#i'm not 100% satisfied with this but I quite like all the concepts. we'll see

[queenlucythevaliant]

make your choice

Digory didn’t think much on making choices. The whole world would be over when his mother died anyhow.

Of course, this didn’t keep him from being curious or adventurous. It was exciting to meet new people, exciting to go exploring and to speculate about whatever mischief his Uncle Andrew was up to. Being a lively young boy was perhaps the best distraction from being a boy about to lose his mother.

Going after Polly was so obviously right that it might as well not have been a choice at all. What else could he do? It was easy to be righteous in the face of an evil old magician who said things like "Ours is a high and lonely destiny."

Yet once they were there in that rich, in-between place, with all the worlds there were splayed out before them— ((Make your choice, adventurous stranger)) Well. What sort of lively young boy would he be if he turned back now?

Digory could feel the bell’s magic ((strike the bell and bide the danger)) beginning to work on him. There was no use in resisting. He felt tendrils of magic sinking deep beneath his skin, laying claim to any free will he’d ever had. He said as much to Polly, but she wasn’t listening.

Polly said ((or wonder till it drives you mad)) that he looked exactly like his uncle when he said that.

Jadis’s whole world had ended. Everyone had died, and she’d just gone to sleep. She might have stayed sleeping forever if he hadn’t woken her. Sitting outside his mother’s sickroom, Digory wondered ((what would have followed if you had)) if that was really so shocking. Hadn’t he been preparing for just such an end? Were Charn and Mabel Kirke so different?

Narnia was not an end. It was a beginning.

And face to face with the Lion, Digory was forced to admit that the bell had not been magic. Nothing had caused him to strike it. Make your choice, the writing had said. Digory had chosen. 

I’ve spoiled everything. There’s no chance of getting anything for mother now.

The enormous Lion asked him, "Son of Adam, are you ready to undo the wrong that you have done?" and Digory sputtered his maybes.

"I asked, are you ready?" the Lion said again.

At that very moment, an ultimatum flashed through Digory’s mind. If I salvage your beginning, will you prevent my end? If make amends, will you save my mother? He thought of refusing, of holding his choice hostage until his future was secure. Could the Lion be bargained with? Could Digory twist his arm, as he'd twisted Polly's?

But what Digory said was, "Yes."

Jadis conjured such lovely visions of the future. His mother's face would lose its gray sheen and she would say, Why, I'm beginning to feel stronger. There would be no more morphia, no more of the terrible drawn look about her when she slept. She would rise from her sickbed, vibrant and whole ((Come in by the gold gates or not at all)) rise and walk to the door and fling it open and then Digory would go running into her arms. 

He gasped as though he'd been mortally wounded. Perhaps he had been in a way. After all, had the gate not said ((take my fruit for others or forbear))? 

Jadis ((for those who steal and those who climb my wall)) called Digory the Lion's slave. Years later, he would think back over all that those words implied. The Witch seemed to think that Digory had no will, if he was willing to subordinate himself to Aslan.

But was it not Aslan who made Digory realize his own culpability ((shall find their heart's desire and find despair)), and in the same breath gave him a way to repair it? Had not Aslan given his will back to him?

And at the foot of the tree, Aslan gave Digory his future back as well. 

He was old, but now he is young again, watching as the stars fall headlong across the black of the world-that-was. The world is ending at last, but Digory does not fear such things any longer.

#'let's get some half-finished stuff done and posted before the Inklings Challenge' challenge #i'm not 100% satisfied with this but I quite like all the concepts. we'll see #i actually have a bunch of these type of character study things from back in the day that i'd like to keep revisiting #anyway. i have always always always been fascinated by the writing on the bell #curiosity would totally be MY fatal flaw in a fairytale/myth so i can absolutely see where Digory is coming from #like of course he has to strike the bell. of course #but the way it gets frames in relation to Choice and Will and Responsibility is just really cool #a neat counterpoint to all the stories of those overcome by curiosity whom the narrative justifies #it was your fault. you need to own that #curiosity for its own sake is not inherantly a good thing #and then of course i can't write about Digory without pulling in the dymanic with his mom's impending death #that is by far the most compelling aspect of MN it is the linchpin of the whole thing #so yeah #founded in song #the magician's nephew no longer #narnia #leah stories #pontifications and creations

[iread-studies]

Korean Learning - Month 4 recap

A very very very productive month! Very satisfied with myself!

The King Sejong Institute

I completed the A1 self-learning course! Yay for me! I really like the Sejong Institute. It explains grammar without forcing me to learn all the rules. But it does force me to practice my Listening and Reading, which has improved a lot as a consequence.

I've also tried their A1 Conversation course, and while the drama they use to explain the various concepts is insane (seriously, it was such a fever dream), it felt like a useless repetition of stuff I had already studied in the "normal" course, so I dropped it.

I've realized that there is still a lot of grammar I haven't even touched, so I will also complete at least the A2 level course and then decide whether I feel ready to move on.

The platform is still buggy and I wish they would offer an English translation for the Korean example sentences but whatever, it's free.

Anki and vocabulary

Anki is amazing, as always. So far I've collected 253 words in my me-made deck and studied 100 of them, more or less. I've realized that words that contain ㅈ/ㅊ sounds are more difficult to remember for some reason.

I've stopped adding audio to the cards and I'm not going back. This change helped me tremendously with my reading comprehension. Before, I would rely on the audio and ignore the Hangul, but now I'm forced to read it. This probably means that I'm not pronouncing the words correctly but whatever. My #1 priority is to be able to read subtitles, which means reading speed is of the essence.

Grammar materials

I've discovered the book Korean Grammar in Use, which is sooo useful when you want to quickly check what a particular particle means (that index!!!).

I had planned to buy a Korean grammar book for Italian native speakers after finishing the A1 course, but now I don't know if it would be a good use of my money. They have it a library more or less near my house so I could try to get it from there first. We'll see.

Reading/Listening study materials

After finishing the A1 course, my plan was to move on to listening to Choi Susu's Beginner podcasts. I downloaded the (free) transcript to the first episode feeling all confident and legit almost cried because right in the first sentence, BAM, a grammar point I had never even heard of (reason why I decided to go back for the A2 level).

But with a little perseverance, the internet and Mirinae (MIRINAE IS SO GOOD!!! It analyzes Korean sentences for you!!!!) I was at last able to make sense of it. I can only work on a couple sentences a day, though, because I'm currently in uni exam season (yikes). Still, a little every day goes a long way.

I've also discovered the series of books Easy Reading Korean (not by TTMK). They are not exactly short stories, more like clusters of sentences on a similar topic but they are easy and challenging at the same time enough. In the first book, there are 25 chapters and I'm at the third one.

I've also subscribed to the newsletter Learn Korean with Daebak. It's in English but talks about grammar points, useful vocabulary and Korean culture. So cute!

I've also recently discovered the YouTube channel 태웅쌤 - Comprehensible Input Korean, which looks like a cool resource.

Immersion materials

I've been watching kdramas for 7 years now. I had never realized it before, but on Netflix I can stop the episode and switch to Korean subtitles whenever I want to! So I do it whenever I can almost understand a sentence or notice a word has been repeated quite often. Then I add that word/grammar point to my Anki deck. And there is how I discovered that the often heard 마음 means heart/head/feelings (?) (the Papago definition was unclear).

I'm paying more attention to what is being said in general and I'm surprised at how many simple sentences I can already understand. 7 years of passive listening are finally paying off :D

I've heard that listening to variety shows is more helpful than dramas (because dramas are easier) but I'll ignore that for now since I can't even understand dramas anyway.

I've found a couple of those calm aesthetic YouTube channels that have no spoken Korean, just background music and both Korean and English subtitles, so I've tried to watch those a couple of times. For example, Hamimommy or Kosil knits. I think I should watch these from now and when I feel confident enough I will move on to videos with both audio and subtitles.

AND ALSO. I've discovered how to type in Hangul on my computer keyboard! Before I only used the "drawing" option on Google Translate and Papago but now I can actually type! Of course, I don't have the Hangul letters printed on my keyboard so sometimes it takes me a while to remember where the letter I'm looking for is but that will get easier with time. I already remember most of the letter positions :D

Goals for the next month!

Complete at least half of the A2 course

Keep up with Anki

Finish reading Easy Reading Korean 1

Have more conversations with myself in which I try to speak Korean and realize I don't know how to say a bunch of useful words & add those useful words to my Anki deck

I should add numbers to Anki

#korean learning #language learning #learning korean

[isfjmel-phleg]

I recently acquired a collection of the Reign of the Superman arc, and there were some concept sketches in the back, including Kon's design, which features some interesting notes from artist/co-creator Tom Grummett.

Mike: This design is an amalgam of what I thought were the best elements of those 'napkin sketches' we talked about. Any comments or suggestions are welcome & appreciated. Personally, I think this looks great! In addition, an independent poll (mine) of 10-16 year olds I know rated this outfit as 'cool.' --Tom

I love that Grummett ran the design past young people to verify if it was indeed sufficiently cool. This ensemble is 100% certified 90s youth-approved.

Some of the ideas for the earring include 1) a small 'hoop' ring 2) a 'stud' type earring 3) a 'Superman' symbol (although we'll only see it in extreme close-ups)

Note that at this stage there is no mention of the earring's being a replacement for a tag, which would first appear at the end of Kon's arc before his solo. The hoop was a suitable option, I think. Generic enough for him to acquired for himself easily but with more interest than a stud. I can't see Cadmus equipping him with a special S earring.

Superboy will 'layer over' his basic uniform with 'accessories' like the jacket, sunglasses[,] ripped jeans, et al. For two reasons 1) to satisfy his own sense of 'style.' 2) to hide out from Cadmus search teams. These outer layers will tend to get shredded or busted away in heavy combat.

The jacket and sunglasses became part of the iconic look, but ripped jeans were never a thing, not even when he's in civilian clothes. Hiding from Cadmus never happened either; in the final version, they track him down the first day but chose not to take him back quite yet. Everything was still in development at this point, and it's interesting to get a glimpse of what other directions the creators could have gone.

Note to Karl/Mike: If we assume Superboy generates the same aura that his adult counterpart did, his Cadmus-made Superboy outfit will be indestructible. However this property would not extend to his leather jacket, which, like Superman's cape, will tend to show some wear and tear. I visualize a scene where Superboy survives a massive explosion in an attack. And savagely retaliates to avenge his jacket! ("You goons ruined my jacket! I'm gonna kill ya!") Since Ma Kent isn't likely to be sewing leather jackets in any quantity (if at all) they'll be harder to come by than Supes' capes ever were. --Tom

Grummett's visualized scene got incorporated into the final story! And became a running gag. Kon ends up getting a seemingly endless supply of replacement jackets from the news station that's using him, at first. But it's rough having no mother with sewing skills to keep one supplied with clothing!

Some thoughts about 'Project Superboy'... If we run into a timeline problem with a Superboy running around within a week or two of Supes['] funeral (and having Pa Kent's life hanging by a thread for too long a period of time), we may have a way to get around it.

Suppose we say that 'Project Superboy' was begun when Supes was apprehended by the Hounds and brought to Cadmus for study[.] (This was in one of Jurgens' issues, I'm not sure which number) An analysis was done on Supes that formed the basis for the 'Superboy' experiment, which was, by the time of Supes['] death, already underway, with a Superboy in progress. When Cadmus later took Supes['] body after the funeral, a further, more detailed analysis was done. The results of which were used to enhance the Superboy subject, and further accelerated his development.

This suggestion was not used. In the final timeline, Kon was developed to adolescence in under a week after twelve previous attempts failed. However, it's clear that Grummett has given this a lot of thought, and his suggestion for justifying the seemingly too rapid timeline fits plausibly into established information. This is a collaborative process, with writer and artist jointly building character and story.

#comicsposting again #KE: all I got is who I am #it's fascinating to see this from the angle of why creators made the choices they did #on a similar note: I also have a collection of early Tim stuff that includes a vast range of considered uniform designs - #no notes but interesting concepts - which I can show you another time if anyone's interested

[veebs-hates-video-games]

I grabbed Trigger Witch recently when I happened to see it because it was on sale and liked the thumbnail art and joked that it looked like the character was a witch who the only spell she knows is bullet. I turned out to be 100% correct about that, and the game itself turned out to be surprisingly fun.

Basically the premise is what if A Link to the Past was a twin stick shooter set in a world where witches forgot how to use magic after the introduction of firearms and all follow the Church of Ballisticism now? Great concept, I'm immediately on board.

It's a bit lighter on the puzzles than a proper 2D Zelda game most of the time, but the exploration and structure of the game is pretty similar, and there are some decent puzzles here and there and different gimmicks in different dungeons that make them play differently from each other.

Your main way of interacting with most things in the world is shooting them, and luckily they did pretty well with that part of the game. Everything feels pretty tight and responsive, the different weapons feel different to use and are useful in different situations, and there's just enough enemy variety and interactions between different enemy types to keep things interesting.

The characters are all fun enough too, even if they're not super deep, and the same could be said for the story. The big reveal late in the game that explains why the world is the way it is is satisfying enough, and I did not expect the final boss to be who it was, but aside from who it was I was a little underwhelmed by how that boss was handled, and none of the stuff the game did with them was either particularly insightful commentary or particularly funny and was kinda low effort. Aside from that it was fine for the most part though.

Another pleasant surprise that I had zero expectations for going in, and another short-ish game that was pretty good but didn't quite make it to great. I feel like there's some potential there for them to maybe improve on this with future games, but I guess we'll see.

#trigger witch

[melloggd]

Review: Pac n' Roll

Namco • Namco • 2005 • Nintendo DS • Played on Nintendo 3DS Read it on Backloggd: (x)

Lets all be on the same page: This game's kinda stupid, yeah? Its a complete novelty of a game made to experiment with a new gimmick in a really weird way. Its not aiming to be some paragon of solid game design or emotionally invigorating, masterclass game, I'm sad to report. Its a stupid game at its core, and that's exactly what drew me to buy it for the five bucks I found it for. A platformer with no jumping, controlled with whats essentially a trackball? I HAD to see what the hell this even was, and if there's anything to be gained from its gimmick.

And, I mean, kinda?

It feels like a game that taps into knowing how inherently fun it is to interact with its systems, like how Mario 64 was made so open ended to make its fully analog controls really feel natural and worthwhile. What you get here then is a bunch of ramps, slopes, straightaways and seesaws that all highlight the simple joy of Being Ball, but unlike Monkey Ball its not made to be ball-bustingly challenging and demanding you master its physics: Rather, it just asks you to have fun with them.

Honestly the vibe of the game in general feels extremely N64, not just with the aforementioned "look'it our cute gimmick" game feel that stuff like Glover or Chameleon Twist had but also just its visuals and sounds. Its a lot more vibrant, yet simple compared to Pac-Man World. It has that very specific "5th gen 3D game" kind of design where it kind of has objectives and escalating challenges, but it feels more interested in just letting you faff around, not really endangering you until way late in the game.

And sure, there are collectibles, much like the Pac-Man Worlds, which are more traditionally structured "escalating challenge" 3D platformers, yet it doesn't feel like Pac N Roll is all too interested in you getting 100% completion. (Though, having unique Time Attack layouts for all levels is a nice touch)

And, well yeah, the game does honestly feel quite nice to control to where I wouldn't have been opposed to 100%-ing this if I was a kid. The Pacster stops with a still tap of the screen but otherwise rolls with the momentum you give him, mixed with whatever the slopes are up to. There's a level near the end of the game that's all just one big slide a la Mario 64, except here due to the great sense of Ball you have it feels really intense and satisfying to get through, but you still are able to stop yourself at any time. Its such an interesting setup! The last two worlds in general are when the gloves come off and the game actually starts doing stuff with its insane setup, having stuff like multiple seesaws in a row you need to manipulate carefully to move across, bumpers that send you careening off stage, etc

For as middling as the experience can feel there's a kind of charm to seeing them try to add depth to such a gimmicky setup. Like, the speed burst move you get by stopping the stylus at the very edge of the screen, or the power-up hats that make you lighter or heavier. Silly stuff for sure, and they don't really ever test your prowess in Gaming, but they're there just to add a little more sauce to the weird meal you're having. Same kinda goes for the bosses, they're not really that hard but just toss you about in a new way from before.

All around, yeah, its a pretty ho-hum game--EXCEPT that the final boss, I shit you not, is a 5-phase GAUNTLET that is as big in level design length as the game's actual levels. Its genuinely insane but it has some of the most creative concepts in the game. Controlling the ball in a pinball machine? How about controlling the ball on a platform that's teetering all kinds of wild directions unpredictably! How about controlling one in a funnel, where taking any moment to rest sends you rolling toward the pit in the center?

Its this kind of variety, paired with the game's unreplicateable control setup, that makes me sad we'll probably never get a game like this again. These kinds of medium-budget, "hey this idea seems funny" games just don't happen anymore outside of...idk, mobile? VR? Its sad, but we should appreciate the quirkiness we got. Go hunt down those weird games! Concept seem ridiculous? Try it!

Typing of the Dead, Yoshi Topsy-Turvy, DK Jungle Climber, Sonic & the Secret Rings...Are all of these games great? No, not really! But their attempts at the bizarre concepts nobody else dared to try are worth experiencing, remembering, and learning from.

[Playtime: 10 Hours] [Key Word: Silly]

#melloggd : reviews #game reviews #video games #video game review #game writing #pac man #namco #pac man games #bandai namco #nintendo ds #nds #ds games #3d platformer