Author | Lightnews

Esme Rylan @esmerylan.bsky.social · 1h

But the difficulty so far is pretty mild, apart from an entirely unnecessary cloud of Lost Souls in MAP03 that's more annoying than an actual challenge. Ammo supplies are tight but not to the point where I ever ran out, Revenants don't even show up until MAP03, no Arch-Viles so far.

Esme Rylan @esmerylan.bsky.social · 1h

Played the first 3 maps of a WAD called Headless Chicken, which uses textures from Ancient Aliens but also has some weapon tweaks (pistol, shotgun, and chaingun all fire faster, max bullet capacity starts at 250) and lots of chickens running around. The chickens don't attack but they get in the way.

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Esme Rylan @esmerylan.bsky.social · 2h

Anyway, I've now gotten alchemy, woodcutting, and carpentry all to level 20, which is the point where you can unlock their first passive activities. Botany's still at level 17, there really hasn't been as much incentive to level it quickly.

Esme Rylan @esmerylan.bsky.social · 5h

Unlocked a potion recipe in Brighter Shores that requires the potent potion station instead of the standard one, and it's an actual minigame where you have to do things instead of just waiting for a meter to fill up. 😲

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Esme Rylan @esmerylan.bsky.social · 7h

People in the comments for the latest Ranking the NES seem... upset about the Castlevania III segment. 🤔

Esme Rylan @esmerylan.bsky.social · 12h

A lot of these stories kind of blend together, but the piece by Adam Schatz from Japanese Breakfast is extraordinary, a short meditation on death and memory held together by a favorite breakfast sandwich. It's a beautiful piece of writing.

Esme Rylan @esmerylan.bsky.social · 13h

Longest alt text I've ever written and I still left out the 3 floating notes by the guitar and the lemon slice in oysters eating guy's right hand.

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Esme Rylan @esmerylan.bsky.social · 13h

Could've sworn I posted this picture the last time I was at B&N but apparently not. Anyway, I'm reading more of this book now.

Cover of the book Taste In Music: Eating on Tour with Indie Musicians, by Alex Bleeker & Luke Pyenson. The picture below the title shows a guy eating ramen with chopsticks in his left hand and a big long noodle dangling from his mouth; a picture of a tour bus covers his head from just above his nose. Pictures of a guitar and amp separate him from a man with shoulder length hair eating oysters. The pictures are entirely in blue and yellow- the guys and their food and the amp are blue, the bus and guitar (and the noodle) are yellow. At the bottom more text reads:

FEATURING STORIES FROM...
Robin Pecknold (FLEET FOXES) Natalie Mering (WEYES BLOOD) Mark Ibold (PAVEMENT) John Gourley (PORTUGAL. THE MAN) Lily Chait (TOURING CHEF TO BOYGENIUS AND PHOEBE BRIDGERS)
and many more

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Esme Rylan @esmerylan.bsky.social · 14h

Funny they had the Icon of Sin front and center when everything else is promoting Quake, also I'd forgotten id used what I think of as the Diablo font (years earlier!) for a bunch of promotional stuff in that era.

videogame history @vghistory.bsky.social · 8d

id software, official website (1996) web.archive.org/web/19961220...

main imagery is large satanic horned goat's head (also a loud satanic roar happens when you go here, could well scare the shit out of you if you haven't been and your speakers are up loud).
id font to the right: do you have a deathwish?
text hyperlinks below as well as brief copyright info and e-mail link to the webmaster.

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Esme Rylan @esmerylan.bsky.social · 14h

Also one theater nearby has it in IMAX, not sure why I'd need to see (an actor playing) Bruce on that giant of a screen but I'm sure someone does.

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Esme Rylan @esmerylan.bsky.social · 14h

I wasn't even thinking about that, looks like the movie's actually out now (I see showtimes at a couple of theaters near me) so that's got to be it!

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Esme Rylan @esmerylan.bsky.social · 15h

Once again I'm trying to parse the logic of what box sets or expanded reissues make their way to streaming in full, why is the entirety of the Springsteen Nebraska set available but the Elvis Costello King of America set is represented only by a highlights collection?

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Reposted by Esme Rylan

Melissa Gira Grant @melissagiragrant.com · 16h

if you want to defend the working class? buy out a street vendor’s cart so they don’t have to choose between their income or kidnapping by ICE

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Reposted by Esme Rylan

Melissa Gira Grant @melissagiragrant.com · 16h

the needs of the anxious comfortable white male doing midcentury working class drag are at the very bottom of my list right now

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Esme Rylan @esmerylan.bsky.social · 16h

So I don't know how far back this idea goes but it was definitely something I heard people talk about when I was in college in the late 80s-early 90s. But I was never in a class where the professor was that late so I never saw anyone actually leave for that reason!

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Reposted by Esme Rylan

The Zack(s) of the Killer Handlen @zhandlen.bsky.social · 16h

among all the other reasons to hate “AI,” the term was created to speculate what our responsibilities would be if machines developed a soul; now it’s a phrase used by assholes who want to take the soul out of everything.

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Reposted by Esme Rylan

hatey fightpussy @princesscore.meangirls.online · 18h

trans women have nazi phases aahhh the trannies are all nazis

oh a politician i like has a nazi tattoo? im sure there's a good reason for that cmon don't purity test guys

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Esme Rylan @esmerylan.bsky.social · 16h

Oh yeah, it's Saturday morning. There's a new Techmoan, but I'm still in music listening mode so I'm not watching it with my coffee right now. But I always post these links, so here you go. youtu.be/tRFrnwrwyxk?...

Sony RM-65 - Probably the least relevant video you’ll watch today.

YouTube video by Techmoan

youtu.be

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Esme Rylan @esmerylan.bsky.social · 16h

I feel like there used to be something like that, am I just misremembering? Or is Google continuing to gut its apps' functionality in the name of shoehorning genAI into everything?

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Esme Rylan @esmerylan.bsky.social · 16h

I've never played SWC but just reading a plot summary I'm struggling to find any resemblance to SH2, not just in terms of themes but also the way SH2 handled them.

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Reposted by Esme Rylan

Magen Cubed @magencubed.bsky.social · 17h

In my latest essay, I talk about heightening contradictions, the terror of living in someone else's story, why Monika from Doki Doki Literature Club is really a tragic figure, and why Maria from Silent Hill 2 is one of the most horrifying relatable characters I've ever encountered

Constructed Realities Part I

Or: Monika and Maria Did Nothing Wrong

buttondown.com

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Esme Rylan @esmerylan.bsky.social · 17h

On this subject: while Brighter Shores has only been on Steam for a year or so, I've come across some other MMOs that are still in "early access" after years, even a full decade in one case. Not really sure what to make of that!

Esme Rylan @esmerylan.bsky.social · 17h

You wouldn't know this from looking at the subreddit, of course, people there are calling it a "dead game" even though it's still in early access (and nowhere near finished) and every time I've logged on there are plenty of other players, it seems pretty active to me.

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Esme Rylan @esmerylan.bsky.social · 17h

Between this and my experiences of the Fall Guys sub, I've decided the worst way to gauge the health of a game and the state of its community is its subreddit. Very strong "I played 1000+ hours and I hate this game" energy from these communities. (See also: the PoE subreddit.)

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Esme Rylan @esmerylan.bsky.social · 17h

You wouldn't know this from looking at the subreddit, of course, people there are calling it a "dead game" even though it's still in early access (and nowhere near finished) and every time I've logged on there are plenty of other players, it seems pretty active to me.

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Esme Rylan @esmerylan.bsky.social · 17h

I've still found Brighter Shores way more engaging than other MMOs I've tried and abandoned, which explains the nearly 30 hours I've played so far. It's not overwhelming, the systems make sense without having to resort to a wiki, you can mostly ignore the main quest and spend all your time cooking.

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