Slay the Spire 2

Mar. 17th, 2026 11:04 pm
sineala: Mac laptop whose Apple logo has no bite (Young Wizards reference); text reads "my other Mac is a manual" (Young Wizards: My Other Mac)
[personal profile] sineala
I have slightly more brain now and maybe enough energy to post more? Let's find out. I'm sure you've missed me posting about random video games.

Anyway, Slay the Spire 2, the sequel to my most favorite roguelike deckbuilder Slay the Spire came out in Early Access two weeks ago, and is apparently stunningly popular -- it had 500,000 concurrent players its first weekend, beating basically everything else on Steam at the time, which no one was really expecting from, you know, an indie card game.

I haven't played it enough to give a full review, because even in EA there is a lot more content -- there are five characters, two of which are brand new, all of which have new cards, and there are all sorts of new mechanics and events I haven't discovered yet. So far I have now beaten what exists of the game with four of the five characters and I know I haven't seen anywhere near everything yet. I think it's currently balanced harder than the original game, but the subreddit is full of people saying it is way too easy, so I guess we will see what happens when the balance patches start coming out.

But the really cool thing about this game is the multiplayer, which we only found out existed in a trailer that they released, like, two weeks before the actual game. It has co-op with up to four players! I only have one friend who plays this game, as far as I know -- [personal profile] gelishan, who actually introduced me to the original game -- and we played a game of it the other night, and I have to say that co-op is absolutely the most fun way to experience the game. It helps to be on voice chat, so you can coordinate things like 'who are we targeting first" or "if you have anything inflicting Vulnerable, please play that first" or "do you need this Strength Potion" or "do you want me to play Piercing Wail this turn so you don't take 35 damage straight to the face" or whatever, but I guess theoretically you could play it in silence and just deal with the fact that everyone is playing their turns simultaneously.

Anyway, that is clearly the way this game has always been meant to be played and I need to do this again at some point. The co-op multiplayer is absolutely amazing! I don't know that I would recommend the game in its current single-player state to people who haven't played the original, just because it is already a hard game and it helps to have some idea of how three of the five characters play, if you're going to play it by yourself. But if you are playing multiplayer, I think you can just go for it and you and your friends can take turns carrying each other through the game.

So, yeah, that's what I've been up to, as I slowly regain some brain. Slaying the Spire anew!

(Also it's really weird to actually talk to someone you have known on the internet for, like, 25 years, but you've never heard their voice before.)
delphi: An illustrated crow kicks a little ball of snow with a contemplative expression. (Default)
[personal profile] delphi
Fandom 50 #4

Continuing my list of fifty Canadian songs I love from the past fifty years, how could I kick off the '80s and not go for some pulpy lesbian new wave?

High School Confidential by Rough Trade
delphi: An illustrated crow kicks a little ball of snow with a contemplative expression. (Default)
[personal profile] delphi
The first season of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy just wrapped up, and man, that was a season of television that did my heart good.

I didn't initially think this show was going to be for me. Hopefully it goes without saying that this wasn't for any of the range of awful reasons people have wanted to hang a grievance or grift on it. Media with protagonists in their teens and twenties just usually aren't my thing, and so while I was glad to see Trek branching out, I went in aware I wasn't the target audience and figured I'd watch an episode or two to see if any of the older characters appealed to me.

Well, they definitely did. Free-spirited, complex, centuries-old school chancellor Nahla Ake might be my favourite character I've met this year. I am in love with her. The Doctor (from Voyager) and Jett Reno (from Discovery) are both back in supporting roles with some really wonderful scenes, and Jett has a hot and hilarious Klingon/Jem'Hadar wife (Lura Thok) who is definitely worth moving across the galaxy for.

But to my surprise, I also really love the kids! Not all the moments landed for me, but I ended up legitimately invested in their coming-of-age stories and journey into becoming a little family. I don't want to spoil some of the things I loved, but I am always here for mentorship, adoptive parent-child relationships, and queer romance, and I wasn't disappointed. Add in some good solid science fiction and a lot of classic Trek optimism and belief in the work of building a better world, and this was exactly what I needed right now. My only real complaint is that it was such a short season.

Wuthering Heights: The Megapost

Mar. 16th, 2026 09:54 am
shamanicshaymin: A teddy bear flops on its belly from its pillow. (Rilakkuma :: Too Tired For This)
[personal profile] shamanicshaymin
Free! I am finally free! 'Cause after two ragequits and me coming back years later, I can officially say I have read and finished Wuthering Heights.

I still don't like it. (sad trombone)

But! I don't hate it as much as I did before! It's just Not For Me.

Wuthering Heights must’ve been pissed off at my verdict, ‘cause not only was today a blustery gray day, I got a power outage for a couple hours. : p But I still have to copy-paste my rambles from Discord, so here we go.

Warning: Messy Thoughts Overload. )


At least now I finally finished the book, which is a relief. Gives me a bit of closure and justification for my dislike of it. XD Here's the Kate Beaton comics for some much needed humor.
malurette: (ducky)
[personal profile] malurette
Title: All about Sam
Author: Lois Lowry
Language: English
Type: kid novel
Genre: slice of life?

1st release: 1988 for the original 1999 for the translation
Publisher: L'école des loisirs in french
Length: medium paperback, 180 pages



I read a French adaptation; it's not localised but I do wonder about accidental puns in young Sam
misunderstanding things he's hearing for the first time. Some are obvious yet well translated, but one has me wishing to check out the original?


Limited third person POV from a young but precocious toddler, alternating between breaking my suspension of disbelief and being honestly endearing.

"Toute la vérité sur Sam" pour la VF, c'est mignon mais très honnêtement si je n'avais pas lu d'abord la série d'Anastasia Krupnik ça ne m'aurait pas intéressé.

Starfall Stories 53

Mar. 15th, 2026 08:27 pm
thisbluespirit: (viyony)
[personal profile] thisbluespirit
Keep forgetting to crosspost my [community profile] rainbowfic pieces & I'm still quite a bit behind, so have two:

Name: Watchdogs
Story: Starfall
Colors: Azul #15 (Through thick and thin)
Supplies and Styles: Novelty Beads (11 Years of Dreamwidth Space Month & Book of the Day Challenges - "Never alone.")
Word Count: 1794
Rating: Teen
Warnings: Mild illness.
Notes: 1313, Portcallan. Leion Valerno, Tana Veldiner, Iyana Valerno. Takes place straight after after Turn to Dust and a few days before Sweet Interlude. (Just a slight linking piece, but I wanted to post something.)
Summary: Leion recovers from Chiulder's work - with a little help.




Name: Missteps
Story: Starfall
Colors: Warm Heart #22 (Sorry); Azul #20 (Zest)
Supplies and Styles: Giftwrap + Silhouette + Novelty Beads (Oct Spooky Challenge 2020 - http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m0g7cdJCp91r6aoq4o1_500.gif & September Secrets 11 Years of Rainbow fic - "It's in the palm of your hand now baby/It's a yes or no, no maybe" - Dark Horse, Katy Perry") + Pastels ([community profile] allbingo square "Bouquet of Withered Flowers - Rejected Love").
Word Count: 2361
Rating: Teen
Warnings: None.
Notes: 1313, Portcallan. Leion Valerno/Viyony Eseray, Kettah Jadinor, Diyela Eseray, Aolla Gerro, Vin Lorras.
Summary: Leion and Viyony attend the first night of the Sea Festival. Nothing goes according to plan.
shamanicshaymin: Kinger philosophizing about something. (Kinger :: Did I Say That?)
[personal profile] shamanicshaymin
Listening to the Wuthering Heights audiobook has been an endurance run. D: I think the most I enjoyed myself was the chapter when Catherine I died, since I actually genuinely felt sad for Cathy and Heathcliff. Most of the time, I'm going through the book with begrudging patience and trying to analyze why the characters are behaving the way they do rather than throw in the towel, declare how much everybody sucks, and summon meteors to crash into Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange like I did in my last reading attempts. It still remains the book with the most difficult and unlikable cast for me to deal with outside of Certain Shitty Books That Will Not Be Named. Which always throws me off because I don't mind dysfunctional casts; I even encourage them, especially if they're at least interesting or entertaining to read about! There's just something about the Wuthering cast that really grinds my gears, though funny enough I don't despise Heathcliff nearly as much this time around. And the kids/second gen are more tolerable by sheer virtue of how much they keep getting screwed over and manipulated by the adults. And Edgar is pretty much... there. Unable to do anything. I felt sorry for Isabella, but she's dead now. :(

I'm having a lot of fun playing Ultra Moon again! :3 I actually got disappointed when my 3DS got low on power since I was ready to do an enormous grind session with my grass/water/ground types before we take on Olivia. Half my team is Eevees! :3 (Kris the Umbreon, Mercury the Vaporeon, and Tatara the Leafeon. I have Butter the Ribombee, which is why I shockingly don't have a Sylveon) I'm hoping to evolve my Dartrix Olan Hoyt (or should I say, Olan Hoot? (rimshot)) into a Decidueye soon. Battle Royale is ludicrously hard, but I want to see if I can crack the code to getting better at it, RIP

Five more days until the penultimate episode of The Amazing Digital Circus, aaaaaaaaaaaa
delphi: A carton of fresh blueberries. (blueberries)
[personal profile] delphi
Fandom 50 #3

Continuing my list of fifty Canadian songs I love from the past fifty years, 1979's is one that's probably popped into my head at least one morning a week since I was five:

Wondering Where the Lions Are by Bruce Cockburn

[film] Ballerina

Mar. 12th, 2026 04:58 pm
malurette: (mélusine)
[personal profile] malurette
Titre : Ballerina
Réalisation :
Langue : français
Type : 3D animation
Genre : coming of age/success story
1ère sortie :

Durée :
Où ? je l'ai en DVD et l'avais commencé sur mon vieil ordi pendant le 1er confinement covid mais ça a planté et depuis l'ordi est mort et je n'ai plus de lecteur ; fini sur Netflix

Read more... )

J'aurais pu apprécier il y a 5 ou 6 ans, oui, mais maintenant... baaaah.
Je vais reconnaître que l'animation est magnifique mais franchement l'histoire ne casse pas trois pattes à un canard.

Hon hon baguette little orphan Félicie wants to become a ballerina in Paris.
delphi: An illustrated crow kicks a little ball of snow with a contemplative expression. (Default)
[personal profile] delphi
Another theatrical streaming plug:

The pro-shot of The Importance of Being Earnest, starring Ncuti Gatwa, Sharon D. Clarke, and Hugh Skinner, will be streaming on Youtube from March 12th to 18th!



A bit from the show:



National Theatre at Home has been one of my favourite streaming services for a long time now, with the way it bring UK theatre to someone like me (not in the UK, also not living in a place that gets much in the way of touring shows), and I'm really happy they're releasing this one for free on a bigger platform.

Wednesday Reading Meme

Mar. 11th, 2026 02:17 pm
sineala: Detail of Harry Wilson Watrous, "Just a Couple of Girls" (Reading)
[personal profile] sineala
What I Just Finished Reading

Still nothing. I mean, okay, I read The Superia Stratagem for the 616 server book club but I'm not counting that because I have dignity.

What I'm Reading Now

Comics Wednesday!

1776 #5, Doctor Strange #4, Imperial Guardians #1 )

What I'm Reading Next

Don't know. Still trying to figure out how to medicate my migraines. I clearly shouldn't try to write these posts while in the middle of migraine prodrome.

The eleventh of March!

Mar. 11th, 2026 08:59 am
sineala: Fraser (dS) doing buddy breathing with Ray Kowalski; the text reads "that thing you were doing with your mouth" (Due South: Buddy Breathing)
[personal profile] sineala
It's the one post I remember to make every year!

They have called this day The Eleventh of March! And whom-so-ever of you gets through this day, unless you are shot in the head or somehow slain, you will stand at tiptoe when e'er you hear the name again, and you will get excited!...At the name March The Eleventh!

We happy few, we few, we band of brothers...our names will be as like...household names. And those who are not here, be they sleeping or... doing something else...They will feel themselves...sort of crappy. Because they are not here to, to join the fight. On this day, the Eleventh of March!


(Okay, I remember it because it's also my LiveJournal's birthday and I still haven't deleted it and so they send me an email every year. My LJ is now 25.)

The Joy Who Lived

Mar. 10th, 2026 07:59 pm
delphi: An illustrated crow kicks a little ball of snow with a contemplative expression. (Default)
[personal profile] delphi
If anyone's interested in checking out some queer comedy theatre with a slate of great trans and gnc performers:

The Joy Who Lived: March 31st to April 12th

You can find a list of shows by date or you can browse by category. Shows are running both in person in Los Angeles and as live streaming events that are also available to view up to two weeks afterwards. I tuned in a while back for their fundraising show, a chaotic live runthrough of the Ocean's 11 script called Gender Heist, and it was a heck of a good time.
shamanicshaymin: Glorious beautiful Shaymin against a flowery backdrop. (Shaymin :: Spring)
[personal profile] shamanicshaymin
I finally saved my Shiny Poiple from 3DS Limbo! :D I also evolved my level 100 shiny Bisharp Golbez into a beautiful blue Kingambit. ♥ I ran into a shiny Voltorb while training, but it exploded before I could catch it, and I stupidly forgot to save beforehand. :( Oh well. What matters is my Shiny Poiple is now at Pokemon Home and I'm hoping to get Legends Z-A soon.