Still In Arcadia - #4

 

Life as of Like a Month Ago - Call me Houdini the way I be escaping.

Yes I know its been eons since my last post, don't judge me. It's exam season and I don't have enough readers on this blog to justify trying to do this full time.

It has been nonstop a downpour the last few days and I love it.

With this weather, I've been having my own little fantasy of a cabin in the woods way out in Oregon, next to a lake and a short drive or maybe even walk. The idea of smelling the damp forest air, wiping mud off your shoes, listening to the radio with a nice 10 year whiskey while looking at the rain fall down on the window. A nice simple life away from all the hustle and bustle, though of course with friends close by.

And then I start thinking, man, this cabin would also be so nice during winter. The eerie quiet, the frost on the windows, a mug of hot chocolate, the crunch of fresh snow...

And then also in summer... and spring... and then it eventually just devolves into me wishing that I just had a less complicated life somewhere quiet. I start trying to replicate as much of it as I can within my own life, surrounding myself with as much I can to feel like I'm in that cabin in Oregon.

This isn't my first time with escapism. It's something I've been doing since my mid teens at least and something that can very quickly envelope me, and I'm sure its nothing new for you EgoBraniacs either. I know that there is a point where escapism becomes something unhealthy, but to be honest with you guys, I wouldn't know when to say to stop. If I didn't have financial .commitments that prevent me from ending up homeless then I don't really know how far down the rabbit hole I would fall. I mean, hell, if I didn't know that my fantasy of this idyllic cabin in the woods was just a fantasy, I would probably already be going there,

Most of us wish we were somewhere else, I know I do. I hope we all find that somewhere eventually.

Don't Touch That Dial - Sure she needs saving but it's literally Superman

When I was a kid we used to have a DVD of a bunch of old Fleischer cartoons and I recently discovered another copy at a local thrift store, so of course I did my due diligence as a citizen and got high and watched it all.

The DVD is split into three parts, one of which is a collection of 40s Superman cartoons. Something that I only realized watching it again as an adult however is how Lois Lane is a damsel-in-distress very often. but is also so much more than just a damsel

When I say that, I don't mean she has a super in depth character because every character in this show is about as deep as that mysterious smelly puddle behind every nightclub. Rather, time and time again she is shown to be the second most competent character behind superman himself!

Regularly she is the one willing to stay behind in active danger while policemen and citizens flee, willing to charge into active danger to get a proper news story. She is willing to risk it all for her career, and it's not like she knows superman will come and save her. The people she calls when trouble brews isn't some kind of Superman hotline, its the Daily Planet to let them know some juicy shit is going down. It just so happens that Superman works there too. 

Of course she ends up in over her head every time, and no one else can save her other than superman every time, but even so in every episode she is seen as a reporter who puts her work first and foremost and will do whatever it takes to report the most intense and dangerous happenings in Metropolis, which I think is really surprising given that in the early 1940s the number of women that made up the US workforce was only around 28%. While Lois was never a 3 dimensional character by any means, but I feel like reducing her to just the damsel who needs saving is doing her an injustice, it's not like she would just get kidnapped or fooled into some sort of trap and start screaming for Superman's help.

If you're looking for well written, strong women, then absolutely go looking somewhere else, this is just more of a "hmm that's interesting" rather than any actual dissection on the depiction of women in these cartoons.

In One Ear, Sometimes Both - PLEASE PLEASE LAUFEY IM BEGGING YOU

If you're one of my friends then it won't surprise you that I'm a HUGE fan of the adult standards genre. No that's not some kind of porno, its the genre of music that your great pop-pop would listen to while doing hanky panky in his studebaker while his brother was fighting the good fight abroad. 

I've recently gotten a new earworm, "Rhode Island is Famous For You" by Blossom Dearie. It is the fabulously fun little tune that I recommend you listen to. Its chorus is short and sweet and so memorable that I just randomly start singing it, and there's this wonderful little line that I can't help but smile at every time; 

"They know mink where they grow mink in Wyomink"

Like you cannot tell me that doesn't have a charm to it, right? As well as the line;

"Gold comes from Nevada, divorces also do"

Give the song a try and even if you're not a fan of the genre I'm sure you'll find it fun.

Anyways- I NEED LAUFEY TO GET ONTO THIS FUCKING SONG. PLEASE LAUFEY IM BEGGING YOU!!! GIVE ME A COVER OF RHODE ISLAND IS FAMOUS FOR YOU AND ALSO CHET BAKER'S EVERYTHING HAPPENS TO ME AND MY LIFE IS YOURS PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE. BLESS MY EARS WITH YOUR DULCET TONES AND I WILL KILL FOR YOU LAUFEY PLEASEEE.

Pseudo-Intelliterate - I don't want to set the world on fire

I took a deep dive into a BUNCH philosophical topics the other day and I ended up coming up with my own little hypothetical dilemma that may or may not have sprung to mind after playing hit 2010 game Fallout: New Vegas.

Let's say it is the post apocalypse, and two factions are rising up. Both factions however indulge in murder, slavery, trafficking, and nearly every and all other forms of sadism.  One faction is building a society atop of these actions, while the other are committing the atrocities on a much smaller scale but are not attempting to build any society from it. 

Which option is favourable? Which option is worse?

One factions is building a society with these horrific acts as a systemic cornerstone, but the other commits the acts purely for themselves even if it is on a smaller scale. One claims to be for the greater good while causing immeasurable amounts of suffering, while the other is honest that its actions are selfish and make no attempt to disguise it otherwise.

It seems easy at first, right? Just think about it a little more. I'll wait,,,

...

...

...

Okay, now I want to introduce a third option. Beneath the surface of the ground immutably in place are thousands upon thousands of nuclear missile silos. At the press of a single button you can cause every single nuke to go off at once, instantly eradicating all people on earth, The blast is so great that not a single bit of pain is felt by anyone on earth from it, just an instant quiet. Is it better for you to put an instantaneous end to all current and future potential for suffering? Perhaps even your moral duty to do so? There would be no more suffering, no more pain on earth felt by a person, but there would also be no potential for any positive experience, how few it may be in this nightmare scenario.

Chew on the question for a little bit, let it really stir in your head. Try and pick apart why you answer the way you answer. I really did find it interesting trying to figure out more about the way I believe in things.

Also in case you're wondering, when it comes to my social, economic, political, ontological, epistemological normative and meta-ethical philosophies, I would describe myself as an intersectionalist socialist phenomenalist ethical existentialist emotivist.

What's Cookin' Good Lookin'? - I've never been one for arts and crafts

So I was scrolling the internet the other day when I saw these really cool incense that looks like cigarettes and you would have them in an ashtray and it is so absolutely mod it's stunning.

So I do what any anti-consumer does and decided to roll up my sleeves and make it myself! I went and got some clay and some rolling papers and cheap incense sticks and got to work.

I used the claw of a hammer to strip the incense off from the sticks, added a little water, and then rolled them bad bitches up and chucked them into the oven to dry. In the meantime, I got to work molding my own little ashtray to go with it. I chose this light brown clay cause I wanted it to look au naturale, 

Now, after like 30 minutes of work and an hour of waiting for them to all dry out in the oven- they kinda look like shit...

They look more like joints filled with dookie, and the light brown clay makes it kinda look like an ashtray made from flesh. The 'cigarettes' are also too dense so they go out if you don't constantly tap them. I'm not really sure what else I was expecting because crafts are THE hobby I've just never gotten a grasp on.

BUT I do still encourage all you EgoBraniacs to try and do your own little arts and crafts instead of just buying all the time because, even if it ended up garbage, I am happy enough with them and they only cost me 3 bucks instead of 60 bucks + shipping. 

Wasting Time - Like father, not like daughter.

I've gotten partly through my first full playthrough of The Last of Us Part 2., and I can't help but point out the differences between Ellie and Joel in the two games. I noticed it very strongly once I fought against the scars for the first time, and I realised that although both games have stealth options, they have very different feels.

I do have to preface this though as someone who does not like to do stealth in video games. If I have the option to then I will probably play the game as fast paced and balls to the wall as I can. If it's something like Metro Exodus where you need to avoid killing people, I will still do it as violently and as in your face as I can. I ain't got no patience for sitting crouched and checking guard patterns or whatever most of the time.

Playing as Joel in TLoU, stealth never felt fitting for him. He was a sad, worn down, cynical, selfish, and incredibly morally questionable. By his own admission he has tricked and killed innocent survivors before. There is no way around it, Joel Miller is a violent person. I feel like this reflects in the way that stealth works in TLoU. It never felt like the "ideal" option while playing. Using the bow or shiv only felt right if I had no health, no ammunition, no way to survive outside of avoiding combat completely. It was always just my backup option for whenever I got really fucked, with running in rifle and shotgun blazing always preferred. Even then, I managed pretty alright just running up to them and punching them to death when shit hit the fan.

Ellie, however, is not a violent person. Yes, she is fueled by revenge to hunt down Abby, but it's different than Joel being constantly worn down over years and years. I;m playing through TLoU2 with custom settings, that being everything as hard as possible but with as much loot as I can get. That naturally leads to me always having medkits, bombs, bullets, the works, yet there are times where doing something slow and quiet fits. Making as little of a mess as possible doesn't seem like a last resort for Ellie, it always seems like something that's preferable (at least to a point of going as long as you can in stealth before you eventually fuck up and decide to say screw it to the whole stealth thing).

I can't even say that this just because the stealth mechanics are better in TLoU2 'cause being honest, the bow was so much better in the first game, plus the dodge mechanic in 2 helps a lot when you're surrounded. I really do think that it comes down to how the different characters are portrayed. I feel like that a really good example of showing the difference between the two is with their two torture "scenes" (quotes because just keep reading jackass, find out in the next paragraph).

When Joel tortures the hunters in TLoU, you don't see the beginning but you do see the gnarly. You watch them get beat without any chance of defending themselves, knives twisted in their legs, and strangled. You get to see all the bits because you're not meant to feel disgusted, you're meant to point and say "Wow Joel is such a badass look at how far he's going for his daughter figure". With Ellie's however, you don't get to see any of the dirty business up close, and that's very much on purpose. You've been desensitized to violence all game watching heads blow up and whatnot, but Ellie hasn't (that's ludonarrative dissonance for you). If you were shown what she did it wouldn't feel too bad compared to everything else you've already done all game, but the fact that you don't get a visual representation makes you imagine the actions instead. Ellie never says what she did, she only ever says she "made her talk", all with trembling hand and voice and even breaking down later on. 

I really do think it goes to show how good the writing in these games are, and I really hope they don't fuck up season 2 of the show.

I am still yet to finish the game, but worry not EgoBraniacs, any more insights I have I will make sure to share with you.

(Also yeah I definitely didn't finish the game in time for the second season, whoopsie)

Call to Action - Wow so that's where the rivers come from

The last post's CtA was about Memoria, so of course coming around the corner is Any Austin!

Have you ever looked at a big budget AAA or timeless classic video game and thought "We should look at everything the developers didn't plan for us to look at"? Well you're in luck. Memoria and Any Austin work closely with each other, even having a podcast together, though while Mem seems to focus on playing games that exist completely outside the zeitgeist, Any Austin does the exact opposite. 

Red Dead Redemption 2, Skyrim, Modern Warfare 2, these are all titles that are cornerstones of modern gaming, but he does something incredibly unique compared to many other gaming creators and instead chooses to focus on exactly how immersive the game can be at the smallest and most inconsequential level of detail. Tracing power lines in Liberty City and Los Santos, following rivers in Hyrule, that one video where he stalks a fleeing child across the Capital Wasteland- it's a focus on the mundane and human level, when you take a moment to stop and look and try to separate yourself from the concept of A game and instead focus on the concept of THE game. 

It's a little hard to explain but it really is interesting stuff, just go to his channel and I promise you you'll find a video about a game you can at least recognise. It doesn't have any flashy brain banging editing, rather just an incredibly comforting and calm overall experience.

The most interesting part is how you'll end up looking at games you play in a different light too. Give it a shot, EgoBraniacs, cause it truly is a way of consuming that Transends the video you watch.

Rating: Pointless detail I choose to remember/10

Just A Little More - Whoa whoa whoa, it's not done yet?

I wanted to just address the HUGE gap between this post and my last one. Mid semester exams be goin' crazy and I've had to put my personal projects into priorities and unfortunately Still in Arcadia was one at the bottom of the list. You probably also noticed the lack of a TLtR segment too, and that's because finding time to record the segment would likely have pushed back the post another few days which I really didn't want to do.

Hopefully next week I'll be free enough to continue with regular weekly blog posts WITH the returning TLtR segment, though I am likely to take another small hiatus when finals come around in 6 or so weeks though I will surely warn you guys next time.

And on a very little secret quiet clandestine little note, my 21st birthday is going to be here in a couple weeks and I will have a little surprise ready for you, buuut you'll need to wait and see what it is. In the meantime...

Et in arcadia ego, and remember, EgoBraniacs, as long as you're reading then you are too.