Before realizing that HLVRAI was actually played in G-mod, I assumed it was a real Half-Life VR mod so I decided to look it up and turns out there is indeed a VR mod for the first Half-Life (there's also one for Half-Life 2). It's free on Steam so I decided to play it and just now beat it. Which I wasn't initially entirely sure I would do, I just wanted to check it out, but I was enjoying it so I kept going even through the jank.
Despite my enjoyment of it, it was the most nauseating VR experience I've ever played. I had to quit a couple game sessions early because of it.
It did do one thing I actually ended up quite liking though; it let me just walk around with the left stick. Which isn't the most comfortable way of moving but it's convenient when trying to only move a little bit and it helps a lot in combat since I don't have physically turn my head to move backwards.
And I got to touch the G-man and stick my finger in his mouth when he was talking. Which I also did to the scientists and Barneys. And whacking headcrabs out of the air with the crowbar as they jumped at me was divine. Also, with the teleport, getting off the ladders was much easier as was platforming and I got to cheese fall damage occasionally and straight up skipped part of the teleportation portion of the game, which was nice. So overall, I liked it a lot. I recommend it if you're into VR and aren't prone to VR motion sickness.
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willie🥺 i feel like u always write bakugo as the more strict parent, saying out teeth are gonna rot and making sure his kid is polite... what do u think he's lax about? if anything? cuz i don't want to be judged all the time by him LOL
hmm hmm ! i'm not sure ! i—didn't realize i was writing him to be too strict if i'm honest LOL i think...there are things he's very particular about as a parent—like his kiddos' dental hygiene and their manners—but i guess i didn't consider his take strict bc....those are things i think he has to be firm about, when it comes to being a responsible parent ??
like, he's letting the kiddos have their candy or letting them drink juice with dinner or eat a donut for breakfast...but, yes, there is no negotiation on brushing their teeth afterward. okay, if they wanna have a fit and be mad, that's normal kid shit, but it’s no excuse to be disrespectful to anyone. they can be mad about being made to eat a few veggies off their plate, but they're not gonna huff and puff and hmm! in their mommy's face, you know ???
idk !! in my opinion, him giving a sort of gentle reminder of minding their manners and taking care of their toys and being nice to their siblings—that is him being lax ??? sort of quietly nudging them, giving them a look from the corner of his eye that they understand without question; there's no screaming or hollering, no raised voices, no real anger taken out on them. i don't think any of it comes from a judgy place, he just sees it as his responsibility as a parent to not let a little gremlin loose in society, like he was LMAO
idk !! maybe i have a different perspective on what exactly is strict parenting !! which is normal, considering we all came from different households and families and walks of life 🩷
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My captaaaaain! I read Hands of the Emperor because of you and I am *obsessed*. It's so... there are books that try to keep you reading because Things Are Happening, but HotE is so quiet with it? It is all of my favorite older relatives telling me stories without all of the context and showing me what they love(d) about their lives and the people in them, and the regrets that they can't *really* bring themselves to regret and this book just loves people so goddamn much that I can't stand it. You start reading and it's so comfortable to pick up and put back down that even the hard emotional moments feel like lightly defined colors but clear brushstrokes and now I am three quarters of the way through the book and I am going to die if I can't get more of my uncle Clioper's slice of life in the government of fantasy 1800s. I shall never be the same.
You put it into words!!! Some fantasy books are really fast paced and chaotic, but HOTE will have you SCREAMING about middle aged men DARING to make small talk and look one another in the eye. It'll have you laughing hysterically about a career burecrat auditing a bank in his home town. And then something totally batshit will happen like a lord mage turning someone into a table and it's never mentioned again. This book makes so tender and happy and also feral. What a read!!
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So I'm a pretty big LotR fan. And I'm a pretty big fan of the movies. No, they're not perfect, but they're a really good adaptation and a truly masterful work of cinematic art. I've grown pretty familiar with the movies over the past 23 years (@_@) - and not just the movies themselves, but I also love learning all about how they were made. I've watched all the way through all the bonus material in the Extended Editions at least five times (and some of the more fun bits way more times than that XD). I've even watched all three movies with the cast commentary.
But you know what I've never done, not even at the height of my obsession when I had way more free time than I do now? I've never watched the movies with the other commentaries. It looks like there are three more commentaries, with different groups of various people on the crew, and for some reason I never got around to listening through them. I can't for the life of me think why - maybe I thought I already knew everything they'd talk about? maybe I somehow thought it would be boring??? - but today that changes!
I'm going to just jot down the main things that stick out to me that I didn't know before. I've gleaned a lot of BTS information and stories about these movies from various sources, so I'm not sure how long this will be, but I'm sure there will be some new things that jump out at me.
From the FotR writer/director commentary with Peter Jackson, Philippa Boyens, and Fran Walsh:
There was a draft of the script where they didn't have a prologue, and all the information about Sauron and the Ring and Gollum and everything was going to be in that conversation between Frodo and Gandalf @_@ Can you imagine? I mean, yeah, it would be more like the book, but At What Cost? (At the cost of several memes and short attention spans, that's what.)
Peter Jackson says he doesn't like magic or wizards in movies. Um...sir? Why the heck are you making fantasy movies then???
The location where they shot the Ford of Bruinen was a real ford that was used during the gold rush in New Zealand! Because New Zealand had a gold rush around the same time as the one in the U.S.!
Hugo Weaving actually did the voice of Isildur when he claims the Ring and says, "No." I have...questions.
Peter Jackson says the journey through Moria is the best sequence in the book, and Fran and Philippa say it's the best-written chapter. Interesting! I don't know what I would point to as the best-written chapter of FotR; I don't think I've ever thought of that (though I might say some of the best descriptions in this book are in Rivendell).
They said they might redo the Gollum scene in Moria to make him look more like he does in TTT. Uhhh...it's been 23 years, guys, where's my remaster? XD
The Frodo-Gandalf conversation in Moria (the "all we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us" conversation) was done with forced perspective??? I never realized that! I thought they just had Elijah sit a little lower than Ian so their eyelines would be right! They totally look like they're looking into each other's eyes, but they're not! :O
"Often in movies, that's a rare thing, to have shots in which nothing is real." - Oh, PJ, if you only knew what the state of things would be in two decades....
The scene of the Fellowship mourning Gandalf outside Moria was filmed before Ian McKellan had even arrived in New Zealand! :O So they were all mourning and reacting to the death of someone they probably weren't even sure what he looked like yet!
Sean Bean was apparently the only one of the primary actors who had any experience with a sword? Or at least he had the most experience. Viggo had to do the Weathertop fight scene on his first day, when he'd never touched a sword before @_@
In Boromir's death scene, the words sung by the chorus in the background is an Elvish translation of Faramir's line "I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend." ;A;
At one point, they were going to have Frodo fighting off an Uruk-Hai before he goes into the boat??? They even shot some of the footage?! Thankfully, they realized that was completely the wrong way to go about his end to this movie; it needed to be an emotional climax, not an action scene, and Frodo's victory is over his own doubts and the Ring's influence on him, when he grasps the Ring and marches forward to continue on his Quest, alone if need be. Thank goodness they realized that before it was too late.
SEAN ASTIN WAS NOT UNDERWATER IN THE SHOT OF HIM DROWNING WHAAAAAT MIND BLOWN
The shot of Boromir's boat going over the edge of the waterfall was actually footage of a barrel going over the Niagara Falls, and they just used CG to replace the barrel with the boat O.O
Fran Walsh: So Viggo's just put on Boromir's gauntlets...
Me, a nerd: Vambraces, actually.
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