I mean, I DID spend three weeks just playing video games
RIGHT, I have been pretty much stuffing my face with media that isn't books, so here is a quick runthrough of everything that I've been playing/watching/whatever to keep my mind off The World Outside.
- Digimon Adventures - I've been slightly livetweeting
sithe and me rewatching series one Digimon. It's so weird to come back to it, because this was SUCH a hyperfocus for me when I was like... 8? (I think 8-11 was Digimon, 10-12 was Cardcaptors with occasional Sailor Moon, and 12-13 was Yu-Gi-Oh, and yes of course I mark time by my fandoms, doesn't everybody?)- It's weird to come back to it as an adult! Not just in a nostalgia way, but in a... Mechanics way, I guess? It's easier for me to see the seams in the story, and the awkward patches where the localisation/dubbing team had to cut out characters dying on screen or try desperately to pretend that the characters weren't all from Japan for twenty-something episodes. And I can go "Oh, okay, most of the backgrounds in the DigiWorld are watercolour backgrounds, which means that they're slightly less noticeably interchangeable during fight scenes!" while Mike goes "Ah yes, this random plot point introduced and then forgotten forever is because of the movie/the card game/something else that was being released at the time!" (... But seriously, I know that it was a Thing at the time to cut out weapons/explicit violence/deaths, but I didn't remember it was a thing that everything had to be set in America SOMEHOW.)
- But also... I still kinda love it unironically? Like, Gatomon and Wizardmon still get me in my feelings because apparently sad man who unconditionally loves and supports angry fighty woman through hell and back is still what I'm trash for, even after... Fuck me sideways, 22 years. And I have a lot of fondness for the characters that I think is honestly only increased by being able to go "Bless them, they're like ten and have the emotional maturity of a brick."
- TRUE FACT: when I was 8 I roughly understood what copyright was, because my dad wanted to be a published author and used to talk about publishing a bit. So I understood that I couldn't just write stories about Kairi, Gatomon, and Wizardmon running around being THE BEST, because they weren't my characters! ... He never explained plagiarism though, so I straight up just rewrote the Devimon storyarc of Digimon with all of the names changed.
- ... Holy shit I'm an adult, I 100% could write stories about Kairi, Gatomon, and Wizardmon if I wanted to and no one could stop me.
- We're up to... Whatever the mega arc was actually called, where they go back to the Digiworld and find out it's like ten years later. I forgot how aggressively the power creep happened! Which makes sense, but also it feels so fast.
- When I was a kid, I wanted to be Sora or Kairi (or I guess Matt, because he was cool but also ew, boys), and I have regretfully come to the conclusion that I would actually be Joe.
- What I'm saying I love my silly first fandom. It's good for my feelings.
- Murder by Numbers - I think this is "What if Phoenix Wright level silliness, but set in LA on purpose and with nonograms as the primary mechanic?" I like the art style, although it intensely bugs me that the creators just mirrored the designs for the characters when they change which direction they're facing because they all have asymmetric designs. Also I'm having to do the nonograms properly, because much like the robot in the game, I can't parse them into a recognisable image! But so far I like the main character and the fact that everyone's just kinda going "... Flying robot. Sure. Okay," so I'll report back as I progress! I'm expecting the protagonist's fabulously wealthy ex-husband to be the next victim though.
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons - I don't know anything about New Horizons beyond "The internet loves this one cat and hates this one bunny and also you're the tenant farmer of a raccoon????" My current strategy is to log into it for like... Ten-twenty minutes at a time, run around flailing with my flimsy wooden tools, use my Nook Miles app as a rough guide of things that I could be doing, and then stop. ... Also I have apples, a goat lady, and a capital lion, I have no idea if any of that actually affects anything, but that seems to be what people have been telling each other? Like, I have successfully paid off the OverRaccoon, and @forestofglory gave good advice on the Nook Mile front as it turns out there is a quick tool select, you just have to unlock it first. So I guess I'm just going to keep exploring it very slowly? (I feel like this is maybe what phone games are like for neurotypical people? Like, you play it for a little bit, and then stop? Instead of just losing an entire weekend of your life to playing it constantly?) I feel very valid in the museum owl hating all of the insects as much as I do though, good shout that owl.
- The Invisible Man -
sithe watched The Invisible Man, and I was going to watch it with him except it turns out that "A Quiet Place but the monster is your supervillain ex" is way too stressful for me! I watched the beginning, left for most of act two, and came back just as the actual violence started, which is honestly the point where it was LESS scary.- What I saw was very good, and I genuinely mean literally having to stop watching it as a compliment to the every person involved in that movie.
- I think the worst bit of what I saw was the part where he was ~a victim~ and charming everyone, because yeah, absolutely, the honeymoon period is the most dangerous and terrifying stage! A+ job capturing that, because I was literally reminding myself "Even if he's telling the truth about this (which I doubt), his introduction is literally him smashing through a car window. He is still a threat."
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sithe: It'll be on the system for the next two days if you want to watch the hour of gaslighting that you missed.
Me: I think I'm okay, thanks! - So yeah, this is basically a two hour anxiety attack that plays the ominous threatening music over the credits just to fuck with you some more. Make of that what you will!