Things which are not Cam
Cam was away so I had a bunch of time to fill!
Games:
Human Resource Machine: a really fun, darkly funny office-themed puzzle game where you get interns to mindlessly follow your instructions, building up mildly complex computer programs using basic instructions. Apparently it's even fun if you're not into programming, certainly I've found it fairly easy but still satisfying. And you can even play as a girl! From the makers of World of Goo and Little Inferno, with a similar feel. I haven't quite finished it yet.
Botanica series (In the Unknown and Earthbound): really pretty, good natured hidden object games about a female biologist who falls into another world and tries to figure her way back. Some of the puzzles are badly done, even to the point of being impossible, but since I could just skip them I still overall enjoyed the game. I was feeling grumpy about all the white people in "tribal" villages but some black people showed up and were treated exactly the same which is better than most games like this.
League of Light: Dark Omens: an adequate hidden object game. The puzzles were put together ok but the plot was cliched and male focused.
The Far Kingdoms: Winter Solitaire: Was an adequate solitaire game until it crashed and refused to run any more :/
Books:
Bloody Jack by L.A. Meyer: light but not fluffy story about a young girl from the 19th century London streets who crossdresses to become a ship's boy. Quite enjoyable, lots of excitement and poking at the attitudes of the time, and the main character is great. Hit my child harm and underage sexuality buttons a bit (some of her streetkid friends die, and while she doesn't have sex she seriously considers it at about 14) plus it was a bit annoying how the spectre of homosexuality came up a lot but the closest thing to a gay character was a heteroflexible pedophile. Reminded me slightly of Sarah Waters with the 19th century pastiche + badass female character, except more heteronormative and PG rated. I've heard the later books are fun, with even more cool female characters and a side gay character, but veer into racism in parts. I downloaded it as an ebook from the WA library system which was convenient, and they have the second so I'll definitely read that.
The Unexpected Duchess by Valerie Bowman: Flipped Cyrano de Bergerac where a conventionally attractive but snarky woman tries to help her shy friend reject a suitor. This was staggeringly generic, like someone trained an AI to write a novel via a bunch of Georgette Heyer knockoffs and the movie Roxanne. There wasn't much to actively object to asides from having to roll my eyes every few lines at the mixture of repeated, hackneyed phrasing (putting his fist against wall in anger! Spoiled chit of a girl! etc) and blatant anachronism (someone literally says "As if.") and the characters were likeable enough, but I could constantly see the author's strings behind the words and actions: needs witty one liner here, needs conflict there etc.
Anime:
Heizuki no Reitetzu: Slice of life shenanigans of a deadpan demon bureaucrat in the Japanese hell. Not my sort of humour and pretty much zero female characters, but interesting.
Wakaba Girl: Essence of Moe. Cute girls do cute things: the anime. Barely made it to the end of the first 5 minute long episode.
Gugure! Kokkuri-san: impassive young girl summons fox spirit, he decides to take care of her despite her objections. Was kind of cute and amusing if not my sort of humour, but then I discovered that there's a running joke of an adult demon hitting on the girl (this is what they look like) and I just...no.
This entry was originally posted at http://alias-sqbr.dreamwidth.org/598949.html. There are
comments.
Games:
Human Resource Machine: a really fun, darkly funny office-themed puzzle game where you get interns to mindlessly follow your instructions, building up mildly complex computer programs using basic instructions. Apparently it's even fun if you're not into programming, certainly I've found it fairly easy but still satisfying. And you can even play as a girl! From the makers of World of Goo and Little Inferno, with a similar feel. I haven't quite finished it yet.
Botanica series (In the Unknown and Earthbound): really pretty, good natured hidden object games about a female biologist who falls into another world and tries to figure her way back. Some of the puzzles are badly done, even to the point of being impossible, but since I could just skip them I still overall enjoyed the game. I was feeling grumpy about all the white people in "tribal" villages but some black people showed up and were treated exactly the same which is better than most games like this.
League of Light: Dark Omens: an adequate hidden object game. The puzzles were put together ok but the plot was cliched and male focused.
The Far Kingdoms: Winter Solitaire: Was an adequate solitaire game until it crashed and refused to run any more :/
Books:
Bloody Jack by L.A. Meyer: light but not fluffy story about a young girl from the 19th century London streets who crossdresses to become a ship's boy. Quite enjoyable, lots of excitement and poking at the attitudes of the time, and the main character is great. Hit my child harm and underage sexuality buttons a bit (some of her streetkid friends die, and while she doesn't have sex she seriously considers it at about 14) plus it was a bit annoying how the spectre of homosexuality came up a lot but the closest thing to a gay character was a heteroflexible pedophile. Reminded me slightly of Sarah Waters with the 19th century pastiche + badass female character, except more heteronormative and PG rated. I've heard the later books are fun, with even more cool female characters and a side gay character, but veer into racism in parts. I downloaded it as an ebook from the WA library system which was convenient, and they have the second so I'll definitely read that.
The Unexpected Duchess by Valerie Bowman: Flipped Cyrano de Bergerac where a conventionally attractive but snarky woman tries to help her shy friend reject a suitor. This was staggeringly generic, like someone trained an AI to write a novel via a bunch of Georgette Heyer knockoffs and the movie Roxanne. There wasn't much to actively object to asides from having to roll my eyes every few lines at the mixture of repeated, hackneyed phrasing (putting his fist against wall in anger! Spoiled chit of a girl! etc) and blatant anachronism (someone literally says "As if.") and the characters were likeable enough, but I could constantly see the author's strings behind the words and actions: needs witty one liner here, needs conflict there etc.
Anime:
Heizuki no Reitetzu: Slice of life shenanigans of a deadpan demon bureaucrat in the Japanese hell. Not my sort of humour and pretty much zero female characters, but interesting.
Wakaba Girl: Essence of Moe. Cute girls do cute things: the anime. Barely made it to the end of the first 5 minute long episode.
Gugure! Kokkuri-san: impassive young girl summons fox spirit, he decides to take care of her despite her objections. Was kind of cute and amusing if not my sort of humour, but then I discovered that there's a running joke of an adult demon hitting on the girl (this is what they look like) and I just...no.
This entry was originally posted at http://alias-sqbr.dreamwidth.org/598949.html. There are
comments.