grinninfoole: (Default)

On the tweeted advice of Delaney King, I tried out the video game Oxenfree (from Night School studios) on Stoic's PS4. I enjoyed it, and I wound up playing it several times through, but I did so in part because I mistook the underlying assumptions of the game design, which leads me to reflect on how this has been a life-long pattern for me.

Cover poster of Night School Studio's video game Oxenfree.

 

Overview of Oxenfree )Where I went wrong. )

I do not write any of this as a complaint–no harm=no foul, obviously. But it reminds me of other artistic interactions in my life, like the time in college I stayed up way too late watching an unevenly acted critique of the deep cynicism and sexism of professional country music that was airing on Cinemax, trying to figure out why it seemed to set up scenes like a porn film, but not have any sex. It wasn't until the next day that I realized that it was a porn film that had been thoroughly expurgated. I remember being baffled why 'skinemax' would show a movie like that, and then remove all the sex and nudity.

More recently, there was the Godzilla film with Bryan Cranston that used some music from 2001 in the trailer, getting me excited for a monster movie that was truly swinging for the filmmaking fences; alas, not so much.

Then there was my years long fixation on the early 2000s revival of Battlestar Galactica. I was completely hooked from the opening scene, and I was deeply invested in the characters and plot, trying to figure not only where the plot was going, but also the larger implications of this fictive world.  Ron Moore and his team were raising some interesting questions about what it would mean to actually confront a sapient alien species, to interact with inscrutable transcendent intelligences that nevertheless gave a shit about our grubby human lives, and maybe even share some profound insights on life and identity. The first two seasons were tightly plotted, superbly executed, and teased lots more to come; after all, as the opening credits assured us, "They have a plan."

As seasons 3 and 4 made abundantly and bitterly clear, they did not. Unlike most people, I'm still mad about it 15 years later. It seems clear that I am unusually attuned to responding to stories, and that I can find far more depth in something than anyone intended, simply by misunderstanding the creator's assumptions in making it.  All of which brings me to a new big question in my life: am I autistic?

 


grinninfoole: (Default)
I'm in a better mindset than my last post. It's tough to resist the old patterns of my family, but one of my friends (I think it was millari but it might have been morlock) summed it up well: don't go back to Andover to care of your mom, go back to visit your mom. And it's true that we already have a great team helping mom, with the PCAs from Home Instead, house calls from Patricia and Margaret at Elder Care Coordinator, financial coverage from the folks at US Trust, and chats with the minister. I'm going to focus on making my time in Andover about what I can do that others can't. Also, when I'm away, I call every day.

Right now, though, I'm in Tarrytown. I came down on Saturday and stayed with friends in Mount Vernon (super pleasant home for a super nice couple) (saw the Last Witchhunter movie, which was just as predictable and ersatz as a Snickers bar). Sunday we had the 'make plans for 2016' board meeting, and in the evening Lefty and I played Pathfinder (the adventure card game not the RPG, because who has time for such a baroque rules system?)* I had planned to drive back home tomorrow early in the day, but Lefty called and asked me to come take him to urgent care. He's got some sort of bladder problem that I think has been greatly exacerbated by an infection? Anyhoo, it was horrible so he needed a ride and a friend while he got treatment. I stayed the night at his place, and this morning the pills are working and he's much improved. Huzzah! (I beguiled the hours after he crashed out by watching Burn After Reading, which was as great as M told me it would be and was like watching a Fiasco game adapted to film, and the The Seven Percent Solution, which I had seen thirty years ago but I hadn't noticed that it's kind of racist and that Robert Duvall's British accent sounds terrible.)

Now I'm heading off with Lefty on a store errand, and then it's home to vote!

{BTW, while driving down, I listened to a podcast recommended by a friend I'll call Vanderbilt, the Blacklist Table Reads, which turns unproduced screen plays into audio dramas. It's a Hollywood thing, but the episode I listened to was Chrome Noir, a 30s crime story with robots that was a lot of fun.}



*I do, actually, in a game that Stoic is running. Honestly, though, if it weren't a long-running and already ongoing campaign, I don't know that I would find it worth the trouble, and I kept my character simple.

Sportsball

Jan. 17th, 2016 01:09 am
grinninfoole: (strangelove)
I've been feeling a bit tired the past few days. Not exhausted, exactly, or sick, but just easily tuckered out so I've been napping and curling up under the blankets a lot over the past few days. I think it's a bit of low grade depression, which I hope will pass since I'm using mood stabilizers again. Feisty has enjoyed the cuddling, I'm sure. Anyway, I spent seven hours watching football on TV, which is not something I have often done in the past, especially at my own home at my own discretion. Stoic was good company and made a delicious supper with fried pork and bok choy over spaghetti squash with something called dandan sauce (hot and peanutty). We watched the Patriots win handily, and then played cribbage while Green Bay come so close to winning against Arizona. The hail mary play with no time left to send the game into overtime was truly epic.
grinninfoole: (Default)
Today, I got a tutorial on the basics of editing audio files with Audacity. This will be useful, I'm sure, at some point in my radio career. I also went shopping in Hadley with Stoic. Maple line Farms and Aldis are, he says, the places to get the optimal combination of fresh produce and groceries at low prices. It took longer than my usual method (go to a market, fill the cart with the stuff I want, pay for it, and leave), but who knows? It might do me good to spend less money.

I made my cannellini, artichokes, portobellos and stuff over rice dish, then M came over and we three played Dominion. It was fun. I look forward to perhaps trying it again, maybe with something other than the intro set up of cards.

Chatted online with [livejournal.com profile] usakeh and now I'm posting this. Am I really forming a new habit?

Oh, and my show went well on Friday, and mom listened in using the iPad I got her for Xmas, so that's starting to pay off.

Profile

grinninfoole: (Default)
grinninfoole

November 2024

S M T W T F S
     12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
242526272829 30

Syndicate

RSS Atom

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jul. 6th, 2025 05:46 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios