#spring into summer is an interesting time to get into using vr but

[purityvalentine]

hm. i think probably i will buy one when i get back from scotland

[void-botanist]

It's Worldbuilding Wednesday, my friend!

There have been multiple questions about fairy tales and legends, but tell me about the stories that serve as low-brow entertainment for an older audience. Are there novels in your world? What are the most popular ones about? Or maybe there are some other mainstream media like movies, or plays, or holonovels?

Basically, what's the in-setting equivalent of 'Twilight'?

Happy WBW! I thought this was going to be a tough one to answer and then wrote a treatise on fictional game shows, so here we go.

The short answer: on Pajiir (TFA/Triad) the Twilight equivalents are…a lot like Twilight except the romance is between some mix of the sapient species on the planet, and the story uses a lot of tropes about interspecies relationships in a questionable way. In the Nicea/AOM-verse, there's a much stronger emphasis on the magical elements because magic canonically exists in this world. However, in these kinds of books, magic is often written about as strange and at least a marker of a bad boy character, if not a corrupting force in itself. (As a point of reference, people who can inherently use magic—witches—are a very small fraction of all sapient species, but there's a sizeable percentage of people who have learned to practice magic—magicians—who are also treated badly in these books.)

The long answer, where I mostly talk about game shows and reality TV:

Pajiir has basically the same forms of entertainment as earth, so if it exists here, it probably exists there. But because there are multiple sapient species in that world, there's an endless interest in interspecies relationships and competitions in most genres. So just imagine every game show or reality show you've heard of and add multiple species to it. The Bachelor but the bachelor is human and none of the suitors are. Game shows trying not to get accused of catering to one species demographic (Jeopardy but oops all nawwenn questions). Tabloid exposes about said game shows. And so on.

There's also one specific subset of sensationalist entertainment that comes up in TFA: Milo, currently the leader of the Elbas Island Council, keeps a collection of tabloid stories about Elbas Island and its founding families. He doesn't have all of them, obviously, because lots of publications have been talking about it for the last century, but he does keep up with the mainland news cycle that comes back around to Elbas every few years. (I should point out that while yes, it does cost some money and take a decent chunk of time to reach Elbas, it's not at all an unattainable trip for most people. The island takes visitors most of the year. Yet most people's understanding of it is more based on online listicles and magazine articles than being anywhere near it.)

As for Nicea/Another Ocean's Moon, I actually want to lift some of the worldbuilding from AOM's old canon. One of Antarac's neighboring systems, Rade, has a goldilocks planet with a much smaller axial tilt than Earth, so seasons are subtle and you can generally divide the planet into summer, winter, and spring/autumn zones. The warmer zones are more populous and have a big emphasis on live events and being there to see stuff in the moment, even recorded stuff like trashy movies. People don't really have home TVs and streaming services haven't caught on. There's a lot of high-quality shows in the vein of Shakespeare in the Park. There's also plenty of raunchy, crude shows, again in the vein of Shakespeare in the Park. But in the colder regions indoor home entertainment tends to be popular, with significant development toward interactive VR/AR/holographic options.

Outside of planet-specific contexts, two genres of reality and game shows are pretty widely enjoyed: magician vs. witch and planet swap. The interesting thing about magician vs. witch is there isn't a ton of overlap between what they can do with magic. Planet swap is a catch-all term for anything that involves taking someone from their native planet and putting them on a different one, which could mean getting put on another planet in the same system (most systems only have one goldilocks planet though so this isn't so common), being moved to a planet in the same locality (star system group), or even getting sent to a locality that takes multiple warps to reach. Then they have to blend in or find love or complete challenges or what have you.

Nicea taglist: @kahvilahuhut

[memorylang]

Easter: Redwoods, Light | #52 | April 2021

I write from Vegas, having returned after spending most of this spring in Reno. Life has been well. I feel adjusted to being back in the States a year. Every so often, objects and settings still remind me of last year’s evacuation from Mongolia. I still have the interest I’d had in trying to improve the lives of those around me. I still plan to return to Mongolia as soon as pandemic conditions permit.

This month’s blog story reminds me of cycles. Attending a virtual Open Mic Night at the conclusion to this month's “Culture of Creativity Workshops” featuring overseas alumni, I felt called to tell our folks there about this very blog story that I hadn't yet finished. A fellow participant suggested my theme of cycles. I'd spoken of how events that happen throughout time, how our feelings come and go. So here it is—My Easter 2O2I tales of cycles, light and renewal!

Back to Vegas

I returned to Vegas tasked by my father to continue to sort my belongings, tend to the yard and help my older brother and his girlfriend clean the kitchen since their recent move back to the house. Early in March, I’d visited the house with my siblings, and I’d intended originally to spend Holy Week here, too. But my college parish had many functions, including a friend’s baptism, Knights’ service events and opportunities for me to continue to help with the recordings of Sunday Proclamations of the Word. Palm Sunday’s and Good Friday’s were special highlights. Anyway, I'd opted to stay in Reno for Lent’s remainder into Easter’s first weeks.

Easter in Reno

Being in Reno for most of this April instead of in Vegas like last year, I enjoyed seeing trees blossom. A highlight of this Easter season has been its many serendipitous moments. This is also noteworthy because I'd listened to the "Tao of Pooh,” which noted spontaneity as among the good spiritual life’s fruits. A spiritual director had told me something similar not long before I'd graduated college.

Days before Easter Sunday itself (U.S. Year 2, Week 5; April 2–8, 2O2I), I enjoyed getting the opportunity to lector at that Mass. It was a small Mass, but I felt glad to be in person for the greatest celebration of the Christian year since all had shut down last year. Later this Easter Octave, I’d gotten to both lector and serve at a family's confirmation Mass. That too felt lovely.

Serendipity hadn’t stopped there! I’d caught up with an ol’ friend at Rancho San Rafael Park not far from the Uni and later biked with another friend at North Valleys Regional. My bike itself I’d bought from a rummage sale the day before on an unexpected adventure in a U-Haul truck to help our student coordinators collect furniture in the morning after they’d asked whoever could help. Thus, that Wednesday night they’d requested help, Thursday morning I’d joined them to Gardnerville and the rectory, and Friday night I was biking with a friend. The last time I recall riding in a U-Haul was over a dozen years ago when I was 11, my family moved from Indiana to Vegas.

My youngest sister has also been encouraging me to practice my licensed driving by borrowing her vehicle to and from our parish. I’d visited so often that staff offered me a key to simplify visits to my "home away from home away from home." I’d felt touched because I could go on walks around our pretty campus without worrying about getting locked out when I was alone. The flexibility gave me peace recently on my U.S. Year 2, Week 8 (April 23–29, 2O2I), when midday I’d needed to drop by my Honors College alma mater’s office to help print a letter I’d written to graduating seniors for our Honors Alumni Task Force.

Also at church, I’d gotten to participate in a few of our Alpha sessions hosted by a diaconate candidate whom I’d interviewed back in 2OI8 on my diocesan public relations internship. I'd heard about Alpha first back in Mongolia from a kind Evangelical Mongol. Anyway, the diaconate candidate, student coordinators and Alpha participants have been great conversation partners.

Beyond these, our pastor had driven me to my first Pfizer vaccine dose, lent me films and advised my reading! On one occasion, he even let me bring Holy Communion to a friend of mine. Such activities have kept me from feeling too distressed amid research writing and revisions. Parish support has made my “happy contentment” quest kinder.

Redwoods National and State Parks

This year’s Easter Octave concluded for me with another trip with my national parks friends (U.S. Year 2, Week 6; April 9–I5, 2O2I). This trip, I’d anticipated especially. As a young lad in Indiana, I’d felt mesmerized by the photos of massively tall California trees noted in our science textbooks. Thus, from an early age, Redwoods imprinted themselves in me.

At these national and state parks, epic scenery of old-growth forests, mountainous hills and valleys beside the coast astounded me. I hadn’t seen the Pacific Ocean since January 2O2O when I’d flown back to Mongolia from Vegas via San Francisco. I felt surprised by how many months had passed since my last overseas adventure.

At the loop completing the Tall Trees Grove trail, I found a special place. My peers had gone ahead while I stayed behind to take photos, record videos and capture audio. I hadn’t expected to find at the trail’s end a creek filled with still other trees—vast ones, like those that I’d seen in subtropical Asia but different.

I basked in these trees. While taking photos, I also discovered my phone has a virtual reality setting. I tried it out, remembering undergrad extra credit VR photography projects. I’d wanted to journal at least something.

“Daniel!” my peers called from some distance down the path. I couldn’t see them, but their voices echoed well enough. I called back something to the effect of, “I’m here!” I still wanted to get a good fill of this park. Here’s what I journaled:

[11:45 a.m.] Redwood, National Park, end of Tall Tree Grove along the creek zone is this phenomenal section of mossy trees with winding branches. Here I discovered my VR. [A woman paused, passing me, “You must be Daniel.”] 19IO–I96O, so many of these trees that used to be across Humboldt, Eureka, Arcata were cut down. The smells… the scents, the mosses, the ferns, the light. Beyond.

Mid-journaling, I paused because a mid-aged woman who was passing by smiled and acknowledged that I must be the "Daniel" she'd overheard about. I smiled yes and reveled in the gorgeousness that surrounded us. She affirmed and mused how this park’s name should be changed like, “Redwoods and Other Trees and Lose-Your-Brother-in-the-Forest National Park.” She added how in the early half of last century, these very types of trees once blanketed far more Northern California, across the very counties through which my friends and I traveled to get here.

I later journaled again after sprinting much of the uphill trail back to my friends. We then saw the “Lady Bird” Johnson trail, then a confluence of the Klamath River and Pacific Ocean (where there were seals!) and finally Trillium Falls. I’d written this about the final hike:

So hypnotic. [...] Dodona’s Grove* vibes from the Trillium hike after the Falls. Whispers from God. Endlessness.

*The Grove of Dodona is a prophetic forest from “The Hidden Oracle,” a book to which I’d listened amid the pandemic by an author I used to read in junior high and high school, Rick Riordan. While I wasn’t a huge fan of where he’d taken “The Heroes of Olympus” series’ finale, I'd often admired his picturesque locales.

My peers and I left the park by 6:45 p.m. The view from the road on which we departed reminded me of the bamboo forest in 安吉 Ānjí near 杭州 Hángzhōu. I’d seen it in 2OI7 during my first summer overseas and have rarely found comparable places.

Of Redwoods, I journaled too of how gleeful I’d felt to have hugged so many trees. A friend had complimented my writing when he mentioned that I don’t need to take so many photos. I added how photos help me remember what to write. I'll probably share my Redwoods photoset in May.

A carpet of moist, fallen leaves along the paved trails had reminded me of a Sunday morning path that my dad would take my siblings and me through for years at Spring Mill State Park in Mitchell, Ind.

Spring Retreat: Recognizing God’s Light

Beyond Redwoods, I'd stayed behind in Reno chiefly to participate in my college parish's Spring Retreat. This spring the student coordinators held it in Gardnerville, the same location where I'd enjoyed it my senior spring. However, I'd had to leave early from it that year. It was my first and only of the eight semesterly retreats from which I'd left early.

That year, I'd left in order to co-emcee the Diocesan Youth Rally 2OI9. To my surprise, the youngest member on this year’s student coordinator team was likely at that same event when she was a high school student. Similarities like these gladdened me.

I felt renewed. This year’s theme, "Light in the Darkness" (Spring 2O2I), reminded me of "Ignite the Light," (Spring 2OI8), the year after my mother died. This time, however, I’d had more years to reflect and feel greater peace. Similarly, I've felt more peace being back in the States even though I'd prefer to be abroad. God’s light shines every day, in every moment of every person. I can see it.

Writing of seeing things, I’d also seen "WandaVision" and "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier" while up in Reno. I’d reconnected too with a Disney-loving college friend to get more Disney+ watchlist ideas. I’d seriously enjoyed the “Into the Unknown: Making Frozen II” docuseries. Both she and my college pastor led me to witness iconic performances by Julie Andrews in both "The Sound of Music" and "Mary Poppins."

Justice

April felt refreshing for a more challenging reason as well. Much of the month had featured on many channels coverage from the trial over the killing of George Floyd. I imagined that this would be a trial that my generation remembers for years.

I’d watched live various testimonies and even the closing arguments. Then, on that Tuesday, April 2O, 2O2I, afternoon, our nation heard the verdict—My pastor called it among the fastest traveling news.

I've been on the Social Justice Task Force of the American Psychological Association’s Society for the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality since last summer. Our Task Force had come together in response to the killing of George Floyd and subsequent renewed pushes across our nation for social justice.

Our task force has been meeting every other Tuesday night, after weekly fed Zoom fatigue. Our meeting that Tuesday fell on the night of the guilty verdict. But, this justice felt cathartic only somewhat. More shootings filled the media. Our task was far from over.

Still, I’d another reason to celebrate. That Tuesday marked my last advocacy meeting on behalf of the National Peace Corps Association to offices of Nevada’s lawmakers this March–April. All told, I’d coordinated and met virtually with offices of the U.S. Congresspeople Horsford, Titus and Lee as well as Senator Rosen. And Representative Titus herself attended our meeting! She was very kind. So, I felt relieved to have finished those duties for now.

Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month

Next month (May) begins Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. I've decided to tell a #StopAsianHate story. Given America's centuries of racism toward Asians, I don't enjoy the subject. But, I’d had an experience on my Week 5I (Feb. 19–25, 2O2I). It reminded me the importance of continuing to tell stories so that we can promote diversity and inclusion.

I was on one of my Reno walks that cold winter. As usual, I'd pass by the local elementary school. I'd paused to check my phone. The time was while children were at recess. They played opposite a chain-link fence a few yards down a hill from where I stood.

At first, I didn't think that the kids were talking to me. So, I paid them little attention. Then their voices sounded closer, in greater numbers.

I hadn't decided whether to acknowledge the children but decided to finish my walk. My walk brought me along the fence. From my right periphery, I saw a clump of children gathering, following. They certainly addressed me.

I heard what sounded like slurs against Asians that I won't repeat here but also questions that I will repeat here.

The kids asked if I was homeless, whether I'm an orphan, whether I speak English. I reflected on these. I was wearing a big scarf from Mongolia, a hefty hand-me-down winter coat and wide, secondhand jeans, frayed at my ankles. But I hadn't spoken a word to the kids.

Their questions themselves weren't offensive. Yet, the children’s tones reminded me of the mocking ones I'd heard in middle school when boys made fun of me for caring more about good grades than getting girlfriends. (Little did the boys know, girls I liked tended toward good grades.)

Anyway, these kids seemed to have negative implications behind positive responses to their questions. This upset me. After all, homelessness, being an orphan and not knowing English are not inherently bad things. For, often, people do not choose to go without a home, parents or American English. So why might these children ask these degradingly?

I felt perturbed by the realization that these children would find pleasure in mocking people who they suspect are without homes, parents or English skills. Yet, from this, I felt a glimmer of solidarity. I'd heard directed toward me what seemed unkind speech. This may help me relate to Asians who hear slurs, to those without homes, to those without parents and to those perhaps struggling with English.

My parents tend to insist too that I buy new clothes, though. Given our world's rampant consumerism, I find second-hand ones quite fine. "Form follows function." I wish that more folks would appreciate hand-me-downs and thrifting.

Nuance

Curiously, as I continued past this chain-link fence, a somewhat pudgy boy of color asked with a wide grin for money for Taco Bell. Truthfully, I didn't have money on me. I calmly answered the questions, not pausing from my walk. I guessed the kids dismissed the homeless guess/joke. I noticed thankfully that they wore face masks. We’re still in a pandemic, after all.

The boy's questions made me wonder about his family life. True, he could have been joking. But I remembered, many of the boys who'd picked on me in middle school had been living in a neighborhood that many people called not a “good” part of town.

In light of the visibility that Black Lives Matter has had in the past year, I've tried to grow more aware of how cruel predominantly White societies can be toward Black, indigenous and other peoples of color. I recalled learning when I was little that, often those who bully had been bullied themselves. Sociology interests me.

Thus, when these playground children said potentially questionable things to me, I wasn't sure whether to intervene about the slurs or micro-aggressions or what I'd say.

As I neared the fence’s edge to complete my pass by the school, I overheard a girl's or maybe a woman's voice call the kids to stop wasting their free time. I'm glad that someone spoke up. Compassion is the answer, especially in light of hurtful things.

I’m still unsure whether my general silence was helpful or problematic. But the experience caused me to think. For, children learn fast. Innocence is invaluable. My generation's problems and those of that above ours replicate in youths the longer we fail to act.

I’m glad that folks are speaking up these days in hopes to #StopAsianHate. Social justice mustn't sleep.

Language Six

On April 2O2I’s last day, I hit my 365-day streak on Duolingo!

Over the past year, I’d focused on Latin, Spanish and Chinese. Having finished every lesson and level Duolingo had for Latin, I started dabbling in German. While I’ve no intention to extensively pursue German (yet, at least), I’ve enjoyed how its lessons help me see from where many non-Latin roots reach English.

I’ve been dipping into my Germanic heritage on Dad’s side again lately. This began about when I’d seen “The Sound of Music” then reconnected with my distant relative who’s researched more of our shared Austrian and Volga German forefathers and mothers. Turns out that my relative had personally written to and received a postcard from the real Maria von Trapp!

I've grown to like more German language. "The Sound of Music" and how Spotify has Disney soundtracks in German help. Besides listening to vocalists like Namika, I’ve also gotten into LEA, Manuel Straube, Julia Scheeser and even Willemijn Verkaik! This is probably just a phase, but it’s certainly fun.

Every language I’ve sought to learn has at least one Spotify playlist. For recent films I’ve seen, like "Mary Poppins" and "Mary Poppins Returns," I’ve cherry-picked tracks in German, Spanish and English. Though I don’t catch most words, I like to consider translators’ decision-making.

Summer Fun

I get my second Pfizer dose on Cinco de Mayo. By then, I hope to have channeled my Julie Andrews-inspired service of making things better than how I've found them. Later that vaccine week, on Mother’s Day, I’ll return to Reno with Tita and Papa.

May 14 will celebrate the Baccalaureate Mass of lovely student coordinators and friends from undergrad. Then comes the 2Ist birthday of my youngest sister and will also mark when I’m fully inoculated, May 19! Pentecost comes May 23. Then will be May 3O, the wedding of two of my undergrad coworkers, including a fraternity brother. We'll have a mini staff and fraternal reunion!

After that, I look forward most to a Seattle trip at my 24th birthday. National parks friends and I are flying up to see Olympic National Park. It’ll be my first time to see further into the Pacific Northwest than Ashland, Ore. My younger (not youngest) sister got a job in Seattle, so I’ll be surfing her couch for part of my visit. Super stoked to reconnect with friends from high school, college and Peace Corps in the city! Even my married friends with whom I'd spent New Year's Eve the past couple years plan to visit me there.

This April my siblings and I reviewed our first scholarship applications for a Foundation that we’d founded to honor our late mother, who was Chinese. So, with next month and the fourth anniversary of her passing, I’ll share Foundation experiences, I think. Along with those, graduations and celebrations await!

You can read more from me here at DanielLang.me :)

[alphawolfice1989]

21 Ways Neil Patrick Harris Is Still a Kid at Heart

Whether he’s escaping a room or his real life, the sitcom star and new quiz-show host loves a game—unless it’s Monopoly

https://www.wsj.com/articles/21-ways-neil-patrick-harris-is-still-a-kid-at-heart-1520528275

PLAYER ONE Neil Patrick Harris, the host of the new game show ‘Genius Junior,’ takes a timeout at The Charlie Hotel in Los Angeles.PHOTO: SHAYAN ASGHARNIA FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

By

 Chris Kornelis

March 8, 2018 11:57 am ET

AS PRENATURALLY SMART teen surgeon Doogie Howser, M.D., Neil Patrick Harris occasionally let himself believe he was the “young whippersnapper intellect” he portrayed on TV. He’s under no such delusions as the host of NBC’s “Genius Junior,” a new game show premiering this month that quizzes grade schoolers in categories including math, memory and spelling.

“When I interacted with the kids, I realized that [compared to them] I was really just a puppet reading writers’ lines,” the 44-year-old father of two said. “It doesn’t quite involve the same cerebral cortex.”

Following his 2014 Tony-winning role in Broadway’s “Hedwig and the Angry Inch”; the publishing of his children’s book “The Magic Misfits” last year; and the launching of his Netflix adaptation “A Series of Unfortunate Events,” Mr. Harris said he was inspired to take his turn behind the quiz-show dais by a childhood spent watching “Press Your Luck” and “Sale of the Century.” Another motivator: his love of puzzles and game theory, which recently led him to become an escape-room aficionado.

Though he said he normally takes the time to gauge the dynamic in group situations, Mr. Harris admits that he gets “pretty alpha” if the door is locked and the clock is ticking: “When your singular goal is to escape as quickly as possible, you just talk the loudest and fastest you can.”

Clockwise from top left: ‘The Goonies’; Oculus Rift VR goggles; ‘Black Mirror’; his childhood computer; Stretch Armstrong.

My current obsession is: a smartphone app called “The Room.” As you swipe around and examine a box, you find a little switch that opens a panel to puzzles that unlock more and more of the box. It is extraordinarily well executed and a brilliant time suck.

My favorite toy as a child was: Stretch Armstrong, but I was really just interested in knowing what the liquid was inside that allowed him to stretch, so those got mutilated. I also had every “Star Wars” figure. When we made little short films, we would burn them because burning plastic is cool to watch.

My favorite toy now is: The Oculus Rift VR machine. I can’t stop. I will someday be one of those fallow, gaunt VR players who never see the light of day.

My favorite escape room is: New York’s Paradiso Escape. It’s fantastic. Incredibly cinematic, there are multiple rooms, and it’s fully realized. And we escaped, which is most important. The bomb did not go off.

The first piece of tech I remember getting is: an old school TRS-80 computer my parents bought. We were living in Tiny Town, New Mexico—not its real name—and I felt like we were very technological and impressive.

I’m serious about collecting: Disney theme-park memorabilia. I outbid some heavy hitters to get an original Haunted Mansion stretching portrait of a bearded man, which we display proudly and enormously in our living room. I paid too much, but I felt it was something that would never come around again.

When you visit Vancouver you should definitely: bike Stanley Park. That’s their big Central Park. It’s just exquisite. Nature here is just miraculous. When it’s not raining in the spring and summer everything is just in full bloom—and it’s beautiful.”

The best place for brunch in New York is: Balthazar. It’s a great scene. Fantastic brunch: waffles and oysters.

A podcast I download to get a bit smarter is: NPR’s “Hidden Brain.” Shankar Vedantam interviews all kinds of people on topics relating to the brain, the psyche and our common concerns and goals. It’s scientific, topical, really motivational.

A game I do not recommend: Monopoly with 7-year-olds. I think it teaches bad habits. The whole conceit of Monopoly is to destroy every other competitor and acquire so much wealth that you’re stomping on and bankrupting people left, right and center. But we’re very into Sorry!

A book that I re-read every year is: “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho. It is filled with life-changing ways of thinking. It’s the only book I’ve read where I had to just stop to think about a sentence I read, take some deep breaths, smile and then keep reading.

The best book for a first grader is:“The World’s Worst Children” by David Walliams. It’s stories about horrible children, similar to the worlds created by Roald Dahl. Hilarious and still palatable for kids.

A kids film that I love is: “The Goonies.” When it came out, I bought all the chewing gum packs of Goonies cards, read and acquired every Goonies thing I could and called myself a “Goonie looney.” I coined that phrase and thought it was very funny at the time.

The last show I binged is: Netflix’s “Black Mirror.” All the episodes are effective, chilling and awesome.

My favorite VR game is: “The Invisible Hours.” It’s a murder mystery, which is right up my alley. You’re able to wander this mansion and follow people to see what they are doing. It’s like immersive theater. It’s rad.

The last piece of technology I bought: If I’m being honest, is a second Oculus Rift system, because I missed it so much in New York, I wanted to play it here in Vancouver [where he’s currently shooting the third season of “A Series of Unfortunate Events”].

As a child I listened to: my parents’ records. The Kingston Trio, the Brothers Four. In high school I listened to Billy Joel and the Beach Boys—which was the first CD I ever bought.

If I weren’t an actor: I’d either be a puppeteer or an Imagineer—someone hired by Disney to sign a nondisclosure form, learn all the secrets of how the theme park rides work and use current and future technologies to design attractions for parks.

My favorite bathroom away from home is at: the NoMad Hotel in Los Angeles. It’s in an old bank and they saved the vault for the bathroom’s entrance downstairs. It’s super cool.

The best advice I ever received was: play a long game and not a short game, especially career-wise. Don’t hope that a singular thing—especially if it becomes a success—will define you. Strive for longevity and appreciate that where there are flows there are also ebbs.

The worst advice I’ve received: Fly out of Newark instead of JFK.

—Edited from an interview by Chris Kornelis

[kenkamishiro]

Ishida’s Q&A comments from YJ compilation, Part 9

Ishida’s comments from 2017! Only one more part left to go which will cover the 30-something questions from 2018.

For anyone who doesn’t know about the relevant Questions to Ishida contest, please read here. You can start from Part 1 here.

The recent set of zakki:re and interview translations take a lot of time and effort, so if you enjoyed it please reblog or leave a like. Thank you!

2017

No. 1

Sensei, if you had to pick a character from a manga/anime/novel to become the president, who would it be?

Mozgus-sama.

Just stop.

[T/N: One of the antagonists of Berserk...]

No. 2

The winners of the New Word/Buzzword awards have been announced for 2016, but in your opinion what new word or buzzword should have won for this year?

「～てわけだし」。

I wonder why.

[T/N: The phrase 「～てわけだし」is difficult to translate on its own since it’s more of an implied feeling, but basically it’s used when you’re stating a conclusion based on reasons that were given in the conversation.]

No. 3-4

It’s that time of year when hot pot is at its most deliciousness! What is your favourite kind of hot pot or hot pot ingredient?

Motsunabe.

Wasn’t there a question just like this before?

[T/N: Yes, yes it was. (In 2013, Issue no. 49.)]

No. 5-6

2016 was also a year where all kinds of events shook the world. Now then Sensei, please tell us about your biggest event of this year!

That I got the opportunity to meet Togashi Yoshihiro-sensei.

It was amazing...

No. 7

The first issue of Young Jump for 2017!! Sensei, what words do you want to write for your wishes for the New Year?

To be on time.

Do your best.

No. 8

Sensei, please tell us what you want to challenge yourself to do this year!

To become an apprentice.

That’s a good one.

No. 9

January 26 is Mobile Apps Day! Please share with us your favourite app or an app that you feel has been useful recently!

Voice recorder.

Apps with shogi problems. It’s perfect for when I have free time.

No. 10

February 2 is Pigtails Day! Please share with us a hairstyle of the opposite sex that makes you feel things!

Short cuts.

Indeed.

No. 11

February 9 is Manga Day! What was the first manga that you read or bought?

I forget what my first one was, but my most recent was volume 45 of Kingdom.

It was probably something like Crayon Shin-chan I think? Most likely...

No. 12

Sensei, please tell us about a sports match that has moved or excited you to this day?

Rocky vs. Mason Dixon.

I haven’t really seen much, huh.

No. 13

Sensei, what item makes you feel “I haven’t seen this lately/it’s gone now, what a shame?”

That crunchy salad thing from Family Mart, the Mexican something-or-other.

I’ll say it again.

No. 14

This may seem out of the blue, but please tell us about a memory that’s related to your birthday!

Thank you for last year.

I received a lot.

No. 15

Sensei, please share with us what you usually eat or do for your health!

Nuts.

I’ve been running recently. Last month I clocked in 100 km.

No. 16

Sensei, please share with us a time where you felt full of energy or gained courage to this day!

I was so scared of Biohazard in VR that I could feel the adrenaline coursing through my body.

I haven’t been playing any VR games recently.

No. 17

Sensei, please tell us about a local rule that surprised you, or any unusual rule that was considered as normal in your local area!

Libatape.

It’s a bandage.

No. 18

Sensei, please share with us what you’re secretly obsessed about!

88Kasyo Junrei and Ziyoou-vachi.

Ohh.

No. 19

Sensei, please tell us what you’d like to eat right now!

Corned beef.

I wonder if I was craving junk food at the time.

No. 20

Sensei, please tell us about a moment where you felt like spring was coming!

I don’t really feel it. Though it does feel like summer.

What’s with that force.

No. 21

If you could send a letter to a person again, who would that person be and what would you like to tell them?

A friend from a long time ago, since I moved around a lot.

I’d tell the friend that I’ve become a mangaka.

No. 22-23

We’re at the cusp of Golden Week! Sensei, please share with us where you’d like to go, or something you’d like to do!

Read.

Just get out of the house already.

No. 24

Sensei, please share with us a technique you thought was amazing or moved you!

I saw it recently, but Terada Katsuya’s live paintings.

Man it was amazing.

No. 25

If you could choose any one special ability or superpower, what ability would you want to use?

The ability to fix my back.

The ability to be motivated at any time.

No. 26

Sensei, what book do you want to read the most/want to know the contents of right now?

I want to read all kinds of books.

I’m currently interested in Russia/Soviet relations.

No. 27

Sensei, please tell us about the scariest story you’ve heard or experienced in your life!

Missiles.

When I was drawing the manuscript for the final chapter that everyone associated with it was waiting for. My heart was pounding like crazy.

No. 28

Sensei, please tell us about something you’re particular about in your home/room, or something you’d like to be particular about if you moved!

Delivery boxes.

Where there are delivery boxes, no bugs crawl out...

No. 29

Sensei, please tell us about a movie or drama that you thought was interesting/would be interesting!

“Documental” was interesting.

“One Cut of the Dead” was interesting too.

No. 30

If you could know just one thing from the future, what would it be?

I wouldn’t want to know anything.

Whether manga still exists or not.

No. 31

Sensei, please tell us what your favourite appetizer is!

Nuts.

Raisin butter.

No. 32

Sensei, please share with us a day that only you celebrate, or a day that is special only to you!

Since the day my series first began is in September, I consider that to be a day for celebration.

I’m sure I’ll forget it.

No. 33

When you think of summer, you think of festivals! What comes to mind when you hear the world “festival”?

Live performances.

Fireworks, food stalls.

No. 34

How would you describe your personality in a single word?

Uncoordinated (To everyone involved, I apologize for causing trouble last week).

What happened...

No. 35

Sensei, please share with us a dinner meal that gets you excited the most!

I don’t get excited over meals.

I do now!

No. 36-37

Sensei, please tell us what you’re glad to have done as a child!

Play Dragon Quest.

Study. Not for the contents necessarily, but more so cultivating my ability to concentrate. Well, that and Dragon Quest too.

No. 38

Sensei, please share with us the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning!

Sleep.

Huh?

No. 39

Please share with us something about Japanese traditional culture or events that you like!

Sweet mochi cakes.

I think it’s wonderful that we have events for each season. Though I don’t take part in them.

No. 40

August 31 is Vegetable Day! Sensei, please share with us what vegetables you like!

Orange paprika.

Celery, paprika, tomatoes.

No. 41

If there was a moment in your life where you thought, “I’m saved!”, please tell us!

I did have one.

I’ve only ever been helped.

No. 42

It’s September but the blazing hot days aren’t over just yet! Sensei, please share with us your steps to combat the summer heat!

Pray.

You didn’t even do anything for the heat did you.

No. 43

Sensei, please share with us something that you thought you wanted to throw away, or wanted to throw away but couldn’t!

My chair.

Stuff like packages or stuffed toys that the staff left behind.

No. 44

Sensei, please tell us about a moment in your everyday life where you get a bit excited/feel a bit of small joy!

When I manage to wake up early.

I know the feel.

No. 45

Please tell us who you thought was the most beautiful woman you’ve seen in your life (can be a real person, or a character from a manga/drama/novel)!

Andrea Pezick.

It’s hard to say who the most beautiful is.

No. 46

October 13 is Moving Day! If you were to move, what town would you want to live in (can be real or fictional)?

Kansai.

Kanto or America or Taiwan.

No. 47

Sensei, please tell us about a moment in your life where you noticed a discrepancy and realized it was different from what you expected!

Turkish rice.

Robot Restaurant.

[T/N: Ishida went to Robot Restaurant last fall with some friends.]

No. 48

Sensei, if there’s a character that you want to make a guest appearance in your own work, please tell us (even real people are acceptable!)

Me.

Don’t need me there.

No. 49

Sensei, please share with us what you do when you can’t fall asleep at night!

I fall asleep right away, so please tell me what to do instead.

Please rest assured that my sleep schedule returned to normal after TG ended.

No. 50

Sensei, if you’ve had a moment where you wanted to keep experiencing the same thing in your memories, please tell us!

I want to erase my memories and play Bloodborne again.

I don’t want to repeat it again.

No. 51

It’s harvesting season! Sensei, please share with us what you thought the best harvest of the year was, or something that was significant to you for this year!

Live performances.

Recently I’ve been doing stuff like practicing drawing and studying. I’m not sure if you’d call it harvesting or planting seeds though.

No. 52

It seems November 22 is Carpenter Day. Sensei, if you have a memory of the house you’ve lived in to this day, please tell us!

Centipedes showed up a lot in my dormitory.

Whenever they got inside the soap box they would cluster together.

No. 53

This is the final issue of 2017! Sensei, please share with us what you want to eat as your last dinner of 2017!

I’d be fine with soba.

That way of speaking is an affront to soba.

previous || next (coming soon!)

[ahouseoflies]

The Best Films of 2019, Part I

On one hand, I fear the direction of American cinema, and I feel more personally distracted from great art with each passing day. On the other hand, my viewing was up 5% from last year despite my belief that I’ve gotten choosier. I even approve of most of the films nominated for Best Picture. Are the offerings just top-heavy this year? Are my standards declining? Answering questions like those is part of why I present a paragraph or two on everything I see each year, though I can’t even imagine someone sitting down and reading all of this.

Full disclosure: I haven’t seen Just Mercy, Monos, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Good Boys, Frankie, For Sama, or An Elephant Sitting Still. The tiers, as always, are Garbage, Admirable Failures, Endearing Curiosities with Big Flaws, Pretty Good Movies, Good Movies, Great Movies, and Instant Classics. GARBAGE

129. Cold Pursuit (Hans Petter Moland)- A film professor of mine showed us Wings of Desire and City of Angels, its American remake, in order to show us how a film can technically cover a story while losing the essence that made it special. I can only hope that Hans Petter Moland's Norwegian original is better than his stab at an English language remake, which fails completely at balancing violence and comedy. The movie almost announces its own boredom with the protagonist as it shifts focus first to the villain and then to cops on the case, all of whom have artificial quirks to try to give them life where there isn't any. The Neeson character's journey toward revenge is empty, so the film drifts from him, but it doesn't have anything to say with the other characters either. 128. Domino (Brian De Palma)- Seeking revenge, a Libyan informant roughs up a potential terrorist by throwing him over a restaurant bar. Cut to two cops driving wordlessly. Cut to the Libyan guy dunking the other guy's head in boiling soup. That interruption spells out what the rest of the film does: De Palma could not be less interested in his replacement-level actor's shoddy policework, especially in the self-parody of the last twenty minutes. Any intensity the movie has comes from terrorists (or Guy Pearce over-salting a salad), and then the police drain the momentum. Just make a movie about terrorists, Brian! And, as I've urged you for years, get rid of Pino Donaggio. 127. Beach Bum (Harmony Korine)- Moondog, the spacey, Floridian hedonist poet at the center of the film, is supposed to be "brilliant" and "a good guy" at heart according to his daughter. But at the daughter's wedding, he shakes the hand of her fiance, whom he usually calls "limp-dick," and he says, "What's your name again?" The line got a laugh in my theater, but is it likely that he didn't know the name of his daughter's fiance? Especially if he's a good guy who doesn't hurt people on purpose? It's one example out of a thousand of Harmony Korine making the goofy decision instead of the one that would benefit character or story. I thought that Korine had taken a turn for the lucid with Spring Breakers, but he just isn't interested in making anything consistent enough for me. There's an hour of consequence-free episodes to follow, though I did cherish Jonah Hill's three improvised scenes, for which he tries a sort of Tennessee Williams voice. You can admire how audacious some of the choices are--describing Zac Efron wearing Jncos makes the film sound more fun than it is--but looking at the poster gives you about 70% of what you would get out of the long ninety-five minutes. Yes, McConaughey's shoes are funny, but what else have you got? 126. Fyre Fraud (Jenner Furst, Julia Willoughby Nelson)- Half as good as the Netflix one. Please, by all means, explain to me what a millenial is again. 125. The Kitchen (Andrea Berloff)- One of my mentors stressed that Shakespeare worked in "cultural touchstones," truisms that weren't difficult to prove but served as a sandbox for all of the juicy stuff. So we all know that, say, too much ambition is a bad thing, but having that North Star at all times allows Shakespeare to ply his trade with character development and imagery and symbol. I know that The Kitchen isn't funny or cool or original, but it also doesn't really have an emotional or thematic core. It's a movie with neither the window dressing nor the window. I don't know what I'm getting at, but I watched the last five minutes twice to make sure that it actually was as anti-climactic and inert as I thought.

124. Climax (Gaspar Noe)- Ah, to be a provocateur who has made his best work already and took all of the wrong lessons from it. I don't envy Noe, who insists on formal rigor even when it adds nothing, who goes to greater, more desperate lengths to shock. A third of this film, embedded somewhere between the three openings, is gross young people talking, lewdly and clinically, about whom they want to bone. I thought I started watching French art movies to get away from locker rooms. 123. The Best of Enemies (Robin Bissell)- The supporting cast of Anne Heche, Wes Bentley, and John Gallagher Jr. avail themselves better than the finger-wagging, scenery-chewing leads, but that hardly matters in a movie this fundamentally broken. Apparently no one saw the problem with making a Ku Klux Klan president the dynamic hero of a school integration that he fought against, but that's how the story functions. He's the guy who casts the deciding vote and gives the speech at the end, but it's a bit anti-climactic for an audience that assumes, yeah, the White race is not morally superior to any other race. Congratulations on your realization, buddy. Long before that, Sam Rockwell’s character is inconsistent. Neither the Rockwell performance nor the Robin Bissell script can thread the needle between showing the heinous terrorist that a Klan member is and revealing the depth that foreshadows the character's change. The answer is to show the character being nice to his developmentally disabled son, which, again, doesn't get all the way there. That's cool that you love your own son, but, uh, that has nothing to do with the hatred that made you shoot up a girl's house because she has a Black boyfriend. Of course you can show these contradictions and changes in a character incrementally--lots of good movies have--but this one ain't going on the list. 122. The Intruder (Deon Taylor)- Probably the most two-star movie of the year. Prototypical in its two-starness. Instructive to me as far as what I give two stars. There’s a point of view error in the first twenty minutes that ruined it for me. ADMIRABLE FAILURES 121. Little (Tina Gordon Chism)- We're all good on body swap movies for a while. This one, otherwise undistinguished in its comedy or storytelling, is notable for just how specifically 2019 it might look in a time capsule: Here's a joke about transitioning as we're on our way to our job developing apps; there's a kid doing The Floss and talking to Alexa. Whoops! Bumped into a guy wearing a VR headset! 120. The Kid Who Would Be King (Joe Cornish)- I appreciate that somebody is still making movies for 9-10 year old boys, but I checked out hard and kind of just left this on until it was done. I don't like lore. Much less funny and urgent than Attack the Block, and it's crazy that this is the only project that came together for Joe Cornish in the intervening eight years. 119. Godzilla: King of the Monsters (Michael Dougherty)- Exhausting and joyless in its large-scale destruction, Godzilla: King of the Monsters pitches everything at the same volume, and even the end of the world ends up not mattering as a result. Despite (or maybe because of) the presence of such great actors, the screenplay dilutes the characters by having three fighter pilots or three scientists when all the lines really could have been given to one of these interchangeable figures. That's first draft stuff, homie. Still, Kyle Chandler is kind of awesome as the weathered one shouting about how everyone else is playing God. He reminds me of Larry Fitzgerald toiling away with professionalism on teams that would never sniff the playoffs. 118. Blinded by the Light (Gurinder Chadha)- I made it about twenty minutes into this movie before flipping the switch and making fun of it relentlessly. It tries to strike the heart-on-sleeve authenticity that a Springsteen song does, but if The Boss never overwhelms you with language, almost every line of dialogue in this film spells out what the character is thinking. The overbearing father is especially intolerable: "What is this music? You need to get rid of distractions and focus on getting a good job so that you don't end up a taxi driver. Like me!" I'm only sort of paraphrasing. Blinded by the Light is too well-meaning to be offensive, but it's absurd in its spoon-feeding. LMK, ladies: On the third time that I have headphones in my ears during a conversation with you, and I start buttering you up with lyrics to "Jungleland," will you still love me? 117. Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (David Leitch)- What a summer, huh? The go-for-broke final setpiece redeems the film somewhat, and Vanessa Kirby is a welcome addition to the universe. But Idris Elba's first line, responding to a question about who he is, is "Bad Guy," and the characterization doesn't go too much further. I feel as if I have honed the requisite disposition to enjoy a Fast and Furious movie, but that doesn't mean that the most cliched thing has to happen at the most cliched time in the most cliched way.

116. I Lost My Body (Jeremy Clapin)- Not for me ultimately. The film presents itself as above the tropes of cinematic romance but sure seems to circle around them. Clapin is willing to set up the pins of, say, "I'm actually the pizza delivery guy but have kept it a secret for a year," but he is unwilling to knock the pins down with anything resembling catharsis. I don't know if the French bowl, but feel free to substitute whatever kind of metaphor they might get offended by.

115. The Lion King (Jon Favreau)- I saw the original Lion King when I was ten: old enough to think that Disney movies were beneath me but young enough to know nothing about art or the world. And I remember the way that the songs transcended reality: "I Just Can't Wait to Be King" turning into a Busby Berkeley number, "Be Prepared" taking on an expressionist green tint. It was mass entertainment that was far from experimental, but I remember thinking, "Can you do that?" As an artistic experiment, this remake is kind of confounding, to the point that I don't know whether to classify it as an animated or live-action film. The final scene starts upside down, and your eye adjusts to the idea that you're looking at a reflection in a stream, but that stream is a Caleb Deschanel-aided, computer-generated reflection of a reality. However, I return to my original point: You're missing something if you think The Lion King is a better story if it's more realistic. Capably made as The Lion King 2019 is, no one is referencing 42nd Street. These Disney remakes just reference themselves. 114. Stuber (Michael Dowse)- The critical community has been pretty forgiving of Stuber; I guess because it's a type of studio film that used to be common but now is not. Judged on its own merits, however, it's labored. The screenplay circles around questions of masculinity, but not in a way that hasn't been done better in other recent comedies. Perhaps most disappointing of all, I've seen Iko Uwais and Bautista fight before, and it looked a whole lot cooler than the way they're sliced and diced here. The ending's sweet at least. 113. After the Wedding (Bart Freundlich)- Think of what Julianne Moore could have accomplished in the time it took in her career for her to shoot four crappy movies with her husband. This is the type of melodrama that makes more sense after all of the revelations have cleared the air, but that doesn't mean the preceding hour and a half was any more fun because of the aftermath. 112. The Goldfinch (John Crowley)- One day someone's going to figure out how to coherently adapt a Dickensian novel and actually do that thing Crowley is trying to do: condensing two hundred pages of back story into 1/8th of a page here or a line there. Somebody's going to be able to figure out the little moments that are important and the big moments that aren't. And you'll all be sorry. The movie is ultimately hampered by the bad ending of the novel, in which a person who isn't a mystery writer has to solve a mystery. Perfect casting for Luke Wilson though. He definitely looks like a whiskey-faced dad who would steal your social security number. 111. The Souvenir (Joanna Hogg)- This movie is autobiographical. The protagonist has the same initials as Joanna Hogg, and she's attending film school at the same time Hogg did. But what a self-own it is for your hero, based on you, to be this inexpressive and restrained and deferential. The film is mostly about a cold romantic relationship--and I guess what the character learns through that experience--but when her beau's friend asks what she sees in him, she can't really say. Neither can the audience. I guess it's a skill to write a scene in which a family is having an argument that is so clenched-jaw reticent that the viewer can't even discern the topic of conversation for a few minutes, but it's not a skill I appreciate. 110. The Dead Don’t Die (Jim Jarmusch)- Jim Jarmusch must be a very good friend.

109. Velvet Buzzsaw (Dan Gilroy)- If the film were funny, I wouldn't mind the lack of narrative drive. If the film had narrative drive, I wouldn't mind the lack of atmosphere--glaring for a film that circles around to horror eventually. If the film had more to say, I wouldn't mind how pedantically it says it. If the protagonist's change of heart made sense, then I wouldn't mind that his conversion apparently happens off-screen. At least most of the actors seem to be having fun. I wasn't. 108. It: Chapter Two (Andy Muschietti)- I started squirming in my seat during a sequence somewhere in the circuitous second hour. Bill sees his old bike in an antiques window, haggles with a Stephen King shopkeeper cameo, and finishes the scene on a triumphant note, believing that his old bike will ride like the wind. Cut to the bike falling apart on the road, deflating his pride with comedy. Cut to a flashback of him riding the bike with young Beverly, serene and warm. Cut to him riding the bike again with determination until he stops, terrified. Within fifteen seconds, the film jerks us into four divergent emotions at a whim. The overall tone felt just as arbitrary to me, and that's before we get to the always-unclear line between fantasy and reality. And this time, the flashbacks of each young character's encounters with Pennywise are less scary because we know they all live into the present. Andy Muschietti just does not have a light enough touch to make this movie work.The last forty-five minutes are interminable. But I had all the same gripes with the first chapter, so personal taste is a factor. 107. Trial by Fire (Edward Zwick)- Perfect example of a true story that could use some poetic justice. I don't want to give away anything that the first line of the imdb summary doesn't already, but this ending could have been much more satisfying by changing one or two lines. This is a movie that recreates, multiple times, babies burning alive, but the ending is somehow more punishing. It's also one of those films that should have just begun at the halfway point. If we can praise special effects when they're done well, then they should be fair game when they're this embarrassing. Zwick definitely put his flash drive into the Lifetime computers for fire.exe.

[gamertechzone]

30 Big PS4 (and PS5) Games Coming in 2020

2020 starts off with a Kamehameha blast and not let up for the weeks and months to come.We're running down all the major announced games with release dates or projected 2020 release windows that we can't wait to play in 2020. Note: this doesn't cover every game coming out on PS4 (and PS5 next year), but more so the biggest ones we want to play. Of course, be sure to let us know what you're looking forward to most in 2020, and stay tuned to IGN's weekly PlayStation show, Podcast Beyond!, for a rundown of all the big releases and much more.

Now, let's get on with the list:

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot

Release date: Jan. 17 Bandai Namco kicks off the year with the first major Dragon Ball Z action-RPG in a long while, offering an expansive encapsulation of the DBZ saga, with plenty of character progression, sidequests, and enough DBZ to let even the most latent fans find something they love, whether it be a battle with Frieza, Cell, Majinn Buu, or even a trip to the DMV.

Darksiders: Genesis

Release date: Feb. 14 While not the traditional Darksiders entry fans may have expected after Darksiders III, Darksiders: Genesis expands the lore with a new playable horseman while also changing up the gameplay style. With a new isometric, dungeon-crawler like format, Genesis could be a bit of fresh new air for the long-running series.

Dreams

Release date: Feb. 14 Media Molecule's create-what-you-want suite of tools and toys entered early access this year, but that portion of the game's life is now over. Media Molecule will instead release the full, retail version of Dreams next year, which players who bought it in early access will receive at no extra charge.

Marvel’s Iron Man VR (PSVR)

Release date: Feb. 28 Yet another Marvel icon comes to PlayStation, albeit in a different form than Marvel’s Spider-Man. Marvel’s Iron Man puts players behind the helmet of Tony Stark in an original story developed by Camouflaj. Putting the PlayStation Move controllers to smart use, players will get to fly around in open spaces, have epic mid-air battles, and listen to some classic Tony snark in this new adventur

Final Fantasy VII Remake

Release date: March 3 The long-awaited Final Fantasy 7 Remake finally comes to PlayStation...well, at least its first part does. The multi-episode remake promises an expanded, beautifully redone version of FF7’s first section set in Midgar. While certainly a nostalgia trip for longtime fans, FF7’s remake is also offering returning and new players something completely different with expanded content and a new battle system.

Nioh 2

Release date: March 13 For those looking for a Souls-like experience, the original Nioh offered a fantastic alternative with some incredible enemies and action. Nioh 2 is looking to recapture that magic next year, and has already had an open beta to let players test out the series’ newest challenges.

MLB The Show 20

Release date: March 17 Sony's stalwart yearly baseball series returns in March for its final outing before the PS5 launches. More interestingly, though, is MLB: The Show's future, as Sony and the MLB have announced plans to release the franchise on non-Sony consoles in the years to follow

Doom Eternal

Release date: March 20 Though the Doom 2016 sequel saw a delay from late 2019 to the already packed 2020, it remains highly anticipated thanks to the impressive release of the Doom reboot as well as some spectacular gameplay shown at E3 2019. Thankfully, we won’t have to wait for hell to freeze over to play it.

Persona 5 Royal

Release window: March 31, 2020 A deluxe edition of the acclaimed Persona 5, Persona 5 Royal will introduce new characters, new story elements, new boss battles and more while also reintroducing players to the wild story of the Phantom Thieves that first debuted in 2017.

Resident Evil 3

Release date: April 3 Capcom is quickly following up its acclaimed Resident Evil 2 Remake with Resident Evil 3, offering a fully remade version of the original, plus a brand new multiplayer mode that we’ve previously known as Project Resistance. Though RE2 may have been originally more acclaimed, the remake set such a strong standard that we hope RE3 will match.

Cyberpunk 2077

Release date: April 16 CD Projekt Red’s follow-up to the vaulted The Witcher 3 looks to be another crazy-deep RPG, this time in first-person rather than third, set in the world of the beloved CRPG Cyberpunk 2020. Impressive E3 showings two years in a row earned Cyberpunk 2077 IGN’s Game of E3 both years, so it’s safe to say this is one of our most anticipated launches of 2020.

Predator: Hunting Grounds

Release window: April 24 A surprise announcement during a 2019 State of Play, Predator: Hunting Grounds comes from the devs behind Friday the 13th. Offering a similar experience, pitting players as human soldiers against one player as the Predator, Hunting Grounds impressed us in our first hands-on experience.

Marvel’s Avengers

Release date: May 15 Despite a rocky unveiling at E3 2019, Square Enix and developer Crystal Dynamics have been demonstrating what makes Marvel’s Avengers an ambitious take on the world of Marvel’s biggest heroes.

Wasteland 3

Release date: May 19 After a fundraising campaign, Wasteland 3 is officially on the way for a release in the first half of next year, developed by inXile Entertainment. Wasteland 3 is set in a post-apocalyptic Colorado, as players assume the role of a surviving member of the Team November squad.

The Last of Us Part 2

Release date: May 29 Delivering a sequel to one of PlayStation’s most beloved games is no small task, but if any studio is up to it, its Uncharted developers Naughty Dog. Following up their acclaimed The Last of Us with Part 2, Naughty Dog is looking to deliver its most ambitious game ever. But don’t expect a return of The Last of Us’ multiplayer mode with it.

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2

Release date: Q2 - Q4 2020 Despite a slight delay, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 is still set to be released sometime in 2020. We've seen plenty of info on the clans that will be present in the sequel that comes years after the original. And while we haven't seen much gameplay yet, the TTRPG adaptation has enough potential to keep us interested as we head into next year.

Dying Light 2

Release window: Spring 2020 Dying Light 2 impressed us with its E3 2019 showing and the ambitious scale its world is promising. Following up on the surprise hit original, Dying Light 2 is looking to give players dramatically different experiences through choices they make, opening up and closing off large portions of the world and drastically altering the story’s course. We’ll hopefully see how that gamble pays off next year.

Psychonauts 2

Release window: 2020 Though developer Double Fine Studios is now an Xbox first-party developer, its already in-development Psychonauts 2 is still set for a PS4 launch. And there’s still plenty of reason to be excited given the charm, cleverness, and unique gameplay of the original that Double Fine looks to be capturing with the sequel.

Ghost of Tsushima

Release window: Summer 2020 Sony’s Sucker Punch has been relatively quiet about its upcoming samurai adventure, but what we’ve seen so far, coupled with Sucker Punch’s pedigree, makes it easily one of our most anticipated games of the year. Sucker Punch brought us great open-world superhero adventures with Infamous, and the gorgeous demos we’ve seen of Ghost of Tsushima so far promise an expansive, bloody, and beautiful Kurosawa-like adventure.

LEGO: Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga

Release window: 2020 Rather than just remaster all previous LEGO Star Wars games, longtime LEGO lads and lasses TT Games have made a brand-new adventure that ambitiously captures the entire Skywalker saga so far. Our hands-off demo at E3 2019 impressed us with the project’s scope, but we’ll have to wait to see if it lives up to the previous, great LEGO Star Wars games.

SpongeBob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated

Release window: 2020 Battle for Bikini Bottom is from a bygone era. We don’t quite get as many licensed console games as we once did, but Bikini Bottom is a beloved and surprisingly solid 3D platformer. We’ll have to wait to see if it holds up in 2020, but the art update and a promise of a return to SpongeBob’s world certainly has us excited.

Streets of Rage 4

Release window: 2020 Nostalgia has fueled no shortage of both good and… well, not-so-good games in recent years, but even so Streets of Rage 4 has continued to be one of our most anticipated games. And that’s in large part because it’s not trying to rock the boat — Streets of Rage as a couch co-op beat ‘em up is still fun to play, and getting the chance to do so with new levels, new characters, and a new look is something we’re excited to play.

System Shock Remastered

Release date: 2020 System Shock Remastered has been known of for a long time but will hopefully be out in full next year, offering fans a chance to head back to the acclaimed franchise or experience it for the first time.

The Wolf Among Us 2

Release date: 2020 The newly reformed Telltale announced its next big project, a revival of the formerly announced The Wolf Among Us 2. While the Wolf sequel was first announced by Telltale back in 2017, this new version will be developed by AdHoc Studio, which is comprised of former Telltale veterans.

Gods and Monsters

Second half of 2020 We’ve seen very little of Gods and Monsters, the follow-up game from the Assassin’s Creed Odyssey team, but the pedigree of that studio, coupled with their clear love of Greek mythology already has us intrigued. Throw on top of that a new art style and a Breath of the Wild-esque aesthetic and we’re hoping Ubisoft lifts the lid on this one soon.

Watch Dogs: Legion

Second half of 2020 You can play as any NPC. That’s a pretty ambitious pitch, but Watch Dogs: Legion’s E3 2019 showing proved that the idea was more than just a neat logline. Picking up new team members from anyone in a world while simultaneously hopping around that world to various characters is a thrilling twist on the open-world series.

Little Nightmares 2

Release window: 2020 The startling debut of the Little Nightmares series has us eagerly awaiting what twisted storytelling and worldbuilding the sequel could deliver. With a haunting, meloncholy atmosphere married with puzzle and stealth-focused gameplay, the original offered an adventure that has us scared in the best ways possible to return.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon

Release window: Unknown (Jan. 16 in Japan) The next entry in the Yakuza franchise, a favorite of IGN’s Max Scoville, is throwing out the rulebook and introduced a turn-based battle system instead of the realtime combat of previous entries. Whether it can be balanced with the rest of the Yakuza series’ charm remains a question, but hopefully it’s one we get to experience soon.

Godfall

Release window: 2020 Again, a bit of a cheat, but Godfall is the first game to be announced as a PS5 console exclusive, with a planned release on PC, too. Godfall will be coming to PS5 next year and offer up to three players to play together in a “looter-slasher” focused on melee combat.

PlayStation 5

Release window: Holiday 2020 OK, sure, it’s not a game, but the launch of a brand new next-generation console is kind of a big deal, and we want to highlight it. We know Sony is planning a console that offers some sort of PS4 backward compatibility, PSVR support, new controllers with more intricate feedback, and...not much else as of publish. But we’ll surely learn plenty more in the months to come ahead of its planned holiday 2020 launch. Source: https://www.ign.com/articles/2019/12/18/30-big-ps4-and-ps5-games-coming-in-2020 Read the full article

[goldsmithsstudio]

The blog posts have been missing in action here over the past few months as my time on Eye of the Corvus intensifies. I’ve been putting my energy into the website dedicated to this project, including two blogs — one about the project, and the other about my time in Iceland and travels across Scandinavia on the way there (August to October 2019).

The highlights of the past four months have included not only a fabulous month-long holiday of travel from Finland to Iceland across Denmark, Sweden and Norway (mostly by train), but some serious art-making output along the way and in the months following the holiday.

Arts Territory Exchange (aTE) exhibition, Cambridge UK, 6-8 September

My current aTE collaborator, Andrew Howe (Shropshire UK), and I were part of a two-part exhibition in Cambridge UK, curated by collective Art Language Location around the themes of land, ownership, property, common land and rural urban tensions. Our part of the show was at Cambridge Artworks Artspace over the weekend of 6-8 September. A series of digital photographs presented as giclée prints and titled Within Walking Distance, we exchanged photos from walking routes close to home and identified distinct palette differences through pixelation, determined by light, season and climatic conditions.  Characteristic colours are identified subjectively by ocular inspection with reference to “Werner’s Nomenclature of Colours”. We’d been working on this idea for a few months but the decision and coordination of the work for aTE’s Put this in your window and think of me exhibition came when we were all in transit somewhere around the world. Not ideal, but it just goes to show you can pretty much work anywhere!

Within Walking Distance #01

Within Walking Distance #02

Nes Artist Residency, Skagaströnd Iceland, September – October

Going to Iceland has been a long-held dream of mine. I absorbed anything Icelandic for about five years before actually stepping foot in the country. My acceptance into the Nes Artist Residency was within weeks of the 2019 dates opening, so it was a long lead-up. I’ve documented the highlights of being there as an artist fairly extensively on my Eye of the Corvus website, but in short, it was really a once in a lifetime experience. To have two months to slowly absorb another culture is a rare thing these days.

I had to work around the clock before leaving to be able to stay there for that period, and I was homesick by about the six week mark. However, despite a few hiccups that come with sharing a space (house and studio) with 10-12 people you may not really get on with, being forced to explore a landscape and community on foot for an extended period of time was something I won’t forget. Everything slowed down – my heart rate, my thinking, my expectations. I read 16 books over the three months I was away – books I may have skimmed over even if I thought I had time to read them at home. And I made friends and contacts from all over the world – the US, Canada, Germany, Spain, Peru, Brazil, Ireland, the Philippines – each making their mark on me in one way or another.

This was my first overseas residency and the second longest one I’ve undertaken…but it’s just the start of more as I explore other landscapes that offer insight into our place in a rapidly changing world.

Absorbing the Icelandic landscape

Cementa Festival 2019, 21-24 November

Three weeks after getting back from Iceland, I was in the car and on my way to Kandos in Central NSW for the 2019 Cementa Festival. The work I created for the Andrew Frost curated show had been started in June with a three-day visit to Kandos to gather field recordings. The last of the five sound narratives, Sonic Territories: Kandos were finished in Skagaströnd, Iceland during my residency there. I haven’t missed a Cementa Festival since the first biennial in 2013. Prior to this year, my last showing there was in 2015 with a multi-media installation, Indicatus.

The thing I love most about this event is not even so much the artworks — although I do have some favourites from over the years, but it’s the conversations had with other artists while I’m there. I’ve made friends through this event and subsequent trips back to Kandos, and I never fail to come away from each festival with new contacts and interesting people to follow online. Since 2013, Cementa has used the slogan “Cementa friendship” – it’s become one of those self-fulfiling prophecies.

With old friends and new at the 2019 Cementa Festival

Eye of the Corvus, exhibition preparations continue

As November draws to a close, the deadline approaches for my two-year project Eye of the Corvus to cease being a project and transform into an immersive exhibition. The exhibition opens on 14 December and there’s been essays to write and rewrite, a catalogue to finalise and print, invitation details to finalise, media commitments to fulfil, as well as finalising the videos and sound, work out the install and tech logistics, and then finally putting it all together.

You don’t realise how much the grind of real life impacts on your art practice until you’ve had two months when it doesn’t. I’m now juggling commitments at home as I try to get things finished. The energy levels are low (partly thanks to two weeks of jet lag and the rest because of horrendous late spring weather), the allure of relaxing into the summer with more books is strong, and 2020 projects are also now in play. But, I’m a deadline-driven individual who knows that the closer I get to that transformational date, the more focused I’ll become. But please, watch this space!

Eye of the Corvus: Messenger of Truth – 14 December 2019 – 2 February 2020, Western Plains Cultural Centre, Dubbo

Working with VR back in the home studio

An incredible end to 2019 The blog posts have been missing in action here over the past few months as my time on 

[ratevrs-com]

All VR Headsets of Spring 2019 Compared: Prices and Specs Review

if you're in the market to finally dive into VR or if you're ready to have a headset and want to upgrade spring of 2019 is going to be crazy awesome there is so many your headsets lined up for release which one should you buy let's take a look at all the specs of everything new this coming out and decide and the very first headset I would like to talk about is the one that I'm very excited about and will likely get for myself and that is oculus quest we don't know when exactly this headset will be shipping but the announcement will likely come at f8 at the end of April this headset is going to cost 399 US dollars and this is a completely standalone system that is you don't need an expensive PC to run VR it's gonna be completely wireless with six degrees of freedom with inside out tracking let's take a look at what's under the hood of oculus quest first things first because it's not going to be connected to an expensive PC so it's not going to be able to run on an expensive GPU what its gonna have inside is a CPU the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 now it is a bit of an older mobile CPU but that should be enough to run the games what we're going to have is 1440 by 1600 / a resolution on this headset which is already larger than the original ripped or vive the only thing is that the refresh rate is not going to drop to 72 Hertz oculus rift CV 1 HTC vive usually right mind you hurts we're also losing the intuitive headphones and getting the integrated speakers instead which personally I don't mind for mobile system and you can always plug in your own headphones if you'd like what this headset is keeping though is the hardware IPD adjustment that goes from roughly 58 millimeters to 72 millimeters just like rifts ev1 and it's going to have the same field of view as the original rift at roughly 100 degrees the tracking of the quest controllers as well as the headset itself is going to be done with a new insight system and that relies on four cameras usually for inside our tracking systems like for Windows mix reality you only have two cameras but this one will have four there's already a whole list of interesting games that are gonna be coming to the quest and I have my own favorites picked out for the next video but we are confirmed to be able to have cross play within the stores as well as cross buy options depending on the developer allows for it for example something like DC where you will be able to play them both on the quest and the rift and you possibly don't even have to buy it anymore if you have it in the oculus store already I'm very excited for the oculus quest to come out because now I don't have to be tethered to my actual gaming PC I can go anywhere in the world and showcase VR to anybody that I want out there so far the only headset that can challenge that that we know is coming out this spring is via focus plus now this one is a very very special case it is coming out mid-april actually April 15th is its release date but it comes at $800 price tag just like oculus quest it will have Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 processor with 1440 by 1600 resolution for each eye the refresh rate is a little bit higher at 75 Hertz compared to 72 on quest and it does to have the hardware IPD adjustment although we don't know exactly what is the measurement for that this is an enterprise-level headset though so I don't think many gamers will be interested in it particularly because we know it has a lot of tracking issues based on the reviewers from a CES and double the price for oculus quest this particular has it just makes no sense to buy the only other similar interesting offering from wife is vive cosmos that is built as a VR for everyone with an easy setup a comfortable design and modular capabilities and it says the device Kosmos goes beyond everything you could want in one device that is a selling tagline but we know almost nothing about this particular headset we don't even know when it's coming out so I'm not gonna discuss it in this particular video it's not going to be coming out this summer at least as of making of this video if something changes I will make a video out cosmos by itself so we're gonna just disregard cosmos at this point in time but speaking of enterprise level headsets HP is throwing his hat in the ring as well with an awesome HP reverb that's gonna be available at the end of April and it comes at a $600 price tag it is primarily enterprise hardware but it will come as a consumer Edition at $600 as well as the professional Edition at 650 dollars in a consumer version you get the washable face fabric cushion and with the professional edition you get the leather face cushion smaller cable for a backpack VR laptop and a commercial warranty this is a tethered headset so it has to be plugged in to a VR capable DC does come with integrated headphones although they are removable if you want to have your own headphones now wear this headset really shines is that it's going to have 2160 by 2160 resolution per eye that is unheard of in all of the headsets available so far and it will have a 90 Hertz refresh rate this beast of a headset will require DisplayPort 1.3 to handle all that video bandwidth and it is said to have the field of view of 114 degrees although this is still a Windows mixed reality headset the design of the headband has shifted to that of the rift cv1 there is they dish to the halo band in favor of this strap in the middle nowhere this headset starts to fall short is that it doesn't have any hardware IPD adjustment the lenses are fixed and 63 millimeters apart and the software adjustment is exposed to accommodate from 55 millimeters to 71 millimeters but I think the biggest downside to HP reverb is the fact that it only has a 2 camera inside out tracking which is quite standard for the Windows mix to reality but still that is not enough to precisely track your controllers as well as your headset and hands-on reviewers noted that you do tend to lose your controllers now and then if they are out of the view of the cameras still though the amazing resolution that HP Weaver will provide left a lot of people hoping that that is exactly when the next iteration of rift will go but oculus rift s went in a bit of a different direction it has been announced a bit of a lukewarm reaction but this is still quite a formidable headset in my opinion just like Aquos quest is going to cost 399 US dollars and likely likely we're gonna get an announcement about the shipment days once again at the end of April at f8 although model that has been confirmed that is just my situation for both Quest and the rift and as you start to compare oculus quest and rift as you start to see the roof test is kind of a downgrade in several instances particularly the resolution on rift test is going to be 1280 by 1440 per eye that's quite a downgrade from the 1440 by 1600 pariah on quest the refresh rate is going to be 80 Hertz which is above the oculus quest 72 Hertz but still below the 90 Hertz which is available on the original rift cv1 and the field of view is said to be slightly larger than that of the rift which is 100 degrees but we don't know the exact number for the rift has just yet just like with quest we are all losing our integrated headphones and getting the integrated speakers instead but the main thing that we are losing on roof tests from both the quest and the original rift is that there's going to be no hardware IPG adjustment you can check out my whole video about that in a link in the description down below but basically now the lenses are fixed at sixty three point five millimeters apart which is gonna be optimal for users with an IP G from sixty one and a half to about sixty five and a half but there is software adjustment that is supposed to accommodate 58 to 72 millimeters IPG the good thing in my opinion is now rift as is ditching the whole constellation sensor tracking system is going to use in site tracking just like the quest but it will have five cameras so for in the periphery and the fifth one on top for better control tracking that simplifies the whole setup for the rift and it's almost reason enough to upgrade aside from the fact that resolution is now gonna be better at 1280 by 1440 per eye compared to rift cv1 and all the hands-on reviews coming in so far point to the fact that this is actually a very good headset and I'm almost ready to upgrade almost if it wasn't for one little thing and of course the elephant in the room is the fact that valve index has been announced now it's very tough to talk about this particular headset because so little is known about it except for the fact that it has been leaked but confirmed by valve that the pre-orders are gonna be happening in the early may after the official announcement and the shipment is targeted for June so technically this headset is coming out in spring 2019 this is why it is in this video I could not not include it and actually if you're curious about all the rumors surrounding the valve induce you can check out my video that's once again linked in the description down below right now we don't know what the price of this headset is going to be there's been no hints whatsoever all we know that it will be available for purchase just as a headset itself with the valve knuckles now called index controls being sold separately as well as the lighthouse system sold separately as well or you can buy the whole thing as a package no prices have been announced for anything in particular I believe right now the average that people are predicting is going to be between 700 and 800 US dollars from the hole set but we only have a few more weeks to wait before the actual price will be announced now the whole thing in my opinion is quite a shot across the bow of oculus with rift as everything from the teaser picture featuring the hardware IPG adjustment slider to the timing of the announcement confirmed to be on May 1st which follows exactly f/8 which happens between April thirtieth and May 1st it looks like valve is targeting oculus directly so now many are dubbing valve index as a rift to of course everything I'm about to say our pure speculations none of this has been confirmed all of these are pure speculation based on rumors leaks and suppositions so valve index will be coming with valve knuckles and it will have the outside tracking lighthouse 2.0 system it will very likely have the minimum resolution of 1440 by 1600 per eye and have a refresh rate of 90 Hertz its field of view is supposed to be 135 degrees which is much larger than any other headsets I discussed in this particular video so there's a big debate right now where the valve will be competing in price against oculus or vive that'll really determine the price of the valve index I highly doubt that they're going to be trying to undercut oculus at its 399 price per headset but they might match the price of vipro or even go below it the current way believe I Pro had said to cost 799 dollars that's just what the headset alone without the controller's or the lighthouse system so maybe valve will bundle everything for 800 at least that is my speculation at this point in time so as when personally I'm definitely jumping on the oculus quest system I cannot wait to see where the good mobile solution for VR will take us so many amazing games have already been confirmed for quest and although you can expect some dumb grades and graphics when you compare the same game with quest toward the one played on rift still I think the portability of the headset itself is gonna be quite good for growing the VR industry and as much as I would love to upgrade to rift as from my current rift system I will hold out and wait until wealth index confirms some of the specs and releases more information about their headset so with that in mind what kind of had said would you purchase I'm kind of curious to hear your opinions on the whole spring 2019 lineup of hm geez thank you so much for watching I'm real and I'll see you in my next video

https://youtu.be/odNhruvTR1M

[pegacornisaurus]

The Land of Fire and Ice

I went to Iceland in mid-January with my sisters and finally decided to share my experience almost six months later. If you’re looking for a cultural experience, Iceland is not it. It was a great trip, but I'm not sure why I expected something a little more exotic (besides the smell of rotten eggs). 

We stayed at an AirBnB apartment in the heart of Reykjavik. The city is easily walkable - the only thing that made it difficult was the extreme cold and wind. I read this a lot before my trip but it’s true - you really do get all four seasons in one day. We layered up and it seemed like nothing was enough - I had at least five (very warm) layers on every day and was still numbingly cold. 

Day 1: We arrived early in the morning and were jet lagged so we slept most of the day and explored Reykjavik at night. That’s when we realized that everything is crazy expensive - it’s hard to find a meal below $20. We explored for a couple of hours and then had dinner at Saegreifinn. We all opted for the lobster bisque and it was delicious. 

Day 2: We booked a day tour with Arctic Adventures that included lava caving and ATVs. We started the morning driving quads to the top of the Hafrafjall mountain. It was beautiful and definitely a fun experience but so, so cold (despite the space suits they made us wear). The only irritating part was that the person in front of us couldn’t drive that well so we kept having to slam on our brakes and couldn’t speed up that much. 

We then headed to Bláfjöll (Blue Mountains) for our adventure in the Leiðarendi cave, which is an underground lava tube in one of the most active volcanic areas in the world. At one point in the cave, the guide had everyone sit down, turn off our lights and asked us to be silent. We could see absolutely nothing and hear only the sound of water dripping. It was amazing and frightening as we were completely blinded by the darkness. The cave tour was interesting and educational - the guides really know what they’re talking about! The mountains and volcanoes surrounding the cave were breathtaking as well - we felt like we were on a different planet! 

In the evening, we stopped by Aurora Reykjavik to get information on the Northern Lights tours. It was a very cool place to sit and warm up with some hot coffee. They also had tons of crazy aurora-themed merch and gifts as well as virtual reality goggles. I’ll get into the disappointment of the Northern Lights later, but want to mention that the VR experience was better than the real thing! You could see the Northern Lights in so many breathtaking scenes. 

For dinner, we went to a restaurant called Icelandic Fish and Chips, so obviously we had fish and chips. It was everything we hoped for. We then went back to the apartment, peeled off 30 layers of clothing and snuggled up under blankets. 

Day 3: The erratic and extreme weather made us more exhausted than we expected so we decided to take it slow and not book any adventures. Since my sister is a donut fanatic, we had to try a traditional Icelandic donut, AKA a kleinur. It basically tasted like a stale donut. While that was disappointing, we made up for it with a vínarbrauð, which is a layered pastry with custard, chocolate, and all kinds of deliciousness. 

We walked around the Tjörnin Lake, which was frozen over, and explored parts of the city that we didn’t get to on the first day.

That night, we went on an aurora tour to see the Northern Lights. Sighting them depends on the aurora forecast as well as clear skies. While it felt like a ripoff, we didn’t want to take our chances driving so late at night with the sudden weather changes. We booked our tour based on the day with the highest aurora forecast and just had to hope it wasn’t cloudy out. We drove 1.5-2 hours out of the city to find a good spot. Apparently, all the tour bus drivers communicate and when we found a good spot, 10 more tour buses showed up within 15 minutes. We waited for an hour in the freezing cold with numb feet before the clouds cleared. Had our guide not pointed it out to us, we wouldn’t have seen it. It was a faint green light that lasted for less than a couple of minutes. The pictures she took on her DSLR came out amazing, but that is definitely not what we saw with the naked eye. A Norwegian friend told me he sees the lights a couple of times a year just randomly so it’s one of those things you appreciate when you’re not actively looking for it. I’m including pictures with my disclaimer that it only looked this good on camera. 

Day 4: We rented a car and drove the Golden Circle, which is a loop with some popular stops along the way. Doing a tour seemed like a waste of time and money as the roads are easy enough to drive (despite a little snowstorm that went as quickly as it came). My sister has some experience driving in the snow so we felt comfortable enough and all went well. Our first stop was the the geothermal exhibition at Hellisheidi Power Station. It was interesting but not really my cup of tea - my sister is in the energy field and she loved it. There were a couple of balconies with amazing views so I’m not complaining. 

We skipped the Kerid crater because it was too cold and snowy to hike and the pictures looked more beautiful in the spring/summer anyway. Next stop was the Stokkur Geysir, which is a periodically erupting hot spring. It erupts randomly but while we were there, it was spouting about every 15 minutes. We had just barely missed one so we stayed to see two more eruptions and it was really cool to witness. I’ve included a video but the people next to me added their own soundtrack.

Our next stop was the Gulfoss waterfall, and that’s when the snowstorm hit. We were miserable and I couldn’t get a good view of the waterfall but I took a selfie anyway. 

Another popular stop on the Golden Circle is the Þingvellir National Park, but it’s also one that is best enjoyed in warmer weather. We had to return our rental by 5 PM so we skipped the park and headed back to the city. Dinner that night was KFC because it’s easy and we were pooped. FYI, a meal at an Icelandic KFC is $15.

Day 5: We booked a Glaciers and Waterfalls tour with Arctic Adventures. This was by far my favorite day of the trip. Let me first mention that one thing I really wanted to do on this trip was pet some fluffy Icelandic horses. If you don’t know about them, they are so special that Iceland doesn’t allow any other horses to enter the country to avoid breeding and an Icelandic horse that leaves the country may never return. Among other things, they can perform two additional gaits (besides the usual walk, trot and gallop) called a tölt and a skeið. They’re also known to be extremely friendly to humans. Look them up if you’re interested - they are pretty cool animals!

Anyway, at this point in the trip, I just didn’t think I would get to see and pet these majestic creatures. We got on the bus to head to the south shore and on the way, our bus driver pointed out some of those cute fluffy horses on the road. He then pulled into a side road and said that it was okay to get out and pet them. That made my trip. I did have to sacrifice on the fluffy because it had rained so their fur was wet and matted. However, the experience was amazing and they're so friendly that they wanted to come with us on the bus.

I’m not sure what this dude was doing.

They were posing for me! 

Next stop was the Skógafoss waterfall. We got really close to fully experience it and ended up getting drenched on our first real stop of the day.

Onward to the spectacular black sand beach of Reynisfjara, which is known for its famous basalt columns and caves. The waves are strong and unpredictable and there have been many fatalities, so we were warned to stay far, far away from the water. There’s no land between the beach and the south pole, which is what makes the waves so ferocious. Despite following instructions and staying far from the water, a wave still snuck up on us so the many warning signs are not exaggerating. 

We then headed to the Sólheimajökull glacier for a hike, which was the scariest experience but the most breathtaking view. All of the tours tell you that the hike is easy, and it really is, but they don’t tell you how dangerous it is. We were fitted with our crampons and given ice axes and safety instructions. We also had to wear harnesses (like for rock climbing) but they’re not actually attached to anything. The guides just need something to clip onto if you fall into a pit, which is a possibility.

Most of the hike was on ice but bits of it were on black dirt. The hike up wasn’t so bad - we just had to remember to really stomp so the crampons could grip the ice. If I forgot to stomp with one foot, it would easily slip, so it was still pretty stressful. There’s also the added danger of slipping while holding the ice axe the wrong way and having it stab you, so there were a lot of different things to remember. When we finally made it to the top, the view was worth it. Words can’t describe it and pictures don’t do it justice, but I tried.

Hiking back down was terrifying. The rest of the group seemed to have no problems with it, so our guide made me go to the front of the line so he could keep an eye on me. The trick is to stomp down while shifting your weight back (in almost a sitting position). He told me to “stomp like a thug.. you know, like Snoop Dogg.” I knew what to do but couldn’t execute - I got inside my own head and thought I wouldn’t make it down in one piece. Thankfully, I did, but if I hadn’t, that glacier would have been a pretty spectacular final view. 

Our last stop for the day was the Seljalandsfoss waterfall. Not only is it breathtaking, but you can walk behind the waterfall! It’s a slippery climb to the top and only parts of it have rails but after the glacier hike, I wasn’t complaining. 

We went to Habibi for dinner since it was close to our apartment and had some yummy Middle Eastern food. It was nice to have something cheap and flavorful for once. When I say cheap, I’m talking $15 a meal, because that’s the lowest it gets in Reykjavik.

Day 5: This was our final day in Iceland. Our flight was in the evening so we booked an early time slot (9 AM) for the Blue Lagoon since it’s on the way to the airport. Although we were used to the hot water smelling like rotten boiled eggs at this point, that didn’t prepare us for the stench we smelled as soon as the bus drove into the parking lot. After a few minutes, we became one (or should I say three) with the stank and didn’t notice it anymore. The Blue Lagoon is a geothermal spa located in a lava field and is fed by the water output of a nearby geothermal power plant. The water is renewed every two days so the lagoon is self-cleaning and they’re very particular about hygiene - everyone is required to take a shower before entering. 

The weather was about 30°F and the water is 100°F on average, so it wasn’t fun getting in and out of the lagoon. Once we were in, we had to move around to find a comfortable spot because some parts were too hot to handle but a step in a different direction could mean a slightly cooler water temperature. They also offered free silica mud masks so we applied those and found a spot to relax. It was really dark when we got in but by the time we left (a couple of hours later), it was bright and we could see the beautiful surrounding mountains. It did rain for a few minutes and that was really painful, especially because there’s nowhere to hide from it! Other than that, it was an amazing experience and I would highly recommend it. It was the perfect relaxing end to our trip. 

[geekade]

PAX East is Fun

The beginning of “Convention season” always gets me excited for PAX East which fortunately for me, is in the first quarter of the year. PAX (Penny Arcade Expo) started out west in Bellevue, Washington for their first show in 2004. Then in 2010, it expanded to Boston for PAX East, and it has been growing ever since. What makes this special for me is that it’s a convention focused only on games, but not just video games. From hardcore D&D to casual tabletop games & card games, they have it all covered. Many of these truly wonderful tabletop game creators even allow you and your friends can try out whole games before you even buy them in a special section of the convention designated for that purpose. The people of PAX are a very friendly community and it is always an enjoyable experience.

PAX East is a much smaller convention than the ones I’m used to, which is a breath of fresh air. I only purchased a Saturday pass because I can normally get through the whole show floor in a day. This year there was a much larger indie gaming presence and while I couldn’t have been happier, it did present me with a challenge. Being the completionist that I am, I had to attempt to get to each booth and find something that would leave a lasting impression on me.

As soon as you get onto the escalator to the show floor, you immediately know where all the big-name studios are. What surprised me was that Twitch had a much larger presence this year than in 2016. They had a lounge where you could network with Twitch streamers and relax. It was a nice addition because all they did last year was hand out deodorant (which I certainly didn’t mind. It sometimes gets a little stinky at the convention) and pamphlets to let people know about Twitch. Then there was also a see-through box with a single streamer inside playing a game. People would press their hands and faces against the glass and watch them like they were in a human exhibit at the zoo. There was also an area where an interviewer would talk to people and developers from the stow floor, but I was more interested in the indie games.

My first stop of the day was at a gaming booth dedicated to Polish game studios. The publisher of the following games was 11 Bit Studios:

Digital Sun is the developer of a game by the name of Moonlighter, an Action RPG with rogue-like elements. You play as Will, a shopkeeper that dreams of becoming a hero. This was my favorite game at the booth. You’re told a story of how the village you live in was once a profitable merchant town and shop owners would venture into the caves and bring back supplies to fill their shop, but soon the caves became too dangerous and the merchants began to leave. You are a brave young hero who dreams of becoming a hero and vanquishing the monsters in these caves. It's a dungeon crawling game, bit it's also a shopkeeper simulator. When you get back from exploring caves you can put the items you find on sale.

Pixel Crow is the developer of Beat Cop, a game where you play as Jack Kelly, a former detective framed for murder. You are reassigned to a new precinct where you are stuck writing tickets. Yes, you read that right. This is a text-heavy, story-driven game with multiple endings and sadly I didn’t get enough time it. I’d love to sit down with this one some more and read every bit of the text I can find. Lucky for me and other fans of the game, it releases in Spring of 2017.

The final game in this booth was Tower 57, a top-down twin stick shooter with 16-bit-inspired pixel art, destructible environments, and a heavy focus on co-op. This game was a lot of fun, and the way the “display” was set up was very cute. There was a couch at the very end of the booth. I was handed a controller and taken to the character select screen. There are 7 different characters you can choose from with different abilities. I obviously picked a female scientist, steampunk Abraham Lincoln, and a detective. You pick these 3 character and they act as your lives. If your first character dies you switch to the 2nd one, and so on. This game took me back to my childhood where I’d play these types of games with my little brother. I loved the couch setup which made it seem like you were in a living room playing with friends.

My next stop of the day was the Shovel Knight booth which was oddly tucked into the back corner of the convention. There were only a few show-goers there so I decided to try out the new co-op mode. If you weren’t aware, like myself, Shovel Knight and all of its related DLC are available now on Nintendo Switch, including Specter of Torment, which is currently only available on Switch, and hitting all other platforms in April. Playing it on the Nintendo Switch wasn’t really my cup of tea because the Joycon controllers were a bit too small to work with. After beating the first boss, the trial was over and I left to pick up a Shovel Knight keychain.

My next destination was the Raw Fury booth. The games they had were GoNNER; a cute 2-d platformer with an award winning soundtrack, Tormenter X Punisher; a top-down twin stick shooter where the goal is to survive and you only get 1 life, Kingdom; a kingdom-building simulation game where you control a king or queen and spend your coins expanding your kingdom, and finally Dandara; a metroidvania gravity bending game based on an Afro-Brazilian woman in the colonial period of Brazil.

Across the way was an elaborate set-up of booths for Melbourne International Games Week, Asia Pacific’s largest digital games celebration featuring conferences, events and activities for the games industry, game enthusiasts and the general public. The game that stuck out most was a beautiful water-colored mobile game called Paperbark.

“Paperbark is a game that tells a playful short story of the bush, a wombat and a very hot Australian Summer. It presents a sincere representation of Australian bushland, which has been inspired by iconic historical and contemporary landscape Artists and Australian children’s literature. The player follows a sleepy wombat; who spends it’s day exploring, solving problems and foraging for interesting things. As the story unfolds and new locations are discovered, the adventure builds with the heat of the day. The game has been created as a love letter to wandering through the bush and can resonate with anyone who grew up in Australia, or is interested in it.”

It was a cute whimsical game where you would swipe the screen to make the wombat walk around and if you swipe over the white space that uncovered more of the area around you.

Afterwards I decided to switch gears and try out some VR games. My friend had been deciding between getting VR or the Nintendo Switch and this was a perfect place to try both. Unfortunately for her, she hates horror games which is the biggest genre in VR right now but, we were able to find a few games that were safe for her. The first one we found was called The Lab, a mini-game collection created by Valve. After putting on the headset I was told by the woman at the booth to select the “Longbow” mini-game which is a bow and arrow “shooter”. This game was pretty straightforward. You are perched on top of a wall in your fort and you must shoot at the stick-figure people who are trying to break down your fort’s gate to enter it. When you shoot the stick-figures they release balloons you can shoot to regain your health. It was a silly game but it did a pretty great job of introducing you to the VR world.

We moved onto another VR shooter called Dick Wilde on the Oculus Home. In this particular game you must shoot mutated alligators and other giant swamp creatures while actively dodging projectiles being shot at you. This one was a bit more involved than the other VR shooter, but also more difficult because you have to remember to move around shoot. At the end of each round your score is tallied up according to how many creatures you shot and how many projectiles you were able to dodge.

The Cartoon Network booth was my next stop. Grumpyface Studios, which brought us the critically acclaimed Steven Universe game Attack the Light, is releasing their sequel Save the Light on consoles this summer. I never played Attack the Light, but had heard nothing but good things about the game. It is a blend of turn-based and real-time combat, sort of like Paper Mario, featuring the main characters of the Steven Universe show. The game will still be co-written by the shows creator Rebecca Sugar and it looks like it will further explore the lore in the Steven Universe universe. The only other game at the Cartoon Network booth was OK K.O.! Lakewood Plaza Turbo based on an upcoming Cartoon Network show OK K.O. Let’s Be Heroes. This game is a beat-em-up featuring characters from the show. The portion of the game I played had rhythm elements to it almost like DDR or Stepmania which I enjoyed.

My final destination of the day was the IndieBox booth. I had been excited about this for weeks because there was a rumor they would have Jotun, an action exploration game where you play as a viking warrior who must prove herself to the Gods so that she may enter Valhalla. I grabbed the box and was on my way to purchase the game when a sales rep at the booth informed me that they were having a special deal that day. If I spent another $20 I would get one IndieBox for the following month and 5 game codes. Typoman is their game for the next month and after receiving such high praise I thought it was an amazing deal.

As I headed up the escalator to leave the convention I couldn’t help but feel a little sad leaving my favorite convention. It’s wonderful to be able to get through a whole convention in a day, but I always think about the games I had missed out on playing or the people I never got a chance to talk to. All in all this is a great way to start the convention season and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

[fthbarlingtontx]

Best First Time Buyer Programs

Contents

Media buying agency

Digital singapore developed

Time home buyer spring

Time home buyer interest rate

Time home buyer interest rates

If you’re buying for a kid, be sure to choose one that’s not too. What we dislike: Coat can shed a little at first. Best.

But there is good news! Today the US mortgage market has many mortgage loan programs that can help the first-time home buyer to get into their first property.

Ogilvy Media, a leading strategic and media buying agency in Sri Lanka. and Emerging Media to introduce the system for the first time in Sri Lanka. ADA digital singapore developed the back-end.

Help First Time Home Buyers Tips For First time home buyer spring and summer are right around the corner, which means that home buying season is about to bloom. The Arizona Multiple Listing service cites march through July as the best time to buy and sell a home, and according to the New York Times, nearly 35 percent of.There are a number of extra costs involved in buying a property that many first-time buyers don’t consider or factor in to the overall price of the house. Photograph: iStock Being aware of the.

To help you get ready and get the most out of CalHFA's loan programs and. If you are a first-time homebuyer, and have been pre-qualified, you must attend a. It's best to review the individual Program Descriptions to determine the income.

It’s the end of the model year, and any 2019 car purchased now will see accelerated first-year depreciation. target and the best TrueCar price that a participating dealer will give through Consumer.

The best VR software answers that by translating your head, hand, and body movement in ways that might otherwise be.

In fact, even if you’ve owned a home in the past, you may qualify for these programs. company that best suits your needs. Homeownership costs extend beyond down payments and monthly mortgage.

Buying dorm decor, new laptops. and knowledge of these programs looks good on a resume. So take advantage of Adobe’s.

We're committed to putting membership over profit, and helping members become their best financial selves. The first-time homebuyer grants are seeing that.

Information For First Time Home Buyers This section of the publication gives you basic information about home mortgage interest, including information on interest paid at settlement, points, and Form 1098, Mortgage Interest Statement. Most home buyers take out a mortgage (loan) to buy their home.

Programs in many states offer financial assistance to first-time or low-income buyers, including grants that.

Social Security is one of the most important social insurance programs in the United States. off claiming at 62 because.

The program is a two-tiered affair and isn’t cheap (Porsche has a similar program we cover later in this article). The first.

Buying A Home With 0 Down 1St time home buyer interest rate First time home buyer interest rates. A point is a cost equal to 1 percent of your loan amount-so one point on a $100,000 loan is $1,000. Discount points are prepayments of interest that you pay at your loan’s closing. Mortgage lenders offer borrowers a choice of loans at different mortgage rates with different points.SunTrust analyst Rohit Seth wrote in a note earlier this month that luxury home builders like Toll Brothers could struggle.

We reviewed the state's offerings to help you pick the best program for you.. All of Rhode Island Housing's first-time homebuyer programs.

MaineHousing's First Home Loan Program makes it easier and more affordable to buy a. The cost of the homebuyer education class counts towards the 1% contribution.. If you are a MaineHousing borrower in good standing and become.

https://ift.tt/2zBr8gR

[kellykperez]

Seasonal SEO and evergreen URLs: How to drive seasonal traffic year-round

Now that Christmas and the New Year are well and truly behind us, it’s time to think about next year!

While it might seem like an odd time to start planning for the holidays, this time of year is the perfect occasion to reflect on what went well during the last holiday season, how to build on it, and the steps you can take to drive seasonal traffic all year round.

Why is seasonal traffic so important?

Seasonal website traffic isn’t just a gimmick or something that can be considered a few months before the event. Many companies rely on these peak buying periods to help balance their books and flatten out their averaged revenue across the year – therefore it requires a dedicated strategy.

Interest around shopping online continues to increase year on year, with a greater swing towards mobile devices and shopping ‘on the go’. Connection speeds are faster and websites are optimizing for speed.

They’re prioritizing mobile viewing in many cases and the experience is often so rapid and easy that the concerns around clunkiness and security that once plagued online sales are quickly diminishing (if not non-existent for savvy users).

A blend of great discounts, quick deliveries, press coverage, advertising buzz and good timing has meant that events such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday (ironically both now dominated by online sales in the UK) are now cornerstones in many businesses’ revenue streams.

In this article, we’ll look into how some of the basics can help you slip ahead of competitors.

Permanent (evergreen) URLs

Staying active all year round plays a vital role in the success of many seasonal and time sensitive campaigns. We so often hear:

“Should I set up a new page for XYZ event?”

“We’re offering 20% off this weekend – do we need a new page?”

“Performance is up, so we thought… more categories!”

Well, it’s not always just a quick answer, there are plenty of factors that need to be taken into account to provide a considered (and correct) response. The trick is, this isn’t just about SEO – it rarely ever is! You have to consider all the below factors (and more) when making a new URL:

Time taken to manage and tag products appropriately

What do you hope it will rank for?

Will it cannibalise other keyword targeting categories?

Does it need to be indexed or is it for PPC/Email campaigns?

Will you add internal links to it – where will they go post-season?

Is the page going to generate backlinks?

Can the page be used all year (for example /clearance instead of /2018-aw-sale)?

Will you be printing this URL on brochures/leaflets, etc?

Can it be short and snappy?

What is an evergreen URL?

An evergreen URL is an address on your site that doesn’t need to change – see it as a permanent addition to your site’s internal architecture. A good example of this is a /sale page. The associated event may not always be active – but the equity of the page is not sporadically redirected to other URLs on the site throughout the year.

The dreaded dated URL

Avoid dating the URL – fashion sites are often the worst offenders for /aw16 or /ss17 (with the abbreviations standing for Autumn/Winter and Spring/Summer respectively). How about just /new-arrivals, or going super short with /new-in (for example http://www.next.co.uk/women/new-in)?

But it’s not just category URLs that need attention and stability. There are a variety of pages that benefit from a carefully planned approach – next we’ll take a look at one of the most successful pieces of seasonal marketing (across multiple platforms) and how it impacts potential organic performance.

The search impact of Christmas adverts

Christmas adverts in the UK are a sign that the festive season is here… or they may just be a premature annoyance that definitely didn’t make me cry that one time!

Regardless, there are a few lone examples of where using a carefully considered (permanent) URL can be a viable source of generating natural links and help sell a story (…plus some merchandise).

John Lewis Christmas advert

The widely anticipated release of John Lewis’ Christmas advert is an annual event that is fast rivaling the Coca Cola lorries in terms of seasonal buzz. Other retailers have since latched onto its success and diluted the impact of these emotional shorts, but for the last three years John Lewis did something that really worked.

The below graph from Ahrefs shows how the URL http://www.johnlewis.com/christmas-advert received links from referring domains. Many of the links came from large influential sites including The Guardian, Huffington Post, BBC and HubSpot.

Naturally, these links occur shortly after the release of each year’s advert. This not only provided the site with authority and trust, but also provided a large amount of referral traffic.

The drop-off from these links is minimal and the pages themselves were well-crafted. What’s more, the URL itself never changed – no 404s, no redirects.

Something was missing this Christmas…

2017 saw a change to John Lewis’ approach with a separate sub-directory for content. The URL is far less marketable and the Christmas advert is less prominent. There seems to be a focus on the more commercial aspects of Christmas and event ideas, which is both a shame and a lost opportunity as the new URL has received far less buzz (as you might expect).

Competitors and other big brands have attempted a similar execution but are also being held back by inefficient URLs and a need for a little more magic. Some of the best near misses can be seen below (if any 404 or redirect to the homepage when you’re reading this, it only backs up my point!):

https://www.tkmaxx.com/uk/en/christmas/white-christmas

http://www.boots.com/christmas-inspiration/show-them-you-know-them

http://www.waitrose.com/home/christmaswithwaitrose/waitrose-christmas-advert.html

What can we learn from this?

If you want your campaign to have real impact and more importantly retain and improve on that impact year after year, make sure you can overlay the below points with your campaign plan.

Identify a suitable URL structure for your seasonal content

Understand your target audience

Generate an idea that will resonate with their primary emotional connections

Consider how you can use it to give something to charity (not enough people do)

Create a bloody awesome page

Ensure you use content types (video/image/animation/survey/game) that your audience regularly engage with and enjoy

Provide internal links to important and appropriate pages

Produce it in as many languages as you feel necessary

Sing about it on social media, your blog and other people’s blogs

Don’t forget forums or Reddit when considering social media

PR the hell out of it

After the event, don’t keep trying to resurrect the campaign

Listen to all the feedback!

Wait till next year…

Archive the page’s content for nostalgia

Do it all again with an even better idea (and more singing!)

The considerations for 2018

This year retailers will be looking to go bigger and better themselves, so aside from the above list, what are the factors that could make or break your campaign?

Mobile

We still see designs and campaigns being made for desktop first and then crammed into a columned approach for mobiles; it’s still a bit of an afterthought right now.

Setting aside the potential release of the mobile-first index in 2018, your users deserve more than a few media queries to lazily compress the page. Mobiles have swipes, holds, patchy rollover support and a number of other UX considerations.

Make sure whatever you’re creating, you consider your current mobile/desktop split and the % of mobile users in your target or emerging audience.

Apps

Mobile apps can provide an utterly immersive experience, whether using VR headsets or a simple side scrolling game for kids. Where budget allows, you should consider wiggling your way onto your customer’s devices to sell your story or provide a unique seasonal experience/discount.

Speed

“Ain’t nobody got time for… slow websites.”

Fixing site speed issues isn’t always as easy as creating optimized content or accurately mapping keywords but it’s becoming more and more of a critical issue. People are hugely impatient and desperately need to get back on Facebook to look at videos of an Australian man narrating Blue Planet Footage.

Whether it’s caching, compression or servers, you need to put site speed on the top of your list of organic issues for 2018.

source https://searchenginewatch.com/2018/02/02/seasonal-seo-and-evergreen-urls-how-to-drive-seasonal-traffic-year-round/ from Rising Phoenix SEO http://risingphoenixseo.blogspot.com/2018/02/seasonal-seo-and-evergreen-urls-how-to.html

[whatchamagadget]

Some Gadgets We Might Actually Buy From CES 2018

Twelve Wirecutter reporters and editors spent three days working overtime at the CES 2018 trade show to find just a few things that we might consider recommending to our families, friends, and readers later this year. While we can’t say whether anything on this list will become a pick (we’ll see if these items actually ship and test favorably), these devices are the most promising of the thousands of gadgets and gizmos we came across at this year’s show. While CES 2017 introduced many exciting new technologies, 2018 is more about addressing those technologies’ associated growing pains. We didn’t see anything that blew our minds, but we did see an influx of increasingly affordable competition, wider support for voice control, and wireless alternatives to previously corded-only gadgets. These incremental refreshes don’t make for splashy headlines. They should, however, make people’s lives a bit less annoying sooner rather than later.

—Michael Zhao, new formats editor

[newsletter]

Fight zombies, not cords

HTC Vive Wireless Adaptor, summer 2018

[caption id="attachment_34104" align="alignnone" width="630"] [/caption] When you don a VR headset and step into a virtual world, you’re there to battle zombies—not cords. That’s why we are so interested in the HTC Vive Wireless Adaptor for both the Vive and the newly announced Vive Pro. It swaps cords you plug into your computer for a battery pack that clips to your pants pocket, creating the first official wireless VR headset that can work for PC games. (Oculus will release a wireless headset called the Go this year as well, but it won’t handle full PC games.) While playing Doom VFR, we spun, ducked, and ran around the room, shooting virtual monsters without worrying about tripping over a cord or getting wrapped up while turning around. It’s a helpful step toward feeling fully immersed in VR. Since it’s just an adapter, we hope that on release it will be more affordable than current wireless options, which cost $300, more than we believe such a device is worth (we’re hoping for a price of $200 or under). Unfortunately, HTC has offered no official release date or price at this time.

—Signe Brewster, staff writer

Smart HVAC filter? Smart HVAC filter

3M Filtrete Smart Air Filter, spring 2018, $22-plus

[caption id="attachment_34085" align="alignnone" width="636"] The yellow bump on the Filtrete Smart Air Filter is a Bluetooth-enabled pressure sensor.[/caption] You’re probably not replacing your HVAC filter as often as you should. Unless you’re a diligent chore-doer who swaps them on a set schedule, you’re probably breathing dirtier air than you could be. And if you’re good about swapping, you run the risk of tossing out filters before they’re actually used up. The Filtrete Smart Air Filter from 3M can tell you when you actually need to replace it. And because it costs only a few dollars more than a non-smart filter, it’s something we might actually consider getting. The Filtrete Smart Air Filter has a pressure sensor that measures usage and flow rate to determine how dirty the filter actually is, and wirelessly shoots an estimate of how much useful life remains to your phone via Bluetooth LE. Once the filter is done (or close to done), you can order a replacement directly through the app from your preferred store in the exact size and spec you need. Caveats: We haven’t tested this function, so we don’t know if the app works reliably, and since it’s based on Bluetooth, you will need to stand near the filter to get a status reading. But overall, it seems like a low-cost fix for an annoying problem with an important, underappreciated household system.

—Liam McCabe, appliances editor

Another wireless … breast pump?

Freemie Liberty and Willow breast pump, January 2018, $300 and $480

[caption id="attachment_34092" align="alignnone" width="636"] The breast-shaped Willow breast pump slips into a bra, with no tubes or wires to be found.[/caption] For new moms, pumping breast milk is an involved endeavor, but two companies hope to make it a bit easier with a new generation of hands-free, battery-powered breast pumps. These models cost a lot more than traditional designs, but the convenience could be worth the premium if they live up to their promises. Both have milk-collection vessels that are breast-shaped and fit smoothly inside a bra. And aside from visually adding a couple of cup sizes (concealable under a loose top), both designs are far less obtrusive than typical pumps and effectively silent, which should appeal to mothers who need to pump in public. But they take slightly different approaches to achieve that end. Freemie’s stand-alone milk collection cups, designed for use with competitors’ pumps, have been available since 2013. The new Freemie Liberty is a waist-mounted pump that provides suction through flexible tubes that attach to the 8-ounce Freemie cups, which collect the milk directly. It has a plethora of suction-strength settings as well as a sleep timer, so nursing mothers can take a nap while pumping without worrying about overdoing it. The Liberty will be sold with a few cups in a $300 set when it arrives later in January. The Willow breast pump takes a self-contained approach: Its pump motor is built into the cup itself, which contains a 4-ounce disposable bag for receiving and storing the milk. It also links to an app that tracks milk output and other metrics. At $480 for a set of two pumps and 24 bags, it’s a lot more expensive, but it offers a more discreet design that has no external tubes to hook up. Although there’s no solid release date yet, you can apply to participate in the public beta program right now.

—Amy Roberts, fitness and health tech writer

The wireless mechanical keyboard we’ve been waiting for

Corsair K63 Wireless Mechanical Keyboard, January 2018, $110

[caption id="attachment_34090" align="alignnone" width="636"] The K63 is the first tenkeyless backlit wireless keyboard we’ve seen from a major company.[/caption] Typing enthusiasts and gaming fans alike have long been asking for a mass-produced wireless mechanical keyboard. While the Logitech G613 came close, its lack of backlighting, its nonremovable palm rest, and its number pad were dealbreakers for a lot of keyboard fans. This makes the new Corsair K63 somewhat of a unicorn: Not only does it have backlit keys, but it’s also available in our preferred tenkeyless design. The K63 can connect using both Bluetooth and a wireless dongle, so you can swap your keyboard between a gaming PC and a work computer without messing with cables. Corsair calls the K63 a gaming keyboard, but we like that its design passes for an everyday mechanical keyboard with a subtle blue backlight. The only gaming-specific touch is the 2.4 GHz USB dongle for when you need the fastest possible connection; you can also use Corsair’s optional CUE gaming control customization software. We’re not as fond of the fact that it’s available only with Cherry MX Red switches at launch. (Many people prefer Reds for gaming, but we’ve found that they’re a touch too sensitive for daily typing.) Corsair promises 15 hours of battery life with backlighting on and 75 hours with backlighting off, decent numbers that we look forward to testing ourselves soon. The K63 will cost $110 when it ships later this month, so it’s pretty affordable.

—Thorin Klosowski, PC and networking writer

What’s better than best?

TCL 6-Series TVs, March 2018, $650

[caption id="attachment_34100" align="alignnone" width="636"] [/caption] The 2017 version of TCL’s 6-Series TV offered the best value of any TV we’d ever tested. This year, TCL seems to have improved upon an already great TV with better HDR performance and a redesigned body that looks sharper and feels sturdier. The company has also added a larger, 65-inch model to the lineup, addressing one of our biggest complaints about the 2017 version, which was available only in 55 inches. Both sizes will be available later this winter. The 2018 6-Series TV has more dimming zones (96 for the 55-inch version, up from 72 in last year’s model, and 120 for the 65-inch version) and gets 25 percent brighter; these differences should make for better HDR and improved contrast ratios. It also offers an additional HDR mode designed for use in brighter rooms. This mode is helpful, since as wonderful as HDR can look, many people find it too dim during daytime viewing.

—Chris Heinonen, AV writer

A security camera with manners

Angee Wi-Fi security camera, early 2018, $350

[caption id="attachment_34088" align="alignnone" width="636"] [/caption] Wi-Fi security cameras can offer you some peace of mind by recording everything they see, but sometimes they record when you don’t want them to, and other times they miss important events. A new indoor Wi-Fi camera called the Angee hopes to limit both of those situations. At $350, it’s a lot more expensive than most indoor security cameras, but it comes with an arsenal of accessories and features that could make it worth the premium (depending, of course, on how it performs in real-world use once we test it). The Angee camera combines six motion-tracking sensors with 360-degree rotating capabilities so it can follow an intruder across a room. The six motion sensors also allow you to specify activity zones that may be out of sight for a fixed-position camera. And if an intruder thinks that cutting off your Internet is enough to get around your security measures, Angee’s backup battery and internal storage—two frequently requested features that major companies like Nest and Netgear have resisted adding to their cameras thus far—can potentially outwit the intruder. To ensure that the Angee watches only when you want it to, it ships with a Bluetooth door sensor that, when connected to your household’s smartphones, tracks your family’s comings and goings and arms only when you’re out of the house. When you return home, the Angee automatically turns itself around to face a wall, so you’re not freaked out by a camera lens looking at you. If you forgot your phone, you can use voice control to announce yourself (with a security password).

—Grant Clauser, smart home and AV editor

Your phone in your car, no strings attached

Kenwood DMX905S and JVC KW-M845BW, March 2018, $650

[caption id="attachment_34097" align="alignnone" width="636"] The Kenwood DMX905S will be one of the first car stereos with wireless Android Auto.[/caption] We’re already sold on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto as safer, easier ways to access driver-friendly features from a smartphone while we’re driving. But having to plug the phone into a USB port every time you get into the car is a hassle. Fortunately, that’s changing as stereo makers replace USB connections with Wi-Fi ones. In summer 2017 Alpine introduced the iLX-107, the first wireless CarPlay replacement stereo, and now Kenwood, JVC, and Pioneer are following suit with wireless Android Auto models. Pioneer hasn’t announced pricing or availability yet, but Kenwood and JVC plan to release their first models this March. The Kenwood DMX905S and JVC KW-M845BW are the most affordable units, starting at $650 for a 7-inch touchscreen, Bluetooth, dual USB ports, satellite-radio support, and wired Apple CarPlay (no wireless for that, sorry). They’re more feature packed than our upcoming top pick for double-DIN car stereos, the Sony XAV-AX100, which supports only wired CarPlay and Android Auto, but they’ll cost at least $150 more. It’s a hefty premium for now, but we expect the price to come down over time.

—Rik Paul, car accessories editor

Better budget laptops around the corner

AMD Ryzen 3 laptop processors, early 2018

[caption id="attachment_34086" align="alignnone" width="636"] A laptop running one of AMD’s Ryzen 3 laptop processors.[/caption] For many years, Intel’s Core processors have been the only laptop chips offering both respectable performance and good battery life. One consequence is that it’s difficult to find a good inexpensive laptop, but that could change soon. AMD’s new Ryzen 3 laptop processors promise to be the first viable alternative to Intel’s Core chips in several generations, and we have reason to take them seriously. Last year, AMD’s Ryzen desktop processors offered better performance than Intel’s, at lower prices, for the first time in years; this helped drive Intel’s prices down, which prompted AMD to cut its prices even more. If the Ryzen 3 laptop line performs as promised and laptop companies like Acer, Asus, Dell, and HP decide to use the processors in their laptops, we can expect to see prices fall soon. However, neither of those is a sure bet.

—Andrew Cunningham, PC and networking editor

Wearables you might actually wear

Spire Health Tag, March 2018, $50 for one, with additional bulk discounts

[caption id="attachment_34099" align="alignnone" width="636"] The Spire Health Tag adheres to your clothing for unobtrusive all-day activity tracking.[/caption] Typical wrist-based activity trackers can end up cast aside once the novelty wears off, while smart workout clothes are good only for tracking workouts, and that’s only if you actually wear them (and don’t mind their steep price). The Spire Health Tag takes a different approach to activity monitoring by integrating into the clothes you already wear daily. These thin, machine-washable, dryer-safe tags adhere to the inside of a waistband or bra strap and use a combination of optical heart-rate sensors, pressure-based breathing sensors, and accelerometers to track activity and stress level. They then send the data to your smartphone via Bluetooth, where an app crunches the numbers to provide guidance on how you can make improvements to your routine. They’re not rechargeable, but the internal battery is expected to last a year and a half, and the company plans to offer a recycling program that provides discounts on replacement tags. Pricing starts at $50 for a single tag when it becomes available in March, but you get discounts for buying more: three for $100, eight for $200, and 15 for $300.

—AR

Power, lightness, battery life: Choose three

Dell XPS 15 2-in-1 and 15-inch HP Spectre x360, spring 2018, starting at $1,300

[caption id="attachment_34093" align="alignnone" width="636"] The 15-inch HP Spectre x360 is one of the first laptops to use an Intel Kaby Lake-G processor.[/caption] The Dell XPS 15 2-in-1 and 15-inch HP Spectre x360 represent our first peek at what power-user laptops for gamers, designers, and visual editors will look like in 2018. Previous versions of similar machines required discrete graphics cards for performing demanding tasks, such as photo and video editing, on their large, high-resolution screens. But the newest Intel Kaby Lake-G processors manage to squeeze the equivalent of an AMD graphics card into the same chip as the CPU. This single hybrid chip should consume less power and occupy less space inside a laptop to create thin-and-light laptops that can still quickly render 4K video, play the latest games, and support VR headsets. Both the Dell and HP laptops will be available in spring 2018 with prices starting around $1,300, and we look forward to comparing them when they arrive.

—Justin Krajeski, laptops writer

An HD antenna you never have to move

Channel Master Smartenna+, March 2018, $90

[caption id="attachment_34089" align="alignnone" width="636"] [/caption] Getting over-the-air TV can be tricky because even the best indoor HD antenna needs a good location to get the best signal. Further complicating matters, changes in seasonal and weather conditions, or even new arrangements of your furniture, can affect the way TV signals reach your antenna. If Channel Master’s Smartenna+ works as promised, you won’t have to adjust the antenna location to accommodate such changes. You just press a button on the antenna, and it reevaluates the changed conditions to create a newly optimized reception pattern. Translation: clearer reception at the push of a button. That’s a lot easier than moving the device around the room trying to find a signal every time the weather changes. However, at $90, it’s about twice as expensive as our non-smart antenna top pick, and we have yet to see if this optimization technology lives up to its claims. We look forward to testing the new antenna when it arrives in March.

—GC

Solid improvements on already great headphones

JLab Epic Sport, available now, $100 | Jabra Elite 65t, available now, $170 | Jabra Elite Active 65t, available now, $190

[caption id="attachment_34091" align="alignnone" width="636"] [/caption] You know how iPhones used to have the “s” years? That’s where we are with headphones in 2018. Headphone companies are learning from their mistakes and tweaking their designs a bit in off years in ways that can make good into great. This is especially true for workout and true wireless headphones in 2018. The JLab Epic Sport is an updated version of our favorite pair of workout headphones, the JLab Epic 2. The overall design looks mostly the same, but the Sport version has slight changes in the fit, sound options, and charging. The biggest change is the disappearance of the Micro-USB charging port. In its place is a prong system that has no door for you to remember to close—similar to the design on Jaybird’s wireless earbuds. It’s great for water and sweat resistance, but it also means you’ll need to use a proprietary charger to power up your headphones. The Sport pair also includes small wings to assist with stability in your ears, as well as a larger variety of tip shapes and materials to help ensure a tight seal. And the Sport has three different EQ listening modes: In addition to the “signature” sound that our panel liked in the Epic 2, the Sport offers “balanced” and “bass boost” options. The JLab Epic Sport headphones are available now, and we’ll be testing them as soon as possible. [caption id="attachment_34094" align="alignnone" width="636"] [/caption] Jabra released two promising-looking true wireless headphones models: the $170 Jabra Elite 65t and the $190 Jabra Elite Active 65t (both available now). Jabra put two microphones on each earbud, a design that improves directionality and should make your voice clearer over phone calls. Those extra mics also reduce wind noise, which is a big problem for many true wireless headphones. These earbuds are compatible with Alexa, Google Now, and Siri; they also have simple, single-button controls and promise a five-hour battery life. The charge case gives you two more full charges (for 15 total hours of use) and is small enough to fit in the coin pocket of your jeans. Both models are water and dust resistant (though the Active is also sweat resistant), and both come with a two-year warranty.

—Lauren Dragan, senior staff writer

Meh-range ultrabooks

Dell XPS 13, available now, $1,200

[caption id="attachment_34116" align="alignnone" width="636"] [/caption] While some interesting processor developments may improve both budget-friendly laptops and higher-end power laptops, the latest midrange ultrabooks for most people are seeing only incremental, unexciting updates. Of all the laptops we’ve seen at this year’s CES show, the redesigned Dell XPS 13, our 2017 pick for best ultrabook, is the most significantly reworked, but we’re not convinced that all the changes are for the better. Dell moved the webcam from the bottom-left corner (terrible) to the bottom middle (still not great!). And the company jettisoned its USB-A, SD card, and proprietary charging ports in favor of USB-C, microSD, and Thunderbolt 3, all in the name of thinness. We’re glad to see the XPS 13 charge via USB-C, but we’re disappointed that Dell chose to remove useful legacy ports to reduce the XPS 13 from 0.6 inch to 0.46 inch in thickness and from 2.7 pounds to 2.67 pounds. Those aren’t noticeable differences, but people will definitely notice when they need to procure a dongle to plug in peripherals. Dell includes a USB-C–to–A adapter in the box, which helps, but we still don't think a dongle makes up for the omissions entirely. Dell also added a white option with a different-textured palm rest, but in our brief experience it felt a little slicker—and therefore cheaper—than the standard black non-touch coating. The new XPS 13 is available now, and the model with 8 GB RAM and a 256 GB solid-state drive starts at $1,200. We’ll spend lots more time with the new XPS 13 before we update our guide, but based on what we’ve seen so far, you might be better off snagging last year’s model if you can get it at a discount.

—Kimber Streams, laptops editor

A voice-control soundbar that controls your TV

TCL Roku Alto Smart Soundbar, price and availability TBA

[caption id="attachment_34101" align="alignnone" width="636"] [/caption] We love TCL’s Roku TVs because they look fantastic for the price and are especially easy to control. If the new Roku Alto Smart Soundbar with subwoofer sounds as good as TCL’s 6-Series TVs look, it’s something we’d want in our living rooms. It uses the same user-friendly, minimalist remote as the Roku TV but also has voice control built in so you can control it like an Alexa speaker: Just say “Hey Roku, play my Gogol Bordello station on Pandora,” and you’ll get music without needing to turn on the TV and browse your apps. You can also search for shows and movies using voice, and can even have the device control the TV you hook it up to. Say “Hey Roku, watch Netflix,” and both the TV and soundbar will come on, turned to the Netflix app. TCL hasn’t released any detailed specs yet, but at the very least, the soundbar will need HDMI with ARC and CEC to be able to control the attached TV. Vizio has dominated the budget soundbar arena for several years now, so that company will be tough to beat, but if TCL can match the price and add these features, it’ll be a tight competition.

—GC

[almazan19820132-blog]

The Worlds Hardest Flash Video Game Of All Time

Colorado Springs is a huge city that is extremely spread out. There are so numerous things to do here, for residents or tourists. Even on a rainy day, you and your kids can discover a way to have a terrific time. It gets very hot here in the summer and cold in the winter, as residents know. When you need to get away from the aspects, here are some fantastic places to take your kids. Most don't cost much and are only a brief drive away.

Mentalists. Stage psychics will impress and entertain even the most advanced audiences with mental secrets. Mind reading or psychic acts are interesting and the absolute best acts will leave your guests scratching their heads in wonder.

If we're not actually here than how can we make a distinction? Many concerns and exactly what I actually crave are answers, however how do I know that I actually desire the answers. Possibly the answers are to frightening for us to contemplate. Possibly we don't need to know the fact. And whose fact is it? Is its God's fact? Am I real because I think in Him?

Nevertheless, computer game are everything about home entertainment, and with the next-gen consoles aiming to integrate more hands-free abilities such as voice commands, Glass still might have a role to play. Mike recommends that affordable things such as information you need to only quickly glance at in game might be among them.

Playing complimentary online vr gaming is also a fun way to fraternize brand-new individuals from all over the world. Instead of just looking at a white screen with text, you really get to hang out in a 3D world when you play complimentary only vr gaming. It's a fun and carefree way to meet and talk with individuals from all strolls of life.

Naturally the boardwalk also uses more unwinded choices. There are numerous take a seat dining establishments situated on the boardwalk. As a warning though the quality of these dining establishments will never be puzzled with fine dining. If you want to have dining establishments that are closer to fine dining you are best dining off of the boardwalk itself. Along with the scrap stores there are a range of other retail facilities including henna tattoo stores, a boardwalk mall, and several picture opportunities. If you desire to have a memory of your trip, you can even have actually a caricature made of your group.

This was the last thing that Randy heard prior to he was frozen in liquid nitrogen and kept in suspension while the court system determined why he was acting so oddly. Why didn't Randy desire whatever readily available? Why enjoy the solitude that the night uses?

[icefireeclipse]

Ice’s Annual Post for 2017

Below is a list of cool/important/interesting things that I did during 2017 in order of month. They’re mostly in order by when they happened but a few may be out of order. The list is long so I put a Read More underneath if you’re interested. Enjoy!

January

Played Home is Where One Starts on Steam

Started watching Sailor Moon Infinity Arc

Started playing Pokemon Moon

Finished Jumin’s Route on Mystic Messenger

Had to drive to work at 6am because I forgot to return a button

Finished Seven’s Route on Mystic Messenger

Started re-learning my French just in case I move to Europe

Started considering moving to Europe after I finish college

Started my 2nd semester of college

Saw Hidden Figures in theatres

Met the woman my father began dating (spoiler alert: I like her)

Helped my mom and sister with tearing out the carpeting in the living room so we can get new flooring

Got a Robin Amiibo for an early birthday present

Cooked something for the first time this year that wasn’t ramen or hot chocolate

February

Celebrated my 19th Birthday

Got locked out of my car for the 1st time, coincidentally on my birthday

Got Pokemon Sun as a birthday present as well as a water bottle and some gift cards

Ran into an old teacher of mine from elementary school

Visited the World Market for the 1st time

Tried a candy bar from Britain for the 1st time

Learned how to make coffee

Started rewatching Ben 10 Alien Force

Finished my training at my job

Went to a seminar about refugee’s for my Diversity class

Signed up for a college tour that I ended up not going to because of Mother Nature

Played Awkward Dimensions Redux for the 1st time

Finally got into the main story for Mass Effect

March

Went to see Logan in theaters

Saw Finding Dory and Sausage Party for the 1st time

Got my dad a jar of herring for his birthday

Finally made a playlist on Youtube just for music

Started playing Penumbra Overture

Got my first $2 bill this year, and frankly first one in Many years

Continued to play Mass Effect

Bought a hot chocolate at a gas station for the 1st time

Purchased Mass Effect 3 off of Origin

Got a Origin account just to get this game

Spent the 1st day of spring getting a car wash

Rediscovered my love for Halestorm

Started listening to more music by Set it Off (instead of just 1 song)

Pre-registered for KitsuneKon 2017

Went to a Transgender rally for the 1st time

Went to a rally of any kind for the 1st time

Wacked a pinata for the 1st time in a few years

Played field hockey in a college room

Attended a girl choir concert for the 1st as a member of the audience

April

Finished Penumbra Overture

Started watching Season 2 of Shingeki no Kyojin

Came out as Queer to my Diversity Class (1st time I came out in public not to friends or family)

Decided to minor in Political Science along with my History Major

Joined Reddit

Downloaded  We Were Here and Medusa’s Labyrinth on Steam

Finished Mass Effect for the 1st time

Played through Mass Effect a 2nd time as a Renegade Sentinel

Attempted to use my debit card for the 1st time

Finally visited my great grandma’s grave after 7 years

Started watching Clannad

Got a gift card for Easter

Got free food at work because of Employee Appreciation Day

Started a test draft for The Fire Underground

May

Finally finished Huniepop

Started playing Serena but didn’t like it

For the 1st time, I have a friend of mine who works at the same job as me :)

Finished my (technically) 1st year of college

Played Super Smash Bros in order from 64 to Wii U for the 1st time this year

Redid the floors and got the kitchen walls painted at my mom’s house

Started working on painting and adding new floors in the living room too

Purchased Alan Wake on Steam during it’s Sunset Sale

Watched Tom Holland’s Lip Sync Battle (Yes that’s important)

Stepped into a Spencer’s for the 1st time (though it was only at the very front of the store to look at posters)

Started planning for my new Yarny cosplay for Kitsune Kon

Watched Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 twice in theatres

Bought a bikini for the 1st time (I usually only wear a tankini while swimming so wearing a bikini is huge for me)

Watched Steven Universe: Wanted and fell in love with Lars all over again

Worked during Memorial Day, but got paid more because holiday :D

Got my 2nd smartphone ever, a Samsung Galaxy S7

Ate a sandwich with a square bun for the 1st time

Updated my blog theme for the 1st time this year

June

Witnessed a felony traffic stop with arrests and everything for the 1st time

Celebrated my cat’s birthdays by giving them catnip

My parent’s divorce was finalized, same day as my cat’s birthday

Played Emily is Away for the 1st time

Returned to Mirai Nikki, an anime I never finished

Only just figured out Patrick Swayze died via a documentary (oops)

Attended my friend’s graduation party

Finished my 2nd and 3rd simultaneous playthroughs of Mass Effect

Started playing Mass Effect 2 and Life is Strange

Finished Episodes 1 and 2 of Life is Strange

Found out what the Grapefruit Technique is for some reason

Donated to Markiplier’s Charity Live Stream for Ablegamers

Kathryn mentioned my name (Icefire), my comment and thanked me for donating! :D

Purchased over $59 worth of games during Steam’s summer sale including Bioshock, Mirror’s Edge & Dragon Age Origins Ultimate Edition

Finished Life is Strange Episodes 3, 4 and 5 in the span of a few days

July

Played Blade Ballet for the 1st time

Played Monopoly and hung out at irl friend’s house for 3rd of July

Purchased Gone in November on Steam

Started watching Big Brother with my sister

Made a Yarny doll for the 1st time

Used an ATM for the 1st time

Attended Kitsune Kon for the 7th year

Almost didn’t make it to the con because I had stomach issues the morning of the con

Bought a lot of buttons, posters and dvd’s, etc from the con

Debuted my Yarny cosplay at the con

Went swimming for the 1st time this year

Continued unpacking things from my dad’s apartment before he moves

Toured the college I’m attending in January for the 1st time

Had to redo my financial aid application

Learned how to transfer funds from savings account to debit card. Horray for adulting!

Discovered the joys of Etsy

Toured my dad’s new house for the 1st time

Attempted to expand my storage on my Mac as I’m starting to run outd

August

Discovered StoreEnvy

Finished Mass Effect 2 for the 1st time

Began my application for transferring to a 4 year college

Finally put my posters up in my room at my dad’s house

Went Up North with my mom’s family for a weekend

Wore a bikini in public for the 1st time

Purchased VIP tickets to the Evanescence Concert

Bought VIP tickets for the 1st time

Found out my dad got engaged

Found and caught my 1st ever Shiny Pokemon (Shiny Haunter in Moon)

Tried VR for the 1st time

Went camping with my dad, his girlfriend and her family for a weekend

Started my 3rd and last semester at the technical college I’m at

Purchased Layers of Fear, Bioshock 2 and Remember Me on Steam

September

Met my dad and his fiancee’s new cats Ying and Yang

Officially got Accepted into the 4 year college I applied to

Finished Mass Effect 2 for the 2nd time

Started Mass Effect 3

Downloaded Origin

Bought tickets to see Diavolo from America’s Got Talent

Suffered from allergies for most of September

October

Attended an Employee appreciation day at my job

Visited a Counselor regarding my transfer to a 4 year college

Ordered a Christmas gift from my job

Finished Mass Effect 3 for the 1st time

Pre-registered for Kitsunekon 2018

Ate a fried egg sandwich for the 1st time

Submited my AP scores to my new college

Found a spring jacket that I lost back in Spring

Found over $20 in said jacket

Got an unofficial tour of the campus I’m going to in January by friend

Went to see Diavolo on tour 

Played The Old City: Leviathan on Steam

My job got a bunch of renovations (paint, appliances, new products, etc)

Purchased Soma, realMyst, Plague Inc, Undertale and other walking simulators during Steam Halloween Sale

Attempted to play Penumbra Black Plague but dealt with screen resolution issues

Started playing Layers of Fear on Steam

Caught Primal Kyogre with just one quick ball in Pokemon Alpha Sapphire

Finally beat Pokemon Alpha Sapphire after over a year of not touching the game

November

Turned in my “final” report for my Technical Reporting class

Went back to playing Pokemon Moon

Signed up for my classes for January

Finally got to see Thor Ragnarok in theaters after 4 years of waiting!

Got my “final” report graded, 96%!

Got back into the Thor fandom

Got my mom some bubble wrap and salt water taffy for her birthday (she loved it)

Started playing Overwatch for the 1st time

Discovered You Suck at Cooking Youtube Channel

Purchased a bunch of games for Black Friday (Overwatch, Dragon Age II and Inquisition, indie games, etc)

December

Had my annual review at the Gas Station I worked at and got a raise!

Went to see Evanescence in Concert for the 1st time since 2011!

Went to Madison for the 1st time in about 4 years (last time was just a few days before I started my Tumblr account)

Tried sweet Sauerkraut for the 1st time, it tasted okay but it was kind of strange eating sweet sauerkraut

Got my best friend some bubble wrap as a gag gift for his birthday

Went to my sister’s holiday choir concert

Finished a final and got a 90% on it (Ethics Class)

Procrastinated on said final and other final project

Got introduced to Round Planet by BBC

Finished Season 7 of Overwatch Competitive with Silver Rank

Started getting invested in Yugioh (abridged and the manga) 

Got the Synthesis (Evanescence) album for Christmas

Also got Pokemon Ultra Sun AND Ultra Moon for Christmas

My dad officially got married so I now have a step-family as of this month

Didn’t get to go to their wedding (it’s a long story)

Worked in Receiving at my job for the 1st time