eff_ess_oe: Edited fanart of Morbius with Steve Buscemi's eyes. From Vinesauce Joel's "Wish Dumpster Diving 6" (Default)
This idea came to me after a morning of spam-watching the wackass commercials from MGS4. I found it interesting/dread-inducing that 15 or so years after that game came out, that intro sequence is still relevant today. Makes me wanna squirm with dread imagining what the YouTube ads in SOP-era Metal Gear-verse would look like.

(Also kinda ironic how I'm posting a video I put on YouTube after YouTube's been doing some fucked shit with anti-adblock, but thankfully embeds haven't been affected by that yet. Still, I strongly suggest using Invidious or another YT frontend if you can.)


eff_ess_oe: Edited fanart of Morbius with Steve Buscemi's eyes. From Vinesauce Joel's "Wish Dumpster Diving 6" (Default)
So this is not the 8+ page Samuraiden weirdass-pr0n-with-feelings epic I've been teasing on my Aethy acc. This was written in one day from conception to posting, and was inspired by that one Japan-exclusive Nintendo Switch Store game that's been blowing up the Internet. The idea of Hal Otacon Metal Gear playing it and raging over it (and Snavid subsequently getting uncharacteristically curious) has been living in my head rent free all day today, plus I figured it could easily have been made in Flash in the mid-aughts, so I decided to make up a serial-numbers-filed-off version of it that would make sense in that time period. So here y'all go. Enjoy.

Word count: 2389
Rating: G
Warnings: None

Read more... )
eff_ess_oe: Edited fanart of Morbius with Steve Buscemi's eyes. From Vinesauce Joel's "Wish Dumpster Diving 6" (Default)
And it wasn't *as* crappy as I anticipated. Sure, it was kind of an overglorified dealer's room, but I was pleasantly surprised by the artist alley-type booths as well as indie exhibitors. Still, there wasn't really that much incentive to stay after seeing everything there was to offer. Which is kind of a shame, because I think the people organizing these small local cons would really benefit from adding things like panels and meet-ups so people can stay at the event longer.

In terms of artist alley stuff, I spent most of my money on Chubcats' stuff. I was originally going to make off with just the Jotaro, Miku, and Rin pins, but I decided "Screw it, I'm gonna get a Mystery Box and see what's inside when I get home". And sure enough, I was indeed pleasantly surprised. Especially with the Kero sticker sheet. Definitely gonna keep an eye on their social pages and see where else they exhibit, just in case I get any ideas on cons to visit in the future.

A selection of merch from Chubcast, laid out atop a maple-wood desk. From left to right/top to bottom, there is: A print of Mikasa from Attack on Titan kneeling and putting on a boot, a sticker sheet of Kero from Cardcaptor Sakura amidst a variety of sweets, a sticker of Mew from Pokemon, a sticker of the Wanderer from Genshin Impact, a sticker of a Vaporeon, a sticker of a Gengar with a Beedrill in the jar in its hands, a charm of San and Moro from Princess Mononoke, and button pins of: Kagamine Rin and Hatsune Miku from Vocaloid, Jotaro Kujo from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Totoro from My Neighbor Totoro, Misato Katsuragi from Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Vegeta from Dragon Ball Z.

eff_ess_oe: Edited fanart of Morbius with Steve Buscemi's eyes. From Vinesauce Joel's "Wish Dumpster Diving 6" (Default)
Been awhile since I posted anything substantial about how my personal life's going, so I might as well do it now. I'm dividing it into topics, so if there's anything specific you wanna look at, just click the relevant section.

The creative front )
Convention haul/plans )
Brainshit )

eff_ess_oe: Edited fanart of Morbius with Steve Buscemi's eyes. From Vinesauce Joel's "Wish Dumpster Diving 6" (Default)
So the idea for this mashup was rotating in my head for a good... 2 months? Maybe 3? I don't know. But it started with me liking the original "Hotel Rasputin Service" on YouTube and that vid ending up in my Liked playlist next to a Eurobeat cover/mashup of "Red Sun" from Metal Gear Rising with a Dreamcatcher (the K-pop group) song of the same name. Then I started mentally pairing the words of "Red Sun" with "Rasputin", and the idea stayed in my head until I put it to Audacity a week ago. So here it is. Happy Good Ol' Day After 9/11 to all those who observe.

Also, I unfortunately have "Graphic design is my passion" level thumbnail editing skills. But someone out there's probably gonna get a kick out of it.


eff_ess_oe: Edited fanart of Morbius with Steve Buscemi's eyes. From Vinesauce Joel's "Wish Dumpster Diving 6" (Default)
So over the weekend, I 'attended' an online BL convention called CitrusCon, and let me fucking tell you: IT WAS AMAZING. HOLY SHIT. The artists, the panels, the convos I made... all of it was GREAT. And now I get to tell you fucks about it.

So first things first, I managed to strike up some conversations with other people about JJBA. It started with me and one other person talking about La Squadra ships, but other people started jumping on the train and getting into ships from other parts. It was overall very fun and cozy, and now I gotta read through the backlogs and follow some of the people I was talking to because I foolishly didn't do that at the time. Because...

I was busy AF ordering some sweet, sweet Artist Alley merch. My credit card was working overtime. I spent AT LEAST $100 total. And that's a splurge by my cheap-ass standards. But the artists I supported have great stuff. Special shout-out to The Scum Bucket, whose Uke!Squidward zipper suit sticker was too fucking hilarious to pass up, as well as Tokki Darling, who FINALLY gave me an opportunity to purchase merch for my beloved Phantom Blood rarepair, Zeppwagon. (as two separate enamel pins, but they'll arrive together, so I consider it ship merch.)

Even specialer shoutout goes to DigitalPopsicle, who was running a special commission detail of any character you wanted lounging in a citrus-themed cocktail glass for $15. He did this lovely semi-chibified Venom Snake in a lemon glass, who now graces my AO3 and Aethy icons. (Side note: I initially assumed only the fruit would be considered in the citrus theming, which resulted in... an unexpected surprise when I saw the liquid was also part of the color scheme. But it fits with Kojima's vision, so I'll take it.)


A semi-chibified picture of Venom Snake from Metal Gear Solid lounging in a half-full martini glass filled with yellow liquid, presumably lemon juice. There is a round lemon slice around the rim of the glass. Art by @digitalpopsicle.

As for the panels, I started off attending one which discussed people's reasonings behind liking villainous characters in BL/adjacent media, which I found quite interesting. It will likely be on YouTube later in September, so if anyone is interested, I will send the link. But the level of depth that the survey discussed in the panel went into was something else, covering topics related to neurodivergency, active vs. passive fandom participation, stances on fandom discourse, and even an unexpected correlation between liking villainous characters and being less emotionally invested in characters and plotlines as a whole. (Which made more sense once this point was elaborated on, but I wasn't expecting it at first.)

The rest of the panels I sat in upon were mostly party games like Scattergories and a caption-picture matching game. But the most enjoyable game of the con was a BL-themed Cards Against Humanity sesh, which I got to participate in. My best combination had to be (I forget the exact wording) "Check out this fic that's been trending on AO3: a crossover featuring Stalin x Count Chocula!", but it didn't win the round it was played in. I did manage to get one point with a combo suggesting Fox News had more impact than Gravitation, but I didn't really put as much thought into that combo as I did with the Stalin x Count Chocula one. Ah well. It was still tons of fun.

Sunday was a lot less busy because my computer would NOT let me join panels for whatever reason. But I was able to keep chatting with people, as well as find several new Discord servers to hang out in. Special mention to the Nu:Carnival server I joined which has a TON of gold art and fic, as well as a slew of events that I plan on doing something for in the future. (And you'll see it here, of course!)

So that was my weekend. Overall, great experience, and I would totally do it again. (They are offering one next year, which runs for 3 days instead of 2. Hopefully I'll be able to throw myself out there with a bit more oomph next time!)
eff_ess_oe: Edited fanart of Morbius with Steve Buscemi's eyes. From Vinesauce Joel's "Wish Dumpster Diving 6" (Default)
Been going through my back catalogue of YouTube likes lately. Ended up hyperfixing on this particular song (and this particular version of it, to boot). The vocal harmonies are fucking IMPECCABLE (especially when they break off into the countermelody section in the second half of the chorus), and the instrumental solos interspersed throughout do a great job of breaking up the piece and giving their respective musicians a chance to shine. Bonus points for the interpolation of "Ensei" in the middle (which I know is originally from Mai-HiME, as is the main song itself, but I can't help but thinking back to Mario: The Music Box whenever I hear it).

God, I need to watch Mai-HiME. It's been on my watchlist for a hot minute, but I am fucking allergic to getting into new media that isn't hyperfix/special interest related.


eff_ess_oe: Edited fanart of Morbius with Steve Buscemi's eyes. From Vinesauce Joel's "Wish Dumpster Diving 6" (Default)
(haha, title rhymes...)

So after 2 1/2 months worth of executive dysfunction keeping me from uploading this video in a timely manner, I finally have it up! And along with it, I have a review of the second episode? chapter? whatever of nosedive, the JJBA fan-VN that rhoda_pomelo and winkblue have put out. Audio is still shit, but I finally got ahold of a ref for improving low-quality mic audio, so maybe I'll put that into consideration for the next installment.




In terms of story elements, I love how we're starting to see a bit of tension and jealousy concerning Bruno. It hasn't gotten to the point where anything major occurs between anyone, but it's definitely stirring up the plot, and I can't wait to see where it goes next. Also love the new additions to the cast. Their interactions with each other and the MC's are amazing. I don't know if we'll see much of them again, but I definitely appreciated their presence in this chapter. However, I feel like the overall flow of the game was a lot slower, which took me out of it a little. It does make sense considering the context of the story, and I don't outright dislike it, but it does drag a bit compared to the past installment.

Gameplay-wise, this chapter plays a bit more like a kinetic novel compared to Day 1, except for the one interactive sequence where you investigate the camera footage. I was expecting a little more at first glance, but I suppose the devs are saving it for when things get shaken up later on in the story.

As always, art style and writing are top-notch, and I love how there's a little animation incorporated into the last bit of Day 2 in the dream sequence.

That's all I have to say for the time being. Links to the game page/devs' homepages are in the YT description. Can't wait to see what they put out next!
eff_ess_oe: Edited fanart of Morbius with Steve Buscemi's eyes. From Vinesauce Joel's "Wish Dumpster Diving 6" (Default)
from Twitter. I freed myself from Twitter. As in, I deactivated my account. I just couldn't deal with the muskrat's shit anymore (see my prev. post for context). Some of y'all may have noticed my Twitter name being removed from my intro post, so that's why.

As for how I feel about it, I like it for the most part. The one thing I miss the most is how easy it is to find stuff on search engines (granted, it probably sucks ass in some aspects, but I will forever respect it way more than Tumblr's search system), as well as the fact that (so far) a lot of East/Southeast Asian artists I followed don't have accs on other socmed sites. (except for Pixiv, but idk if I'll ever make an acc. there.)

But in terms of me not having Twitter anymore, I find I'm dopescrolling a lot less in general, and my Internet usage has sort of become more purposeful (as in, me mostly using it to look up and engage in specific things, rather than let the algorithm/my timeline lead me around). I've also logged off more and done productive shit more often than when I had Twitter. I'm also experiencing way less Discourse(TM), so that's fun.
eff_ess_oe: Edited fanart of Morbius with Steve Buscemi's eyes. From Vinesauce Joel's "Wish Dumpster Diving 6" (Default)
El*n does it again. And by "it", I mean "make a royal mess out of bird app". This time, he's limiting how many times you can look at ANY tweets, regardless of who made them, unless you pay up. Apparently this is a cover-up for the crumbling website infrastructure that can't handle so many people looking at it at once? If so, that deffo checks out. But regardless of why he made this change, people ain't liking it. Not even his shitty racist fanboys like it, from what I've seen on Tunglr.

As for me, I'm probs going to be abandoning Twitter for a while. Might come back just to deactivate it, might not. I still have a backup of my data from a few months back, so if I get the urge to find some specific thing, I'll just go there and pray that I posted it in that time period. Of course, I have followed some people whose art/etc. I like on Tumblr if I could find them. The one downside is that a lot of the EA artists I follow probably don't have accs on non-Twitter websites other than Pixiv, so I guess I'm gonna have to learn to use that one of these days. Ah, well. Let the hellsite sink. Teach Musky Boy a little lesson in humility.
eff_ess_oe: Edited fanart of Morbius with Steve Buscemi's eyes. From Vinesauce Joel's "Wish Dumpster Diving 6" (Default)
The Metal Gear series has been living rent-free in my mind for two months now, and I think it's here to stay as one of my permanent interests. I've been brewing up a few fics for the series (despite not having actually broken deep into the games themselves yet), and just finished the first of them. This one's a quick-and-dirty origin story on how Psycho Mantis' iconic "mind-control music" came to be. For some reason, I don't see a lot of people in the fandom discussing it, so I've decided to break that streak. Also, Liquid/Eli's there, as well as Ocelot (although he's not identified by name in this fic).

Word count: 659
Rating: G
Warnings: mention of death by burning

Read more... )
eff_ess_oe: Edited fanart of Morbius with Steve Buscemi's eyes. From Vinesauce Joel's "Wish Dumpster Diving 6" (Default)
So I used to have an annual tradition (and by "annual" I mean only lasting for 3 years) of posting write-ups of the Eurovision Song Contest online. These consist of my initial blind-reactions to the final songs, plus my faves, least faves, and top picks across five categories: lyrics, costumes, choreography, visuals, and gimmicks. You can find 2018 and 2019 on my Tumblr here and here respectively. I did 2021 on a short-lived livetweet Twitter acct that no longer exists, and I didn't do one for 2022 because I was watching it over Discord with a friend, so unfortunately I don't have those years write-ups. But here I am, bringing back the tradition on Dreamwidth (which is kind of a better place for long-winded writeups like these). So without further ado, here's my opinions under the cut.

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eff_ess_oe: Edited fanart of Morbius with Steve Buscemi's eyes. From Vinesauce Joel's "Wish Dumpster Diving 6" (Default)
After an almost-11-month drought of not posting any fics, I am pleased to announce I am BACK in the writing game! This fic was written for the 2023 JotaJosu Big Bang, which is not only my first big bang, but also the first time I've been asked to write over 10K words. So this means that this is my longest fic to date, surpassing the numerous scrapped attempts at writing multi-chapter fics back in my FFnet days. Special thanks to everyone involved in making this event happen, with special shout-outs to Theskee, hedonismvibes, and crybabytouya on AO3 for organizing it, TheWolfHybrid on AO3 for beta-reading Chapter 3, and Patient_record on Twitter for drawing the accompanying artwork for Chapter 1. Anyway, without further ado, here's the fic (under the cut)!

Word count: 13 681
Rating: T
CWs: major JJBA Pt6 spoilers, shipcest, angst, character death, existentialism, drug usage

Black Stars and Diamonds
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eff_ess_oe: Edited fanart of Morbius with Steve Buscemi's eyes. From Vinesauce Joel's "Wish Dumpster Diving 6" (Default)
This album's really grown on me since I first listened to it when it released. At first, I kinda brushed it off (aside from the singles) because I thought it was a bit too ballad-heavy. But after reading the lyrics and giving it another listen, I decided I liked it. And now here I am, putting it on heavy rotation all weekend. (And also trying and failing to play "Jesus on the Telephone" on guitar lmaooo)

Standout tracks: "Jesus on the Telephone", "By the Willow Tree", "Champagne", "Your Surgeon is Human, Too", "Meet Me in a Dream", "Walking Out Alone"

(special shout out to "Meet Me in a Dream" for being my fave track despite also being the least-played on the album accd. to YouTube stats... y'all have no taste smdh)

eff_ess_oe: Edited fanart of Morbius with Steve Buscemi's eyes. From Vinesauce Joel's "Wish Dumpster Diving 6" (Default)
So today marks the last day of me being 23 (at least until 8:20 pm tomorrow). Yay. Suppose I should kinda post an update on how my personal/creative endeavors are going.

First and foremost, come Friday I will be embarking on my first multi-day leisure trip. I'm not going very far from home, and it's likely only gonna be for the weekend (assuming my work doesn't give me time off for next Monday, which from the looks of things they probably won't). But I'm pretty proud of myself for summoning the gumption to fill out a time-off request form and hand it in. My original plan was to not try requesting time off, but the more I think about that, the more I think I was just being a scaredy-cat. Eventually, I came to the conclusion "What's the worst that could happen, they're gonna hand it back to me with a 'Request denied' type thing?" and filled it out and handed it in with the right timing, so aside from staff number issues, I don't see any reason why they wouldn't let me off for one Monday. Either way, I'm still looking forward to my trip. May or may not post about it when I come back, IDK.

Next, I made the half-impulse decision to sign up for a big bang. At first I lowkey regretted my decision because I didn't know if I could pull of 12K words in 2 months. But a) the bang hasn't started yet, so I still have time to get shit done; b) one of the drafts I had lingering for a while is perfect for the event, so I'm just gonna repurpose and expand on that; and c) the server for the bang is full of super-supportive people, and they're gonna have semi-weekly writing seshes for everyone on the writing end of the bang (which is obvs what I'm doing). So with a little extra exec-function boosting juice (aka. coffee or tea, whichever's more convenient at the time), I should hopefully get through it scot-free. You will see my finished fic on here, of course, but the end of the bang's still a while off, so just hold on.

In terms of other creative endeavors, I am currently on my fifth? sixth? i don't know anymore... attempt at knitting a Sticky Fingers (JoJo) amigurumi to complement the Moody Blues one I made last year. Yet for some reason, I cannot get used to knitting it in a way that doesn't result in a bunch of gaps from loose stitches showing up in my work. I don't know if it's because I'm using joined needles as opposed to actual DPN's, or if it's because my yarn is being a dick. But hey, at least the unsuccessful attempts will make for good stuffing.

I also have more plans to go to cons! I know for sure I'm going to another online con this summer. I went to one last summer and it was pretty fun, and the one I have my eyes on is run by one of the people who ran a panel there, so hopefully that should indicate good quality for this one. I may or may not also try to go to an IRL local one, although apparently the ones in my area are a) essentially over-glorified dealer's rooms, and b) run by shitty people (at least, one of them is). So the jury's still out on whether or not I go to that one, although a bitch needs some IRL nerd interaction, so I might go anyway just to see if I can potentially make friends. But as stated earlier, I'm still going to the online one. Might post more details as that one looms closer, so people know where to find me then.

Finally, I'm hoping to get a tattoo over the summer. I've narrowed down the design (a black cat), the location (my calf), and the artist (one of two really good local traditional artists in my area -- whichever one I pick will depend on whose books open first). All that's left is to wait for a book opening, and then a good date and timeslot that won't interfere with anything else on my agenda.

So that's all for now with regards to my 24-year-old goals. Will I attain them? Only time will tell, but I should be able to. See y'all on the flip side.
eff_ess_oe: Edited fanart of Morbius with Steve Buscemi's eyes. From Vinesauce Joel's "Wish Dumpster Diving 6" (Default)
I've been on a city pop kick for the past 2 weeks. No clue why. This particular tune by Anri's probably been in the heaviest rotation on my YouTube playlist, but after discovering this fantastic remix, I think it'll displace the original. The jazz influences combined with the bass-boosted beat are just *chef's kiss*.


eff_ess_oe: Edited fanart of Morbius with Steve Buscemi's eyes. From Vinesauce Joel's "Wish Dumpster Diving 6" (Default)
So 2022's finally coming to an end, and I figure I may as well do a little highlight reel-type writeup of everything that's happened to me, both good and bad, as well as what I wanna do in the new year. Starting with the big milestones:

- I am now a full time worker! I was working at the same place part time starting 2021, but one of the full time people quit because of recurring injuries earlier this year. So now I've taken up her position, and now work an actual 40-hour Monday to Friday schedule. It eats up a LOT of time, but it also pays decently for my current living situation. So I'm satisfied with it for now.

- Next, I got my G2 driver's license! This means I can drive without having someone else in the passenger seat, and it also means I can drive practically anywhere. (However, I ain't touching the highways until spring hits. Not risking getting myself into a spinout with a fuckton of cars coming at me at over 100 km/h). Next year (or probably a little into the year after, lbr) I'm gonna try for my full G, and then I'm gonna be fully licensed! Fuck yes~

Now for some smaller accomplishments:

- I got back into UTAU. Still only using jinriki for the time being, but I am interested in using legit UTAU once I get the handle of CV voicebanks. (Yes, I know CV voicebanks exist for non-jinriki UTAU but idc.) I only put out two covers this year, but I do have another one in the works that'll hopefully be ready for release in a week if my executive dysfunction stays at bay.

- I attended FujoCon this summer. Of course, it was online, so "attended" is kind of a stretch bc I didn't have to leave my house whatsoever. But I did manage to put together a cosplay, participate in some of the games and panels they put on, and even get involved in a new fandom! (It's Nu: Carnival, if anyone's curious.) It was fun, and I'd definitely attend it or other online conventions again in the future.

- I've also started gaming more. There was a pretty big stretch last year where I didn't really play any video games because my clunky old Windows 7 laptop shat the bed when trying to run an RPG Maker MV game. But after testing out some of the Wolf RPG and RPG Maker VX Ace games I have on it, I found out that I can still play them OK. Plus, I got invested in two mobile games: the aforementioned Nu: Carnival, as well as Mega Man X Dive (although I haven't touched that one in over two months). Work and executive dysfunction have sorta killed my motivation for gaming recently, but hopefully I can muster up enough energy to have regular game seshes in the new year.

This year wasn't all sunshine and rainbows, though. I got COVID in May, which sucked big-time. Especially because my sister was visiting the same week I got it. I'm glad I was able to have my family help out wherever they could (from a safe distance, of course), but I still ended up going a bit stir crazy at the end of my isolation period. And the fact that I had to put off a night on the town with my sis until months later stung pretty bad, too. But I got through COVID relatively OK, and I'm fully vaxxed + up to date with my boosters, and I'm still quite careful wrt. masking and distancing, so hopefully I won't get it again. Emphasis on "hopefully".

Now as we pivot into 2023, here are some of my goals for the new year:

- Create more. I didn't put out nearly as much fic as I did in 2021, so I deffo have to start doing that. I do have several WIPs in the work, so hopefully I can haul them out of limbo and finish them. I also have a SHITTON of plot bunnies I want to expand on, so there's that as well. Plus, I signed up for a big bang, so that'll definitely motivate me to write more. And in terms of non-fic works, I got a tablet for Christmas that I've been trying out MediBang on, so hopefully that'll motivate me to do more drawing. And of course, I have a ton of UTAU ideas, including a few JJBA jinriki VBs.

- Get back into working out. I was working out at least every other day for the first half of last year, and I enjoyed it. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find the time to work out after getting my full-time job, so I'm gonna have to properly set a time that I can work out after that. Maybe I won't go right for the same intensity I was at last year, but even if I can get myself working out 1-3 times a week, I'll be satisfied.

- Get a better schedule for my nights after work. I have at least 6 hours after work every weekday before I go to bed, so hopefully I can budget that time into my creative work, workout time, and other stuff I didn't go into here. Unfortunately, executive dysfunction can be a pretty harsh mistress, so I don't know how much of a schedule I'll be able to keep up. But even if I reach all these other goals without this one specifically, I'll be happy.

So yeah, that's my 2023 plans in a nutshell. Hope it's gonna be a good one!
eff_ess_oe: Edited fanart of Morbius with Steve Buscemi's eyes. From Vinesauce Joel's "Wish Dumpster Diving 6" (Default)
So uh... Merry (Almost) Christmas to all who celebrate it. I don't know how to do a proper intro for this, but I'm just gonna say that this year's Christmas is... kinda weird for me. Last year I wasn't really in the most festive mood until Christmas Eve, but this year I've been pretty excited for it since the second week of December. And that train of excitement's been rolling for most of the month after that.

But starting yesterday afternoon, my neck of the woods got hit with a fucking MASSIVE snowstorm. The 401's been closed from Oshawa to Ottawa, train service is at a standstill, and I had a hard time getting home from work. Or rather, the cab company had a hard time getting me home. The app and the phone lines had some difficulty getting me connected for a good chunk of my time after work. Lucky for me, the front desk was able to call a cab via landline, and I got a ride after 10 minutes. But the poor cabbie had to a) scrape snow and ice off the wiper blades just before we hit the main road (as in: pull over, get out, wrestle with the scraper, and then get on the main road ASAP before the traffic light turn red), and b) struggle with the point-of-sale machine for a long time when i was trying to pay via debit. I managed to go inside and pay via cash (while also giving a big tip), but I couldn't help but feel for the poor guy. Hopefully he received a bunch of other good tips that day for his troubles.

So I was kinda frazzled yesterday, but that was able to die down in a decent amount of time. Our household had a nice little visit with Mom's BF where he helped start up our gas fireplace. We also had some homemade pizza, which was delicious. Then I spent the rest of the night surfing the web and gorging myself on candy. Which I guess isn't super "productive", but hey. I deserve to be unproductive after work kicking my ass plus the shitstorm that was getting home last night.

This morning also went pretty decent. I managed to clean a great deal of the house as well as finish up most of my laundry. Blasting Trans-Siberian Orchestra also enhanced the experience. But then I received the bad news: my little sister might not be able to come home for the holidays. Her original plan was to head out on Friday to get home, but as stated earlier, the 401 is closed, and the trains aren't doing so good. So she had to put her homecoming off until what should have been this morning. Unfortunately, weather complications have pushed it back until potentially late tomorrow morning/early afternoon. And even then, she might not be able to make it.

I mean, the older we get, the more likely we'll end up running into situations where the whole family can't be there for Christmas. People have jobs, people move away, storms hit, et cetera. But I think because this is the first year it's happened to me, it's kinda hitting harder than anticipated. Plus, there's the usual autistic frustration of having your plans change too soon, which I think is the biggest reason why I'm not feeling as happy as I usually am this time of year.

I don't know. I just feel weird. Like I said, it's probably due to expected plans changing so fast. But at the same time, I feel bad for my sister. I guess we're just gonna have to see how things play out. Whatevs. Happy holidays.
eff_ess_oe: Edited fanart of Morbius with Steve Buscemi's eyes. From Vinesauce Joel's "Wish Dumpster Diving 6" (Default)
So idk how many of y'all out there know this, but I am a massive sucker for fangames of shit I like. I've played Ace Attorney: The Contempt of Court 3 times since picking it up in 2020, The 7th Stand User has been sitting in my backlog for a good while (I'll start it up over the holidays, I swear), and lord knows I've lost a good few hours to bingeing reviews and LPs of fangames for a certain sit-and-survive horror juggernaut.

This one, however, was one of my most anticipated games of 2022, and my God, does it deliver. nosedive (stylized in all lowercase) is a visual novel created by rhoda_pomelo and winkblue based on Part 5 of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure -- specifically, on Bruabba. When it dropped and I played it through the first time, I knew I had to show it off to the world -- or at least, to my own little corner of the net. So here it is on YouTube. The audio sucks because I was recording through a crappy mic attached to my aux cord, but I have captions so you can tell what I'm saying. The audio will be better in the next installment, I swear.




As I said in the LP, the art is fucking GORGEOUS. rhoda_pomelo's pixel-sketch style really sets the mood for a noir point-and-click-style VN. I love the use of limited palettes and focus on one single color like the blue in the bar or the grey at the motel. Going off of that, there are some moments where another color pops in to add some contrast (e.g. the signs in the bar, the bushes by the motel) that I really appreciate. I can definitely see this color choice becoming more significant later on in the game, either as a way of adding symbolism with the colors in the limited palettes, or as a way of drawing attention with the contrasting-colored objects.

The writing is also top-notch. So far, the characters act just like they did in the original Part 5, but at the same time they feel like they're part of their own story. I'm usually picky with alternate universes in fic, but when the characters within them are written in this specific way, that's how I know it's a good one. Abbacchio and Mista's dynamic is also really entertaining with how they clap back at each other a lot, but still seem close (at least for now). The setting and atmosphere in the writing are super intriguing, leaving a bunch of questions that I can't wait to see answered in future installments.

My one gripe with the game is that it's so short -- however, as more chapters get added, I probably won't have that problem anymore.

Now, here are some of my theories/predictions for the game (under the cut, as we're getting into spoiler territory):

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eff_ess_oe: Edited fanart of Morbius with Steve Buscemi's eyes. From Vinesauce Joel's "Wish Dumpster Diving 6" (Default)
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