days to try other stuff out before I could dive in to ACV.

So, I shrugged and downloaded HZD instead. And the rest is kind of history.

Went into it kind of ambivalent and really hoping I would like it. I had tried to play BotW and was completely overwhelmed by the open-world aspects, and not in a pleasant way, and I hoped that wouldn't be the case here. I'd also never really been into a ton of action games before, as most of my old faves were turn-based. The gameplay itself wouldn't be the clincher for me--that would be the story.

WELL, good news is, I was hooked from the prologue. I would equate playing HZD to not just watching a narrative masterwork unfold, but being in the driver's seat of one. Each discovery Aloy and I made was enthralling and exhilarating, and I legitimately could not stop playing. Could not stop exploring. Every side quest, every collectible, every corner of the map (besides the hunting grounds after earning my Suns at the Nora one, SORRY TALANAH). The entirety of "Deep Secrets of the Earth" had me staring into the darkness of my gaming room in a mix of existential horror and pure amazement. I wept at the ending. The HZD cast left an indelible mark on my heart, and it really reminded me of just how powerful game stories can be. Still trapped in hyperfixation hell (affectionate) over it.

The fun didn't stop there, though. By the time I finished the game (I took my time!), it was early February 2021. I feel very lucky to have sauntered in when I did, because it really seems like it was the perfect time to join the fandom. Folks were coming out of hibernation from both 2017 and the 2020 PC release, hyped with excitement and theories for HFW. Within those first months I met some of the most fabulous and now-lifelong friends (and more <3) I've ever had.

Bottom line: after playing HZD, Horizon and the fandom pulled me through a very very very difficult time in my life. I'm eternally grateful to this series and the meaning I derive from it. Especially from the first game--its vibrant narrative, and its absolutely fantastic characters. Lightning in a bottle, man.

And no, I still haven't finished AC Valhalla. lmao.

[the-nosy-neighbor]

TV from the Period of Welcome Home

TV from the period, continued.

There is a part 1 on the blog if you are interested.

So, three channels on a good day, and there were local TV shows, news, but also like around noon there was like a Farm and Ranch Report and some show I remember being suuuuper boring where old ladies with poofy hair would talk. Granted, given how women were judged as old at 30, they were probably younger than I am now.

As a kid, after school cartoons were a thing, but mostly old ones like Bugs Bunny, or Rocky and Bullwinkle or Hanna Barbera cartoons:  The Flintstones, and Scooby Doo for example.  There were cartoons on Saturday morning; they stopped around 11, and then it would either be Wild Kingdom or some old TV show like Land of the Lost.  There were also reruns, like Little House on the Prairie(!) and game shows (No Whammy!).  I watched more episodes of The Newlywed Game than was probably good for a child. 

My parents, however, had a very early form of at-home movie watching, the Laserdisc.  I have only seen this at my parents’ house. 

In this image is the exact machine we had at my house.  Based on the pictures I found, this wasn’t as common as more of a cd type machine.  However, those things on top of the player were the movies.  They were kind of like cassettes in operation.  You took that cartridge (which was about 18”x18”) and you slid it into the machine.  The case would come back out, but the disc remained inside.  Eventually, we got curious and pulled the middle out of one, and discovered the disc on the inside.  The wild part was that there would be a pause as the disc came to the end of a side.  Yes, like a record.  Then you had to put the cartridge back in, and pull it out.  The disc was now in the cartridge.  Then, you turned it over (seems ridiculous in hindsight) and pushed it back in, and the cartridge remained.  I could still tell you exactly where that break is in The Great Muppet Caper. 

So, I mention this, as a rural kid with very little money and even fewer trips to the movies, because my parents bought us kids movies on this thing, and while there weren’t a lot, we had The Muppet Movie and The Great Muppet Caper.  Oh, and we had Hey Cinderella! and The Frog Prince (both on 1 disc) and Emmet Otter’s Jug Band Christmas.  The Cinderella/Frog Prince was one of my favorites.  I still think the jokes are super solid in that one, as well as has good music.  We also had Watership Down, which we couldn’t get past the intro as it was too spooky.  We watched a lot of The Secret of NiMH, which was also spooky, but less bloody.  Plus that crow is hysterical.  We watched these over and over. 

Oddly enough, my parents had a few Mel Brooks movies, so I grew up on The History of the World, Part 1, though mostly just noticed the slapstick.  I didn’t get the jokes until much later.  We also had Young Frankenstein, which continues to be one of my favorite movies.  I must have been an oddball kid to be able to recognize Mel Brooks in The Muppet Movie. 

Look!  James Frawley, Jim Henson, and Mel Brooks!

We lived in a community that was rural, like a subdivision 15 minutes from anything, and most of us could not afford cable.  I mentioned my dad was an electrician, so he somehow looped most, if not all, houses into cable through the rich guy’s cable.  (He had an indoor pool and a soda machine.  It was decadent.)  I’m not sure how that worked, because we weren’t limited to what the main house was watching.  I don’t know how long we had it before the cable company figured it out., probably close to a year.

TV shows didn't really try to appeal to children, as far as I can remember, so it was nights of watching whatever was on, because you had two choices:  either this or the other channel.  Plus, at the time, it was expected that the adults would pick the show.   I remember watching lots of crime dramas. Magnum PI, CHiPs, The Fall Guy, etc. When I was older, The Cosby Show was the best thing on TV.  But, the most amazing thing as a kid were the Special Presentations.

If you saw this guy, you were in for a nice time.

Not to be confused with "A Very Special Episode," which meant some lame thing where they had your favorite TV characters talking about something really depressing or scary, also known as an “After School Special,” though a lot of times those were not filmed with known characters, just really lame low budget deals.  The most famous example of this is where a character on Saved by the Bell was taking diet pills (so excited and so scared).  Definitely worth a watch.  I actually didn’t see this at the time, and only learned about it as an adult.  Two TV stations.  If Clown does “A Very Special Episode,” I will die.

So, Special Presentations were your really good things. It meant either you were getting something you didn't see a lot (Miss America), a once-a-year treat (Wizard of Oz), or cartoons (Holiday Specials!) I remember how excited we were to have the Wizard of Oz every year.  It seemed random when it happened, but I’m sure there was a schedule that I wasn’t aware of as a kid.  I don’t think we even got the TV guide.  However, there were TV listings in the newspaper. 

Once a year treats included things like "Circus of the Stars." I had forgotten about it until I googled Special Presentation to get that graphic. Actual TV stars would learn to do circus stuff, like trapeze. I am going to drown in nostalgia. Here's a later one in 1992, (Downtown Julie Brown!) with Weird Al, because Weird Al is synonymous with TV. Apparently.

Also, the first home gaming consoles were coming out. I remember that we had an Intellivision, which was one of the earliest consoles.

Given we had that and one of the first home computers (Commodore 64), maybe we were more middle class than I realized, or my dad just liked technology.

That's it for now. If i think of something that could be especially helpful in understanding the world of Welcome Home, I will add it, but for now, I am sure this is more than enough. I am working on a personal history post about The Muppets and Jim Henson as well.

[faeriefrolic]

Sims Tag Meme

Thank you so much @cactusblossom for tagging me!!! This was really fun to do. I tag anyone who sees this if they want to do it too!

What’s your favorite sims death? The ranting about death is hilarious, Grim basically says fuck around and find out for that one lmao. I haven't personally seen it in game but it would be wild. But I have to go with the classic delete the pool ladder from ts1 and locking sims in a room with fireworks :)

Alpha CC or Maxis Match? Maxis match! I like my game to be colorful and cartoony.

Do you cheat when your sims gain weight? Nope! I like body diversity and it's a part of their life. The only times I would cheat their weight is if it was glitched (like Madeline and Tabby at one point with the gain weight from pregnancy mod. My sliders weren't playing nice and their animations/arms were messed up)

Do you use move objects? I do, for deco objects. I don't like using it for functional objects though because sims are dumb and can't route/interact with them if they're not placed normally. I like having playable homes/lots than just aesthetically pretty ones

Favorite mod?

First expansion/game/stuff pack you got? I started playing sims with ts1 when I borrowed it and the Livin Large EP from my brother. I still have all the ts1 cds in my room (but sadly no disc drive to put them in lol rip) For ts2 I *think* it was Open for Business, I remember making bookstores with it. For ts3 I bought base game + seasons bundled at Gamestop randomly one day and uhhh oops lol. I don't play ts4, but I have the base game + cats & dogs.

Do you pronounce “live mode” like aLIVE or LIVing? I pronounce it like aLive

Who’s your favorite sim that you’ve made? Crystal Leblanc, my little kitty faerie doll! She's an oc of mine and I love watching her get excited over tiny things and her cute faces. I also really love Pewter Dusk, he started as just a random sim request from @shuckleberrysims but I started a save with him and he's so adorable and fun. I love awkward fish genie.

Have you made a simself? I did long ago, but I don't think I even have their sim file anymore lmao

What sim traits did you give yourself? Cat Person, Bookworm, Shy, Supernatural Fan, Natural Cook

What is your favorite EA hair color? I don't think I really have one? I despise the gross green-brown preset in ts3 though, it's SO UGLY... especially when random generated sims had it, uuugh. So glad there's a fix for that now.

Favorite EA hair? A few Uni Life hairs are cute but my recent favorite is one that Mignonette has as a teen/ya. It's a rly cute messy updo hair with a bandana bow. She aged up into it as a teen and it looked really cute on her so I kept it! It's from Master Suite stuff!

Favorite life stage? I think you can guess lmao

Are you a builder or are you in it for the gameplay? Gameplay, I cannot build to save my life, I make ugly boxes

Are you a CC creator? No, but I'm interested in learning more about it, I've been fiddling with ITUNs in s3pe and such. I've made mods for Skyrim but I'd like to make more sim downloads (I need to put the Dusks up for download if I track down their cc...)

Do you have any simblr friends/a sim squad? 2016 switter gang hi!!! It's been a long time and a few of them are no longer on simblr. but I like to think I have some friends on here, though I'm very shy and go on hiatuses a lot

What’s your favorite game? TS3! I wish I could play ts1 again though :(

Do you have any Sims merch? No but I should get some...

Do you have a YouTube for sims? No, I'm pretty self conscious of my voice and I'm afraid of my game error 12'ving or crashing while recording lol. I do stream in discord though

How has your “sim style” changed throughout your years of playing? When I started playing I had very minimal cc and was very vanilla. Then I got into berries after discovering simblr, and I really like all the different colors and fun designs. I just think they're neat.

What’s your Origin ID? Honestly I don't know and I don't wanna open origin lol

Who’s your favorite CC creator? Oh gosh too many... too many slkdfjlf but to name a few off the top of my head, @sim-songs, @nectar-cellar, @poisonfireleafs hair, @xiasimla, @teekapoa

How long have you had a simblr? Since 2013! All of my older posts are gone now though when I deleted them years ago :( I wish I could look back on them. Wayback machine doesn't load the pictures and only has a few pages of my old blog.

How do you edit your pictures? I used edit with actions in photoshop before I got reshade. Now I just use @erasabledinosaur's wonderful presets 💗 I'm currently using Papercut and sometimes Strawberry Rhubarb!

What expansion/game/stuff pack is your favorite so far? Honestly, University Life will always have a place in my heart as it was the first EP I bought after base game + seasons. I have really fond memories of my simself running around the uni world exploring everything about ts3, everything was so new and exciting to me. and I love the uni townies! Especially Cid and Shea. I made ocs that are loosely based on them. (Very loosely since my Cid is nothing like EA Cid lmao)

What expansion/game/stuff pack do you want next? Well since EA abandoned ts3 all I can ask for is the game magically becoming 64 bit 🙃

[kylekozmikdeluxo]

A FINDING NEMO Memory or Two

FINDING NEMO was one of the first films I actually really anticipated a long while before its release.

As a kid, I would often start anticipating movies once I saw a trailer in theaters during one of my frequent movie theater visits, and then that would be it. Whenever I was on the Internet, I wasn't frequenting movie news sites or anything like that. If anything, the release of FINDING NEMO had me going on those sites more often to see what was coming. What the news was...

I first saw concept art for FINDING NEMO in a DK-published hardcover book called DISNEY: THE ULTIMATE VISUAL GUIDE. I had gotten it as a birthday gift in October 2002. I was immersed into that book, a chronological tour through Disney feature film and even park history, throwing in television stuff as well. The page spreads so inviting, and so many great images and stills from the movies, made for really well put-together arrangements. My well worn-out copy is still with me.

The final page spread detailed movies then slated for 2003 and 2004... Only concept art for FINDING NEMO appeared, no stills from the actual movie. The images depicted were Nemo peaking out from behind a coral, Marlin and Dory looking at Sydney Opera House, and a long stretch of Nemo inside the dentist office fish tank. These images completely engrossed me. Just this colorful fish movie, incoming: I always had a thing for the underwater world anyways, between the many animal books I had as a kid to the nature documentaries I'd often see on like Animal Planet, Discovery Channel and such. I was taken to two big aquariums in home state every year or so, and was always fascinated and mesmerized by all those tanks, all that aquatic life. I had PC games about it, and there was also - semi-related - that Titanic phase I went through... The ocean, the sea, it's all very neat.

(As an add-on, the other movies on that page spread were PIGLET'S BIG MOVIE, THE JUNGLE BOOK 2, HOME ON THE RANGE, and BROTHER BEAR back when it was called "BEARS".)

Then, I got MONSTERS, INC. on DVD for Christmas... And when I saw that a teaser trailer for the movie was ON THERE?? I watched it over and over, along with just about everything else on that 2-disc DVD set...

I was all about FINDING NEMO, and I caught it on opening weekend... and loved it so much, I saw it two more times in theaters, which is something I rarely got to do as a kid back in the day. Then I was somehow able to rent it the Friday before its Tuesday DVD release. Rented it, over and over, til I got the DVD and VHS for Christmas. At the time, I didn't have a DVD player in my room, it was only in the family room and my mum's room... So the VHS sufficed, despite no bonus features! In early 2004, after winning a $200 gift card to Circuit City (lol, remember that? No? You might be a young'un reading this!) from a spelling bee, I bought an extension for my Xbox - which I also got for Christmas - that allowed me to play DVDs in my room. Yes, we kids/preteens of the early 2000s had it rough, haha.

On a personal note, this movie came out when my life was in a weird flux, and I was in a part of growing older that didn't go so smoothly. Not to divulge too much, but when you're autistic, neurodivergent, and you're coming of age in the early aughts... Not the nicest time, for sure... Yeah, things weren't easy... And at the end of the year, when the movie was finally out on DVD, I was going through a very big family loss. My first one, really... So, I really gotta hand it to FINDING NEMO for being one of the things that really helped get me through all of it... Just keep swimming, indeed...

Similarly, director Andrew Stanton's sophomore Pixar effort, WALL-E, got me through another tough time in my younger days...

I would say FINDING NEMO and MONSTERS, INC. made me fall in love with the work coming out of Pixar, especially in those early days when it was the movies being made exclusively by the Lasseter circle. As a little kid, I wasn't really that much into the TOY STORY movies, but I did like A BUG'S LIFE and played the PlayStation game quite a bit. MONSTERS, INC. I remember being a blur in the theaters for other reasons... But I asked for MONSTERS, INC. on video the year after because I did remember enjoying the door vault chase, so that was enough to make me want the disc and to watch it again. I got the DVD that Christmas, and as said earlier, I think the combination of that film, the FINDING NEMO teaser and the NEMO concept art in the DISNEY: THE ULTIMATE VISUAL GUIDE book turned me into a cultist for the Luxo lamp in December 2002, haha.

Then I went back to TOY STORY and TOY STORY 2, which I had on VHS, and gave those a proper re-watch. Now that I was 10, knew what computer animation was and how it was made, and having more of an appreciation for the way visual stories were told than I did at - say - age 6 or even 8... And I fell in love with both. Then I rented A BUG'S LIFE over and over until I was able to buy the DVD... I wanna say it was sometime in 2003, maybe early 2004, but it was the "Collector's" set DVD that promoted FINDING NEMO with a giant sticker on the shiny slipcover. Hell, if I remember correctly, I bought it at a Suncoast Motion Picture Company outlet in a mall... Back when there were more than... 4 of those across the country!

And then some 9 years later, I went and saw the 3D re-release... Surprisingly, for a movie made in 2003, it was converted wonderfully to 3D. The 3D actually added a very subtle but very immersive depth of field to many of the underwater scenes, it looked fantastic. So yes, I saw FINDING NEMO four times in theaters. I'd probably see it a fifth if it gets re-released for whatever reason, again.

It's a favorite of mine.

Hey, I once did a video essay on it, too!

Happy 20th Anniversary.

[solar-siren]

Angstpril Day Eight: Mind Games

“You might as well give up,” Dyson says, scrolling through Tron’s code. “You’re only making this harder than it needs to be.”

“Traitor,” Tron hisses. He tries to arch off the board he’s bound to, but the restraints hold. His lightlines flicker between orange and blue. Despite severe energy loss and a virus running rampant through his code, he’s still too stubborn to turn.

“No,” Dyson says, almost gently. “I’m not your enemy. You’re just confused.”

Another program steps out of the shadows behind him, washing the room in golden light.

“We’re going to help you,” the Luminary smiles. Tron glares at them both despite the fear he feels. He knows what happens next. He’s been through this before. 

Most of it.

He braces himself as best he can, tries to shield himself with truths and important memories. Important people. 

With Clu standing before him, the first that comes to mind is Flynn.

Flynn was his friend, one of the first he ever had. Flynn saved him, fought beside him on the ENCOM system. He risked his life to help Tron defeat the MCP—

And stole him away from his home. Dropped him on a system where his function was moot. Separated him from his User. Left him to fight battles he wasn’t designed for, always waiting for a Creator who rarely deigned to appear. Tron had given his life for Flynn, and Flynn ran, left him there to   die alone—

“Lies,” Tron says.

“Really?” Clu frowns, stepping closer. “Which part?

“Did the two of you have some kind of reunion I don’t know about? Did he aid your little rebellion? Did he even look for you after you bought him time to escape?” Tron stares at a circuit line on the wall. “No? I didn’t think so,” Clu says. He sighs as he steps back. “There’s no point in fighting, Tron. Everyone you care about either died or left you behind.” 

“No.” He knows that isn’t true. Beck and Yori escaped. They ran like he told them to.

And they almost made it, but he was faster. The corruption had already set in by the time he warned them. Their backs were turned when he threw the first disc. The beta didn’t even have time to scream before he crumbled to cubes. Yori stopped running, turned to look at him with such horror in her eyes—   

“That’s not real,” Tron says. His voice is mostly level.

He knows that’s a false memory. He  remembers Beck and Yori getting away. Remembers the satisfaction that came with the pain, knowing he would never see them again but that they would be far beyond Clu’s grasp.

“Who are you trying to convince?” the Admin asks. “It’s understandable that you’d be in denial. But you have to face the truth at some point.” He smiles blithely. “I’m sure they would forgive you.”

Yori had said as much, hadn’t she? When he backed her against a wall, his disc at her throat. When begging didn’t work (“Tron, please. Come back to me. Don’t do this. Please"), and she knew she was going to die, she somehow managed to smile and say she forgave him. And then he pressed in closer and she screamed—

“Stop!”

He thrashes, unaware that he’s doing it. If he had his disc he’d shut his audio inputs off. That sound is the most terrible thing he’s ever heard, and it keeps getting louder, Yori screaming in agony he caused— 

It stops. Tron gasps for air, shaking. The sound is gone for now but he remembers—will never be rid of the memory. Clu watches him with something like pity. Dyson’s hand still hovers over the interface of his disc.

“I didn’t,” Tron says, but already the certainty is gone. Clu frowns.

“Why would I lie to you?” he asks. Tron blinks. The question seems genuine enough.

“Because–” he starts, but the thought is gone before he can finish it. What is  wrong with him?  

“You’re broken, Tron,” Clu says gently. “I know you didn’t mean to hurt Yori. It isn’t your fault. I only want to help you before you hurt anyone else.”

“Flynn,” Tron says. Flynn could bring Yori back. Flynn could fix him. Flynn should be here.

“Flynn left us.” For a nano Clu’s eyes glint, but then he’s smiling again. “You don’t need him. You have me now.

“And I’m going to make you perfect.”  

[razzamult]

First Post, and hard lessons.

It's been a long time since I've blogged, I used to have an account with blogger.com (remember that?) back in the early 2000's So trying this out again is interesting, seeing what's different, what's similar.

I wanted to start this blog to record some personal thoughts that I've had over the last few years, so there will be some serious posts, including this one, but I do want to lighten things up inbetween.

I feel like I've written and re-written this a dozen times in my head, but it's time to commit and write something down. for those of you who know me, I want to tell a story and maybe you've heard some bits of it already, for any others who happen along? it's a story of anxiety, depression, burnout, a new path maybe? mostly i write this for my own benefit, to remind myself of where I've been & where I'd like to go, and where i don't want to go back to.

But first, some context. I've been working (full time) in IT for….16 years? I think? (give or take), and I'll be honest - I've had enough, and i want out of IT. I remember a time when computers were "simple" beasts (relatively speaking), the earliest memories of using a computer was my mum's 386 (it was a while ago ok!), she was studying a degree, but we had a number of DOS games installed on it (lots of apogee shareware), over time that computer got upgraded, new CPU, more ram, bigger hard drive, Windows 95! that was new & exciting! I remember somewhere along the way mum teaching me enough dos commands that when we bought a new game I could install it without needing help, she just gave me the discs and sent me on my way.

It was in year 10 in high school that i started scrounging enough parts to start making my own computer (or computers as it would become), my first pc being a 386 and the first thing I did was run games on it & dad had a laugh, it was slow, but it was mine! I worked out how to do all the upgrades myself, and over time ended up moving through windows 3.x, 95, 98. by the time i got to windows 2000 i had a 2nd hand IBM desktop, and I was looking after our home network, i think we'd moved from dial-up to ADSL around that time too.

After high school i got into the local TAFE (college for trade certificates), and got a Cert III in IT

I remember not liking XP when it came out (oh god, what is that default theme?! those colours?!), but I built an amd athlon64 system to run it on, all new parts & it was the fastest thing ever! (well, ok, maybe not ever…but it was mine! and it way faster than anything i had previously) i spent days playing warcraft III on that machine, learning how to compile software, playing with virtual machines, and it around this time i landed a job doing helpdesk at the local university.

Helpdesk work was interesting, but it's pretty soul crushing at times, you learn there are people out there who have no idea how to do the equivalent of "fill the tank with gas & check tire pressure", the uni had debated about having a basic computer literacy course for both staff & students, but it never got off the ground. But i pushed through, worked hard, and got recognized as being a good person to talk to in person or on the phone, often out-performing many peers on the helpdesk. We had people on the helpdesk escalating tickets to me, because i was good at working out the "curly" ones.

at some point I got offered a temporary transfer into server admin for 6 months, they'd seen me do good troubleshooting before sending stuff over to them, and they wanted to give me a chance. That ended up turning into fulltime work, that lasted 10 years. I learned a lot in that time, deploying and managing servers, "hearding cats" to get people to agree when an old application can be turned off or upgraded, working on projects. i'm not going to fill this up with IT acronyms but i did get sent on a lot of microsoft & other vendor training and for a number of mission-critical things became first point of contact. I got to experience oncall (and get paid extra for it), and almost single-handedly dragged the windows server fleet up to modern standards.

But in 2022 i couldn't do it anymore. I'd watched over the past years since microsoft fired it's QA staff in 2014, patches got worse, microsoft's promises of improvement got more frequent, and my team (or me specifically) was often stuck between "deploy patch to fix vulnerability or don't deploy patch since it's broken and will break things we depend on", a position that no IT department should find themselves in, having to choose between security and uptime. I'd worked on projects that were so badly run that I'd experienced depression (and some of the places your mind can take you), and while i never acted on the the thoughts during such times, it was not a place that, mentally, i wanted to return to. I'd seen people in other teams at the uni stonewall projects…for what??? no repercussions, one of them even got a promotion. not to mention that in 2021 our IT director/executive staff decided to overrule state government and tell everyone they had to be back in the office (that went down about as well as you'd expect)

2022 was a bad year, we had multiple bad patches we couldn't install on some of our servers until revisions came out, I had a staff member in another team who refused (again…after 4 years…and raising it with my supervisor) to complete work they'd promised, we had a huuuuge amount of work coming down the pipe, and no extra staff, and at some point in july i just broke down over it all. I could not do it any more. I could not push through. my reserves were empty. I had no more to give. things had gotten too hard, things were too complex, I wasn't running a cute 486 playing an apogee game. I was looking after hundreds of servers and multiple cloud environments. these weren't the basic applications that we knew & hated when i arrived, these things were using complex databases and machine learning, and I was expected to understand it all enough to support it. Sure i was part of a team, but people go on leave, I get the on-call phone, I filled in for my manager on occasion, you have to know enough to be able to diagnose and fix things, and it's so. much. now. Things have moved so fast over the last 10 years, and the reward for being able to tread water, for being able to keep up? not more people to help out, but more work, more new technology to learn, in addition to the old technology. It was suffocating, it wasn't sustainable.

And i was dumb enough to think that changing employers would be sufficient. I moved state, found a new job, it paid more, only to find out that the work was worse. the internal documentation was incomplete and the team didn't want to answer questions. clients running systems that were 20 years old (and not supported)….and were planning an upgrade to a system that was 15 years old….and would still not be supported. And all that anxiety? It came back! with friends!

I found a 2nd job, working in IT / healthcare and it was terrifying. we have laws about how medical data is to be stored & handled and my manager told me "there's no laws about this", turns out he was also a sexist & a bigot too. That was a job that didn't see a need to have compliant IT and guess who's getting blamed when shit hits the fan??….well not me….not anymore. The only reason I was able to stay there as long as I did was that I was working part time for most of it.

I spoke to a number of people in IT over the last 2 years and the common theme is that they're all burned out, they've all been screwed by the pace of change or inability to enact required changes. And maybe that pace has been dictated by management not because anyone needed new things, but simply due to those things being new and shiny, or due to complacency. Maybe in other cases it was driven by consumer demand / consumption, maybe as a society we're destroying good IT staff for our own amusement so we can have the goods & services we want when we want them, on our schedule….I don't think I'm qualified to answer that.

But for all that IT has burned me, there are things about it I miss. I miss those times when computing was simpler, when it was easier to understand, when it was just a hobby. I miss being able to comprehend how things worked, rather than feeling like I was part of some cargo cult. I miss when IT was just a hobby and didn't have to understand laws for businesses around it and ensure compliance. I miss when IT was fun.

whoever said that making your hobby a job would make you happy and "you'd never work a day in your life" was lying. whoever said "just push through" never experienced anxiety / depression / burnout (or at least not in the way I did)

If i had piece of advice? If I can leave a message for myself to look back on? Know your limits, you're only human, don't try and push yourself beyond them & hit the wall. Know where that wall is & that it's ok to tap out if need to & you have the means. It's a lesson I had to learn over the last 2 years.

So what does the future hold? I want to go back to IT as a hobby, I can't see myself doing this as a career anymore. and in 2024 I'm going to study for a Library & Information Services Certificate, it'll be a change of pace / direction & should be a good career change.

If you made it this far, thankyou for reading, it's a serious first post i know. But it's been roiling around my head for a while. I should have some more light hearted things to post later

[tranquilspot]

John: Examine calendar.

What was I doing on April 13th 2009? Probably in school anyway. *check grades equivalence* 6th grade. 12 years old. Oh neat, 6ème = 6th grade. That's convenient, but only work for that one haha. It's always confusing hearing about "sophomore" and "freshman" and "11th grade" when you didn't follow the same education system.

[…] the arrival date for the highly touted SBURB BETA LAUNCH. It's been three days already. It's starting to become a sore subject with you.

Man I miss games in discs. My favourites were educational games, Age of Empire II Age of Kings (the original one), Jeune Styliste, OH! and Mia's Science Adventure : Romaine's New Hat ! Broooo this one is i.co.nic. We used to reference it all the time with my brother :') Oh yeah, the last package that I was expecting was my PC gaming tower. The next one will probably be a cat tower :D I don't remember getting angsty about a late package. I was to receive earlier this year a case for my iPad but turns out it was out of stock, yet the website still allowed us to order and pay for it. We got refunded. Wasn't too bummed about it. Imagine receiving games in the mail though. What a dream~! We were quite content still, between Cds found in flea markets, store bought, and those brought back by our mom thanks to her job we had a good childhood on that front. Seeing 'beta' marked like this on the calendar makes me chuckle. "Bêta" in french means "silly" as in 'idiot'. So with that in mind it looks like John just wrote "IDIOT!" for no apparent reason. Kinda fit the other subconscious writings in his room, if you stretch the idea a bit. —>

[hpmort]

In Defense of The Glass Princess

I didn’t properly appreciate the extent of “a million is a statistic” before today

When I was a little kid I watched a lot of nature documentaries

Because it was the new noughts and on-demand sucked

(I didn’t think so at the time

TiVo was a separate service that had just been invented

The ability to watch something that wasn’t live

That the cable box didn’t have to have watched live

That you didn’t have to go out and buy

On a disc or in a box

Was new and exciting)

A series of rectangles within rectangles

Boxes folding in

Silvery blue and blueish grey

In the upper right hand corner

A video on-loop played

A category

A subcategory

A channel

A show

An episode

I was a child with a clear sense of

RIGHT

and

WRONG

Which, of course

Was not necessarily the most reasonably

The boxes I limited myself to were

Kids

(Where I mostly play favorites

Not for moral reasons

Just brand loyalty)

Premium Channels

(Subcategory

Kids/Family)

and

Documentaries

(Or something like that

It was over a decade ago and I was probably younger than six)

Category

Subcategory

Channel

I took everything on the channels under

Documentary

(Or whatever it was)

As fact so

Yes I did find Ancient Aliens plausible

The thing about the not-for-kids channels I allowed myself

Is that they were genuinely

Not-for-kids

As in;

I watched graphic animal deaths

And other stuff with content warnings

Remember

It’s the noughnties

People didn’t give trigger warnings

It was “most extreme animal reproduction”

Or something

There were crappy cgi renderings of mites engaging in natal incest rape

Sharks eating eachother in the womb

And live footage of a hyena giving birth

(The last one is what had the content warning)

There was other graphic animal stuff

As I said earlier

Mostly violent death

There wasn’t really much interest in violent mating habits

Yeah the mantis eats her mate

Parasitoidism exists

But that was mainly it

Because it was more about death than sex

(Fair enough)

Anyways

When I was in second grade or whatever

I was getting disillusioned with My Little Pony

Because my only exposure had been G3

And G3 was fairly low conflict

(A complaint that led me to

later

after watching like three episodes

Give Friendship is Magic a one star review

On the website “Common Sense Media”

Under a cringy name I had derived

From an absurd escapist world I had created

That I later tried to theme my birthday party around

(?)

(My pre-teen years were not kind to me)

(One year later I became a fake brony

Because I liked their general energy and level of engagement

And was desperate for a sense of community))

My father

Perhaps concerned about internalized misogyny

Or just wanting to know what to buy me that wasn’t a video game

Or an anime

(The T rating of Super Smash Bros Melee

And the fact that anime was not necessarily kid friendly

And the anime that was was not necessarily in english

Surely made the certainty appealing)

Bought me

My Little Pony: The Complete First Season

(He did not buy the movie

Which made the whole thing even more confusing

Then it already was

But I was a small child

(An autistic one at that)

And so was used to being confused about most things

So it didn’t matter)

G1 My Little Pony was insane and enthralling

It was baffling

It was amazing

I experienced good autistic representation in the form of Best Pony Windwhistler

(I was still in denial at the time and convinced that my diagnosis of Asperger’s Syndrome was the mark of a conspiracy

That was against me

But only in the abstract sense

I thought that it was a conspiracy to artificially inflate standardized test scores

Where I was center

So while the conspiracy wasn’t specifically against me

My role in it meant that it was in opposition to me and my flourishment)

We got

The Quest of the Princess Ponies and Other Stories

Before the movie so I also managed to have a completely inaccurate understanding of what an orc looked like

For literal years

Because the titular

Quest of the Princess Ponies

Featured “orcs”

Who one would never in a hundred years think was an orc

If they had not already been told they were

It is commonly held

Among the fans of the first generation My Little Pony series

That Quest of the Princess Ponies

Is one of the best serials

And that

The Glass Princess

Is one of the worst

I disagree

The reasons given that

The Quest of the Princess Ponies

Is a particularly good serial

Are impressively shallow

And consist largely

Of the presence of orcs and demons

And the fact that the princesses fucking hate eachother

And are

“conspiring against eachother”

(This consists of being bitchy to eachother with some petty levels of normal sibling sabotage

And kidnapping Spike and making him choose who shall rule)

For the crown

(The powers that it entails being vague and perhaps nonexistent

Considering the ultimate resolution

Once they’re done running around in a cave with the orcs and demons

Is that they should take turns being queen)

Although the part I admit is charming is rarely mentioned;

The eternal blood war between orcs and demons is because they can never shake hands as friends

Literally

Because demons are fire elementals and orcs are ice elementals

So Spike brings peace by holding the hand

Of a fire demon

And an ice orc

At the same time

And shaking it for them

The main complaints about

The Glass Princess

(Aside from unusually bad animation

Which means little given how terrible it is on a good day;

The twinkle-eyed ponies have evidently forgotten to put their eyes in

Given how common it is to see them with just circles)

Are as follows

Shady is whiny

And

Princess Porcina is inconsistently written

I have always liked Shady

She is depressed

She is anxious

She is full of self-loathing

I honestly saw a lot of myself in her

And found her a complex and well-written character

Doing something right

Doesn’t make you feel good

You feel guilty and think that you could have

Should have

Done it right before

Because if you can do this

Why can’t you do that other thing?

The one everyone says is easier?

I also always thought that Princess Porcina was written well

I’ve noticed it a lot

People completely ignoring something terrible happening far away

But immediately helping someone in front of them

You can order a hundred deaths

But if you see someone dying

You feel the need to help them

And that’s what she does

When everyone is so far away

She feels nothing

Why not turn them to glass?

They’re not there

They don’t matter

But when she sees someone turn to glass in front of her

Sees their horror

The panic they feel

When they know that it’s coming

She can’t stand it

She’s forced to face what she’s done

And

She

Stops

That’s normal

I think

Today

Friday

The second of June

In the year two thousand and twenty three

Driving home with

(Being driven home by)

A friend

This evening

I saw six goslings with their mom

One was clearly

Cleanly dead

One was normal roadkill

One was injured but moving along

One was injured and struggling to move

(But I was sure

That if we stopped

We could have gotten it

To a veterinary hospital)

One was fine

And one was cleanly eviscerated

Its entrails torn across the road

Miraculously whole

The uninjured one

And the slightly hurt one

Were following their mother

Who seemed clearly distressed

(Obviously

She was

But I don’t know goose body language

And so what I took as one form of grief or trauma could have been shock or something else)

My friend was clearly shaken

I asked her why we didn’t stop to get the one that was down

But still moving

She was panicking

And didn’t really answer

She

At least

I could recognize distress in

(And yes

Some of it was shock)

She spoke with disgust and horror of the driver in front of us

I pointed out that the eviscerated one was in another lane

She hasn’t seen it

The very idea seemed to horrify her further

I tried to look on the “bright side”

(As she often does)

If we had stopped to bring the injured one to a veterinary hospital

She would have seen the eviscerated one

She looked sick enough as it was

And admitted that

Despite the prescription-strength anti acids she was on

That if she had see that gosling

With its organs torn out

She could have thrown up

(Which

While she didn’t mention it

Would probably have made things harder to help the badly injured one

I can’t imagine driving with a goose in a car with a windshield full of vomit)

I comforted her

Said I was fine

She was gentler

Softer

The Canada Goose has a conservation status of “Least Concern”

It’s not important

These things happen all the time

I know this

(My friend offers a prayer for the goslings

And tries to think of another

I offer to show her the Word Wildlife Foundation

So she can see what species she can symbolically adopt to honor the gosling

There are no waterfowl on that list

Boobies are seabirds)

I cannot fall asleep

I cannot shake my uncomfortable feelings

I am sad yet struggle to try

I feel guilty

I don’t think that anything I could have seen or read

Could have desensitized me

I wish it did

[undeadorion]

I've been playing Resident Evil 4 (the og version, not the remake) and I am both relieved and frustrated that I didn't buy the full version.

Without even looking into it, I can see that Something happened in the making of the game. Probably some executive demands or a dramatic change in the writing team.

There was some absurd nonsense in the first 3 games, but it all made some sort of sense. There were mazes and puzzles and "you must acquire an object to get through this door" that's pretty standard video game stuff. But it was blended into the world. So you didn't see a maze, you saw a police station that was absolutely wrecked so some paths were blocked. Or a substation overgrown by some vile thing that created artificial walls. Keycards to get into secure areas. Those keycards being found in logical places like on dead staff members or in an office.

Then there's the castle in RE4. Blade swinging puzzles. A "key" that's a stone disc hidden away at the end of mine cart ride that you have to jump off of at top speed to avoid plummeting to your death. The sewer exit blocked by a series of massive swinging axe blades. A character falling into a "trap" that planned on a character resting against a wide, completely flat wall at the exact right spot. A mounted turret gun INSIDE the castle. Mind you up until now it was borderline medieval weaponry, crossbows and axes and catapults.

Then there's the giant mechanical statue of the old man child. At first it moves its hands to act as intermittent bridges. Which you shift with a single off-center switch on its back to move in a different pattern. The ONLY reason that exists is so the player can access a switch to raise a bridge from the water. But then the statue suddenly starts chasing you down the hallway. Are intruders such an issue they had to build a massive attack statue deep in the castle past the grinder and the slicer and the pounder traps?!

THEN! there's monsters that are absurdly difficult to fight. Unless you bought the one-time use rocket launcher. Which you can keep buying so long as you have the money. All the giants you'd fought up until the castle were straight forward. Shoot them a bunch, they drop to their knees and you shoot the parasite on their back when it pops out. Then you're given 2. You can drop 1 of them into a lava pit. But then the machine locks up and you're left with 1. There's a zip line across the top. So it seems like you use the zip line to quickly cross the room so you have time enough to shoot the other giant and make it drop. But no. I unloaded over 150 bullets and only got it to kneel twice. But then I reloaded my save and bought the rocket launcher. And that took it out in ONE HIT. The same with Salazar's monster form. I kept dying over and over. Until I got the rocket launcher. Shoot the eye of the thing to expose Salazar, and a rocket launcher to the face ends the fight.

One of the coolest moments in RE3 was the big badass gun moment. Because it felt earned. After fighting Nemesis over and over and barely escaping, and now he's the size of a goddamn room, after scrambling to charge up the gun, you finally fire it into his mouth and kill him for good. You didn't just buy the gun with coins you found lying around from a shady merchant stalking you through the castle.

Then there's the whole reason Leon is even IN the castle. There's no fucking reason for it. They just kept moving the pickup point and for some reason decided he needed to go through the castle for it and all the while with the person he's supposed to be rescuing getting kidnapped multiple times. They could have kept the whole castle thing and still had him make the first pickup point. Only he hands off Ashley and says someone needs to stop these people. It's that simple. Then it's not a long, drawn out fucking ESCORT MISSION.

Finally, when you get to the island after the castle, they remembered they were making a Resident Evil game and it make sense again. But it feels like a completely different game, now. Before all the enemies were either masked cult members or random villagers. Now it's all soldiers and dudes in gas masks and naked bald dudes without a sign of a villager or cult member anywhere. It's so bizarre.

I hear the remake made some of the combat parts better, and added stealth options and the ability to block and removed most of the QTEs. But if the story's the same, I would have regretted dropping $30 on it.

[eldritchsurveys]

1152.

💻 Laptop Computer 💻 Do you own a laptop? >> I do. its name is Dorian Gray because it's grey, lol

Are you on a laptop right now? >> I am

How many laptop computers have you owned in your lifetime? >> eight, I think

What color was your first laptop? >> Thor was black with a navy blue top

What color is your current laptop? >> well, silver, technically

🖥 Desktop Computer 🖥 Do you own a desktop computer? >> I do -- Azathoth Do you prefer Windows computers or Mac computers? >> Windows

What were your favorite computer games to play as a kid? What are your favorite computer games now? >> oh man... Zoombinis, Alien Tales, Math Blaster, Power Pete, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, Felix the Cat's Cartoon Toolbox my favourite computer games now are mostly MMOs and CRPGs Which do you use more: a computer or a phone? 📱 >> definitely the computers

Are you good at remembering passwords for websites, or do you always forget? >> I have a system for passwords so all I have to remember is the pattern. but I also use a password manager

What is your current computer desktop background? >> it's been Fable 2 Tattered Spire concept art for a few years now, ever since I lost my wallpaper collection when one of my computers failed and that was the only one that survived

Do you have a desk job? >> I don't

What were some of your favorite websites as a kid? What are some of your favorite websites now? >> my first experiences with the internet were as a preteen and I mostly just obsessively crawled X-Files fansites. I don't really have favourite websites now

Were you alive before the Internet was invented? >> I was not How many tabs do you have open on your computer right now? >> 10, which is a stretch for me

⌨️ Computer Keyboard ⌨️ Are you a fast typer? >> I am

Do you enjoy typing on a keyboard? >> very much so

Have you ever used a typewriter? >> I taught myself to type on a typewriter Do you own a typewriter? >> absolutely not

What color are the keys on your computer's keyboard? >> black

🖨 Printer 🖨 Do you own a printer? >> I do not

What was the last thing you printed off? .

Have you ever printed anything off in a library? >> many a time

Do you prefer to use black ink or colored ink? .

Do you know how to change the ink in a printer? >> I assume every printer is different and I'd have to look it up 🖱Computer Mouse🖱 Can you see the computer mouse emoji? 🖱 >> I can

Do you wonder why they made this emoji, when it's hard to see because it's white? >> I wouldn't have thought about it at all Do you own a computer mouse? >> I do

Do you use a computer mouse? >> only for my desktop. I used to hate trackpads but I just hate certain kinds of trackpads. Dorian's trackpad is fine and way less hassle than a mouse would be If you own one, what color is your computer mouse? >> it's just black but it does have coloured lights

Do you prefer to use a mouse or a trackpad? >> see above

Have you ever used the computer mouse emoji? >> haven't

💾 Floppy Disk 💾 Have you ever saved anything onto a floppy disk? >> sure, back in the day

Do you own any floppy disks? >> I don't

When was the last time you used a floppy disk? >> I assume it was sometime before the turn of the millennium

What are three things you like (besides floppy disks) that are floppy? >> 😏

Have you ever cried because you lost something that you had saved onto a floppy disk? >> I don't know, man

💿 Compact Disc 💿 Have you ever burned a CD? >> many a time

Have you ever made a mix CD? >> many a time

Have you ever done a craft project using old CDs? >> haven't Do you own any CDs still? >> I don't. I don't even have anything to play them in except, like, game consoles (can game consoles play audio CDs?)

What was the last CD you listened to? >> lol

What was the first CD that you purchased? >> I don't remember the first CD that I bought, only the first one that I stole 💽 CD in Plastic Case 💽 Did you burn CDs and then put them in a plastic case? >> sometimes, but mostly I put them in those binders with the sleeves

Do you own any plastic CD cases? >> I don't Have you ever written on a CD with a permanent marker? >> sure

Have you ever used this emoji? >> haven't Do you still own any of the mix tapes or mix CDs you made when you were younger? >> absolutely not

📼 VHS Tape 📼 Do you own any VHS tapes? >> absolutely not

Did you used to watch movies on VHS tapes when you were younger? >> I did Do you remember the orange Nickelodeon tapes? >> I do

Do you have any home videos that are on tapes? >> I don't

Do you own a VCR? >> lol no Do you remember having to rewind VHS tapes? >> well, yeah 📞 Telephone ☎️ Do you remember a time before cellphones? >> I can barely remember my childhood and I don't remember exactly when my father got his first cell phone but I'm pretty sure it was still the nineties when he got it

How old were you when you got your first cellphone? >> seventeen

Do you work in an office with a telephone? .

Do you have a home phone or just a cellphone? >> just a cell Do you still remember your home phone number from when you were growing up? >> I remember my father's phone numbers because he always got unique ones that were easy to remember. well... I remember one of them. the one from childhood I've forgotten now

Have you ever made a prank call? >> haven't

📠 Fax Machine 📠 Do you own a fax machine? >> hell no

Have you ever worked in an office with a fax machine? >> haven't

Have you ever owned a fax machine? >> absolutely not Have you ever used this emoji? >> didn't even know it existed

What are three things you like that rhyme with "fax"? .

🗄 Filiing Cabinet 🗃 Do you own a filing cabinet? >> I do not

Do you enjoy organizing things? >> I do

Are you a very organized person? >> I could always be more organised

Is there an office in your home? >> there isn't

When was the last time you shopped at Office Max? .

What was the last thing you bought at Office Max? . 🗂 Manila Folders 🗂 Do you own any manila folders? >> uh, no. I do have regular folders

Do you organize your computer files into folders? >> I do, meticulously

Did you ever use Lisa Frank folders for school when you were a kid? >> I don't think so, my father didn't like stuff like that Do you still own any of the colorful folders you used to use for school when you were a kid? >> absolutely not

What are three things you have stored in folders (in real life, not on a computer)? >> birth certificate, marriage license, artifacts from Easton Mountain workshops

📌 Thumbtack 📌 How many bulletin boards are there in your home? >> zero Have you ever spray-painted a bulletin board, and if yes, what color? >> haven't

Do you own a set of colorful thumbtacks? >> I don't own thumbtacks

If you own a bulletin board, what are three things you have pinned on it? .

Have you ever stepped on a thumbtack? >> possibly

✂️ Scissors ✂️ How many pairs of scissors do you own? >> I think there are two pairs in this house. or three. idk

Have you ever ran with scissors? >> probably

What color are your favorite pair of craft scissors, if applicable? .

What color are your hair-cutting scissors, if applicable? . Do you cut your own hair? 💇♀️ >> I do, but I use clippers because I have a buzzcut

Do you have a special pair of scissors that you use to open boxes? 📦 ✂️ >> I use boxcutters for that

Do you have different pairs of scissors that you use for different things? >> I don't What color was the last pair of scissors you used? What was the last thing you used a pair of scissors for? >> grey, cutting open a microwave meal

Do you know how to do a scissor kick? >> I don't

When was the last time you did a scissor kick? .

🧷 Safety Pin 🧷 When was the last time you used a safety pin? >> I don't know, probably the last time I wanted to pin a patch to something Have you ever used this emoji? >> haven't

What was the last thing you used a safety pin for? >> see above

Have you ever ran a race and had a number pinned to your shirt? >> maybe as a child Do you own a box of safety pins? >> what self-respecting goth doesn't

📎 Paper Clips 🖇 When was the last time you used a paperclip? >> many moons ago

What was the last thing you used a paperclip for? .

Do you remember Clippit, the Microsoft Word paperclip? 📎👀 💬 >> he's a meme now, even people that don't actually remember him at least know of his existence (but yeah I do remember him)

Have you ever received a piece of advice from Clippit? >> sure

Do you own a box of paperclips? >> I do not

📏 Rulers 📐 Do you own a ruler? >> I don't, but I do have measuring tape How many rulers do you own? .

What was the last thing you used a ruler? When was the last time you used one? .

Do you know how to draw a straight line without using a ruler? >> idk

What does your favorite ruler that you own look like? >> are there actually people out here with favourite rulers. fascinating

🖊 Pen 🖊 Do you prefer to write with pens or pencils? >> pen

What color ink pen do you write with the most? >> black

Where do you normally buy pens? >> just, wherever What was the last thing you wrote down? >> probably a list of whatever transmog pieces my ESO character was wearing before I changed the outfit, so I could change it back if I ever wanted to without having to figure out what the fuck pieces were in it Do you enjoy writing? Do you enjoy how it feels as your hand glides across the page? ✍️ >> not so much anymore, now that I'm out of practice. was really into it when I was a child

🗑 Trash Can 🗑 What do you call a trash can? Do you call it a trash can, wastebasket, rubbish bin, garbage can, or something else? >> just "the trash"

Do you need to take the trash out soon? >> the trash bag needs to be changed but I won't have to put out the actual trash bin for pickup until Friday (maybe next Friday, if it doesn't fill all the way up this week) What day is trash pick-up day in your city? >> Friday

Are there things you are holding onto that you probably should just throw away? >> I tend to be ruthless about throwing away things I assume I don't need or amn't gonna use, sometimes to my regret When was the last time you took the trash out? >> Monday

📋 Clipboard 📋 Do you own a clipboard? >> I don't

When was the last time you had to sign a paper that was attached to a clipboard? >> idk, the last time I went to an appointment somewhere

Have you ever held a clipboard just to make yourself look more official? >> that's not an image I'm interested in projecting

Do you have neat handwriting? >> not anymore, but it's still legible at least

Would you rather write in cursive or print? >> cursive

📆 Calendar 📅 What is today's date? >> November 28

How many months are there until your birthday? 🥳 >> exactly 6 How old will you turn on your next birthday? >> 37

Do you have a calendar on your wall? If so, what is this month's calendar picture? >> I don't Are you counting down the days to anything? >> am not

What is your favorite season? >> summer 🗒 Spiral Notepad 🗒 When was the last time you used a spiral notepad? >> when I was writing down the stuff I mentioned in an earlier answer

Do you own a spiral notepad? >> I do

Would you rather write or draw? ✍️ .

Do you make to-do lists? >> I don't have enough things to do to warrant making a list, but if I did I would

What are/were three items on your to-do list for today? .

What is something you did yesterday (or today) that you really enjoyed? >> 😏 oh you know. but also video games.

What is something that you've been putting off, if there's anything? >> well I'm about to put off doing my laundry until Thursday (I usually do it on Wednesdays) because I got robbed of the all-day gaming session I had planned for today (game was down for maintenance and then the maintenance got extended... didn't come back up until fucking 18:00 😒) so now I have to have it tomorrow or else I'll have a fit. and since I have to change my bed linens this week I'm not gonna feel like doin all that when I'm also trying to game (on that very bed) so... yeah. Thursday. Have you ever used this emoji? 🗒 >> I've used the one that has a pen on it too, to convey the idea of taking notes on what someone was saying

What is one thing you think of when you look at a blank piece of paper? >> I don't have any particular associations with blank pieces of paper

Are you thankful that your life story is still being written? >> lmao ⏰ Alarm Clock ⏰ What time do you usually wake up in the morning? >> there is no "usually" anymore, there are so many factors that dictate what time I wake up

Is your bed made right now? >> I don't make my bed Do you wake up to an alarm, or do you wake up naturally? >> I don't have to wake up at a particular time so there's no reason to use an alarm Do you normally follow a schedule, or are you more spontaneous? >> I just do what I want

Do you prefer to follow a schedule or be spontaneous? >> ^

Do you have a clock on your wall? >> I do but it's purely decorative (it's a vinyl record that's had a Dark Tower design cut into it). I hate the ticking sound so I don't put batteries in it

What do you normally use to tell time? Do you use your phone, computer, wristwatch, the sun ☀️, a wall clock, a bedside alarm clock, or something else? >> phone, or taskbar if I'm on the computer. in the summer I can usually just go by the Sun

💡 Lightbulb 💡 How many lamps can you see from where you're sitting right now? >> one When was the last time you changed a lightbulb? .

Have you ever used your phone as a flashlight? 📱 >> many many times

Do you own a flashlight? 🔦 >> I think we do but I never use it so I can't be sure

How many lightbulbs can you see from where you're sitting right now? >> like a billion, because of my string lights 💿🗄💻 📆🗂 Final Questions! 🗃📋🖇📠💾 Do you work in an office? >> I don't work Have you ever had an office job? If so, did/do you like it? If you haven't had an office job, do you think you would like one? .

What is your favorite thing to do on a computer? 💻 >> like. fucking everything lol

Would you rather own a desktop computer or laptop computer? 💻 🖥 >> I prefer owning both, they serve different purposes for me What is your dream job? .

Do you prefer writing something down or typing something up on a computer? >> typing, always Do you own a desk? If so, what does it look like? What do you have on top of it? >> I do but I don't use it as a desk anymore because I have learned that I hate sitting at a desk and I'm not gonna put myself through that anymore it's a big ugly L-shaped thing and right now it just holds my monitor and peripherals and other random shit

What do you think is your favorite emoji among the ones on this survey? >> hm.

[survey--s]

682.

1 - When you wake up, do you get up straight away or do you lie around in bed for a while?  I remember making this survey years ago, lol. Anyway, it depends. I set my alarm for when I need to be up but if I wake up before then I'll lay around and doze or read my phone. At weekends I often get up, feed the animals, make a coffee and go back to bed for an hour.

2 - Who was the last person you video-called with? Have you done this more often since COVID hit?  My mum, and yes, most definitely.

3 - How many times a week do you go out for food or drink?  Less than once a week as eating out is just so expensive and is often really disappointing imo. We tend to go maybe every 6-8 weeks but we do get takeaway more often.

4 - Do you prefer getting takeaway or actually sitting in a restaurant and eating your meal there?  I prefer going out for lunch or breakfast and then getting a takeaway for an evening meal.

5 - Where’s your favourite place to get takeaway coffee (or whatever your drink of choice is)?  If I had one nearby then I'd go to Starbucks but the nearest is like, a half hour drive and I'm not that desperate. I tend to go to the local coffee/ice-cream place near the beach.

6 - Do you tend to keep your phone on silent, vibrate or loud?  Silent at night or at home, loud at work.

7 - If you have pets, when was the last time one of them annoyed you? What happened?  Archie when he came home from his walk and straight to the litter trays - yes, he is gross and yes, they'd been emptied, he was just being an opportunist lol.

8 - When was the last time you went into a bookshop?  Uh, about August I think? We don't have one anywhere near us.

9 - What was the last thing you ordered off Amazon?  Cat food and dog treats.

10 - When was the last time you took a dog out for a walk? Is this your own dog or did you borrow someone else’s?  Friday and they were someone else's dogs. Oakley and Ollie are my last walk of the week and they're so great to take out. Super obedient, excellent recall and very friendly.

11 - What jewellery do you have on at the moment?  My piercings and my wedding and engagement rings.

12 - Do you have any products in your hair right now? What are they?  No.

13 - Have you ever used a VPN to access foreign content online?  Yeah, mostly just to watch US TV shows for free.

14 - Who was the last artist you listened to? Is this someone you’re a fan of? Bishop Gunn and yeah, they're okay.

15 - What was the last thing you had to drink?  Tea, which is really unusual for me.

16 - When was the last time you cooked something for the first time? Did it work out the way it was supposed to?  I honestly have no idea. I never really cook anything.

17 - Black cats are considered to be bad luck - is this a superstition that you’ve ever believed in?  Nope. Two of our cats are black cats.

18 - Would you ever eat blue cheese or do you find the idea of eating mould to be pretty repulsive?  I love blue cheese. We have loads in the fridge right now, lol.

19 - Do you visit the dentist every six months like you should? I go once a year as it's covered for free under my dental plan.

20 - How old were you when you first used the internet? Was it dial-up or did you have access to proper broadband?  I think I was about ten or so. Broadband didn't exist in homes back then so it was dial-up or nothing.

21 - Are you old enough to remember using floppy discs? Yeah, I had loads of games that ran off floppy discs lol.

22 - When was the last time you purchased an actual DVD or CD?  I bought some DVD's a few months ago but I haven't bought a CD for years - probably over a decade tbh.

23 - Do you shave? Which body parts and how often?  Yeah, legs, pits and bits, and everyday.

24 - What’s your favourite season, and what are some of your favourite things about that season?  Autumn - the colours, the weather, the atmosphere.

25 - When was the last time you burned yourself?  Yesterday, I think?

26 - Have you ever been the victim of a theft or robbery? What was stolen? Did the police ever catch the person who did it? Yeah, I was pick-pocketed in France (luckily they didn't take much and I never reported it). My parents have had their car/house broken in to a couple of times - my rollerblades were stolen once. The second time they stole my mum's handbag and the car off the drive.

27 - What was the last TV show you discovered that you really liked? What was it that got you to watch it in the first place? I haven't started a new TV show in months. I did like Young Sheldon for a bit but I got bored after the first few seasons.

28 - Have you seen any of the live-action Disney remakes? Which one is your favourite? What about your least favourite?  Yeah, all of them. I like Mulan and Alice in Wonderland and I LOVED the first Maleficent. Hated The Lion King and Aladdin. Little Mermaid and Jungle Book were good too. Lady and the Tramp was meh, so was Cruella.

29 - Do you have any exciting plans for tomorrow? If not, how are you planning to spend your day?  Just work. I'll be up at half seven to feed the animals, then it's breakfast and get myself ready. I leave at half eight - then it's off to my final visit with Charley (cat) before I walk Sparky. Then it's two group walks before I pick Archie up and take him out with Ollie for the last walk of the day. Then back home, feed the animals again, shower and chill.

30 - Would you ever keep a working dog as a pet? Do you think it’s fair to keep dogs like huskies in flats when it’s so different to their natural environments? I have a beagle in a small house - I don't think your home environment really matters as long as you have the time and energy to give them the exercise and enrichment they need.

[cun10294]

In my memories of FF7

I’m not a writer and never will be, I’m just simply a mere player.

:readmore:

I remember playing the game when I was 10 in 2004, it was the first time my home even had a PlayStation. Although before that, a nice cousin had lent me and my sis his PS1 for a week and we spend all the time to play Chocobo Racing together, so by some means I got a vague idea about FF thanks to that. At the time FF10 was already out and was praised for its beautiful graphic, but I don't have a ps2 so oh well. My father bought 2 final fantasy games which were 7 and 8, the 8 had better graphics and super cool opening sequence so my sister chose it and left me with the ugly one, haha. But well, I have plenty of free time back then and why not give it a try even though I didn't expect much, really. Back then I don't really know much about games, I play some like The Sims, Pokémon, Harvest Moon some other stuff but I hardly even think myself as a gamer ever and never be able to imagine how huge a game could be. So it's about how I started out in a city as a guy with spiky-hair and jerkass attitude (not sissy emo, seriously) and done some shady terrorist bombing mission, then suddenly fell down to a slum which is actually more colorful with all the brothel and crazy cross-dressing to a company tower with at least 10 different floor maps you can access, made you go from wow to wtf really fast, not to mention it was all so funny (while the part you following the blood stain is scary as f*ck). And all that already amazed me, until I realized all the places I have been through is just a small city, and I was really given an ENTIRE WORLD, that's really overwhelming to me, even when I thinking back about it now. And I'm serious to say, since the day I left midgar, my life has never stopped. After that is a marvelous journey about the memories, the world, unexpected events,....anything you haven't known before. I came to love everything about the game, the silly chibi model, the outstanding background, the humorous details, and characters, also the deepness of the story and everything. Even though back then I wasn't good enough in English, so there are many things I left out through my first playthrough (like how I don't know Reeve actually control Cat Sith and the fucking-hard to defeat boss actually the final one, me at the end was like: huh is it end? Why disc 3 so shortttttt!!!!). And yeah, I still remember how fast my heart bumped when I fought with that final boss, I reached the end at level about 58 but can’t defeat him until I trained up to 73, and supernova really was my nightmare! All that tension for a lifetime memory! It was really a miracle time when I didn't have anything besides myself and a PlayStation, not to mention I only have little chance to access to the internet or any friends to talk about ff7 with. I spent half a year for my first playthrough because there was simply a stage I got stuck at a point and didn't know how to move on. But maybe because of that, the game became so meaningful, with all that little Easter eggs for me to randomly discover. Then I went to grade 6 and fortunely met friends that also enjoy Final Fantasy (yet one favorite is 8, and the other is 9, I guess the myth that the first final fantasy you played will be your favorite is true indeed) but we have a really good time to share with each other, like how to get to a certain place with your Chocobo or have Vincent in your team. They all are wonderful times that I find them dearly precious any time I remember and feel grateful at heart to have played it, it feels like I'm not the one that chooses it but it actually choose me or maybe destiny want to lead us together? I don't know, but I sure know that ff7 will always be my top favorite how long the time could pass as I never regret to play such a masterpiece and become so biased about it hahaha