Silksong: the "epilogue"

Dec. 10th, 2025 08:57 pm
schneefink: Quirrel from Hollow Knight sitting on a bench (HK Quirrel on bench)
[personal profile] schneefink
I played very little Silksong in the past 1-2 weeks and did pretty much everything I wanted to in my first playthrough (before the DLCs come out) so now is a good time to post the "epilogue" notes.

Things I did after the true ending )

Some more thoughts )

LPs I watched )

I already know what I want to play next: Hades 2, of course. (But probably not this year, I have a huge backlog of books etc.)

(no subject)

Dec. 7th, 2025 04:41 pm
ysobel: (wow: ooh shiny)
[personal profile] ysobel
We're on the final boss fight of the campaign. Said boss is hovering over a deep pit -- bad for melee, unless they have some form of flight.

My character rolls the highest initiative.

She is a L20 owlin monk. She has flight. She also has a) 70 feet of movement per turn, and b) magic items (and a feat) that gives extra damage for distance moved in a straight line just before the attack. Oh, and a potion that does bonus

First roll hit a nat 20.

Rolling 20 means damage dice are doubled; if you would normally do 2d6, on a crit you roll 4d6. Between the damage roll (doubled), the extra monk ability I always like to throw in (also doubled, plus poison for a round), and the bonus damage for straight lines (doubled), I did 119 points of damage.

I also have a feat that says if I get a critical hit, all attacks against that creature have advantage until my next turn.

So... a pretty good start.

I love this character.

(...I got a crit the next turn too.)

(no subject)

Dec. 5th, 2025 10:39 pm
ysobel: (Default)
[personal profile] ysobel
So my plan of quitting Duo at 4K days has gone from "vaguely in the future" to, uh, tomorrow.

It feels weird. And me being me, I'm second guessing myself. But then in a matching exercise it gave me patada (kick, as far as I can tell a noun) on the Spanish side and "to give somebody the push" on the English side, and that is a) a British phrase for firing someone, b) that is a verb, c) an unlikely translation, and d) completely novel to me both in general and on Duo and thus unhelpful for learning.

So, tomorrow is my last session and then I'm done.

Mar-i-a The-re-sia, M.T.

Dec. 5th, 2025 11:15 pm
schneefink: Ambassador Yan staring out at enemy country (NiF ambassador Yan)
[personal profile] schneefink
I'm feeling better, but I went to the doctor's office and to the pharmacy and to the store this morning and afterwards I was absolutely wiped.

Too tired to catch up on chores just yet, but I can start catching up on reviews, at least.

Three weeks ago, friends and I went to see Maria Theresia the musical at Ronacher. I rarely go see musicals in Vienna; the last one was the Falco musical in the same place around 1-2 years ago, both of them premiered there. I enjoyed "Rock Me Amadeus" more than expected, so I was very curious about a new one about empress Maria Theresia. A key figure of Austrian history; I only remembered bits and pieces of what I learned about her at school and during museum visits etc, but I briefly looked at her Wikipedia page beforehand just in case.

I had a good time! The beginning was the weakest part imo, but then it picked up the pace and focus. Of course they took plenty of liberties with historical facts but that was inevitable. I liked the music (not especially memorable but I am also not great at remembering music in general tbf) and staging, and especially some of the things they did with the lights. I found Falco too loud in places, but not this one, possibly because we sat further back.

Spoilers )


Afterwards I was in the mood to read a book about the Habsburgs, and the only one currently available as an ebook from the library was one about "scandalous love affairs of the Habsburgs," by Hanne Egghardt. Fortunately a quick stop to any romanticizing of the Habsburgs through sheer, hm, mundanity. It features several scandalous affairs throughout the centuries, from the wife of the emperor falling in love with and almost certainly having an affair with her sister-in-law, to Napoleon's widow having kids with a general sent to look after her, to several archdukes falling in love with "commoners" - with varying degrees of happy endings that all showcase why such relationships were viewed with much skepticism.
It was often mentioned that these nobles had allowances of specific sums of money that all sounded like a lot, but I have no context how much so-and-so thousand guilders were worth back then so I couldn't say whether they were extremely rich or just moderately wealthy for their station.
schneefink: River walking among trees, from "Safe" (Default)
[personal profile] schneefink
I'm sick (uuugh), but it's November 30th and I don't want to fail my monthly rec challenge now. So you get four Hermitcraft recs without a larger theme. 1 art & 3 fic (1 space AU & 2 admin power games, one of them a Life series crossover.)
I don't think canon knowledge is required for any of them: definitely not the first two, and I think the important parts of the other two become clear very quickly.

in too deep by [archiveofourown.org profile] modest_starr
digital art, Geminitay
Summary: additional tags: Imminent Character Death, she is literally drowning, Hallucinations, Eye strain, highly saturated colors, Hermitcraft Season 10, Anthropologist Geminitay, Sea Monsters
Why I like it: The tags say "hallucinations" but I also really like the idea of scientist Gem looking too deep. Very cool colors.

Why is everyone sucking Farlands' dick over their new ship??? by [archiveofourown.org profile] Kaesa
6k, SF AU, implied Scar/Grian, social media outsider PoV with in-universe RPF
Summary: Hey, uh, what's with everyone losing their minds over Farlands' Good Times? I thought we all agreed Farlands was evil incarnate? Last big colony mission they launched, even half the people at Brave Voyages were like "wow so sick of Farlands' bullshit, hope Farlands explodes," but this thing has been around for less than a year and people HERE are like, writing romantic poetry about it? Can someone explain? Obviously I too am fascinated by whether they're using tuned mass dampers or something else to keep the gravity steady, and the reflex rewiring they have to do to the pilots to get something that big through hyperspace is wild, but uh. This is not that.
A forum thread from the future.
Why I love it: Reccing part 2 here so I have a good reason to rec the series when it's done; I also recommend part 1 but I like this one even better. Scar is a Pilot, which means he controls a spaceship with his brain, and Grian is his doctor. Very cool worldbuilding and very funny.

feeling a gold hand unfolding on me by [archiveofourown.org profile] springbeetle
3.3k, Grian & Xisuma, non-sexual kink (body modification, admin powers)
Summary: It was daylight, not that you could tell from the enclosed room Xisuma had teleported Grian into. A bright, fantastic Hermitcraft day, his friends bustling about the server engaged in activities, cheerfully oblivious to what Xisuma and Grian were about to do in this room together. To what Xisuma was about to do to Grian.
Most Hermits weren’t big on tradition, when you got down to it. They’d been around too long, seen enough of the universe to have set preferences about their bodies, or they had their own plans for each season. Scar and Cub had recently finished with their predatory ConVex business, for instance, and Cleo kept her zombieness– zombitude? Zombiehood?-- firmly under her own control, and the less said about Joe’s usual brand of shenanigans, the better.
So it had been unusual, having a new player such as Grian bring the concept up in the roundabout fashion he had, side-eyeing Xisuma like he wasn’t sure whether Xisuma would just snatch him up one day, like he was checking off a box on some haphazard to-do list-- like he’d smacked himself on the helmet and gone oh, silly me, that’s right! I forgot to modify Grian to my personal preferences last month!
Why I like it: Wonderful take on admin Xisuma taking care of his player even with an unusual request. I like how Xisuma needs the encouragement and reassurances to keep going but he does enjoy getting into his evil role when he feels comfortable and he is good at it, too. And Grian is very good at prodding him just enough and having to admit he doesn't not want this, delicious.

a weave that can be unpicked by [archiveofourown.org profile] strifetxt
3.4k, Scar&/Grian, Third Life
Summary: Grian's eyes widen. “Wait, did you think I’d made a plug-in to force players into turning hostile?”
Scar blinks. “Didn’t you?”
“Wh— No, of course not!”
“Oh.” Scar deflates, but then, just as quickly, perks back up. “Could you though?”

Or: Scar has some ideas to make Third Life more fun. Grian has some concerns.
Why I like it: Excellent recursive fic of the above, and another case of a player prodding an admin into using their powers on them. I love the intimacy of the admin power used on a willing subject.
azurelunatic: Vivid pink Alaskan wild rose. (Default)
[personal profile] azurelunatic
The new dryer is just fine, except the top is ever so slightly slanted in a way that makes it a bad place to set your dryer balls.

Have I mentioned that especially after Colonoscopy Week I've had more trouble than usual walking? I've been using my cane inside the house for the first time in quite a while, and I'm limited in how much I can carry without (more) pain. It sucks. Belovedest has set up the short ramp against the shortest outside stairs, and while going up it is Bad, going up the stairs without it is Worse. (Both outside doors have stairs.)

I wasn't available to assist with any of the Thanksgiving cooking. Belovedest did it themselves! Including: turkey, the epic tray of dressing, biscuits from the mix, and instant potatoes made the way that erases the taste of Box. (There was also salad available, but there's quite a bit of vegetable in the sausage-cornbread dressing.)

Today we had some roof inspectors. The inspection's free; the quote for fixing things up is *sigh* very much not free.

Definitely More of an Autumn vibe

Nov. 28th, 2025 07:23 pm
glinda: an autumnal woodland, pale blue sky visible between orange leaves (autumn leaves)
[personal profile] glinda
So, yes, I am in fact writing these out of order, but writing the last one made me think about this album and as it was also gig related I thought it was a natural companion piece to follow up with. So this album choice was a result of two different gigs. As noted previously I went to see the Scottish Ensemble and Anna Meredith doing their collaborative album Anno at the Barbican at the end of September, and then at the end of October I went to see the Scottish Ensemble here in the Inverness again. To my intense amusement, working with Anna Meredith again had clearly reminded the ensemble how much they enjoy playing her work, because the whole second half of the Inverness gig was pieces by Anna Meredith re-arranged for string ensemble. Mostly from her first electronic album Varmints - the lead violin noted with clear irony before they played Nautilus that that piece had been intended as a clear break from her previous orchestral work - and having experienced it as something akin to a transcendental experience - I virtually floated home afterwards - obviously I had to go and actually listen to the album in question.

I didn’t initially love this album, despite it being much more what I was expecting from Anna Meredith - before I encountered Anno I knew her mostly from her film scoring work - but as I’ve continued to listen to it across the last month, I’ve come to the conclusion that I like it more the further away from the gig I get. For example, I can now listen to Blackfriars and feel it’s glorious rhythms combine happily with my memories of my recent holiday in London, of standing outside Blackfriars station at rush hour, hearing bells and clocks striking all over the place, feeling the ebb and flow of traffic around me and the rumble of the tube below - I have a whole bunch of field recordings I made in and around that tube station - and think, yes, that part of London does indeed feel like that. I also feel like I’ve been able to fall in love with Nautilus and Scrimshaw all over again in their own right, without constantly comparing them negatively with their reimagined versions. (Honestly I want to hear Nautilus re-arranged for brass a la that Hannah Peel album I wrote about earlier this year.) I do think I need to go see Anna Meredith live in her own right next time she’s touring, because I think her work really lends itself to live performance, to variations on a theme and interacting with visuals and graphics, a proper multimedia experience. However, now that I’ve got enough distance from the gig, I can happily also enjoy it, lying on the sofa with low winter light and just the fairy lights on, through big headphones and let it transport me to other places.
ysobel: (kitty with fish)
[personal profile] ysobel
...which I'm sure has ~no~ correlation to having gone to the free thanksgiving meal my church did

two types of salad, turkey, ham, sage stuffing, peas and shallots, roasted brussels sprouts / carrots / onions, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, potato rolls, and like eight types of pie (including: pecan, pumpkin, sweet potato, apple, chocolate cream, key lime, and idk what else) with real whipped cream.

All homemade, all insanely good, and there was even a centerpiece that was a handmade cornucopia made out of bread and containing actual fruots and vegetables.

I ... am going to go into a food coma now, lol

A Fable of Summertime...

Nov. 27th, 2025 08:04 pm
glinda: a cup of coffee, with a snowflake drawn in the foam (coffee/latte)
[personal profile] glinda
Sometime this summer, I rediscovered my fic writing muse. Which has been great, but has unfortunately also meant that I’ve fallen quite behind on writing up my monthly albums - I have several months of backlog! Fortunately, I have still actually been listening to the albums and noting them down, so I’ve been able to look back at my list and write them up.

First up, we’re all the way back to the summer, for my August album, which was Fable by Ainsley Hamil. (I really thought I’d at least started this post, I definitely remember sitting down in the days after the gig with the album on and the intent to write about it. I suspect I probably started writing it into the ‘create entries’ page and lost the draft.) I mostly know Ainsley Hamil as a Gaelic singer - competed for the Gold Medal at the Mod a couple of time - and this album is split pretty evenly between songs in Gaelic and English, with a Burns number thrown in for good measure. Personally I think if we’re talking traditional Gaelic modes, she’s better suited to puirt-a-beul than the strictures of the Gold Medal - I’ve seen her do puirt live and she’s very good, it’s not easy to keep up that level of articulation at that speed especially not in the middle of a gig! She has such a rich, warm singing voice, it’s a pleasure to listen to her sing, and always so tempting when the album finishes, to just stick it on again for another play through!

Unusually, I was listening to this album extensively because I was going to a gig, rather than going to the gig because I’d been listening to the album a lot. My local art centre hosts a folk music festival in a tent on it’s lawn every summer. (Not in one intense weekend but two bands per session, two sessions a night, five nights a week across two months.) Living near by and being a regular gig go-er, I go to a lot of these sessions, sometimes with friends, sometimes alone, sometimes pre-planned, others spur of the moment because I walked past and thought ‘oh they’re good’ and stayed. The Ainsley Hamil gig was planned fairly far in advance, as a friend texted me just after the programme came out and asked if I fancied it, and as I did and it was a day I was on a helpful shift, we booked it and went. As it was her idea, and I’d agreed on the basis that I remembered what I’d heard of Hamil’s latest album being good, I thought I better swat up beforehand.

(It’s a lovely album, but gosh, live really is her forte, she was such a compelling and warm presence on stage, making her music come alive. In both Gaelic and Scots, her delivery on the album is more precise and probably more technically correct, but live she was so much more natural and felt much less constrained.)
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