heyo. extremely dry opening this month because idk what to say. hope you're doing well :)
i'm vaguely hanging out in gemini more often, so i'll link my capsule again. if you're unfamiliar with gemini, it's an internet protocol like http, which we use on the web. i dunno technical details but it's really pared down to nearly text-only (although images are possible and i think audio / basically any other file is too. they're just not the focus). anyway you'll need a client. i use lagrange. but hey it's by design free of ads, tracking and the like, so by extension corporations in general. anyway, i've started a little art share over there, just links to pieces i particularly liked that week. gemini has a lot of techies and not enough artists is my opinion, so i'm doing my part a little bit.
my usual link share and stuff:
ok so last month i said about mamma mia! (2008), and i quote: "shame they never made a sequel :)". i'd like to retract that statement after watching this video. i'm obsessed.
spomenik database is pretty cool. it documents yugoslav wwii memorials
remember vulvine reine d'extase (2022)? i posted it last november and then it got taken down everywhere. it's back up. check it out
broider, a tool for designing css borders. can look pretty neat!
pony express, post-apocalyptic lesbian cowgirl cyoa babeyy. patreon is the least ideal place for serialized fiction that i can think of but you gotta do what you gotta do. the format is so hard though.... what do you mean i gotta wait two weeks for the vampire nun kiss >_<
artfight
it's that time of the year again baby! my profile is more or less the best way to view these with all proper attributions and stuff. and also see my defenses! i'm very grateful for all the art i got, love seeing my little guys ^_^
this cool fella is garblegarden's. check out their website! paintings don't tend to look great indexed (i jpeg them) but i think it looks kinda cool here
personal art
you know what, i get to make fanart of my own project (which is itself derivative of a dead italian man). as a treat.
crop
media
games
signalis (2022): ok i've finished this game and i'm sososo glad i bit the bullet. avoiding enemies was such a good balance of nervewracking and cathartic. looks gorgeous, aesthetics and themes pulled directly from my brain (RUSTED METAL AND PULSATING MEAT AND LESBIAN TRAGEDY AND CYCLES BABEY!! also isle of the dead is just a (well, four) hauntingly beautiful painting(s); i adore it/them). lovely ost. honestly it deserves to be in the survival horror pantheon. such an invigorating game! by the way there's a decent selection of cheats through the debug menu. somebody tell the person from that silent hill walking sim mode post — ghost disables enemy ai. it's always my favorite kind of cheat, sometimes i just wanna take a look at enemies and stuff you know? should pair well with the third and first person mods too. anyway, really really good game!
ultrakill (2020): gave this bad boy a second chance, and i'm glad i did, because it really is a great time. it's very intense (physically got my blood pumping), and the nailgun feels so fucking good (i hadn't got to that point last time). some maps can be hard to find the way around (i have a poor sense of direction) but it's fine. that happens to me in every single game without a map basically. anyway i always find it cool when a game is easy to pick up but you can feel the depth of movement tech moving under the surface, it's super cool. i haven't got the hang of much yet (still figuring out consistent coin punching) but the sandbox is fun regardless. and in any case you can just hit the bricks in a lot of places. just don't fight (fuck the kills ranking). btw the 5-s speedrun is. something. (1-s as well)
heaven will be mine (2018): played the pluto route now. i love this vn bro
movies and series
irma vep (1996): subs for some reason were only for the french parts and there's a lot of very heavily accented english that i was fighting for my life to process. wasn't even worth it tbh, movie's boring as hell. nothing fucking happens. no stakes. not even any drama really.
the wicker man (1973): i'd forgotten christopher lee was nearly two meters tall. the scenes with him and the cop are so funny. he's so short and pathetic lmao. rather annoying when a film has several different versions like this because i'm not too sure what cut i did watch and the subtitles were all a mess. stremio is free but you pay in other ways. as for the movie, not much in terms of horror (as a brazilian trans dyke in 2023) tbh but it's interesting and well made. it's a good movie, especially if viewed as a murder mystery.
the favourite (2018): nick hoult is in here and he's so fun. i really like the costumes, they are very pretty and nicely stylized — the black and white is very striking and good god when sarah wears a coat and breeches...... got me acting unwise she's so handsome. i really don't care for emma stone, but she's actually quite good on this role, i think she might be at her best in period stuff instead of modern movies where she's just some white pseudo-attractive girl. here's a very anya taylor-joy role, and i must say she ate. very good movie! it's just so fun! love me a dark comedy with terrible women.
silent hill (2006): sean bean is in this movie?? his scenes are so pointless and few and far between that i kinda only remembered his character existed while he was on screen and he vanished from my mind the rest of the time (his scenes weren't in the original script and added bc there weren't any male characters. you could just excise them and the movie wouldn't be any different). why's his name chris da silva. why's there a cop with the surname gucci. i think rose's haircut is so nice and i like her outfit, it's very silent hill -core (positive), i'd love to have her boots. the effects do suffer rom being 2006 cg, especially when they take up most of the screen like with swarms and stuff. what is pyramid head doing here. who invited him. anyway i'm being mean but i don't actually think the movie is terrible (i've watched worse) (although i wish it wasn't two whole hours). it's not an easy source material to adapt directly, so i guess it doesn't try (girl where are the themes). but it's a decent 2/5 movie, it has its moments, there's some pretty nice tense scenes (the guy in the bathroom, the nurse corridor).
vampire in the garden (2022): i've finished it and it's good.... it's in that spot where i really wish it was longer not because it's unfulfilling as is but because i wish i could spend more time with it. liked it very much. added it to the page because i feel it's close enough to deserve a spot.
mobile suit gundam: the witch from mercury (2022-): also finally caught up / finished. just realized suletta and miorine have the same haircut... and that's my current diy haircut as well. anyway it's good! the ending is pretty cute but i wish there'd been just a little more of it?
nimona (2023): ahh it's really nice and cute! i think the profound changes to story and structure were a good call, because it stops the temptation to compare it with the graphic novel (it's so much easier to get hater brain and focus on what it does wrong). of course i am put off by the disney ass artstyle. make those eyes tiny dots or so help me god. i'm also sad goldenloin doesn't have long hair :( but at least the rats are very cute. also killer design for nimona's beast form, that was super cool
jacob's ladder (1990): macaulay caulkin jumpscare..... the movie is fucking good. the hellish / horror sequences are great. i might have cheered and clapped at the subway scene (← guy who's only played silent hill). honestly though it's truly very good. love the ambiguity and convolution!!
the super mario bros. movie (2023): they dared ask — and answer — the question 'what if a movie was just easter eggs'. it's fun honestly. wish there was more luigi :(
barbie (2023): the movie is pretty good and very funny! but. it was really weakened by the lack of lesbianism in a plot that was all about gender. you can see it buckling without the support beam of dykeness. the movie is like your feminist friend who's always complaining about men but gets distant when she finds out you're a lesbian. i'm still getting my thoughts in order for a proper full review / analysis, so check back in a few days.
books and manga
body after body (briar ripley page): SO SO GOOD. new mandatory reading. converted into an epub for kindle reading very nicely btw.
the king in yellow (robert w. chambers): reread a couple stories, because of signalis ^_^ but then i dropped it bc i'm not that much into it tbh
because internet (gretchen mcculloch): i don't remember where i saw this recommended, but it was someone i trust, because i wouldn't have bothered otherwise; i went into it afraid it was gonna be rather shallow as someone who raised themselves online. it's actually fairly interesting, and a pretty quick read.
house of hunger (alexis henderson): did not care for the worldbuilding from the start and should have taken it as a warning. there's something about certain contemporary fiction writers where it all seems too perfect. even as the world is bigoted and unjust, the protagonist is not, and by god we'll be made aware of it. get off twitter and let your stories be messy and complicated. people get the concept of "representation" wrong and it's so damaging to storytelling it drives me crazy. this should have had a YA tag so i wouldn't have bothered. i'd have liked it when i read romeo and juliet and vampires in one sitting at age ~13 but it's just not as dark and gothic and atmospheric as it intended to be. the story is commonplace, the characters unexplored, the toxic codependent relationship absent. it's mid. at least it's a quick read. wound up writing a lot about it on storygraph
carrie (stephen king): re-read. carrie my friend carrie i love this book so much. i love the writing style and structure and of course the story is great and heart breaking. one of my fav books, i often think "damn wish i was reading carrie rn" and for such good reason. you simply have got to read it.
ghostland: an american history in haunted places (colin dickey): kinda overstayed its welcome with me? i should have dual wielded and read like two chapters at a time, it got a bit repetitive / boring. but i really do appreciate the angle here. it keeps from being just a retelling of ghosts stories (some i already knew because i listened to a lot of lore podcast until it became just spiritualism all the time. tell me more about the aliens and werewolves 🙄. there's an episode about a brazilian ufo case but i don't remember which. i don't think it's varginha. might be misremembering tbh) and addresses misinformation and historical context, which is quite nice.
the fifth season (n k jemisin): reread, it's been yearsss. love this book :)
elric of melniboné (michael moorcock): couldn't really get into it. that might be on me. it's just boring?
surrealist art (sarane alexandrian): grabbed it at the used bookshop, mostly as a physical source of inspiration. which is good, because it's from 1969 and not really interested on problematizing... anything really. dali was still alive even. eh whatever. it's decent for what it is. where's remedios varo though
sisters of the forsaken stars (lina rather): i read the first one forever ago. space nuns novella, of course i read it. it's pretty fun but a bit too short, it had enough story for a full length novel and could have used the extra word count pretty well
