hiiii how are you i'm going insane! first thesis defense thing right around the corner! it's not actually the real deal yet, more like idk a mid-year check up thingaring? anyway! i'm not nervous yet but you know how it is. i need to make a goddamn slide presentation which i abhor. mostly because i didn't realize i'd need it (even though it makes complete sense in retrospect) so it's like i suddenly have this extra work to do right when i was planning to rest -_-
new on the site: i start to fulfill a months old promise. dataplankton! now up! will get updated sporadically as i draw stuff for it. i've a lot written already but idk i think it could use more of an ending as well. who knows what i'll end up doing. glad i finally got to post Something though. ALSO!! i started posting sewing magazine scans! scanning is rotten work so it's currently a singular issue along with some covers, but it's a start and i finally got to use this cute layout i made a while back. next on the to-do list is photographing the larger magazine covers (they don't fit my scanner) but that'll have to wait until the semester is over i think. i really hope you like these :D
i've been dying squirtle. here's all i can offer, digitally at least. i really wanted to make a complete rendered artwork start to finish on azpainter, to figure a workflow out, but i simply did not have the brains. hopefully artfight will fix me a little bit. i've no hope of making one attack per day like last year, but i should manage one per week, and make them a little more polished like i've been longing to do. overall, i think that's something i'm feeling the need of, slowing down. easier said than done though. as usual, linked to the originals on tumblr
extremely exciting news!!!!! i got a ps2 AND a dance pad (and ddrx)! the ps2 itself was such a good price too, it's hacked and it came with two controllers (and a pirated copy of street fighter alpha anthology lol) so i'm basically all set for everything now. i don't have any gaming plans but the world is my oyster. i'd like to give tony hawk's pro skater 3 a go, and i might eventually get guitar hero :3 oh and there's also ico, shadow of the colossus, hitman 2, mgs3, yakuza, silent hill 2... and ps1 games too! much to think about!
also a fun fact about me: my first encounter with the konami code was actually through playing 30 lives on ddr. it was probably years until i found out about the cheat itself and whenever i read it it's on a kinda sing-songy way. this game's songs are embedded real fucking deep in my brain. you know how it is with rhythm games.
i also played hamtaro: ham-hams unite!, which is a really cute gbc game, and the legend of zelda: phantom hourglass which was pretty fun! it uses the ds hardware really well, really interesting use of the touchscreen and the dual screen, but um. for the first few hours i kept thinking about how i wished this was tunic instead. the extreme linearity felt super contrived (that might be the post-tunic 2022 mindset being applied to a 2007 game, but the "roadblocks" felt even more arbitrary than in fucking pokemon. where they put dancing clowns on roads. and i do also hate pokemon's heavy railroading but i digress), and some segments were extremely frustrating (like the invisible boss and the FOUR annoying ass arachnophobic escorts on the ghost ship). i also think it should be illegal for games to use the microphone, and i hate the cutscenes for like. doors opening and shit.
all in all, the ds had a lot going for it and hourglass is really cool and innovative but also has all the annoying zelda traits of testing your patience constantly. but it's not the game's fault for coming out in 2007 i guess. one thing though is it strengthened my desire to have a portable soulsborne. a ds for the ds if you will. a mix of d-pad (or thumbstick) and touchscreen input, as well as the left shoulder.. could be neat. i mean, strictly speaking, you don't need any funky controls (see bbpsx) but come on it'd be a waste not to add that fun gimmick in, although touch screen combat is rather cumbersome and most certainly not precise... whatever. just leave me to my silly dreams of playing dark souls cozy in bed (although demon's souls would probably adapt better, given it's clearly divided in worlds and stages).
oh and now a zelda fun fact about me: whenever i play a loz game i put my own name out of habit, only to immediately regret it as soon as it's used in-game. like his name is link. i think it's funny just how much link is his own character, for a silent protagonist. maybe it's different in the earlier games? but it's just super hard-wired in my brain that you play loz as link, and not yourself.
since the first semester's gone and i've read so much already, i'd like to pick my favorite first time reads of the year so far. very highly recommended!
non-fiction: robin wall kimmerer's braiding sweetgrass + kate crawford's atlas of AI
fiction: leslie feinberg's stone butch blues + ursula k le guin's the dispossessed
well, that's all folks! see you soon :)