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marypsue · 9 months

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hi mary! do you have any book recommendations for fans of the indian lake trilogy and/or horror books in general? i love your writing (followed way back for your gf fics lol) and would love to hear if theres anything in particular you'd recommend ^^

Oh hello hello hello! You've activated my trap card.

Honestly, I read less horror than I let on, and have started reading it more recently than not, so this may be a rather short list. But yeah I absolutely have some recommendations! If you enjoyed My Heart Is A Chainsaw (I really have to read the sequel) and you like my writing, I think our aesthetic and narrative sensibilities should be pretty similar, so hopefully these will be books you'll also enjoy.

First on the list and most obvious is of course My Best Friend's Exorcism, by Grady Hendrix. It's perfect companion reading for My Heart Is A Chainsaw, also being about two teenage girls navigating a difficult period in their friendship, complicated by the fact that something supernatural may or may not be trying to kill them and everyone around them, and may or may not, in fact, exist. Abby and Gretchen and their friendship are so wonderfully drawn, the absurd humour only underlines the helpless horror of their situation, and the climax made me bawl like a fucking infant. 11/10 no notes.

I'd also recommend We Sold Our Souls, also by Grady Hendrix, for some of the same and some slightly different reasons. If you were drawn in by Jade's girl-alone-against-the-world situation and her punky, horror-movie-obsessed alternative vibe, you'll like Kris Pulaski and her heavy metal quest to get her life and her music back. Another one that made me cry, and it's only getting more timely and relevant with every passing year.

I really liked Nick Medina's Sisters of the Lost Nation, about an older sister looking for her younger sister after the latter disappears from their reservation after a secret rendezvous at the recently-constructed casino. Anna and Jade share a certain 'nobody else is going to fix this, so it's up to me' sensibility, the way the author pulls together ancient mythology and modern horrors is well-crafted and spooky, and there's a deeply intentional queer thread running through this one from start to finish. Warning, though, this is a deeply, deeply sad book.

In terms of meta horror about horror, Riley Sager's Final Girls surprised me with how good and gripping it was. I picked it up expecting easy-reading paperback fluff, and got sucked right in. If you crossed over Halloween: H20 with Twin Peaks, you might get something like this book. I never see anybody talking about it anywhere ever and I have to strongly recommend it. (Unfortunately, it didn't focus as closely on the relationships between the 'final girls' as I wanted it to, but I still wasn't disappointed.)

Joe Hill's N0S48U kicked my ass and made me say 'thank you'. This one's pretty tragic, so maybe give it a miss if you don't want to read about bad things happening to characters you like, but, well, this is horror. Notable because the antagonist is Christmas-themed, and honestly, I've never seen anyone else so effectively harness the crawling feeling of Wrongness that seeing Christmas shit in July gives me.

And, going wayyyy back, one of the first horror novels I actually read all the way through (on the advice of a friend), Stephen King's The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. If you were a My Side Of The Mountain / Hatchet kind of kid, this is the book for you. And if for some obscure reason you haven't read Carrie yet, what are you waiting for.

I also read Paul Tremblay's The Pallbearers' Club, which somehow didn't quite manage to deliver on what I was hoping for, but which you might enjoy if you liked some of the other books on this list. If you like punk music and/or characters who like punk music, meta conceits, and New England folklore, give it a shot. (I think I knew a little too much about the subject matter going in for some of the big ~surprises~ to actually surprise me.)

I've also got on my TBR list Edgar Cantero's Meddling Kids, Stephen Graham Jones' The Only Good Indians, Jessica Johns' Bad Cree, and Riley Sager's The House Across The Lake and Survive the Night. I can't speak for any of them yet, though.

(And tossing a movie onto this list, you might really enjoy Netflix's The Final Girls. It's a lot fluffier than My Heart Is A Chainsaw, but for a fun meta slasher horror-mostly-comedy, it was a solid good time. With an ambush sequence that was pretty clearly inspired by Joel Schumacher's The Lost Boys!)

#to read #chatter #grady hendrix is the terry pratchett of horror. to me.#also did I say thank you for the compliment to my writing? because I don't think I said thank you for the compliment to my writing #thank you!!!

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gamecrag · 3 months

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Growing up as a gamer and a bit of a tech wiz, you'd expect me to have loved anime for a long time. However, only in recent years have I started indulging in these animated stories, and it is quite tough for me to become a fan of a new anime show. You'll likely be able to tell what kind of anime fan I am by simply going through this list. I prefer the fantasy styles, in worlds full of creatures or magic. This list will detail my 10 favourite anime shows so far but note; that I don't read manga so please don't judge me. :D As a side note, can someone tell me why 1 or 2 series of certain animes are produced and then no more? Some of these entries could use an extra season, but they don't seem to get one! 10) Vox Machina Favourite character: Grog Loosely based on Dungeons & Dragons (which I've never played), I went into Vox Machina with an open mind. It follows a group of dysfunctional members of different races and classes, as they simply try to put food on their tables. Over time, their exploits become greater, and they end up making a name for themselves. But this doesn't come with too much financial reward, so they must keep going. We're currently waiting on a new season as the previous one ended with a bit of a cliffhangar. There's lots of charm and wit, it's certainly enjoyable and worth watching! 9) Grimgar Fantasy of Ash Favourite character: Ranta Many individuals are transported to a fantasy realm and given the task of defeating creatures or completing quests to earn a living. The art style is quite unique and different to what you usually see. The action is fun but very grounded, and there is little humor. Despite the lack of fun, Grimgar Fantasy of Ash has plenty of heart and is a great series to watch if you enjoy the "hero's journey". Watching these young souls go from struggling against a goblin to battling huge bosses is something you don't get with a lot of fantasy series. 8) Sword Art Online Favourite character: Kirito SAO was the first anime I watched, and it got me hooked. I thought anime was just a different style of children's cartoons but this all changed when the plot of Sword Art Online was revealed. Hundreds of players using headsets get stuck in their virtual world. If they die in the game, the headset kills them in real life. The main character (Kirito) is a bit of a loner, and that resonated with me a lot. I much prefer to play games solo, rarely playing with friends. While other players are looking out for each other, Kirito trains by himself and makes considerable gains throughout the series. I can imagine you're already fully aware of Sword Art Online if you're reading this article with genuine intent. Although a lot of anime fans stick their noses up at this anime, I think it was the perfect introduction for me, and it holds a spot in my heart as a result. 7) Demon Slayer Favourite character: Inosuke My most recently finished anime, and I'm looking forward to the upcoming Demon Slayer movie. Quite a serious anime with a powerful storyline and strong plot points, the characters are incredibly unique (especially Inosuke). While Demon Slayer provides a gripping storyline with heartbreak and action, it also gleefully provides a perfect balance of humour and optimism. The only reason it ranks so low is due to a fairly picky reason. Sometimes during fight scenes, it will cut out to some emotional backstory of one of the characters, and it throws off the pacing for me. This is not a common complaint from Demon Slayer fans, and is purely my own opinion, so you might be OK with it! 6) How Not to Summon a Demon Lord Favourite character: Diablo It took a while, and there are a fair few questionable scenes, but How Not to Summon a Demon Lord is a fun anime that doesn't take itself too seriously. The main character (Diablo) is a super powerful Demon Lord who is teleported into the world of the video game he has been playing.

Inside this fantasy world, he is a tough, super-powerful being. However, on the inside, Diablo is an introverted mess who has no idea how to socialise. This all adds up to a comedic storyline with some very awesome action scenes. 5) Darwin's Game Favourite character: Shuka A short but sweet anime, 4) GATE Favourite character: Rory GATE has one of the most epic scenes in anime history, when the modern military enters the Gate into the fantasy world. Just imagine you're a simple peasant, watching warriors and wizards walk by. Then suddenly a group of Apache helicopters fly overhead. It's a fun combination for sure, and goes about as well for the fantasy world's citizens as you can imagine. What you get is a mixture of modern human technology and fantasy magic. There isn't much heart but there's plenty of fun. 3) Seraph of the End Favourite character: Guren Based during a post-apocalypse settings, Seraph of the End is an anime about Humans vs Vampires. And the humans have been losing for a while. Vampires pretty much rule Japan, and keep many children hostage to use for blood. As a result, humans are forced to make pacts with demons to power up their equipment and bodies so they can fight back. What you get is a grimdark anime with some of the best action you'll find in any anime. 2) One Punch Man Favourite character: Genos My friends were telling me about One Punch Man for some time, but I could never look past the "bald guy with cape" character. Until one day I gave it a try, and it was one of the best things I've ever done with my life. In a world full of demons of various shapes and sizes, heroes battle to protect humanity. Some of them are very funny, such as the fabled Mumen Rider. One Punch Man contains some amazing action scenes to boot, with Genos in particular boasting some scene-stealing moments! Don't take it too seriously, just enjoy the humor and you'll never regret watching this anime! 1) Re:Zero Favourite character: Rem In my humble opinion, Re:Zero is the best anime I've ever watched - by far! Subaru (the main character) is just a guy. No real special powers, no OP weapon, no huge muscly body. He's just a person trying his best to look out for others. One of the few powers he has is the ability to "Return by death". If he dies, he wakes up at the start of the day, ready to go again. Subaru faces dozens of horrific, barbaric deaths. He doesn't do this to further his own gain, instead he does it to ensure his friends stay alive. Over the episodes, the story goes even deeper. I won't spoil too much, but the lore and characters that get introduced will grip you completely. Genuinely, it gets a solid 10/10 from me, and I really hope they create the next series in my lifetime!

#Anime

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pdaliceliveblogs · 3 years

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Hey, guys!

So, I am about to start blogging s2e5, but before I do I wanted to remind y’all that there’s an Infinity Train trend event happening over on Twitter today! Using the hashtag #InfinityTrainHBOMax, we’re sharing love about this excellent show that was foolishly cut off right in the middle. If you’re a fan, check out all the awesome art and theories people are sharing over on Twitter, and add some of your own thoughts!

I’m also posting a song comic I drew for the event over on my Twitter today, at pd_alice. It’s to a Suzanne Vega song, if that’s an enticement~

If you haven’t seen the show yet, I highly, highly recommend it. It’s an anthology series, with each season consisting of ten 11-minute episodes, so it’s a comparatively quick watch, but it’s absolutely packed with fantastic and very real characters, delightful off beat humour, and wild philosophy about the morality of fantasy lands.

The first season follows Tulip, a game programming nerd, who runs away from home to go to coding camp when her recently-divorced parents realize they fumbled the scheduling and can’t take her there. Instead of freezing in the Minnesota winter, she’s picked up by a convenient train... which is immediately no longer heading through our world, has a pocket universe in each car, and won’t let her off. Tulip’s quest to figure out what the train wants of her is incredibly compelling, and the show just keeps topping itself every season.

If you have HBO Max and haven’t seen the show yet, man, do yourself a favour and watch it. It’s stunning.

(If you don’t have HBO Max, the first two books are also available for purchase over on iTunes and as DVDs)

#owl house #the owl house #owl house liveblog #owlblog #pdaliceblogs #owl 205 #off topic #infinity train

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whichpercydoyouthink · 3 years

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Definitely one of my favourites: Midnight Runners

I actually first watched this a while ago but it was so so good that I've been thinking of rewatching it recently and yeah. Here I am.

What happens in the movie basically is: we have the main two guys, Park Ki Joon (Park Seo Joon) and Kang Hee Yeol (Kang Ha Neul), training to be cops. Their beautifully funny friendship starts there when they are drawn together during the initial program. Two years into their time at Korean National Police University, they witness the kidnapping of a girl one night. Banding together, the adventure takes them from a quest to save a girl, to a mission to put a stop to something a lot bigger than they expected to stumble on when no one else will step in. Along the way, attempted heroing and general dumb-assery ensue as these two idiots learn what it is to be a cop outside of the university.

Straight up, don't hesitate to watch this. Seriously.

I think one of the reasons I found this movie so good is the underneath all the adventure and comedy, it was pretty much about two teenagers discovering what they loved and what they really wanted to do in life after basically just following the system with no clear goal. Which is pretty relatable to me right now and it was so nice to see protagnists with genuinely no clue about what they were doing and just trying their best, no matter what hitches they encountered or how many people told them to stop. The character growth was *chef's kiss*.

The plot was straightforward and interesting but what stood out the most for me was, of course, the characters and I seriously loved their dynamics so much, and that's not even taking into account the hella good acting. From the moment the main two were silently insulting each other on sight you could tell their friendship was going to be chaotically hilarious and I loved it. One is the typical 'brawns' of the duo, while the other fills in as the 'brains' and while this works well for them, they're never limited to these labels and both manage to hold their own in fights and trade ideas. Their years of friendship comes through in their ease with each other and their chemistry as friends translates into their ability to work together under pressure towards a common goal. And the two just get along really well. It feels like a real friendship, with the way they trade insults, share a sense of humour and dork moments, sticking together the entire time. They are also both socially awkward which makes it both painfully relatable and hilarious as they explore the world outside of the university.

The two actors behind the characters were of course brilliant and it was kind of hilarious to see the two handsome actors become these two lovable dorks and act so ackwardly. They killed it though and I'd love to see them act together again in something else.

The conflict of the story itself surprised me in how intense it was but it really got me invested in the story. I found it all terrifyingly real, especially with the frustration towards the inefficiently slow police system and the kidnapping of girls who it almost seemed too late for. It was also very realistic in terms of the actions scenes and when Park Ki Joon and Kang Hi Yeol got into a fight, it was clear that despite their strengths, they were still students facing experienced adults in an adult world. It's not an easy fight for them and when they win, it's just barely and something they really have to fight tooth and nail for. Of course, that makes it all the more satisfying afterwards.

In the end though, it left me smiling hard and I really loved the ending. It was a ride and I loved all of it, especially with a friendship at the forefront and the fact that it didn’t really feel the need to have romance, apart from vague implications at the end. It was just so nice, especially so because the main friendship didn’t feel lacking in any way so I didn’t need anything else, despite my weirdly romance-craving brain that usually makes me wish for stuff like that. It was also just so genuinely hilarious despite the more serious parts. So yeah. I can’t recommend this enough. I will warn that it can get a little dark at times. Especially if you’re not a fan of blood.

Except for their seemingly endless taxi funds that allowed them to travel quickly wherever they needed to go.

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zehecatl · 3 years

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rec post for @f-eef that got too long for its own good, and is now just. a general rec post i guess

(as of writing, today is the steam summer sale! writing this before that goes live, so no guarantee everything on here is on sale, but! most of these are older games, so it’s likely. keep them in mind~)

- Iconoclasts my absolute favourite game, ever (along with OFF, but shh), if you check out one game from this list, let it be this one. it’s a genuinely almost flawless package, with gorgeous pixel art, fun gameplay, a really good story, and a cast of characters i just. adore. it’s so so so good, and three years later, i’m still not over it

- The Binding of Isaac so there’s this genre called roguelikes, wherein the whole gimmick is that, when you die, you gotta start from the Very Beginning; and the ‘point’ is getting better and better at the game, until you win! it’s super easy to just, play a few runs (they generally don’t last that long!), and then go on with your day, so it’s a really fun game to just waste time in, if you just wanna chill with some game. and, in my personal opinion, Isaac is the best roguelike game, with so much stuff to unlock, a whole slew of items to play with, and so much content it’s kind of unreal. i definitely think the DLCs are worth picking up, but it’s mostly for more content than like. actually being necessary

- Terraria it’s minecraft, but 2D. unlike MC, it’s got a bit of guidance, which i personally prefer, with bosses to fight and such. an absolutely BLAST with other people too

- A Hat in Time a 3D platformer, ala Mario, that’s just. super charming. it’s also really fun to play. i haven’t actually played the DLC’s, since i played it way back, but i’ve heard good things about Nyakuza Metro, which does look super slick, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

- Slime Rancher you are a slime rancher. you ranch slimes. it’s honestly just wholesome as hell, and just exudes happy vibes. mostly for running around and collecting slimes, ngl

- The Messenger really funky retro game, wherein you play a ninja on a mission. it’s primary draw is definitely in its gameplay, but there’s a surprising amount of story for this kind of genre? i honestly really just like this one. it’s neat

- Underhero you play as a cute minion, who kind of like. managed to kill the hero. and whoops, guess you’re doing his job now? it’s got that undertale vibe, though i’d say it’s less polished than it. HOWEVER, it’s absolutely lovely and it’s climax is REALLY good

- Hatoful Boyfriend bird dating sim. trust me. the ‘secret’ finale route is just. *chef’s kiss* fantastic

- Night in the Woods if you don’t mind having a very poignant sad time, oh my god, i could not recommend NITW more. it perfectly captures that period when you’re done with school, and suddenly your whole life is stretching before you, and you feel so so fucking lost, and overwhelmed and pained with it. it’s just. so good. a sadness worth experiencing

- Shovel Knight another retro game! this one is, pretty much, the king of the genre, and for very good reasons. the first one (shovel of hope) doesn’t have much story, but the latter ones really add on it. they’re honestly just, really solid games! with funky knight characters!!!

- Hyper Light Drifter man, it’s just a masterpiece. everything about it is perfect. it’s been like, five years, and it’s still one of the very best indie games

- Tell Me Why it’s currently free for june! and it’s a story game! plus, if you like the genre, the devs got the ‘Life Is Strange’ serie(s) to delve into!

- Cat Quest honestly, i just really like this little game. the gameplay is SO much fun, and everything else is just. really charming :’)

- Yoku’s Island Express metroidvania, where you play as a dung-beetle post officer, and the gimmick is that it’s pinball-y! it’s really fun, and very cute and just an all around good time :)

- Owlboy you play as an owl boy! named Otus! and you can fly around, and there’s GORGEOUS pixel graphics, and a neat story, and just. the BEST cast of characters. it’s delightful

- Yuppie Psycho + Count Lucanor just gonna bundle these two together, because they’re both REALLY GOOD. YP is the newer one, and is therefore probably ‘the better one’, but i like them both a ton! they’re 2D horror, but i wouldn’t say they’re that spooky? though that might just be because they’re pixel games! you explore spooky place, and weird stuff happens around you. just a really fun time :)

- Angels of Death my FAVOURITE rpgmaker game, it’s main draw is, a 100%, the main characters and the relationship that develops between them. i just love it a whole lot, and it’s got that lil’ tinge of horror that i, personally, fucking adore. there’s actually an anime based on this, but i haven’t seen it myself!

- Celeste curve ball! it’s a 2D platformer! it’s really good, got a ton of accessibility features, and has like. the tightest gameplay- and, on top of that, surprisingly emotional story!

- Bastion putting Bastion here, because it’s actually the only one i’ve properly played, but you could probably buy any of the Supergiant Games, and come out satisfied. Bastion is the oldest of the bunch, and is definitely a bit less polished for it, but i personally adore it; the gameplay probably hasn’t aged that well, but i think the story and presentation more than makes up for it

- The Darkside Detective funny point and click adventure, with great wit, and a pair of characters i kind of simply adore. it’s main draw is definitely its humour

- Littlewood very wholesome and chill farming game, that feels more like an RPG than something like stardew valley- i’d not recommend it over SV, but if you want more of SV, Littlewood might scratch that itch!

- Pony Island + The Hex absolutely adore both of these, though if i had to rec only one, it’d probably be Pony Island? they’ve both got that undertale-off vibe, though Pony Island definitely leans harder into it. very interesting plays, both of them

- Oxenfree another horror-ish game! primarily story-focused, but oh boy, what a story! i’m a BIG fan of this game, and the sequel was recently announced too! definitely worth a look if you like ghost shenanigans

- Creature in the Well wasn’t a 100% sure if i should rec this, but beside the finale boss, i really enjoyed my time with this! it’s this weird pinball inspired hack and slash, with some amazing vibes

- Kindergarten 1 + 2 they’re just fun little games okay. the 2nd is much more fleshed out, but the 1st one is really fun too

- the Henry Stickmin collection I JUST... LIKE THESE GAMES A LOT... i think you can find the old versions somewhere on the internet, if you wanna check them out first? idk, they’re fun!

- LIMBO + INSIDE personally, i like INSIDE more, but both of these are classics, and also they’re made by a danish team, and i like them a WHOLE LOT

- The Final Station i could not tell you why i like this game as much as i do, but oh my god. i love this game? it’s got a dying world, neat pixel graphics, big zombie apocalypse vibes, and a weird little story

- Year Walk i love Year Walk :)

- Smile For Me if you liked undertale’s lovely cast of characters, oh boy, you’d likely LOVE this game! it’s really, really, fantastic, and the epilogue (not in the actual game lol) hit me right in the feels

- Pikuniku just a fun little game! there’s not really much there, in the grand scheme of things, but it’s a wonderful little play, one of those games that just sets out to give you a good time, and absolutely success. i like it a lot :’)

- A Short Hike wonderful game, where it’s more about exploring the island than actively finishing the game. it’s real wonderful

- ULTRAKILL ANOTHER CURVEBALL! no idea if you like FPS, but oh my god. ULTRAKILL is so fucking good. just an absolute blast to play. there’s a demo to check out, and i’d definitely recommend it, because if it’s a genre you might like, you’ll love this one (OH also it’s in early access, which means it’s not finished yet! personally, i don’t mind that, especially considering this is more gameplay focused, but ya’ know!)

- My Friend Pedro it’s honestly just really fun to play, and sometimes i still think about the implied lore, and go all !!!!

- Little Misfortune another point and click! this one is pretty short, and is set within the same universe as their other game, Fran Bow, which is much bigger, but idk. i like this one. it’s dark cute

- This Strange Realm of Mine i honestly dunno how to explain this one, because it’s kind of weird and a bit odd, but i really like it, in all its weird poetic glory. it’s neat!

- Donut County you’re a terrible racoon who’s ruined the whole city with holes. it’s great and i love it

- OneShot another ‘gives me undertale vibes’, though this one was in development before UT, if i recall correctly! it’s so good, and it’s got some fantastic meta bits, and i love Niko. i love Niko so much

- Inmost gorgeous vaguely spooky game with a neat story... my favourite genre

- Sayonara Wild Hearts i’d call this more of a spectacle than anything else, but oh my god. what a spectacle it is! the OST is amazing, everything about it just hits right, and even if you suck at the gameplay (which i did), it really doesn’t matter, in my opinion? it’s just great all around!

#ze.txt #the sale likely just went live so #steam sale #hope there's something here to your taste feef!#i honestly haven't been playing any 'real' games in. A WHILE? so all of these are older-ish #and there's a bunch of good new games out there!#but here's my little rec post of older games :')#that i have. actually played #i think inmost is the only one i never finished? plus TECHNICALLY oneshot since it got a BIG update after i played it but shhhh #also TECHNICALLY also ultrakill but that's in ea so it doesn't count okay #i just love ultrakill so much. i had to rec it. I HAD TO #also keep in mind some of these probably require a mouse!! i know ultrakill DEF does #but you might have one?? i usually play on my big pc so i. would not know #oh also DST does have a single player version which is very good also

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annarellix · 2 years

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Crazy in Poughkeepsie by Daniel Pinkwater, Aaron Renier (Illustrations) (Neddie & Friends, #6)

Mick is a good kid, but maybe he can use just a little guidance. But it’s unclear who will be guiding whom, because Mick’s brother came home from Tibet with the self-proclaimed Guru Lumpo Smythe-Finkel and his dog Lhasa―and then promptly settled both of them in Mick’s bedroom. (The thing about this kind of guru is that he doesn’t seem to know exactly what he’s trying to do. He sure does seem to be hungry, though.) Anyway, Mick agrees to something like a quest, roaming the suburbs with the oddest group of misfits: Lumpo and Lhasa; graffiti-fanatic Verne; and Verne’s unusual friend Molly. Molly is a Dwergish girl―don’t worry if you don’t know what that is yet―and she seems to be going off the rails a bit. Along the way, the gang will get invited to a rollicking ghost party, consult a very strange little king, and actually discover the truth about Heaven. Or a version of the truth anyway, because in a Daniel Pinkwater tale, the truth is never the slightest bit like what you’re expecting.

Book page: https://tachyonpublications.com/product/crazy-in-poughkeepsie/

My Review (5*) This book is brilliant, delightful, funny, and a bit weird. It's a short novel featuring a boy called Maurice, his bizarre family, a guru from Himalaya who was born in New Jersey, a couple of friends of Maurice. They are all in a small town called Poughkeepsie and I loved them all. There's plenty of humour, a fascinating world building, and a great cast of characters. I loved them all even if the Guru was a favorite. The author is an excellent storyteller and kept me turning pages and entertained. I laughed a lot and I was happy this is part of a series because there's a lot of other book I will read. Highly recommended. Many thanks to Tachyon Publications for this ARC, all opinions are mine

The Authors: Daniel Manus Pinkwater is an author of mostly children's books and is an occasional commentator on National Public Radio. He attended Bard College. Well-known books include Lizard Music, The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death, Fat Men from Space, Borgel, and the picture book The Big Orange Splot. Pinkwater has also illustrated many of his books in the past, although for more recent works that task has passed to his wife Jill Pinkwater. Website: https://www.pinkwater.com/

AARON RENIER is the author of three graphic novels for younger readers; Spiral-Bound, Walker Bean, and Walker Bean and the Knights of the Waxing Moon. He is the recipient of the Eisner award in 2006 for talent deserving of wider recognition, and was an inaugural resident for the Sendak Fellowship in 2010. He teaches drawing and comics when he is not working on his own comics and illustration projects. Website: http://www.aaronrenier.com/

Illustration and cover via Edelweiss

#middle grade #humorous fiction #fantasy #tachyon publications #review

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sunshine304 · 2 years

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Movies watched in 2022: Raya and the Last Dragon

So yeah, I finally watched this movie. When it was released on Disney+ last year, I just wasn’t very interested. There hadn’t been a lot of marketing for it and so I didn’t get into that kind of hyped up state I usually have for a new Disney/Pixar movie. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

We follow protagonist Raya on her quest in a post-apocalyptic world to find the last dragon Sisu. Five hundred years ago, the world was overrun by the evil Druun, magical creatures that feed on the life energy of any living being and turn them into stone in the process. The dragons created a magical gem under huge personal sacrifice and the last dragon Sisu used this gem to defeat the Druun, but she vanished afterwards.

The gem was kept in the nation of Heart, with Raya’s father the leader, but after a betrayal by the other nations, the gem shatters into 5 pieces and the Druun return, throwing the world into chaos once again. Raya hopes that Sisu could put the gem together again and defeat the Druun as she once did before. But for this, Raya first has to find Sisu and also collect the missing gem pieces, while being chased by her arch enemy, princess Namari of the Fang nation.

The longer I think about this movie, the more “meh” I feel about it. It dazzles you with its gorgeous visuals, but the moral of the story is questionable at best. The viewer is told again and again that Raya needs to learn to trust again, when she has actually a very valid reason to be as untrusting as she is. I could have hand-waved this if it hadn’t been for something that happens during the climax of the movie and that really left a sour taste.

It still got to me emotionally, but I think this has more to do with me being rather thin-skinned at the moment because of the growing tension in Ukraine and a looming war in Europe, which fit the war theme of the movie in a way, than it is really down to the movie itself.

Generally, the pacing is at times too fast - I would have loved to see more of the different nations. Like this, they are only basic caricatures and the beautiful design seems wasted on a five minute stints. It’s quite obvious that they want to tell an ambitious story that should have spread over a tv series instead of being crammed into a 100+ min movie. I never got a real sense of the characters besides their very basic traits, and that’s a shame.

The very modern language and some of the humour didn’t always work for me, especially in the setting of this rathe rustic fantasy world. Disney has always done this, but for soem reason it feels far more intrusive in recent movies than it did in something “Aladdin” or “The Little Mermaid”. But I guess children won’t mind.

The movie looks gorgeous, no question. The lighting, the animation, it’s all fantastic, there’s nothing to criticise. There have been many opinions on the design being influenced by South East Asian cultures, and it seems to be a mixture of many different SEA nations. Please check the notes for video links to actual SEA people reacting to this movie. Xiran Jay Zhao, for one, has put together two extremely thorough videos on this topic.

I loved the score by James Newton Howard, it was very engaging. I wasn’t particularly missing songs in this, but perhaps they could’ve helped with the pacing or the exposition.

In conclusion, “Raya and the Last Dragon” is… fine. It’s got rather dark and heavy themes, but the script needed more work. It’s trying to cram too much into its runtime and doesn’t flesh out the characters all that much. Weirdly enough, Disney managed to juggle a much bigger cast in „Encanto“ so much better and also nailed the message there. On the technical side, the movie is pretty much flawless, but it could have been so much more if the character and plot work had been up to par.

#raya and the last dragon #disney movies #disney #animated movies #movie reviews #my posts #my reviews #gifs

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alexsfictionaddiction · 2 years

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Alex Recommends: November Books

I’m delighted to report that November has been a quiet, chilled month. That’s exactly what I’ve needed before the hecticness that will be December. I’ve had plenty of work to do recently but in terms of travel and social occasions, it has been thin on the ground and I’ve fully embraced that!

The cold is setting in here and I’ve been cosying up with Christmas films and TV shows. This is my favourite time of year and I’m determined to make the most of it by indulging in all my favourite things. I’m very happy to have got most of my Christmas shopping done already, so I do feel that I can fully relax properly and enjoy the season now.

November was the month that I somehow managed to reach the 200 books read mark for 2021. I’ve never read that much in a single year (and there’s still a month to go!) but I am really proud of myself. I’ve read an amazing variety of genres and cultures too, so I’m hoping this is something I’ll be able to continue into 2022. I’ve been approved for many 2022 releases that sound amazing, so I can’t wait to start reviewing them for you!

Here are five books that I’ve enjoyed this month that I think you will too. Stock up on these fantastic stories and give your loved ones the best gifts you possibly can this Christmas -books!

-Love, Alex x

FICTION: We Are Not Like Them by Christine Pride and Jo Piazza.

Riley and Jen have been best friends since they were children. Now as adults, Riley is a single Black woman and successful broadcaster on a national TV network while Jen is finally pregnant after years of trying. When Jen’s husband Kevin, a white police officer, is involved in the shooting of an unarmed Black boy, their friendship is thrown into turmoil. This immersive novel about race and how it affects everyone completely gripped me in its clutches and refused to let go. With themes of systemic racism, white privilege and motherhood, it’s a story of a very strong and loving but flawed friendship. It’s both highly emotional and fantastically hopeful. A must-read for our time!

LITERARY FICTION: Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout.

The third book in the Amgash series sees Lucy Barton reunite with her ex-husband William, as he investigates the case of a half-sister that he never knew he had. Lucy Barton is a very flawed but relatable and wise character. The book oozes empathy and simplicity while celebrating the complexities and joys of human relationships. It’s a simple story with themes of mental health, motherhood and miscarriage decorated with a warm humour and a beautiful, everlasting friendship.

MIDDLE-GRADE: The Chime Seekers by Ross Montgomery.

Yanni hates his new house and his baby sister Ari but when an evil faerie replaces her with a changeling, Yanni knows that he has to get her back. With the help of his fantasy-loving cousin Amy, he must journey to the faerie realm of Hallow Fall to embark on an epic quest to save his sister and the faeries from the tyranny of a nefarious overlord. The intricate world-building in this fairytale with strong Rumplestiltskin vibes is amazing. There is a fantastic variety of mythical creatures and an adventure with genuine high stakes. I was fully absorbed in the magic of Hallow Fall and was constantly championing the lovely friendships. A gorgeous winter, middle-grade fantasy read!

YA: How We Fall Apart by Katie Zhao.

When Nancy’s best friend Jamie goes missing before being found dead, shockwaves ripple through their elite high school. Then a mystery online presence named ‘The Proctor’ begins posting secrets and inside information about the people around Jamie. Rumours start to circulate that Nancy and her friends Krystal, Alexander and Akil might have had something to do with Jamie’s death, so they have to uncover what really happened before everything comes crashing down around them. This is a really gripping YA thriller with a completely unguessable resolution because everyone seems to be a suspect. It explores issues of class amongst Asian families, which reminded me of Crazy Rich Asians, but that’s really where the similarities end. There is a student/teacher relationship which is very easy to hate and adds to the drama of what’s going on. A perfect winter read for Karen M. McManus fans.

THRILLER: The Last House On Needless Street by Catriona Ward.

A young girl went missing years ago and her sister thinks she has finally found the man responsible. She can finally get revenge. In an ordinary house on an ordinary street, this man is living an existence that very few people know anything about at all. There are things buried in the woods by Needless Street but they’re probably not what you think they are. A lot of people have talked about this book in recent months and it’s a given now that this book is very strange and unsettling. I didn’t really grasp what was really happening for the first half of the book but things gradually began to make sense. It’s a very clever novel with themes of loneliness, trauma, abuse and only realising the impact of these things in later life. I understand why some readers wouldn’t like the way that the truth of this story is used but I very much appreciated it for the excellence of the characters and overall uneasy feeling that meant I couldn’t put it down.

#november books #book recommendations #recommendations #books #bookworm

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dreamingofscully · 4 years

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6x06. “How the Ghosts Stole Christmas” - X-Files Rewatch

I wrote a lot about this episode, I hope you enjoy! Really thought this one gave us a ton of insight into M&S.

Mulder’s excuse to invite Scully out with him - a haunted house. He just wants to spend time with her. He’s feeling lonely. For some reason he’s not spending Christmas with anyone - not his mom, not the Gunmen. Even if he was, she’s the person he most wants to spend it with.

Mulder does his very best to entertain Scully with a ghost story. He’s being very seductive, but I don’t think he’s too serious about it - just wants her to spend time with him desperately.

When Mulder describes Maurice (“brooding but heroic”) and Lyda (“a sublime beauty with a light that seemed to follow her wherever she went”) - I mean, c’mon, he’s describing THEM.

“Driven by a tragic fear of separation they forged a lovers' pact so that they might spend eternity together and not spend one precious Christmas apart.”

HELLO?!

Even though Scully has somewhere to be, Mulder’s pull on her is irresistible. She has a family, a gift-opening, many traditions that she loves to take part in, SOMEWHERE ELSE TO BE, but she comes to see Mulder anyway. She protests, tries to leave, but only because she thinks Mulder also has plans, has people to spend the holidays with. Scully loves a good story, and this one hits close to home - scary, romantic and tragic.

Scully’s long monologue about why fearing ghosts is irrational, what it represents. She’s thought about it a LOT. She enjoys the thrill she gets from fear but also enjoys being able to explain it, put it in a box, conquer it.

It appears on the outside that Mulder is being selfish on inviting her here, occupying her time on a date where she has places to be, that he’s being insensitive. But the opposite is actually true. How difficult is Christmas going to be for Scully this year? To be around her family and remember her loss. To spend time with her nephew and having to hide her sorrow at the child she barely knew that was taken from her. To be expected to be full of Christmas cheer when all she wants to do is hide from the world, to yell and cry with anger and sadness. Mulder knows this, but doesn’t acknowledge it. He distracts her with ghosts, and it is the most wonderful thing he could do.

I love the contrast between Mulder and Scully meeting the ghosts, on experiencing the scary haunted house. Mulder is fascinated, while Scully is terrified. An incredible parallel to their experiences with the paranormal - Mulder just wants to know more but Scully rationalizes it to try to dispel her fears.

“Alright, I’m afraid. But it’s an irrational fear.” - Scully (Her first of three admissions this episode.)

This is a wonderful season to explore Scully’s fears. She is terrified of the unknown, of what she can’t explain rationally, which drives her stubbornness all throughout the next few seasons. It’s frustrating for Mulder, he doesn’t understand why she’s so resistant to believe even if she’s seen things she can’t deny, but it all stems from this fear. She doesn’t fully overcome it until much, much later (“all things”, I believe).

Mulder’s “I got your back” when Scully’s about to check out something strange/scary. Hilarious, and a simple attempt at humour. An attempt to show that Scully is the braver one. He might be less scared, but he pushes her, wants her to explore, and while Scully is afraid SHE is the one to open the door because HE pushes her to do so, because she needs to explain things to conquer her fear. She likes that about him, about their relationship. He gives her strength and courage to overcome her fears.

Scully gets into the next room, is comforted by evidence of the mundane. The wound clock, the fire that just went out. This place isn’t haunted, it’s just occupied.

Mulder is such a goofball. Enjoying pranking/scaring Scully, teasing her. He touches her shoulder. He calls her on her fears - that “Rationally, you've been in much more dangerous situations”. In a horror movie, Mulder would be the one doing all the things that YOU SHOULD NOT DO. Scully realizes this, haha.

Scully’s hand on his arm when they realize that the corpses are themselves. It’s meant to scare them, to make them believe something will happen to them. So the things that come later will be more believable and they’ll be more susceptible to Maurice and Lyda’s manipulations.

The psychoanalysis of Mulder and Scully.

A lot of these insights are accurate, but some of them reflect only what they FEAR is the truth.

Maurice → Mulder

I’m just going to comment here that Mulder is wearing my favourite outfit. Leather jacket, t-shirt and jeans. Hnnnnnnnnng.

“Are you overcome by the impulse to make everyone believe you?”

The one person he wants to believe him the most is extremely resistant to it. She says she believes him, but she can’t quite admit it to herself. This hurts him.

“Narcissistic, overzealous, self-righteous egomaniac.”

Overzealous, yes, and perhaps self-righteous but I don’t agree with the others. Mulder would be WORRIED about the other things though. That he is too self-centered, that his personal quest has taken so much from Scully. He views himself as selfish, and undeserving of love and companionship because of it.

“You kindly think of yourself as single-minded but you're prone to obsessive compulsiveness workaholism, antisocialism... Fertile fields for the descent into total wacko breakdown.”

Single-minded: YES

Obsessive: YES; compulsive to the extent that he is impulsive and spontaneous when it comes to his quest, but not OCD

Workaholism: YES - Mulder doesn’t ever NOT work, as long as it’s associated with his obsession. He’s always at the bureau, or working at home, or dragging Scully to investigate mysterious things on the weekend.

Antisocialism: YES - He doesn’t care what other people think, doesn’t have much of a social life outside of his carefully chosen friends

Total wacko breakdown: he jokes about his mental stability, that he belongs in a mental institution, that they’d lock him up if he went there, that Scully could see him tied down on a bed. But in reality he is very stable emotionally - with all of the trauma he encounters he is very resilient, bounces back, pursues his quest

“You probably consider yourself passionate, serious, misunderstood. Am I right?”

YES. He doesn’t mind that people don’t get him, because he knows he’s on the right path. His joking and humour only covers up his vulnerability, otherwise he is very serious about most things.

“Most people would rather stick their fingers in a wall socket than spend a minute with you.”

OOF. This hurts him, hits home, gets right down to the core of his greatest fear, of being alone.

He brings up Scully, that he’s not actually alone. He didn’t take her car keys, but the ONLY REASON SHE’S IN THE HOUSE IS BECAUSE THEY WERE TAKEN.

And where is she? “BEHIND A BRICK WALL.” One of their own construction - mainly Mulder’s.

“You know why you do it-- listen endlessly to her droning rationalizations. 'Cause you're afraid. Afraid of the loneliness. Am I right?”

This is why Mulder, after his frustration in “The Beginning”, is more accepting of her disbelief. He makes very good points about why she can’t believe in that episode, but he doesn’t really push her on it afterwards - because the alternative is loneliness. (He DOES know that the debate is necessary for their process, but also that her denials are unreasonable at this point, after what they saw.)

If he pushes her too much, will she leave?

Lyda → Scully

Her hand shaking when holding her gun is just perfection. I love how she calms, her hand steadies, but then starts trembling again when Lyda starts making strange insights, knows things she shouldn’t.

“You must have an awful small life. Spending your Christmas Eve with him... Running around chasing things you don't even believe in.”

Again, Scully wants more out of life. She wants to “get out of the car”, wants to experience family, intimacy, have a partner to share her life with. That Mulder seems incompatible with those things, that he could never settle down and stop chasing things in the dark.

“I can see it in your face... The fear... The conflicted yearnings... A subconscious desire to find fulfillment through another. Intimacy through co-dependency.”

Feeling that she can’t obtain intimacy with Mulder, she finds satisfaction just being with him, working with him, being NEEDED.

“Maybe you repress the truth about why you're really here pretending it's out of duty or loyalty-- unable to admit your dirty little secret. Your only joy in life is proving him wrong.”

This isn’t true, she loves working with Mulder, and believes her rationalizations only serve to build him up (they do). Recent tension between them would make her fear that Mulder thinks this way - that she has no purpose in their quest. Her unwillingness to believe, that it’s only about wanting to be right, will only serve to drive him away.

I love that Scully faints from fear at seeing the holes in Lyda’s stomach and Maurice’s head. When confronted with something SO UNBELIEVABLE, something that cannot be denied or rationalized or put in a box she just shuts down.

Lyda → Mulder

“I was young and beautiful once, just like your partner.” Any acknowledgement of Scully’s beauty just makes me 😍

“Maybe you two should have discussed your real feelings before you came out here.”

Heck, yeah! But Mulder can’t let himself. Even if he knew Scully felt the same about him, he doesn’t deserve to be loved by her.

Comparing Mulder’s reaction to seeing the hole in Lyda’s stomach to Scully’s. He’s disgusted because he accepts it as reality as a matter of course, while Scully is (literally) scared out of her mind.

When Lyda suggests Scully would shoot herself, Mulder’s “I wouldn’t let her”. 😍

“We're not lovers.” - Mulder, said with a sigh “And this isn't a pure science. But you're both so attractive and there'll be a lot of time to work that out.” - Lyda

Ummmmmmmmmm… can we have ghost-Mulder and Scully AU fanfic please?

Maurice → Scully

Mulder as “dark and lonely” - suggesting that he took the car keys to keep her with him. The little nuggets of truth that Maurice and Lyda offer to Mulder and Scully make it easier to accept the other things - the fears that they have about each other.

He’s got no one this Christmas, and she had no idea. 😥

Maurice and Lyda trick Mulder and Scully

When she sees “Mulder”, she’s so relieved and happy.

When “Mulder” rants about loneliness. Scully doesn’t believe in it. She thinks they can change, that they can choose to not be lonely. (This comes up again in “Milagro”. A VERY SIGNIFICANT EPISODE. Hnnng.)

“You’re scaring me.” - Scully (2)

Scully’s face when he’s about to shoot himself. 😥

Mulder finding “Scully” 😥

Crawling along the floor in their blood.

“Are you afraid, Mulder? I am.” - Scully (3)

They can’t shoot each other, even when thinking that the other did it to them.

Of course Mulder figures it out first. He’s more open to believing that this is an illusion, a trick. Something unreal and paranormal rather than the reality of them having shot each other. He reaches for her and helps her up, showing her the evidence in front of her face that this isn’t real. Touches her uninjured stomach, covered in blood.

Lily Tomlin as Lyda and Ed Asner as Maurice were amazing. I loved their playfulness. That this was a horror-comedy instead of just a tragic, scary story.

Back at Mulder’s apartment

“I don’t deserve to be so happy.” - on the television in Mulder’s apartment at the end. How sad. But it describes him so perfectly this season. He doesn’t believe he deserves happiness. That he got to spend some time with Scully was wonderful, but now he’s back in his lonely apartment wishing she was still there, but not thinking it should ever happen. He knows what makes him happy, sharing and spending time with Scully, but she has her own “normal” life that he can never be a part of, that he doesn’t DESERVE to be a part of no matter how desperately he craves it.

When she shows up, he’s delighted. That she wants to be there with him, enjoys spending time doing WHATEVER, even if she’s scared, or refuses to believe. She enjoys their connection just as much as him. She views him as an important person in her life, just as much as her family. He agrees with Scully that it didn’t happen, doesn’t push her on her stubbornness to not believe, because he’s just happy she’s here. He chooses the opposite of loneliness.

Their acknowledgement of the fears that they have. Mulder’s on being selfish, and Scully’s on her reasons for working with him. I love that they mention these things rather than the ones that are actually true.

They do some heavy gazing at each other when talking about their vulnerabilities. 😍

I love how bashful they are when giving each other presents. It’s so cute!

Scully loves presents. I just love that tidbit about her. I don’t think she’s materialistic, the present could be anything. She just loves that someone cares enough about her to get her something meaningful, she loves the anticipation of unwrapping and seeing what it is.

After they opened their gifts, I think Scully invited Mulder to her mom’s house. Knowing he has nowhere to be, no one to spend it with. I just can’t see her choosing to leave him alone, and she WANTS to be with him. WANTS to live a life where they are together for holidays and significant events, not just because of work.

#xfiles #x-files #x-files rewatch #x files rewatch #msr #msrheadcanon #mulder and scully #fox mulder #dana scully #season 6 #top 10 episodes

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carriagelamp · 3 years

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November 2020: A Months of Familiarity

This November ended up being a month of me either rereading old favourites, exploring new books by favourite authors, or a mix of both.

…Be prepared for so much Terry Prachett, I found his audiobooks on Libby last month and since that I’ve been unstoppable.

The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents

The first of my Terry Practhett books to mention! I chose to include this one on my list because it’s a beautiful stand alone novel, perfect to read if you’ve never touched on of Pratchett’s works before, and is often overlooked.

The book is about Maurice, an “amazing” cat by his own admission, who has teamed up with a stupid boy and his very own plague of rats. The moneymaking scheme is simple: set the rats loose on a town and after causing a panic let the boy stroll in and offer to play his pipe and lead them away… for a fee. This is working well, until Maurice, the boy, and the rats arrive in the town Bad Blintz. Here the rats are beginning to question the morality of their work, the boy gets entangled with a young, mischievous local girl, and they’re all shocked to find out that the town already has a real rat infestation… or so the rat catchers claim. Things quickly turn sinister and deadly as the group is forced to confront not only the cruelty of humanity, but something even more sinister living in the small, dark, hidden place of the town.

This is a YA book, unlike some of Pratchett’s other novels, so it’s a quick, fun read, while still having all of his dry wit and heavy, complicated thoughts about society, morality, belief, and what it means to be a person. It’s a genuine delight to see Maurice and the rats, recently made sentient by wizards’ rubbish, struggle to come to terms with who they were and who they are now.

Black Pearl Ponies: Red Star & Wildflower

Y’all it ain’t a secret at this point that I enjoy a stupid horse girl book, right? I picked up the first two books of the Black Pearl Ponies books from the library on a whim and they were basically what they promised. Girl lives with family on ranch, father helps train horses, girl goes on pony adventures with ponies. A particular focus is given to horse welfare and care. Very mediocre but a nice thoughtless covid read if you, like me, get a craving for animals books written for seven year olds from time to time. Plus this comes with the added humour of it being written, as far as I can tell, by a British author who thinks all Americans are stetson wearing cowboys which I find unreasonably funny.

Crenshaw

I love Katherine Applegate’s work; I read the Endling series earlier this year and they are overwhelmingly good. Crenshaw was also an enjoyable read, though not my favourite by her. It read a little bit like a book I read last fall, No Fixed Address, which was also a very good read though not my usual genre. Crenshaw is about a boy, Jackson, whose family, though close-knit and loving, is experiencing financial difficulties and struggle with food scarcity, homelessness, and all the instability and stress that results from this. During this tumultuous time, Jackson is surprised by the reappearance of a tall, bipedal, snarky cat — Crenshaw, his old imaginary friend. This is a charming book that blends genuine, real world hardships with whimsy and magical realism.

The Enemy Above: A Novel of WWII

Since it was Rememberance Day this month, I decided to pick up a holocaust novel. This book is about 12-year-old Anton, a young Jewish boy who finds himself fleeing from his Polish farm in the middle of the night with his old grandma when a German raiding party that attacks their village in an effort to make the countryside “judenfrei”. The book is, perhaps, not the most well-fleshed out, but it’s fast-paced and exciting for a child/YA audience that’s being introduced to holocaust literature, without trying to downplay the absolutely horror and brutality of the Nazis. It manages to strike a satisfying balance between fear, tragedy, and hope.

“Everything he had heard was true. He was just a twelve-year-old boy and yet they hunted him. He had broken no laws, done nothing wrong. He was simply born Jewish. How could anyone want to kill him for it?”

Gregor the Overlander

Somehow I never knew that Suzanne Collins wrote anything other than The Hunger Games? I stumbled across this series at a used bookstore and was first taken by the cover and then shocked when I realized I recognized the author’s name. Well The Hunger Games was such a good read, how could I not pick up a book with people riding on a giant fucking bat?

Such a good choice. I’m almost done book two and bought book three today after work. It is exactly the sort of low fantasy that I live for, when a fantasy world lives so close to the real world that you can practically touch it. I also love the fact that while all the wild fantastical elements are happening, you still have the main character taking care of his toddler sister the whole time. It’s at times charming, hilarious, and nerve-wracking!

It’s about Gregor, a normal kid who’s doing his best to help his mom take care of his two younger siblings ever since his father disappeared years ago. Gregor expected months of boredom when he agrees to stay home over the summer instead of going to camp like his sister in order to watch his baby sister, Boots, and their grandma while his mom is at work. He never could have expected that a simple trip to the apartment’s laundry room would lead to both him and Boots tumbling miles beneath the earth into the pitch black Underland, a place filled with giant rats and bugs and people with translucent skin who fly through the massive caverns on huge bats. He also could have never expected that he would get wrapped up in a deadly prophecy that would force him to travel into distant, dark lands into the waiting claws of an overwhelming enemy.

Kings, Queens, and In-Between

A Canadian queer novel that I’ve seen trumpeted everywhere. Libraries, classrooms, bookstore, this book got so much hype (and has such a pleasing cover) that I had to get my hands on it. Now, I’ve got to admit that it’s not really my genre; I don’t love realistic fiction. But that being said, it’s a fun, heart-warming, queer romp through that explores gender, sexuality, love, family, friendship… there’s a lot of lovable, quirky, complicated characters that get thrown together in unexpected ways at a local summer carnival. While there’s tension and misunderstandings and mistakes, this is overall a very optimistic and loving novel, and would be a great read if you want a queer novel that reads like cotton candy.

Love, The Tiger

This book is the graphic novel equivalent of a nature documentary. There’s no text, but you follow a day in the life of a tiger as it moves through the jungle on the quest for food. The art is honestly beyond outstanding, and though it’s a really quick read it is so very worth it. I’ve also read Love, The Lion in this series (also good, though a bit more confusing imho) as well as one of the books from his other series Little Tails which is still very nature and education based, though for a slightly younger audience.

Making Money

More Pratchett! Making Money was the first Discworld book I ever read, and it’s one of my most reread ones — it’s an ultimate comfort read! This is technically the sequel to Going Postal (another book I reread this month), in which conman Moist Von Lipwig is saved from a rightful death at the noose in exchange for agreeing to work for the city. Going Postal sees Moist narrowly dodging death in many varied forms as he tries to get the Anhk-Morpork postal service back on its feet and get the drifts of dead, whispering letters moving again. In Making Money things at the post office have become… too easy. Moist is bored, restless, until he finds himself thrust into a new job: head of the Royal Mint. There he has been given not only charge of the biggest bank in Anhk-Morpork, but also a dog with a price on its head, a lethal family with all the money in the world out for his blood, and the fear that his secret past life may be on the verge of being exposed to everyone, all while he’s desperately trying to make money…

The Moist series is honestly an example of Pratchett at his absolute best imo, and the amount of humour, wit, adventure, and scathing commentary he can build around a bank is outstanding. Cannot recommend enough.

The One And Only Ivan

Another book I’ve been hearing everyone talk about, as well as another Katherine Applegate book. It’s been on my radar for a while, but with the sequel and a movie coming out, it had everything at a fever pitch and I finally picked it up. Fantastic read, I definitely enjoyed it more than Crenshaw. This book was based off the true story of Ivan, a gorilla taken from his home in the jungle and sold to the owner of a mall, where he spent years of his life growing from child to adult silverback in a small, concrete enclosure. In this fictionalized version, everything changes for Ivan and his friends, when a new baby elephant is bought to help revitalize the mall attractions and Ivan makes a promise he doesn’t know how to keep: to protect this baby, and keep her from living the life Ivan and his friends were forced to. This book made me very emotional. Applegate’s picture book that goes along with it is also a great companion read.

Ranma ½

I realized that our library had the 2-in-1 editions of Ranma ½ and honestly that was it for me. This has been a favourite series of mine since I was in middle school and realized that the creator of Inuyasha had written other things. It is unapologetically ridiculous and larger-than-life and you have to love the shameless joy it has at being ludicrous. It does start to feel a little repetitive the further into the series you go, but at the moment, with covid, I find I have a huge tolerance for rereading slightly repetitive things so long as they make me happy. And boy howdy does the vaguely queer undertones, endless pining, and relentless slapstick of Ranma ½ make me happy. This is classic manga y’all and if you’ve never read it you should!

The basic premise, for anyone that doesn’t is that of an bonkers martial arts comedy. It follows Ranma and his father who, while training in China, fell into cursed springs. Each spring has the tragic legend of a person or animal who drowned in it, and if someone falls in they inevitably turn into that creature any time they’re doused in cold water. Ranma had the misfortune of falling into “The Spring of Drowned Girl” and, indeed, turns into a girl anytime he’s hit with cold water. Things continue to spiral out of control when Ranma meets his arranged fiancée, Akane, who is as exasperated by this situation as Ranma. Both would rather be fighting people than worrying about things like romance. And don’t worry, there is lots and lots and lots and lots of some of the goofiest martial arts fights that you can imagine for a bunch of high schoolers.

Through the Woods

A beautiful and creepy Canadian graphic novel. I honestly really don’t even know how to describe it in a way that does it justice. It’s a collection of short horror stories, with beautiful, flowing art style that draws you in and sends chills down your spine. I’ll let the art doing the talk, and honestly beg you to go find a way to read this graphic novel:

The Witch’s Vacuum Cleaner: And Other Stories

The last Terry Pratchett book on my list (though shout out to the others I’ve listened to this month: Wee Free Men, Hat Full of Sky, Men At Arms, and Snuff) and one that I actually physically, rather than listening to the audiobook. I included this one because unlike the others, this was a Pratchett book I had never read before. It collects a number of Pratchett’s short stories that had been written for children over a number of years. These weren’t necessarily my favourite examples of Pratchett’s writing (I prefer his longer work that can really dive into social issues) but it was such a quick, easy, fun read that you can’t really help but be charmed by it. I liked the stories that took place in “the wild wild west (of Wales)” in particular.

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agentnico · 4 years

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Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet - Season 1 (2020) Review

I don’t really play video games, I don’t get how people get addicted to them. *Ghost of Tsushima is released.* I AM A SAMURAI AND THAT IS THAT!!!

Plot: The team behind the biggest multiplayer video game of all-time is tasked with building worlds, moulding heroes and creating legends, but the most hard-fought battles don't occur in the game -- they happen in the office.

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia is a very Marmite show. You either like it or you don’t. There are numerous folks who would hate the offensive no-filter humour of it, I have many friends you love it and quote it endlessly, in turn also trying to compare themselves to the characters in the show, which is tad worrying and concerning, since the personalities of the show are, to put it simply, bad people who lack the sense of a moral compass. However the creative team behind It’s Always Sunny’s long lasting TV run (14 seasons and counting) have teamed up yet again to bring us Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet, a comedic series more appropriate for a wider audience. It’s the typical office based sitcom, only with the added flavour of the video game background, meaning game players can enjoy a show featuring a ridiculous yet somewhat realistic behind-the-scenes look at how video games are made as well as a focus on the world of streaming, with how gamers provide game-plays and walkthroughs of game hits and how this impacts the market.

The show’s creators as such have partnered up with popular game developer Ubisoft to provide authenticity to this world. Game footage is a big part of Mythic Quest, not only as the central theme of the show's overall plot, but also as interstitial segues between scenes and stages for some of the series' most dramatic moments. To pull it off believably, Ubisoft actually created original game assets and actual working gameplay sandboxes that were shot practically as the actors played on set. So basically, Ubisoft went out of their way to make a fake game for the show that no one will ever get the chance to play in real life. Then again, the game within the show borrows a lot in it’s look from games such as For Honour and World of Warcraft, so I guess go and play those if you’d like. Or don’t, I’m not your mother, I can’t tell you what to do. Unless you are lacking a parental figure, but even then, I don’t think this is going to work out.

In any case, is Mythic Quest a good show? Generally speaking, yes. It’s enjoyable, offering enough laughs and providing us with a likeable central cast (Rob McElhenney on top form playing once again a self-absorbed diva), but I’d say the show plays it a bit too safe. Not many risks are taken, and as such, there’s a lack of surprise to the procedures. That being said, it’s never boring and also the production design is top notch. I mean, the latter makes sense since its one of the very first shows from the new streaming service AppleTV+ (which I got for free for one year due to getting a new iPhone 11 for my birthday so take that suckaz!!), so Apple, with its billions of safes that hold billions of dollars from selling billions of phones and tablets to billions and billions of people, has had no problem in shoving a lot of money into this thing. Hence, the lush look of the series and that nifty little deal with Ubisoft.

Where the series does shine is in it’s special episodes, most significantly two of them. Firstly I’d like to mention it’s most recent episode, a one-off special that was released during quarantine this year, and it’s quite impressive as the whole thing was written, filmed and edited in-quarantine all from the respectable homes of the show’s cast and crew, and the result is truly incredible. Yes, during lockdown a few shows did little specials like Parks & Recreation having their little adorable nostalgic reunion (“bye-bye Lil’ Sebastian, you’re 5000 candles in the winds....” *sob sob*) or Saturday Night Live not being live and being performed on webcam without a laughing audience and then late-night hosts did their shtick from the comfort of their households on YouTube, but with Mythic Quest, there was definitely a step-up in quality. The final result is, dare I say, a mythical effort. The show doesn’t treat its video-chat setup like a one-off gag but rather uses it to establish running concepts like Poppy’s stubborn refusal to shower, while also perfectly reacquainting the audiences with the show’s main trio and their quirks. And if that weren’t enough, it also marks the debut of McElhenney’s pale bare ass on the show. The result is one of the show’s most effective and funniest episodes. Then the other stand-out episode is episode 5 that comes bang in the middle of the first season. It’s an episode that takes a break from the main story-line of the series and instead features an entirely different cast led by Jake Johnson and Cristin Milioti and tells a tonally different, unrelated story that spans across 20 years and that episode alone was a solid 9/10! Simply put, it is a masterclass in storytelling. Over half an hour, the episode details the birth and death of a dream. It’s about a couple that come together to develop their video game, and then they find success in both their game and relationship until it all comes crashing down. It’s the idea of how one pours all their passion and heart into something, be it a video game or a relationship, the output can be truly incredible. But also what it does to you as a person is very remarkable, for better or for worse. This was a truly enthralling watch, with some strong Black Mirror vibes, and as such even if you don’t watch the entire series, I implore you to check out episode 5 of season 1 of Mythic Quest.

Overall score: 7/10

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tinygamertris · 3 years

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Cat’s Top and Bottom 5 Video Games of 2020

As with last year, I count only games that I played for the first time this year, regardless of the year they were released. All opinions are personal and all flames will be met with a hearty ‘fuck you’ and used to roast marshmallows.

5th Best: Outer Worlds

Goddamn this was a beautiful game. Bright and colourful, filled with character, dripping with sarcasm and incredibly insightful satire, Parvarti... There was almost nothing about this game that I didn’t love. It’s what Fallout could be again if only Bethesda had the balls, pretty much the diametric opposite of the bland yearly release FPSes like CoD, and every inch of it screams of a dev team filled with passion and creativity. The only reason it’s not higher on the list is because it was locked to first person when I played it and first person inevitably makes me sick sooner or later.

5th Worst: Seer’s Isle

This game isn’t bad as such. It’s very pretty and intensely mystical, with a plot that could have been remarkable. It’s what it promises but doesn’t deliver that killed it for me. I was promised a game with interactivity, where every choice I made impacted the ending, where my actions would determine who lives or dies. NOPE. What I got was a game that only holds up for one playthrough, because the moment you try to make good on the supposed varying plot you discover that it’s going to be the same thing over and over again with only two endings. At least it’s short.

4th Best: Ghost of Tsushima

Another ridiculously pretty game! It’s typical that in a year when the new consoles were released (oh what a clusterfuck that was) that the most graphically impressive game was on the PS4. The gameplay loop is a delight, allowing you to customise your approach to many situations, and the ability to challenge enemies to a duel to start a fight is buttery smooth and viscerally enjoyable. It’s only let down by the predictability of the main plot, to the point where I only did story quests when I ran out of other things to do and wanted to open a new area. Absolutely worth your time and money regardless, it’s a game that will make you feel like a badass samurai from the comfort of your own room.

4th Worst: South Park - The Fractured But Whole

This is a game where its strength is also its weakness: It’s like playing an episode of South Park. Much like the show, when it’s good it’s absolutely on FIRE, and when it’s bad it’s the most profoundly uncomfortable cringe I’ve ever experienced. In the end, all this game did was remind me why I stopped watching the series years ago.

3rd Best: Monster Keeper

A very recent Switch release, Monster Keeper earned it’s place with its simple but lovely graphics, its delightful Metroidvania gameplay, and the almost Pokemon-like pleasure of fielding a team of badass monsters to kick the asses of other badass monsters. When I’m not playing 1 or 2 on this list, I’m playing this game.

3rd Worst: The Last of Us 2

In almost any other year this would absolutely top my worst of list. This game takes everything that I thought was worthwhile about the first game (Joel and Ellie’s relationship, complicated morality, and fuck all else) and shoves it down the toilet and takes a great steaming dump on it. The fact that this game swept the game awards in a year with Ghost of Tsushima, Hades and the Final Fantasy VII Remake is disgusting and final proof that the awards are as corrupt as the industry they celebrate.

2nd Best: Elder Scrolls Online

I’ve never been much of an MMO player. I find the presence of other humans in my games to normally be a nightmare. But this long drawn out dumpster fire of a year got me watching a LOT of videos on YouTube, and when my favourite channels did a few challenges in the new Greymoor chapter, I decided to give it a go as a birthday present to myself. And good lord did it pay off! Elder Scrolls Online is bloody huge, bloody beautiful, allows you to choose the level of interaction you have with other people, and has some of the best NPCs I’ve ever met in any video game. Not to mention the wonderful friends I’ve made both inside and outside the game, who have made this year of lockdowns and crises worth living through. Love you guys.

2nd Worst: Deadly Premonition 2 - A Blessing In Disguise

Holy transphobia, Batman! Swery really made an idiot of himself with this game and his reaction to the backlash, and yet again in any other year it would absolutely top the list. Sadly, it’s 2020, and it gets worse.

Honorable Mentions: Best

Dragon Quest Builders 2 (For having the wonderful combination of Dragon Quest’s ridiculous sense of humour and Minecraft’s dedication to building cool shit), Animal Crossing: New Horizons (for being the pure and gentle escape that I needed during the first few weeks of total isolation), Portal Knights (Another game with Minecraft’s addictive building mechanics and delightfully ridiculous characters), Final Fantasy VII Remake (honestly it earns this through the Honeybee Inn scene alone).

Honorable Mentions: Worst

Astral Chain (apparently it gets good a couple of hours in but I can’t fucking get that far so screw it), Death Stranding (what did I even?), Sin Eaters (utterly incomprehensible to the point I couldn’t figure out how to get out of the first room).

Best Game of 2020: Hades

How could any other game top this list? Hades is truly the best game Supergiant has created yet, and considering how incredibly good their games are as a rule, that’s saying a LOT. The art is just *chef’s kiss* perfect, the characters are all filled with personality and voice acted with incredible talent and dedication, the gameplay is a delightfully chaotic rampage through the various levels of the Greek Underworld, Zagreus is possibly my favourite protagonist of all time, and every single aspect of this game is sheer delighful perfection. Thank you, Supergiant Games, for a truly transcendent gaming experience that will stay with me for years to come.

Worst Game of 2020: Cyberpunk 2077

This game should have had it all. It was made by darling publisher CD Projekt Red, it starred Keanu ‘Most Perfect Human Being’ Reeves, it had years and years of hard work behind it... And it somehow managed to be an absolute shit-show the likes of which I’ve never seen before in a lifetime of gaming. From the lighting that gave people migranes and actual seizures (thanks a lot you assholes it took me three days to recover from that migrane), to the disgusting crunch forced upon the dev team by shitty management, to the plague of bugs, to the returns controversy, to the patches not arriving until some time in January... Not even Fallout 76 failed this hard. This proves once and for all that when Jim Sterling speaks, the industry needs to FUCKING LISTEN.

#Cat Meows #Top 5 games #Bottom 5 games #Top 5 #Bottom 5 #2020 #What a dumpster fire of a year

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marceltorak · 4 years

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Simmer, Get to know

Tagged by the lovely @katsimsdreamer and @whyhellosims ♥

Under the cut, these are so long ☻♥

Your name: Patricia is my Real Life name but on the internet, I go by MarcelTorak for account names and Sinostra (usually) for my avatar in games.

Languages you speak: English, a tiny smattering of Spanish and French because you know school and education. French is required in elementary school in Canada and Spanish, German or French are usually options for you in Highschool. I studied Spanish for 4 years but that was 20 years ago so... I retained NOTHING!

Are you a mermaid: I am a Life Bouy I float... literally FLOAT like I can dive into the water and just keep my arms and legs straight at my sides and I will end up on my back floating perfectly.

Your playstyle: Mostly just Gameplay but I have been trying challenges recently. I never tried any challenges before I joined Tumblr.

Your self sim picture: I might be a bit thicker but I’m sure I set her to the heaviest setting. I’m lucky in that I retained my figure even when I gained 100 pounds it helps me look less than I really am.

Stories or gameplay builds, lookbooks, edits or cc: I love reading people's stories. I love doing gameplay and just seeing what randomness can happen at times. I’m too lacking in confidence to really do lookbooks or builds but I love looking at other peoples. I adore CC just not talented enough to make it but I certainly APPRECIATE IT!!! I did do my first edit ever the other day for the Lunar Zodiac Challenge!!!

Your favourite age state: I would love the age states a hell of a lot more if there was -more- I could do with them. Infants, Toddlers, Children are so adorable but I feel really limited in their activities and personalities. Teens are great because the game treats them like practical adults so there is little you can’t do with them. I love the growing up and watching them become someone...

Your favourite season: Every time I start a new save I start in spring because I feel that is the order of things. Birth life ageing death and birth anew. It feels off if I choose a different season to start with. I did it with the Santa Baby Challenge but that’s because she’s all about winter so I had to.

Your favourite holiday: Winterfest was my favourite because of the Santa Baby Challenge and the fun I had with it but I’m growing to really like Love Day and the warm fuzzies I get seeing my sims do special things for their loved ones.

How was your day: I didn’t really get much done today but the things I really wanted to get done today I did finish so I feel accomplished.

Your favourite career: If you don’t mind needing to travel around a lot the Conservationist Career when you do the stay at home functions was really fun when I started out with Pearl but as my families grow I lose the time to spend focusing on the stay at home tasks as much so I usually pick a job that suits their personality or aspiration and send them off without me.

Your favourite aspiration: I love family aspirations.

Your favourite EP, SP or GP

Favourite Eps: Island Living

Favourite SP’s: The toddler one. I forgot what it’s called.

Favourite GP’s: Vampires and Realm of Magic

How old is your simblr: I should be hitting 1 year old within the month? I’ve had the account for much longer but I’ve only been active for a year.

Have you woohooed: I should say so. I’ve been married, divorced and now live common law with my current darling who I hope to be with forever. It’s been 8 years so I think I will. ^_^

Your favourite skill: Any musical skill, Flower Arranging and Wellness.

The size of your mods folder: 16.6 gigs with about 580+ folders sorting by the creator.

Your 3 favourite mods: Deaderpool for MCCC, LittleMsSam and all her mods, Polar Bear sims and their Personality and vampire mods. I suppose but I really am tied up with several more I would want to list.

Your interests (other than sims): Reading, Crochet and Video Games... Mostly RPG types like World of Warcraft, Starwars and the like.

Your favourite sim (picture if possible): I made her for a bachelor(ette) challenge that never went anywhere so she’s never gotten to be featured in anything but I seriously think this is the most beautiful sim I’ve ever made and will ever make.

which sims games you have played (including mobile games): The Sims 1, 2, 3 and 4. I had the Wii sims uhm... those little box head ones? Both mobile versions as well. Oh and the Castaways one. I still own (in storage somewhere so the disks might not work anymore... all the expansions, game packs and stuff packs of Sims 1, 2, 3, and almost all of 4 I’m just missing tiny living.

Propose a crazy scheme: *raises pointed finger in the air* I believe that what sims 4 needs the most is what sims 3 had! That website connected to the game that lets you purchase little addons for the game! You could by something as simple as a hairstyle or a whole town! you had to use real money and I can’t see why it wouldn’t make them billions of dollars because I swear by the time sims 4 came out I had invested about 1,000 dollars myself alone and I still hadn’t bought all I wanted to buy! Hell! They could even save themselves time and give out like a... I dunno uhm.. royalty payment? to current modders to feature their stuff on the sims official site if they let the company own the CC from then on but the artist either would get a single fair payout or a couple of cents per download kinda payout.... it would motivate the people who make CC for money as well as fun and give EA a massive pool of content to choose from!

The best part of simblr: Seeing all the amazing talent, imaginations and humour of the people around me who have the same joy in playing sims as I do. Seeing comments on my posts even if it’s just a <3 I get all happy seeing it!

The worst part of simblr: Well I haven’t really gotten to see the dark side of Simblr to be honest but I do think that people sometimes can get out of hand with their differing opinions.

What other games you play: World of Warcraft, Starwars Online, Any MMORPG really I’ve tried almost all of them if they are free to try. Lately, my husband and I play Titan Quest together it’s fun it’s like Diablo 2

other websites or accounts (origin, twitter etc..): uuuuuuhm I have a Facebook account for personal use that I hardly use other than to get messages from people I need to hear from since I do not have a phone. I have a twitter I never use that I linked to things so they post on it for me? I have an Instagram I was putting crochet stuff on it but I can’t remember the password for it anymore I never use it really I don’t really Uhm... do the social thing... I’m on Discord?

I’m tagging: @quinnterestingsims, @kalissimsblog, @lotusplum, @sammsims, @sadmachinepng, @nyxfoxx if you already have done this or don’t want too then just ignore it.

#socials

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thefloatingstone · 5 years

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Would you please make me a list of your rcommended comics(books or web-series any genre original content or fanworks)

Oh that’s a god one! Thank you so very much 💙 Let me see what I have on my shelf and on my hard drive. (I don’t know if I’ve ever made a list of my favourite comics before or not here on tumblr?)

in no particular order;

1: Usagi Yojimbo by Stan Sakai

I dunno if it ever really shows or not, but Japanese historical settings are something I’m really into! I think it’s one of those dormant interests that flares up every now and then. Anyway. Usagi Yojimbo has basically been tied for my favourite comic for over 10 years now. It’s a series of stories, both short and with longer arcs, following the character of Miyamoto Usagi (roughly based on Miyamoto Musashi) travelling around the country of Japan in the early 1600s as a Ronin after the lord he served was defeated and killed in battle. Usagi, being one of his samurai, is not killed in the same battle which, considering his lord was killed, is a massive disgrace in historical Japanese culture. Basically along the thought of “If your lord died and you didn’t you must not have fought hard enough to protect him.”

Anyway, the comic is both a history lesson on Edo period Japan, a travel diary, a slice of life comic, a Chanbara, an action comic, some times even a horror or ghost story, a tragedy involving unfulfilled love and lost families, a lesson on traditional Japanese Yokai and other mythology, and now and then high fantasy.

10/10. HIGHLY recommend. The author Stan Sakai is also a wonderful person I’ve had the pleasure to meet a few times at Comic Con. And considering he like... remembers who I AM despite being an extremely famous comic artist... I dunno. I have endless respect for the man and he’s shown me great kindness in the past.

Also you know... black and white comics. They’re my jam, yo!

2: Bone by Jeff Smith

I have no idea if I even have to say anything because Bone might just, without hyperbole, be the greatest comic ever drawn.

At 1300+ pages drawn over the course of 10 years, the story starts out as a cartoon, full of hijinks and fun adventures and jokes and very slowly, reality starts setting in, things get more dangerous, the stakes get higher, the bad guys much darker. And by the time you reach book 3 of the 9 book story, you’re suddenly in a story of the “epic” variety. Not in the internet slang term but in the actual definition of the word.

You have massive wars between men and monsters, you have clashing cultures and ideologies, conflicting motivations and goals, and of course saving the world.

And it manages to do so without you EVER feeling “Excuse me but this was a cartoon book about funny jokes. This shift in tone is really weird and doesn’t work with the cartoony characters.”

It just blends and grows beautifully. And has remained as my favourite comic for... *counts* lord... 14 years now.

The book was recently released in a new colour version in case you prefer hat, but I honestly recommend “The Brick” single volume black and white version. It’s cheaper, first of all, but also I cannot express how masterful the blacks and whites of Bone are. They’re essentially Watterson level.

(also Jeff Smith is ANOTHER comic artist who is just like... the nicest person. Like REALLY nice. He’s been kind to me on occasions in that “you really didn’t have to be that nice” kind of way)

3: The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck by Don Rosa

It’s published by Disney officially... but the Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck is essentially a fancomic. The only reason its not is because Don Rosa became SO GOOD at making duck comics Disney hired him to make them officially and he was SO GOOD at it became one of the most important Duck artists just after Carl Barks (the creator of Scrooge) himself.

The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck is a comprehensive biography of Scrooge McDuck’s life, not just made up by Don Rosa, but pieced together from Carl Barks’ own comics where he would have Scrooge make passing mention to events in his past or people he met. Don Rosa essentially took all these passing remarks and mentions and drew out a timeline, starting with Scrooge age 13 leading all the way up to his reunion with his family when Donald as an adult met up with him again.

It starts with Scrooge, from a poor family in Glasgow in 1877, boarding a ship for America to seek his fortune. We follow him through the years as with each chapter, he comes close to being rich and successful, only for it to fail or fall apart at the last minute, until, eventually, we see him catch his break and become the obscenely rich and successful person he’s fought and worked and bled so hard to be.

...and then the comic continues. And we see him lose himself. Greed, the constant need for MORE money and MORE success keeps going. The need to show HOW rich and successful he is takes over, until we see him and his family fall apart. And the comic echoes Citizen Kane as Scrooge realises the best time of his life was when he was seeking riches, not after he finally succeeded.

And then Donald and his nephews appear, and Scrooge’s life gets a second wind. His lust for adventure flares up again, his need to seek fortunes and treasures burns as strong as ever. And he keeps going.

The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck is a story about looking for your place in the world and fighting to create it with your own two hands, but it’s also about how you should think hard where you place your value in life, and it’s never too late to re-direct course and try again.

There is also “The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck Companion” which is a collection of stories that didn’t fit in with the original comic and would have disrupted flow. Basically like how a fanfic will have oneshots related to a larger story

Also, the producer of the band “Nightwish” created a soundtrack to accompany the original comic as a sort of “What If” in what he imagined the story would sound like if it was made into a movie

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4: Cucumber Quest by Gigi D.G. ( @ggdgart )

A newer comic I stumbled upon which has skyrocketed into being a fave and I can already tell, that’s not a position it’s gonna relinquish. Cucumber Quest is a more cartoony and comedic story than the previous comics on this list. But that by no means makes it of any less value or dulls the moments that this comic decides to punch you in the gut with emotions HARD.

The art and colours are glorious and something I hope to study so I can better my own art hopefully, and the writing and humour is of a calibre that I just know I could not replicate it if I even tried. Full of puns, absurdism, awkward jokes and a whole lot of FEELINGS, It manages to make me both laugh myself into a coughing fit as often as it makes me yell “OH NOOOO!!!” when something dramatic happens.

The story follows our main character Cucumber, a put-upon out-of-his-depth wizard-to-be who is tasked with saving the world from the evil Nightmare Knight who has been summoned from his thousand year slumber by an evil sorcerer who wants to take over the world (as you do). With him is his little sister, the sword wielding Almond, who is WAY more into this “being a hero” thing than he is (and probably better at it too) as the duo make friends and travel to the various kingdoms to defeat the Nightmare Knight’s lackeys, working their way up to fighting the Nightmare Knight himself and sealing him away once more!

That all sounds.... really straightforward, doesn’t it? Well... that’s what everybody else in the comic thinks too. ...Shame that real life is never easy and straightforward.

From evil henchmen that start crushing on cool “Good Guys” with cool swords, good guys who don’t REALLY want to hurt the bad guys because they don’t seem so bad? To cool good guys with cool swords suddenly learning that being in danger is not as much fun as it sounded when they started this. To big evil final boss bad guys who are just tired of all of this...

What’s also awesome is the entire comic... all OVER 800 PAGES OF IT... is completely free to read online! But you can also buy physical copies of the first 4 volumes in book form to support the author!

http://cucumber.gigidigi.com/cq/page-1/

I HIGHLY recommend this one too! It has canon LGBT characters! It has found family plots! It has scary bad guys that just need a hug! It has magical girl transformations! Literally anything you could want is in this comic. Including emotional wrecking angst! Did I mention FEELINGS???

(I couldn’t pick a single page so here are 3 random ones without context. Seriously almost EVERY page is so good I struggled very hard to choose)

5: The Property of Hate by @modmad

Hey. Do you like fantasy worlds made of imagination? How about protagonists with grey morality who act like super primand proper gentlemen when they’re actually huge nerds? How about reluctant “Well I guess I’ve ADOPTED you now you annoying gremlin” adult-kid relationships? How about puns? How about abstract and colourfull character designs? Or saving the world?

The Property of Hate is Modmad’s original comic that they’ve been working on a few years now. it follows our lead character, RGB or “Problematic Mary Poppins” as I like to think of him, as he asks a young child if she’d like to be a hero and help him save his world? When she agrees, he takes her to a fantasy land... completely NOT preparing her for what she’s signed up for. The story then follows the duo through the abstract and shifting world as RGB slowly divulges information on what exactly our Hero has to do to save the world. It turns out it’s a lot more complicated and messy than merely “beat the bad guy” or anything like that.

Not to mention it seems this fantasy world has its own rules of reality and dangers. Emotions and abstract thoughts have real physical form here, and something like an “idea” can quite literally run around and create havoc, while something like dreams can fuel or destroy, and emotions like grief can cause irreparable damage.

Our Hero also learns RGB himself is a lot more complex and messy than he first appears. Seeming to be a good person trying to do good things (despite being a little stand offish and rude at times) but seems to also be carrying a past and the weight of having done some very very bad things “for the greater good”. And our Hero, as well as we, the readers, start wondering how much we should trust him, even though, just like our Hero, deep deep down we just know we WANT to trust him. And maybe he needs saving just as much as the world itself does. Even when he’s at his scariest and... not quite himself.

The Property of Hate is also available online completely for free. Modmad does have books for sale but I believe it’s on-demand or something along those lines. Please feel free to message them here on tumblr and they are happy to chat to their readers and interact.

http://thepropertyofhate.com/TPoH/The%20Hook/1

I think I’ll leave it there despite meaning to do 10 at first because this is already EXTREMELY long.

Hopefully you found something that seems interesting! Let me know if you decide to check any of these out and whether you ended up liking them or not! I’d love to hear your opinions.

And thank you for indulging me <3

(I’m trying to remember to add my ko-fi link to all longer posts like this I make. Especially since I keep forgetting ☕️Buy me a Ko-fi ☕️ )

#lucymelonbun #C-Puff answers #Long post #image heavy #Comics #comic recommendations #comic recs #I added a read more to this post but tumblr ate it so whatever #thank you for letting me ramble about stuff I like #I feel better <3

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eggoreviews · 4 years

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My Top 25 Games Advent Day 12 - The Witcher III: Wild Hunt (#14)

"Hatred and prejudice will never be eradicated. And the witch hunts will never be about witches. To have a scapegoat — that's the key."

The Witcher III and I have had a very rocky relationship over the past couple of years. There was a lot of fighting and a lot of problems I ended up having with a game everyone else hailed as masterpiece. It was only recently, with some patience and a lot of convincing myself to give it another try, that I finally saw its value. And oh boy, do I value it now. So before I keep comparing my attachment to this game as a relationship like a weirdo, let’s delve into what made me change my mind about a game I was so vehemently neutral on for so very long.

When I started The Witcher, I just could not get into it. Several hours in and I was struggling with the various combat and crafting mechanics and finding I was too underlevelled to do much at all, and focusing on all this background noise meant I barely made it into Velen before I realised I was forcing myself to continue. So I stopped, for near enough two years. And then, out of nowhere, I came back and I was gone. I was sucked immediately back into Geralt’s adventures; of his thrilling quest to locate Ciri and destroy the Wild Hunt, the richly interesting side quests and characters that come with them, the challenging, often intriguing monster contracts that always came with a twist. I was absolutely taken with the world and everything that filled it and it turned out that all I needed was time away. So when I finally jumped back into completing each and every plot thread, whether as huge as dethroning the mad tyrant of the Wild Hunt or as tiny as winding a peasant’s lost frying pan, it kept me engaged and left me wanting more until the very end. I know I just recently called the first Dragon Age the Lord of the Rings of gaming, but I think that title may in fact have to go here instead, from pure story and character quality alone, not to mention the excellently crafted and detailed fantasy world they inhabit.

Speaking of characters, I would say they were the aspect of the game I most appreciated. Matching the game’s perfect tone of knowing when to balance serious dialogue and epic battles/setpieces with humourous characters and sometimes utterly wild and hilarious side quests, the characters Geralt encounters on his journey are as rich and interesting as they are real and faithful to the world they live in. Of course, the main cast of Geralt, Yennefer, Triss and Ciri are consistently brilliant characters throughout the game, growing and changing through the experience and through the choices you make as the player. Geralt’s fraught relationships in particular as he works through a rough patch with his beloved, Yennefer, and chooses whether it would be better to reconcile his relationship with Triss instead is a well-written, realised love triangle that did the unthinkable; it made me care about a romance plot. And a straight romance plot too! How??

Alongside them come the side characters; while even the lowly peasant quest givers deserve a mention here, every named side character is pretty much unforgettable. Dandelion, the hapless bard who can’t keep it in his pants, Djikstra, the hilariously slimy criminal who keeps a strenuous friendship with Geralt, Zoltan, the friendly dwarf who’s ever your helpful companion and Ves, my rebel wife who I wish got more screentime (seriously I love Ves so much). Vesemir as the father figure to everyone, the sarcastic, bitter but still in some way caring Lambert and the suitably powerful Eredin and Imlerith as central villains. All incredible, all consistent with the world and it makes it all the better. Onto the world itself, this is another example of a not-quite-open world that fills every single square inch of its land and sea with something to explore or conquer. Whether or not you explore the war-torn marshes of Velen, the bustling city of Novigrad or the fraught isles of Skellige, there’s no end of content to satiate you aside from the main questline. New side missions to pick up, treasures to discover, monster nests to destroy, places of power to increase Geralt’s strength in your chosen area, whether that be vanilla combat, your magical signs or your expansive alchemy capabilities. The world and what inhabits it truly compliments the richly developed gameplay mechanics that make Geralt so engaging and diverse to be, as there’s so many different ways to approach the challenges the game throws your way. And nothing quite matches the thrill of knowing you’re Geralt of Rivia, masterful witcher and slayer of giant monsters. It’s the purest form of escapism in every sense of the word and I adore absolutely every aspect of this game that makes this such a flawlessly unique fantasy experience.

On top of all this, The Witcher III contains the best minigame I’ve ever encountered in anything: Gwent. The act and quests for hunting down a full deck of Gwent cards, the tactics and amount of unbridled fun you can have just playing this card game on its own is dizzying in itself. Counting alongside this Gwent related questlines where you can do anything from playing innkeeps across the world to entering into high stakes Gwent tournaments, all to further your skill and continue to collect unique cards, is brilliant fun and endlessly satisfying. If I’m honest, it’s a damn shame I can’t get ahold of a real Northern Realms Gwent deck because I would be all over that and I would absolutely play anyone at it.

To sum up The Witcher III as a whole, I would call it the definitive fantasy role-playing experience with one of the most well-realised protagonists in all of gaming. I haven’t quite got round to playing through the expansions yet, but you bet I’m gonna and I massively recommend this to anyone who enjoys fantasy. You’ve got a real classic waiting for you in The Witcher.

Standout Moment Award: The battle of Kaer Morhen is, for lack of a better word, just epic. With the fortress as a setpiece, the foreboding Wild Hunt relentlessly marching forward towards you and having near enough every character you’ve met so far gather to help you in your fight was incredible and a great catalyst for the game’s upcoming climax. It’s totally reminiscent of LOTR’s battle of Minas Tirith for all the right reasons. Standout Character Award: Geralt of Rivia. I know, massively obvious choice, but as I said, Geralt is one of the most well-realised protagonists I’ve ever played as. He was so brilliant a character, I’m genuinely scared of how they’ll change him for the upcoming Witcher series. Big, big shoutout to Ciri, Dandelion, Triss, Ves and Lambert too though, who all also could’ve taken this. Tomorrow: No. 13; a prank gone horrendously wrong, local cannibals dismayed.

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