Bread is not spooky. It's delicious. But what if... this is PUMPKIN BREAD?!?!?! SPOOOOOOOOOKYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
Or not. Lol.
"DARK" Inktober 2019
Here we see a spooky Jack-O-Lantern! I actually kinda like this one! It looks friendly but still off-putting :)
"COAT" Inktober 2019
Yes, that's a coat with a trio of long bloody gashes down the back. But whose is it? Is it Spencer's? Was he wearing it during the Romania Incident? I don't know!
"RIDE" Inktober 2019
Here we see a strange little creature, something I'll call a Minor Vexation, riding an unwitting victim and causing him distress.
"INJURED" Inktober 2019
Poor Spencer. He's got cuts on his arm, a bandage on his neck, and a six hour flight to Poughkeepsie...
"CATCH" Inktober 2019
Is... is this Reggie or Spencer? I can't tell. I'm not 100% sure who this is, but they're getting menaced by the Negative big-time.
"RIPE" Inktober 2019
This one's a bit obscure. I'm working on some mythologies for the world of Spook Patrol, and one of the locations is an orchard where supposedly a lot of witches were hanged and/or burned. Called the Witch Grove or the Black Orchard, all of the plants that grow there bear black fruit - apples, plums, peaches, pears, pumpkins, corn, everything.
The white snake biting the apple might be a witch's familiar, or it could be a vegan viper. Not sure :P
Remember my bubble art? I had to restart it :| Not getting done before midnight, either :(
Unfortunately for me, the original got kinda... chocolatey. Oops. Shouldn't have left it laying around.
Still, this gave me an opportunity to restart it with a more cohesive pattern/style. I kinda like it more now, even if the phallic imagery is still a bit obvious... ah well. That's what you're going to get when you use Cardinal Directions as your basis...
I promise, I did an actual Talk About Tuesday last night, but I fell asleep before posting it, so here it is, lol.
With that out of the way, here are my thoughts on wrestling this week/last week:
AEW
I finally posted my live reactions bc I'm a derp and didn't realize I'd hit "save" instead of "post"...
I am so looking forward to both tonight's episode and also Full Gear. It's gonna rock.
I hope the internet doesn't poop itself tonight like it did last week during the Joey Janela vs Kenny Omega match. I'm still fuming that I missed that :(
NWA
Powerrr continues to not be everyone's cup of tea.
I dig that - it's wrestling for a very niche group of people, but it's a group who have been utterly ignored for years now, and I love studio wrestling. I love the way fans interact with the program, the slightly-terrified and by-the-seat-of-your-pants nature of the booking... it's very dynamic
Aldis is continuing to be God's gift to wrestling, and I love this petty, stupid storyline with Kamille.
Aron Stevens is a treasure and must be treated as such, which is hilarious because he also keeps losing. But it's the kind of failing upwards that a true theatrical heel does, so it's hilarious and builds his character rather than diminishing it.
The Jobbers on Powerrr continue to be awe-inspiring. Lovely.
This is good stuff.
MLW
Not much to report, bc I'm still not caught up, but I understand that there are some injuries :( That sucks. I like these guys.
They did hire a new guy for the writers' room, though, and I hear he's great!
WWE
Oh man. What can I say that hasn't already been said?
The Jordan Myles shirt is inescapably racist, and to have that abomination come out right around the same time as the "I don't care about your stupid feelings" shirt should tell everyone that the WWE are racist as heck and still support the abominable Saudi government and its horrific overreaches of power. This is a Bad Company.
I had no idea that ACH (Jordan Myles) had so many problems with Jay Lethal. I could've lived without knowing just how huge a problem ACH has with Lethal :|
ACH is absolutely not going to AEW - the Office Boys like Lethal too much
While ACH is 100% right to be furious with the WWE for backing him into a corner and basically telling him to like the shirt before revealing it on a black background and solidifying its racist image, he probably shouldn't have turned it into a blast session about everything he's annoyed by.
One fury at a time, dude. Let us process each one so we can properly side with you against the obvious racism of a company that thought blackface was okay in the 1990s.
On another note, the Rusev/Lana/Lashley triangle storyline is wretched and needs to die a death. Seriously, what is Vince's big issue with letting wrestlers be fricken married?! Leave the Lana/Rusev relationship alone!
Also the writing just sucks on this storyline. It's not edgy. It wasn't edgy in the 80s when they tried it with Macho/Ms Elizabeth/Hogan. It's just dumb.
Let people have happy relationships. We don't all live in the trailer park with your abusive stepdad, Vince. That's literally just you.
IMPACT
Where the heck is all this money coming from that they keep buying wrestlers from MLW?
Seriously, who is the money mark?
And can I get a job? lol
That's my brief take on the wrestling landscape for today. I hope it was at least somewhat coherent!
Hopefully, tonight, I'll be able to write my "Live Reaction" notes as I'm watching and not have to retype them when I get home and then forget to hit "post" again lol!
Lucha Bros vs Private Party
Crowd is insanely hot
Quinn slowing his steps bc too tall?
Dueling lb pp chants
Cassidy has instant chemistry w everyone
Quinn flies so easily it's nuts
Pp are like some teenager's create a wrestler Marty Stu tag team they're so perfect
Lb are so creatively brutal
Love that they're working Quinn's butt
Are these guys ... real? This is insane.
Uh... fix the pyro I see smoke
Wow
This match is incredible
Shark scream!
They're avoiding the area w smoke now lol
Arm go snap
I knew it had to be LB but wow does it feel competitive here!
Intro package for Wardlow
Hey! PINK Shirt is here!
No CD tonight. Home recovering.
SCU vs Dark Order
Kaz and Skye look great
Dark Order look great tooooo
Creepers gonna Creep
I'm okay with either team winning
Kaz is so cool
Dayum Skye...
Grayson is great
Commercials
SCU manhandled during break
Oh boy. Inner Circle. Meh.
They're in crowd not ring
Kaz! So good!
That pin attempt tho
Could not care less abt Inner Circle. Not an og nwo fan. Meh.
Wow! I figured it'd be do vs lb, but it's SCU!
Missing out on Cody backstage bc commercial break. Boo.
Joey Janela vs Kenny Omega!
Internet sucking
***
Had to back out and restart. Missing start of match
Was it bc of Kenny? Probably
Both men are incredible
They act like they hate each other! <3 p="">Kenny flies out of ring, lands beside light cool.
At least now we get to see the in-ring when they cut back to the Inner Circle
"JELLY" sign, for some reason
"VINCE FEARS KHAN" sign
ADD MORE BANDWIDTH, PLZ
We've buffered 12x already, I'm missing this match
Joey on turnbuckle, Kenny running up - BUFFERING
Not happy.
Joey off top rope! BUFFERING
Chop, chop, LOADING, COMMERCIALS?!?!?!?!?!
TNT... what is this :( >
Guess I'll have to find another way to watch this match.
Nugenix ads are so WCW
This buffering SUCKS
Is it us? 7.3mbps internet... bleh.
May have to find a new "source" for this ep
Match prob over now. Boo.
Back in time for more commercials. Boo.
Wonder who won...
Tony, Cody (very pleased!) in-ring, Inner Circle w. Air Horns
If I were Chris I'd be very careful about being a prick to MY BOSS (Cody = Exec VP, Jericho = hired talent)
Cody and Chris screaming at each other!
DUSTIN! Incoming!
MJF! Who'd have thought I'd be happy to see him?! LOL!
DDP!!!!!!!! OMFG YES PLZ!!!!
Jericho and co FLEE
Cody punches out window using MJF's Scarf! INCREDIBLE
SECURITY!
CHAOS!
YESSSSSSSSS!!!
Great Angle. I mean... Jericho should've been kicked out for incitement, but hey, this is wrestling, not reality. Jericho's ticket is stuck to his face.
A+ Way to handle obnoxious NWO-style bullcrap.
Best Friends w Orange Cassidy vs Young Bucks
"WARDLOW WORLD" Sign
"PROUD RESIDENT OF BRITTSBURGH" sign
Orange Cassidy "superkicks" Bucks, who kick him to the moon
Bucks are great but dressed like Marty Jannetty
Mocking Best Friends!
I love watching these teams
I'm also thrilled that the Inner Circle are sitting this one out
Gosh dang... these guys
"NOBODY KICKS OUTTA THE FALCON ARROW!"
Okada Zoom on Best Friends, Orange does his dive at Jacksons, hands in pockets!
Jacksons on FIRE tonight! Good win!
Bucks accept Santana/Ortiz at Full Gear.
DO WANT!
Britt Baker DMD talks abt loving Pittsburgh. I don't like this music, but it seems like she'd like it, so okay.
Jamie Hayter has a great look, great tron, and great presence!
"HAIL 2 BRITT" Sign w teeth
Jamie Hayter vs Dr Britt Baker DMD w the Steelers Mascot and Terrible Towel?
Instabrawl
Hayter Massacres Baker
"Dave 🐟 Likes Swedish Fish" Sign. wut?
Hayter does a great job keeping the match going for the break.
How is Hayter only 24?!
Britt v talkative w Hayter
Britt has good kicks but seems to lack "hunger"
BB wins by submission.
"SHE'S GOT A CASE OF LOCKJAW" sign lol
WTH was THAT Brandi?
MOX vs PAC
PAC massacres MOX w chair, chokes w MOX's coat. Owwwwwwwwww...
MOX slow to rise, rushes ring
PAC on him fast.
Cat and Mouse. Wow.
"PAC IS A DIRTY DIDDLER!" sign!!!
Great, breathable match. "Where're we?" from PAC!
PAC standing on MOX's head during break
Is MOX selling, or is he actually about to puke?
MOX hits a bulldog on PAC. Yikes.
PAC's selling is great
The release vertical suplex is great yet terrifying
Amazing match
RED ARROW TO OUTSIDE!
Countout? No.
Black Arrow misses!
How did PAC KICK OUT?!?!?!
Paradigm Shift!
...
Time Limit Draw?!
Mox attacks Paul Turner (Ref).
EDIT: Okay, so Kenny missed his cue, but he was supposed to run in after the draw to draw heat. They added this onto the Youtube, so that's good. I kinda dig the hybrid nature of the show, and now that I've seen it and it's settled, it was a great episode. I really wish we hadn't missed the JOEY/KENNY match. It's the one I really wanted to see :( :( :(
Sorry about that, guys. I've been dogsitting again, so I haven't been in the blanket fort to properly blog!
Today was a wet and dreary day, but since I was tenting over at my partner's Couch Castle, we managed to make it a lovely day. We watched several streams of old Monstervision episodes (both the Penn and Teller version and Joe-Bob Briggs), we chatted about wrestling (including the... interesting stuff going on with Jason Myles aka ACH), we chatted about books (including the ones we'd like to write), and we ate too many donuts.
The dogs, meanwhile, were a bit barky and did not want to dampen their paws by going outside, but I eventually managed to bribe them into compliance, which, to be honest, was the hardest part of my day.
I do wish I hadn't had my weird "my head, hands, and feet are suddenly very hot while the rest of me is very cold" thing happen today. Same with the tension headache. I feel much better after a base-of-the-skull massage and a nice hot shower.
I got home a couple of hours ago, but I'm only now getting upstairs to type this up, hastily scrawling while my recently rediscovered Kindle and my constantly-used phone both recharge. I should also recharge my mp3 player when I find the cord...
This Halloween, I'm going to be wearing bats. I think I'm going to be something of a witch, but I'm not sure. Maybe I'm going to just be myself, but spoopy. If push comes to shove, however, I can always grab my Jack-o-lantern shirt and don my recently finished Pumpkin Spice Set and be The Great Pumpkin lol!
Here's the tentative schedule for the rest of the week:
Tomorrow I'll tell you all about wrestling, complete with my finished notes on last week's episode of Dynamite!
Thursday I'll be finishing Inktober and hopefully the Bubble Art
I have frustrating news about the Bubble Art, btw, but I'll get to that on Thursday :|
Friday will be my take on one of the following:
Inception
Monstervision as a whole
Crystal Lake Memories, a Documentary about the Friday the 13th movies
Something else?
Saturday will be about one of the games I'm playing - possibly Dwarf Miner or my embarrassing approach to Final Fantasy Adventure...
Sunday should involve noms, but I can't say what kind :P
Next Monday I'll start a new project! Maybe something else fall-related? Maybe a turkey or something like that?
Next Tuesday, hopefully, the blog will be up before 1AM :|
In Which I have Finally Finished the Pumpkin Spice Set!
I bring you tidings of great joy!
I'm done with pumpkin-related accessories! Yay!
Here we see the set altogether - Scarf, Fingerless Gloves, Hat!
My biggest challenge today was finding spots for all the leaves and making several corkscrews to serve as vines. If you're wondering how to make one, here you go:
Make a chain - however long you like or depending on the project at hand. Smaller corkscrews can be super cute, even useful as piggy tails!
Make three (3) Single Crochets in the second chain from the hook and in every chain after. These groups of three will make your corkscrew!
When you reach the end, tie it off. You're done!
Easy enough, right? That's why you see it from me. I'm too lazy to do anything spectacular, lol!
Here's the top of the hat. I used two different kinds of leaf, so I'm not sure how cohesive it looks, but there we are...
The fingerless gloves have brown along the cuff to simulate a stem (like on the hat) I had two different sizes of small leaf, so I used those to differentiate one from the other, lol. The one with a smaller leaf has a slightly longer corkscrew, too.
Finally, we have the scarf, which has also been edged on one end with brown and has two different leaves and a long corkscrew. One leaf is actually from a pattern for a coaster, lol!
So that's it for the pumpkin spice project! They're a cozy trio of accessories, so if you're looking for something to make for a present for someone, just pick up an H/8 (5.00 mm) hook, some worsted weight yarn, and check out the previous weeks.
If you're looking for various leaf patterns to work from, I used the search "Free pumpkin leaf crochet" and found a lot of random patterns.
I also basically just gave up and started using maple leaf patterns, lol.
It's a busy world, boys and girls. A busy world in which, occasionally, you cannot find the time and/or energy required to cook.
So what do you do when all you have is a few minutes to slam something together, but it's cold, and you want something filling?
Toast.
You make toast.
I've talked about a few variations on toast in this blog - garlic toast, specifically.
You can, in fact, make an entire meal of toast if you're clever!
Need a quick breakfast?
Toast some bread - Oatmeal, White, Potato, or Butter work best here
Slather on some peanut butter (or peanut butter alternative) while it's still really, really hot
Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar (or sugar alternative)
There, you've had breakfast. Add more slices if you're more hungry, only eat one if you're not. Either way, the peanut butter (or alternative) acts as your morning protein and the sugar and cinnamon make you feel like you were just naughty.
Need some lunch?
Toast more bread - any kind works here
Slather with a large quantity of cream cheese
Add veggies and/or spices to your taste
OR
Toast some bread (again, any kind)
Get you some avocado
Slice that avocado and lay it on your toast
Avocado toast.
I hate avocado, but if you love it, this fatty little jungle bomb is perfect for keeping you going throughout the day!
Dinner?
Get you some bread (the loaf kind, not the money kind, though if you have money, just order a pizza or something lol)
Lay your bread out and smear it with butter/margarine/whatever you use instead of either of those
Sprinkle it with garlic, onion, a little black pepper, some paprika
Sprinkle that with cheese (whatever you think would go well with garlic and onion, I've had great success with both Pepperjack and taco cheese, though mozzarella is also tasty!)
Toast that bread in a toaster oven NOT A VERTICAL TOASTER JESUS DON'T DO THAT
Wait for that cheese to be bubbly and lovely
Take that tasty concoction out
If you'd like, you can slice the toast into sticks with a pizza cutter and dip the sticks in marinara
OR!
Get you some bread - the firmer the better, so go with stuff that's just about to go stale for this, and white or whole wheat are your best bets here
Spread a thin layer of pizza sauce on your bread
You see where I'm going here
We're making pizza toast
Cheese, fixin's like pepperoni or olives or whatever go on top
Toast that sucker in the toaster oven (again, DO NOT USE IN VERTICAL TOASTER EVER)
Again with the bubbly cheese!
Remove, and now you have a pizza toast to nom.
Heck, you can even use toast for dessert by slathering it with ice cream or nutella or cookie butter or fruit and jam or whatever!
In Which I Discuss Dehydrated Ganondorf and Other Such Things
It's been four months since E3 and the arrival of the by-now infamous teaser trailer for Breath of the Wild 2.
And I know that the internet is probably oversaturated with people spinning theories. I also know that I don't often talk about games that you'll have to fork out the moolah for. Just... bear with me. I don't think this will end up just being a gross advertisement for a game that's not even close to being out of development.
I think.
Mostly, I've just been thinking about the game a lot and what I'd like to see in it, things I'm worried about, some theories that I think are compelling, stuff like that, and this is a collection of these thoughts.
Because I went looking for Halloween-y games online for free and it's kinda a wasteland. We're talking dozens of bubble shooter reskins, rudimentary escape games, dress up games, etc. And what half-way decent games I could find were either 2 spoopy 4 me ... or they wouldn't run on my computer anymore. Boo.
So without further ado, here are my thoughts and theories on the upcoming sequel to the only Legend of Zelda game I've beaten.
So, by now you've probably watched the trailer. Especially since I've just embedded it right up there ^
Go ahead and watch it now if you haven't, this writing isn't going anywhere lol.
We've got Zelda with a great new haircut (which, judging from her personality in Breath of the Wild's flashbacks, she's been wishing for for a while, since it's hard to science with long hair) exploring some caverns with Link. There's what looks like a water buffalo mixed with a great horned rhinoceros, which Zelda is riding while it carries what looks like everything one would need to set up an archaeological base camp. There's also a heartbeat in the background, slow and steady.
There are some cave paintings of what look to be diabolic people on horseback, one of whom is wielding a trident. There's also a distinctive swirl on the wall, indicating that this complex filled with bright luminous stones and minecart bridges was likely built by the Zonai, a mysterious tribe whose stone architecture is all that remains of them. The Zonai also built the labyrinths and the Typhlo ruins and also the stonework around literally all of the Springs. Interesting.
More interesting is the fact that at the end of the video, we get Dehydrated Ganondorf (let's be real, there's no one else it could be - even a total noob like me got the idea that the mummy dude is Ganondorf) twisted into a very uncomfortably kneeling position, held in place by a glowing hand clad in chunky golden jewelry. This hand is holding him down while ethereal green script spirals out from it towards some suspiciously technological outcroppings on the ceiling of the chamber.
There's a flash where the shadow of Ganondorf appears to be trying to escape the clawed appendage appears on the wall.
When the power from the hand crawls into Link's arm, seeming to join with him, the mummified Gerudo King is released and awakens as the floors collapse under Link and Zelda. He stares directly at Zelda with burning eyes.
We end with a long-distance shot of Hyrule Castle slowly rising up.
It's a lot to unpack, but here are some thoughts from me:
Are Link and Zelda looking for Dehydrated Ganondorf, or is he a complete surprise while they're looking for something else (like more evidence of the past)?
Does the castle rising indicate that it's going to be a floating base we have to somehow get up to, or... are we going back to Skyloft? And what would Skyloft be like after so long? The Loftwings would probably be very different these days...
There is absolutely no evidence of the Sheikah technology we used in Breath of the Wild on the landscape we see at the end there. Does this mean the Sheikah Slate is useless and we won't have the runes or the map?! Oh boy, that could be rough.
Does the beast of burden indicate a Camp mechanic, or is it just something cool to see during the cutscene?
Who the heck was the arm? It has jewelry not unlike that of the Twili from Twilight Princess, but... could that be the arm of a Zonai? If that's the case, though, why do Gerudo words slowly form from the spiraling spirit energy? What... what if this is the Desert Goddess herself? Probably far-fetched.
Uh... what if the Zonai became the Gerudo?
I hope this is part of a trilogy, because here's what I'm thinking:
Breath of the Wild was all about Power - you didn't have enough 100 years ago, now you need to go get more.
This game seems to be about spirit energy (what with it crawling into Link's arm) but whether that means Wisdom or Courage is yet to be seen. It's Link's arm, so probably Courage - you have to prove your courage in this game.
That leaves Wisdom, which is usually one of the two we're given (like with the Oracle games, and I'd argue that Wisdom, since it's often related to Time, is the lead in Ocarina). And that might end up being about rebuilding or forging a new relationship with Hylia and the land, which could be really cool. It'd be nice if it was a game actually starring Zelda, too.
Is the Dehydrated Ganondorf the intelligent Gerudo King, or is it a dusty meat puppet still controlled by Malice? To be honest, I kind of hope that... it's both. I want there to be a Ganondorf who, like in Wind Waker, legitimately just wanted to help his people but went about it all wrong, misguided by Demise's curse from Skyward Sword. What can I say, I like misguided, redeemable villains...
Will we learn more horrible things about Hyrule's past? Will the Arbiter's Grounds feature again?
Where will we explore?!
DUNGEONS?!?!
I'm not an expert at Legend of Zelda lore - I leave that to the PeanutButter Gamers, Zeltiks, and NintendoBlackCrisis types of the world. I have no answers.
I do, however have a list of things that I think might appear in this game:
Exploration Above and Below as well as Overland.
A true Flight mechanic?
A Diving mechanic?
More overland travel with new locations?
Dungeons in interesting locations!
Will we find them on land, under earth, over sky?!
Will they be themed after the Dragons and/or are they the guardians?
Oh crap! What if the Dragons are who takes us up to Skyloft? They disappear into a vortex at the end of their flight!!! What if proving ourselves to the Dragons (who are incarnations of the Golden Goddesses, after all!) is key to getting us where we're going?
What if there's a Fourth Dragon we have all forgotten about and they're key to destroying Demise's curse once and for all?!
More explanations about the Zonai/Gerudo/Sheikah connections
It would make sense! The Zonai representing Courage/Spirit, the Sheikah representing Wisdom/Law, and the Gerudo representing Power/Strength
A more robust and mature post-Victory Tarrey Town?
I mean, it's a pretty well defensible location a goodly distance from any pools of Malice
They were just getting started when we built them up
Could they hold the key to a dungeon - that's a suspicious mesa they're atop, after all!
Exploring more of a recently-recovered Zora City and Death Mountain as the ravages of the Calamity recede?
I'd love to see us exploring more ruins and learning more about their past!
There's a lot I'd love to see, but let me say this right now:
If there is a diving mechanic where we have to go into creepy underwater ruins I will cry. Because I'm terrified of shipwrecks and deep water. The first time Farosh surfaced from Lake Hylia while I was nearby, I nearly threw up I was so freaked out. I'll have to hand the game over to someone else and shiver away while they complete any diving sections. Unless they're not too spooky.
But...
Dehydrated Ganondorf.
It's gonna be spooky.
I will also say this: I'd love to have there be more long-form dungeons. There's certainly enough room for them!
Here's some good spots for dungeons!
Mekar Island would be perfect for an entrance to either a recreation of a Zelda 1 Dungeon or a Wind Temple
Tarrey Town, again, looks like the perfect place for a hidden temple
With the flooding calmed and water no longer gushing out of Zora's Domain, does that mean that the Lanayru Promenade will be far less flooded, allowing us to explore its ruins more easily?
Will the Forgotten Temple be lifted or excavated somewhat, revealing another dungeon, perhaps of Earth?
Could... could there be something more to that Eighth Heroine statue? Could it be guarding the entrance to the old Spirit Temple? And wouldn't the image of the Eighth Heroine's statue coming to life, reclaiming her sword and her old position to Raise the Arbiter's Grounds be an awesome visual?!?!?! It won't happen though. Almost a guarentee.
Speaking of suspicious mesas and callbacks... Spectacle Rock?!
And is there anything underneath the Korok forest?
Wait... if Link is being imbued with Spirit Energy, does this mean that the Lord of the Mountain will now have less fear? What if Satori, Lord of the Mountain, becomes a guide of some sort?!
Sorry, that was off-topic.
Say, there's probably some stuff going on in the ocean, yeah? There's probably a dungeon out there - maybe something leftover from the Flood (Wind Waker). Maybe... maybe a ghost ship as a mini-dungeon taking you to another dungeon, from which you'd be sent into the sky somehow? That would be cool.
With the DLC, it's become less likely that anything more would fit beneath the Great Plateau, sadly.
Boy, the mountains around Kakariko sure look like they could hide some kind of dungeon, don't they?
But none of this is particularly spooky, is it?
What if I were to suggest that, perhaps, with Link now imbued with Spirit energy by the disembodied hand, that this game will be all about hauntings and spirits and the undead? What if one of the mechanics will be to have Link lay his blessed/cursed hand on graves or bones and have them tell him where things are, like the Gossip Stones of old? What if his hand is key to revealing the bloody, miserable history of Hyrule?
Because if you watch the lore videos, read the official documentation, and explore in-game, it becomes pretty obvious pretty quickly that Hylia's chosen people have been straight up evil at points. The ReDeads? They were basically created by the Sheikah at the behest of the Hylian Royal Family. Zelda's ancestors had corpses reanimated to guard their stuff and palaces. It's pretty obvious, too. And the similarities between Wind Waker's ReDeads and the Sheikah Monks from Breath of the Wild are... perilously close. My theory, however, is that Wind Waker's ReDeads are actually the remains of Gerudo, hence why we never, ever see Gerudo besides Ganondorf...
Besides reanimating the dead, willing or not, the past kings of Hyrule have kind of a thirst for violence. Just look at the Arbiter's Grounds and the Great Coliseum. Just think about what the creation of the Guardian Army implies - that the past kings of Hyrule were a-okay with having a mechanized army incapable of mercy or hesitation.
I might be a bit anti-estblishmentarian, but there's plenty out there to indicate that not every royal family in Hyrule's history has been beloved by all people in the world. Heck, one royal family even decided that their most loyal protectors and defenders, the Sheikah, were no longer to be trusted (which, to be fair, could have been caused by some of Demise's Malice creeping in, especially if a mummified Ganondorf were whispering to them in their sleep...) and nearly wiped out the race. To be honest, if my people had dedicated their entire existence to the defense of the Goddess and her Chosen People, only to be suddenly turned upon by their charges, I'd probably defect to my attacker's worst enemy's side, too...
The Yiga clan probably wouldn't exist if the Royal Family had just kept chill, to be honest.
And if it did still exist, it would've been composed entirely of Gerudo who were furious that their King was missing and must still be alive if no new king was being born.
Which, yeah, I'd be pretty ticked about, too.
So the Hylian Royal Family kinda makes their own enemies through selfishness.
Like any royal family, to be honest.
But still, there's a lot I'd like to see in Breath of the Wild 2 - more spirits and undead, for one! We only see five spirits in BotW: The King, Mipha, Urbosa, Daruk, and Revali. A lot more people died, and it would be ridiculous to think that millions of people dying horrifically the way they did in the Calamity would all be rested and at peace. What if, when we travel, we encounter spirits, good or evil, who either help or hinder us as we journey? What if we have to lay spirits to rest as well as helping the living? Perhaps we'd deliver a message from Dorian's deceased wife in Kakariko to her children. Perhaps we will be a channeler? A voiceless man giving voice to those who have passed?
I like that.
Since I doubt that Link will ever recover more memories than he had done at the end of BotW, I bet that empty space will be perfect for ghosts to show him what they remember. Oh god... what if he gets flashbacks to the way things once were? Sees Lon Lon Ranch before it fell. Sees his family. They recognize him, they beg him to remember them, and he cannot.
Ouch.
One more thing has occurred to me, but after this, I'll have to let you guys go.
The Typhlo Ruin is in constant darkness.
The Zonai built the Typhlo Ruin.
What if... what if the Zonai are related to the Twili, somehow? What if we make contact with them and they take us into the Twilight Realm where a much older Midna recognizes the blade and mourns her old friend? What if there's an Easter Egg where, if you have the Wolf Link Amiibo active, she recognizes him and asks if he can stay with her?
And what if there is one. last. scene with Fi?
Or with a Lost Great Fairy who weeps when she sees you, remembering her Link?
Nintendo has the capacity to break a lot of hearts here.
I've mentioned in the past that I'm a big wimperooni when it comes to scary movies.
So then why did I watch The Witch?!
And yes, the Hare is very important.
There are many other movies I need to talk about in the near future, but the fact that I saw this movie on Monday and I'm still thinking about it should tell you that The Witch is something truly special.
This movie follows a family of Puritans who have been cast out from their plantation and have to make their home on the edge of the woods. We know only that they have been cast out for religious reasons involving the father, and we know that the eldest daughter, Thomasin, is not at all pleased by this. She does her best to obey and be pious, however.
Because, yeah. They're Puritans. They're super duper religious.
This is a family trying their best to hold themselves together completely cut off from civilization. They work, they pray, they beg forgiveness from an apparently utterly disinterested god.
Thomasin seems to be treated the way most eldest girls were in those days - as a backup mother for the rest of the children while the actual mom does her best to work the farm. I think. To be honest, I don't see her doing an awful lot of helping. She mostly seems to just be resentful and angry, but I would be too if my husband got me kicked out of literally the only thing that stood for a town on the continent....
One day, while watching over the baby, Samuel, Thomasin plays peek-a-boo with the baby. And suddenly he's gone. In the span of covering her eyes and uncovering them, Samuel has been spirited away from Thomasin. And if you're thinking that this is left up to your imagination...
You'd be wrong.
And it's incredibly messed up, despite not showing anything violent.
So poor Thomasin is trying to cope, just like the rest of her family, with the sudden loss of baby Samuel. Then her brother Caleb, who is just old enough to be starting puberty, disappears. The family is in utter disarray and Thomasin is accused of witchcraft.
Which is where I kinda get... tetchy.
See, here's my issue: These parents suck.
Their eldest has complained repeatedly that the youngest two spend all their time hanging out with the big black billy goat, Black Phillip, chanting and dancing and neglecting their work. The little girl even claims to be a witch at one point.
The kids are scream-singing that Black Phillip is "Lord of All The Earth" at one time, and literally everything they say relating to this big. black. goat.
is Satanic.
The kids are so obviously bewitched and they'd rather blame Thomasin because how dare she grow boobs and maybe start her period soon.
These turds. These turds ruin everything for Thomasin.
And despite the fact that Thomasin is constantly being emotionally and psychologically abused by literally everyone but Caleb (because she isn't aware that he's confusedly lusting after her, poor doomed boy) and Samuel (who was a flipping baby), she loves her family so much that she'd happily put herself in danger to help them. Repeatedly. She was even going to run away from them and possibly die in the woods just to make things easier for them.
So of course this story ends very, very poorly for this family.
Heck, by the end of it, you're almost rooting for the witch.
Then again, she did murder a baby and turn it into a potion...
I won't spoil the ending, but I will say this: You'll never look at hares, ravens, or big black goats the same way ever again.
This is, in short, the perfect film to watch when you're feeling spooky.
The Bubble Drawing is coming along, but it actually doesn't look like it right now, so I don't have any update photos on that. Suffice to say, it's slow going lol.
Inktober, however, is going really well!
"Misfit"; Inktober 2019
Here we see poor Spencer looking at himself in a dirty mirror while ghosts frolic around him. I kinda like the way the ghosts looked in the sketch better than the ink, but that's just how it goes sometimes :P
"Sling" Inktober 2019
Spencer, post-Romania, is on a bus. Or a plane. Or a train. Not sure. Regardless, he's dealing with a broken arm and bad reception.
"Tread" Inktober 2019
I think this is a post-Negative Scarlet Rose Manor, complete with a little black kitty visiting!
"Treasure" Inktober 2019
The treasures here are the Deed to the Scarlet Rose Manor, some marbles, and a very creepy dagger!
"Ghost" Inktober 2019
Yes, it's another scratched up door. I might have issues with feeling trapped.
The unfortunate ghost curled up inside this dark and airless room is one of the spirits from the Scarlet Rose Manor, an unfortunate servant named Piotr who ended up trapped in the woodshed, which was built specifically to kill anyone trapped in it. The house was designed by a madman, after all...
"Ancient" Inktober 2019
Here we see one of the appendages of the Negative, an entity residing in the Scarlet Rose Manor. No one ever sees the full body of The Negative without losing their mind, so here's just a tiny little limb. Yeah. It's that messed up.
"Dizzy" Inktober 2019
What is Spencer doing? I have no idea. He's sure dizzy, though. I think this is probably before the Romania Incident, too, since there aren't any scars on his face. Maybe this is in college when he first begins to notice that The Negative left a presence with him?
I haven't been keeping up as much with pro wrestling as I have been, I'll admit. I've been very tired lately.
However!
I did wind up watching AEW Dynamite last week and actually wrote live reactions to the episode from my phone. I posted them just after the episode, and I'm planning on doing that again tonight. We'll see, lol!
Here, however, I'm planning on just running down things I've learned this week about wrestling!
AEW
Jungle Boy has 0 problems with Jim Ross repeatedly calling him Jungle Boy Jack Perry/Jungle Jack. If the dude himself has no issues, then we should all just let it go. Chill, peeps.
I love that Marko Stunt became "Babysaurus" during this week's BTE
I'm excited to see both AEW Dark and Dynamite tonight. Yes, Dark came out yesterday, but I was le tired and have not seen it yet.
Darby Allin is a god
Kenny Omega went to AAA and got his first title win since NJPW! He's the Megachampion. Also, he got his picture taken in an alley with a dude peeing behind him, lol.
NWA
I like Powerrr, despite the fact that it's not really my style of wrestling.
I like that Damien Sandow is back, though I'm not sure about the Anglicized name he's rocking as Aron Stevens. I get that Aron is his actual name, but... Stevens?
Speaking of Aron, he's got possibly the best gimmick and best hold on the crowd in the NWA right now. If you haven't watched the episode yet, go do it so you know why "HE SAID NOT TO LOOK HIM IN THE EYE!!!" is so funny!
It's kind of the antithesis of AEW, WWE, Impact, etc - slower Southern style with a lot of great wrestlers and a very different feel.
NJPW
I don't remember hearing a lot about New Japan this month :| Sorry!!!
WWE
Looks like I'll never be picking up any of the 2K games... they've got more bugs than a Thanksgiving feast hosted by Timon and Pumbaa...
Also looks like the shows are getting even dumber, somehow...
And why, why, why would ANYONE DRINK PANCAKE BATTER?!
Yeah, I'm probably done with modern WWE.
MLW
I need to catch up on MLW. They're bleeding talent to Impact, and I'd like to watch some before everyone's gone...
So that's this week in wrestling from yours truly.
It's a partly cloudy day with a gentle breeze. The cat is asleep on my lap, so I'm bent at a weird angle trying to type, but she's really comfy, so I'd feel bad about waking her.
Last night, I saw a good spooky movie, which I'll probably talk about in the next few weeks :)
Today's weather is, as I've said, partly cloudy. It's about 51℉ (~10.5℃) and fairly humid, and I understand we'll have rain later, though that seems to be happening more tomorrow morning than tonight. I'm okay with that. We're looking at an average of 0.13 inches per hour, up to a full quarter of an inch per hour at one point. Wow. That sounds... miserable, to be honest...
Then again, it also looks like it's only going to be a problem until around 2pm, so... I dunno what I'm complaining about.
But what of the blog?
Tomorrow I will talk more about wrestling!
Thursday will be more art!
Friday... I'm not sure which of the cool movies I'll be talking about. Will it be the one I just watched? The cool documentary I watched? What will I talk about?
Saturday will be about some kind of Halloweeny game!
Sunday will be some cooking experiments!
Monday might just be the last Pumpkin Spice day!!!
Next Tuesday I'll blab some more about some stuff :P
My plans for the day include returning some bottles and reading. How about you guys?
Also I should probably get this cat off of my lap soon. She was trying to kick me out of the chair earlier. I wonder if she still wants this seat...
I do have a few random thoughts I would like to share, too:
Allergies suck and I wish they'd go away
I miss sleep
I still really want to buy a bunch of fabric from the local shop and make a couple of rectangle skirts, but I no longer remember how to thread a sewing machine and ours breaks thread besides...
My toes are freezing even though I know we just turned the furnace back on. What is up with this?
I should draw more today.
I should also write more.
I wonder if I can actually bake this Thursday? I'd like to bake.
In Which I Crochet A Lot, But It Doesn't Look Like Much
Today was a productive one for the ol' yarnslinging :)
I got up early enough that I got a lot of work done before anyone got back home, and I even had a visitor!
Yes, my cat decided my lap was the optimal place to rest after getting up from an enviable blanket nest for a stretch. It was really cute to have her perched there while I worked... at least until she started bathing herself. She basically just... soaked my thigh in spit, then hopped off of my lap and wandered back into her blanket nest. Not the delightful plush bed made for smurgling and comfort. The seat of a recliner with a blanket in it.
Cats are weird, yo.
But how much did I do today?
I finished the body of the scarf!!!
So with that, all of the orange parts of this set are completely finished!!! Now I just need to make leaves, add some tan as a stem on the end of this delightful expanse of pumpkin-y goodness! I'm super excited.
As you can see, I've also been making leaves!
I've been tirelessly seeking patterns of various leaves that look either pumpkin-like or fall like. I've discovered that things that look more like maple leaves work better for me :)
I'll probably also add a few corkscrew "vines" to our pumpkin set too!
Boston was, as I've mentioned, a great trip. It was a much-needed break from the Blanket Fort, and it's always nice to be surrounded by friends. Bringing back a bunch of snax was just icing on the already decadent good-times cake!
Sadly, I don't have images of these last three snacks outside their packaging because my phone ate the pictures (I had slippery fingers while doing a mass-delete and was too dumb to have backed up those images... oops), so you'll just have to deal with my descriptions. Thankfully, with the exception of the mochi, you guys can probably guess what these treats look like - they're very much like the average US equivalents.
First we have tasty Korean Cheetos!
I'm not 100% sure what the flavor on these Cheetos was supposed to be besides awesome and delicious. I saw peppers, a tomato, and some garlic on the bag, which makes sense, because these crunchy little snacks were sweet, garlicky, and had just enough spice to be addictive as heck. As for what they look like... have you ever had a white cheddar version of Cheetos? Or just... cheddar cheese crunch snacks in general? Because they looked like pale Cheetos with maybe a few specks of non-cheese powder.
I could probably eat a pallet of these. They're my favorite Cheetos ever.
A potentially deadly chip...
I've slowly become a spice hound over the years. Yes, my acid reflux has gotten worse. Yes, I'm still a big weenie. But... spicy food is delicious, guys. It's amazing.
These Lay's chips are amazing. They're quite spicy, though it's the kind of spice that creeps up on you. You'll regret shoving a fistful of these tightly-rippled chips into your face within three breaths after swallowing. And it just gets more intense after the first minute. Within ten minutes, however, you're back down to gentle levels of "oh yeah, I ate a spicy thing, didn't I?" so this won't kill you if you're mildly sensitive to spiciness. I think. I mean, sometimes I'll eat a Pad Thai and think it was a little mild, then I'll look over at my mother eating the same thing with tears streaming down her face, so maybe I'm a bad judge of spice levels now?
Regardless, I could eat a lot of these, too.
Of the Lay's we tried, I think my favorite was probably the grilled meat chips we tried in the car on the way home. Sadly, I can still find no evidence of their existence, but if I ever get back to the H-Mart, I'll definitely buy more.
Also, I'll probably get a GoGo Curry Tonkatsu...
Finally, dessert!
I love mochi! Basically, mochi is what happens when you get angry at your rice and beat it mercilessly while kneading it. It's a soft, sweet dough made from glutinous rice rolled in some kind of starch (often potato starch) to keep it from sticking to you. It's about the consistency of a good marshmallow, and I'd say it's got a superior texture, in my opinion. These little mochis are filled with a peanut butter filling, so of course we fell on these like starving monkeys.
Individually wrapped like those big peppermints you can usually find at Staples, these tiny confections maybe didn't look quite like the packaging. Most of the starch had either been knocked off or had absorbed the oils of the peanut butter filling through the mochi making them resemble... uh... uh....
How can I actually visually describe this treat in a way that's appealing?
Ah! There we go!
They kinda looked like a slightly oily cookie dough wrapped around a firm blob of peanut butter! That's how I can describe it!
It's kinda how it tasted, too, which was nice :)
It was lightly sweet, very sticky, with a firm and pasty peanut filling that really satisfied the salty/sweet cravings I'd been having that day. The filling was a little dry, so that was a bit annoying, but I could easily eat a crate of them.
They were also only about the size of a half-dollar, so that's a lot of mochi....
That will do it for the treats I tried!
I hope you guys can get out there and taste-test some tasty treats of your own this week!
I'm not usually one for the arcade-style games, since I'm just plain garbage at them, but once in a while, I find one that's pretty fun, and this week, I played They Took Our Candy, a game by Rachid1984. I played over on Kongregate, but it's available elsewhere, too.
Because who doesn't want to fight aliens and get candy?
They Took Our Candy is a simple game with a simple premise: You and your pals have to rescue the Halloween candy from voracious, murderous aliens. You have a party of 4 kids, each with their own abilities and weapons, and you march in formation down the street. You use your arrow keys to move around the road and your space bar to activate whatever Special Ability you have. There's no attack button because you're constantly firing projectiles (who gave that kid actual ninja stars, and why is no one freaked out that an 8 year old dressed as a fairy suddenly has access to legit magic?).
It's a pretty little game, too!
With a great 8-bit style that reminds me more of Atari than Nintendo, and fun chiptune music, this is a fun game to listen to and look at as well as play. Yes, at first, you're moving very sluggishly, but that's kinda believable, isn't it? That a bunch of kids would have a very hard time staying in formation and throwing things all at once as they started out?
Of all the things I could've expected, a robust party system was not one of them!
When you start a run, you can select your party. Initially, you have only these four to choose from, but as you go, you unlock new characters, like the Cat (a kid in a cat costume) or other costumes. Each one has their own stats and their own Special.
Enemies come at you from both sides, and as you progress, some begin to use weapons with projectiles against you. I'm pretty trash at these kinds of games, so that's about when I start to die, but hey, I tried!
Overall, this game, which is over seven years old now, is absolutely a charming masterpiece and one of the best times I've ever had playing an arcade-style side-scrolling shooter. I've never made it to the end, but maybe one of you will and you can tell me how it went in the comments?
But I have seen a couple seasons of Better Call Saul, and like most people with an internet connection, I've got the basic story beats down. Teacher slowly gets crazy and evil after the health care system fails him miserably, drags a former student down with him. I know, I know, it's a lot more in-depth than that, but as a total outsider, that's what I gather to be the main drive of the plot. I know about Lydia and Hank Schraeder and Skinny Pete and Gale and Los Pollos and all of that. I know these things.
I also know that I cannot actually watch Breaking Bad in its entirety. I would stress myself to death.
Finally I know this: This ain't no Halloween flick.
But it's brand new and I really wanted to talk about how awesome it was from even an outsider's perspective!
That Film, of course, is "El Camino".
Oh man, this movie was great. It's kind of an epilogue to Breaking Bad, but it's also something that makes me wonder...
Because it leaves some possibilities for Better Call Saul's Gene segments.
Certain people have done certain things in this movie which could impact whether or not Saul/Gene/Jimmy have to answer for their actions in Breaking Bad.
El Camino is the story of Jesse Pinkman after he escapes the clutches of the white supremacists. From what I can gather, this Jesse is very, very different man than the one who was captured by the monstrous men. Suffering from severe PTSD, starved and desperate, this Jesse Pinkman just wants to leave without getting anyone else killed.
Jesse is desperate to avoid more violence. Yes, he takes guns. Yes, he even fires them. He does not at all want to hurt anyone. He wants to leave. He needs money to leave. Thankfully, Jesse remembers things that his captors would probably have rather he'd forgotten. Like where some of their money was hidden, or who exactly did the metal work for them.
And everything is important.
It's a very moody film, bittersweet one moment (Jesse remembering his first girlfriend who Walter watched die) and brutal the next (Jesse's flashbacks to his torment at the hands of the white supremacists). Nothing, however, compares to just how upsetting and creepy anything involving Todd is.
Freaking Todd, man...
I loved this movie, and since I knew relatively little about the events leading up to El Camino (compared to rabid fans of Breaking Bad) I came into it with no expectations.
For me, this was a satisfying tale of a man breaking free. His life will never be easy. He will never be completely free of his past.
