Entry tags:
Face all made up, living on a screen
A pretty blue scarf appeared on the ground outside my apartment, and after it had been a day or two and nobody had come to reclaim it, I took it inside and threw it in my washing machine. Unfortunately, the fabric turned out to have a lot of small runs in it, and what I thought at first was dirt turned out to be weird brown shading. Thought I could maybe save the less brown flowers on it for applique or something, but it also smelled strangely like oil even after going through the machine twice, so alas. I tried.
Been playing someHarvest Moon Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns lately - I picked it up a while ago and then forgot about it - and I think it might be my favorite farming sim ever already. I like the mechanics, usual boring fishing aside, the character events have almost all been really fun so far, and I enjoy having multiple festivals and multiple towns with different themes. The two things that have impressed me the most so far are:
1) You have a family!!! Not just a blank-slate 'your dead grandpa owned a farm' backstory family, but one with personality and presence. They write you letters, and you can write letters to them. Your mom and sister even come to stay over once in a while!
2) As you gain reputation with the towns, you end up making actual changes to the infrastructure, and the characters' dialogue changes to recognize it. It really makes the world feel less static and like you're more of a part of the community, even if you character has only been there a few months, haha.
You can also have a pet capybara :D All the game needs is gay marriage and less Wayne.
I finished a YOI AMV that has been sitting on my brain for a couple of years. Probably devoted too much time to it this week, but it was a lot of fun to make, and I am quite happy with how it ended up. Editing it also had me ruminating a lot on what Victor might have been going through pre-canon and what parts of that could continue even after his romance with Yuuri, which is pretty relevant to the fic I'm writing.
(And editing in the younger Victor clips also made me think of how parts of FS fandom are weirdly - not necessarily that kind of weirdly - into kids who aren't even old enough for juniors and the way that coaches and parents can now push very young kids on social media in a way that just couldn't happen twenty years ago. I'm not against posting the occasional video, but there's a difference between celebrating your child and trying to build a brand off of them. And it's almost always jumps that get the real attention; people will repost a video of a nine-year-old girl trying ultra-hard jumps all over the place, which comes with its own issues, but how often do you see 'wow, look at the skating skills on this kid'? Sasha Trusova's parents started selling her biography when she was what, 15, 16? When she still hasn't won any championships yet? TBH, sometimes I even feel a little concerned about the junior GP videos when the participants are on the younger side; 13 still seems young for having thousands of strangers on the internet critiquing and stanning you.)
Speaking of figure skating! I watched some of the Lombardia Trophy this weekend when the stream stopped going out every thirty seconds, and while I am sad for Ivett Toth (I wonder if she's still struggling with post-Covid issues?), Katya Kurakova is looking good! There were some other interesting programs and music choices, too. The only thing I've watched out of Russian test skates was Misha's SP (okay considering they just switched it, but I wish Mishin had let him keep the Nutcracker program) and T/M's SP, which I saw praise for beforehand that I don't understand after watching it. Half the choreo is basic 'turn around and wave your arm on the ding', the other half is stolen from someone else, they at least took out the WE music so it's not a total Recycled Janny Music show but the music cut is both terribly done and terribly placed, and I guess the Pygmalion theme matches their emoting abilities but seemed kind of sexist. It made me feel like it was trying to be S/M's magical Olympic FS. I also saw Kanadai's new performances, and wow, I don't know much about ice dance, but they improved a lot from last year's Nationals. Really hoping they keep the matching ponytails/buns, too, because it's adorable *_*
Been playing some
1) You have a family!!! Not just a blank-slate 'your dead grandpa owned a farm' backstory family, but one with personality and presence. They write you letters, and you can write letters to them. Your mom and sister even come to stay over once in a while!
2) As you gain reputation with the towns, you end up making actual changes to the infrastructure, and the characters' dialogue changes to recognize it. It really makes the world feel less static and like you're more of a part of the community, even if you character has only been there a few months, haha.
You can also have a pet capybara :D All the game needs is gay marriage and less Wayne.
I finished a YOI AMV that has been sitting on my brain for a couple of years. Probably devoted too much time to it this week, but it was a lot of fun to make, and I am quite happy with how it ended up. Editing it also had me ruminating a lot on what Victor might have been going through pre-canon and what parts of that could continue even after his romance with Yuuri, which is pretty relevant to the fic I'm writing.
(And editing in the younger Victor clips also made me think of how parts of FS fandom are weirdly - not necessarily that kind of weirdly - into kids who aren't even old enough for juniors and the way that coaches and parents can now push very young kids on social media in a way that just couldn't happen twenty years ago. I'm not against posting the occasional video, but there's a difference between celebrating your child and trying to build a brand off of them. And it's almost always jumps that get the real attention; people will repost a video of a nine-year-old girl trying ultra-hard jumps all over the place, which comes with its own issues, but how often do you see 'wow, look at the skating skills on this kid'? Sasha Trusova's parents started selling her biography when she was what, 15, 16? When she still hasn't won any championships yet? TBH, sometimes I even feel a little concerned about the junior GP videos when the participants are on the younger side; 13 still seems young for having thousands of strangers on the internet critiquing and stanning you.)
Speaking of figure skating! I watched some of the Lombardia Trophy this weekend when the stream stopped going out every thirty seconds, and while I am sad for Ivett Toth (I wonder if she's still struggling with post-Covid issues?), Katya Kurakova is looking good! There were some other interesting programs and music choices, too. The only thing I've watched out of Russian test skates was Misha's SP (okay considering they just switched it, but I wish Mishin had let him keep the Nutcracker program) and T/M's SP, which I saw praise for beforehand that I don't understand after watching it. Half the choreo is basic 'turn around and wave your arm on the ding', the other half is stolen from someone else, they at least took out the WE music so it's not a total Recycled Janny Music show but the music cut is both terribly done and terribly placed, and I guess the Pygmalion theme matches their emoting abilities but seemed kind of sexist. It made me feel like it was trying to be S/M's magical Olympic FS. I also saw Kanadai's new performances, and wow, I don't know much about ice dance, but they improved a lot from last year's Nationals. Really hoping they keep the matching ponytails/buns, too, because it's adorable *_*