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Jan. 25th, 2011 08:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dmxratedSent back: Burn Up Excess, disk 6. Watched the last episode last Saturday.
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Had an appointment w/ Dr. Perret yesterday, so I arranged a bus a week in advance to come pick me up at 1:00 P.M. Watched an episode each of Godannar, Kanon, and Pani Poni Dash, sent a note to Melissa asking if she had any upcoming days off, heard back from someone about the colored version of a Sailor Moon group pic he was working on, and replied to him asking to fix Rei's hair color, all just in time before my bus came.
Went to the hospital, and Mom let me buy a snack at the cafeteria before we left. Along with a cookies 'n' cream Nesquik, I got myself something that looked like a ring-ding with M&M's and a zig-zag of white icing, but turned out to be a cookie with a center layer of cream. Both items costed just $5.06 together, out of combined money that was either sitting in my dresser drawer (since my purchase of Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia) or was left on the kitchen counter by Mom as bus fare.
I started eating the cookie in the car, and allowed Mom to have a bite, but she said it was so big that it would probably be best if I saved half of it for later.
If my appointment had been scheduled for next week instead of yesterday, we could've made efficient use of our time then by stopping at Toys 'R' Us so I can download Pikachu onto my Pokemon games. However, we did have other errands to run, including some rather urgent grocery shopping (which we had time to do before the appointment).
-----
Two topics brought up this session w/ Dr. Perret.
Hair fetish stuff:
So, to start the session off, I told him about the artwork I've been commissioning various members of DeviantArt for. I had my laptop with me, and would have shown him what I've got so far on it, but wasn't able to surf the Internet with it. He had his own laptop as well, which was running out of battery power but still had enough for me to show him the pics. Showed him all three pics that PlottingYourDemise drew up, as well as that other pic.
With that all said and done, some actual discussion about it and my thoughts about those kinds of hairstyles ensued. Main things you need to know are that they were trendy back in the 50's and 60's, are seemingly coming back into fashion (if people like "Snooki" and Amy Winehouse are anything to go by), and despite that (and because of the way they were depicted comically in cartoons such as The Simpsons and The Far Side), I tend to fantasize about them mainly as a form of humiliation for whoever gets their hair updone like that.
Furthermore, I already stated just last entry that up until recently, equipping any character canon to anything with someone else's hairstyle would have been an epic no-no. This still holds true with voices, clothes, and facial features, but as far as hair goes, the rule now is that it cannot be an exact duplicate (and the character receiving a transformation must have long enough hair to take on the general shape and/or size).
Well, yeah. Years ago, such a thing would've really creeped me out (especially if the girl in question were Rokuna). These are the kinds of images that I struggle every day not to let my mind's eye see, and would be even more offensive if I saw actual images of them physically. Several years ago, I thought the word for the emotion that would be invoked was "squick", but that actually has more to do with other kinds of stuff.
I did mention a similar example to Dr. Perret, though: A little while ago, Chelle was looking for ideas for a one-shot fanfic. One of my ideas involved Mondo being babyfied, and while she didn't quite mind such an idea (provided he still retains his 11-year-old mentality), she'd be creeped out if Rokuna had to take on a motherly role and take care of him, since she's used to their canonical relationship as boyfriend and girlfriend.
See what I mean?
Gaming:
Not too long ago, Chelle stated on her blog that her love for anime is waning. Mainly, it's that she will not watch anime just because it's anime, and this was also the case with Disney and the fantasy genre.
Not long after I asked her about that, I myself realized that, with the exception of Pokemon games, my love for video games is probably waning in favor of my plans to write fanfiction.
With anime, the viewer is not in any way involved (unless it's one of those series like Tea Society of a Witch, which involves making choices that influence the plot). You just watch what goes on and follow along with the story. However, with games, your main focus is on the gameplay, and if there is any plot to follow along with (which is exactly the case with most RPGs), it's secondary.
Given that the story in any given game is already laid out, I tend to focus on things that aren't relevant to any kind of story, such as which enemies you kill, which enemies you pass, what items you collect, which items you pass up (if certain items are useless and your inventory space is limited), how much and what items you have (and how much money you have) after any given segment (or at the end of the game itself), what gets destroyed on the sidelines, what remains intact, which weapons, spells, or items you used to kill any given enemy, possible direct aftereffects of any of it that are unspokenly left to the imagination and don't pertain to the overall story (such as whether enemies had any family to go back to or who depended on them for a living, whether they would've killed anyone else who passed by if left alive, how much money everything destroyed would cost to replace or rebuild, whether enemies would mourn for their fallen fellows or be indifferent), and so on and so forth.
While it's all fun while it lasts, people do not have the capacity to remember every detail of their playthroughs of any given game. This would hold especially true for anything where you keep dying and having to reset the game.
The tendency to forget playthroughs is exactly the reason why I wish to write fanfics like Monster Collection Chronicles and Parasitic Trio at some point. Everything that goes on in these fics will only happen once, but will be recorded permanently for me to look back to. Furthermore, they will allow everyone in-universe to act, fight, and interact w/ one another more freely than any game could ever hope to allow for, while also coming with plenty of mook battles and maps to show everyone's initial positions at the start of the fighting segments.
But, back to gaming. From now on, I'm probably only going to buy anything other than Pokemon if I feel like having something to play instead of plotting or writing fanfiction. For the record, though, I do still plan on giving those two games I got with the Xbox for Christmas two years ago a try at some point (during a time when Brian's home), as well as playing Wonder Project J2 the whole way through. And if Grandia IV ever comes out, provided it's anime-style just like all its predecessors, I'll be sure to try that one out too.
-----
After we left, Mom drove to the carwash station, and then to the post office to redeem my money order. While we were at the former, Mom asked me if Pokemon Battle Revolution actually makes use of the player's motions. If I'm correct, though, it doesn't, because the gameplay probably consists of entering commands during turn-based battles. She asked me what the point would be for porting something onto the Wii if the controls are still standard fare. In that game's case, chances are, it's because Nintendo, being the company that both owns the rights to make Pokemon games and put out the console, needed something TV-based for that particular game (instead of the Nintendo DS) and is obviously not going to make any version for its competitors' consoles.
For that matter, I also told her that a lot of DS games use the stylus mainly for menus, and there are even games that make no use of the stylus at all. Contra IV, which I owned up until recently, is a good example, in that it doesn't even make separate use of the two screens either (at least not during the gameplay). Why Konami or Wayforward (whichever was responsible) bothered porting that one onto the DS instead of the Playstation Portable is anyone's guess, although I am aware of the existence of an inferior version of the same game for mobile phones.
-----
When we got home, I was so full from such a sugary snack as I had from the hospital that I didn't feel like doing anything but sleep. I did wake up every now and then to check for messages, but I didn't bother having dinner.
-----
Had an appointment w/ Dr. Perret yesterday, so I arranged a bus a week in advance to come pick me up at 1:00 P.M. Watched an episode each of Godannar, Kanon, and Pani Poni Dash, sent a note to Melissa asking if she had any upcoming days off, heard back from someone about the colored version of a Sailor Moon group pic he was working on, and replied to him asking to fix Rei's hair color, all just in time before my bus came.
Went to the hospital, and Mom let me buy a snack at the cafeteria before we left. Along with a cookies 'n' cream Nesquik, I got myself something that looked like a ring-ding with M&M's and a zig-zag of white icing, but turned out to be a cookie with a center layer of cream. Both items costed just $5.06 together, out of combined money that was either sitting in my dresser drawer (since my purchase of Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia) or was left on the kitchen counter by Mom as bus fare.
I started eating the cookie in the car, and allowed Mom to have a bite, but she said it was so big that it would probably be best if I saved half of it for later.
If my appointment had been scheduled for next week instead of yesterday, we could've made efficient use of our time then by stopping at Toys 'R' Us so I can download Pikachu onto my Pokemon games. However, we did have other errands to run, including some rather urgent grocery shopping (which we had time to do before the appointment).
-----
Two topics brought up this session w/ Dr. Perret.
Hair fetish stuff:
So, to start the session off, I told him about the artwork I've been commissioning various members of DeviantArt for. I had my laptop with me, and would have shown him what I've got so far on it, but wasn't able to surf the Internet with it. He had his own laptop as well, which was running out of battery power but still had enough for me to show him the pics. Showed him all three pics that PlottingYourDemise drew up, as well as that other pic.
With that all said and done, some actual discussion about it and my thoughts about those kinds of hairstyles ensued. Main things you need to know are that they were trendy back in the 50's and 60's, are seemingly coming back into fashion (if people like "Snooki" and Amy Winehouse are anything to go by), and despite that (and because of the way they were depicted comically in cartoons such as The Simpsons and The Far Side), I tend to fantasize about them mainly as a form of humiliation for whoever gets their hair updone like that.
Furthermore, I already stated just last entry that up until recently, equipping any character canon to anything with someone else's hairstyle would have been an epic no-no. This still holds true with voices, clothes, and facial features, but as far as hair goes, the rule now is that it cannot be an exact duplicate (and the character receiving a transformation must have long enough hair to take on the general shape and/or size).
Well, yeah. Years ago, such a thing would've really creeped me out (especially if the girl in question were Rokuna). These are the kinds of images that I struggle every day not to let my mind's eye see, and would be even more offensive if I saw actual images of them physically. Several years ago, I thought the word for the emotion that would be invoked was "squick", but that actually has more to do with other kinds of stuff.
I did mention a similar example to Dr. Perret, though: A little while ago, Chelle was looking for ideas for a one-shot fanfic. One of my ideas involved Mondo being babyfied, and while she didn't quite mind such an idea (provided he still retains his 11-year-old mentality), she'd be creeped out if Rokuna had to take on a motherly role and take care of him, since she's used to their canonical relationship as boyfriend and girlfriend.
See what I mean?
Gaming:
Not too long ago, Chelle stated on her blog that her love for anime is waning. Mainly, it's that she will not watch anime just because it's anime, and this was also the case with Disney and the fantasy genre.
Not long after I asked her about that, I myself realized that, with the exception of Pokemon games, my love for video games is probably waning in favor of my plans to write fanfiction.
With anime, the viewer is not in any way involved (unless it's one of those series like Tea Society of a Witch, which involves making choices that influence the plot). You just watch what goes on and follow along with the story. However, with games, your main focus is on the gameplay, and if there is any plot to follow along with (which is exactly the case with most RPGs), it's secondary.
Given that the story in any given game is already laid out, I tend to focus on things that aren't relevant to any kind of story, such as which enemies you kill, which enemies you pass, what items you collect, which items you pass up (if certain items are useless and your inventory space is limited), how much and what items you have (and how much money you have) after any given segment (or at the end of the game itself), what gets destroyed on the sidelines, what remains intact, which weapons, spells, or items you used to kill any given enemy, possible direct aftereffects of any of it that are unspokenly left to the imagination and don't pertain to the overall story (such as whether enemies had any family to go back to or who depended on them for a living, whether they would've killed anyone else who passed by if left alive, how much money everything destroyed would cost to replace or rebuild, whether enemies would mourn for their fallen fellows or be indifferent), and so on and so forth.
While it's all fun while it lasts, people do not have the capacity to remember every detail of their playthroughs of any given game. This would hold especially true for anything where you keep dying and having to reset the game.
The tendency to forget playthroughs is exactly the reason why I wish to write fanfics like Monster Collection Chronicles and Parasitic Trio at some point. Everything that goes on in these fics will only happen once, but will be recorded permanently for me to look back to. Furthermore, they will allow everyone in-universe to act, fight, and interact w/ one another more freely than any game could ever hope to allow for, while also coming with plenty of mook battles and maps to show everyone's initial positions at the start of the fighting segments.
But, back to gaming. From now on, I'm probably only going to buy anything other than Pokemon if I feel like having something to play instead of plotting or writing fanfiction. For the record, though, I do still plan on giving those two games I got with the Xbox for Christmas two years ago a try at some point (during a time when Brian's home), as well as playing Wonder Project J2 the whole way through. And if Grandia IV ever comes out, provided it's anime-style just like all its predecessors, I'll be sure to try that one out too.
-----
After we left, Mom drove to the carwash station, and then to the post office to redeem my money order. While we were at the former, Mom asked me if Pokemon Battle Revolution actually makes use of the player's motions. If I'm correct, though, it doesn't, because the gameplay probably consists of entering commands during turn-based battles. She asked me what the point would be for porting something onto the Wii if the controls are still standard fare. In that game's case, chances are, it's because Nintendo, being the company that both owns the rights to make Pokemon games and put out the console, needed something TV-based for that particular game (instead of the Nintendo DS) and is obviously not going to make any version for its competitors' consoles.
For that matter, I also told her that a lot of DS games use the stylus mainly for menus, and there are even games that make no use of the stylus at all. Contra IV, which I owned up until recently, is a good example, in that it doesn't even make separate use of the two screens either (at least not during the gameplay). Why Konami or Wayforward (whichever was responsible) bothered porting that one onto the DS instead of the Playstation Portable is anyone's guess, although I am aware of the existence of an inferior version of the same game for mobile phones.
-----
When we got home, I was so full from such a sugary snack as I had from the hospital that I didn't feel like doing anything but sleep. I did wake up every now and then to check for messages, but I didn't bother having dinner.