Very Late Last Day Off
Sep. 24th, 2024 11:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crossover_chickYeah, time got away from me a bit tonight on this, my last day of freedom -- but hey, at least I can tell you I had a pretty good day --
The Blues Brothers – As I indicated we would at the end of yesterday’s entry, we watched this classic from 1980 today (the Collector’s Edition with a bunch of the deleted scenes restored – half with lunch, half with supper), and – it was enjoyable! I wouldn’t call it “laugh out loud funny” (at least not to me – I suspect it’s way funnier when you’re more familiar with the original SNL skits for the characters), and it feels more like a collection of connected skits and over-the-top musical numbers than anything else (it’s one of those movies that can and will pause the action for someone to do an entire song – which makes sense, as there are a LOT of musicians doing cameos in this thing), it was enjoyably silly and a good ride. I can recommend watching it if you’ve got two hours to spare!
Tumblr: Got all the most important stuff done over here (by which I mean my queues for tomorrow are set, anyway) –
Victor Luvs Alice – Got a decent amount done over here, if not as much as I might have hoped –
A) Actually started last night with a pre-bed crawl of the “#blades in the dark” and “#severance” tags, dropping someone’s music video of clips of Severance set to “16 Tons” by Tennessee Ernie Ford into my drafts
B) Got the Multifandom Tiny Town Occults post sorted (if you’re curious – Smiler and Victor will be spellcasters, Alice a mermaid, Emmett a normal Scientist Sim, Mal a vampire, Preston probably a werewolf but also had ‘secret alien’ thoughts in tags, Wheatley a Servo) and put into the queue this evening, so tomorrow’s scheduled post is set
C) Did a little bit of editing on the rough draft I have for talking about the playbook I made up for The Advocates cult in Valicer In The Dark (had to break up some text blocks tumblr wasn’t keen on – honestly, I just have to fix the formatting entirely, it didn’t transfer well from the master doc)
D) And got a start on the write-up for the still-lacking-a-clever-name Valicer Severance AU, with why the gang is there (with some special notes on poor Smiler, who was basically kidnapped and illegally severed by their awful evil father :( )
So yeah – that’s not nothing! Still have to figure out the rest of my queue for this week, but maybe I can get that sorted tomorrow.
Valice Multiverse – Had another two asks for the queue tonight –
A) An anon ask for my “Valice Multiverse Meeting” ask game, wanting “Secundus meets Aperture Wage Slave” (I had Secundus!Victor holding back AWS!Victor from killing the Secundus version of Cave Johnson (since AWS!Victor can’t get at his back in his own universe), while the two Alices looked on and made pithy comments XD)
B) And Toonsisters commenting on how her wrist creaks like a cement roller from all the drawing she does, and stating she knows Victor shares her affliction (Cuddlepile!Victor was sure he didn’t – until he actually rotated his wrist, causing Smiler to comment that maybe Victor should look into getting a brace).
So that’s good, yay~ Always nice to have something for the queue here!
Writing: Did another chunk on “Londerland Bloodlines: Downtown Queensland” Chapter 3 today, with Alice mentally discussing the fact that she very much does not FEEL merely twenty with the residents of Wonderland as she leaves Confession (not that she really feels any younger or older either – more like having her childhood cut so short has kind of left her unmoored when it comes to her age in general). Wonderland’s counseled her to just accept that she’s never going to really feel her age again, and Alice is happy to do so. Mostly because she has much bigger problems to deal with, like a group of plague-spreading assholes. Left it with her preparing to follow Rabbit to a group of homeless people she could question about what might be making them feel ill – we’ll see who he finds and if they’re willing to talk tomorrow!
YouTube: Did indeed make today a YouTube Marathon Day (while I had the time to play Sims 4, I wasn’t feeling inspired to build anything, and I prefer to do long Chill Save sessions on Saturdays, soo…), clearing out the Watch Later and keeping up with the Subs –
A) First, we had a pair of OXtra lists to catch up on from both last week and this week –
I. “7 Humiliating Backpedals from Publishers Over Terrible Ideas” – Ellen and Mike talking about those times where game companies tried to screw their userbase over somehow, only for the backlash to force them to do the standard white-text-on-black-background apology and roll back their planned changes. Apex Legends wanted to offer smaller battle passes for real-world money when previously people could buy one big pass with the in-game currency? Their publisher had to walk that back after getting review-bombed. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided had the world’s stupidest tiered pre-order system where you would only get high-tier pre-order bonuses if enough people pre-ordered the game? Yeah, they stopped that shit after enough “I never asked for this” meme headlines in the gaming press. Gran Turismo 7 unbalanced their in-game economy by quietly encouraging players to pay real-world money for cars instead of buying them in-game with prize credits by dropping the amount of the prize pots? That ended with them not only doubling the amount of credits won in races in a patch, but also giving every player one million credits (which admittedly, did pacify Mike). And while it is nice to see a list of times where game companies bowed to the pressure of fans and stopped doing stupid shit (or at least did it in a less annoying manner), it’s a little depressing to think that there’s sure to be at least one commenter edition of more nonsense involving unwanted microtransactions, DRM, and unnecessary extra accounts in the future. *sigh* Oh video games, why are you like this.
II. “7 Weirdest Button Prompts That You Were Not Ready For: The Return” – Jane, Mike, and Andy (yes, on OXtra – I’d actually forgotten it wasn’t technically an OXBox list until Jane thanked Ellen for letting them use her channel at the end; apparently she’s taking a vacation) talking about those weird-ass button prompts you sometimes see in games. From Deadpool having the option to bitch-slap Wolverine as the titular character to wake him up after a plane crash (and you end up slapping him for a very, VERY long time); to Batman: Arkham Knight giving you a prompt at the very start of the game to cremate the dead Joker (after a WEIRDLY long hold on his dead face); to The Witcher III: Wild Hunt prompting Geralt to THROW A BABY IN AN OVEN to try and get a demonic entity out of said baby’s father by prompting it to attach to baby-ovener Geralt instead (THE BABY IS FINE, there’s a secret trap door in the other side of the oven through which a hidden friend grabs the baby before it gets cooked), these are the kind of button prompts that we just don’t expect to see in games! …Well, okay, the Deadpool one was probably expected, but you still get the point. :p
B) Then it was over to abidoang for “The Sims 4: 50 MORE BASE GAME FEATURES You Might Not Know!” Yup, the last video did well enough that Abi decided to go ahead and make a sequel! This list included how you unlock the Grilled Cheese Aspiration (eat three grilled cheeses in a row) and the benefits you get by completing it (Grilled Cheese painting options and the ability to summon a grilled cheese at will); how kids and toddlers can play in sand and how adults can draw in it (and how you can use fences and sandy terrain to thus make a sandbox for your family to play in); how you can take the “outfit category” and “masculine/feminine” filters off various clothing options to get every option for every category (meaning if you want to sleep in a wedding dress, you can); how to recolor ceilings with the new ceiling option in Build/Buy (if, you know, you pay attention to ceilings at all); the special traits your Sims can get from being either well-cared-for or neglected as infants, and from either getting to level 3 or maxing out all toddler skills as toddlers (which I BELIEVE are no longer bugged, but...); the fact that, if you turn your Sims to the side, you can set if they usually slouch or stand up straight in CAS by manipulating their back; the dangers of the backyard telescope and the death by meteorite that can result from not running inside when your Sim spots one; and the fact that if a Sim sees a hated enemy die, they will be happy instead of sad. Plus some commentary on how the Lin-Z Smart Speaker SHOULD give you special buffs if you set a wake-up routine on it, and how it’s SUPPOSED to summon maids and repairpeople to fix things on the lot, but is bugged all to hell right now and doesn’t work. And more of Abi letting people know “hey, all that cool Build/Buy stuff from the old ‘Happy At Home’ log-in event and the upcoming ‘Reaper’s Rewards’ one that you might not have? All up on the Gallery in rooms for you to use if you so desire.” XD Yes, people have ALREADY managed to crack the game and get the rewards for the event that started TODAY. Take THAT EA! XD
C) Then, for the last thing in the Watch Later, we had “Severance: last innies scene in the office” by old Artes! Featuring Irving, Helly, and Mark all leaving the office the night before Dylan is set to activate the Overtime Contingency and finally let them wake up in the outside world – and Helly and Mark joking about being married on the outside before Helly, right before leaving in the elevator, gave him a big kiss “just in case we don’t come back.” Yeah, the shipping feels are real, and I haven’t even seen the show properly. XD One day!
D) And finally, after supper, we had GrayStillPlays and “Taking YouTube clout to unreasonable extremes,” aka Gray plays more Happy Wheels! Today’s levels included the extremely elaborate “BottleStillPlays 9” (a bottle flip with a death timer that Gray kept getting, along with stuff like “Very Bad,” “Bad Pro,” and “Destroy Ears,” though he did manage stuff like “The God of Holes,” “Task failed successfully,” and the actual win eventually) and the very difficult “BottleRunPlays 3” (a bottle run that was made up of staggered wobbly lines of bottles rather than the usual single straight one – and no extra boosts, meaning Gray REALLY had to practice his flying skills to make it all the way to the end), both by sarahirish (who was VERY pleased in the comments to have both featured); a very well-made recreation of the first level of Super Mario Bros for Pogo Guy to bounce through; a challenging ball throw with multiple levels (where a wall kept moving to block the optimal place to throw – Gray got around it, but not without a little trouble); a very elaborate harpoon run that also featured things like bumps in the roads, spinning swords, and a bottle run (and also a secret win area with a flower – Gray made sure to leave Young Tom Hardy there so he could get mulched on the main board without having to censor any child death); a very difficult neon rope swing for Bike Dad featuring screaming faces and a midpoint ball fall (and Bike Dad once getting full-on stuck in the middle of a conveyor belt); and the Dylan Snider board of the episode, where Segway Nixon left his house (smashing up some people just trying to move a table) and proceeded to do increasingly difficult parkour for views (including crossing spinning platforms, glass-breaking his way down a hill, flying his way up a mountain with the help of fans, doing a jet fall, and finally launching himself from a cannon into a spike corridor). All excellent stuff, as always – I do love to see when the HW level makers bring their A game! :D
Workout: Another night on the bike, another night with “The finale of the Every Life Stage Challenge! - Part 8” by James Turner! Today’s half-hour chunklet featured a bit more house decoration and Semaj using his nice new kitchen for the first time, but was mainly focused around two things:
A) Getting Semaj and Nalani together as per Semaj’s “settle down with one of my DNA donors” goal – things went well there, with Semaj inviting Nalani over and getting cute and cuddly up on Pablo’s balcony (under cover, because, as usual, it was raining on their lot). They even had their first kiss up there! :) So hopefully Nalani will get to officially join the family soon. Would be nice if this challenge LP ended with a wedding...
B) Getting movie night set up for the family by creating an awesome basement theater area – funded by Kyrstoff’s paintings and Semaj having an excellent day at work doing another pirate shoot. It turned out really nice – James used platforms to do proper staggered seating and made sure there were enough chairs for everyone; did a stage underneath the main screen with fancy lights; put a scaled-down marquee over the door; and even did a little snack area near the back with popcorn and ice cream machines. Plus he put up movie posters everywhere, and stuck a prop pirate wheel by the stairs as a tribute to Semaj’s career on the silver screen. :) Granted, when I stopped for the day, James was having some trouble actually getting everyone SETTLED for movie night (as Sims are NOT GOOD at doing group tasks), but it’s the thought that counts, right? :p
So yeah – things are going pretty good so far! We’ll see if they continue to go well in the next chunklet – specifically, we’ll see if James can ACTUALLY wrangle all these Sims to watch a movie together. Fingers crossed! XD
Yeah, I'd say that's pretty good for my final day off. But now I have to hit the sheets, as I do have work again tomorrow. At least it's only three days! Night all!
The Blues Brothers – As I indicated we would at the end of yesterday’s entry, we watched this classic from 1980 today (the Collector’s Edition with a bunch of the deleted scenes restored – half with lunch, half with supper), and – it was enjoyable! I wouldn’t call it “laugh out loud funny” (at least not to me – I suspect it’s way funnier when you’re more familiar with the original SNL skits for the characters), and it feels more like a collection of connected skits and over-the-top musical numbers than anything else (it’s one of those movies that can and will pause the action for someone to do an entire song – which makes sense, as there are a LOT of musicians doing cameos in this thing), it was enjoyably silly and a good ride. I can recommend watching it if you’ve got two hours to spare!
Tumblr: Got all the most important stuff done over here (by which I mean my queues for tomorrow are set, anyway) –
Victor Luvs Alice – Got a decent amount done over here, if not as much as I might have hoped –
A) Actually started last night with a pre-bed crawl of the “#blades in the dark” and “#severance” tags, dropping someone’s music video of clips of Severance set to “16 Tons” by Tennessee Ernie Ford into my drafts
B) Got the Multifandom Tiny Town Occults post sorted (if you’re curious – Smiler and Victor will be spellcasters, Alice a mermaid, Emmett a normal Scientist Sim, Mal a vampire, Preston probably a werewolf but also had ‘secret alien’ thoughts in tags, Wheatley a Servo) and put into the queue this evening, so tomorrow’s scheduled post is set
C) Did a little bit of editing on the rough draft I have for talking about the playbook I made up for The Advocates cult in Valicer In The Dark (had to break up some text blocks tumblr wasn’t keen on – honestly, I just have to fix the formatting entirely, it didn’t transfer well from the master doc)
D) And got a start on the write-up for the still-lacking-a-clever-name Valicer Severance AU, with why the gang is there (with some special notes on poor Smiler, who was basically kidnapped and illegally severed by their awful evil father :( )
So yeah – that’s not nothing! Still have to figure out the rest of my queue for this week, but maybe I can get that sorted tomorrow.
Valice Multiverse – Had another two asks for the queue tonight –
A) An anon ask for my “Valice Multiverse Meeting” ask game, wanting “Secundus meets Aperture Wage Slave” (I had Secundus!Victor holding back AWS!Victor from killing the Secundus version of Cave Johnson (since AWS!Victor can’t get at his back in his own universe), while the two Alices looked on and made pithy comments XD)
B) And Toonsisters commenting on how her wrist creaks like a cement roller from all the drawing she does, and stating she knows Victor shares her affliction (Cuddlepile!Victor was sure he didn’t – until he actually rotated his wrist, causing Smiler to comment that maybe Victor should look into getting a brace).
So that’s good, yay~ Always nice to have something for the queue here!
Writing: Did another chunk on “Londerland Bloodlines: Downtown Queensland” Chapter 3 today, with Alice mentally discussing the fact that she very much does not FEEL merely twenty with the residents of Wonderland as she leaves Confession (not that she really feels any younger or older either – more like having her childhood cut so short has kind of left her unmoored when it comes to her age in general). Wonderland’s counseled her to just accept that she’s never going to really feel her age again, and Alice is happy to do so. Mostly because she has much bigger problems to deal with, like a group of plague-spreading assholes. Left it with her preparing to follow Rabbit to a group of homeless people she could question about what might be making them feel ill – we’ll see who he finds and if they’re willing to talk tomorrow!
YouTube: Did indeed make today a YouTube Marathon Day (while I had the time to play Sims 4, I wasn’t feeling inspired to build anything, and I prefer to do long Chill Save sessions on Saturdays, soo…), clearing out the Watch Later and keeping up with the Subs –
A) First, we had a pair of OXtra lists to catch up on from both last week and this week –
I. “7 Humiliating Backpedals from Publishers Over Terrible Ideas” – Ellen and Mike talking about those times where game companies tried to screw their userbase over somehow, only for the backlash to force them to do the standard white-text-on-black-background apology and roll back their planned changes. Apex Legends wanted to offer smaller battle passes for real-world money when previously people could buy one big pass with the in-game currency? Their publisher had to walk that back after getting review-bombed. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided had the world’s stupidest tiered pre-order system where you would only get high-tier pre-order bonuses if enough people pre-ordered the game? Yeah, they stopped that shit after enough “I never asked for this” meme headlines in the gaming press. Gran Turismo 7 unbalanced their in-game economy by quietly encouraging players to pay real-world money for cars instead of buying them in-game with prize credits by dropping the amount of the prize pots? That ended with them not only doubling the amount of credits won in races in a patch, but also giving every player one million credits (which admittedly, did pacify Mike). And while it is nice to see a list of times where game companies bowed to the pressure of fans and stopped doing stupid shit (or at least did it in a less annoying manner), it’s a little depressing to think that there’s sure to be at least one commenter edition of more nonsense involving unwanted microtransactions, DRM, and unnecessary extra accounts in the future. *sigh* Oh video games, why are you like this.
II. “7 Weirdest Button Prompts That You Were Not Ready For: The Return” – Jane, Mike, and Andy (yes, on OXtra – I’d actually forgotten it wasn’t technically an OXBox list until Jane thanked Ellen for letting them use her channel at the end; apparently she’s taking a vacation) talking about those weird-ass button prompts you sometimes see in games. From Deadpool having the option to bitch-slap Wolverine as the titular character to wake him up after a plane crash (and you end up slapping him for a very, VERY long time); to Batman: Arkham Knight giving you a prompt at the very start of the game to cremate the dead Joker (after a WEIRDLY long hold on his dead face); to The Witcher III: Wild Hunt prompting Geralt to THROW A BABY IN AN OVEN to try and get a demonic entity out of said baby’s father by prompting it to attach to baby-ovener Geralt instead (THE BABY IS FINE, there’s a secret trap door in the other side of the oven through which a hidden friend grabs the baby before it gets cooked), these are the kind of button prompts that we just don’t expect to see in games! …Well, okay, the Deadpool one was probably expected, but you still get the point. :p
B) Then it was over to abidoang for “The Sims 4: 50 MORE BASE GAME FEATURES You Might Not Know!” Yup, the last video did well enough that Abi decided to go ahead and make a sequel! This list included how you unlock the Grilled Cheese Aspiration (eat three grilled cheeses in a row) and the benefits you get by completing it (Grilled Cheese painting options and the ability to summon a grilled cheese at will); how kids and toddlers can play in sand and how adults can draw in it (and how you can use fences and sandy terrain to thus make a sandbox for your family to play in); how you can take the “outfit category” and “masculine/feminine” filters off various clothing options to get every option for every category (meaning if you want to sleep in a wedding dress, you can); how to recolor ceilings with the new ceiling option in Build/Buy (if, you know, you pay attention to ceilings at all); the special traits your Sims can get from being either well-cared-for or neglected as infants, and from either getting to level 3 or maxing out all toddler skills as toddlers (which I BELIEVE are no longer bugged, but...); the fact that, if you turn your Sims to the side, you can set if they usually slouch or stand up straight in CAS by manipulating their back; the dangers of the backyard telescope and the death by meteorite that can result from not running inside when your Sim spots one; and the fact that if a Sim sees a hated enemy die, they will be happy instead of sad. Plus some commentary on how the Lin-Z Smart Speaker SHOULD give you special buffs if you set a wake-up routine on it, and how it’s SUPPOSED to summon maids and repairpeople to fix things on the lot, but is bugged all to hell right now and doesn’t work. And more of Abi letting people know “hey, all that cool Build/Buy stuff from the old ‘Happy At Home’ log-in event and the upcoming ‘Reaper’s Rewards’ one that you might not have? All up on the Gallery in rooms for you to use if you so desire.” XD Yes, people have ALREADY managed to crack the game and get the rewards for the event that started TODAY. Take THAT EA! XD
C) Then, for the last thing in the Watch Later, we had “Severance: last innies scene in the office” by old Artes! Featuring Irving, Helly, and Mark all leaving the office the night before Dylan is set to activate the Overtime Contingency and finally let them wake up in the outside world – and Helly and Mark joking about being married on the outside before Helly, right before leaving in the elevator, gave him a big kiss “just in case we don’t come back.” Yeah, the shipping feels are real, and I haven’t even seen the show properly. XD One day!
D) And finally, after supper, we had GrayStillPlays and “Taking YouTube clout to unreasonable extremes,” aka Gray plays more Happy Wheels! Today’s levels included the extremely elaborate “BottleStillPlays 9” (a bottle flip with a death timer that Gray kept getting, along with stuff like “Very Bad,” “Bad Pro,” and “Destroy Ears,” though he did manage stuff like “The God of Holes,” “Task failed successfully,” and the actual win eventually) and the very difficult “BottleRunPlays 3” (a bottle run that was made up of staggered wobbly lines of bottles rather than the usual single straight one – and no extra boosts, meaning Gray REALLY had to practice his flying skills to make it all the way to the end), both by sarahirish (who was VERY pleased in the comments to have both featured); a very well-made recreation of the first level of Super Mario Bros for Pogo Guy to bounce through; a challenging ball throw with multiple levels (where a wall kept moving to block the optimal place to throw – Gray got around it, but not without a little trouble); a very elaborate harpoon run that also featured things like bumps in the roads, spinning swords, and a bottle run (and also a secret win area with a flower – Gray made sure to leave Young Tom Hardy there so he could get mulched on the main board without having to censor any child death); a very difficult neon rope swing for Bike Dad featuring screaming faces and a midpoint ball fall (and Bike Dad once getting full-on stuck in the middle of a conveyor belt); and the Dylan Snider board of the episode, where Segway Nixon left his house (smashing up some people just trying to move a table) and proceeded to do increasingly difficult parkour for views (including crossing spinning platforms, glass-breaking his way down a hill, flying his way up a mountain with the help of fans, doing a jet fall, and finally launching himself from a cannon into a spike corridor). All excellent stuff, as always – I do love to see when the HW level makers bring their A game! :D
Workout: Another night on the bike, another night with “The finale of the Every Life Stage Challenge! - Part 8” by James Turner! Today’s half-hour chunklet featured a bit more house decoration and Semaj using his nice new kitchen for the first time, but was mainly focused around two things:
A) Getting Semaj and Nalani together as per Semaj’s “settle down with one of my DNA donors” goal – things went well there, with Semaj inviting Nalani over and getting cute and cuddly up on Pablo’s balcony (under cover, because, as usual, it was raining on their lot). They even had their first kiss up there! :) So hopefully Nalani will get to officially join the family soon. Would be nice if this challenge LP ended with a wedding...
B) Getting movie night set up for the family by creating an awesome basement theater area – funded by Kyrstoff’s paintings and Semaj having an excellent day at work doing another pirate shoot. It turned out really nice – James used platforms to do proper staggered seating and made sure there were enough chairs for everyone; did a stage underneath the main screen with fancy lights; put a scaled-down marquee over the door; and even did a little snack area near the back with popcorn and ice cream machines. Plus he put up movie posters everywhere, and stuck a prop pirate wheel by the stairs as a tribute to Semaj’s career on the silver screen. :) Granted, when I stopped for the day, James was having some trouble actually getting everyone SETTLED for movie night (as Sims are NOT GOOD at doing group tasks), but it’s the thought that counts, right? :p
So yeah – things are going pretty good so far! We’ll see if they continue to go well in the next chunklet – specifically, we’ll see if James can ACTUALLY wrangle all these Sims to watch a movie together. Fingers crossed! XD
Yeah, I'd say that's pretty good for my final day off. But now I have to hit the sheets, as I do have work again tomorrow. At least it's only three days! Night all!
