#i'm still not really in my writing groove but that's fine. we're working with it.

[afterhoursgame]

A Serious Discussion

Hello everyone! Hope that we're all doing well. :)

I wanted to pop in to have a talk with everyone about After Hours and some changes I'll be making going forwards. I'll pop this under a cut because I tend to ramble and imagine this will be getting long.

Let me preface by saying that After Hours isn't going anywhere! This is one of my stories and I want to see it come to life! But with that said...

I'm probably going to be making some pretty big changes to the way that this story will be.

The first of which is the MC. When I started writing out and planning to make After Hours an IF, I changed a lot. Before it was going to be an IF, it was going to be a much more linear story and the MC would be pretty set in a personality but would have choices that would fit the situation or allow them to make small changes.

For example, say they're going to a store for the first time. I would probably write MC to be overwhelmed, but then give the player the option to pick if they're also in awe, completely in shock, or panicking. Something like that.

As it is right NOW, I would write each of those as a completely separate thing. Is your MC overwhelmed? Are they in awe? Are they scared?

Not, your MC is overwhelmed, is it a positive, wow this is cool, but also kinda daunting because I've never seen anything like this? Or more of a, I've never seen anything like this, there's a lot going on, what do I do, help?

Me personally? I prefer the second. And I think it would be a lot easier for me, and my brain to be able to write it in that way!

Basically, I'm being far too broad for my brain to handle.

Writing a different option for each and every emotion, for ME as the person who is creating the story, is really hard to find a flow that allows me to really into the groove of things. As it stands, I write maybe a scene or two, and then I'm not sure where else to go, because I'm focusing on trying to make things that I already had a route for, fit this new emotion.

So I say all of this to say: I'm going to be changing the MC to have a set personality, but allow for the player to be able to make choices that I feel will still make sense, as far as their emotions and reactions to things.

The second big change is coming to one of my lovely characters!

Bishop.

As his romance is right now, you can wind up in a fair relationship where he basically drops everything and changes for MC to make it work, in the simplest possible way to explain it.

Which yea, that's fine, but... it's not how I wanted things to go.

So, as much as I think this might upset some people, it's going back to the way it was going to be originally.

What does this mean?

It means that when you meet him, he's in love with someone. You, as the MC are someone new. He's not dropping everything that has been his normal in 2 seconds for MC. He'll work through things, he'll heal, but that doesn't mean voila, now it's you two together forever.

It's a romance that's gonna have hurt feelings. Yours, his, and others. It's probably the slowest possible burn you can imagine. Because while he may not be in a relationship, canonically, he is in love, and in love with someone who doesn't love him back at that. There's a lot of struggle in that. There's a struggle in finding a way to lose that love he had, and try to grow new love for someone else.

It's not gonna happen overnight. And I can't say that by the end of the story, MC will be in a relationship with him. But I can say that I think the journey with him is one that will be unique, and hopefully for those that go down his romance path, worth it.

For the last major change.

I'll be reworking certain parts of the story! I say this all the time, I'm sure you guys noticed how often I was rewriting and reworking the prologue!

But of course, if there are changes to the literal main character, there's gonna be changes to the story right? The prologue is going to stay up as it is for now, but it'll be getting a revamp, which I hope everyone is going to love.

Most of the rest, no one has seen yet, so no worries there.

And that's all the changes!

I made this giant post to say this:

I love interactive fiction. It's been a staple in my life since I was an early teen.

And I want my interactive fiction, my story to be a good one. I made these changes when I started because I wanted to make a good story for everyone else, and lost sight that I wasn't making it a good story for myself as well. I want to make a story that's good for both.

I hope that even with the changes, you still give After Hours a chance.

Cause while I may be biased, I think it's going to be even better than you've seen.

-Des

#des talks #serious des talks.

[pollosky-in-blue]

cym as fav lyrics

Aaaaaaa anon you must forgive me for being so late about it, I had one hell of a ride choosing song lyrics *pants as if I'd been running*

But eeee it will be a long post-

• @shecriesalonemp3

"Listen close and don't be stoned

I'll be here in the morning

'Cause I'm just floating

Your cigarette still burns

Your messed up world will thrill me

...

Alison, I'll drink your wine

And wear your clothes when we're both high

Alison, I said we're sinking

But she laughs and tells me it's just fine

I guess she's out there somewhere"

- Alison (Slowdive)

• @its-toasted

"Take everything you have in front of you

Make every movement, do it to the groove

You will not be happy for long if you're working

And what would be the point if it did ever surface?

...

Wake up to the rhythm of the city and I try to remember

Even my brothers have some trouble with

Each other since since those things fell apart

It's the way that things are

It's the way that it is

...

Even when you split me up, groovin' to the sound of the laughter

And if I listen to it closely I can

Still hear all the love in his heart

Every time I take a look at the skyline it makes me feel better

'Cause I just miss you down here where the other people try to move on"

- Blue Coupe (Twin Peaks)

• @deviocat

"Oh, you can't hear me 'cause I sing to a different age

And you should fear me 'cause I believe in a different age

But I live in the city that lives in a different age

Oh, I live in a city that lives in a different age

Where all the poets are writing memoirs

And I'm still singing songs

Oh, all the poets are writing memoirs

And I'm still singing songs"

- A Different Age (Current Joys)

• @lacexleaves

"I used to think of ferris wheel light sounds

The Friday hum of neons and blue

But now they're like circular cages

Of grated tin and rusted wind

Hey, now, who really cares?

Hey, won't somebody listen

Let me say what's been on my mind

Can I bring it out to you

I need someone to talk to

And no one else will spare me the time"

- Hey, Who Really Cares? (Linda Perhacs)

• @francesco-bernoulli-gang

"Angels smoking cigarettes on rooftops in fishnets in the morning with the

Moon still glowing

And here comes Jesus in an Astrovan rolling down the strip again

He's stoned while Jerry plays

Life ain't ever what it seems

These dreams are more than paper things

And it's alright mama you're afraid

I'll be poor along the way

I don't wanna see those tears again

You know, Jesus drives an Astrovan

Yes, he does (I say woo)"

- Astrovan (Mt. Joy)

• @pani-puri

"Pulling up, getting down

This whole place is crazy town

Music bumping and the lights gone down

Never felt at home in any place I found

Oh, I live in a cold, white wind

And I feel the chill coming over me again"

- Butterfly (Adrianne Lenker)

• @anjo-umbra

"Put your hands on the wheel

Let the golden age begin

Let the window down

Feel the moonlight on your skin

Let the desert wind

Cool your aching head

Let the weight of the world

Drift away instead

These day I barely get by

I don't even try

It's a treacherous road

With a desolated view

There's distant lights

But here they're far and few

And the sun don't shine

Even when its day

You gotta drive all night

Just to feel like you're ok"

- The Golden Age (Beck)

• @roseusnoctua

"Satellite, headlines read

Someone's secrets you've seen

Eyes and ears have been

Satellite dish in my yard

Tell me more, tell me more

Who's the king of your satellite castle?

Winter's cold spring erases

And the calm away by the storm is chasing

Everything good needs replacing

Look up, look down all around, hey satellite

Rest high above the clouds no restrictions

Television we bounce 'round the world

And while I spend these hours

Five senses reeling

I laugh about this weatherman's satellite eyes"

- Satellite (Dave Matthews Band)

• @sidereusimber

"And though I may be getting older

Know that I'm going with you

Know that I'm hanging on

to the things that you said

The things that you said

...

I've felt my soul

Rise up from my body when

I look into your blue eyes

...

If cosmic force

Is real at all

It's come between you and I"

- Some Things Cosmic (Angel Olsen)

#jajaja i loved doing it

[aboutlouishofmann]

A Life Devoted To Music

[Original interview here which is already in English. I'm just testing. All images curtesy of cinema.de]

FRIDAY, 7/5/2019

A LIFE DEVOTED TO MUSIC

In PRÉLUDE Louis Hofmann plays a talented pianist.

Rising star Louis Hofmann has often been seen at FILMFEST MÜNCHEN — for example, in the tender coming-of-age drama CENTER OF MY WORLD. By now, Hofmann is well-known all over Germany thanks to the captivating mystery series DARK. This makes us all the more delighted that this up-and-coming actor is returning to Munich this year with not one, but two exciting films. In PRÉLUDE, he plays a talented musician who experiences the downside of being an artist; and he also has a role in THE WHITE CROW, about Soviet ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev. We met the amiable actor at the world premiere of PRÉLUDE and asked him about his own experiences as an artist and how life in the spotlight affects a person.

In PRÉLUDE, you play an aspiring pianist named David, a freshman at a conservatory who's under pressure from the beginning. What was it about this story that caught your interest?

In 2015, I was invited to a casting for PRÉLUDE. I think I'd read only a small blurb about it, but it won me over right away and I knew I absolutely had to play this part. I don't know whether I'd already seen WHIPLASH. I grew up around lots of music and have an affinity to it — and probably a fascination with sadness as well. I thought if the script fulfills the promise of that little blurb, I've got to be a part of things. Then I went to the first casting with director Sabrina Sarabi and we simply got along very well and I noticed that she does very fine work.

When did you finally shoot the film?

Two years ago. It was hard to get all the money that was necessary. It is just a small film, after all. I'm still glad that we made it even though we didn't have much money. Being so close on set was also great. On the first day of shooting, there were maybe 15 of us on the set. It took some getting used to, because I'd just come from DARK, where we'd had 100 to 150 people. That was our own little microcosm, and working with such a small team was something I enjoyed to the fullest.

Is that something you generally prefer: a smaller scale?

No. I just prefer good material.

What does good material consist of?

That's the question. There are only the standard responses: well-developed characters, a nice development of the role, a story that's exciting, not one that's narrated. David is somebody I can identify with to a good extent. He's sensitive. He has this great ambition that I carry within myself. When he does something, he jumps in wholeheartedly. That's also the approach I take to my own work. That's why I understood him right away.

You mentioned that music has always been very important to you. Do you play an instrument?

I played violin for a year, because my brother played violin. I stopped pretty soon after that. Then, at age eight or nine, I began to play the drums. I did that for eight years.

Do you still play?

I stopped when I moved from Cologne to Berlin. I didn't have a drum set there, nor did I have the infrastructure: a place to rehearse and so on. I didn't take it up again until this year. I rediscovered how awesome it is and how much I'd missed it — how I'd totally been caught up in the piano as well. I used to be able to play chords or three-finger accompaniment. Classical pieces, though, were pretty foreign to me. I somehow put in a lot of effort with a teacher, without being able to read music. We did it with videos. I think it helped me a little to be able to play the drums. But to learn a new instrument and suddenly understand how it works and to be familiar with the keyboard and to get into the groove when playing: that really did a lot for me. In addition, it was just extremely good preparation for the part. It made the character accessible to me, which is something I hadn't really expected.

How long did you practice?

After I got the role, we did two years of workshops. In the end, we had two-hour lessons, five days a week for three months, and then two to four more hours a day of practice.

That's a lot.

You're right. But it's great. At first it's so difficult. The first two weeks were so rough: you're really just searching for the notes; your fingers don't understand it all just yet. You feel like a dyslexic on the piano, just so amateurish. And suddenly after two or three weeks, your fingers start doing what they should. You follow the instrument, and it's simply awesome.

Are you still doing it?

Unfortunately not. No, because I can't read music and because I'd noticed that I get bored easily because I only ever play the same pieces. My roommates and I have a piano, and I play it sometimes, but not like before.

What kind of music do you listen to?

Mainly indie rock, indie pop, alternative. Sometimes soul classics, chansons, or jazz hip-hop.

Can you name two or three artists?

Two or three artists I can name... Somehow that's always pretty hard to do. Right now I'm really looking forward to the new Dope Lemon album that's coming out soon. As for indie pop, Bon Iver is one of my heroes. Parcels is great. I could go on forever. Music is a really important part of my life. I just immerse myself in it and discover new artists. It's a lot of fun.

There's this gotcha question that I once picked up from a job interview: If you were a song, what song would you be? That is, a song that describes you very well.

I have no idea. I think the songs we listen to speak to only part of ourselves. The first song I thought of is "8 (Circle)" by Bon Iver. But that's just my melancholy side. It wouldn't describe me completely, because I also have a non-melancholy side, a very happy side, that I wouldn't be doing justice to.

Now that you've had a brief look at the life of a musician, even indirectly, what would you say is similar to or different from the life of an actor?

The pressure is what they have in common. The expectations one has of oneself. The competition. Although I have to say we're a generation, I think, who fight more alongside each other than against each other. For a pianist, it's a more individual fight than for an actor, because as an actor you normally don't perform alone.

In the film, David has to put his personal life on the back burner in order to get somewhere as a musician. Since you said that you enjoy immersing yourself, to what extent do you find yourself having to put your personal life on the back burner?

Since the work always comes in phases, you only have to do that in phases. And then I do that. In recent years, I've also learned that you can't completely separate the two — that the project phases should intersect more with the phases of free time. I've always felt that I've completely forgone personal life while working, up until the end of shooting. At some point, I no longer thought that was a good thing. In this line of work, you have to watch out, otherwise you'll start thinking of the year only in terms of blocks of time. I've resolved to be aware of this for more than a whole year again. Theater actors can probably do that a lot better, because they have regular work. They're able to balance their personal lives and their work more easily. That's a small obstacle that a film actor has to overcome at some point.

Let's assume you have free time. What do you do to unwind after work?

I had a hard time of that in Berlin. But this year, I went back to some old hobbies, like the drums. Also skateboarding, climbing, bouldering, and so on, to find balance. It's just about doing something that no one judges and where there's no output. Where you're not forced to deliver output. Because all you do when playing is give, give, give. You learn something, too, of course, and it gives you something back. But it's very relaxing to just do something that no one is appraising.

And where you're not being watched.

That, too, yes.

How often does it happen nowadays that you're recognized out on the street?

Sometimes. Occasionally. There are days when nothing happens, and other days when it happens several times. It also depends on whether I'm in a bar or another place where people gather.

Imagine that for some reason you had to do something other than act.

What would I do?

Exactly.

Hm. That's difficult.

Did you always want to be an actor, or were there alternatives?

A soccer player, of course. I definitely wanted to be a soccer player. When I finished high school, I was also very interested in psychology — and art. But I don't believe that I'd study art or psychology, even though I was still saying that two or three years ago. I also have a lot of fun working behind the camera, and I've been a set manager for short films. I enjoy organizing a set in the extreme, because I also have experience in how these things work. I'd probably still prefer to stay in the world of film and then maybe try to develop material or help to see it realized.

So you could also imagine directing and scriptwriting?

Probably not scriptwriting. I'm more the kind of person who reads the script and says, "Oh, that's what happens. I think it'd be great if this and that also happened." I don't think I could write a story myself. I have a lot of respect for those who can.

What else are you up to next?

On Monday, we started filming the third season of DARK, so I'll just do that for now. That'll probably take another six months. After that, we'll be done. The series was planned as a trilogy from the beginning, so the story will conclude with the third season.

That's all from me. In closing, do you have any more comments you'd like to make about your film?

I think Sabrina is very talented, and I'm very proud of this film and hope that people will see it.

#louis hofmann #dark netflix #prélude #sabrina sarabi #german film #german actor #jonas kahnwald

[nancypullen]

Chugging Along

Hello, bloggy friends. I don't have a single interesting thing to share with you, but I feel the need to fill this space every so often. I kind of miss the days when I had a lot to write about, but I was also spread a little thin in those days, and I don't miss that at all. This blog was definitely funnier and more interesting back then, sorry about that. I've been staying busy tending to gardens and trying to empty this house. Whyyy do we have so much stuff? Ugh, 40 years together and a couple of kids equals a whole lot of junk. Our house doesn't have great storage and I've gotten creative over the decades in order to keep things semi-orderly. Now that I'm emptying closets and going through boxes and bins I feel like tossing everything into the back yard and having a bonfire. There are so many items that we don't use daily but we don't want to part with, then there are sentimental items, kid related stuff, and so on. Add to that the necessary pieces that make a house a home and it's enough to make me crazy. Nothing would make me happier than a house where everything is labeled and in its spot (of course, I'd like it labeled in an adorable floral and gingham way). Today a fellow came by to measure the bedrooms for new carpet. It's one of the few things we'll do before putting the house on the market. We'll probably paint the porch, maybe touch up trim here and there. This house will sell itself just fine without any major changes. In order to install the carpet the bedrooms will be emptied. The easiest thing to do would be to keep them empty, sell what we want to sell, and store what we want to take. BUT it's quite possible we'll have kids home for a visit before listing the house, so we'll need those beds back in place. I feel like we're shoveling the walk while it's still snowing. We're not in a hurry to list. Might be in a couple of months, might not be until spring. The mister waffles on that daily. He's under a lot of pressure at work right now, so I just agree with whatever he says on any given day. I'm used to his constantly changing mind. He's got a sabbatical coming up in October and he has said he'd like to use that time to move. I think he needs the vacation more. I'm pretty sure that the housing market will stay strong in our area, if we listed in early spring we'd probably make the same tidy profit. We'd also allow ourselves more time to prep for a move. That might give us time to build rather than buy at the other end. You can bet that any house we might build would have storage out the wazoo. I don't need a big house (not until Dyson debuts a riding vacuum ), I just need a well-designed house. Are you bored to death yet? Told you I didn't have much to write about. Here's something wonderful - my hydrangeas have never looked better!

Front yard and back, they're blooming like crazy.

Also, it's starting to look like I'm going to have a thousand cucumbers. I had a couple of little pickle bush plants and I wasn't sure they were doing well, so I picked up a little potted cucumber plant at Lowe's and stuck it in one of the raised beds. Now all of the plants are going nuts and producing little cukes left and right. We love crisp cucumbers in salads and just for snacks, but I may be driving around after dark sticking cucumbers in mailboxes.

How adorable are baby cucumbers?

This is the first time I've grown San Marzano tomatoes, and I'm only growing them for pizza sauce - supposedly they're the best, though I think that may refer to the San Marzano tomatoes grown in the volcanic soil around Mt. Vesuvius, not in my raised bed in Tennessee. They grow in long clusters and I'm finding them very interesting. Crossing my fingers for some stellar sauce.

The green pepper plants have birthed their babies too, and they're so stinkin' cute.

All of the herbs are healthy, and the lavender and speedwell are hosting bees.

Our little patch is an absolute delight right now. I love my gardens. I can't imagine not having a little space to grow things. I'm so happy when I'm out pulling a few weeds or giving things a drink. Occasionally I pet a fuzzy bee (they don't mind), or I watch the birds splash in the bird bath and make use of our feeders, and all is right in my world. There's usually a cat snoozing on the deck while I putter and that's exactly how it ought to be.

When I'm making my silly cards my desk is situated for optimum viewing of the gardens and the activity of birds, bunnies, squirrels, and deer. I love it.

Not a great pic snapped through that old screen - and a certain cat puts herself front and center the moment I pull my phone out to get a shot. You can just see the edge of my desk in front of her. She can be mid-nap in a sunbeam but she senses a photo op and pops her head up. Uncanny. So that's it. That's why I haven't blogged. Because no one wants to hear about cleaning out closets and talking to birds and cats. I'm so content in my little world but there's not much happening here. There's music, flowers, books, and good food...what else do you need? Maybe we'll get really wild and light a sparkler or two on the 4th of July, or maybe I'll completely lose control and make a dessert. Stand by for that riveting post! Just kidding, I'm actually taking some pics of products I love that I'm going to share with you. I'll get my thoughts together and share that tomorrow. It won't be any more interesting than this post but perhaps you'll find something you like. Hope so! I need to get back into the habit of blogging regularly so writing something is better than writing nothing. I apologize in advance for what you'll wade through until I'm back in the groove. Meetcha' here tomorrow. Take care of your sweet little self until then. XOXO, Nancy