I think I might spend next year writing what kind of Obsession Days I have in my annual planner (I use Hobonichi). Lately I haven’t really remembered what I’m up to in retrospect because I’m getting all swept up in whatever creative pursuits, and if I just wrote “movie day” and “drawing day” and “crochet day” on these entries, I think it would cover a lot of bases.
It would also explain why I’m frowning at my yarn stash, wondering why nothing has gotten crocheted. Honey, you were drawing the last few days. A lot of drawing! And writing movie reviews.
Of course sometimes the Obsession Day is going to be “[insert name of video game here]” and right now it’s Baldur’s Gate III. I keep kinda going back and forth on whether I *love* it or not. It’s obviously an outstanding game. It’s so good. I would not say two negative words about the game as a product overall: it does such a marvelous job bringing the TTRPG feeling to my computer, with incredibly detailed graphics, and in such an optimized way that it runs *really* well on all sorts of systems. I don’t love the story itself, but the complexity of execution is utterly fascinating.
So when I say I’m not sure I love it, it’s entirely personal. I was actually feeling this way about Skyrim (of which I’ve probably played at least 1000 hours) so I don’t think it’s about the game itself. There is something aesthetically or thematically that is frictious to me, but in a way that I’m still very interested and want to explore.
I almost wonder if I’m getting sick of the way video games nonproductively hijack the dopamine pathways of my brain and make time vanish, especially when it’s a game I reeeaaally like, like a fantasy RPG.
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Speaking of drawing, you’ll now find three reviews of mine also have illustrations attached: The House Bunny, Last Holiday, and My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Like I said, I’ve been having a couple drawing days. I’m picking movies kinda arbitrarily based on which heroine I feel like drawing. The aesthetics of movie heroines are really catching my eye lately!
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My favorite read this week was probably Who Gets to Play in Women’s Leagues? on The New Yorker. I’m keyed enough into trans and intersex issues that I caught a whiff of transmisogyny from this, but it’s written by an intersex cis woman talking about her experiences, so I think it’s just a cis person doing her best? The information is good, as far as I can tell, and I haven’t seen such a complete debunking of myths and explanation of science/society behind gender and athletic competition.
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The French TV industry crew is thinking about striking. (Variety)
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A story about nontraditional families stepping up for each other in traditional ways in Korea, focused on a woman adopting her best friend. (AJE)
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I am absolutely fascinated by José Lerma’s heavy impasto, and I lament that these paintings would absolutely not be safe to lick or chew on, for multiple reasons. (Colossal)
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What do you think is the top worldwide box office winner? Hunger Games? Nope, it’s called Animal, out of Bollywood, and starring the talent of Ranbir Kapoor. (Variety)
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Scrolling through some really dark news in my feed, there was also this bit of prose from Only Fragments in the middle. My emotions felt really validated seeing this. Like, hey look, someone with some of the flavor of my mind.
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Queen Latifah, Billy Crystal and others celebrated at Kennedy Center Honors (NPR)
I’m going through a tiny Queen Latifahssaince in my life and I always adore Billy Crystal, so just seeing their faces together makes me happy. <33
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Will nuclear fusion work as an energy source in the imminent future? (NPR) Idk I’ll ask my 13yo. They’ll know.
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Why Indian Buddhism has gardens, not monasteries (Psyche)
I’ve been studying Buddhism here and there while I try to grapple with my mortal body. I also started gardening about the same time. So this is an interesting read for me.
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Ars Technica talks briefly about Star Trek voices in video games. Heh, I played a lotta these.
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Wait, someone watched Halo Season 1? Enough people watched Halo Season 1 for us to get a Halo Season 2? Someone wants this? (Variety)
