Evie's recent activity
-
Comment on Pride Month at Tildes: #5 - Ask almost anything in ~lgbt
-
Comment on Tildes Minecraft Survival - GG no re (End of an era) in ~games
Evie Link ParentThanks for setting everything up, Gravy! I'm sure I speak for everyone who was there when I say that we had a lot of fun, and the fireworks show was very nice. Lovely way to close the book on the...Thanks for setting everything up, Gravy! I'm sure I speak for everyone who was there when I say that we had a lot of fun, and the fireworks show was very nice. Lovely way to close the book on the server.
-
Comment on Tildes Minecraft Survival Bi-Weekly Thread in ~games
Evie Link Parentglad you liked it! right now some of the lore is a bit inconsistent because i'm doing renovations, rewrites and expansions, but I'm still really proud of the big main exhibitglad you liked it! right now some of the lore is a bit inconsistent because i'm doing renovations, rewrites and expansions, but I'm still really proud of the big main exhibit
-
Comment on Tildes Minecraft Survival Bi-Weekly Thread in ~games
Evie Link ParentHey! Incidentally I just finished a big mapart project for my museum. And I was wondering if you'd mind if I displayed a copy of your cat mapart as part of a mini-exhibit on the subject?Hey! Incidentally I just finished a big mapart project for my museum. And I was wondering if you'd mind if I displayed a copy of your cat mapart as part of a mini-exhibit on the subject?
-
Comment on Tildes Minecraft Survival Bi-Weekly Thread in ~games
Evie Link ParentAww that's super sweet of you gravy. You shouldn't have, but I really appreciate the effort!Aww that's super sweet of you gravy. You shouldn't have, but I really appreciate the effort!
-
Comment on Tildes Minecraft Survival Bi-Weekly Thread in ~games
Evie Link ParentYeah the sign and the fence are just there for storytelling; I love when people drop by to visit in actuality! But then you've seen the sights in the pit below, you know why we can't just let...Yeah the sign and the fence are just there for storytelling; I love when people drop by to visit in actuality! But then you've seen the sights in the pit below, you know why we can't just let people wander in
-
Comment on Tildes Minecraft Survival Bi-Weekly Thread in ~games
Evie Link Parentwelcome to the server eve! hope we run into each other sometime, I'd love to show you around my museum :)welcome to the server eve! hope we run into each other sometime, I'd love to show you around my museum :)
-
Comment on Tildes Minecraft Survival Bi-Weekly Thread in ~games
Evie Link ParentThanks! The banners are neat, I'll definitely be able to use them :)Thanks! The banners are neat, I'll definitely be able to use them :)
-
Comment on Alan Wake 2 questions in ~games
Evie LinkI am maybe Alan Wake 2's biggest fan alive so bear in mind that I'm pretty biased here. My recommendation, however, is to buy the game, with some caveats. At the current price -- what, $26? it's...I am maybe Alan Wake 2's biggest fan alive so bear in mind that I'm pretty biased here. My recommendation, however, is to buy the game, with some caveats. At the current price -- what, $26? it's absolute highway robbery for maybe? the best narrative I've ever experienced in a game. That said, if you're in it for the gameplay, Alan Wake 2 probably won't wow you.
Alan Wake 2 has been written to onboard players who haven't played the first game: both with an audience surrogate who learns about the world as you do and a mindfuck of a chapter wholly devoted to recapping the first game. That said, if you want to engage not just with the plot but the lore -- the rules of the strange world Remedy are creating, the connections to Control, and what's going on behind the scenes, it would behoove you to either play Alan Wake, American Nightmare, Quantum Break, and Control and the DLCs -- or else watch recaps thereof. Frankly, though, if you're okay with a little bit of confusion and some unanswered questions here and there, it's fine to go in more or less blind.
Now, gameplay. So, I also love RE:make 4 and Control, but I think they're generally good for different reasons than AW2. Specifically, they're action games with strong senses of place, atmosphere, and especially in Control's case, presentation. AW2 has all that too, but it isn't an action game. In comparison to the two games you mentioned it's really slow paced, narrative-focused, more interested in building tension and intrigue then in being a canvas for skill expression. If you liked Control's presentation -- its use of live action, its music, its stark lighting and use of color, its huge block capital titles when you entered a new area, you'll find all of those elements in AW2, much improved. But if you liked RE4's fantastic combat you'll be disappointed by the lack of depth and, on higher difficulties, the resource squeeze in AW2. I think the combat in AW2 feels good, don't get me wrong, and I also think the narrative structure does a great job of not becoming boring despite its length and slow pace. But combat encounters are few and far between, and the game is much more about taking you through a great, mind-bending story than it is about being a fun power fantasy.
I bought AW2 for full price, on launch, and also bought the Ultimate Edition upgrade after completing it just to give the developers more money. While I can't conclusively say it's my game of the year right now, as I'm only in Act II of Baldur's Gate 3, what I can say is that it's probably in the top 3 of the games I've finished. It has that effect on you where you lie awake at night thinking about it afterwards, or find yourself watching streamers play through it just to experience the highlights of the experience through them. The thing that most comes through, I think, is the game's utterly unique voice. It's really like nothing else on the market today, and while that does come with some irregularities and surface imperfections that some players might bounce off of, it's utterly confident in what it wants to say and how it wants to say it, and the resulting experience, I think, ultimately speaks for itself.
-
Comment on Save Point: A game deal roundup for the week of December 17 in ~games
Evie (edited )LinkEpic Games has their winter sale ongoing, with a 33% off all purchases coupon. This combines to create some all-time-low prices for lots of 2023 releases. Of note: Dead Space Remake for $16. A...Epic Games has their winter sale ongoing, with a 33% off all purchases coupon. This combines to create some all-time-low prices for lots of 2023 releases.
Of note:
Dead Space Remake for $16. A horror remake that subverts and builds upon its predecessor in some really interesting ways.Ghostrunner 2 for $20. A very fun, fast paced action game that will have you replaying levels over and over to get the perfect run.
Jedi Survivor for $24. It released in an unacceptable technical state, but the game itself is a great Star Wars story with really fun combat and great movement.
Alan Wake 2 for $27. Less than two months old, this price is a tremendous steal for my personal GOTY, one of the most narratively interesting and ambitious games I've ever played
Returnal for $27. Incredibly fun and responsive gameplay that borrows from a dozen genres while being its own thing; a cryptic, nonlinear story that had me thinking about it for ages.
-
Comment on man on soapbox comes off as preachy in ~creative
Evie (edited )Link ParentThanks for sharing your piece! I enjoyed it a lot. Your style is very poetic -- not in terms of its structure or metre, necessarily, but the way your diction and argumentative structure encourage...Thanks for sharing your piece! I enjoyed it a lot. Your style is very poetic -- not in terms of its structure or metre, necessarily, but the way your diction and argumentative structure encourage close reading. It's an interesting choice for the point you're making, I think, because fundamentally what we have here is a reflection on the socio-philosophy (sorry) behind a mild interpersonal disagreement, right? But the style obscures the details of that disagreement, of the people involved in it, so instead of my instinctive "who's in the right in this situation?" response that I usually get in these types of pieces, I'm thinking more about the questions you're actually raising, the "is this worth complaining about" versus the "is this worth thinking about," the "do you owe the world self-reflection and vulnerability?" The "Is this situation truly unimportant, or is it only unimportant to me?" all framed in a sort of broad, context-agnostic way in my head. That's what I got out of it anyway, and I appreciate the opportunity to engage with those questions on a Saturday morning.
If you don't mind some mild criticism, I do wonder if some of the prose is a bit purple, to the point of being inaccessible?
So, like, you open with this line:
to hear that my dear friend essentially disarmed and castrated himself of power, was slightly disheartening. not in the ways that i actually lose respect or sleep or any type of residualality for him
Which is kind of great, actually? It's got a kind of in-media-res thing going on, you establish your very evocative "castration" motif that kind of becomes a thing throughout. But on the other hand, it came across as pretty confusing and almost made me click off the piece. Especially your use of "residualality" [sic] which is an obscure term that you're pretty much just skimming through, it's a kind of overwhelming way to begin, with barely so much as a period (one between dependent clauses!) to offer a breath. That's fine if it's your intention, but personally I might open the piece with some slightly more focused thoughts and some slightly more concrete prose, just to better ease the reader into your unique style.
In a similar vein, though, I really like how the piece ends. Like how a sonnet ends with a simple rhyming couplet, the text gets pretty punchy and specific towards the end, which helps to leave a strong impression. The detail "$76," the aphorism "grow some balls" (contrasted with the castration motif). The shorter clauses, building towards that point with a heavy dose of second-person exhortations. All contribute to an air of finality, an effective call to action where the action involved is mostly subtle, granular, even introspective.
All in all, I found this piece really neat, and it left me wanting to read more of your writing, some issues with clarity notwithstanding. Thank you again for sharing it! ☺️
-
Comment on Tildes Game Giveaway: Holiday 2023 in ~games
Evie Link ParentI'd love that copy of Blue Fire :) I'm not really in touch with my family anymore, which is, in this one respect, unfortunate: I miss the many traditions we had, the get togethers with an excess...I'd love that copy of Blue Fire :)
I'm not really in touch with my family anymore, which is, in this one respect, unfortunate: I miss the many traditions we had, the get togethers with an excess of cousins and great aunts and brothers-in-law and nieces that you didn't know you had, all playing Tetris with our bodies and gifts and potluck dishes to fit it all into our grandparents' tiny house, under their tree, and onto their colossal dining table. But you know, all that was only really made possible by the labor of the women in the family, their (often) giving up on their own enjoyment to make things pleasant for their husbands and brothers and kids. So now that I'm an adult, and the one who mostly plans these things, cooks and cleans and invites and organizes, I appreciate that my newfound family is really laid back. Everyone comes from different backgrounds, different traditions, even different solstice-adjacent holiday observances, and mostly we're just happy to spend time together and have a nice dinner, without expecting anyone to burn themselves out.
-
Comment on Tildes Game Giveaway: Holiday 2023 in ~games
Evie Link ParentVert Ikals Eenk looks like a real charmer 😉 I hope they can vibe with my music taste!Vert Ikals Eenk looks like a real charmer 😉 I hope they can vibe with my music taste!
-
Comment on Tildes Video Thread in ~misc
Evie Link ParentGlad you asked, Tea. I always enjoy talking to you, I know how much you love justice and the law and such. It's important to know what these sites are so that they can best be avoided. Personally,...Glad you asked, Tea. I always enjoy talking to you, I know how much you love justice and the law and such. It's important to know what these sites are so that they can best be avoided. Personally, I LOATHE fmoviesz.to -- it's been around for ages, and has more or less everything hosted on multiple servers with captions, including new releases. Needless to say, this is a real heinous move. 123movies offered similar functionality until it was shut down by the government a couple years ago (thank God the government is out there protecting the intellectual property rights of enormous media conglomerates!) but regrettably, many of its descendants and mirrors remain operational.
-
Comment on Tildes Video Thread in ~misc
Evie Link ParentLook, I'd never ever ever encourage piracy or... illicit... online activity, but there are certainly websites available that (with the aid of a strong adblocker) could enable a less scrupulous...Look, I'd never ever ever encourage piracy or... illicit... online activity, but there are certainly websites available that (with the aid of a strong adblocker) could enable a less scrupulous person than you or I to stream the entire show for free. No one should visit these websites, except to report them to the relevant authorities, but they do exist.
-
Comment on Tildes Minecraft Survival Bi-Weekly Thread in ~games
Evie LinkI joined the server around the time of the last biweekly thread and my museum at 1100, -850 is coming along great! I've been very happy to see so many people visiting and helping out with it and...I joined the server around the time of the last biweekly thread and my museum at 1100, -850 is coming along great! I've been very happy to see so many people visiting and helping out with it and the towers beneath it, hooking it up to transit, etc. etc. I'd tag them here but honestly so many people have been so friendly and helpful I'd be pinging half the active userbase. Everyone's worked hard to cultivate this fantastic, collaborative vibe and it feels really special.
-
Comment on Tildes Video Thread in ~misc
Evie Link ParentI've been a fan of Fielder since... Forever? And this will always be my favorite clip of his. In it, he's just finished trialing a new (absurd) business idea for the owner of a struggling funeral...I've been a fan of Fielder since... Forever? And this will always be my favorite clip of his. In it, he's just finished trialing a new (absurd) business idea for the owner of a struggling funeral home, and meets with her to wrap up the episode, in a typically absurd and slightly surreal way.
-
Comment on Tildes Minecraft Survival Bi-Weekly Thread in ~games
Evie Link ParentThanks, I'm glad you liked the build! I've made a lot more progress on it, hope you'll come by again one of these days :)Thanks, I'm glad you liked the build! I've made a lot more progress on it, hope you'll come by again one of these days :)
-
Comment on Taskmaster | Series 16 complete playlist in ~tv
Evie Link ParentThis series had some weird choices that feel like editing and storytelling things, to me. You mentioned the disappointing finale tasks, for one. I loved the hotel task myself, but I'm confused why...This series had some weird choices that feel like editing and storytelling things, to me. You mentioned the disappointing finale tasks, for one. I loved the hotel task myself, but I'm confused why they didn't take, say, a fun location task like the driving course with the flags and put it in in lieu of one of the underwhelming ones. I watched the doughnut task right before Thanksgiving dinner and let me tell you, that was a mistake. I feel the same way about all the buildup surrounding the secret task -- why include all that in the final cut if no one found the thing until the underwhelming task where they were specifically told to do so? I don't know, parts of this season felt a bit clumsier than I've come to expect from the show.
-
Comment on The people I remember on Trans Day Of Remembrance in ~lgbt
Evie (edited )LinkI'm spending today in a bit of a funk. Trans Day of Remembrance is always a hard day for me, because I just can't stop thinking about it. I think most holidays are about celebrating something,...I'm spending today in a bit of a funk. Trans Day of Remembrance is always a hard day for me, because I just can't stop thinking about it. I think most holidays are about celebrating something, right? Christmas, Thanksgiving, they're about family, community, life, joy. Labour Day celebrates the successes of labour movements, even if there's more to be done; Memorial Day is dedicated to fallen soldiers, but in the American ethos there's this vibe that 'it was all worth it, so we can grill our hamburgers in peace and freedom' even if in reality many of those soldiers died for the gas powering your grill more than any high-minded ideal. But what is there to celebrate today? Highlighting the names of dead and murdered trans people is important, I guess, because maybe it can lend some meaning to their sensless deaths at the hands of unyielding systems and radicalized bigots, but I can't help but think, "what about all the trans people who can never be remembered?"
I tried to kill myself a half-dozen times even before I came out as a woman. What if I had succeed? What if no one had ever known me as I really am, as a relatively happy and fulfilled person? And I've made it so much farther than so many trans people, often kids, who find that hiding themselves, or even suicide, is preferable to exposing themselves to the maelstrom of hate awaiting them if they leave the closet. Who's going to remember them? Hundreds, thousands of nameless people who only saw a world that despised them and who are not here anymore? How do you mourn when there are so many new victims, when you can't even know their names? Beyond the fear of genocide, the exposure to bigotry, the lost childhood, the self-hatred, this is, for me, the real pain of transness: a constant sense of loss; the inescapable knowledge that so many people who feel the same pain I do will never find the cure, will never be allowed happiness because of the family they were born to or the government they live under. So, for today, in lieu of remembering them, I try to remember that.
Yeah this is a tough question, one that I, personally, have struggled with. First, though, I personally disgagree with you about the meaning of the word "deadname." To me it carries the connotation that the old name itself is what's dead, devalued, no longer in use -- not the person to whom it belonged. I've also heard people argue that the term was coined because trans people would have to know their friends' given names because that's the name their families would bury them other; I can't find a source for this claim other than Twitter, though, and frankly it sounds a little too tragic and romantic to be believable. Happy to be proven wrong.
Etymology aside, I have often wondered: am I now the same person I was five years ago, before I started transitioning? Or have I become someone else entirely?? I think the easy, safe, and assimilationist answer to your question is this: no, thecardguy, you're wrong! I'm not a new person, I've just changed a lot! And it's totally normal for your relationship to someone to change as they evolve and grow. If you're a parent, and your kid goes through puberty, is the connection you built with them when they were an adolescent gone? No, because that history is still there. But you will have to treat them differently, as they grow up, because teens and young adults are different from preteens, and their wants and needs change! And it's just the same with trans people! As someone transitions, they will change a lot. Probably, the way you feel about them will change, too. Pre- and early-transition trans people can be pretty awkward and cringey (I say this with love) as they figure themselves out -- just like a teen going through puberty! And you will have to treat them differently, because a trans woman, say, has different needs than a cis man. But that's just life! And I don't see how transition is different from any other big change in life :)
So, like I said, this is probably the right answer to your question, or at least, the one that feels the least transgressive, but personally I've been getting very dissatisfied with it. I look back on my pre-transition self and I don't recognize him as me. We are so, so different, he and I. Sure, on the high level we have a couple overlapping interests. He liked writing and video games, and so do I. But that's about where the similarities stop. My sense of style is different. I cry all the time now; he never did. I love postmodern art; he thought it was a load of hooey. I'm perfectly happy cooking, cleaning, and being a homemaker; he was ambitious and driven and wanted to be a lawyer. I'm a lesbian now; he was mostly into men. I am almost unbearably earnest; he was a sarcastic asshole. I only talk to two people that I knew pre-transition; every other relationship faded away or died in violent fashion. The way I think is completely different, so much so that I can't even begin to describe the shift in a way that would be comprehensible. And I look back on my pre-transition self, and I think about my transition, and I fail to see any continuity. I don't understand how that lead to this. Honestly, I wonder how real my pre-transition self really was. Was I actually like that? Or did I construct a personality to appeal to societal notions of what a man should be, what I should be? Complicating all this is that I started transitioning when I was 20 -- and most people change a lot in their early-to-mid twenties. I don't have a control group. Would I have changed so dramatically over the past half-decade even if I wasn't trans? Maybe the old me really is dead, and I just gradually replaced him plank by plank, never quite realizing that I had become someone else entirely.
Anyway, card guy, I think this is probably a bad answer to your question. I don't have any advice for you or your hypothetical future child. How the hell should transition be handled? Probably, you should take the first, uncomplicated answer. Treat it like any other change. Be sensitive, and a safe space for your kid or whoever to be vulnerable and a little cringey, and recognize that if your relationship changes, hell, if you drift apart, that's neither of your faults. Sometimes it happens. This is a good approach, and probably you shouldn't let my quarter-life psychodrama dissuade you from it. But I do want to validate your feeling that transition is somehow different than other major life events -- that this isn't necessarily some bigoted assumption that you're bringing to the table. I mean, I can hardly imagine what it would feel like to build a relationship with someone for twenty years, only to discover that that person might never have existed at all, that they might have been an unwittingly constructed facade. And for that scenario, I don't really have any idea how to deal with it.