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erinevrly · 9 months

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❝ oh, my — goodness! ❞ erin practically squeals, bare feet stomping against the carpet as she jumps out of bed and begins to bounce up and down, a combination of sheer joy and excitement thrumming through her veins, refusing to be tamed. her cheeks growing rosy, dainty hands clasping and unclasping, eager to reach out and touch the delicate fabric while simultaneously nervous to do so, as though the gorgeous black dress could just magically disappear if she did that. it feels like a dream. it must be a dream. it’s neither christmas nor her birthday, and even if it were, they still wouldn’t be able to afford a dress like this. but everything else about this moment is so very real — they’re still in the same cheap motel room that they fell asleep in last night, with sticky carpets, cigarette-burned furniture and stained sinks, her suitcase half-packed and sitting by the window, his bandana and leather jacket draped over the back of a chair, the same led zeppelin album that they were listening to while taking a bath and sharing a glass of wine with pizza playing on a loop. it’s his first tour and she simply couldn’t miss it, but today’s their last day together — tomorrow she’ll be in new york and he’ll be in canada.

❝ axl, ❞ she breathes, enthralled by the beauty of the dress that he’s holding out for her, her fingertips finally brushing against the crystal-embellished hem, tracing the sweetheart neckline in wonderment. ❝ it’s so, so beautiful. the most beautiful dress i’ve ever seen. ❞ there’s a huge grin on her face as she looks between her boyfriend and the marvelous gift, doing her best not to let her tears spill over. it’s such a thoughtful gesture, so sweet and unexpected, too. ❝ thank you. thank you so much, @rcsechild, ❞ she gushes, falling into his colorful arms, careful not to destroy the velvety material in the process. she hugs him tightly, buries her face in his chest, and for a moment just holds him, feeling like the luckiest girl on the planet. she steals a chaste kiss from his lips before pulling back, her hand reaching for his wrist, fingers curling around his warm skin, squeezing. ❝ i love it, i really do. i’ve never owned anything so beautiful, but it must have cost you a fortune, baby, and i just can’t accept it. it’s too expensive. ❞

#rcsechild #answered.#main verse: 1987.#thank you for sending this omgosh <3 made my day!#so the way i see it is red is on his first big tour with m.otley c.rue and a.erosmith and that tour happened in august 1987 so its perfect #wikipedia says he was in canada from auguest 14th to august 19th and then flew back to detroit on august 21st #and stayed in detroit for like four days :') so i thought it was the perfect moment for curl to join him :')#and then on the 25th he's back in canada for like a week and im headcanoning shes in nyc #so this is like their last day / night together and i thought red would 100% spend his first big paycheck on curl :')#and this m.ariah dress :) and i know its from the 90s but i bet they also had pretty dresses like that in 1987 #anyway :)))) it turned out so cute i think :)

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thisaintascenereviews · 8 months

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Spanish Love Songs: The Genius Of Brave Faces Everyone & The Pivot Of No Joy

I’ve mentioned before that I didn’t listen to a lot of new music in 2020, thanks to a lot of things happening that prevented me from really diving into new stuff. The biggest factor is that the pandemic prevented a lot from coming out or being promoted, so not much even came out, but I’ve been trying to catch up on some albums from that year. One band that I’ve had my eye on for the last couple of years is the emo / punk band Spanish Love Songs, and their 2020 record, Brave Faces Everyone. A few weeks ago, I was really into some heartland rock albums, and to an extent, some punk bands that utilized a heartland rock sound and aesthetic, such as The Menzingers and Hot Water Music, especially where both of those bands put out albums that I never listened to. Spanish Love Songs is a band that I’ve heard a lot of buzz about, but I never listened to, although that changed when I saw that the band had a new album coming out this past Friday, August 25th. Entitled No Joy, I thought I’d listen to Brave Faces Everyone and see what the hype is all about.

Brave Faces Everyone is an album that hits like a gut punch, especially if you’re not prepared for it. I don’t think the album was written during the pandemic, as it came out later in the year, but the album shares a lot of sentiments that most people that enjoy this type of emo and punk, usually in their 20s and 30s can resonate with, as well as things people were thinking and feeling during that time. I know I resonate with its major themes quite a bit, namely mental health struggles, living paycheck to paycheck, and just watching helplessly as the world burns itself to the ground. Despite the negative themes that the album possesses, there is some hope on the record, even if it doesn’t seem like it. There are many one liners and lyrical nuggets that have seeped their way into my brain, but the band’s penchant for emo-tinged punk and heartland rock that sounds like The Gaslight Anthem, The Menzingers, and even a punkier Bruce Springsteen. Spanish Love Songs share those bands’ abilities to tell a story, whether it’s a personal one, or with other characters. Brave Faces Everyone is about the average American, and instead of being about relationships gone awry, or leaving your hometown, this is a record about real things that people go through on a day to day basis.

Part of what makes Brave Faces Everyone such a compelling record is the vocals and lyrics of Dylan Slocum, the main brainchild of the band, but the performances across the board are incredible. This album does a great job of not being anything revolutionary, but still having a profound and powerful sound, and it works wonders with the sound it does have. The emo, punk, and heartland rock sounds all come together to make for such a gut wrenching sound. Slocum’s voice and lyrics are what makes it worthwhile, though; he has this vocal warble and quiver that makes what he says more believable, especially the more emotional and heartbreaking moments. He can sing pretty well, even with the gruffness that he has. A lot of singers in that style have voices that are hit or miss, but he does have range, aside from his warble.

After spending a week or so with Brave Faces Everyone, it’s time to talk about No Joy. Unfortunately for this band, there are some expectations that I had with this album, even though I found them and didn’t spend much time with Brave Faces Everyone. I think that record is a masterpiece, frankly, and it’s tough when bands release a masterpiece, but No Joy is a very solid follow up. Right off the bat, No Joy features a bit of a pivot from Brave Faces Everyone. There’s more of an alternative sound to it, as well as a prominent synth sound to it. It reminds me less of Born To Run by Bruce Springsteen and more of Born In The USA, with its catchier and more hook-heavy sound with some synth tones but still having that heartland rock sound on top of it.

Slocum’s voice has smoothed out a bit, too, kind of like how Springsteen’s voice smoothed out with Born In The USA. This record shows off his range quite a bit more with this cleaner sound, so to speak. I will admit that No Joy isn’t quite better than Brave Faces Everyone, but that’s kind of unfair to say. No Joy is still a great record, but its sound doesn’t hit quite as hard, nor its lyrics are quite as impactful, although both of those things are still true. The sound is catchier and more accessible, and the lyrics are still about something real and relatable. Instead of being a personal story, it seems as though No Joy is about the narrator recalling a friend’s struggle with mental health, and the album is about the highs and lows of their journey. The album still hits hard when it comes to its lyrics, and I don’t want to downplay its importance.

Spanish Love Songs is the one of the best kept secrets of the emo and punk scene of the last few years, despite how they’ve been around for years. They are only just now getting popular, and for good reason. Their brand of heartland rock meets punk is hitting home for a lot of people, and No Joy is no different. Even if No Joy is your introduction to this band, that’s a damn good introduction, nonetheless. I’m hoping that this year is the year of Spanish Love Songs, and if you haven’t listened to them, now’s your chance before they blow up.

#rock #spanish love songs #no joy #brave faces everyone #emo #pop-punk #pure noise records #heartland rock #bruce springsteen #tom petty #the gaslight anthem #the menzingers #hot water music

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tangent101 · 4 years

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Perceptions of Wealth with Max Caulfield in Life is Strange

One thing I’ve noticed repeatedly in Life is Strange fanfics (and in occasional commentaries elsewhere) is how people assume Max Caulfield comes from a wealthy family. And while I’ve talked about this in the past, it’s probably about time to mention yet again that Max is in fact from a poor family, and that her parents either live in an apartment complex or in her grandfather’s house.

It’s easy to claim otherwise, especially when you compare Max to Chloe, but when you look a little deeper, the signs are clear that not only is Max poor, but she may in fact be as poor as Chloe. We can start by looking at Max’s clothes. Let’s start by looking at Max’s journal entries on clothes:

My mom cried, and my dad laughed. They're so weird. But they're happy and this means extra financial support because they don't have to pay anything to Blackwell. This means new clothes and if I can work it, a new laptop.

Max’s journal entry for July 10th already lays the groundwork here. She believes that seeing her family doesn’t have to pay for tuition, she can get new clothes and maybe even a new laptop. And to be honest, I actually bought into this... until just now when I saw this August 25th entry as well:

That made me want to cry like a little girl. And never leave Seattle. So instead of packing, I feel like burning all my clothes, then just raiding a thrift store to build up a new Max wardrobe over my junior year. Not that I even have an old Max wardrobe.

First, do note that Max talked about “raiding a thrift store” to build up a wardrobe. Her comment here is so matter-of-fact that the point Max was thinking of going to a thrift store for her clothes slipped past my radar... but as a middle-class woman, I do have to admit that it wasn’t until finances got rather tight that I started buying at thrift stores myself. Given that clothes aren’t tremendously expensive at Walmart and the like (especially if you hit sales) that’s perhaps not surprising. But there are no back-to-school sales for Max mentioned or the like.

In fact, we see no signs that Max got a new wardrobe (and admittedly she doesn’t have a lot of outfits, even accounting for keeping jeans in the bureau). Her laptop also is a fairly small one and may in fact be her old laptop. I cannot recall anything Max says or does that genuinely states that anything Max brings with her is new. (This also is true for alt-Max, seeing alt-Max’s journal states on September 14th “Yes, I'm older and thanks to Vic and Nathan I'm now a bit more fashionable too.” In other words, the nice clothing alt-Max wore were gifts from Victoria and Nathan.)

Max even comments on this when perusing Victoria’s clothes. She comes across some socks that “cost more than my entire wardrobe” and given a nice pair of thigh-high silk stockings can cost $75 or more, this might not have been hyperbole. Given that if you’re very lucky on sales you could probably snag skinny jeans for $8 new, and designer t-shirts for close to that (and let’s not go into the hoodies)... and it becomes most likely Max’s wardrobe, with (as Chloe puts it) “chlorine brand [T-shirts] and generic jeans” is cheap used clothing.

Hell, even Chloe’s clothing is in better shape. Despite the fact Chloe’s “poorer” than Max, her clothes look much less shabby and worn. Her ripped jeans look designer. Her shirts are likewise in good shape, with any “damage” being strategic and done for looks. Admittedly, Chloe may prefer certain outfits over others, and thus the lack of wear is Chloe not wearing most of her outfits all the time... but if you put Max and Chloe side-by-side (without Max’s camera evident) and ask which girl is from a wealthier family... and people would probably think Chloe is.

This also helps explain why Max never visited her best friend even in the summer despite living six hours away. If Max’s parents lived paycheck to paycheck then the cost of fueling up a car to drive Max to Arcadia Bay would be painful. (I say this as someone who once had to put her last two dollars in her car so to have just enough gas to last a week, back when that would buy two gallons of gas.) Max didn’t fall out of touch because of stressing out over William or being a bad friend. Max probably didn’t have a cell phone for the first year she lived in Seattle.

Again. Max and her parents moved to Seattle in the middle of the Great Recession. Yes, that was 11 years back but a lot of people lost their homes. Some of those who become financially destitute never recovered, even today. Others were forced to move in with parents. So if Max is living in a house, it belongs to her grandfather. She probably lives in a two-bedroom apartment and one that’s not even in a good part of Seattle. (She most definitely never rubbed elbows with Victoria in Seattle and never met Victoria prior to Blackwell.)

Speaking of Victoria, this gives another reason for Victoria’s harassment of Max and that is classism. Victoria acts like the typical snobby rich girl who sneers at those who struggle financially. Add in that Max has actual talent despite her lack of wealth, and she becomes a prime target for Victoria (along with Kate for her religious upbringing and lack of “shame” over her religiosity).

There’s another aspect of this “economic value” with Max that you might not expect, and that’s behavior. When you’re poor, you tend to become invisible to people wealthier than you. In return, some poor people will try and avoid standing out and drawing attention to them. Max has this in spades. She is a “shy cliched geek” who hides behind a lens rather than interact with a world that judges based on appearances. Well, Max appears as shabby and without value.

She is treated as such by various people as well. And trust me, if Max dressed like Victoria or Juliet, she would not be treated as dismissively. Appearance and behavior are reflections of each other, and we again see this with alt-Max with her nice clothes and more assertive personality, compared to the original Max who feels out of place.

Amusingly enough, as she starts wearing Rachel and Chloe’s clothing she increasingly becomes assertive and willing to take a stand. A good part of this lies with Chloe’s confidence with her, but we the players get to see this as well with Max’s clothes changing and becoming more vibrant.

So, why do people think Max is financially comfortable? I suspect it’s primarily because Max uses an instant camera. I once calculated out the financial value of the Caulfield Photo Wall, and came to over $100. Admittedly, that may have been all of Max’s photos (outside of ones that Chloe or other people had claimed over the years)... but when you also account for however many photos get rejected for not being good enough (and Max rips up several photographs in Life is Strange) and you’re left with the possibility Max has taken probably a thousand dollars’ worth of pictures.

That said? This doesn’t mean Max has spent a thousand dollars on film. Don’t forget, Max starts out with a battered camera that despite the design being extremely sturdy falls apart when it is knocked off a desk. Polaroid Instant Cameras are much sturdier than that, so the only way that camera fell apart that easily is if it had been broken in the past (which would explain why Max knows how to repair the camera). And with Max’s own journal, we know that Max is perfectly willing to buy and utilize previously-owned items.

In all likelihood, Max lucked across an estate sale or yard sale where someone was getting rid of an old camera they didn’t know the value of and all the film with it and Max walked away with $500+ of film and camera for $10 or so. If she bought more film via eBay and was lucky? She could very well be getting more film for only a couple dollars per cartridge of eight shots. It is also noteworthy to state Max doesn’t have a backup camera. She doesn’t have a digital camera on the side for most of her shots. She uses her phone for some pictures but mostly it’s that old beast of a camera that barely is holding together.

There’s another reason why a lot of people just assume Max is from a nice middle-class family and that’s because many gamers are from that setting. Who wants to think of Max as a poor girl who is only attending Blackwell because of a art grant? Especially when you add in shabby clothes that highlight Max’s shy and withdrawn personality... you end up with someone that people can have difficulty connecting with. So it’s understandable people just assume the best for Max. After all, they are Max in the game, and who wants to be poor?

#life is strange #lis #max caulfield #chloe price #victoria chase #kate marsh #alt-max caulfield #recession #polaroid instant cameras

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purplesurveys · 3 years

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1053

1. What did you do in 2020 that you'd never done before? Other than the obvious getting-a-job and other adulting stuff, 2020 was the year of my first cigarette, the first time I had to use eye drops, the first time I got sick for longer than a day, and the first time I tried my hand in embroidery.

2. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I don’t make any because I usually get tired of maintaining them after a few weeks. But idk, last night I had an idea that I want to try a new restaurant by myself every weekend in 2021. It’s very self-care-y which is what I need these days, and it’s definitely feasible now that I have my own money. Given my track record with resolutions I’m not expecting too much, but I still hope I’m able to hold out for as long as I can.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? I know a co-worker became a mom this year, but I don’t consider myself close to her. We’re cool with each other, but that’s about it. Her baby is the cutest though.

4. Did anyone close to you die? One of my great-aunts passed away in April.

5. What countries did you visit? I stayed put here. It wasn’t like I could get on an airplane this year anyway. The Thailand and Vietnam trips are going to have to wait.

6. What would you like to have in 2021 that you lacked in 2020? Me back.

7. What date from 2020 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? March 10 (the start of the lockdown); August 2 (my university graduation); September 15 (the breakup and Angela’s birthday); November 9 (my first day as an employee).

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Being able to be strong enough to stay.

9. What was your biggest failure? Self-harm, or blaming myself.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Yeah I got a UTI early in the year, which gave me a week-long fever. I’ve also gotten hundreds of scratches and play bite marks from Cooper since we got him in June.

11. What was the best thing you bought? My embroidery kits! I bought them on a whim and seriously doubting if I’ll ever enjoy it given my previous hatred for anything sewing/knitting; but I’ve already done two templates and I just ordered two more to do during the holiday break. I haven’t gotten much for myself yet because my first paychecks coincide with Christmas lol, but once the gift-giving is out of the way I want to get myself games on the Nintendo Switch, Airpods, and candles.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Andrew has been incredibly supportive and patient, and has stuck by me through the whole year whether I was on top of the world, stressing out over our thesis, or in my inconsolable black hole of sadness. No clue where I’d be without them.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? Gabie, at least by August. I don’t know anyone who consistently let me down in the last 12 months.

14. Where did most of your money go? Christmas gifts for others; for myself, Starbucks coffee and pastries.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Graduating college and sharing my graduation photo with everyone. I remember also having been super excited to work on my birthday gift for Gab, which was to make a short video for her using iMovie (which I had never touched before until then). I was the best fucking girlfriend. Also, getting Cooper!!

16. What song will always remind you of 2020? Not sure. Music wasn’t a big part of my life this year. Maybe Why We Ever by Hayley Williams? I put it on repeat too many times in 2020.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

i. Happier or sadder? A lot sadder.

ii. Thinner or fatter? Said sadness made me lose my appetite and a whole bunch of weight by the latter part of the year. All of my shorts and jeans have gotten loose around my waist, so I’ve definitely felt the weight loss.

iii. Richer or poorer? I’m richer now, but only because I didn’t have a job before and I do now. My family’s finances have taken a blow due to the pandemic, though. I try to help by chipping in for the electricity bill, and buying my family nice food every now and then.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of? Love myself, appreciate myself, thank myself. All the self-love crap I didn’t think I deserve.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of? Tolerating bullshit I knew I didn’t deserve but kept going with anyway.

20. How will you be spending Christmas? We’ll be with my mom’s side on the 24th; having family come over to our place on the 25th; and will be going to my dad’s side on the 26th. Gonna be the most hectic three days ever and I’m PUMPED tbh lol. It’ll be the busiest we’ve been all year.

21. What was the most embarrassing thing that happened to you in 2020? Meh, I just hated the times I made mistakes at work as I hate fucking up in general and looking bad in front of colleagues.

22. Did you fall in love in 2020? I stayed in it.

23. How many one-night stands? No thanks.

24. What was your favorite TV program? The Crown was, until it got associated with painful memories and I had to put my viewing indefinitely on hold. My favorite show this year would be either Descendants of the Sun or Start Up; both are amazingly good.

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? I don’t think so. I don’t throw that word around a lot anyway.

26. What was the best book you read? Bret Hart’s memoir was a fun read.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery? Beach House and Chase Atlantic. ALSO, Twice lolololol

28. What did you want and get? My first job.

29. What did you want and not get? Commitment from the one person I asked it from.

30. What was your favorite film of this year? I didn’t watch a lot of movies this year. I actually think I just saw one?? which is really unlike me; but it wasn’t a big year for film anyway. I have yet to see Ammonite, which I already think I’ll love.

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I turned 22 and I just stayed at home with family while my best friend and her boyfriend sent over sushi for me.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? If I got to keep my relationship, which I thought had been faring well until she abruptly pulled the plug on everything.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2020? Casual and didn’t really evolve too much considering I didn’t go out a lot.

34. What kept you sane? Good Mythical Morning. I owe my life to them. And embroidery.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? I didn’t develop a crush on him until this month lmaaaaaaao but Kim Seon Ho is so so so so so dreamy.

36. What political issue stirred you the most? The shutdown of ABS-CBN early in the year and the US elections.

37. Who did you miss? My friends in my org.

38. Who was the best new person you met? The people at my workplace that I ended up having a great rapport with.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2020: From a tweet I retweeted: “You keep bad people around you and make excuses for their behavior because if you decided to hold even one person accountable, you’d have to recognize the offenses you’ve ignored and accepted. You’ll realize how much you’ve invalidated your own pain to ensure the comfort of others.” It was a harsh slap in the face, but I needed to hear it.

#survey #surveys #yeah i'm angry in this one lol

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booyouimcrazy · 4 years

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Geez

The sad part about family is that it has borders.

Ones you can very easily overstep,

And why would I say that unless I had experience of said overstepping?

Last YEAR, I changed jobs, went from Hospitality to working with a Marketing Startup, one of my favourite jobs that I probably should've worked harder at, but didn't.

The story began before I worked in this startup though, and it has left my life in complete ruin.

When you work in Hospitality, especially in a country like India, you're never prepared for how under paid/fed/thanked you will be.

While my paycheck cut by half from the previous job I had, it most certainly cut my life into pieces, and I probably was living in depression, the kind I didn't know of, but couldn't do anything about.

As the months went by, the rent I paid for living with a family member, as a paying guest in what I would call an abomination of a house, only accrued, and buried me in a mountain that could easily compete with Mt. Everest.

Come August, one month before my 25th birthday, the Marketing Startup I worked for had a conversation with me, sweethearts that they were about how motivated I was with working.

Turns out my life revolved around making money to pay my aunt, and not around doing a job I enjoyed, and this weighed down on me like that policeman sitting on Poussey.

And this reflected, because my motivation to work was reduced to very, very little, almost none if that's even possible, to the extent that I would dread waking up in the morning because it involved me working for a paycheck and not because I enjoyed it.

Which was odd, because the work was things I would really like to learn, but ended up being done at a time that my brain refused to want to do.

Having lost my job to a conversation of "no motivation" and my aunt still firelording over my neck, nothing helped anything, and I thought I was in more of a rut than I could ever be.

At this point, I was barely even staying in this ramshackle, I was appearing for clothes and the bathroom (a close competitor to the terrace for my favourite place in the house).

Come November, and when you don't have a job, mind you time passes you by like sand through your fingers, and if you let it, it really will, and so sand has slipped through my fingers for all of 6 months, with my self-esteem dropping daily and my self-love DEFINITELY at an all time low.

Sorry I rambled there, come November was supposed to lead to, she tells me I had to move out by December AND pay her the money.

Where on earth is a girl going to get money, accruing to about half of the amount you could use to buy a cheap car, say.

In comes the dread because this is also now a reminder of the fact that I took about a year before I told my own parents that I couldn't pay rent to this aunt, in the hope that I would eventually be able to pay her with added savings from two months substantial enough for one month's rent.

As you can tell though, this didn't work, because the accrual of the unpaid rent only worsened to the point where 8 months in, she was a single lady who decided all her extra expenses/dirt/necessities were due to me.

Another blow to the self wooooo!

Tell my parents I did, but at this point, I'm still 100% lost about what job I can do motivatedly, let alone to earn money.

Come December, your girl couldn't move out on the day I was meant to, because you guessed it, I went for a gig, I gig I really refused to miss, and guess what Madame did?

She cleared out my room into like 15 plastic packets and my two suitcases half packed, and made my magic disappear, and when I showed up, she points at the 15 packets lying in the corner of her hall waiting to be picked up by me, you guessed it.

Then in came the Holiday Season, a time my father pleaded me to be home for, the same thing I knew would bring me home at least for a couple months, because I can't live in a place where I don't have a home but instead have a lot of dues, nobody can. It's frightfully hard.

And a holiday in our hometown, one of my favourite places in this country I apparently need to call my home, but shouldn't at all, because it's nothing like one.

Now it's March, and I've received another nasty blow by way of her telling me, "I shouldn't have come between you & your Mum, but have understood that I really should have".

But this has now triggered me into jotting down this casual life experience.

And now I feel the 100% necessity to get a job, get some money and this damned lady off my back, so I can restart my life in my favourite city.

#life #money #experience #debt #owes #trouble #family #relationships #rent #home #india

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teaandgames · 5 years

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The Tea Times - July 2019

I am slowly melting into a puddle as I type this. The handful of days that we in Britain call summer has started and, as usual, I hate it. That aside, the no doubt imminent water shortage has been joined by a bit of a news shortage. This is most likely due to all the good stuff coming out during E3 but there have been a few nuggets of interesting information here and there.

At A Glance:

Fire Emblem: Three Houses, The Blackout Club to be released, and Dragon Quest Builders 2, Wolfenstein: Young Blood released.

Minecraft Earth, Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town announced.

Amazon Game Studios partners with Leyou on Lord of the Rings MMO

Valve announce Steam Labs

Rumour: The Last of Us Part 2 will release in February

G2A is further called out by the Factorio Devs

Defiant Development close their doors

The Releases

Dragon Quest Builders 2 released on Switch on July 12th and I’ve heard some pretty positive chatter about it. A strange game that seems to cross its RPG roots with the whole crafting and building thing that’s taken the modern gaming world by storm. I’ve heard it compared favourably to Minecraft, with the addition that it has a lot more direction. That’s good, as a lot of Minecraft is spent wandering around aimlessly. Definitely one I plan to check out.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses will release on the Switch on July 26th, though I’ve heard a lot less chatter about this one. As the name suggests, the story surrounds three nations, currently going through a period of peace. I don’t know too much about it, but the story trailer gave a few details. I do know it’s your usual turn-based gameplay, with character classes and marriage and the like. If you’re a fan of the series, it’s worth checking out.

The Blackout Club is an odd one; one I had completely forgotten about. It’s a co-op horror game about a bunch of teenagers running around town at night, trying to find out what happened to their missing friend. By the sounds of it, you’ll have to dodge around the adults while also avoiding ‘The Shape’, a monster you can only see with your eyes closed. It’s hard to really judge the level of quality at the moment, but the premise is interesting. It’s been on Early Access for a while and the reviews seem positive. It releases properly on July 30th.

Wolfenstein: Young Blood was released today, July 25th. I won’t say too much about it here, as I said a lot about it last time, but it’s a co-op Wolfenstein and has Carpenter Brut in the trailer. Which is good. The shooting looks as great as usual, so it’s worth checking out if you fancy your carnage in stereo.

The Announcements

Minecraft Earth is a bit of an odd one. It’s an augmented reality game, akin to Pokemon Go. You wander about in real life, meeting mobs, opening chests and collecting blocks. Then you can build things in the real world, together with friends. You can even burn it all to the ground if you’re a complete sadist. While I’m sure this is going to need some heavy moderation, it’ll be interesting to those who want a bit more Minecraft. Doesn’t really float my boat, to be honest. It’s currently in closed beta.

Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town is getting a remake for the Nintendo Switch. It, and More Friends of Mineral Town, were a pair of games on the Gameboy advance. The remake will be called Story of Seasons: Reunion of Mineral Town. I never played the original, but Harvest Moon is an intriguing series. It comes out in Japan on October 17th 2019.

Lord of the Packages

Amazon Game Studios is partnering with Leyou Technologies' (a holding company that part owns Digital Extremes, the makers of Warframe) publishing label Athlon Games to produce an MMO based on The Lord of the Rings. Apparently forgetting that there already is one. To be fair, the team seems to be made up of people who’ve worked on a large range of MMOs so it has some potential there. Not too many details yet, but it seems it’ll be free to play.

Valve is cooking something up

It seems like Valve are actively trying to make Steam better, which is rather refreshing. They’re doing that by engaging in a number of small experiments. For example, ‘Micro Trailers’, which are quick six second trailers for games on the store. Or more interactive recommendations, which have sliders and everything.

It’s a fairly unique way of doing things and it remains to be seen whether these little experiments amount to anything. There is, of course, no guarantee that any of these changes will take place but it’s Valve’s way of getting a bit of feedback before implementing them. I’m sure people will still moan either way.

The Rumour Mill: Last of Us 2

There have been quite a few rumours about The Last of Us Part 2. Ashley Johnson, the voice actor for Ellie, hinted at a February release and so has an editor at Kotaku, Jason Schreider. Now another rumour has come in stating that the game will launch with four different editions: Standard, Special, Collector and Ellie. All rumours now, of course, but a February release date is getting more and more likely.

G2A Put Through The Grinder

While I don’t play Factorio, I have enormous respect for their developers, Wube Software. They are very honest with their base and have a regular blog. On that blog is an entry regarding the increasingly shady key reseller, G2A. They are the greyest of grey markets, with a lot of their keys coming from stolen cards. Straight away, they’re not someone you want to buy from. In fact, Mike Rose from No More Robots has encouraged people to pirate rather than go through G2A.

Wube Software point towards the advertisements that G2A are sticking on Google. They appear when you search for a game, above the official links, and the developers end up with nothing for it. It’s legal, technically, but a scummy move. Couple that with their awful service, towards customers and developers, and it’s worth avoiding. Wube Software tried to get some compensation for stolen keys and chargebacks, which cost them a good chunk of money, but they’ve been stonewalled by the sounds of it.

Best to double check the company you’re buying from before you click pay. Either you’ll end up with a dead key or someone will be losing a paycheck.

Cutting off the Hand of Fate

In a move that makes me a little sad, the Hand of Fate developers Defiant Development are closing their doors. They posted up an explanation on Facebook and I can’t help but feel for them. As they say, they had a goal of creating great games, with great people and done with respect for all involved. I think they managed that. Hand of Fate 2 was my game of the year without any real thought. Fantastic game.

They attribute their closure to not being able to change along with the market they’ve been a part of for nine years. That’s fair enough. The games industry has very strong winds of change. So another one bites the dust, though they’ll still have a skeleton crew on hand to support their existing games. They’ve also left us with a glimpse at what they were working on, called A World in my Attic. It looks beautiful and seems, in a way, to follow a similar thread to Hand of Fate. Either way, farewell Defiant Development and thanks for a bloody good round of cards. That’s all for July, see you in August!

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time-for-tea · 6 years

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Okay so lets make a list of all of the things in my life that are upsetting me to the point of wanting to climb into my tub and shave my head

1. I haven’t had hot water in my apartment since March and subsequently have had to shower at other people’s houses or the gym for the last 8 months (on top of not having any heat so i’ve been relying on space heaters the last few weeks to keep warm)

2. I dropped my phone at sheetz the other day bc i was dissociating and didn’t even realize my phone left my hand until it hit the floor. Consequently ruining the inside of my screen rendering it useless. so no phone. luckily a coworker gave me one of his old ones that i’ve been using but it’s slow and not very functional as a smart phone

3. I’ve been averaging 11 hours a week at work and my last paycheck was $70 so i had to call my grandmother and ask for money like the useless person i am and promised i’d pay her back with no actual way to do so bc i can’t even set any money aside bc it goes so fast

4. SCHOOL. IS. AWFUL. My attendance has been absolute shit. I haven’t done any of the work that I was supposed to have done by October 25th and can’t move on to the next phase without doing so and I can’t force myself to do it even if I really want to. The teachers pick favorites and they always ask me if I’m doing okay and I hate the look of pity they always fucking look at me with.

5. My mother quit her fucking full time job. Without a 2 week notice. Without another job lined up. Causing me to lose my health insurance for a month before I could work up the courage to ask my dad to put me on his. She is a single mom with 2 kids living in an apartment that she can’t afford bc she’s working part time at the salvation army. I’m so fucking angry with her for being so fucking irresponsible.

6. I haven’t taken my antidepressants in fucking months. I think July or August was the last time I took them and things are so fucking bad right now I don’t even think I can fix them if I start again. I want to see my therapist rachel but I don’t have her number anymore because of the phone situation and i don’t know how much my copay will be bc my insurance changed to cigna which does fucking nothing for mental health.

things aren’t good anymore. they haven’t been for a while. i don’t know what to do and i can’t bother anyone with this bc they have their own problems to work through i can’t be a burden again like i was last year i’m refuse to be.

#personal #things are so hard #so so so hard #i can't even cry anymore #i hate it #i hate myself #so much #so fucking much

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newyorktheater · 4 years

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Matthew-Lee Erlbach, in less urgent days

Matthew-Lee Erlbach first realized he would become an actor and a playwright when he saw “True West” on Broadway at age 14 – “It was like gods performing rituals to mortals,” he says. It took years before he understood “just how vulnerable those gods are.” Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, “our businesses are being eviscerated, and our friends and family are being evicted from their apartments,” Erlbach says, “but we were being left out of meaningful economic relief and even out of the political conversation.” Since June, Erlbach has been a co-organizer of a campaign to save the arts in America, Be An #ArtsHero, with Labor Day actions planned across the country tomorrow — including an 8 a.m. gathering in Times Square limited to 100 participants, including a few original cast members of “Rent,” who will sing “Will I?”

‘Will I lose my dignity? Will someone care. Will I wake tomorrow from this nightmare?”

followed by 100 seconds of silence — one second each for the 100 Senators that the group hopes to convince to pass the DAWN Act (Defend Arts Workers Now) a bill that would create a fund of $43.85 billion to give grants to individuals, cultural spaces, and related businesses. Erlbach wrote the bill.

His journey from writer, actor and filmmaker to, well, lobbyist, was “accidental,” but not a total surprise given his history: He wrote and performed a solo show in 2013 entitled “Handbook for An American Revolutionary,” based on his interviews cross-country with everyday Americans. Three years ago, he wrote an article for the Huffington Post making an economic argument for the arts, The Arts Economy Is Worth Billions. It’s an argument he refined and updated in An Open Letter to the Senators of the 116th U.S. Congress, which asked for economic relief for individual arts workers and arts organizations. The letter was published in American Theatre Magazine’s website on July 25th, and has since gained 10,000 signatures.

“The story the arts have been telling about ourselves has not been working in getting the directly proportionate economic relief that we require,” Erlbach explains his approach. “This is not about ‘the Arts.’ This is about the $877 billion in value the arts and cultural sector add to the economy annually,” according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.” It’s about the 675,000 small businesses that just happen to be arts businesses. This is about 5.1 million arts workers in your neighborhood who are struggling to survive, because they cannot go back to work because there is no work.

“If coal were an $877 billion industry in America, you bet your bottom dollar that eery senator and every Congressperson would be elbowing each other trying to help.” The request of $43.85 billion is five percent of the total annual value.

Once the letter was published, and so many signed on, the question became: What next? How could the organizers get the Senators to take action? It turns out “the legislative process isn’t as as simple as Schoolhouse Rock! Offices were saying, ‘This is all great, we’re with you, here’s the Senator’s record, you should write some bill language. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel–look for something that exists and send us something back.’ What they are basically saying is, “Make our jobs easier to help us all get the thing done.”

“Lobbyists write bills and this is their process. So, we’ve all become activist-advocate-lobbyists…and we’re doing it all through an incredible team of volunteers working 16-19 hour days.”

What Congress Has Done

Congress passed the CARES Act, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security, which was signed into law on March 27, and provided almost two trillion dollars in economic relief. The National Endowment for the Arts got $75 million to distribute to arts organizations. But arts organizations were also able to get funds through the Paycheck Protection Program, and individual artists were eligible to receive Economic Impact Payments of up to $1,200 per individual, with more for a household with children. And then the states received money to boost pandemic unemployment compensation.

(The Americans for the Arts put together a chart on Funding Opportunies for Arts Organizations and Individual Artists)

What Congress Hasn’t Done

“I don’t want to diminish the great help that CARES was able to give our institutions,” says Erlbach. But CARES wasn’t enough, and some of its provisions have already expired.

“The problem with CARES is they gave $75 million to the arts, but $50 billion (in grants and loans) to the top ten airlines,” says Erlbach. “That $75 million does not address the needs of our constituents. The other problem is that the NEA has to distribute funds evenly across 50 states, but Illinois has a $30 billion arts economy and Wyoming has a one billion dollar arts economy, so the relief needs to be proportionate.”

“Thanks to America’s unique COVID-19 crisis, our entire industry, much of which is centered in New York City, is three breaths from dead,” theater musician Matt Hinkley wrote in the Daily News “We have no curbside pickup; we cannot virtualize everything we do; and the interactive nature of our business means we will be among the very last to return to work. Millions of Americans share our pain — the loss not only of substantive livelihoods, but also our identities, our connection to a purpose and community we treasure.”

A report in August by the Brookings Institution entitled Lost art: Measuring COVID-19’s devastating impact on America’s creative economy estimated that between April 1 and July 31 half of all workers in “the fine and performing arts” lost their jobs ( full report as a PDF)

On May 15, the Democratic-led U.S. House of Representatives voted to propose $3 trillion COVID-19 relief aid package titled the HEROES Act H.R. 6800 (which the Americans for the Arts details here)

“The HEROES Act could add $10 million to the NEA and some of that money directly to state arts agencies and regional organizations.”

The RESTART Act S.3814, introduced a week later, would extend the Paycheck Protection Program, which was established to support small businesses and establish a loan program

On July 22, Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) introduced the Save Our Stages Act, S.4258, which would authorize the Small Business Administration to make grants to eligible live venue operators, producers, promoters, or talent representatives. It is a bill promoted by the National Independent Venue Association

A day later, Rep Rob Kind (D-Wisconsin) introduced The Encores Act in the House, which would give a credit to venues for 50 percent of any refund they had to make for canceled shows.

Congress is scheduled to return from its August recess this week and may take up some of these bills.

As for Erlbach’s bill, which has yet to be introduced, he says “The future of DAWN is bright. There is movement in the House nd Senate, things are happening with the bill that I cannot disclose yet. This bill is only a week old, and we have had meeting with 40 Senate offices, and we are moving very quickly.”

The organizers argument seems to gaining ground. “The arts sector includes museums, theaters, opera houses, dance companies, libraries, cultural spaces, theme parks, production sets, and the essential businesses that support them: costume shops, light and sound businesses, scenic shops, PR firms, and the list goes on.” Erlbach says. “If our institutions fail, a highly interdependent commercial ecosystem collapses — retail, hospitality, restaurants, tourism.

“We don’t have the equivalent of a Department of Transportation or a Department of Energy. We are filling a void to be a squeakier wheel and tell the economic story of the arts worker. We wish we didn’t have to do that, but we do.”

Taking Action to Save the Arts: Turning from playwriting to bill writing Matthew-Lee Erlbach first realized he would become an actor and a playwright when he saw “True West” on Broadway at age 14 – “It was like gods performing rituals to mortals,” he says.

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