Evie's recent activity
-
Comment on Is Tildes protected from malicious actors, aka paid trolls, aka bots? in ~tildes
-
Comment on Is Tildes protected from malicious actors, aka paid trolls, aka bots? in ~tildes
Evie Link ParentWhat? No they're not. Sharks are extremely rough, like sandpaper. If you see a shark, DO NOT LICK IT. It is not a smooth and pleasant and oddly flavorful experience; it will abrade your tongue....What? No they're not. Sharks are extremely rough, like sandpaper.
If you see a shark, DO NOT LICK IT. It is not a smooth and pleasant and oddly flavorful experience; it will abrade your tongue. All the experts and the government agree on this.
-
Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Evie (edited )LinkI'm in the hidden Act 3 of Silksong, with my completion progress ~85%. The game is really, really, really good, perhaps my favourite "hard" game I've ever played, but it took like 30 hours to...I'm in the hidden Act 3 of Silksong, with my completion progress ~85%. The game is really, really, really good, perhaps my favourite "hard" game I've ever played, but it took like 30 hours to click for me.
I think the thing with all of my favourite hard games is that I kind of play them, oddly enough, to relax. Lies of P, Elden Ring, Remnant, the original Hollow Knight, Returnal, once I got a feel for those games, I could kind of just steamroll them while paying only half attention and listening to an audiobook. Like, sure, bosses took multiple attempts, but I didn't really have to lock in or fully focus. I literally first beat the Radiance from Hollow Knight during an attendance-mandatory history lecture.
Silksong is not like that. I think the best way to put it is that the game is not substantially more difficult than the above games, but it is much more taxing. Because bosses, enemies, and Hornet herself all have really complex movesets, and you die in way fewer hits than the first game, you basically have to be fully locked in the whole time. It can be really tiring to play, and my worst experiences with the game were a couple sessions where I was just playing tired. During the mist section, and against the big Bilewater boss, and in the room where you enter Hunter's March. But when you're able to lock in, fully focus up, and get into that flowstate, this game feels better than anything I've ever played. Since winning requires utilizing all the tools you have available, and since you die so quickly, the game forces a level of mastery and fluidity I have never experienced in another game. Every time I finish a tough platforming challenge, I feel like a speedrunner. Every time I beat a boss, I feel like a challenge-run player. It's honestly incredible. Easily my game of the year so far.
It's worth mentioning that the game's exploration is amazing. For Silksong players, Act I spoilers: I got to the Citadel, and rolled credits the first time, without ever even seeing the Blasted Wastes or the Last Judge. I thought the way I got to the city -- through Bilewater, the Exhaust Organ, and the Mist, was the main intended path, and when I explored the Citadel the whole time I was wondering how to get through that big gate that locked the city shut from the outside world. There are so many alternate routes, paths, and connections in the world, with so much to explore and discover, that it's truly mind-boggling.
Between Silksong sessions, I also played the demo for UNBEATABLE, a narrative rhythm game slated for release in a month. I'm not usually a rhythm game fan -- I bounced hard off of Hi-Fi Rush, for example -- but this was really fun, and, notably, really well-written, using some neat tricks to really make its (unvoiced) dialogue flow naturally. The dialogue feels musical in a way that few games I've played achieve, and I'm actually looking forward to the game, to see more of the story, and to play more of the goofy rhythm-based minigames that were in the demo. Really recommend giving it a try if you haven't.
-
Comment on The woman who wrote "Eat, Pray, Love" tried to kill her girlfriend and wrote a book about it in ~books
Evie Link ParentOne of my partners has described me as "terminally art brained;" you'll have to forgive me. I sometimes forget how much of this stuff normal people know. Paolo Uccello was a Florentine Renaissance...One of my partners has described me as "terminally art brained;" you'll have to forgive me. I sometimes forget how much of this stuff normal people know.
Paolo Uccello was a Florentine Renaissance artist. He was fixated on proper perspective in his works, and creating a sense of depth. I'm not a fan of his works really, but he was certainly an innovator.
A 'cassone' was a kind of chest that you'd put at the foot of your bed. They were highly ornamental and were typically given as wedding gifts from the bride's parents. Many, like the one described here, featured elaborate paintings depicting themes of love, marriage and gender.
'Ferrety' is an adjective meaning "like a ferret." I usually use it as "'weaselly', but without the negative connotations." But you can apply whatever thoughts you have about ferrets to the person this word describes.
A "trans woman," also known as a transgender or a doll, is an eclectic and controversial subtype of woman. They're not often seen in public, due to their skittishness. When you do encounter one, it's sometimes possible to approach without scaring her off, but this takes subtlety and skill.
-
Comment on The woman who wrote "Eat, Pray, Love" tried to kill her girlfriend and wrote a book about it in ~books
Evie LinkI'm subscribed to Siobhan Brier Aguilar on Patreon, where she posts whatever articles she's wanting to talk or write about in advance, and ever since she posted the one this video is based on a...I'm subscribed to Siobhan Brier Aguilar on Patreon, where she posts whatever articles she's wanting to talk or write about in advance, and ever since she posted the one this video is based on a couple weeks back, I haven't been able to stop thinking about it, or telling random people about it. I was at the art museum a week ago and I, bizarrely, found myself in front of an Ucello cassone with a ferrety trans woman I had just met, telling her "hey, did you know that Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of Eat, Pray, Love, tried to murder her terminally ill affair partner?" It was bad of me, I know, but this just reads like a headline from an alternate universe.
Anyway this video isn't Aguilar's usual style; she usually approaches controversial/viral articles with an excess of empathy and a really clear authorial voice, whereas this is more a "news/drama" video explaining perhaps the strangest story of 2025. But you gotta hear about this man.
-
The woman who wrote "Eat, Pray, Love" tried to kill her girlfriend and wrote a book about it
26 votes -
Comment on Some thoughts on violence in ~society
Evie LinkReally great piece. Is it embarrassing to admit that, despite having played two Just Cause games, I didn't get the pun/double meaning of the title until now? Anyway there's a lot that could be...Really great piece. Is it embarrassing to admit that, despite having played two Just Cause games, I didn't get the pun/double meaning of the title until now?
Anyway there's a lot that could be said about video games where the main (often, only) verb available to the player is violence, is shooting or slashing or whatever. The narrow way it forces you to engage with the world, and reduce characters into either "allies who would kill for you" or "enemies to be killed." Anyway that's not what the essay is about, really. The videogame stuff is more a lead in to talk about political realities.
The author talks a lot about left-wing violence, and of course it's important to note that the right is currently much more violent and much more powerful in the world. But he's right, and I've often observed leftists who seem to possess a genuine bloodlust beneath their high-minded ideals. You sometimes see it from the "eat the rich" crowd, some of whom I have heard unironically quote the murderer from Disco Elysium: "the rich are not human." This sort of dehumanization is something I wish the article had touched on, as it's also very common in games.
Not to get controversial, but I sometimes hear similar sentiments from certain pro-Palestine people given to defending Hamas and the October 7 attacks. They'll say, "Israel and the West have conducted an indefensible, century-long violent colonial project on the people of Palestine" ( unambiguously true). "And when living under this violent colonial regime, naturally, people become radicalized and want to fight back to protect their families or communities" (true). "Therefore, the actions of Hamas are justified."
Maybe it's me, but I've never been able to follow that argument to its conclusion. I think possibly I simply don't believe that murder, violence and terrorism can ever be justified, whereas even a lot of left wing people implicitly believe that if you do enough evil, inflict enough colonialism, you can forfeit your humanity, and anything done to you, no matter how pointless, gratuitous or cruel, can safely be justified.
I could keep rambling on, but the upshot is that this post is really well-written and gave me some thinking to do this morning. Much appreciated :)
-
Comment on Give us your hot takes on the latest Nintendo Direct in ~games
Evie Link ParentWhen I was a kid, I mowed lawns for my grandpa for four Saturdays straight (hiding the money he paid me, as my parents expected me to work for free) in order to buy the two Galaxy games from...When I was a kid, I mowed lawns for my grandpa for four Saturdays straight (hiding the money he paid me, as my parents expected me to work for free) in order to buy the two Galaxy games from Target at $20 each. Now, I find myself wanting to play the Galaxies again, and I have grown-up money; I could just buy the collection, but some animalistic part of me is deeply wounded that the cost of these games in lawns has nearly doubled in the last decade.
-
Comment on 2025 NFL Season 🏈 Weekly Discussion Thread – Week 1 in ~sports.american_football
Evie Link ParentI really didn't expect us to dismantle the Lions like that. Even with the Parsons trade they were still my pick to win the division... Maybe they still will, but losing both coordinators must have...I really didn't expect us to dismantle the Lions like that. Even with the Parsons trade they were still my pick to win the division... Maybe they still will, but losing both coordinators must have really hurt them because it was never even close.
-
Comment on How do you get a feel for new characters? in ~creative
Evie Link ParentI think I learned the habit because I got my start in playwriting. There, dialogue is the only real tool you have -- since everything else will be left up to some production team down the line --...I think I learned the habit because I got my start in playwriting. There, dialogue is the only real tool you have -- since everything else will be left up to some production team down the line -- voice is one of only levers you can pull for characterization. Since then, even in prose, I've been perhaps unhealthily obsessed with dialogue. Back when I was an autistic kid, I did a lot of people watching to learn how people talked and acted, to get better at masking. So I think when I come up with a voice for a character I'm, like, subconsciously pulling from a middle aged woman I overheard at the Chik-Fil-A in the mall food court or something.
-
Comment on How do you get a feel for new characters? in ~creative
Evie LinkI find that I can only develop characters in pairs or groups. Which I guess makes sense, since conflict is what interests me. When I'm writing, I always start with a theme I want to explore, and...I find that I can only develop characters in pairs or groups. Which I guess makes sense, since conflict is what interests me. When I'm writing, I always start with a theme I want to explore, and so I sort of imagine characters initially and in subsequent development as representative of conflicting perspectives on that theme. From there, you can work backwards and forwards to flesh them out: backwards by imagining what kind of life experiences and traumas led to their developing that perspective; forwards by determining how that perspective shapes their behavior and personality. But the result of this process is basically just a set of conflict units; colorless, shapeless, unpersonable blobs.
When it comes to making the characters likeable and engaging, I start by trying to build out their dialogue voice. I do this by taking a couple characters and writing a dialogue scene for them, in script format, that has not much to do with the plot or theme of the actual story. In the process of writing a scene about, I don't know, scheduling a trip to the opera, I find that a unique voice, a rhythm and dynamic, emerges out of my subconscious. And from understanding how characters speak and interact, it's easy to flesh out a more complete and colorful personality. I think the shape and structure of dialogue -- not even its contents! can be the most efficient way to characterize someone, and that works in both directions, for the reader understanding the characters and the writer spinning them up, though if you don't already agree with me I can't convince you of it, since it's very primal.
Once I have distinct and natural voices for the characters, I just start writing the work itself, aggressively and periodically rewriting the opening few pages/chapters/whatever. The necessities of exposition will force you to flesh out anything that's missing from the characters, add whatever color and volume is needed, so no point in overthinking it. -
Comment on What's an RPG? (video game) in ~games
Evie Link ParentThe closest genre to tabletop RPGs is certainly CRPGs -- 'Computer RPGs"; the name is a holdover from when computer games were completely new -- games like Disco Elysium, Planescape Torment,...The closest genre to tabletop RPGs is certainly CRPGs -- 'Computer RPGs"; the name is a holdover from when computer games were completely new -- games like Disco Elysium, Planescape Torment, Pillars of Eternity, Baldur's Gate, Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, Warhammer: Rogue Trader all aim to capture the full experience of a tabletop RPG, including buildcrafting, role-playing and branching narratives. The CRPG genre probably has the strongest writing of any game genre, apart from maybe visual novels. But the games also tend to be a little slow, thorny, and inaccessible.
There's this one dating sim I played years back called Boyfriend Dungeon that incorporated dungeons, mobbing, grinding, and buildcrafting but I still don't think it was experientally very similar to a TTRPG at all. In contrast, the Immersive Sim genre feels more like a TTRPG to me, despite very different mechanical identities, because of the emphasis on branching narrative, player choice, and emergent systemic gameplay with an almost natural-language quality. -
Comment on What's your current PC wallpaper? in ~tech
Evie LinkHere it is (Steam Workshop link). This came to be because a member of a game community I'm in asked for a specific scene to be animated in Wallpaper Engine, and I'd never done that before so I...Here it is (Steam Workshop link). This came to be because a member of a game community I'm in asked for a specific scene to be animated in Wallpaper Engine, and I'd never done that before so I made it for them. Then was proud enough of the result to make it my wallpaper, too. Before that, I just used a photo I took of the Seattle skyline
-
Comment on It's time we talked about Disco Elysium, again in ~games
Evie Link ParentPeople Make Games is, in my opinion, the best independent gaming news outlet around, providing high-quality original reporting specifically on the labor conditions in the industry. This video...People Make Games is, in my opinion, the best independent gaming news outlet around, providing high-quality original reporting specifically on the labor conditions in the industry. This video meets their usual high bar, although if I were to criticize it I would say that the situation it's reporting on is just so messy and ambiguous and in-development that nothing here feels really conclusive or cohesive or even entirely substantiated. But maybe there's value in sitting with and not narrativizing this kind of creative struggle.
-
Comment on Five major misfires that derailed Russell T Davies' second Doctor Who era in ~tv
Evie Link ParentAll the Doctor Who fandom spaces I'm in thought it wasn't nearly progressive enough. Sure, RTD did some (I hesitate to use this term) virtue signaling: including trans and disabled characters,...All the Doctor Who fandom spaces I'm in thought it wasn't nearly progressive enough. Sure, RTD did some (I hesitate to use this term) virtue signaling: including trans and disabled characters, emphasizing the Doctor's queerness, having obviously right-wing villains. But he doesn't always actually explore or engage with these issues, and when he does, it comes across as shallow and clueless. I could make more nuanced criticisms of for example the handling of Rose's character or Belinda's arc. But I think elements of this run of DW drew hate from both the right and progressives -- the right, because they're reactionaries who hate minorities; progressives, because they're masters of purity testing and uncharitable reading. Well, I exaggerate a little. But RTD I think did reveal himself to be old and out-of-touch with his largely floundering attempts to incorporate social commentary.
-
Comment on The viral 'Tea' app just had a second data breach, and it's even worse in ~tech
Evie (edited )LinkWhisper networks like "Tea" arise in response to a massive societal problem: abusive, violent, dangerous and coercive men all too often face few or no consequences for their actions. Whether it be...- Exemplary
Whisper networks like "Tea" arise in response to a massive societal problem: abusive, violent, dangerous and coercive men all too often face few or no consequences for their actions. Whether it be something as severe as using their power as an executive to pursue and pressure female employees, or something as "minor" as forcibly kissing someone on a date, men are all too often protected by each other, or by the legal system, or simply a quagmire of societal indifference. It makes sense, then, that women look for ways to protect themselves, to warn other women (and be warned) about dangerous men they've met. So they create these communities, share those experiences, to do just that.
But whisper networks, too, are broken. How could they not be? They're a last resort in a society that normalizes violence against women, a mere facsimile of justice. People take issue with the elements of these groups that feel like doxxing, or accusing men without evidence. Rightly so, might I add! But realize that this level of specificity is necessary to achieve the network's goals. Any evidence threshold, and a woman who was sexually assaulted by a date in his home wouldn't be able to share her experience. Any redaction of identifiers, and other women wouldn't be able to avoid him in the future.
But perhaps you'll notice the name of this particular whisper network. "Tea." Fundamentally, this app isn't billing itself as a sober-minded crowdsourced safety tool. It's billing itself as a platform for gossip, where stories of assault might coexist with stories of The Ick, a guy who maybe was awkward and weird on a first date. I haven't used the app or experienced its culture. But to me, it doesn't present itself as a tool for protecting women. It presents itself as a shade room.
Here's the elephant in the shade room. Whisper networks like Tea, in addition to the above issues, almost never aim to protect all women. As I understand it, the reason Tea collected and stored all these IDs was to determine that its users were really women. But what about me, a trans woman who (often) passes, who is arguably more at risk from dangerous men, but who has an "M" on my driver's license? It's not just Tea, either. I've heard stories from black women who have come to their (white) female coworkers to warn them about their boss after a creepy incident only to be told "oh, yeah, we know, didn't anyone tell you?" You might have noticed that this comment feels a bit reductionist, painting (conventional, 'normal') women exclusively as victims, and men as aggressors. This framework often underpins whisper networks, but to be clear, it is false. Though men are more often dangerous, more often perpetrators of sexual assault, intimate partner violence, and workplace harassment (actually, pretty much every crime) women can also be abusers, of men or other women.
So of course, "Tea" and apps and services and communities like it are not a solution to violence against women (or bad dating experiences). But I sympathize with the people who create and use them, because often, these communities can feel like the only thing that's even a partial solution, especially now, when, for example, my country's leader is an out-and-proud misogynistic rapist. And of course, any way of fighting back against this misogyny, perfect or not, will be seen by the millions and millions of people who agree with him as evil, as a deserving target of massive privacy beaches, doxxing and harassment. Seems like Tea has made it easy for them.
-
Comment on Tildes Minecraft Hardcore - Live at 20:00 UTC today in ~games
Evie Link ParentAnd then died so fast too ;) The speedrunner mindset lolAnd then died so fast too ;)
The speedrunner mindset lol
-
Comment on Tildes Minecraft Hardcore - Live at 20:00 UTC today in ~games
Evie Linkwow I wish I had heard about this sooner. Really had to scramble to install all my performance mods! thanks for running it regardless tea <3wow I wish I had heard about this sooner. Really had to scramble to install all my performance mods! thanks for running it regardless tea <3
-
Comment on Looking for surreal horror/mindbending in ~books
Evie Link ParentThe Scar is one of my favorite books. The others are tough for me, because having read the Mieville books with fantastic plots, it's always a little tough for me to go back to the ones that center...The Scar is one of my favorite books. The others are tough for me, because having read the Mieville books with fantastic plots, it's always a little tough for me to go back to the ones that center more on vibes, which I think is true of the other Bas-Lag books. But they are certainly great
-
Comment on Looking for surreal horror/mindbending in ~books
Evie Link ParentYeah OP. From Borges, who is imo the "correct" answer to your question, you'll want to start with Ficciones, generally his best-regarded short story collection. If you like it, I also recommend...Yeah OP. From Borges, who is imo the "correct" answer to your question, you'll want to start with Ficciones, generally his best-regarded short story collection. If you like it, I also recommend Bolaño, particularly The Savage Detectives, whose work is similar but leans even more metafictional, and The Etched City by KJ Bishop, which is similar to those two but with a spec-fic twist. You've been recommended a lot of Mieville and everyone has their favorites but in my opinion Embassytown is his most "complete" work, with the strangest and most alien setting and premise.
I got it! Personally I was hoping to reply all day with rigorous evidence about the rough texture of sharks, but in our metaphorical comedy duo here on Tildes we have an apparent abundance of straight men and a deficit of funny men. Ah well