ezlospirit

[ezlospirit]

Well, here it is, folks. I can confirm that EzloSpirit's Hub will remain online for a while yet, as Pillowfort is really lacking in the features department (pages, CSS themes, etc.), but I will be posting most if not all of my blog posts on there from now on. I may copy posts from there to here if I think it makes sense, but Pillowfort will now host my primary blog.

#goodbye Tumblr #Pillowfort #new blog #Hub-related #news #announcement #link

[ezlospirit]

I just bought a key for a Pillowfort account. I'm not closing this blog yet, especially because I am not sure how Pillowfort will go, but this is probably the beginning of the end.

I joined Tumblr as a more social alternative to Blogger, where I could feel comfortable posting not just about my writing but also whatever was on my mind. It also supported multimedia better than Blogger. But I've found it hard to interact with people on here. I never hit 75 followers, only one of my followers regularly interacts with my posts—shoutout and special thanks to @delicious-anomalocaris—and even my offline friends don't seem to pay attention, which is especially hurtful since I don't use Facebook anymore and sometimes just need some comfort from friends.

I never wanted 1000 followers, but I just haven't gotten the amount or kind of blog engagement I wanted. I think I misjudged the Tumblr community, which has specific interests and values, when I had started my blog as a replacement for my Blogger blog; I wanted to gain a few more fans and keep them updated on my creative writing, but most Tumblr users wanted visual art, fandom posts, and memes. That's all fine and dandy, but that's not what I came here for.

Depending on the availability of export/import features on both Tumblr and Pillowfort, I may leave this blog up but inactive, or I may deactivate it entirely. I'll keep you posted. So to speak.

Oh, yeah, and the increased commercialization of Tumblr has been disgusting to witness lol.

#Hub-related #announcement #Tumblr #Pillowfort #blogging #writers on Tumblr #beginning of the end

[ezlospirit]

I don't think I can do this semester. I'm not cut out for asynchronous learning, certainly not for four asynchronous graduate courses at once. I hate this. I'm falling further behind every day, and every time it seems like I'm starting to catch up, I find there's still something I'm missing. They're already on Week 2, and I've barely scratched Week 1. I feel so helpless and incompetent. I emailed Disability Services for advice, and they haven't gotten back to me. I frakking hate this school. It's so cold and unsupportive.

#venting #depression #anxiety #graduate school #online learning #attention deficit disorder #Asperger's syndrome #asynchronous learning #Rutgers University #masters program #library school

[ezlospirit]

I like playing with the "New Post" button in the Tumblr Android app. Watching the pretty colors snake around on my screen as I drag it around is so…pleasant. It's like transient art. And then letting go and watching all the other buttons follow the blue one back into place? So satisfying.

#random #Tumblr #Tumblr app #Android #New Post button #easily amused #wheeeeeee!

[ezlospirit]

True story: I'm in a hybrid on-campus/online Masters program—I've heard it's the seventh top library school in the country—and I'm stuck taking only online courses this semester because apparently there were only about ten sections offered on campus in the entire program this semester. I have ADD—among other things—and I need the structure and increased sense of accountability that synchronous learning provides over asynchronous. And this entire university, the largest in New Jersey, barely offers any (if any) synchronous online courses. (I'm only in the hybrid program because the only other option was online-only.)

The semester started less than a week ago, and I'm already behind in two or three of my four courses. (Note that my GPA last semester was a 3.875, so this is not normal for me.) I was not properly prepared for this, and I did not sign up for this. I'm absolutely livid with my program right now.

#venting #rant #graduate school #masters degree #online learning #attention deficit disorder #executive functioning disorder #asynchronous learning #serious #angry #Rutgers University #Asperger's syndrome #generalized anxiety disorder

[ezlospirit]

Comparing Dynasty Warriors 7 and 8

In the moments when I'm not busy doing schoolwork, I'm still playing through Dynasty Warriors 7: Definitive Edition on PC. (Actually, I'm usually streaming it from my PC to my Chromebook using the Steam Link Android app, which was not designed for Chrome OS and is extremely touchy but actually works pretty well with DW7, at least if you're okay with having really crappy framerate and LOTS of graphical artifacts lol. Which I'm fine with because I get to play DW on the couch.)

The overall gameplay of DW7's Story Mode is massively inferior to DW8's—there are far fewer mid-battle events and there's less incentive to engage with the ones that do exist because they have no bearing on the rest of the story like in DW4 and DW8 (the other DW games I've played in any depth). In addition, most battles are split in two, with an intermission cutscene and/or camp sequence and a K.O. count reset and possible character change separating the two parts; this makes the game feel choppier. Also, unlike in DW8 (and HW, for that matter), not every character has his or her own weapon: like in DW8, each character has a designated "EX" weapon with which they can use an extra attack, but several characters share the same EX weapon in DW7, which makes it much less interesting (though it's worth noting that two characters who have the same EX weapon don't have the same EX Attack). From the 10 minutes or so that I put into DW9 on launch day before I gave up hope on it ever running adequately on my PC lol, I know that they went back to not having unique weapons for different characters. (Sure, there are now almost 100 playable characters, but hey, I believe in Omega Force's creative prowess when it comes to designing weapons lol.)

What I am really appreciating about DW7 over DW8 is the map design and the game's treatment of the events in the novel. Most of the battlefield maps in DW7 have much more interesting, less linear designs than those in DW8. There's also generally less open space, making for more interesting pathways and extra camps along the way (the latter of which most definitely inspired the Keeps in HW).

Several pivotal battles that were either truncated or omitted entirely in DW8 are given due attention in DW7. For example, the Battle of Chibi as portrayed in the novel does not end with the naval battle but also includes the Wei forces' escape through Huarong Valley; DW8 poorly portrays the latter part, but DW7 includes it as a whole second part of the battle (one of the few second parts that feels like an entirely new battle). The game's cutscenes are, surprisingly, also more interesting than those of DW8 overall. They go to greater lengths to portray the relationships between characters, though this sometimes pushes aside actual plot events to the narrated historical explanations between full battles. Which is fine. And also, the historical explanations were actually dubbed in English in DW7, unlike in DW8, where they apparently just didn't bother lol.

Anyway, I'll stop writing now!

#musings #video game #Dynasty Warriors #Dynasty Warriors 7 #DW7 #Dynasty Warriors 8 #DW8 #Shin Sangoku Musou #hack-and-slash #action #comparison #Romance of the Three Kingdoms #Koei Tecmo #Omega Force #Steam #PS3 #PS4

[ezlospirit]

When (if) Colin Jost leaves SNL, he should host a reality jousting show. Call it Jousting with Jost.

#lol #random #wordplay #Colin Jost #Saturday Night Live #SNL #NBC #Weekend Update #jousting #joke

[ezlospirit]

Nobody Wins in The Hunger Games

Tonight, I rewatched The Hunger Games for the first time in a few years. I had forgotten how absolutely, deflatingly grim the whole thing is lol. Like, everyone loses in the end: Katniss and Peeta, the Districts, the other Tributes, Seneca Crane, President Snow...they all undo each other by the end so that nobody really wins anything and nothing really changes. Yes, I know that the events of this film set real change in motion over the course of the following films. But standing on its own, this film (and the book it's based on) is just a scathing critique of fascism, war, violence, capitalism, and yes, reality television, and the cold, pointless brutality of it all.

If you can, you should check out some of the special features from the movie because they discuss just how much thought and consideration went into every detail of this film and the preservation of the original message in translation from print to screen. Everyone who worked on it did so with the knowledge that they were making something important and thus not to be taken lightly.

#musings #film #movie #The Hunger Games #book #science fiction #sci-fi #dystopian #speculative fiction #Suzanne Collins #Gary Ross #Katniss Everdeen #Jennifer Lawrence #Peeta Mellark #Josh Hutcherson #dark movies #antifascism #antiwar #anti-capitalism

[ezlospirit]

Thinking of switching to Pillowfort to get away from Verizon and, ideally, from a dashboard that's 90% memes. Sorry, my lovely peers, but for what it's worth, I find your image macros to be so, so tiresome and repetitive. Memes have been boring and largely unfunny since the start of the decade. "Charlie the Unicorn" and Trogdor? Those were real memes.

Please make your own content instead of ripping off of other people's.

*gets banned from the Web; hides in an old library*

#lol #Tumblr #memes #unpopular opinion #extremely unpopular opinion #Internet sacrilege #Charlie the Unicorn #FilmCow #Trogdor the Burninator #Strong Bad Email #Homestar Runner #image macros #Pillowfort #seriously though I am considering switching because Verizon is pure evil

[ezlospirit]

Needs more cat.

#random #cute #cat #feline #amusing #kitten #Skitty #Eneco #purring #soft #cuddly #yayz #nyā #meow #miaow #mew

[ezlospirit]

How am I not the author of this post? I only reblog, like, two posts a year, and this has to be one of them; Fairy Pokeymans are the best and cutest. @nepechi-doodles, you are my new best friend.

Togepi is the physical embodiment of cuteness.

FAIRIES! <(^.^)>

If you think about it, fairy type is probably one of the best types in the games

super effective against one of the most commonly used types competitively, Dragon

Only weak to steal and poison types, which you’re only gonna see at least two steel types on the field, Metagross and Aggron, which you can work around due to their dual typings

Extremely good special attack and special defense

two very good Wall pokemon have the fairy typing: Clefable and Togekiss

Mega Altaria is so fucking good it deserves its own spot. Literally the only thing mega altaria is weak to is Ice and you NEVER see ice types on the field

Extra reasons:

They’re all so cute

Most are pink and pink pokemon are the prettiest and cutest pokemon

Doctors recommend petting at least one fairy type pokemon a day for a life filled with fortune and prosperity. Studies also show they can cure your depression and anxiety

Lovable in every fashion

#images #adorable #Pokémon #Fairy Type #Togepi #cuteness #bliss #happiness #dragon slayers #smol #cuddly #reblog

[ezlospirit]

Togepi is a smol tiny.

#random #cute #Togepi #Pokémon #Fairy type #cuteness incarnate #squee incarnate #smol #good #happy #cuddly #Eggy #Egglet #Roundel #Generation II #Baby Pokémon #yayz

[ezlospirit]

Blog Description Updated

I've updated the blog description, as seen on the left (desktop) or top (mobile). This really doesn't affect anything, but I thought I would let you know because I care.

#Hub-related #blog update #blog description

[ezlospirit]

Can I please have a clear, unchanging gender or a lack of gender, ideally before the heat death of the Universe? Thanks!

#gender identity #nonbinary #transgender #AMAB #gender dysphoria #genderfluidity #blurb #snark #LGBTQPIA+

[ezlospirit]

Wattpad Account Closed

Hey, readers! I just want to let you know that I have permanently closed my Wattpad account as of 29 November 2019. I never liked Wattpad; there's no sense of community, and it's always seemed to me like a dumping ground for twelve-year-olds' crappy fanfictions rather than a place where seasoned writers post their works. (Shoutout to twelve-year-olds who write fanfiction: more power to you; keep doing your thing!) There was also always this sense that Wattpad was more concerned with making money than fostering art and creativity, which is transparent in its recent(?) addition of a premium account model.

I only ever posted eight of my works to Wattpad. The lone, incomplete fanfic got over 500 views in six years, while my original short story with the most views got just over 100 in the same amount of time. None of my works ever got more than one star (which are basically "likes"). Nobody ever talked to me on Wattpad, save for one person who commented on several chapters of my fanfic, addressing the characters and not me.

Given all of that, I was decidedly embarrassed to have an account on Wattpad. (Yes, I am fully aware of how stuck up I sound lol. Feel free to chock it up to insecurity!) So tonight, I copied all of the descriptions and tags from my Wattpad works into a Google Doc—one at a time because Wattpad has no data export feature that supports anything but the basic personal information you add to your profile—and closed my account down for good.

The account was still under my deadname, and all of my works' descriptions included my deadname. This is a clear indication of how much I actually used Wattpad, like, ever.

So what does this mean for my readers, few as they may be? Overall, not much. In the coming days, I will update the links on the Departure Hub (links) page on my blog to eliminate all Wattpad links and substitute in links to posts on the Zelda Universe Forums. The Wattpad-exclusive "Complete Midnight Sequence" collection, which comprised my horror stories "Twelve Chimes" (2009) and "The First Hour" (2010), is no more, but the individual stories are still available separately, identical to the versions posted to Wattpad. My incomplete Armed with Wings fanfic remains available on the ZU Forums, if you search for it.

Really, the only casualty of this account closure is my 2010 story "The Blind Man Who Could See," which I legitimately hadn't even remembered ever posting to Wattpad until tonight lol; I had believed for many months that its only appearance online was on Figment (R.I.P.), and I have been planning on reposting it here since then. (I've been busy...?) So that will be remedied soon enough.

Thanks for your continued support!

(I think I also still have stories posted on my deviantART account. I will be taking those down in the near future, as well, for some but not all of the same reasons.)

#news #writers on Tumblr #Wattpad #account closure #account deletion #short stories #EzloSpirit #SightSpirit #Eden Biskin

[ezlospirit]

I'm sticking around for a bit...

Feel free to enter my Interrogation Chamber and ask me questions you would like me to answer. I will try my best to answer them.

Bonus e-cookies to anyone who sends me ready reference questions lol.

#Hub-related #ask me anything #Interrogation Chamber #inspire me #ready reference #library humor #this is a folksonomy

[ezlospirit]

This made me cry. I don't know—actually, I definitely know...—why I'd never heard of this person before just now, but he sounds like a real-life superhero. That our educators would erase him from history is absolutely disgraceful and makes me resent my country even more. Thank you to Twitter user @_Chloi for teaching me about Fred Hampton and the humanistic/humanitarian work he did. I could never hope to be half the person he was (on account of my timid, nonconfrontational nature), but the fact that such a person lived fills me with hope that someday someone like him will live again.

#screenshots #Twitter thread #Fred Hampton #Black Panther Party #Rainbow Coalition #Black history #U.S. history #historical whitewashing #real-life hero #activism #civil rights #FBI #J. Edgar Hoover #government suppression #1960s #intersectionality #serious #content warning: governmental oppression #content warning: death #reblog