Gormongous
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Everything posted by Gormongous
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Ouran Boast Club - Planning an Anime Podcast
Gormongous replied to Gormongous's topic in Movies & Television
If it hasn't yet become clear, I'm weirdly fascinated with Upotte! as a commercial product and as a creative work. Its content is almost preternaturally balanced between 1) softcore porn with junior-high schoolgirls, 2) light gags about junior-high schoolgirls and their lives, and 3) technical gags about and references to the production and operation of automatic firearms. Near the end of the show, the first item on that list gets replaced by 4) highly detailed gunplay between junior-high schoolgirls. I agree with N1njaSquirrel that it's not a good anime by any reasonable rubric, but if you're looking for something that treats firearms as interesting mechanical creations, you'll get maybe a third of what you're looking for in Upotte!. Honestly, Girls und Panzer does a better job with tanks than Upotte! does with guns, in addition to having an actual story with real (albeit moe) characters, but I'm just not as much into tanks as into guns, although I like Girls und Panzer much more overall. -
That was... not a great thing to post, or to see.
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Ouran Boast Club - Planning an Anime Podcast
Gormongous replied to Gormongous's topic in Movies & Television
I actually don't like Hetalia. I like the history jokes, but not the nationalism jokes or the foreign culture jokes, and I feel like the latter two outweigh the former one. First and foremost, what I get out of Upotte! and Girls und Panzer (and what I would probably get out of Kantai Collection and Strike Witches, too) is a lovingly detailed depiction of military hardware in action, but in a way that neither glorifies violence nor celebrates death. Some people get really upset, mostly because they feel as though it's dishonest or even insidious to show weapons of war as the playthings of little girls who never get hurt by them, but I also feel that there's an argument to be made about de-mythologizing guns and tanks into products of human work, imbued with no intent until they are taken up by a person or a government in order to kill, and becoming familiar with them in that way, too. I recall Hideaki Anno saying the same in one of his few English interviews recently and it's pretty much the crux of Horikoshi Jiro's characterization by Miyazaki in The Wind Rises, but I felt this way before I knew about either of those. And I don't know that an appreciation for military hardware is especially cultural. Americans supposedly love it because we're surrounded by it, Japanese and Brits supposedly love it because they're deprived of it. I personally was obsessed with mid-century warplanes in particular and World War II in general for most of elementary school, but fell out of it pretty hard in favor of sci-fi and fantasy once I got too old to stomp around the neighborhood in my grandfather's fatigues. Despite being an avowed liberal and pacifist, I came into my current interest in my late twenties only after almost two decades of playing video games, having gradually found myself with a preference for the aesthetics of certain guns in Counter-Strike and Payday 2. I began to look into them, mostly to see if there were common elements between the ones that I like, because pattern-recognition always intrigues me, and that knowledge led me in turn to media like Upotte! that, for all its many faults, is about weapons as non-ideological things, rather than jerking off to the 1,250 rounds the MAC-10 fires per minute and the amount of death that that represents, which characterizes almost every non-Japanese fan work out there about a military topic. Still, if you don't know or care about firearms at all, it's probably not worth your time to make a distinction there, and I find that totally understandable. Life's too short to defend Upotte! from its detractors, anyway. Sorry for the extended noodling. This'd probably make for a good podcast spotlight, someday in the distant future... -
Ouran Boast Club - Planning an Anime Podcast
Gormongous replied to Gormongous's topic in Movies & Television
What I like about Upotte! are the highly specific jokes about technical details of firearm production and operation. The moe and fanservice are moments when I check my phone, until the show gets back to stuff like this: The creators of Upotte! really love the SG550 and really hate the L85A1, about which I've seen people complain, but I'm fine with it myself, because those are my sympathies exactly. Kantai Collection is gross because who cares about ships and also they have moments like this that are worse than anything even Upotte! has: As KarmaBurn writes, "apparently nobody has had the heart to tell Shimakaze that she mistook a shampoo hat for a skirt." -
Ouran Boast Club - Planning an Anime Podcast
Gormongous replied to Gormongous's topic in Movies & Television
Yeah, that's totally valid. You should feel how you want to feel, however that is. I'll stop carping about it. -
Ouran Boast Club - Planning an Anime Podcast
Gormongous replied to Gormongous's topic in Movies & Television
I understand, and you and Codicier should feel free to speak your respective pieces about dissonant art styles, but it will bum me out a bit if our discussion about Shirobako is mostly about how moe has compromised (if not ruined) another Perfectly Good Anime. There's so much cool stuff going on there, especially the attempt to take a snapshot of the second generation of anime creators as they're beginning to age out of the industry, that I'd hate for us to have an exchange that could be had over an inferior anime with a moe aesthetic that could be argued to have lessened its impact, like Upotte! for example, or really any anime released over the past few years. Also, a little unrelatedly, I found this chart to help N1njaSquirrel remember that the girls in Upotte! are guns: Okay, I just found the chart while googling Teekyuu .gifs and wanted to post it somewhere. -
It took thirty-odd episodes, but I really have come around to thinking of Teekyuu as a brilliant show. I was put off in the beginning by the internet consensus of it as "saving anime from itself," but it's actually an interesting elaboration on gag anime that's kinetic and hyper-focused on landing joke after joke. The next best thing of its type that I've seen, Plastic Nee-san, doesn't even hold a candle, except for the scene contained by this .gif: Really, this season's Takamiya Nasuno Desu! doesn't hold that candle either, even though it's a spinoff of Teekyuu.
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Oh, they'll accept you, once you define yourself in terms that are acceptable to them. And honestly, that's not surprising. So much of #GamerGate comes from 4chan, a subculture obsessed with the concept of "traps," feminine men who trick straight men into having sex with them, then either blackmail them for money or a relationship, lest they make public the fact that said straight men have had "gay" sex. It's so obviously something that's been made up entirely out of the anxieties of your typical teenage homophobe, and yet it resonates so strongly with them that many cannot even think of another reason why anyone would be trans, beside to be a "trap."
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Ouran Boast Club - Planning an Anime Podcast
Gormongous replied to Gormongous's topic in Movies & Television
I don't know how to say this in a way that's not a bit brusque, but if the character design of a minority of the cast is the only thing that excites comment from you, in an anime that offers the most extensive and detailed look in fiction at the process and challenges of making anime... I don't know. I'm excited to talk about it and Otaku no Video and Aoi Honoo and The Notenki Memoirs. -
The End of Mad Men: "New Business"
Gormongous replied to Chris's topic in The End of Mad Men Episodes
I liked the episode. We don't see Diana as a fully realized person because Don refuses to let her be one. He wants her to be a one-size-fits-all cipher for all the women that failed to put up with him, so he never goes below the surface. That projection is represented in one way by his constant efforts to give Diana something (a drink, some water, a book) and thereby make her happy, even though he always misjudges it himself. In the end, when he has the chance actually to learn something about her, he bluntly refuses and leaves without a word after she's said her piece. Honestly, the stuff with Megan's family worked less for me, although it fit into the themes of the episode about projecting expectations onto people and then being disappointed by them. I'm really just surprised that Megan had any illusions left about her mother Marie and that she took it out on Don. Still, as one review I read put it, I like that Megan brought in her family for moral support and they ended up making it exponentially worse than it would have been with just her and Don. I know it's a bunch of stuff that's typical to the show, but it all felt consonant. -
Ouran Boast Club - Planning an Anime Podcast
Gormongous replied to Gormongous's topic in Movies & Television
We also talked briefly about School Rumble, School Days, and Oh! Edo Rocket. It was a very broad conversation. I'm fine with Shirobako being our next (and technically first) spotlight anime? Everyone on the podcast panel wanted desperately to talk more about it, so it makes sense to get it over with. I hope it would be reasonably understandable, even for someone without extensive outside knowledge. Almost all of the anime are new ones, which makes it natural that most people haven't seen them, but discussing them all speaks to anime as a medium and anime as an industry, I think. I don't know, I only heard it while I was a part of it, but it didn't seem entirely (or even mostly) inside baseball. -
Ouran Boast Club - Planning an Anime Podcast
Gormongous replied to Gormongous's topic in Movies & Television
Well, it's still up in the air whether we're even going to release it immediately or even at all. It'll probably depend on whether the editing salvages any quality moments out of it, although it definitely accomplished its primary goal of establishing whether such a podcast is workable. We discussed Gintama, Yuri Kuma Arashi, Death Parade, Kuroko's Basketball, Ore Monogatari, and Little Witch Academia, of course. Out of those six shows, I've only seen two myself, but I managed to talk plenty anyway, for which I am deeply sorry. -
They push it so hard on My Brother, My Brother, and Me, but I never bothered, because it sounds like a not-great idea for a podcast. That's too bad, anyway.
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Ugh, it's so tempting to jump in with a short Twine game of that now, especially if you read the title as "The Return of Nick Breckon (who is) Dishonored (to the podcast)." It writes itself, really. Anyway, looking forward to this!
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Ouran Boast Club - Planning an Anime Podcast
Gormongous replied to Gormongous's topic in Movies & Television
If anyone's curious, recording went well, albeit a bit long, which is to be expected from five anime enthusiasts (or rather, four anime enthusiasts and one skeptic). Codicier is now graciously editing our individual tracks, although I'm unsure yet whether it's worthy of release. Regardless, I'm looking forward to recording our next proper episode! Also, not that he'll read this for days, but thanks to Roderick for the C01U recommendation. I bought the Pro version, with the direct headphone input, and I have been sincerely blown away (IGN.com) by its quality. Truly a great recommendation, although I'm probably going to have to buy a proper stand for it sooner or later, because the tripod that comes with it is a little crap. -
That's kind of where I am right now. It's a stupid prank to pull because of the potential to be misunderstood even after all the details are known. I certainly wouldn't do anything like it in the area of my professional employ, but then I'm not a published journalist for a respected gaming site, so what do I know. It's his prank to pull and it didn't cause any damage, so the real consequences are on the people flying off the handle about it.
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Ouran Boast Club - Planning an Anime Podcast
Gormongous replied to Gormongous's topic in Movies & Television
Actually, Sunday is looking worse and worse for me, because of family stuff, but I'll try to make it work somehow and let everyone know if it doesn't. -
It's really interesting that Sean offers a critique of lore by comparing it to a bad history class, and then Jake gets so close to offering a defense of lore by talking about how a history class should be. I honestly see "good" lore serving as thick description for characters, actions, and events. The lore in Psychonauts is the history of the camp that gives context to the current characters' actions so that anyone, even someone who has never attended a summer or boot camp, can understand what it means to be part of the Psychonauts. I think a lot of games fall down with their lore because their characters, actions, and events exist to give context to the setting and the plot, which is probably a natural although not necessary consequence of a writer-led philosophy of video-game storytelling. If you've made the decision to read all of the books in Skyrim, you're playing the game and experiencing the story to understand what they're talking about, because the flow of knowledge doesn't go the other way. It's really the difference between a game telling you how bad a guy in order that you kill him, even if you have your own reasons, and a game letting you kill a guy for your own reasons in order for you to find out how bad he was. Hopefully that makes sense? In real life, among teachers and professors who know and care, teaching history is about helping students to identify individuals and processes, and then about helping them to understand the narratives and consequences in a series of events through those individuals and processes. It's not too different from telling a story in a video game, allowing students to invest in the themes and systems that they see as important, but a lot of people teaching history obsess about names and dates like some video-game writers obsess about lore. It's probably inevitable then that, just like "names 'n' dates" is a pejorative term among my colleagues for the rote teaching of history, "lore" is becoming a pejorative term for the thoughtless insertion of information into a fictional narrative.
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Project Eternity, Obsidian's Isometric Fantasy RPG
Gormongous replied to TychoCelchuuu's topic in Video Gaming
I'm also most of the way through Act 2 and have yet to find a lock more difficult than Mechanics 7. There appear to be several traps that are at least Mechanics 9, but that's it. -
Ouran Boast Club - Planning an Anime Podcast
Gormongous replied to Gormongous's topic in Movies & Television
Okay... It has officially been a week since I ordered my mic on Amazon and it hasn't even progressed past "order received." Looks like I'll be asking my actor friend if I can borrow his Snowball for this weekend! -
Well, it'll take some worth, but it's worth it to build a culture of skepticism, pessimism, and fear that would make Rich Uncle proud.
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I've decided that I need to buy a ninety-second sand-timer for Sons of Anarchy. This last game was more than double the suggested running time of ninety minutes because of all the under-the-table dealing, none of which actually resulted in any bribes being made, unless you count one bag of contraband paid to a player in case something that didn't happen happened... or better yet, a two-dollar and two-contraband bribe to a player who claimed that he didn't understand the bribe he was accepting when he accepted it and therefore that he deserved to keep the bribe anyway because of the inconvenience caused by that confusion. I haven't played any of the expansions myself (I secretly think that Cyclades is like Battlestar Galactica, in that any additions ruin the perfect balance of the original design) but Shut Up & Sit Down reviewed both Cyclades: Hades (in text) and Cyclades: Titans (in video). Long story short, they hated Hades for adding a bunch of "modules" that dilute the focus of the game and multiply the busywork, but they loved Titans for being an all-in-one "remix" of the original game that was its own distinct but coherent experience. I've played Lords of Waterdeep half a dozen times and really enjoy it, which is odd considering that there's nothing really special about its design. I wish there were a way for me to drill further down on that, but I don't own it myself, so I can't do a real teardown of the mechanics.
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Podcasts similar to Idle Thumbs
Gormongous replied to Pan-Dimensional Space Mice's topic in Idle Banter
Yeah, I love Daft Souls a lot, too. It's my favorite gaming-related podcast after Idle Thumbs (undisputed for second place ever since Isometric took a nosedive off of my list). I just feel like Matt himself has some big weaknesses when talking about games, which doesn't keep him from fostering conversation and getting good guests. -
Podcasts similar to Idle Thumbs
Gormongous replied to Pan-Dimensional Space Mice's topic in Idle Banter
I agree. I don't think it's necessarily that Matt isn't intelligent, because it's hard as hell to tell that just from hearing someone talk with their friends for half an hour, but I definitely feel that he shares the same mentality and tendencies as his friends (and increasingly collaborators) at Shut Up & Sit Down, insofar as having a good time is the most important thing about a game (and most worthy of discussion) and a deeper critique is only necessary if you feel like you should be having a good time but aren't. The terrible (lack of) discussion about Papers Please a few episodes ago is a great example of this in action. I don't have a real problem with advocacy being the primary goal of a critical work, but it definitely keeps that work from being too high in my stable. -
Project Eternity, Obsidian's Isometric Fantasy RPG
Gormongous replied to TychoCelchuuu's topic in Video Gaming
So I ended up taking about ten days off from this game, first to wait for the patch that might fix this bug, then in disappointment that the patch didn't fix it. I started it up last night with the vague feeling that it might be like Shadowrun: Dragonfall, where a minor bug broke the flow of the game for me and I never came back, but I quickly found workarounds for The Theorems of Pandgram bug (enter the hall stealthed, it avoids the broken trigger) and then for another bug I encountered just afterward (open the console and enter anything into it to jumpstart a stalled dialogue string). Both of those done, I put another five hours into it and it felt really good. There definitely is some kind of magic with this game, my experience here shows as much. Fantasy games in which bears fuck your shit to pieces will always be my secret favorite thing. I remember the place you're probably talking about, right off from the starting area, where I probably died a half-dozen times before admitting to myself that I probably wasn't meant to be able to solo a bear at level 2.