#which isn't a bad thing at all!! but sometimes i listen to podcasts when i'm doing something else

[chryseis]

happy saturday evening besties

[metamatar]

ok so i am very much uninformed on politics, i decided at a younger age that i wasn't interested in it and therefore would not read or keep myself particularly informed about it. obviously this is a bad idea, and i want to change and keep myself informed on actual politics and well, abstract[?] (wrong word but cannot think of another, basically mean like. knowing which political .. stance ?? [idk. like marxist or communist or whatever] i might be.) ones as well. what's a good place to get started here? where do i look for actual politics going on in india since i'm pretty sure ndtv or whatever isn't exactly the best source? or maybe it is? idk, like i said i'm pretty uninformed on the matter but would like to learn more

so one thing is, in india you have to accept the media landscape is just dire because being a journalist with integrity is a bit like signing up to have your life ruined. all major media has been bought by hindutva already. what you have to do is more learn to read between lines, understand people's motivations, which is a matter of practice. a good way to start is to read analysis (not news reports) of the same incident in different media and you'll start noticing patterns. even more important imo is to talk and bounce ideas with a friend at a similar place as you or someone interested in politics who won't overwhelm you with their perspective. you can try online but idt its safe or advisable anymore to do that experiment online. i had debate club in university (sad) and some socialist reading groups (better) after. the thing is this journey to self education is kind of personal and im also not pedagogically oriented or trained? so lots of first person description instead of prescriptions.

i still check what's up on ndtv because it gives me a good pulse of what english language media and liberals are thinking. major newspapers i scan hindu and the indian express sometimes. online i have a look at newslaundry (also has some youtube content) and the wire, they're reader supported and haven't turned full hindutva yet. i read longer form things in the caravan and epw, but these are subscription based. i keep tabs on the latest round of hindutva fake news when alt news debunks it.

for the abstract things, i literally did an online course bc i was frustrated by what all the liberal arts grads seemed to already agree on. i did ian shapiro's moral foundations of politics which is available online as both youtube lectures and a textbook. if you want to go that route feel free but it's not necessary, you can also try to read the entries on wikipedia or stanford encyclopedia of philosophy (more expertise) when you encounter something unfamiliar and build up like that. podcasts like bbc in our time will often interview academics to give intros to many political philosophy concepts and thinkers. whatever your learning style supports! i think the important thing is to find something you are actually interested in, and take that tack. i like history, so i might read books about historical revolutions or historical forms of organising society or listen to podcasts like mike duncan's revolutions.

For communism the usual starting points are these very short pamphlets:

Principles of Communism by Engels

The Manifesto of the Communist Party by Marx

Wage-Labor and Capital by Marx

Socialism: Utopian and Scientific by Engels

feel free to ask for more specific questions!

[pinehutch]

A bad habit of mine is that if I have to go somewhere in my car, and I haven't taken my ADHD meds, is that I Enter Car and then Starting Car and Making it Go Places become entirely separate, and much more difficult tasks. So sometimes on a weekend I will walk down the stairs from my apartment to the parking lot, and get in my car, and pull out my phone to play music or a podcast, and then I just stop.

I read, I make notes, I write. I'm not a particularly car-brained person; I have this car, which was paid off several years ago, because I have fluctuating degrees of ability/disability re: walking, and because I live in North America and most of North America isn't accessible by mass transit. But I plan to drive this small car until it's no longer viable. I appreciate it deeply as a means of transit and am otherwise unsentimental about it. It's just a grey bubble that helps me to go places and do things, while listening to songs or stories.

What I'm saying is that I don't hang out in here because I particularly enjoy it or feel connected to it, but it's quiet and private and my building has a parking lot where I can see trees and old houses and people.

Anyway. Was in car earlier, reading on my phone. My neighbours walked out of their apartment, presumably to head downtown a couple of blocks for dinner. I then did the driving I had to do, and came home two hours later, and was just tapping out a few messages when my neighbours walked back around the corner - where I was, for all intents and purposes, still sitting on my phone in my car, not having noticeably moved all evening.

[batsplat]

casey also talks about sepang 2015 what do you think of that

oh in that podcast? uh... lemme listen again...

yeah idk it's not really anything new I'd say? he's said basically all the same stuff in more interesting and extensive ways elsewhere. I think casey inevitably has a very 'well feuding is bad and helps nobody' point of view, has expressed that before in the past, does it here again, and he's also drawn a parallel between himself and marc on several occasions. which... well, of course there's similarities in terms of public discourse or whatever, but the parallel really falls apart whenever casey argues the feuds cost valentino. like, I do think it's sometimes important to just. keep in mind. it's interesting that casey draws this comparison in his mind but that doesn't necessarily means he's right about this. I'm not sure how you'd argue that starting a feud with casey cost valentino anything competitively? you can argue it didn't help him I guess, and then we can have a debate about the ins and outs of the 2008 season. we can also have an argument that in a hypothetical world where casey isn't ill in 2009, valentino doesn't break his leg and casey isn't on a piece of junk in 2010, and valentino isn't on a piece of junk in 2011-12, then actually maybe valentino sparking open animosity with casey COULD have cost him. but we don't know that! didn't happen! I wish we could have found out, but we never got the chance! as it stands, the tally on this is pretty straightforward: casey won the title when things were reasonably civil between them in 2007, and valentino took control of the following season at the exact moment he worsened the relationship between the pair of them in 2008. obviously, it's all more complicated than that and casey would of course argue laguna didn't negatively affect his subsequent performances... but it certainly didn't help them. like, at the very worst valentino escalating tensions in 2008 is a complete net neutral. after 2009, them being bitchy to each other every other tuesday was completely competitively irrelevant beyond maybe affecting how they approached occasionally fighting for a podium position. hey, maybe casey used that feud to fire himself up through sheer spite throughout the later stages of his career, but that doesn't actually support his anti-feud stance - it's basically the exact same thing as what valentino does. they're both quite similar in that regard! always so hungry to prove a point, to show how someone else is wrong. kinda half the point with this feuding business is to get yourself going, get yourself motivated, yeah. he straight up openly admits to using yamaha's repeat rejection of him as a way of giving himself motivation, and at the end of the day that's really not all that different?

anyway, what else does casey say... oh yeah, that him and the other aliens were already kinda prepared for this and had learned vale's tricks. that valentino had only been able to get into the minds of the previous generation. welllllll *wiggles hand* sure, I mean, he did clearly have to change his approach... he couldn't just use the exact same playbook to get to them, either on-track or off-track. but that's why he did change up the playbook... again, whether you want to believe valentino won his final two titles 'in the head' rather than just through pure pace kinda depends on how you assess the evidence, but it is at the very least a debate. and, y'know, it's always worth remembering that valentino's most important mind games with casey didn't happen in a press conference... it was on the track. and the on-track stuff really is just embedded in how valentino approaches winning. speaking of aliens, this is what dani and jorge have said:

like, valentino's entire approach to his riding, even to the way he's setting his bike up, is deliberately about directly fucking with you... he's not actually always trying to be faster than you as much as he's trying to give himself the tools to make your life miserable, to pressure you into mistakes, etc etc... and again, especially with casey (if anything because he was so mentally sturdy), the off-track stuff was really just window dressing. (I know they bicker a lot after 2009 but it's just so fundamentally irrelevant to actual on-track competition.) so you can be aware of those tricks, but it also doesn't necessarily help you when someone's being nasty to you on-track in a way you just fully do not enjoy. which is what it was like for casey! for casey, a lot of this comes back to the truly unpleasant context of how he was perceived by the public, how he was treated as mentally weak or 'broken' or whatever partly because he had the misfortune of coming up against a bloke who had the reputation for breaking rivals. I think it's quite natural to end up with a bit of a hardliner 'actually I've never been mentally affected by a result in my life' stance - and of course casey is a lot tougher than a lot of people give him credit for. that being said. sometimes your rivals affect you, shit happens, it's part of the game. it's fundamentally a nice idea to think that valentino's tactics weren't just morally wrong but also ineffective, which is kind of the appeal of this narrative, right? you want to believe you're above that, you want to believe you were adequately prepared and wise to valentino's tactic. it's unsurprising and understandable that casey does tend to tell the story that way, but again it's *wiggles hand* also hard to describe it as completely factual

uh. what else. oh I'm thrilled casey does canonically know valentino and marc were friends, he has said he wasn't following motogp too much during that time period so you couldn't be sure of that. does this mean anything? does it tell you anything? well, no, but it's just a pleasing thought to me. I like that. oh also 'provoking particularly aggressive riders isn't a good idea' is kinda a funny take from casey? like, he of all people would hate the idea of being cowed by someone's reputation like that... casey's right that provoking fast riders can potentially be dangerous, but y'know I do think that's probably not news to anyone almost nine years later. um. that's all I've got I think

[utilitycaster]

you getting push back on that post is crazy to me isn't it enough to watch and get invested in something for what it is currently rather than what it will be? I have so many unfinished projects in my own life it'd be crazy to demand polished completion from everything I watch/read. my unfinished sketches and embroidery and abandoned dnd campaigns still brought joy and growth without having a polished thing to present at the end

So what's funny to me is like. I have referenced this before here and elsewhere but like, as a child, I was SO bad at ambiguous and sad endings and my mother was like, not unkind about this, but neither did she coddle it, and I think that laid a groundwork that was really necessary.

My tags, which got lost bc I did NOT expect that post to break containment, do actually touch on how Netflix and other streaming services canceling things to avoid paying people a fair wage fucking suck but yeah here's a list of creative endeavors I participated in or watched/listened to/read that do not as of this posting have endings and I still liked, and many of them aren't even directly attributable to capitalism because this is just a fact of life and art.

As mentioned, both A Song of Ice and Fire and the Kingkiller Chronicles.

Multiple D&D campaigns for sure (I actually don't make D&D characters without a game in mind and find it weird that people do and so I'm like why am I the one arguing for the beauty of the incomplete).

Multiple fics, both mine and others.

King Falls AM, a podcast I binged in like 2018-2019 and despite being a mystery never actually completed bc the creators couldn't agree.

I think Battlestar Galactica 2003 is one of the most brilliant shows of its era and also the finale, which happened when the creators intended it to, is really dumb, and that doesn't undo the fact that I loved everything else.

How I Met Your Mother ends really poorly in a way that arguably undercuts the whole series, but like, I still liked that too.

Ditto for Chuck, which also struggles in that it was on the chopping block most seasons so they kept ending in ways that probably weren't true to whatever the original vision may have been.

I saw Firefly on DVD after it had already been canceled, I think Serenity is good but I don't love all the choices, and Joss Whedon has since been revealed to be a dick but like, I enjoyed myself greatly while watching it.

As mentioned, Heroes. I didn't watch much TV until my teens anyway because we didn't have cable and our reception sucked and we were very much a book household, and this was one of the first series I recall watching from season 1 and it's also the first TV series where I was like yeah I don't care anymore, and it went on for 4 seasons and I think I gave up either late S2 or early S3.

I didn't watch Supernatural, Game of Thrones, nor Grey's Anatomy but all of those are famous for outstaying their welcome, sometimes it's better to burn out than fade away, etc.

I had already long outgrown Harry Potter and started to see its limitations by the time Rowling's transphobia became public but like, now it's not something I would ever recommend to my friends' kids or anything, and that doesn't undo the fact that I did greatly enjoy it as a child and teenager; it was indirectly the reason why I was introduced to the superior fantasy of Diana Wynne Jones, which I do still reread from time to time. (I think the "well I never liked it" mentality about works from artists who end up being terrible people is tied into the "I can't get invested in anything that might end in an unsatisfying manner." Tumblr University's media studies grads are not the brightest stars in the firmament, that's for sure.)

Like, cancellation (let alone cancellation specifically because of the unique shittiness of streaming services) is just one of the many reason things might end in a way you dislike or become difficult for you to enjoy at a later date, and that's just talking about television. Are you really going to deny yourself the joy of anticipation and watching a story unfold in real-time because the thought of something not satisfying you at every single turn is so unfathomable?

(oh, and because this is, as we know, a CR blog much of the time, I should add that this mentality is really pervasive which is wild because your average 3-season canceled Netflix show is probably the equivalent of maybe 9-10 CR episodes; thinking about how many people who now claim C2 is terrible watched 141 episodes and also the person who is iconic to me who unironically asked me what the point was in getting invested in characters who will die re: Chetney)

[raayllum]

I know you love The dragon prince and that’s great. I binged the show after season three released. I listened to podcasts about the show . I listened to yours and felt really happy when I found people who also liked the show. Unfortunately I fell of during the hiatus between season three and four. I am patient person but three years was long. Also I watched the show for rallylum and through the moon just kind killed my love for them.Then I found your blog and was really happy. Then I saw how you felt about the owl house and it bothered me. As a neurodivergent person the show made me feel really seen. I know it’s stupid to be upset about an opinion. As a person who wants to be an English major how do find parallels between relationships and characters. You talk about certain ones and I don’t see them at all. Your probably more seasoned as a writer than I am so

Ps : sorry this is long and hope tdp ends well in your opinion

Few things:

1) I'm also neurodivergent (hi!) - specifically Autistic - and I have also largely wanted to be understood my whole life, much like Luz (according to S3). While a show making you feel seen can certainly be wonderful, meaningful, and sometimes even life changing, to me that's not enough to make it a Good (per my subjective tastes) Show. That's not to say TOH is a bad show - far from it - but it's one that didn't appeal to my particular tastes due to 1) too many characters and not enough screentime, 2) a lack of theme (which many kids shows don't have a ton of because they're, y'know, for kids), and 3) all of the characters have very black and white morality, and that's just less interesting to me.

Being upset about opinions is very natural, and it's not stupid, but it is also important to acknowledge that 1) you can't control how anyone else feels or interprets things and 2) no one else can control how you feel or interpret things.

2) I adored Through the Moon. Rayla's tendency to leave (and why) is always a hurdle I expected them to have to tackle at one point, and given that it's her main character flaw, I'm really excited and happy with the way it's been handled so far and how TTM kicked it off. The graphic novel also really resonated with me in Callum's place, as I too have loved many of my loved ones through incredibly difficult periods regarding their mental health, and the graphic novel felt very honest about the toll that can take on both parties in different ways, and how love/support can help, but ultimately isn't enough if the person isn't ready (or willing) to start trying to get better. It's not an easy pill to swallow, but it is a realistic and important one and I've enjoyed how the show has continued that storyline with Rayla (and Callum) into S4 and S5

3) Being an English major is not for everyone! I know many people who love to read and who are very good writers where an English degree would not suit them at all. It's a lot of reading (by my final year, there were some weeks where I was reading an entire 400 page book roughly every week, if not multiple at the same time). It is also a lot of writing (and my professors regularly chewed me out for my grammar). You also tend to kind of double being a history major as depending on what you're reading, you learn a lot of the religious/historical/cultural context in order to understand the language, references, and messaging intended by the author (and then whether or how much to disregard it, lmao). Being able to analyze — to see connections between characters and themes in particular, but other forms of symbolism and messaging — quickly is probably the main thing that saved my ass and let me stay on Honour Roll throughout my undergrad.

I have also been writing pretty seriously for a long time (I 'started' at age 10 but only really count age 12 onwards, cause that's when I first started writing 70k+ drafts every 1-2 years for original WIP stuff). A lot of what makes a good writer is being a good reader, taking your favourite stories (books or otherwise — movies, musicals, tv shows, etc can be gold mines) and figuring out what works in them and why, or why you like them (or don't like them), etc.

For example: The Owl House is a primarily character driven > plot driven story. In book form, it'd likely be Middle Grade to early YA. It's interested in character relationships among the main cast (any of the more villainous characters like Belos are never given the same amount of development or screentime) and some mild worldbuilding. It has some social commentary (mostly on the school systems through Luz and mental health through Eda) and an overall theme of "being different is good," breaking away from abusive systems/dynamics, and the importance of solidarity.

If I compare and contrast this to TDP, The Dragon Prince is far driven in equal parts by the plot (because it's wholly serialized) and by character. It is also very thematically driven — most notably how to break intergenerational cycles of trauma and violence, but also self-destructive tendencies, abuse, responsibility, power, grief, and concepts of justice and punishment. This is also reflected in the fact numerous villainous characters (Viren, Claudia, etc.) share close to equal screentime with the 'good guy' protagonists and heavily explores morality across a decently wide spectrum. It thereby has a more mature tone in its subject matter and would easily be YA in book form.

Which is to say: the best way to get better at analyzing is to break characters down to their basic plot structures (Character A does this, they want that, Character B does this, they want that, etc.) and see what pops up (for example, in Avatar The Last Airbender, Aang and Zuko both cannot go home, and duel Ozai when they're 13 years old, ultimately refusing to be violent against their opponent). You can also look at similar personality traits (curiosity, selflessness, carelessness, etc). Practice looking at the stories you love and figuring out what works and doesn't work for you personally — and then go beyond relatability to look more at subtext and symbols. Some of the best things I've ever read were books that had nothing relatable to my personal experiences in them (like The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini), and that was why I loved them because they got to broaden my horizons.

[markrosewater]

Hi Mark, Happy Friday! I enjoyed listening to your Logistics Drive to Work podcast today. It's a very important subject related to Magic for me and logistics, particularly related to tracking and mental load issues, are one few things I feel are getting significantly worse in recent years. Even if you make it easier to get specific additional game pieces required to track to play Magic (i.e. tokens, keyword counters, stickers in booster packs) keeping track of them in paper Magic significantly contributes to the mental load. Do you really think it's worth it? Yes, sometimes you have a slam dunk mechanic like double faced cards, but I question if mechanics like the Initiative and Day/Night are worth the logistical tracking hurdles for paper Magic. For 25 years, Magic had a relatively low tracking logistics issue. Sure, you had +1/+1 counters, level up counters, loyal counters and simple creature tokens, but it was always very easy to track any of these mechanics with a standard six sided die. So why did things have to change? Magic continues to introduce several new and interesting mechanics each year that don't rely on outside game pieces and complex logistical tracking so it doesn't feel like Magic is running out of design space. Day/Night, stickers, keyword counters, die rolling, Venture and Initiative and extremely complicated creature tokens are all relatively new to Magic (within the past 4 years or so). I feel in recent years design isn't being conservative enough about weighing the logistical consequences for introducing more tracking logistical issues and extra game pieces aside from the cards. Does anyone else at WotC feel this way or not really? Are more mechanics like this the new normal or is this just an example of the pendulum swinging in one direction for now? I'm asking about this because all of these new logistical tracking issues make the game feel burdensome (even though the mechanics are fun), they fundamentally exacerbate the mental load, especially in eternal formats like Commander, and they cause me and my friends to make far more misplays and errors which creates a "feels bad" effect. Thanks for everything you do Mark. Keep up the good work. I hope this isn't coming off as too critical or negative. I'm a mega fan of Magic and enjoy numerous things about the game including the upcoming ONE set but this logistics issue is a big deal to me.

You touch upon the companion issue, mental load, which is another podcast I have coming up.

The data was telling us we'd been a bit under what the players wanted/could handle, so we dialed it up a bit. Did we dial it up too much? That's a good question, and something we're monitoring.

Whether it's a new normal or just the pendulum swinging will have a lot to do with the data we get.

Which means this is a fine question for all of you. How are you feeling about current Magic when it comes to the overall complexity, including logistics and mental load?

[paging-possum]

WHAT WAS THE NICHE 2020-2021 DNDADS DRAMA

GOD. sorry to leave everyone hanging on the 2020-2021 dndads drama I had to be a responsible college student but 2020-2021 dndads fandom was bizarre. anyways.

the basic gist was that there was this one server where a very significant portion of dndads fans were- a lot of writers, artists, regular Tumblr bloggers, and it was pretty chill! I met some very close friends there (literally) (they have PhDs in understanding glenn close) (hi guys <3) and it was great! there were a lot of silly headcanons happening (everyone think about dubsquared RIGHT NOW!!!) and people doing collaborative work and making cool art and fics and all that! And then sometime around June 2020, people started having problems with dndads.

if I'm recalling correctly, the main issues people had with it were the lack of women (which like, fair, but also if you're looking for groundbreaking earth shattering female characters then maybe a podcast focused on father-son relationships isn't your best bet?) and that they felt the fandom/show wasn't a safe place for kids (mostly since their patreon server didn't have a set way to check people's ages) (which, again, is a fair point! but also 1: that's because it's a show FOR adults, and 2: is not entirely on the cast to manage? or at least, not an easy thing to regulate). From there, people started coming up with more and more convoluted and nitpicky issues with the show (I think the weirdest ones I saw was that there were sex jokes in a podcast that kids listened to, which like....it is an adult podcast....for adults...)(and also the person who complained that Anthony had them call him daddy. on their dad podcast) and it all kinda spiraled out of control and there was a period of time when the dndads Tumblr tag was very prominently people hating on it whether it was warranted or not. The server is pretty dead now but it was a crazy time. it also sucked really bad and I think people should have just calmed down <3

[allsadnshit]

I'm having such a spiritually and emotionally potent day just so much in my face symbolism that really takes me to a place of trust I usually need so much ushering to get to!!!

The icing on the cake was listening to a podcast episode I skipped over originally because it was about letting go of toxic relationships and I just sort of assumed it would be all about romantic partners BUT then I figured it would probably be applicable to toxic friendships too, which I've been thinking so much about, so I decided to casually listen while doing this huge load of dishes.

Honestly it got me right away being like "I know you think you're being so kind and so good by giving compassion and understanding to someone who's hurting you who you think can do better if you just love them enough, but you're wrong" and I was like alright OUCH

Cause I've been reflecting on my ex best friend and I's relationship that I (pretty obviously) really romanticize as like this soulmate level unbreakable bond and for a long time I told myself it was her boyfriends fault and that SHE would never have done those things to me if he hadn't convinced her...but that's obviously just a lie I tell myself so I don't have to stomach the grief and betrayal of recognizing she was in full control of her choices and actions. There were also so many times before he even came into the picture that she chose to ignore my feelings or boundaries or tried to persuade to have things the way she wanted, and I just always told myself I must be the bad guy cause I'm the one with the temper and ocd and so many things I see as unlovable, vs her who's flaws I always thought were just a harmless result of her pain. I know she isn't sorry and I know she doesn't try to preserve our love in her heart the way I want to, and as I listened to this podcast and really processed it's the right choice to walk away fully from each other and start loving her ONLY in the past tense instead of believing she could change and we could make up... I was gently washing the cup she gave me years ago (that I sometimes avoid using) and it broke right in my hands with little to no pressure being put in it

And I had to laugh I felt so euphoric when it happened. I love signs I am moving in the right direction because I always second guess myself no matter how sincere the feeling!!!

I finished the big load of dishes and I'm going to have a taiwanese oolong tea now and work on the art that matters to me <333

[spaceorphan18]

Hi, so I've been pretty removed from the glee fandom for some time - you're actually the only glee blog i still follow. So I wanted to ask, what's going on in fandom that makes you want to remove yourself?

Hi Nonny!

I'm so glad you're still here!

I think that a combination of things last week just kind of hit hard -- and it was on top of some real life things that were going on. Tumblr, Glee, this blog are a source of fun and relaxation. And when it descends into drama I just want to back out and not be here. And it's frustrating because this is what I want to do in my free time -- for the fun of it.

First there was the spamming of the episode tournament. In general, people are entitled to their own opinions, but it's kind of got me down that zero episodes in season 4-6 people are championing for. So it's hard enough to watch that -- but then people cheating for really no reason because those episodes were already winning -- just feels like... I don't know. Not fun.

I'm letting it continue, and will keep it going, but my enthusiasm for active participation has waned. It's weird when the shipping tournament had less drama around it.

Then there's the revival of Klaine vs Brittana, which is just so stupid. Ship what you want to ship. And even more, people can like both ships. One isn't actually better than the other. And while I think most Brittana people are fine - there's been a rise in things like --- people saying if you don't like Brittana you hate women? Are lesphobic? (despite Brittany being bi but whatever). Telling people to kill themselves if they don't prefer Brittana? Like -- what is going on? Why do people think that's okay?

Plus, the ramping up of Blaine hate is out of control. It's always been there - but good lord people are going out of their way to hate Blaine. It's too much. It used to be more balanced where you could find as much good as bad. But I'm seeing less Blaine fans (and Kurt fans) in general, which is a bummer.

This new group of watchers just don't connect to Klaine/Kurt/Blaine like the old crew did. And that's fine - people connect to what they connect to. But there's so few people left, it's just a bummer.

And I mean, there are some great people still around. I do appreciate the fic writers and the poll givers and the gif makers. They're good people. But I do miss more discourse around the show. I don't see a whole lot of chatter or discussion or commentary like I used to.

But also, tumblr is smaller and reaches less people. I'm sure there are a ton of people on TikTok. But I have no desire to go there. Not only am I old, but a lot of the TikTok takes I've come across have given me rage so I should probably not.

Sometimes, I'm like -- have you guys even watched the show? And then I get Nonny messages that state people have only watched the first three seasons. Why? Why only like half a show? I don't get it.

And that's fine.

Plus, the unfortunate mess of Kevin and Jenna's podcast. I think at some point, I'd like to listen to it to hear what they have to say, and hear the interviews (which I've always enjoyed). I just tire of fandom either grilling them for not understanding or using them as a piece of validation. They're two people just talking about their experiences. why do we need to make a war out of everything?

That all said (and it was nice to get out), I don't hate it here. I'm not really going anywhere -- I'm not one to skim on out because other people want me to not be here. Sometimes I just need a break.

And I've been thinking about ways to do fun things again -- I've been thinking about maybe doing an episode appreciate thing, where I talk about the good in every episode.

Idk. I suppose we'll see, but that's where I'm at.

[burning-sol]

GAHHH I'm such a little Apotheosis goon. I haven't watched the latest Suckening but I keep thinking about the introduction and how it compares to Apotheosis and how interesting it is. The Suckening mirrors the structure, we get a little prequel to each of the characters before they then come together as a group, but I feel like the Suckening really stumbles compared to Apotheosis.

The characters of the Suckening had good prequels, I would say that they're just as strong at the Apotheosis ones despite being far more condensed.. But the characters actually coming together felt unnatural? Clunky? They're either reluctant or lacking reason to come together and it just makes it stand out to me that, oh, this is a thing I'm watching and they're coming together by neccessity to the story. It was particularly shocking to me because this era of JRWI has had banger after banger campaigns where the characters just fit into place.

The characters of the Suckening are very distinct due to their hostility, I like that a lot, but the structure of a tabletop story doesn't jell with that because it's by requirement that the characters have some form of cohesion. I bring up Apotheosis because the characters there had hostility and tension between one another but I never felt like I could hear the players struggle to bring them together, it didn't feel like I was listening to a podcast.

Thanatos was a character who was incredibly hostile towards Rumi and Peter, in fact, it's shocking that Thanatos agreed for them to tag along, but I think Condi had a really good hand in pushing them together as well as Grizzly's great characterisation of Rumi.

Firstly, Rumi was an excellent PC to cut through doubt about Thanatos because it's not just us waiting for the moment Thanatos agrees to join the group, Rumi is the one in search of Thanatos on our behalf. Why Thanatos? Because it's destiny and even if we ourselves don't know if destiny is real, we know Rumi thinks it is. So no, it doesn't matter how antagonistic Thanatos is, we already feel like Thanatos belongs with the other PCs.

Secondly, Condi had such an understated but powerful decision in sicking the wolves on the group. Thanatos has a violent conquest ahead of him and Condi knows that if they could not bond by work of talking, Thanatos responds well to violence. If Rumi and Peter hadn't talked Thanatos down, they still would have had an opportunity to prove their utility to Thanatos, which is very important to him as a character. And of course the greater direction of the story having an incredibly clear cut goal was super important. It gave all the PCs such a good reason to work together because Rumi needed to kill the gods, Thanatos needed to kill the gods, Peter was eager to tag along with anyone who gave him reason to and if Peter had disagreed then Exandroth also wanted to kill the gods.

Now, I just wanna make it clear that I don't think the Suckening is 'bad' but by comparison it does leave you wanting more. But the Suckening also had much more difficult PCs dealt to the GM, as well as the fact that it's super easy to take for granted how hard improvised roleplay is because the Council just consistently does such a good job with it. Doing good roleplay is a skill you have to learn, and even when you're good at it sometimes you just make mistakes because who's perfect at anything. So let me make it clear this isn't me being a little hater, it's actually the opposite. It's interesting to see how stories falter because we can realise what makes good stories work.

So yeah that's my little spiel about that.

[c7thetumbler]

Quick Game Reviews March 2024

3 month combo hell yeah

I'm reusing last months banner because I got super lazy

Image taken from my switch. We fist bumped.

Splatoon 3 [Revisited] (Switch)

I previously "reviewed" this in 2022, and here were my thoughts on that:

While it doesn't break much ground in comparison to the previous game, it's definitely worth a go if you've enjoyed the first 2 entries.

Now that the DLC and a number of updates are out, I went ahead and revisited this for about a whole months worth of eveneings just to see how far it's come.

And it's doing pretty well! I"m still utter trash at pvp, but that's not stopped me from enjoying it. Additionally all of the new Salmon Run content, including Big Run, is really fun to continue grinding away at for hours on end. The level of customization the game has is great as well, and the badges being hidden is a solid way of doing achievements. Again, It's a very solid Splatoon experience and I'd recommend it to anyone interested in it, though you've probably gotten it already if you are.

That being said, it + the expansion pack are a little pricey for what you're getting, at least so far. Nintendo hasn't announced a 3rd wave of DLC, but the 1st wave consisted of just some more cosmetics and an optional hub world, which wasn't a whole lot to go off of, and the 2nd, Side Order (reviewed last month) is great but not $30 great. The game seems to be getting gameplay and Splatfest updates still at least, so I'll probably be sticking with it for a while cuz it's just a fun romp while listening to podcasts and chillin with the cat in the lap.

Image from the B3313 fandom wiki

B3313 (N64 Rom hack)

B3313 is a Mario 64 Rom Hack that thrives off of your previous experiences with SM64 and SM64DS and twists it with dream-like surreal changes and a vast degree of inception-like complexity. It is near impossible to map out its worlds, and around every corner, death, door, or even successful star you will often find yourself thrown into a completely new, slightly twisted version of somewhere you may recognize.

I had a really good time at first divng straight into it and navigating my way through the worlds, trying to maker cohesive sense of it, and managed to get ~40 stars before I got bored of it. I know there's a whole lot more there, but its fatal flaw is when you get this complex, your levels really have to be engaging or interesting in and of themselves, and most of the time they just aren't. You'll spend a lot of time running around big, empty levels looking for a silver star or red coinv, or in a lot of cases replaying the same start of a level to get to a sub area within a sub area that your previously died at only to get thrown off by the game's camera and miss a jump and then thrown back out into Peach's castle as imagine by MC Escher.

It's a fun romhack, and a lot of love was thrown into it, but as a "game" or for-fun experience it doesn't really hold up there. I would more recommend it just to see if it's something you enjoy, but prepare for some frustration and backtracking.

Image from Dreamsweeper's steam page

Dreamsweeper (Steam Demo)

I saw GirlDM (wholesome catgirl vtuber) playing this on my feed once and decided to give it a go. It's basically like if Crypt of the Necrodancer replace the music mechanics with Minesweeper instead, which I'm down for.

The core loop is good; I had a lot of fun applying Minesweeper logic in a new way, as well as the aesthetics really bringing out the comfy, lofi dream look they were really going for, so that's a huge plus. That being said, it's still got some growing to do. I'm a little confused as to how you would expand this into a full game, and sometimes the generation can just make it impossible to logic out some areas. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing; the difference between Minesweeper and a logic complete puzzle game like Sudoku is occasionally you do run into guesses. It's like dealing with real mines!

Additionally, the combat is a bit out of place. That's not to say the DDR-esque (or like Undyne from Undertale) minigame isn't good, but it doesn't really fit with the minesweeper or even dream look in and of itself, and just serves to take you out of it rather than add to it. I would've preferred something like a logic puzzle, or even another variation or callback to a different old windows pc minigame everyone had just to kinda keep it cohesive.

That being said, I enjoyed my time time with and am looking forward to seeing how they expand on it in the future!

Image from the steam page

Megaman X Dive Offline (Steam)

You get mad props in my book for turning your mobile game from a F2P gacha game to a cohesive, single-purchase experience. Even more so, when you take the servers down you release that as its own offline game so that it's accessible to anyone who may have missed out.

This was an impulse purchase alongside the Battle Network Legacy collections, and honestly? Kind of regret it. Not because the game is bad exactly, but because I realized that I don't actually like Mega Man X that much to begin with so me getting the whole deal didn't make a lot of sense. The levels are fine and the gameplay is too, however I can already tell that because of how the Gacha works it's a grindfest to get any character up to par, and there's as a result a bunch of inventory management between levels to ensure your stuff remains good. I'm glad they did it, but it exemplifies why adding mechanics that meld with microtransactions inherently makes the core experience worse and the game's not for me.

Image taken from the Sonic Triple Trouble 16 bit website

Sonic Triple Trouble 16-bit (Fan game)

I saw an article that the Noah Copeland was hopping off of the Sonic Drift 16-bit project to make his own game with his own characters. His reasoning was he had two goals: Make a Sonic fan game and make his own games, and now that he had done the former with Sonic Triple Trouble 16-bit, he wanted to start on the latter. That's completely fair and understandable, and I wish him the best and hope the Sonic Drift 16-bit project continues with the current devs because it looks really good!

I'd be lying if my initial reaction wasn't actually me being like "Wait, there's a really good remake of Sonic Triple Trouble?" Though.

And it is really good! It remakes Sonic Triple Trouble into a "modern" classic Sonic game w3hile adding new levels, playable characters, and layouts and expanding on the story to make it cohesive and fun. Sonic's drop dash returns from Mania, and again it really brings his moveset together and makes him the most fun character to play in my opinion. Tails is also playable at the same time as Sonic, and you can swap to him on the fly with a single button press, which is a welcome change over just having him be around. In Free play mode you can unlock 3 more characters as well, which is always fun.

Overall this is, like Mania, peak classic Sonic gameplay. This is what Sonic Superstars should've been, and its quality is higher than a lot of official Sonic releases as of late (looking at you, Origins and Forces). If you're a fan of Classic Sonic, this is a well designed and excellent experience you need to give a try! And it won't cost you a cent!

Image taken from the steam store page

Insaniquarium Deluxe (Steam)

This was a fun revisit. I Hadn't played this since way back in the day when they had the original, much more pixelated version and it was nice to revisit.

Just some quick notes on this one: PvZ definitely aged a lot better. While I appreciate that large amount of modes and variety in levels, the gameplay itself is very one note. It's addictive fore sure, but as soon as you get into the habit of it there really isn't much variety between the different tanks other than figuring out how to ramp up production.

Additionally the game has you clicking a lot, and the speed at which you can click is very much ingrained into its core mechanics. If this were made today, that would not go well given how utterly painful play sessions can get. I opted to use a mouse clicker, because I wanted to have fun and also be able to work tomorrow without dying.

All that being said, it's still a fantastic game in its own right! Sure, it's not the deepest gameplay you've ever seen, but not all games have to have deep, complex interweaving mechanics to be a grand old time. It's a great time to play for an hour or so while you're listening to a video or podcast, and honestly I recommend it for just being a fun, nostalgic clicker game. But wait for a sale.

And it's more enjoyable than cookie clicker, imo

Image from my switch

Princess Peach: Showtime!

As of the time of this writing I haven't beaten it yet, so my story & gameplay assessment may change by that time. If that does, I'll update this in my reviews next month, but I think I'm still pretty on point.

I'll go into this saying I had pretty high hopes for this one. Nintendo has a great track record when it comes to making spin-offs based off of other Mario characters; Yoshi games offer a different but still engaging platforming experience to the basic Mario platformers. Wario Land games are for the most part all great, ranging from platformers that test your wits and abilities to the iconic WL4/Shake it gameplay that would give rise to Pizza Tower. Luigi's mansion took a character whose only feature was being Green Mario and made it into a successful franchise with completely unique gameplay.

And sure, Peach has had a platformer before with Super Princess Peach. I haven't played it, but I heard it was fun. But when this game was announced I will say I was excited to see another Mario spin-off but with Peach as the leading lady.

And it's definitely not bad! I want to make sure that's clear; I don't dislike the game. It's difficult to describe the gameplay in a way that encompasses everything though. The best comparison would be a puzzle platformer but with a large amount of minigames interspersed, along with hidden collectibles all throughout the levels. To go with probably the worst possible game mashup I can think of, It's like Wario: Master of Disguise mixed with Luigi's Mansion 2 and a Spin-off Kirby game.

I will also say that I'm not the target audience for it, for sure, so I'm keeping that in mind when I say this. It's just, I'm kind of disappointed in it myself. It's not challenging, kinda like how Yoshi's Crafted World and most modern Kirby's aren't, but the gameplay isn't really engaging me enough to want to progress that frequently. Additionally most of the challenge seems to be from collecting the green sparkles scattered throughout the level, and for the most part it's not so much a skill challenge as a "Oh did you find the right part of the screen to stand on and pose" sort of thing.

The setting and story kind of irks me as well. The theatre aesthetic isn't foreign to Mario games, with Paper Mario and SMB3 even embracing it, but it feels inconsistent here. Peach is put through a variety of different plays where she assumes the main role in order to complete the stage and overcome the main antagonist: Grape and the Sour Bunch, and bring order back to the play. But it feels like they couldn't decide whether the game was trying to be like "Hey this is you actually helping people in need" and "This is all an act for your amusement", and bouncing back between those constantly and clumsily does it a disservice.

Performance wise the game's not doing so hot either. I know it's on switch, but with how smooth Mario Kart 8 DX and Splatoon 3 run, the game doesn't really have an excuse to be dropping frames. Most of the game is a fixed perspective with models made to look like theater props, but I find it's actually pretty common to see things operating at a lower framerate or stuttering. They also didn't even stick 100% with the theater aesthetic, with a lot of transitions looking almost voxel and digital in nature rather than actively moving set pieces like a performance, which is a shame because if they went all in on it it would've been cool to see them nail it like modern Paper Mario hits the paper aesthetic really well.

All in all, I'd say this a fairly decent game that has some issues finding what it's supposed to be. There's definitely fun to have here, but the variety of costumes and performances which for the most part don't mix together make the game feel like a mini-game collection more than a cohesive experience. So, it's alright, but in my opinion I'd wait for a big sale before picking it up. If you're looking for a challenge, consider this to be like a Kirby game before you buy

[piss-bong]

just curious why are you anti green brothers? i’ve only heard good things about them and i havent heard much of the other side of things, so i want to try and get the full picture before making any judgements

Short answer is they're capitalists.

Long answer is it's mainly because they're capitalists (seriously, get a load of this shit) who center a large part of their personal brand around a goal to enact positive change in the world while only loosely defining what that change is, and only enacting it by raising money for any of their million different nonprofits and making themselves richer in the process. They're bad for the same reasons Bill Gates is bad despite pledging to give away all his money or whatever. Nonprofits really aren't fucking great to begin with, and they have a lot of them.

There's also the assault allegations that happened on youtube in 2014 and their responses to said allegations, which weren't exactly great and kinda just completely shirked responsibility for their role in what took place. I know that they did take some measures to make vidcon and other irl events safer, but there's a reason vidcon isn't happening anymore.

Also, the way they tend to get really fuckin weird when responding to any sort of criticism.

Plus, John has just,, said and done some shitty things in the past, and most of this I'd be willing to let slide under "they were younger and I'm sure they've grown since then," but it's pretty obvious that his bad opinions definitely bleed into his writing, and it's kind of concerning when his target audience is teenage girls.

Not to mention, they position themselves as science educators when neither of them have degrees in science or education. I know they work with people who do, but sometimes their "educational content" is just fucking capitalist propaganda. (edit: turns out hank actually does have a STEM degree, but that doesn't change the fact that the "education" they're providing is just thinly-veiled propaganda)

Also not to be demeaning but,, it's obvious you're new here bc we have a long history of hating these guys. Here's a reddit post about the time we bullied john off the site.

If you wanna listen to a podcast, Big Soy Naturals has two episodes about them. I pulled some of these sources from there and they definitely cover the topic a lot more in-dept than I can in a tumblr post.

[irritablepoe]

Aloe vera, camelia, cactus :3

ahhhh thank you so much artur! <3 (hope it's okay that i use your name, if not tell me :3)

aloe vera ⇢ what’s something (mundane) you really want to experience in life?

i. want. to. have. a. qpr. like a really sweet one with good communication and we would live together but have seperate rooms, and we would do stuff together, but also alone if we want to, i'd be so nice to be loved that way :') i also want to get a novel/poem/short story published. that would be so nice as well :))

camellia ⇢ what were you like when you were younger? do you think you’ve changed a lot?

i was VERY insecure about myself and let people walk all over me and ig i was sth like the "perfect child that parents want" (yk calm, isn't annoying, does good in school, isn't involved with drama and stuff, reads a lot) except that there were days that i didn't talk at all bc i feared i would say sth that others didn't like and then they would hate me. i'd like to think that i've changed a lot, i'm still unkind to myself sometimes but i know myself outside of others opinions now and i kinda do my own thing. i also say now when i think someone says sth wrong or that is hurtful. all in all - wow look at that, i have boundaries now!! :D

cactus ⇢ something you’re currently learning (about)?

so in my classes i'm currently learning about psychology in education and health (exams are coming up and i actually don't have a lot of time to do anything else *coughs* *looks at screen time* yeah..) but i try to learn every opportunity i get (i want to eat knowledge nom nom nom :3) but specifically classic literature atm, and not only reading them but also reading about them, for example which influences those texts had on modern literature but also how certain topics that are (still) relevant today can be dicussed through them (idk if you listen to the re:dracula podcast but they also do some bonus episodes where they talk about how gender roles, queer theory and antisemitism play into the creation of dracula as a character and as a villain and also how it's representative for the literature in gothic times). i also try to read more poetry, i'm really bad at finding good ones though except the "classics" yk. emotion-wise i'm currently learning that i can feel pity for a person (in that case my father; he isn't a bad person per se but he did stuff that was hurtful towards my family and myself and he has to deal with a lot of consequences bc of this now) but still set boundaries when it comes to consulting them (see above question lmao)

***************

ok that was a lot, thank you for asking though this was really fun and well, i tend to ramble :D

[abeinginsand]

:o Darryl and Scary for the ask game!

Heya Baba! Thank you for the ask, hmm going to go into the Scary part first since I have my playlist on-- ----- Scary- what’s your favorite song? Top 3 favs at the moment: Sherlock Holmes Theme (from The Great Ace Attorney) fav character in the game and the theme fits his vibe so well, he is so silly and interesting. This is fun to whistle along too Run by OneRepublic, I've liked the band for a pretty long time so gives me a nostalgic vibe. I think the music video is pretty amusing too!

Pity Party by Melanie Martinez, always daydream of character music videos when I listen to this...lately I think of Nicky and him telling his son "this was my fav arm, you don't see me crying about it" and my inner thought in return "but maybe you should let yourself cry about that? Its okay to cry." Catchy angst songs get me every time x'D Alright, onto the second question!

Darryl - do you have a good relationship with your dad? Yes and no. So I mentioned in some tags once that I see a lot of myself and my mom in Glenn and Nick (being friends more than parent and child). For my dad, well coincidently--I see a lot of him in Darryl. Ya know that 'lets talk about this later (usually never)' quote but also 'a dad that doesn't know much about his kids interest but is trying to understand anyway. He's always been supportive of my art since I was kid and a part of me still cherishes that. As long as we don't talk about the hard stuff, its fine, peaceful, so that's my reason for the Yes. He's also not well-informed on LGBTQ+ but again is learning and supportive. (CW for verbal abuse mention) Now for the no, if Daryl is the good parts of my dad...the bad parts-- I see those in Willy. My dad has always been nicer to his coworkers/friends than to the family he came home to everyday. He was also a salesman hmm...that charisma. And when I was younger I didn't mind that much. I noticed but the difference wasn't that harsh at first. He just smiled and laughed a lot more with one group versus the other, still lavished his kids with gifts as a form of affection, tried his best to make us laugh. But as my sister and I grew up, the difference in behavior was getting more obvious. His annoyance and anger were showing more often than not. He was never physically abusive but was verbally. There were other factors involved such as work issues, health issues, and his own issues with his parents. His parents/siblings basically treated him (the youngest) like an outcast so he wasn't allowed to be close to them emotionally and had to be pretty independent. Generational trauma...looking at dndads as a podcast I adore but also "wow, I'm in this picture and I don't like it" Flashback to him being a parent and husband and well...he blamed us for all the stress he was under--be that from work stuff or body pain (from major health issues which eventually lead to him having a leg prosthetic). Unlike Willy he'd feel guilty and genuinely apologize but the pattern would just repeat so stuff felt hollow after awhile. He's been getting care for his health and behavioral issues these days (and is retired). Has been making an effort to mend his rocky relationships with us but also isn't forcing the conversations. Still frustrating days sometimes. Has said things that no apology will ever be enough for but I appreciate that he's trying. I didn't mention my sister in detail here but truly she is the Lark to my Sparrow, intense hatred of father figures included. My sister's two years younger than me but we are often mistaken as twins as well haha. Doesn't help that we both have the same first letter in our names too. We were able to trick our classmates and teachers a few times which was funny. She lives in another state for college right now but we're still pretty close! Want to say that I am 100% okay with sharing this (and feel free to reblog if you want to). Nonetheless, hope it wasn't too much of a bummer to read! :]

[januarysprings]

I differentiated between the things that affected others and the things that are only mine. Things that affect others is anything that puts money in JKR's pockets (I don't buy anything Harry Potter related, I don't stream the movies or audiobooks etc), and stuff like posting about it online (this post is a very rare exception) or wearing anything Harry Potter related in public etc, mostly because I know it would make some people uncomfortable and that's not something I want to contribute to, and I also just don't want to associate myself with this franchise like that anymore. I have deleted all my Harry Potter related Instagram posts, I don't have my house in my bio, I took my deathly hallows keychain off my keys and my Harry Potter books off my shelves.

The things that are only mine is my own personal relationship with the story. I read the books for the first time when I was 11 (I'm 28 now) and back then I didn't think much about the person JKR, the only people that existed for me was people in the story. And on some emotional level, Harry, Ron and Hermione aren't always entirely connected to JKR for me. Because of that, I feel like I can keep my own personal relationship with the story, I sometimes discuss fan theories or send memes to my friends, I sometimes rewatch the movies on DVD I already own, I still listen to some independent Harry Potter podcasts, rereading the books (which I already own) isn't out of the question for me. These things do not affect anyone else, but they still bring something to my life, and therefore this is what feels okay and makes sense to me. I know not everyone will agree, and if you feel differently, that's okay.

I also want to say to anyone dealing with this (the Neil Gaiman situation in this case, but also any other situation) that it's okay to grieve the loss of a fandom, a story, a person you admired. That does not mean that you think your feelings are more important than the feelings of those who have actually been hurt or targeted in the situation. You can feel multiple things at once, and feelings are what they are anyway. Whatever you feel is okay and does not make you a bad person. Losing something that meant a lot to you, or finding out that it wasn't what you thought, can hurt, and it's okay to feel those feelings.

It's been about four years since the whole JKR thing blew up, and nowadays I don't really engage with anything Harry Potter related other than listening to Mugglecast and like sometimes sending a reel to a friend. But that story was a part of my formative years, a huge part of my identity, self image, my interests, my friendships for a really long time, and no matter how I feel about it, it will always be a part of me, and that can be true even though I think JKR is a bad person and even though I vehemently disagree with her, and I have made my peace with that. Feelings are complex, we contain multitudes.

I don't know if this was helpful for anyone, but know that I see you in your struggles, Good Omens and Neil Gaiman Fandom ❤️

(also, I haven't massively read up on the NG thing, and I don't necessarily equate NG and JKR, this isn't really about them, this is just about our feelings)

harry potter fans help what did you do when you realized the creator of your fandom was an asshole