Danielle

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Posts posted by Danielle

  1. Posted

    God, Skyward Sword. I wanted so, so badly to love this game. I made it a good 25+ hours (and enjoyed MOST of that time), before the controls frustrated me to the point where I never picked it up again.

     

    I can't tell you how many bombs that I desperately tried to kick ended up exploding right on Link's little elf boots because the command just wouldn't function.

     

    Sword fighting was such a mess. I died dozens of times on the very first boss.

     

    But the level design! And the world! I even liked the story. I found myself completing weird, time consuming sidequests because I could at least keep playing the game and not die every ten minutes because my Wii Motion Plus Whateverthefuck wasn't up to snuff.

     

    Given Nintendo's history with re-releasing games, I do hope we get a version of this with nice, normal controls one day.

  3. Posted

    I'm just popping in to say I really, really appreciate this community. I wasn't on the show this week because I've been on *vacation* -- however, both my girlfriend and I are getting a steady stream of online abuse (and in her case, hacking threats), so, we're really still in the middle of internet shithatestorm 2014.

     

    There's an emotional cycle with this stuff - it starts with rage: "how dare these misogynist assholes!" and it often devolves into utter exhaustion and a desire to have nothing to do with the internet. So having a place to go where people are empathetic, smart (and sassy when the time comes) is very important. To me, anyway!

     

    Keep on keeping on.

  4. Posted

    Maybe it's a thrill thing. I don't personally care to be scared, but also don't mind / care if other people desire it. It's just not for me. On top of that though, it is really difficult for me to consume media and be scared as part of the experience. I've looked into video games too much to be scared by them, because I'm just reading the Matrix. "Where's the trigger volume" type shit. And it's the same with films / television (I have some amateur education in production). And in both cases it's that writing has gotten predictable with creating fear.

     

    - show something gross

    - show something abrupt / sudden

     

    I definitely get where you're coming from wrt: suspension of disbelief. It's easy for me to start counting shots, or think about the lighting in a given scene, etc, when I start to get spooked.

     

    But I really enjoy being disturbed by horror fiction, even if it's cheesy as hell.

     

    While we were in the car on the way back from the stream you mentioned, I was musing with my friends about *why* I like horror so much. Horror bothered me when I was young. Now, I love that there's something I can engage in that reminds me I'm not crazy for being absolutely terrified by things like disease, aging and death, loss of control/agency or the possibility of hurting/being hurt by loved ones. The fact that these themes are explored (often in the most unsubtle ways) in horror means a whole lot of people are scared right alongside me. It's not always so literal in real life, but those fears are always there, lurking.

     

    I like to think of myself as a brave lady, but even after watching a P.T. stream, I was terrified when I physically took over the controller. I kept staring at the floor in-game to take "breaks" from the tension. 

  5. Posted

    http://grantland.com/features/prometheus-ridley-scott-blockbuster-alien-franchise/

    For all its faults, I can't hate Prometheus. I actually kind of enjoy it. The first 45 minutes especially, when it's all tense setup and beautifully shot scenes.

     

    I'm in exactly the same boat here. I think it's a stupid, beautiful movie. Some of it really works for me, some of it doesn't. Mainly, I'm charmed by the fact that a massive-budget action/horror/sci-fi film from 2012 had the balls to ask soul-searching 60s sci-fi questions like "why are we here?" "what is humanity's purpose in the universe," and so on. 

     

    Nor am I too proud to admit that I have a giant crush on Noomi Rapace AND Charlize Theron, as well as Michael Fassbender, if I'm being honest. If the entire film revolved around them, there'd be no problems.

  10. Posted

    I just spent the majority of the afternoon reading the last 40+ pages of this thread, and I'm positively tickled by the caliber of conversation. No, really, I argue with people about feminism all day long on the internet, and I think this is the only public forum I've ever been to where people were respectful, through and through.

     

    On hiring women game journalists...

     

    I cannot comment on the GB stuff. But I can say that when I was hired at Polygon, my direct supervisor was very clear, honest and upfront with me about the degree of personal hate I would receive, being 1. A woman with opinions on the internet 2. A person with social justice, feminism, and progressive ideas on the brain and 3. one of them queers (my words, not his!). He was also very clear and upfront about his commitment to supporting me through all of that hate, which I will always appreciate.

     

    Is it completely crazy to not want to hire women entirely because of the internet rage show that will inevitably follow (which I'm not saying is the case with GB, I have no idea what their hiring process looks like)? Maybe not. But it is cowardly, lazy and potentially dangerous to your business, if you have any interest in expanding your reach beyond one very specific demographic.

     

    Every day, I'm grateful that I get to do this. I just wish I could share it with more women, people of color, and LGBT folks.

  11. Posted

    Not to beat a dead horse dog, but apparently airport security = great show topic while Dirk Gently = Off the table.  Grumblegrumblegrumble.

     

     

    I feel a bit like a broken record, but seriously, Danielle is awesome and I'm glad she's officially a host.  I'm not sure I remembered to congratulate her last week.  So congrats! 

     

    Point 1 - hey, I tried!

     

    Point 2 - Thank you! Seriously, I've been overcome by how welcoming and friendly the Idle Thumbs community has been. It's like I'm not even on the internet right now!

  13. Posted

    Really surprised Danielle didn't bring up Yoshi's Woolly World along with Kirby. The graphics in both of those fucking floored me. Look at the Yoshi stuff, it's fucking GORGEOUS. Something about looking like a physical toy you might play with just  charms my socks off.

     

     

    I'm surprised too, because it was definitely on my list, and I actually played a bit more of Woolly World than Kirby.  I'm ashamed to have forgotten about Yoshi, so, as penance, I'll stare at this for a few minutes:

     

    http://www.mariowiki.com/images/f/f9/ToadBabyYoshiNSMBU.PNG

  15. Posted

    And now I imagined the cube opening up to see your version of Dinkelroy. That is a mental image I never needed.

     

    On a more serious note, I think casting McElroy in the role for Destiny 2 is a good choice,

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    I had heard of this legendary TimeBelt business, but this was the first time I actually saw it in action. Amazing!

     

    Also, hi, I made an account.