#anyway. SUPERB dialogue

[nyehilismwriting]

oh no i'm really sorry for my message! i didn't mean at all to disparage your writing or your process. i hadn't thought that maybe you had gotten people complaining about the pacing or anything but i am very sorry if i came off that way. i meant more to express anticipation and excitement, since my operatives "canon" route is more friendly with nash i think but i was exploring other paths and was so excited and surprised about how intense the rivalry route was 😈 but i've been really melting over the friendship-path scenes and the sort of awkward tense tenderness between two people who don't know how to be gentle. your writing is incredible to read! i do have a question though: even if we go the friendmancer route, will there be some way for our operative to have been "bottling things up" or hiding their resentment behind humour to keep the peace? like, will there be a chance for things to "bubble over" for some of that delicious tension and arguments too? or does a friendmancie route imply your operative is generally less angry or upset than in a rivalmancie route? also, will there be chances to spend time with and befriend other characters like skylar or non-romanced npcs too some time down the line? anyway thank you so much for making all this superb content available to us (for free!!!!!) it's so cool and even aside from your amazing characters i'm always swept away with your worldbuilding and dialogue and cool story. i can't wait to see what happens next after the cliffhanger..!!! i hope youre having fun writing it too!!!

nono you're okay!! it's just something i got a few non-joking messages about after last chapter lmao, I'm sorry for being snippy😔

i'm glad you're enjoying the friendship route, and to answer your question: yes, absolutely. your relationship with nash is characterised by lots of resentment on both sides, regardless of route, and you'll have plenty to resolve with them as the relationship develops. you'll definitely have the chance to argue with them about certain things, as well😇

i'm hoping to put some real bonding time with skye and joia into the next few chapters - things have been a bit fast-paced up till now, but you'll get some breathing room soon, and once you and nash get some things off your chest, the operative will have more time to think about and talk to everyone else in a (slightly) less manic, trauma-driven way, so yeah, you'll get more time with them, probably in chapter six<3

#thank you!!! #i really appreciate the kind words mwah #i Am having fun writing it<3 lov my silly little fake people #anon

[pantalaiimon]

I've seen dune part 2 twice now (both within a 24 hours interval lol)

the expectations were humongous, the hype was real

and at first, I was a bit thrown off by how much it veered away from the book compared to part 1 - so much so that I was thrown off the pacing of the movie and had trouble getting into its rhythm (because i kept thinking back to changes from 5 minutes before), anyway that first viewing experience was a mess for me

now that I've had more time with it, I can safely say I love the movie. I think I prefer part 1 in some ways (I prefer contemplative & moody to action-packed & drama), but I also love how part 2 leans even more unapologetically into the utter weirdness of the source material, and how cinematic it is

it looks gorgeous (even moreso than part 1), the acting is good to superb, but the dialogue could be better (compared to the books and to part 1), and hans zimmer recycled the first score which I found to be a real disappointment: even though it's still good, it's too repetitive

now unto specifics (incl. potential spoilers):

I am 100% harkonnen trash (which could mean anything, as paul states quite clearly he's harkonnen too, so...) (but yeah i'm harkonnen trash as in I absolutely loved the whole giedi prime sequence, and have soul-binding devotion to & utterly unhinged sexual desire for Feyd-Rautha (yes, even bald and less scheming than in the book), because boy is he twisted in interesting ways

Alia was robbed of a lot, BUT I love the fucked up deranged codependant mother-daughter relationship she and Jessica have got going. actually i live for it, for the abomination. bring it on. Also Jessica, who was the most OOC character to me in part 1, switched to being the most IC in part 2 and i couldn't be happier?

more desert lore, from details like wind traps, to weather & travel conditions, to hints of the sandtrouts, and the whole ecological system linking spice, worms, desert & water. yay for fascinating and immersive worldbuilding (that movie makes you feel the desert, unlike the first one)

more charlotte rampling is always a good move. also sets up dune messiah beautifully. on that note, irulan was well paced, that is, she's allowed to stay muted and observant rather than front and center, again, setting her up nicely for dune messiah. however, stilgar's arc was pushed way ahead and it displeased me, because I feel it lessens the mourning and regret I remember feeling reading the books as he evolved, and how tragic his changing was (highlighting through him, that of his whole people, and their downfall into fanaticism). if the movie rushes to the end result, I care less about that change, for i can't realise and mourn for what was lost along the way. on a similar note, as they played paul as more moral at the beginning of his journey (to make him more likeable), the switch to his mahdi era was a bit jarring. so yay to mohiam & irulan character arc pacing, nay to stilgar & paul.

chani was also allowed more breathing room and dimensions/depth/inner life than in the books, and as I remember finding the book lacking in that respect, can't fault the movie for fixing this.

the ruthlessness of the politics of the landsraad and the intricacies of the manipulations by the bene gesserit were perfectly show-cased. The commentary on the dangers of messianic religions and its melding to politics was too overt for my liking. especially at this stage of the story, it's less of a warning to the insidiousness of fundamentalism if there are glaring neon signs at the onset of that path telling you "do not go, there be dragons"... I know villeneuve wanted to set up herbert's course-correction from dune messiah earlier, but it's too much too early imo

anyway, to conclude, i'd like to lick feyd-rautha's abs

#and kiss his boots - he doesn't even have to hold me at knifepoint like he did rabban #unless he's feeling like adding some knife action anyway i'm not picky #ramblings #Dune #dune spoilers #'i am a serious decade-long dune fan and not hormonal trash' i chant as i try to restrain myself while writing abt feyd #no but it's crazy: i'm the girl who always said #'i don't care for ANY character until God Emperor and then I love Leto II & hwi & moneo & DARWI & miles & the last duncan ghola etc' #and now we have an anomaly (and frankly an abomination): i am wayyyy too into feydy-boy

[thefandomcassandra]

My collected thoughts on Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective (as someone who only played the remake, at the behest of xyr good friend who insisted xe played it because "you would love it" and "its your brand" (which was correct))

The way the puzzles are made are so tight and so intuitive (with a few notable exceptions, which were only bearable because you can try and try and try again).

Being able to use a controller (guess whose crunchy t-rex wrists are too fucked up for mouse and keyboard controls for more than five minutes? This guy!) was so so good, even if the OG was a point and click. Apparently the switch version has touch which is neat? But the controller controls are tight and I only had a few issues with them (namely I kept clipping into cores I didn't want).

The story is brilliant with superb foreshadowing that, even on a first playthrough, can be seen and noted. The amount of times I hooted like a beast and pointed out smthn for my friend to only 🙂at me through discord tts was so so many. And I was right to point them out too.

Missile.

The characters are so genuine and real and quirky (Shu Takumi, you weird girl enjoyer™️, you do it so well) and several of them reminded me of friends' ocs (in a deeply positive way).

I never wanted to stop playing (I did because I was streaming for the above friend, who was having A Time™️ and deserved the secondhand First Time Experience Of A Beloved Thing emotions, but god I wanted to keep playing until I was done it was RESTRAINT and LOVE that stilled my sinful hand).

It's not terribly long, really. My finished game (featuring several minutes of idling and listening to the in-game music/viewing the art) was 11.4hrs. That's a trip and a half baby! Nice tight little game.

Missile.

The way the characters were animated was so charming. 10/10 art style. I wanna play with them with little action figures. Smack em together and write funny stories.

There is no unmotivated action. Even the villain, even the most bad of guys has a motive that, even if its stupid or bad, is there.

When you fuck up, you still get a laugh out of it. There were at least two (2) instances of my friend saying "Hey do [this] for me?" When I did, I was always rewarded with something stupid or interesting that made me lose my mind.

The game, while not hand-holdy, will give you hints. They're always contextual and specific to whatever you've just done (or should be doing) and they're usually internal or external dialogue between the ghost you're playing as and whomever is listening (usually nobody, sometimes the dead person they're helping).

Missile.

Anyway, play Ghost Trick. It's worth the 30USD.

#the sheepy speaks #ghost trick #here i am waving a banner #missile is the best dont look up anything about missile just trust me #top pomeranian

[twothpaste]

for the meme: hinawa ^_^

First impression: 2013 clark playing m3 for the first time: wow, that sure is Mom!! Gee i sure do wonder when Mom's gonna make it back from the woods, which are on fire by the way. Oh. O.. Oh……. Oh my fucking god……

Impression now: -pointing- That is a Funny Southern Lady right there. An absolute bowl of apple cobbler.

Favorite moment:

Idea for a story: One day when I illustrate Barbecue AU it's gonna be fucking over for all y'all. For those uninitiated: AU in which Pitmaster Hinawa n' her family run a barbecue food truck together. She survives a kitchen fire explosion, like a total badass, and goes on to thrive as a beloved local culinary icon. The twins cook with her. Boney might be their mascot. Flint's in the back smokin' up the best damn brisket you've ever tasted. Antics ensue.

Unpopular opinion: idk if there are particularly strong, popular, or unpopular opinions about Hinawa in this humble little fandom. My only lukewarm take is that I think Itoi shouldda given her more screentime, dialogue, and personality before taking her out back and shooting her - considering the whole rest of the game is grounded to her memory. Grief is handled brilliantly, but Hinawa herself feels more like a symbol than a character. The writing for women in this series has never been superb though. What can ya do.

Favorite relationship: How the sensitivity and emotional vulnerability she taught Lucas to embrace is put to the test in her absence. The whole story is often flanderized down to its darkest & most miserable beats - but it's actually about laughing & loving & cherishing life despite adversity - and I fuckin' know Hinawa's the one who taught Lucas how to do that. I like to imagine he thinks of her in his brightest moments, not just when he's down. That her memory inspires him to smile and move forward, and that she lives on in every kind n' caring deed he does. (Bonus Round: when I think too hard about how all the same could've applied to Claus, I get inconsolably fucked up. When I make it apply anyways, to a Claus who survived, I get sappy as all hell.)

Favorite headcanon: What if she was silly!!!!!! What if she was a goofball hippie with a quirky sense of humor just like her dad!! What if she made dorky puns, and cracked up laughing when kid Claus said bad words, and invented a sequel to the hokey pokey just to make little Lucas smile!! Also she smoked mad pot in her youth sorry

#ask tag #thank you dana 😊 #2thtalks

[prototypelq]

video game ask let's gooooo

5. Game(s) coming out that you’re looking forward to

12. A character you particularly like in the game you’re currently playing (or any other game really)

13. Quick, name the first song from a game that comes to mind

20. A boss you think is really cool

22. A game ending that’s really stuck with you

26. Realism or stylized?

Thank you for the gaming ask my beloved mutual! )))

5. That's a really tough one. While I do follow gaming news, I am not so attentive to actual game releases. Mostly because I have never really played on a 'current' platform. I have been using consoles for gaming most of my life, I played on x360 up to 2017, then I got a ps4, which was/is my most go-to platform till this year. This year was a change for me, because I finally surrendered to pirating at the beginning of the year, and played through a number of awesome low-spec indies that way. Though, I have been very lucky to get a new pc recently, and oh boy is this a big change for me. It's still crazy to think this machine can run something more than pixelart now xD (no disrespect to low-spec games in this house allowed, the more accessible the game the better, weak hardware optimisation my beloved)

I have also found a way to get past the payment blocks and have bought all those games I pirated, that was a big weight off my shoulders) So, uh, yeah. I don't follow releases. I would have said Alan Wake 2 is you asked earlier this year tho, CONTROL had me transform into a Sam Lake devoted follower xD I'll gladly watch a letsplay of it sometime soon, before I catch any spoilers. All the other game series I'm interested in are either on hiatus (Darksiders when), or the latest entry made me lose interest (Horizon 2. I love the world, so I'll follow the series anyway, but the story of the sequel is a mess I didn't like at all, and it doubled down on this new direction too). That was a long and roundabout way of saying I don't really look up to any new games currently, lol.

12. Currently - Lohse from the DOS2. This game has an extensive player character creator, however, you could play as basically one of the companions of the game, with full custom story and questline. And Lohse is a Very special case, as my dear bard woman is currently posessed)

The game has some amazing moments, where it will throw you a persuasion check to 'prevent you from throttling a character because the demon inside you didn't like them' for example. Funnily enough, in this moment in particular, if you succeed on the first check (which is hard to do early-game), if will throw you Another one with other stats to use. And Another. There's three persuasion checks in succession here, which is normally literally impossible to do, unless you mod the game to hell and leave the balance there as I did, and STILL this is the only option the dialogue will leave for you. Lohse becomes uncontrollable after this, and your other party members have to subdue her.

It's incredible, amazing time, 10/10. Other origin characters are great too, but I think this fourth-wall-meddling makes Lohse simply the best origin character to play as.

I also greatly enjoyed playing as Delsin Rowe in Infamous Second Son, I love that game, it's super fun and has great style, plus Delsin is adorable. He's a bit punk, he is witty, he is a geek, an artist and his grafitti-drawing mechanic is adorable.

Also Death from Darksiders 2. His parkour is superb, his abilities are super cool, he has an amazing horse, and he is Literally Death Rider Of The Apocalypse.

13. First song that comes to mind would be Bound Together, since I mentioned it a lot the last few asks...excluding that one, Subhuman + BTL, and Black Dog for the fun of it, All Is Soft Inside which was featured for a virtual concert of AURORA in Sky: Children of the Light (adorable game, which will hopefully come out sometime on pc, mutuals I would hold your hands in that game so. much.)

20. A really cool boss. Sorry King Cerberus and Vergil, you are cool by definition. The first that comes to mind is the Guardian fight from the Darksiders 2, which is honestly the most badass fight in the series. THAT MUSIC HITS SO HARD. And that finish animation, oh my, pure epic.

22. A game ending that’s really stuck with you. ooops already did a too-long and roudabout post about that one xD

26. Realism or stylized? Stylized anytime. Realism is honestly kind of boring, though I admit sometimes seeing your fave very detailed is cool. For example, dmc5 Dante design is my favourite out of them all, because it is finally (kind-of) down-to-earth. The game is about fighting demons and being cool about it, but the story is of human struggle and issues, and the character design finally reflects that. And I do enjoy the Impressive hair physics in Horizon games, but that's it for realism. Stylized is literally better in every possible way: it makes the design more flexible - it can be expressive or constrained, depending on your direction; it is cheaper to produce and easier to optimize and easier to run. Plus 'realism' is a forever-outdated style. Games that were considered 'realistic' in 90s, 00s and 10s don't look so realistic to us now. Even Delsin Rowe I mentioned above - he looks great, the motion capture and animation for the game looks awesome, but his face is kind of baby-smooth and the pupils of every character in the game are just a bit too-wide, it makes them all look like they all collectively had some hallucinogens xD. Meanwhile, stylised games can never go out of style, as they are the ones dictating it. Beyond Good and Evil still looks good, Fables look good, Psychonauts does too, etc. These games always exist in the state they were meant to be viewed in, while realistic games are always reaching for the not-really-but-sort-of unattainable standards, which change with time and available technology.

Stylized is Always. Better. In. Every. Way. Also make games optimized again and lower the hardware reqs. I swear, it's like every new title requires you to buy an entire basement full of rocket-science multi-computers, each with a videocard which name will make the math-lovers cry.

#this was fun to answer thank you) #mutuals my beloved #gaming #surprisingly a lot of darksiders snuck into this one xD #darksiders #infamous second son #dos2 #dos2 lohse #delsin rowe #darksiders death #sky cotl #that sky game

[agentnico]

Drive-Away Dolls (2024) review

Do not see this movie with your mum. I repeat, do not not see this movie with your mum!!

Plot: Jamie regrets her breakup with her girlfriend, while Marian needs to relax. In search of a fresh start, they embark on an unexpected road trip to Tallahassee. Things quickly go awry when they cross paths with a group of inept criminals.

The Coen Brothers are behind some of the most thrilling crime capers in cinema history, and are known for their flashy neo-noir style and highly convoluted plots featuring eccentric characters. However recently the brothers decided to temporarily part ways and focus on their own separate projects, with Joel adapting the famous Shakespeare play Macbeth, which by the way was a superb piece of post-modern black-and-white cinema, and gave Roman Polanski a run for his money. Honestly, Tragedy of Macbeth was visually striking, as it stripped down the classic Bard play to its narrative and perceptible essentials, and also the cast was terrific! Then again, you can never go wrong with Denzel Washington. I honestly don’t know a single person who doesn’t love Denzel!

Anyway, whilst Joel was up to his master-class ways, what has the other Coen bro been up to? We would have found out last year if it weren’t for the strikes, but now we finally have an answer - Ethan has decided to go back to his roots and make a road trip movie that is infused with the 80s/90s goofy feel to it, and he even brings back the briefcase from Fargo! Or from No Country for Old Men. Or The Big Lebowski. Or Hail Caesar!. Pretty sure Brad Pitt also seeks a briefcase full of cash in Burn After Reading…. Honestly what is it with the Coens and their briefcases!? Not only that, I swear most of the time it’s the same model briefcase that’s used! So anyway, Ethan Coen is evidently driving down memory lane here, but is it a drive across the greatest hits, or a drive-away to disappointment?

It’s the latter unfortunately. Now we have seen the true colours and know which of the Coen bros is the talented one and which is riding on their sibling’s success! I’m kidding, everyone has a bad day at the office, but Ethan Coen has really made a stinker with Drive-Away Dolls. Playing out in less than an hour and a half, this is a very short film, so on a plus size is does whiz past you. However the storyline is so thin and disengaging, and the jokes are also really unfunny. The Coen Brothers are known for their signature wit and hilarious dialogue, however none of that is present here. Additionally, similar to how I found Poor Things to feature one too many sex scenes for my liking, Drive-Away Dolls features a lot of lesbian friction throughout, to unnecessary amounts. I thought it was bit too much, and too icky for my tastes.

The cast features a lot of talented people, all of whom I’ve seen give great performances in other projects, however here they were either miscast or simply wasted with their minimal inconsequential screen time. Margaret Qualley is way too over-the-top and silly as the fast talking Jamie with a cringe-inducing accent twang, and she got really overbearing by the end of the movie. Geraldine Viswanathan as Marian plays the straight faced counterpart to Qualley’s annoying energy ball. Again, it’s not the first time we’ve seen such a dynamic in films, yet Viswanathan can’t seem to find any interesting layers within her one-dimensional character and as such came off really boring. The rest of the cast comes and goes, some for sheer forced comedy and others to at least make some attempt to have a cohesive plot, but even then are taken out of the equation quickly and pointlessly. Pedro Pascal, Colman Domingo, Beanie Feldstein, Matt Damon, Bill Camp, Miley Cyrus….all wasted.

The movie also features very sloppy editing, and also the transitions! We have to speak about the transitions! What the hell was going on there? So from scene to scene we’d get these weird wacky psychedelic kaleidoscopic inserts, and I mean in a stoner film this would probably serve more purpose, but in a movie like this it felt totally random. To be fair at the end a character does mention about something that happened years ago that somewhat mildly justifies these inserts, but even then having so much of them throughout the film felt like a useless gimmick. I’m all for filmmakers trying something different and unique visually, but as long as it serves a purpose to the overall narrative, which in this case it did not.

It’s really disappointing as I’m a major fan of the Coen Brothers works, however this was such a messy misfire, I’m honestly shocked it made it through to actual release. It’s silly but not in a fun way, featuring wasted talent and bland gags, and one should simply drive away from this as far as possible.

Overall score: 2/10

#drive away dolls #drive away dykes #movie #film #movie reviews #film reviews #comedy #cinema #crime #road trip #2024 #2024 in film #2024 in films #drive away dolls review #margaret qualley #geraldine viswanathan #ethan coen #coen brothers #matt damon #pedro pascal #beanie feldstein #colman domingo #miley cyrus #Cynthia plaster caster #thriller #bill camp

[defiledtomb]

Happy birthday! I found your IF recently, and I have to say, the writing is just superb! The characters all feel very distinct from each other (both in personality and in appearance), the setting is really creative and mysterious, and the mc is a really interesting character all on their own! Too many IFs start the story off as if the day the story begins is the first day the mc has been alive, so I really love that you gave the mc an entire history that made them the person they are when we start the game. Also - and this is pretty unrelated - thank you so much for giving us the option of markers to tell us what certain dialogues were implying. I'm an idiot who has no idea how to read implications into words, so I do not exaggerate when I say that you have saved me.

Anyway, sorry for going on so long. Just wanted to wish you a happy birthday and tell you that I loved Ouroboros and can't wait for more! 🎉

Never apologize, this is genuinely my favorite part of writing a public work. Hearing your opinions and compliments is just... Unreal sometimes. I love every second of it even though my own words can run out sometimes and anxiety reigns in my head. :>

I'm so happy you enjoy Ouro and that the tone indicators help! And thank you for the birthday wishes :) 💖

#ouroboros-if #interactive fiction #if you could grant me one more wish i would be over the moon yes? #i really hate it when someone gives a compliment in a way that puts other stories and works down #every story has their own value and their own strengths #It would make me much happier if we celebrated that instead of comparing every story to the other. 🤗💖

[saintshigaraki]

vic!!!! im so intensely engaged on ur reading list updates genuinely look forward to seeing them on my dash! out of the ones you’ve read so far which one would you give the most flowers to/recommend? also going through my yearly saint jeanne obsession where i read every possible bit of media i can find on her and was curious if you had any recs? anyways hope youre having simply the most superb of years so far <3

ohhh without a doubt the haunting of hill house by shirley jackson. jackon writes dialogue with a style ive never had the pleasure of reading before and it is so unbelievably captivating. and even outside of the dialogue everything is written in a way that swings wildly between dreamlike and nightmarish but always never quite grounded in reality. ive been thinking about it nonstop since i finished it the other night. if you have not read it i highly suggest you do!

#im not familiar with saint jeanne she seems to be a little past my time period of interest #so i can not help you with that im sorry </3 #ask

[magpiefngrl]

2022 Book Review

so the first thing I noticed, looking back at what I read this year, is that I haven't read any books that blew me away (with one exception, see below). Unlike 2021 (see last year's posts here and a short one here) when I read books that left me with my jaw on the floor. The other thing I noticed is that in 2022 I went for a lot of rereads. I'm a big re-reader, if I love something I want to expose myself to it as often as I can, but this year I reread way more than I normally do. Then again, I've had a super busy summer and some pretty tough months following that, so it's not so surprising I sought out familiarity and comfort.

Total books read: (if I finish current read) 82 81

Books that stood out in 2022 and other musings:

I. The Queen's Thief series (you'll also see me refer to it as The Thief). Prob my most enjoyable read of the year. Two of the six books thrilled me in a way I hadn't felt in yonks and the other four were pretty good too. Also: A. I'm proud of starting and finishing a series in the same year, it doesn't always happen. B. jfc I have a new blorbo I'd die for.

II. The Wimsey books. I started going through them chronologically and read all of them (bar one, I think). I'm pleased that I started the series and finished it--like I said above, it doesn't often happen, esp in recent years. These are murder mysteries featuring a Duke's younger brother as the amateur sleuth. The mysteries aren't Agatha Christie level of competence (I figured out several murderers before the reveal and I'm not even particularly good at this), nor are all the novels equally good, but Sayer's witty prose was a true joy and her dialogue is a masterpiece.

III. Other top books of the year:

Siren Queen (queer SFF), Black Sun (native American inspired SFF), The Atlas Six (dark academia SFF), How to Bang a Billionaire (contemporary m/m romance), The Goldfinch (contemporary literary), Hogfather (fantasy, humour), and Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell (historical fantasy, am at 70% and really loving it).

IV. I'm always excited to see fanfic authors moving on to original fic and I try to support those authors when I can. I've now created a shelf on my GoodReads so I can keep track. This year I read A Restless Truth, the sequel to Marvellous Light by Freya Marske, which was tremendously engaging, and I also read the self-published duology Magpie Ballads (Elegy is the first novel's title) by Vale Aida (only on Amazon atm). This author is superb, I truly love their writing style and how confidently they handle their craft (description, dialogue, narration etc). I have Thoughts TM on plot and story, but overall a very strong debut.

V. The exception (mentioned above): Lymond. What else. I finished Pawn in Frankincense in January and it destroyed me. Absolutely left me in a puddle weeping on the floor. I'd stalled in the book (and series) halfway through for years now. Each 1st Jan I'd be like "...and I need to finish the Lymond books this year!!!!" and it never happened--but then, in 2022, it (almost) did. I also read The Ringed Castle in autumn and am one third in Checkmate. Progress! (I had high hopes of finishing CM before NY but alas. Still trying to finish another long book.) Anyway, Pawn in Frankincense is the novel that blew me away in 2022.

VI. The new thing of the year: receiving daily-ish emails in my inbox with chapters from a classic book. I didn't go for Dracula as I read it some years ago but I signed up for Dangerous Liaisons. I was familiar with the plot, having watched the amazing adaptation (and the other, less than amazing one), but I still enjoyed the book a great deal. Receiving the letters in my inbox was a new and fun experience.

VII. Disappointments! Let's have some of those. The Glass Hotel: found it bleak and dull; DNF'ed it but I might return to it when I've got the energy for a slow story. Wilder Girls: not quite a disappointment but it could've done a lot more with that unique premise. Time Is A Mother (poetry collection): sacrilegious perhaps, but Vuong's Night Sky with Exit Wounds is unparalleled and this one suffers in comparison. Alix E Harrow has turned out to be a hit-or-miss author for me after all. Although I loved the first installment of her fairytale verse, I found A Mirror Mended lacked the depth of the first novella. Good but not memorable. And finally Nghi Vo's Into the Riverlands, the third novella of her Singing Hills Cycle, was OK. A decent read but nothing more.

VIII. I don't read non-fiction at all, it's really not my thing, unless it's books on the writing craft. I used to seek them out avidly, but not anymore. After going through a couple dozen of these books, you realise they all start sounding alike. That being said, writing craft books can be motivating during times of block and often you might find a few gems of advice that can be very inspiring. This year I only read one such book (Writing 21st Century Fiction by D. Maas), which was nothing ground-breaking but included a few exercises that I'm eager to try.

What were your fave reads of 2022? Let me know or tag me, I'm very curious about the books people love.

#books #2022 books #long post #book recs

[moonrvsh]

NEWEST PERCY JACKSON EPISODE DISCUSSION? UR OPINIONS.

OUGHH sorry for the late reply i just saw this. this was asked when ep6 hasnt released yet but ill give my thoughts on both ep5 and ep6 anyway hihi spoilers below ofc

ep5

- i really really love how theyre developing percabeths relationship especially, it makes me so happy ,, i was initially a little scared the show might lose the charm of getting to see percys inner thoughts about annabeth n grover but theyre adapting it really well so far imo!!

- i love the depth theyre giving to grover that wasnt shown in the books, he def feels much more like a fleshed out character now (not that he wasnt before; but i like him even more now!) i luv it

- the tunnel of love looks. really cool. the set is cool. and the dialogue between the trio is really good in this ep! especially percy n annabeths convos in waterland, calling each other friends was so. ugh.

- the acting was SUPERB as always, but id like to specifically point out walkers acting when percy was turning to gold ?? like, holy ???

- only thing i didnt like very much about the episode was the dark lighting </3 the set looked so cool yet i couldnt see most of it bc it was too shadowed

ep6

- honestly,, my least fav in the show so far

- i dislike that they figured out the casino belonged to the lotus eaters like, 5 seconds in? i feel like it got rid of the small mystery behind it. idk. i wish theyd taken longer to figure it out

- hermes was cool though. i like how much theyre delving into pre-camp luke/annabeth/thalia/grover friendship ! itll make the betrayal hit a lot harder when the time comes

- i also liked augustus ?? again, grover being a fleshed out character. i like it

- the trio was so cute in this ep :’)

#percy jackson #pjo #pjotv #an rambles

[fillinforlater]

Monday of Appreciation: Part 41

Hello everyone, Smite here!

Feels good to finally release something xD Sorry for everyone that enjoys my normal content more, I promise the next couple of fics will be female idols without a special... ahem... private part.

Anyways, enough updates, more love. We got some great fics this week, we also got some great fics the week(s) prior, so here is another collection of unique, memorable, amazingly written stories. Enjoy!

1. @summersault31​: Not Another Dumb Blonde ft. Ningning

I’m not exaggerating when I say that this has blown my mind. The outfit alone is superb. It and the woman wearing it deserved a masterpiece and Summer delivered! A young writer with incredible talent, now you have maybe my favorite Ningning fic ever. I will watch your career with great interest.

2. @ggidolsmuts​: Windowsill ft. Shuhua

Ddeun + (G)I-DLE + breeding kink, they just go together so well, of course I had no doubt that this one was going to be great and now it’s deservedly here. The dialogue was absolutely amazing, and I came to realize that Ddeun’s dialogue in general might be a different stratosphere from what I can put out. Damn, great stuff!

3. @co-reborn​ @worldsover : Control ft. Jiheon, Saerom

CO is an exceptional series. I adored the first part, the second was good too, then part three blew my mind and now THIS?!?? How far up will this go? Saerom’s ass is another peek for me, and I love that the other characters still play a role. They get affected by our OC and C.O does not hold back in any regards. Yes, this one is golden!

4. @scherzonatic​: nothing else. ft. Yuri

Scher is back! Unique in story telling and concept, characters I couldn’t even come up with and a hilarious Sakura. This was a fun read and I look forward to reading more of you :)

5. @ifeelsounsure0​: Finding Love Part 5: A Midnight Summer's Dream ft. Suzy

This cutie might just trick you. His eloquent words, excellent descriptions and mind-blowing fluffiness, he puts out great stuff regularly, especially in the Finding Love series. Check it out, or I’ll be angy  >:(

6. @lockefanfic​: Demanding ft. Joy

I demand that this fic is longer! But you already came... Oh...

Anyways, this was fucking good. Like OC: he was also fucking good. Joy in that outfit and this scenario makes me drool uncontrollably and I can see myself coming and cumming back to this multiple times. Damn.

7. @co-reborn​: A Clear Haze ft. Yiren

No, I’m not drunk, I swear. 

Only drunk on Yiren in one of the most heat-inducing GIFs of all time. C.O did it justice, a quickie par excellence with lots of liquor. I hope our qt didn’t have too many drink before this. Right? 

Thank you for reading this! I hope you have a nice week ahead :D

#mondayofappreciation #aespa smut #ningning smut #gidle smut #idle smut #shuhua smut #fromis smut #fromis9 smut #fromis_9 smut #jiheon smut #saerom smut #everglow smut #yiren smut #izone smut #yuri smut #jo yuri smut #joy smut #red88 #red velvet smut #suzy kassem #miss a smut #kpop smut #female idol smut #male reader smut #male reader insert

[australet789]

I FINISHED IT

I FINISHED GOD OF WAR RAGNAROK

I was crying by the end, i just didnt do it cause my mom decided to watch the story along me, she got interested akdhjaa

Anyway

Man, until today, i didnt think anything could top Undertale/Deltarune in terms of storytelling, game mechanics and everything

God of War Ragnarok has set a new top bar

I dont think the writing could be more perfect (except for maybe more Angrboda :v). The dialogues, specially Kratos' and his wisdom, was top tier.

I felt so sorry for the Thor family tho. They deserved so much better, and honestly, loved Thrud by the end and her whole arc with her parents.

Angrboda was amazing and the fact that she had to hide Faye's secret and basically the fate of everyone's elses lives was...man. She fought for that secret, to let Atreus decide his own fate when hers was so ingrained into her. I want, I NEED a DLC with her and Atreus finding the giants.

Faye. Man, FAYE. Her decision to fight against her own people, to give her husband and son the choice to live their lives, and still be part of it till the very end as a constant supportive pressence instead of just a ghost of the past was superb. Want to know more about her but also glad that they didn't show more. We were robbed of a sexy make out between her and Kratos tho :v

And Odin. Fuck him but also LOVED that final fight. I had FUN. I threw everything at him and the game knew it. Because you just fight him after Thor and you have everything recharged. So it's super satisfying to go with every combo at him. Specially those double arrows with Freya and Atreus.

And what can i say about Atreus and Kratos' relationship? It was perfect!!!! The evolution of them both, their misunderstandings, when they finally realize what they need, their "see you later". THATS HOW YOU FUCKING WRITE A PARENT/CHILD DYNAMIC. THAT'S HOW YOU WRITE A GRUMPY ADULT BONDING WITH A KID. THAT'S EXACTLY HOW IT SHOULD BE.

Im happy i played the game. Im happy it exists and it was an experience im not going to forget.

Now hoping for a DLC and what comes next of Kratos'story.

#god of war ragnarok #gow ragnarok spoilers #gow ragnarok #australet plays videogames #100/10 i loved it #now to kill the last berker and find THAT LAST CROW

[foileadeux]

Can you share your thoughts on the Knight and the Hollow Knights as well as on Pale King, Radiance and a favourite character of your choice? Please.

oughh where to begin omg... i find all of them interesting haha! IF i had to choose a favourite most likely thk/pv, im a real sucker for tragedies and my god is their entire life an encapsulation of one LMAO their cut dream dialogue showing them struggling with their purpose as an empty vessel vs their thoughts, feelings, voice etc... pain. unimaginable pain. yes i HAVE cried to their ost(s) before. the knight/little ghost is a little friend of whom i adore and im shaking team cherry to answer as to how they (and a few other kin) escaped the abyss, and also wtf the shade lord is up to... i also just wanna know how all the siblings are doing now!! dammit!!! are they ok!!!! points. pale king. dude was challenged by the radiance after tearing her people from her thrall to his, went "bet" and immediately resorted to sacrificing like a million children and then yoinked 1 kid (chosen for reasons unexplained) to contain said god inside. but then also i feel incredibly bad for him if it's true that he knew his plan would fail anyways after sacrificing so much for the kingdom. just a sad wet cringefail man all around id also throw him into the dead baby pit for a little while radiance, radiance my beloved. shes so funny to me, her clout got stolen and shes been mad abt it since. a real "if i cant have it no one can" kinda lady. honestly? amazing. i find her beef with PK incredibly fascinating, like theyre just 2 bug gods playing tug of war whilst hallownest suffers for it. i spin her around in my mind w escalator music playing.... superb eternally mad moth woman. ppl keep trying to paint pk or radiance as one being more justified than the other but honestly theyre both morally dubious and its great. points at the bug god drama and laughs

#ask #hollow knight

[infinityactual]

Man I should play morrowwind but like

The graphics are physically painful to look at. I think they suck. And I play halo 2, sw battlefront 2 and republic commando, call of duty 2, aka games that came out around the same time. Yet morrowwind (and oblivion) are just.....eugh

Y'know, I've tried to figure out a good reply to this for a long time, and I keep coming back to 'What was the point of this ask, anyway?'

You sent it shortly after I reblogged stuff about a game I love, regardless of how crappy it really, actually is, so it came off like you just wanted me to know how much you hate the graphics.

Newsflash: Most TES players aren't fond of the graphics either, for Morrowind or Oblivion, and that's why there's like a zillion PC mods to improve on what we were given (If you have either game for Xbox, you're SOL). Morrowind is a fucking hinky mess of code that had to have a (rather ingenious, actually) built-in auto reboot because it crashes so often. Oblivion is slightly better in that regard, but also has graphics that have serious issues with lighting bloom and the NPC AI is hilariously bad.

If you can't stand the graphics and think they look like shit, fine. That's a fair lament. But comparing an open world RPG game with *hundreds* of totally unique NPCs, dynamic lighting, unique quests and dialogue for said quests, thousands of items and the ability for the player to modify those items built into the game, to an FPS shooter with less than a quarter of the explorable game world, NPCs, dialogue, and in-game items is not a fair or even a good comparison. They're both GAMES, but they're completely different styles of game run on completely different engines with completely different areas of focus during development. Morrowind vs Halo 2 is like my Chevy Cobalt vs an F-1 racer; they're both cars, but one is so generalized it's not superb at any one thing, and I can drive it wherever I want on city streets. The other is highly specialized for speed and can only drive specific race circuits.

There are also a lot of variables that can affect game graphic quality, from the game engine itself, complexity and overall size of the game's code, to constraints of the hardware running the game. Playing a game powered by the Unreal engine (one of the fancy older engines that was a Big Deal there for awhile in the early aughts) doesn't mean shit if you're trying to run it on a '98 Gateway PC with a stock graphics card. And console games didn't even have the luxury of being moddable until the last 5 or 6 years iirc.

If you want to play Morrowind for the story, but want better graphics, look into getting it for PC and getting the Open MW mod, and some compatible graphics overhauls. That's what I did, and it vastly improves the game experience.

#jackthunderbolt tag

[niksixx]

As a writer and fellow fanfic reader, NOTHING turns me on more than when I read a fanfic that has good punctuation and grammar. Like…proper capitalization, commas and periods when needed, and wonderful grammar??? GIVE IT TO ME.

Don’t get me wrong superb dialogue scratches an itch in my brain, but capitalization, punctuation, and grammar hit DIFFERENT. It makes a story infinitely better, which is why proofreading is so important!!!!

Anyway, happy Thursday 🙂

[spicebiter]

Everything , Everywhere, All At Once

There's so much to be said about Everything, Everywhere, All at Once that I don't think I could cover it, let alone say anything that hasn't been said, but regardless there's a lot about this movie to talk about so I'll do it anyway.

To start with, I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy the movie only because there's a good number of films that get a lot of attention that I end up not enjoying so I wanted to keep my expectations in check. Within the first half hour my opinion had completely turned around and I have to say this is one of the best movies I've seen in a year or two.

Being completely honest, the first thing that turned my opinion in a positive nature for the film was the first fight scene. Between the aspect ratio shift and the change in soundtrack I could see what was incoming and it delighted me to no end. The continued wuxian vibe of the fight scenes is something I love love love alongside the existentialism and sci-fi themes. Between the music and the sort of powder/dust that flew in the fanny pack fight it's so nostalgic despite the high video quality and frame rate and modern/American setting and clothing. I grew up watching a lot of the more well known wuxian movies plus a lot of films that aren't quite in the genre but certainly inspired by it, and I feel like there aren't a lot of those being put out in the US nowadays so it was a breath of fresh air to see that.

In addition the wuxian style works so well for this movie because of the use of improvised weapons and unconventional fighting styles and defenses- the way this ties in to the individuality of a person and there always being something to love is perfect. Down to a singer's improved lung capacity or a sign spinner's skill at yknow sign spinning, it still makes such an immense difference despite the simplicity and seemingly inconsequential nature of these traits and skills.

I also can't remember the last time a movie made me cry like this one did. The climax was just hit after hit of the reality that life is so much easier when you're just KIND to people and enjoy the little things. It doesn't even need to be something big, but there's so much little shit you can do for others and for yourself that improves the overall quality of life by so much.

The fact that all of the VFX were done by a team of I believe it was seven people? Absolutely fucking astounding, with none of them being trained in the field and learning from tutorials that's just incredible. I also find the set dressings to be some of the best I've seen, you can tell someone put in proper work to making props and sets believable. And, of course, the makeup and costume design is so fucking immaculate I can't even begin to describe it. Some of the most impressive and creative costuming I've seen in a while. The soundtrack, the choreography, and the attention to detail down to the script and dialogue changing from reality to reality and depending on the character, it's all just so well done. Besides all of that it's a fantastic concept and brilliant execution, and it's just a superb movie that I've very glad I took the time to watch.

#everything everywhere all at once #media talk #it's a long movie which challenges me some but it stays interesting and attention grabbing throughout so #i can't complain #spiced