wJun 1, 2010


WisCon 34 Panel Write-Up: Rated E for Everyone? Increasing Diversity in Games and Gaming

Again, it's not an exact transcript because I do pen/paper notes.

Panel Description: In some ways, the gaming industry is the last glass ceiling of geekdom; in spite of its increasing diversity, gaming culture has largely assume white, male, able-bodied, and heterosexual biases. Gaming communities like XBox Live, MMORPGs, D&D groups, and even retail stores can be noninclusive or even hostile environments to women, people of color, gay people, or the disabled. There are exceptions: Bioware's Dragon Age: Origins was highly lauded by GayGamer.net for its inclusion of same-sex relationships, and won AbleGamer.com's Most Accessible Game of 2009. This panel will discuss how games can get it right (and why they often don't). We'll also explore ways to make the gaming community more accessible, and brainstorm strategies for surviving hostile encounters in the gaming world.

Panelists: Chris Hill, Robyn Fleming, Jacquelyn Gill, Nonie B. Rider, Anastasia Marie Salter


The sub-culture of "gaming" is very broad, so the panel began by establishing different interests.

CH: Role-played in the late 70s and early 1980s, and is now into computer gaming.

JG: Roleplayed D&D and White Wolf. In college, more into computer gaming. She noted sometimes feeling uncomfortable online, in stores, etc. Also dislikes being told what she "should" like, as a girl gamer (i.e., not violence).

AS: Just finished a PhD in (?!) gaming narratives (sorry, I wasn't paying attention and didn't write that down properly). She likes to focus on the gender dynamic in computer gaming - how those playing with female avatars are usually assumed to be male; how this is now complicated by the addition of voice-chat, etc.

RF: Writes gaming columns, etc. Plays D&D, is bad at 3-D navigation. Would like feminist gamers to stop demonizing the hyper-femininity of some games. She likes the Barbie games. Please embrace them.

NR: Only into tabletop gaming.

Press coverage of a quote of fail was made reference to: apparently, when asked why Modern Warfare II contained no women (you know, to be modern), the person answered that in order to take the time to render female characters in the game, time would have to be taken away from other detail-work, such as crumbling walls. So apparently, crumbling walls in video games are more important than the option to see/play as female characters.

AS: doesn't play video games to necessarily "be herself," but why don't the games have more options?

RF: Gives props to Mass Effect (highly customizable avatars)

More games that have customization options are using it as a selling point.

Dragon Age is very accessible, and also explores other classes. Sometimes, "customization" is cited as being prohibitive to telling a linear storyline. Dragon Age disproved this for games that have storylines.

Also, for MMORPGs, which have no linear plot, there is still a lot of work to do on making avatars more representative of the human race. The "linear plot" argument is indefensible here, if it is in fact defensible anywhere.

At some point, there was a lengthy digression about the new rules put out for D&D. (Basically, for the 3rd edition, non-male pronouns were sometimes used (gasp!), but they were all or mostly male again for 4th edition. Also, even when the pronoun-usage is evenly dispersed, the pictures on the page show women in voluptuous/revealing clothing. There is a disconnect.

At some point, City of Heroes was also brought up as a game that allows a lot of customization (even fat characters!).

Team Fortress II was brought up as a game that had 9 classes of men in it. Online gamers are creating detailed hacks for female classes, too.

Hacks are fan-created works.

Ways to make the gaming community more accessible/let people know that gamers are diverse:
--If a game pisses you off because of its treatment (or complete lack of) POC, women, disabled people, etc., then don't buy it. Also, tell gamers in your life why you're not buying it. Write about it on the Internet.

--Find ways to hack the games, and play as different characters.

--Be a presence in gaming stores. Instead of buying things online, physically go to stores, let the employees know you exist, you play games, and you're giving them money. JG said she makes a point of going into gaming stores and asking intelligent questions about current games.

--Write online. Be a frequent commenter on the websites of companies that frustrate you. Let them know what frustrates you.

--Support game-producers who are not EA or ActiVision. Don't let huge companies be the cultural gate-keepers. Open-source games are awesome. There is a belief in the world that free games are not necessarily "good" games, because they're not mainstream. This is false. Use them. Smaller projects can afford to be more experimental than the Big Two Companies because they don't have as much money riding on a project. So if you support smaller projects and prove that experimental wonders such as including fat avatars or more POC can be successful, there will probably be a trickle-up effect.

--Download a free game, play it, and tweet it to the WisCon tag.

--Tweet to the #HackGender tag.

--Be a pusher of inclusive games to younger kids/teenagers in your life. They will be receptive.

--Use the Bechdel test on video games.

--Read Border House. From their own website: "The Border House is a blog for gamers. It's a blog for those who are feminist, queer, disabled, people of color, transgendered, poor, gay, lesbian, and others who belong to marginalized groups, as well as allies. Our goal is to bring thoughtful analysis to gaming with a feminist viewpoint and up-to-date news on games, virtual worlds, and social media."



I really took a lot away from this panel, particularly the To-Do list. The idea of supporting small companies (and small book presses) is one I've always supported in theory, but looking at my habits, do not do much to support financially or through promotion. It was because of this panel that I realized I had never purchased a book put out by Aqueduct Press, despite this being my fourth WisCon. (I then bought four books from them.)

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scribbled mystickeeper at 8:11 PM
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wAug 20, 2009


Meta on Tifa from Final Fantasy VII

I might write some FF7 fanfiction at some point, so I will start with meta. [Of course, I have written FF7 fanfiction before.....IN THIS JOURNAL! Don't look for it, it will make you cry.]

Final Fantasy VII was released for the PlayStation console in 1997. I really hope that it's okay for me to be spoilery about this game. It's been out for 12 years, and if you play video games at all, you've already played it. If you haven't played it, you probably never will.

But since it's best to be unspoiled if you ever DO play the game, I'm using an LJ-cut anyway. If you're never going to play it, though, read my post! My posts are terribly interesting! You always feeling better for having read them!


FF7 is your basic RPG: Cloud Strife is a loner protagonist who slowly assembles a team of people with varying abilities who band together to defeat the Big Bads and save the world (from: an evil corporation that destroys the Earth's lifeforce in order to make money, a giant meteor, an alien who fell from the sky and infused people with her cells to make them crazy, and a psychopathic murderer who used to be Cloud's personal hero). Also, you begin the game as a member of the terrorist organization, and then end up leading it! You plant bombs and run from the military! So awesome.

More than halfway through the game, you the player discover that Cloud's memories and perception of reality are totally flawed, fabricated, and basically deeply fucked. He has spent the entire game projecting someone else's persona on to himself due to a combination of low self esteem and his living inside a glass tube for two years and being experimented on by the lunatic Professor Hojo inside the Shinra Mansion.

And almost more interesting (to me), you figure out that the two women who are/were in love with him (one is killed halfway through the game) both had reason to believe that he was really messed up - Aeris, because Cloud acts exactly like Zack, down to mannerisms, clothing and hairstyle; Tifa, because Cloud has memories of events for which she was present.....but she knows that he was not. And despite this knowledge and probably sense of foreboding, they love him anyway.

One of the things I find most fascinating about Final Fantasy VII fanfiction is that in the stories I've read, writers treat Cloud's myth as reality, and go from there. Nobody ever deals with the fact that the protagonist in the game was a pathological liar who believed the lies he told himself, or the fact that Tifa spends the entire game KNOWING that he is lying, thinking that the memories she has of him are made up, etc.

It could be that I'm simply looking in the wrong places for fanfiction, but it really seems like even beyond the death of Aeris, this game should be a minefield for angst and psychological trauma. But most of the fanfiction is littered with AU stories in which Aeris is resurrected post-game and everyone fights a new Big Bad, or Cloud has Sephiroth-related angst.

Even in-canon stories from Tifa's perspective would be so much more interesting. Imagine visiting Nibelheim and meeting all of the Shinra employees there who claim to have always lived there - how much Tifa must have questioned her own sanity/perception of reality, if all that had changed, and Cloud had, too. Cloud's memories are the only ones that confirm her own - that everyone was murdered and everything burned to the ground - but she knows that Cloud was never in Nibelheim during that time - so are her memories real, or not? Can she even trust Cloud, who's leading their group in their fight against evil?

Anyway, those are some preliminary thoughts on Tifa, which don't even include everything else (her love for Cloud, complicated by his former unrequited love for HER, her bad-assery, her scar from Sephiroth, her blind rage, etc.)


Aside from Tifa, the characters who I find the most potential in for fic are:

Professor Hojo
VINCENT VALENTINE
Reeve
Rufus Shinra
...and probably more

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scribbled mystickeeper at 6:33 PM
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wDec 23, 2008


8,000,000 things make a post

There are things I need to do, and am not doing! Apparently I'm going to be in the next Wiscon Chronicles book! The write-up I wrote about the YA Fantasy panel is going to be its own article, and Oyceter mentions me in her write-up of Bodies in Shoujo Manga (BEST PANEL EVAR). I'm pretty excited about this! But I need a bio. What do I put in a bio?! "Mystickeeper reads books and squees about them online." Has anybody read these Chronicles books? What do the bios look like?

Additionally, I haven't watched a single DVD, haven't read anything except manga, and basically do nothing but play Final Fantasy XII. At least I'll be busy on Christmas Eve and Day, being with my family and stuff. Still, I feel like I should be a little more active, or a little more balanced. Curse addictive personalities! This is why I refuse to ever look at World of Warcraft, or even try drugs. I would be gone to the world.


I am still frustrated in Final Fantasy XII! I spent most of the day being not frustrated, so I guess that's good. At a friend's suggestion, I went and did some hunts, going back to a Save I had with Larsa still in my party (an extra party member who uses his own potions?! WIN.). This was okay for about 4 hunts, but now I am too weak to do any more hunts! Grrrr.....I'm in some underground cave in the middle of the Dalmasca Westersand and it's kind of hilarious because I'm trying to get to the Mark I'm supposed to kill, but instead have to turn off my characters' Gambits and run like none other. GRRRRR. I want my characters to interact! Also, are there any nice guides to side quests online? I was using a walkthrough at GameFAQs, but I only refer to it if I encounter a particularly difficult enemy or complicated dungeon. But now I want to go get cool stuff to equip on my party (like that Gold Armlet that gets me double LP!). Oh yeah! I summoned Belias one time in battle and he got KO'ed. Is there a way to bring him back?


The first season of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles is on sale at both Best Buy and Amazon.com for $12.99. I think this will be the first thing I buy for myself with the money I receive for Christmas.


I picked up a few volumes of the Lovely Complex manga at the library. I have watched the complete anime series, and wanted to see how the manga compared. While the anime sometimes took a bit of a dive in terms of budget and animation quality, that obviously never happens in the manga. Still, I think the series certainly benefits from having its Osakan dialect spoken aloud. This feature is completely lost in the English translation of the manga. I love the series for representing an "unconventional" love, and for always striving to keep things interesting. I love seeing Risa's outfits! Anyone looking for a quality shoujo series should check this one out.

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scribbled mystickeeper at 8:58 PM
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w


Progress


So I love the humor in this game. This is my first Final Fantasy with voice-acting, and all of the actors do a fantastic job. My favorite voice-acting moments thus far:

Balthier: ....I always knew she didn't like to be tied up....

BWAHAHAHA.



Vaan: So, that Viera said something about 50 years ago.....How old did you say you were again?
And everyone stops moving, and glares at him. Even Basch and Ashe make disgusted noises! Too funny!



Old wrinkly dude with eyes clothes, on the throne. Everyone is silent, waiting.
Vaan: ....Is he sleeping?




I'm a bit frustrated at the moment. I had to due a lot of leveling up to be able to get through the Henne Mines, but even now I'm at the Stilshine of Miriam, and it is fucking brutal. I hope I saved somewhere where I can still run outside and level up. Otherwise I'm effed.
This game is one of the more frustrating in terms of getting through lots of stuff and then dying before being able to get to a save point. I can't remember having to replay stuff so many times since Final Fantasy Tactics.


I loved the cutscene with Vayne framing the Senate for killing his own father. OMG there must be Gabranth/Drace fanfiction!! And yes, poor Larsa.

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scribbled mystickeeper at 1:59 AM
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wDec 19, 2008


Final Fantasy XII thus far

I love the Final Fantasy games. VII will probably always remain my favorite, and I'd like to replay it some time soon, perhaps. With each installment, it's nice to explore a new and interesting world, while also seeing familiar elements.

I have yet to see a Biggs, Wedge, or Cid! The chocobos are totally badass in this game, though, and they look real and believable and are the caliber of what I expected in Final Fantasy Tactics, if the game could have had cooler graphics.

Anyway, I'm loving the Ivalice setting of the game, just like I love it in Final Fantasy Tactics and Vagrant Story. I love the medieval European feel, the knights and castles and armor and honor.

My favorite character is Balthier, hands-down. His English accent and snarky comments make him feel like Spike (of Buffy/Angel) reincarnate. But Balthier has better style than Spike. I love his fresh white shirts, and the fact that he gets upset if they're dirty. I love the way he holds his gun, and the gold trim on his clothing. MOST OF ALL, I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT HIM. If Balthier dies, I'm going to be upset.

I find Vaan pretty useless and uninteresting, as far as heroes go. I even like FF8's Squall more than this guy. Luckily, I love everyone around him. I was wary of Penelo, expecting to find her irritating, but I really do like her. Also, surprisingly, I expected to fall head over heels for Ashe and love her like I love FF9's Princess Garnet, but I'm not really feeling the love yet.

I read somewhere online that originally, Basch was going to be the main character, but they decided, as they always do, to go with a younger, impressionable hero. I think it'd be really cool of Square would make the jump and have an older protagonist, or (God forbid!) a female protagonist!

Oh yeah! Usually, I don't like "complicated" menu set-ups, but I kind of dig the licensing system. I love the battle set-up, and how the perspective doesn't change from wandering around to the world map to battles. I like being able to change characters mid-battle, and....yeah, I love everything, except that I seem to constantly be short of money in this game, and it seems hard to find good weapons for everyone (especially guns!).

Still, I'm thoroughly enjoying it so far, and hope that the storyline gets even better.

Where I am right now, and my favorite plot point thus far.

Anyway, I'm about to go into the tomb of Ashe's family, and see what's going on in there.

So far, the best writing definitely goes to the prologue. What balls! Killing the character from whose perspective the gamer is playing? Genius! I didn't see it coming at all.

Also! While doing a Google image search for Balthier (*cough*), I found this website to be vastly interesting! It explores the copious similarities between the Star Wars trilogies and Final Fantasy XII. This thought actually occurred to me when Miguelo was introduced, and I expect will become even stronger as I continue to play.

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scribbled mystickeeper at 10:05 AM
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wDec 2, 2008


All I want for Christmas is a more manageable LiveJournal FL

Last night I learned an important skill in Vagrant Story. Ashley can jump higher when his sword and shield are unequipped. Of course, this makes sense in theory, but I am not used to the physics of video games making any practical sense. Anyway, I crawled out of the dark chain of dungeons and blinked into daylight inside Lea Monde.
Are all of the girls in this game useless? I want Ashley's partner to kick some arse.
What's up with his name being Ashley, anyway? Ashley Riot has a nice ring to it, but all I can think of is Ashley Wilkes, which is not the same at all.

A random question: So the information on my map says that the map is 13% complete. Does this mean that I am 13% of the way through the game?


I need to do a much better job of checking my Facebook event invitations. I tend to ignore Facebook for the most part, but I totally missed the invitation to Casbah to celebrate a friend's birthday.



AND NOW A MEME ON LJ.

This is another reminder that people planning on buying me gifts should PLEASE TELL ME so I can enter you in to my neat Excel spreadsheet.

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scribbled mystickeeper at 9:54 AM
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wNov 22, 2008


Video Games I'd Like to Play

This is mostly a note to myself, for whenever I reach a point in my life that I decide it's time to buy a new game console, and have enough leisure time for games.


Vagrant Story - PS It's hard to find this game! But it looks pretty bad-ass. I already have a regular PlayStation, so I just have to find the game.

Okami - PS2, Wii Pretty! That's pretty much my only reason.

Silent Hill - PS, 2 and 3 on PS2 or PC. I think I already purchased the first one used. I should probably play it before spending money on the sequels!

Crisis Core - PSP. It looks gorgeous, Final Fantasy VII is my favorite game of all time, and unlike Dirge of Cerberus, it looks well-written enough.

That said...Dirge of Cerberus. It doesn't look like that great of a game, but I am a Vincent fangirl and it seems necessary that I run around in his blood-red cape, shooting things.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance - Gameboy Advance. I loved Final Fantasy Tactics, and I'd be interested in playing another Ivalice game.

Tactics Advance 2: Grimoire of the Rift is there too, but for Nintendo DS (I could steal my niece's or nephew's!)

God of War, PS2

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - I never finished this! I should do it.

Final Fantasy XII - PS2 A Final Fantasy set in Ivalice! I like this aesthetic a lot more than FFX's.

Legacy of Kain - PS, PS2, all available for Windows

Devil May Cry - PS2

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - PS



I guess my next platform should be PS2.

Before you leave 8,000,000 comments! My criteria for video games: Well-written story. I play games for their stories, which is why I read books (although writing style has also become a high priority for me), watch anime, read manga, whatever. I also appreciate a lived-in, or at least highly interesting, aesthetic. I don't always like shiny new futuristic things, which is a big reason why I like FFVII a lot more than VIII, and don't have much interest in X.

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scribbled mystickeeper at 10:27 AM
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wMar 19, 2007


Link Spam

Part of what sucks about not blogging as often as I'd like is never posting all of the links I come across in a day of Internet-browsing that I think are interesting enough to put into a blog entry. So, today you will actually get to see them!

This evening, I went to a History lecture given by Chad's Roman History professor on "the real 300." I haven't seen the film based on the Frank Miller comic yet, but I plan to. Here's a Newsweek review, where you can also watch a preview. Speaking of Frank Miller....I'm almost done with the first volume of the Sin City comic, rented from the campus library. I really feel like his stuff works better as movies than as graphic novels. The bridge between comics and movies/TV series is weird like that. Some art styles and stories simply work better as comics, and some work better as anime series. Weird.

The next Studio Ghibli films have been announced. They both appear to be original series. Does anybody know when the Ghibli version of 'Tales of Earthsea' is going to be released in the U.S.?

Former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson is throwing his hat into the 2008 presidential race. The only thing I can think of when I think of Tommy Thompson is every time I ever rode past the Wisconsin state Capitol in the car with my dad because he would say, "You see that building? The governor works there. I know the governor! He used to come into my uncle's drugstore when I worked there. He knew my name."
So. If nothing else, my dad will be pleased.

And lastly, this is very random, but today's Wikipedia featured article is....Final Fantasy VII. :D


Current Music: Shackled - Vertical Horizon (my favorite song of all time....ever)

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scribbled mystickeeper at 10:35 PM
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wOct 9, 2006


The End of the Weekend

I have this post that I started making some time last week about my heroes on the docket, and I really want to post it. However, I still need to scrounge around for pictures. And, you know, write it.

The rest of my weekend went pretty well. On Saturday evening, Ryan and I went to Barnes & Noble and got a lot of studying done. I've decided that I am equally productive when surrounded by literature and hot caffeine as I am when I utilize the cages at Memorial Library (Ryan wants me to take pictures of the cages....I'll try and do this some time this week).

Then we had a bonfire in his backyard with Chad and Dave. It was nice to see both Dave and Ryan. I'm used to coming home for the weekend and only seeing my family (which is totally fine! Just saying it's different). We were at Ryan's pretty late - I think I got home around 2:30. Parents can be so funny sometimes - my mom kept asking me what I was doing so late. Does she not remember middle school and high school, when I was out that late every weekend? Oh, parents.

I got my hair cut yesterday. I won't really know what it looks like until I take a shower today, though. Probably noticable to nobody except myself.

Dad and I watched the second "Richard III" movie that I had rented, and wow, I liked this one a lot better. I mean, if you're a purist, then maybe the Laurence Olivier version is for you (it goes on FOREVER!). But why watch that, when you can watch something that should take place in 14th century England set instead in a fascist England of the 1930s? The music was 1930, the style of dress and hair was 1930, but the plot was still the same as before. It was brilliant, and the acting was great. I like Maggie Smith a lot, but I think I was impressioned after watching "The Secret Garden" so many times as a child.
But mostly, there were tanks. People spouting Shakespeare while manning the guns on tanks. So awesome.

I started playing Final Fantasy Tactics last night! I'm limiting myself to no more than 30 minutes per night, and I will be strong! Luckily, FFT is not as conducive to binge behavior as, say, Knights of the Old Republic.
I blame my compulsion to play this game on reading so much Shakespeare. I really think "The Lion War" of the game is based heavily upon the Wars of the Roses (and everyone says, "Well, duh, Jackie!")

Current Music: ticking clock

Edit: Also, I was pretty disgusted with the murder of a Russian reporter who was critical of her country's actions against Chechnya. How can there be free press in a nation where those who speak their mind get shot in elevators?

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scribbled mystickeeper at 8:56 AM
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wMar 9, 2006


Saturated with Links and Politics: Just Like You Like It

My last midterm (and really, last assignment due) before Spring Break is tomorrow, which means that this post is full of links so that you can see how I looked at lots of things instead of studying (to my credit, I did spend a lot of time holed up the library today...the Internet was only used as relief!).

If you haven't seen the Natalie Portman rap on NBC, you totally need to click this! Warnings for inappropriate-ness....swear words are bleeped out, but definitely not approach if you're sitting in the same room as a parent or extremely young child. Or at work or something. But it's funny because it's Natalie Portman.

Firstly, if you're one of the two people who read this and watch Battlestar Galactica, feel free to read my thoughts on the last couple of episodes/podcasts. Also, Season 3 is not going to air until October! Woe is the fandom!
As for the rest of you, well, yes, I am fully aware of how cool I am, thank you very much.

Wisconsin state Republicans in both the House and the Senate have been passing "moral-based" bills lately, like putting a gay marriage ban on the ballot for this November. The Senate also just passed a bill that would put the death penalty on the ballot, after 150 years of being banned. I ripped the following directly from page 4 of today's Daily Cardinal, but I felt that you all should hear it (especially people who live in my congressional district!).
"This is a cynical right-wing attempt to motivate the base for the fall elections."
- Rep. Marlin Schneider, D-Wisconsin Rapids, regarding the gay marriage ban Wisconsinites will vote on in 2006

"Go to hell, Marlin."
- Assembly Speaker John Gard, R-Peshtigo, in response to being confronted by Rep. Schneider in a Capitol hallway.

John Gard is considered by many to be the front-runner in Wisconsin's 8th District's race for the House. I'm going to be really disappointed if he wins.
Also, please recall this post, in which I shared with you how I felt about Gard putting the national Republican party before Wisconsinites by inappropriately having a $1,000/plate dinner in Washington, D.C. - where, ironically, people who should be deciding whether or not to elect him do not live!
For me, politics is not the only thing that's important when it comes to choosing my candidate. I'm not an idiot and I'm well-informed, and when somebody is so bitterly partisan that I never hear his/her name outside of the context of being a jerk, I am not inclined to vote for that candidate, even if his or her stances on the issues were to coincide with mine exactly. I'd rather have someone with integrity representing me who disagrees with me on every issue. Politics is not a game, despite constantly being described as one. It determines how society functions, and what one person's relationship to society is. Not only this, but these are the people who determine how the government treats us in terms of our liberty, and even matters of life and death. Given the magnitude, I'd have to go with preferring someone with an honest desire to do good things. Unfortunately, in today's political climate, this is becoming more and more difficult to find (psst....except in people like Mark Green!).

Although, we should be glad that at least people in Wisconsin aren't pushing for "being a practicing gay" to be an offense punishable by death. I can't even fathom how some of these people are intelligent enough to be alive, let alone try to run for public office. Disgusting.

The video game Final Fantasy XII is going to be released in Japan soon, and in celebration, they are releasing a beverage called "Potion." For those of you unfamiliar with RPGs, potions are used to restore Hit Points in or after battle. Watch this Japanese commercial (you really don't need to understand what they're saying) to see what happens when two people try to get a hold of the same potion in a convenience store. At the end, they each take a swig and it restores 100 HP per person. BEST COMMERCIAL EVER!

I'm really failing to see how burning down a church is funny under any context, ever.

Regarding the Teri Hatcher revelation....
TV during lunch: *something about Teri Hatcher*
Chad: What happened?
Me: She was sexually abused by her uncle.
Chad: Recently?
Me: ......No, Chad.

Current Music: JOY (Live) - Yuki (Yes....I've begun to succomb to the horror/cuteness that is J-Pop...or Japanese Pop music, for those who don't know)

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scribbled mystickeeper at 12:43 AM
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wFeb 2, 2006


Fandom news; My journeys

Firstly, before anything else, some Harry Potter news. WTF?!?! Jeez, I don't check The Leaky Cauldron for like, 2 days and something like this happens. Here is a page on the Black family specifically. Seriously, wtf?! The families of Crouch and Longbottom closely related, and are also related to the Potters, and all of them are part of the House of Black! Dude.

My cellphone has been restored to its former self, for the most part. I'm not sure if my voicemail message is me or not. But I rode the bus all the way out to East Towne today after class and had them download my phonebook on to the new phone. While I waited for the bus to come around, I went into a used video game store, which happened to have a lot of anime (and video games, who'd have thought! They had the FF Compliation, which contains Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy IV - the last FF that's out for PlayStation that I don't have yet...but I didn't buy it) stuff. I purchased a Sailor Moon poster for $.99! Now we just need to find wall space for it, heehee.
I must say that when one is forced to take a 40-minute busride in one direction, one should select a seat facing forward, as opposed to parallel with the side windows. I felt really sick after the ride there, :/
In English today, we got these little piddly participation papers back, but I got a poor grade on mine and have been feeling bad about it all night. In retaliation, I've made an elaborate to-do list. Now we'll see how much I can actually accomplish...

I'm looking forward to this weekend. I'm going to visit Jennifer at Marquette (the school, not the town, which would be confused with OGRE's (Ryan's) school. It will be another bus adventure for me.

Seriously, how badass is FF7? I want to play Dirge of Cerberus, ;_; I crave the angst of Vincent.

I'm wondering what the website Sconex is, exactly. I've received some referrals to my blog from it over the last day or so....the main page tells me it's a website for all things regarding your high school? Does this mean that people who attend my old high school have put a link up to this blog? If so....hello. Feel free to leave a comment. And do know that after!high school is both better and worse than in!high school, 'though mostly better.

Chewbacca has a blog. Do check out the profile, where you can listen to an audio clip of your favorite wookiee.


My Wisconsin Webspace has decided to allow me to login from this computer once more, so I can put pictures on the blog again! I took a lot last semester that I could never put up....so hopefully I can make this a regular feature again.
Here is a picture that Steph took of the Humanities Building (home of The Ultimate Fight Scene, in my opinion). There are other features that make it worthy of this title that you can't see, but for now, just appreciate the bridge, on which the death scene would occur. Note that there is far less snow on the ground now than in this picture (and by less, I mean none).



And seriously, who smuggles drugs with PUPPIES?! Could you be any more cruel?

Current Music: Divinity - Final Fantasy VII: Advenet Children OST

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scribbled mystickeeper at 12:19 AM
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wAug 26, 2005


wot, wot

Today has been a pretty good day. Ben called me, which was cool because I haven't talked to him in a while. And Steph called me, too! Actually, I had to tell Ben goodbye 'cause she called. Anyway, Steph says it's weird to be back in the dorm room and not have me be there (she had to move back early because of her job). I'm really excited to go back, :O

I finished Final Fantasy Tactics today, which was awesome. The ending was sad, though. And the scene after the credits was pretty morbid. But overall, this game was the most challenging game I've ever played, and also one of the best. I put it right beneath Final Fantasy 7. The character designs are so cute, too! Very intricate plot. Kickass. I wonder if it has a cool fandom...I'll have to investigate.

So yeah, stuff got all of a sudden busy after that. After I talked to Steph, my mom came home and we unpacked groceries and then she got pissed at my dad because he temporarily lost the football tickets. Then we were at the football game, so I'm sorry I never called you back, Ben. The game was pretty cool except for the fact that the Packer suck. I always almost cry when the national anthem is sung...especially at the end when they sing "in the land of the free and the home of the brave." I also almost cry when the entire stadium erupts in cheers for Brett Favre. Anyway, Julie and I spent the 3rd quarter in the Pro-Shop and then it started to pour, so we walked back to her house.

Maybe I'll be sad tomorrow (Julie and Kevin and the Beasts are coming over for dinner), but at the moment I'm overall excited to go back to school. Unfortunately, Steph has informed me that all of the doors in our dorm except for the main ones have been fitted with alarms, which will probably be installed after everyone moves in. This is a STUPID IDEA that actually makes us less safe because it lengthens the time that everyone has to spend outside, increasing the likelihood that in the event of a rapist/stalker attack, instead of running to the nearest door and being near people, you instead have to run up 3 flights of outdoor stairs and a bigass hill. I'm pretty sure if I had to run all the way from the bottom lakeshore door near the parking lot to the top of Liz in the front door....I'd definitely get abducted/mauled. But as we learned in our "meeting" last year, the University Housing men know much better than we do and the only reason it doesn't make sense to us is because we're stupid.

I didn't get to say goodbye to like, half of the people that I did last year. But I think I like it better this way. It isn't so...final.

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scribbled mystickeeper at 11:18 PM
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wAug 9, 2005


it's starting to creep me out that i've been in such a good mood for so long....

I'm still very upset over Peter Jenning's death. I know it's been four months since he's been on, but I looked forward to his broadcasts every night (Steph can attest to this, as can my parents). I don't know exactly why I loved him so much....I think because when he presented news, he actually knew what he was talking about and could easily explain stories in such a way that you as the viewer knew that he wasn't reading from a script. He brought his own knowledge to the table, and it had a much more global-mindset than other anchors/reporters. He was also quite poetic...I'm going to miss him a lot (obviously, I already had been since he went off the air, but I'd still turn on the TV every night at 5:30 hoping...). ABC devoted a lot of their broadcast to him last night, and it was really sad. I cried again, ;_; It's so strange to feel as though you know somebody you've never met.

Anyway....I work 4:15-10 tonight, which meant I had the whole morning/afternoon off. For reasons unbeknownst to me, I decided to attack my closet. Organizing old school papers and throwing away ones that I don't need any more (when you keep the same Spanish binder for 7 years, you acquire lots of random stuff....). I'm a good part of the way through, and I now I need to sort through the pile of unused school supplies and decide what to bring with me. I am going to be organized and undefeatable when I go back to school. No social life? No problem! Well, I'll probably have a social life...but school comes first! Internet time will be cut the most, I think. Hehehe.

Last night, I had success with my class schedule. All of my random checks to the timetable have paid off - I got to move a discussion that had been conflicting with a lecture to a different time. So, yay! I like my schedule a lot. I'll have to look at it longer to figure out all of the good points, but I know that on Fridays, I'm done at 11:50, and Mondays and Tuesdays I only have two classes (I think the most I ever have in one day is three). Yay! I'm going to make crazy-detailed schedules every day to maximize my reading/studying time. Am I geek? Yes, but I am a geek who needs her GPA to swing back up. Besides, I'm sure I'd be much more pleasant to be around during the school year if I was earning good grades.

After lots of cleaning (with a Sailor Moon and Full Metal Alchemist episode each thrown in for good measure...speaking of which, the Flame Alchemist episode was hilarious! This show does humor so well!), it was time for a shower and then I went out to eat with my parents on a whim. Mushroom burger! It was delicious, but I think I ate too much, ;_;

Anyway....Right now, I'm on the fourth and last "chapter" of Final Fantasy Tactics. I really want to finish it before I go back to school for two reasons - 1 so that I don't play it when I should be studying and hauling ass! and 2 so that I don't spend months away from it and then take forever to finish it, as is happening right now with Final Fantasy 6 (almost defeat over Christmas Break, and then abandoned). I really love this game. And I like how it keeps a log of everything...right before I beat it, I'm going to relive every scene. It'll be like playing the game all at once without having to do the battles. Because yes, it's really difficult to keep track of all the characters and armies and kingdoms and allegiances and betrayals and what-have-you. I will be victorious!

It's kind of creepy that I need to be in the middle of twenty geekish things in order to keep my mind occupied. I really need to finish Dracula so that I can return it and read all of these other books that I want to finish....(I broke down and bought Vampire Hunter D today, which turns out is only Volume I...but it's illustrated by Yoshitaka Amano and I'm really excited to read it!) Maybe I'll go do that now.

Current Music: You Can Still Be Free - Savage Garden

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scribbled mystickeeper at 3:30 PM
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