Omnivore:

Rare public post; hoping someone browsing the tags or a random passer-by will pick this up.

I'm writing fic (!!) and want to resurrect my unused Archive of Our Own account (I barely use DW or LJ and archiving things on Tumblr is a frankly silly idea)

Thing is, I've noticed over time there have been a lot of complaints and drama about the way AO3 and the OTW operates? I believe there was controversy over a poorly-tested AO3 update that resulted in the resignation of an overworked volunteer; recently it's been problems with the tag wrangling?

What I'm getting at here is that I really (REALLY REALLY) want to support OTW and use a fan-made, fan-focused archive, but if the OTW and the archive is going to evaporate due to ongoing drama I don't know, maybe I should stick to DW? Can anyone browsing by let me know exactly what the ongoing issues with the OTW are and how much of an effect it'll have on the AO3? I honestly have no way to tell if it's a serious issue or just a very vocal minority and frankly even if I weren't writing ridiculous pornography right now, I'm curious.

Cheers and thank you my friends.

It's not much good here as I believe I set up this journal to block search engines, but for future reference:

I was having trouble installing Windows 7 on a newly-built computer as it kept saying that it could not find the drivers for the portable CD/DVD drive I was using, coming up with a window stating "select the driver to be installed" even when I tried putting the setup CD contents on a USB drive.

Thanks to this thread I have discovered the solution: It's nothing to do with a CD or DVD drive specifically, but with Windows having no access to the right SATA drivers. These drivers will have come on a CD with the motherboard if you bought a new one, or you can find them on the internet and put them on a CD or USB--you can also create a new Windows setup disc or USB drive and put these drivers straight on there.

I want to put this somewhere Google can find eventually, as this was driving me bonkers XU I went through so many useless forum threads before I found that one you have no idea. I was even waiting on a slim SATA cable so I could use a different CD drive and if I HAD waited those extra days only to get this window again... omgggggg I can taste blood just thinking about it.

But it's working now. ^_^ I'm suddenly this much closer to having a decent computer at my disposal, woohoo! Just gotta resist the urge to barge in and install Steam....

I created a new Tumblr to reply to someone on Twitter because I was sick of having to explain Deep Feels in 140 or less characters. I'll try using it (and this journal) more often. Thus:

Today, I realised I write all my public blog posts/comments using the same formula!

[rambling introduction]

[paragraphs full of commas and ellipses] <- repeat as necessary until:

[One-line overly dramatic summarising zinger]

[Conclusion, meander from the point, apologise for having an opinion, slink off]

This is getting on my tit, so in an effort to break this vicious cycle, I'll try writing some things about things that don't make my writing turn on auto-pilot.

I've been playing Deathspank this week, and this is an excellent place to start. It's a genre of game I have no interest in, directed by a figure in the games industry I hold no nostalgic allegience to. Thus, for me, right now, it's perfect. No preconceptions, no risk of falling so hard for it I crack the foundations and have my house drop on my twattish head--all I have to do is pay attention to which greeblies are rushing at me, remember which weapon is mapped to which button, and stop drinking all my stealth potions by accident.

While I like a lot of silly meaningless shit, I can't stand the phrase 'leave your brain at the door', and describing Deathspank like this would be unfair to it and the efforts its developers went to. That doesn't mean it's not a Diablo-like $10 game slathered with goofy British accents and so far I've laughed out loud at exactly one line ('It makes 'em cranky!'). Beyond it's indie (so not getting into an argument about this word today) roots, it really wouldn't have interested me even a few months ago. I think the indie-ness was the only reason I bought it in the first place and it languished on my hard drive for more than a year before now.

What changed?

A lot did, most of it bad, most of it nothing to do with games.

I feel myself moving towards that formula I described above, heh...

I'll stop disgressing: After a period in which I seriously considered selling my collection and never touching a game again, something as "simple", "gamey" as Deathspank feels a little like learning how to play games again. It's challenging, but not hard, and when I screw up I don't lose hours of progress. It's a forgiving game without being too patronising or too easy. When I'm particularly drained after work I often run Mr Spank into a cloud of ghosts and spin him around making flrprpr noises until he dies--then I take a breath, concentrate and make progress, and I never have to worry if the plot's going to spit in my face (for any reason other than sardonic British comedy at least), or wonder how many people lost their jobs straight after it went gold. It is a little bit of game history of its own, but mostly, it's just fun, and I--the person who hates on marketing for being lazy and whose favourite games are all messed-up depressing flawed masterpieces--for once, even I appreciate that. And it is pretty funny I guess, I kind of nearly giggled when it said poop.

I feel like ass right now, due to second-hand embarrassment--a nonsensical personality flaw of mine is that I feel like shit when I see others I agree with dissed or mocked... oddly, being directly mocked myself rarely has the same effect. Weird!

In an attempt to distract myself (partially successful), here's something that occurred to me 10 minutes ago:

( applicable theory )

So Hatoful Boyfriend (that pigeon dating game) is hilarious and beautiful

Spoilers are raining from the sky, so if you want to go in clean do it asap. Download it from here!

One of my many favourite things about the game is the player character. Below are slightly spoilerly reasons why (plus a major spoiler at the very end).

( Read more... )

I will make the post re: conSENSUAL and video game links eventually, but I am beat. It will be up Tuesday evening at latest.

I found I liked talking about this stuff a lot :O so as to avoid my-thoughts-on-yaoi-ing panel attendees again, I might have another go at a "real" blog!? But all in good time.

PS: paging eggsbenedict I REMEMBERED WITH A SPOON OF CURRY HALF-WAY TO MY MOUTH THAT I TOTALLY SHIP A GUY AND A BOOK AND I AM A HUGE HYPOCRITE BASICALLY ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Hey my peeps

I'm getting rid of some things and I thought I'd start with these:

Issues 4 to 7 of Filament Magazine

This is a pervy mag dedicated to the female gaze! It's still getting off its feet (due to all the bullshit surrounding the ludicrous concept of erotica for women) and I bought a few issues to support it and see what it's like. I'm not likely to re-read these (tl;dr I love the concept but these aren't my preferred flavour of crumpets) but I'd feel bad throwing them out. Complete your collection or fulfill your curiosity! There's a lot of great articles in it too, if you actually do read things for the articles. 83

Cost: Shipping only! I'm more interested in sending them to a good home than recouping money, in this case. Tell me where you live and I will send you the price.

Photos coming soon!

I'll find somewhere to link/repost this later, but I'm posting it here first before I forget (again; been meaning to do this for months now). Feel free to call dibs though.

So apparently I'm running a video game panel at conSENSUAL (a new yaoi/yuri 18+ con)? 8D?

This is something I really want to do, actually, but I'm concerned about how to approach the subject. Another person is running an Ace Attorney fandom panel and they've hooked us up suggesting we could run a combined panel into one or as some sort of video games block. I'm not sure if our approaches would be compatible for a single panel--I don't have any love for fandoms that are strong and popular enough to be of mainstream interest to the average congoer to discuss alongside the fearsome juggernaut that is AA. Seriously, I just made a tally of my OTPs (as they are) in my head and if I met myself on a forum I would not stop laughing at myself. (Of course, I'd also think I had amazing taste and I'd offer to buy myself a beer, but I would, wouldn't I?)

I'm going off track here.

I need to figure out what kind of panel I want to run, what I want to say, how to say it in a way that engages the audience, and how I'm going to prepare something like this before panel summaries are due.

Being the fan of obscure shit I am, I'd like to cover video games and genres that normally get skipped over, like non-fandomy games, indie games and mods, things like that.

From what I've seen of the convention websites, it looks like there will be a few non-anime convention regulars attending, so something that doesn't require a knowledge of the greasy inner workings of fandom might be a good way to go...

But really, I am stumped!

The point I'm getting to is, would any of you fine folk have any suggestions? For what subjects to cover, or an approach to take? If any of you have experience running panels (I've been to lots but was only on one, and didn't participate much for various reasons) I would be very interested to hear!

I'd like to participate in fanart_recs but I've got the 'no one shares my fandoms' blues!

Maybe if I watched more Gintama I'd go for that; it seems to have a following on Dreamwidth... but anyway.

Ideas:

NieRRR (natch)
Osu Tatakae Ouendan and Elite Beat Agents
Lupin the Third (actually, that's a good idea...!)
Grasshopper Manufacture
Indie games (though I've moved away from using the term, or rather, seeing indie games as a 'scene'. There's still a lot of rad fanart for them out there!)

I'm also an eensy bit paranoid because the last time I shared fanart en masse someone used it all for icons, crediting the people who made the icon brushes and not the artists. (╬ ಠ益ಠ)

Of course, that was on 4chan when I was far more naive. Ah, regret....

I feel like rambling, but I am working full-time for a while starting next week and I've far too much to do before then.