Mawd

It doesn't go far enough but there is a recurring npc who is a prostitute. I didn't play very much of GTA V but other than where you had to pick her up from the corner she worked on (at least one time) the context you engaged with her in didn't revolve around sex work. Which is a start at least. I mean they still umbrella'd her mission type under 'freaks and strangers' which still puts her into this mysterious 'other' category where you work for people of dubious moral character; her mission chain was being a tow truck operator but the one other character I encountered under the 'F&S' mission type was a creepy paparazzi who took nude photos of women to tear them down. IDK I think humanising npc's is a step in the right direction but they don't really have the inclination to put real effort in.

I ended up with a fantastic dream last night. I can't remember every detail but the major beats were: Surviving/outwitting traps and sinister individuals in some kind of Dark Souls inspired evil Manor. Along the way I somehow either unleashed a hidden terror or my visit happened to coincide with the start of a major fantasy war between the forces of good and evil. I end up escaping the darkness of the manor before coming across what seems like a line of defence for the forces of order in the area. There are a couple of houses, a wooden tower, and a line of wooden stakes in the ground and I'm watching processions of soldiers and refugees walk into a valley; apparently the commanders have tactically given up the area? Anyway I remain in one of the houses living with three other men when suddenly a fireball smashes into the house which collapses the building onto myself and a few others. We struggle trying to fulfil our basic needs for some time before everything fades out. I end up back to the point where I was watching the processions of soldiers and refugees. This time when we're left alone and the fireball comes none of us survivors are injured dramatically. We survive and even thrive for a few weeks/months But I think we decided to leave the area one by one. There are no good byes. Our time together more than makes up for any words said at the end. Finally alone for the first time in many months I leave the house that for all its perils became my home and venture out into the wilds. I don't encounter any evils on my journey. I think the sinister beings unleashed at the manor are content with their land grab for now. I don't encounter much of anything as I walk through an enchanted forest. Only trees, waterfalls, and critters are there to welcome me. Finally after much travelling I come across a cliff side which overlooks the edge of the forest. Hundreds of feet below me lies a vast lake with many small settlements positioned around it as well as a road that I believe I can travel to from the forest from either side of the lake. I see many towns that look like the idealised fantasy sort. Most impressively at the centre of the highway at the other side of the lake lies a massive city surrounded by a giant curtain wall and divided into three unequal sections. I look at the city and think wow okay that's where I'm going to call my home. But the most awe inspiring thing isn't the city it's a cube that rises from the ocean behind the city and absolutely dwarfs the surrounding area with it's magnitude. It's entirely covered in geometric detail and even from a cliff I can see the underside which has vast waterfalls spilling out of it. I see it and realise that this is the wellspring of eternity where basically all life and energy emerges and that simply living near a divine artefact like that is a privilege in itself. So I then had to actually get to the fabled city and luckily I find a massive stone structure with some kind of cable car that'll take me straight to it! But I have to sneak on board first by evading several traps designed to keep out intruders from times gone by. I think it's this point that I see my first other human for at least a month. Luckily I manage to evade them but that also robbed me of the chance to see how they behaved. I make it onto the car and travel to the city and when I arrive at the destination terminal I realise that the city looks a lot less traditionally fantastical than I thought. Something about the skyscrapers, digital advertising signs, and the hovering tour buses gives me that feeling. Upon entering the city I also realise that there is a somewhat sinister air floating about, I notice other people dressed like the person I saw at the other terminal and they seem to act like some sort of police in a somewhat capitalist society that has a firmer view of what people can and can't do than our own. I instinctively realise that to acknowledge my existence as an outsider is to be arrested and interrogated for some time so I immediately set about integrating myself with the locals by taking a trip on the touring hover bus. As I travel around the city I realise that I can no longer see the divine construct I appreciated from afar. What I do see instead is a society that has become rotten but does a rather excellent job of preventing it from becoming too apparent. So what do I do? I make friends with the fellows on the bus and we decide to take it over! We activate the flight mode and race around the city encouraging the populace to rise up (they do, rather successfully) before landing on the tallest building and disembarking knowing that the hegemony has been toppled for the best and that I can disappear into the background and safely wake up. Sorry for any comprehension or flow errors I was remembering a lot of it as I went and now feel the powerful urge to leave my keyboard for a bit.

Would it be a crappy argument to suggest that if GTA lost it's childishness it'd lose a pretty significant part of itself? I do wish that npc's were a bit more than unwitting victims to player whims. i think what could curb it would be a reputations system. I mean if you became a well known criminal with a penchant for violently beating strangers or singling out specific groups of people then maybe other npc's would decide you weren't good business, or maybe you attract even more unstable violent types into your business relationships. People praise the gta series for how big and how many things you can do inside it but it feels pretty hollow to me. I think if the system acknowledged even just a little what you do it'd be a step in the right direction. Heck maybe people in the romance options could learn to stay away from the guy that beats and kills prostitutes? I mean GTA seems to have chased various gangster movies around in its iterations, I think it should take a leaf from The Wolf of Wall Street (the only real 'classical' modern gangster movie I can think of right now). The movie took more turns revelling in the excess than condemning it but there were some parts where a character's behaviour was reined in for fear of the negative press. I think a world response to public acts of violence more meaningful than the police star system would be welcome. Also I would be all for mo-capped male strippers even though I think the forced romance or strip bar moments are pretty silly. Edit: I get the uncomfortable feeling that there's grounds for people to think I've conflated childishness in GTA to mean we should allow sex workers in the game to be raped or murdered. What I mean or hope to mean by childishness is that if someone really wants to waste their own time they can go to a digital strip club, or have polygon sex, or a pixelated hot coffee. Also belonging under childishness is the weird commitment to humour that only young teenagers would get the most of while still being a game designed for an 18+ rating.

TWENTYFOURTEEN Was really sweet. Can we have a redo just to savour it? Jokes I can't wait for 2015; I've been wanting a hover-board for most of my life.

Remember BadFinger they can't change the top ten list in your heart.

I do view these videos without context (at least as far as not watching most of the other skits). I watch some Adult Swim shows but here in NZ we don't actually get the channel (not that I've had cable for years anyway). I've seen Too Many Cooks and I think I know what some of the classic AS 'shit gets real' tropes are. I'm not sure what I hope to add here except to say the problem was largely in the execution because there possibly could have been something worth watching in there. It did feel like they were trying something else in the wake of TMC. I kinda hoped the next infomercial I'd hear about would at least be in the same vein of worth-the-time-to-watch as TMC was. But I guess the production team is going through some growing pains?

After a point it felt like it was just a concerted effort to be 5edgy4u. Critique of some approaches to mental wellbeing aside the whole thing was a wasted effort to me at least.

I had the unfortunate experience of seeing The Interview. Well if you like Taika Waitit at all you should be covered.Osmosich is right. You need to enjoy dry humour to get the most out.

I've had a wonderful two days with some extended family and am beginning to see firsthand the sleep depravation that can be caused by a five week old baby. She's still awesome though Oh and I was introduced to graffiti writing from my cousin at the retail store for hand customised clothes he runs with his partner. It looks like a nice workplace even if it is a converted butcher's and fish and chip store. He's getting a friend to set up a stone carving studio for greywake and pounamu (greenstone). As well as turning the studio into a general art space. Which is pretty rad.

Yeah Twig just click the Find Game button (y'know the hardly used alternative to server browser lists?) and enable beta maps and you can even bring up a sub server browsing list of just those maps. I jumped into TF2 for the first time in a year. The update's new game mode was pretty fun and more than enough reason to play for an hour or so.

I think Metal Gear's a really fun series (one of my top) and that if you play Ground Zeroes with the goal of exploring the system rather than working through the plot you'll get a lot more out of it. I haven't played it yet and won't for a while but I hear that if you take that approach you can turn it into a 20-30 hour game.

Yeah I would have preferred he karked it in the second film.

I saw 'The Drop' today starring James Gandolfini and Tom Hardy. It was well polished and pretty good although I don't think I'd watch it again unless I had access to cable one day and absolutely nothing better to do. I'm keen to see Nightcrawler, Mr. Turner, Big Hero 6, Birdman, The Imitation Game (although I hear they awkwardly navigated Turing's sexuality), Unbroken, Mortdecai (mostly for Jeff Goldblum -I don't really care for Johnny Depp since I haven't seen something good from him in some time), Foxcatcher (reeeeally want to see), The Theory of Everything, Ex Machina, and Inherent Vice. I don't movie that much any more but the promotional booklet at the indie cinema I went to really sold most of these to me. I uhh, threw out all assumptions of what it was going to be from what it was based upon some time ago. This third movie was essentially Dwarf Fortress: The Movie and I enjoyed it pretty well. I thought they killed the dragon off a little too swiftly although I suppose the makers know most people are going to end up binge watching them all while hung over on a Sunday (or maybe that's just the students I know?) so pacing for each individual film matters less.

Heh, even with context its still a degree or two off my expectation. You turning out to be a dedicated farmer (at least an enthusiastic one) is more familiar a situation to me than someone using 'yoke' in a context off from "I have a giant thing pressing down on my right now".

If you used it like you're suggesting I would also need context before I start to think you're a farmer whose tractor has broken down.

Theoretical Box Art.

Artist of The Year: Mac Demarco Super smooth psych pop that also knows how to croon in the night. I think they're a wonderful complement to my other favourite band Unknown Mortal Orchestra. I made a top eight albums which was really easy to do since I've either gone "yeah okay" or "bleh" to every other release I've heard this year. In order of attachment: FKA Twigs -LP1 Give Up This release hit me like a brick this year. It's atmospheric, fragile but it also roars when it needs to. Deserves to be listened in full. Mac Demarco -Salad Days The coolest new summer tunes. Mac Demarco ranges from lazy afternoon music to night time crooner, there's a place for both styles in his rather delicious range. Perfume Genius -Too Bright Urgent, melancholy, a little fantastical, and a whole lot of gospel. Death Grips -Niggas On tha Moon Easily my favourite DG album (NoTM > EM > TMS > GP > NLDW). It feels weird to post any song other than the opening track when the flow between subsequent songs feels so important to the album. Arca -Xen Not really a show one song and judge kind of album. What it is though is a moody album that never really pumps up or shouts out but does make a nice soundtrack to any kind of repetitive task you're committing to. Like say a video game. Future Islands -Singles Some of the best synth pop I've heard. This album took me by surprise and quickly arrested my attention. The beats and flow of the songs feels nice but what really sells it is the emotion the lead singer puts into their tracks. Cymbals Eat Guitars -LOSE I just find this to be a really fun indie rock band. I haven't really looked for fun indie rock bands since Arctic Monkeys or Foals so its great to have a new one. Iceage -Plowing Into the Field of Love I think this is a really fun angry youth themed album. What makes it more than just that are the commonalities with The Libertines and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. Honorary mention to Electric Wizard -Time to Die (which currently has no songs on youtube) It's a pretty good Doom Metal album. I don't think it's the best because none of the songs beyond Incense for The Damned stand out for me but the album is worth a look for that song alone. For Best Video there have been some great ones out but Perfume Genius' - Queen takes the cake. I just really like the emotional high I can ride on while viewing this. The runner up goes to Sleaford Mods I find this video to be really slick. the imagery the vocalist conjures up hits hard and is delivered pulsing with attitude. The bass line writhes throughout the song, a guitar casually keys in in this lazily confident sort of way while the drum loops glue everything together. I'd like to see more music videos delivered in completely mundane locations. My most played song this year is Preface which is the opening track to FKA Twigs LP1 and sits at 67 plays. Also I can't show off music I've loved this year without mentioning The Drones. Their Australian garage/alt rock songs are typically lyrically vivid musically intense and dramatic in notion but they also know how to write songs with a more measured or quiet pace granted they frequently rise to end with a thundering bang. 2013's I See Seaweed is easily their best while 2008's Havilah is a well meaning runner up.

I found HOTS to be really fun to play with the BF. After playing about 5 or so heroes we quickly settled into choosing specific main heroes and we had a lot of fun tearing up teams as a gruesome twosome. But now a few months in I kind of feel like I've over played the game. Perhaps if could do something extremely dramatic like select any hero from the entire pool at any time I might be more inclined to continue. I spurned LoL a while ago but Smite and HOTS have kept me satisfied with LoMA's for a while besides the odd game of Doto 2. I think HOTS needs to hurry up and come out with a separate game mode or two to like Smite has. I find a much stronger urge to play additional games of Smite when I can have multiple satisfying games over separate modes rather than just having one or two games of HOTS and thinking "yep that itch's gone now" and booting up NS2 instead.

I went to my aunt's wedding yesterday while my partner went to his grandparent's 50th wedding anniversary. We both ended up having great times. I found it really nice to see a lot of extended family I haven't seen for years, some only once or twice before that. As for meeting people it can happen in the most ridiculous ways. I started dating my partner after we played singstar and danced together at a house party. Been going on four years now.

I've watched a little of it. It's pretty fun. I think Hannibal's my favourite member in the show.

It did look like you kill a tonne of women and minorities which is ugly. But overall the game looks boring. To riff off of Lu I know just the teen that'll be excited for this. But aside from 3dgy people I suspect it'll be this forgettable for many. Although I'm sure some people who aren't gamers will hear about this as their one piece of gaming news for the while and use it as a talking point about why games are bad. Which is sad. Up until the murder porn I kept hoping the trailer would have some sort of overt nod that it was actually a send up of those themes but no.

If the game feel is as great as it looks in those trailers then this is a game for me. A lot is being made over the procedural or exploration mechanics (sure that's just about all we know right now). But it's the music, tight transitions and how awesome the flying looks that sell it.

You are free to maintain a stern look upon your face. I apologise for my statement that BBC's Miranda is great. No show deserves to have greatness thrust upon it; rather a show must exist free to enchant or repulse based on viewer's subjective tastes. Such Fun.

I think some shows can travel, you just have to provide them with context. Like when I say The Thick of It is the funnier version of Veep and one half of the greatness that was In The Loop. Also BBC's Miranda is great.

Fargo.