movies: elemental

Well, Elemental is...solidly middle of the road. It's not the worst Pixar movie by any means, but it is both very on the nose at times and conversely it did make me tear up by the end.

I will say, that I went into this movie knowing NOTHING. Beyond the fact that it was called Elemental and it was about elemental people. That's it.

It's essentially the first Pixar "rom-com". And I only put that in quotes because it's not the kind of dumb comedy rom-com that seems to exist currently, it's more of a romance with some comedy but also, you know, drama and stakes.

Weirdly, I would have put money on somebody associated with the writing or directing of this movie being second generation Middle Eastern or something similar, because the flame folks in this movie are SO incredibly Middle-Eastern-immigrant coded (down to the music, and a lot of the design in the fire part of town) that it's ridiculous. But, no, turns out it's at least partially based on director Peter Sohn's life as the son of Korean immigrants.

Interestingly, the water people are definitely Caucasian-coded. And we don't see enough of the air/cloud people or the earth/tree/grass people to draw a parallel.

I will say though, that the overall story isn't the greatest. It feels like it keeps picking new plot cards, playing with them for a short amount of time before throwing them away and picking a completely different card and going in another direction. It also feels like it introduces a main character trait at the mid point of the movie when it's never really been explored (I mean, kind of, but not in the way that makes it clear from the jump). Most of it gets paid off, but it's a little all over the place. Essentially, the script could have definitely done with maybe one more draft with a fresh pair of eyes.

I also maintain one of the same things I said after the abysmal Strange World, Disney, can you maybe pay for some therapy for your creators? They clearly have ongoing parental issues. I mean, I know what this story is going for, a story that while not "universal" is something that a lot of people can understand, but at the same time... issues.

And does this movie somewhat copy Zootopia's homework, less from a plot standpoint, but more from a design aesthetic? Absolutely. But that's going to happen when you set a movie in a fantastical city with design elements that lean into a world with a specific theme.

There are also a lot of design choices here that I love. I love the "formal" clothing for the flame folk that is essentially stained glass. I love that the fire people have legs that come to a point at the bottom, because of course flame spreads out as it rises. I love that there is no one look for the earth people. They're basically "dirt plus plants" in some combination, but they range from people with trees growing out of their heads to covered in grass and everything in between. At the same time, it's hard to do creatures made of air, and their shorthand was "cloud", but that's just water vapour, which essentially just makes them a different race of water folk.

As is expected, the effects of the fire and water and cloud are beautiful, there's a whole underwater section that is stunning, but that's only to be expected from a Pixar movie.

Would I have expected that I would get teary at the end based on even the midway point of the movie? No. But they still got me there, which I count as a success.

yani's rating: 3 sparklers out of 5

character saturday: silver lady

So this is why I like to do my research when it comes to DnD Character Colouring Book. Which mostly means digging into things from old editions, because for whatever reason, 5e is hideously allergic to providing actual information about the way various races might live or worship their gods or whatever, for reasons that I really don't understand.

In any case, I was just playing around with half of an idea for a female dwarf paladin and went to look at the Dwarven pantheon just to see what interesting god or goddess she might worship, and found one I hadn't really explored before, Berronar Truesilver, goddess of home, healing, marriage and dwarven home life. And is also the wife of the main dwarven god.

And back in 3e they would put out these books about the gods that included how the church was organised and also if they had "affiliated orders", which mostly covers knights and the like. Which is where I found a mention of the Berronar's Valkyries, who were female warriors who would observe battles from a distance and swoop in if dwarven warriors where being overrun or if a dwarf was too badly hurt to withdraw. I'll be honest, the overall feel of it was good and slightly sexist all at the same time, but I like the idea, so tweaked it to the idea of Truesilver Valkyries, who wade into the battle with the other warriors, but they act as field medics, protectors and rallying the other warriors. And seek both their own glory and to inspire glory in others.

I also love the idea of these warriors in armour that just shines on the battlefield, and in this instance, the disadvantage on stealth from heavy armour is because it catches the light constantly rather than because it makes noise. And that her cloth garments would be made of some kind of cloth of gold, but, you know, cloth of silver. Which seems like something dwarves would be into making. The very subtle inlay of the goddess's symbol on the weave of the cloth (which barely shows up in the image) also amuses me. Likewise having the symbol embossed very discreetly on the shield boss rather than splashed across the whole shield. Originally I was going to go for horns on the helmet, but I like the silver wings on either side.

Anyway.

I made up a mostly vegetable soup this week but sliced up a stick of pepperoni and added that in, so the whole thing had a bit of a spicy kick to it, which wasn't bad at all.

There was no Thursday Night DnD this week, surprising nobody.

Friday Night DnD was more talking... and then the plot kicked in in ways that I did not see coming. But then you don't really expect a wizard's tower on a cloud to show up and the cloud giant wizard just lay out the entire plot in the least elegant way ever. So there's that.

We were interrupted about half way through though by a very surprising instance of the two cats who are usual the chillest babies ever fully going at each other in ways that shocked everyone. So, basically, pause for cat drama.

Anyway.

We did the supermarket thing this morning, surprising nobody.

Then we went to the movies (more on that later).

character saturday: hello lover

Let's call this week's DnD Character Colouring Book, the answer to a question nobody asked. But rather, knowing a certain player and the character they're currently playing, what's a character that would get under the skin (not necessarily in a negative way) of that player AND that character.

Also, it's trying to embody the vibe of "she's going step on your neck and you'll enjoy it" in a character.

The weird thing is that I make a lot of different warlock characters, but I'm not really that excited about the actual mechanics of the warlock. They are one of the most interesting classes to build a character around though. The Genie Patron is one that I either want to basically make Aladdin or lean into the elemental heritage for, hence the Air Genasi. Also, I just like Genasi.

If this was a character who actually saw table-time, I think the dress may be turned into either tartan fabric or potentially I'd mess around with the colours to see if I could get a vaguely velvet look out of it.

The stupid thing with characters I think about as back-up characters is that I always know what their "entrance line" would be... it never ends up happening, but it gives me a way into thinking about the character I guess. In Blast's case... "Hello lover". 

Anyway...

This week has been about three and a half months long.

In keeping with the overall theme of the week, which is "nothing ever works out like it should", this week's soup was probably the worst version of chowder I've made in a while. I mean it was tasty, it was just too thin. Thankfully a little cornflour generally fixes that problem.

Sunday night I had to do a banking thing, which should have been easy and something that took an extra 12 seconds to complete. Turns out no, because fuck me I guess. So that turned into my dumb ass standing on the doorstep of the bank when they opened at 9:30am on Monday morning and getting the problem fixed (why the problem occurred in the first place, nobody fucking knows), and then trying to access the banking on my phone with the shitty reception in the bank. What felt like 900 years but was probably 5 actual minutes later, everything was fixed. But still... I slept like crap on Sunday night, because I kept thinking about the issue that needed to be fixed.

Moving along.

After Chiro Day the other week, I'd been getting some weird cold sensations in my legs and put off going to see my chiro because surely it would improve over the week. It didn't really. So once I got back from the bank I called and managed to get in to see my chiro later that day.

Turns out it wasn't a major issue, more of an offshoot of the problem that keeps recurring, but in a vaguely positive way (if pain is the default, and that lessens, your brain doesn't know how to process a different set of feelings, it defaults to cold or vague pins and needles or such... so, yay, I guess?).

But then I caught the wrong bus home. I mean, it wasn't a disaster, it was one of the buses I used to catch to the old house, and I got off at the closest possible spot to current house and instead of the walk home taking me about 5 minutes, this took maybe 15-20 minutes. Also not the worse thing in the world to walk a little more and shake out my back after a chiro visit.

There was also no DnD this week. DM Fluffy was On Holiday, so the Thursday night game was already marked down as Not Happening, but he had intended to be back for the Friday game, but developed Holiday Cough. So, no thank you sir, you keep your interstate diseases to yourself, thank you.

I did also go back for a follow up with my chiro on Friday just to make sure everything was still where it was supposed to be.

So that was basically my week. It doesn't sound like a lot... it just felt like it stretched over a Very Long Time.

Anyway...

Brief sidebar.

Women He's Undressed is a documentary about a very famous Hollywood costume designer called Orry-Kelly. Basically if you can think of a famous movie from the 1940's to the 1960's, he may possibly be the costume designer. Jezebel, The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex, The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, Arsenic and Old Lace, An American in Paris, Oklahoma!, Auntie Mame, Gypsy, Some Like It Hot... all him, or the women at the very least.

Plus he was also, at one point, in a secret relationship with a very famous Hollywood leading man.

It was, when I found it, free on YouTube. Worth checking out if costumes and old movies are your vibe.

Anyway...

Today was... not much of anything.

Basically, the supermarket, then wasting some time here before Ma went home.

character saturday: boat-hat and frogs

Weirdly, I thought I'd revisited this particular character at some point after his first appearance in DnD Character Colouring Book... you know, back when I was actually colouring them by hand in Photoshop. I did give him a do-over once things went to colour, but I went back and redid him again for this iteration. Is there that much of a point to it being as he's a character that I'm probably never going to get to play again? Not really. Do I enjoy doing it anyway? Yes.

Also, it lines up with the idea that he keeps finding more interesting or newer bits of clothing and armour and swapping it out... not that it's BETTER, just different.

To steal from the last post about him...

Firstly there's Vrak. Vrak is a fighter/rogue/ranger goblin who likes to lick things. He licks things he doesn't understand, in an effort to understand them. He licks things that may or may not be food. He licks things he absolutely should not lick. Vrak is a licker. It's what he does.

Vrak also put his armour together from whatever he could steal, scavenge or otherwise acquire, so none of it matches. And when tasked with an adventure that would take him onto the high seas, his only stipulation was that he wanted a "boat hat". Later he turned said "boat hat" into a magical boat hat that he can make produce a frog up to three times a day. This, obviously, involved him licking the inside of the hat, amongst other things.

And as far as I can tell at this point, Vrak's main aim in life is to Be Useful. So he's the character who will not necessarily attack the enemy, but instead go and assist one of his new friends. His ranger spells aren't the premier choices (Goodberry and Speak with Animals), but they suit him. 

 I do love the idea of him ending up as a Swarmkeeper Ranger and being perpetually surrounded by little spectral frogs. I also like the idea of him just lifting up his hat and his swarm of frogs just falling out of it. And even though I have his subclasses listed, I don't think he actually got to high enough level to trigger any of them... I think the last time I played him he was Fighter 2, Rogue 2, Ranger 2. So his full deal wouldn't kick in until Level 9.

What's super weird is that I now can't remember what he looked like before the hat. I think he was supposed to have a mask or a animal skull face plate or something (I have a vague memory of a frog skull helmet), but that never quite worked for me. The hat suits him much better.

Anyway.

Turns out that sweet potato soup isn't as good as regular potato soup. It was decent... but it just wasn't really my thing.

Thursday Night DnD was great... Was that because it was mostly a roleplay session? Yes. Was it because the session let me have a moment with another player who I always enjoy roleplaying with? Also yes. Was it also because it resulted in having another one on one roleplay moment with DM Fluffy on Friday to wrap up my character's bit of storyline without having to make the rest of the table sit through that.

Friday Night DnD was a return after two weeks off. And somehow, for some reason, I never printed off my character sheet after we leveled up last game. I leveled up, I just never printed it. Stupid me. Thankfully I had enough time before the game to borrow Mr's computer and do myself a serviceable version for the evening. Once again, also very much a Talking About Things session. But we very much organised ourselves into a party when, at this point, we didn't have much of a reason to be (outside of "because that's what the adventure says happens").

Anyway...

Not much to report for today... although I did get my hands on the tea I tried to get at Coles last week (turns out that it wasn't actually available until the beginning of last week), so very excited about that, given that I've been waiting for this tea to show up in Australia since 2020.

But nothing else beyond general supermarketry.

character saturday: shadow guy

Sometimes you just end up with the most basic or perhaps most on-the-nose version of a character when you're fucking around. So today's DnD Character Colouring Book is dedicated to that idea.

It started, as many things do, with the idea of a sorcerer. A Shadow Sorcerer specifically. And so, the most on-the-nose version of that is a shadow-skinned tiefling wearing all black/dark grey.

I don't hate it as an idea. I also worked out, after the fact, that if I used him as a replacement character for the Friday night game, he would absolutely be part of Mr Grumpypants' backstory in some way and the two of them would potentially hate each other.

Anyway...

This week's soup was beef and rice... and very thick, because I put not only the rice but also some cornflower, because it was a little thin before I did that. Yeah, turns out two different thickening agents make for thick soup, who would have guessed.

Thursday Night DnD was good... between the massive amounts of rain that had continued throughout the day. But DM Fluffy pulled a bait and switch on my character, which made me [confused labrador face.gif] both during the game, directly after the game and the day after the game. So, you know, the same thing I did to him during Witchlight.

The less said about the fact that I then came home and managed to spill milk all over the kitchen counter and floor and then had to mop and clean and it was a whole thing and didn't end up being able to do what I was going to do with the milk... the better.

Friday was Chiro Day, so, there's that.

Friday Night wasn't DnD... but it was Slightly Unfulfilling Board Game Night. And I can't even be salty about it, because it was my choice of board game and it was just a little... m'eh. And then we followed that up not actually playing a game but just asking each other pop culture trivia questions from the cards. Can I remember the name of the game? No. It was green though. Oh, there it is... it was Geek Out.

So basically we sat around asking questions like "Two Comic Book Characters with Red Hair" (Wally West/Kid Flash, Roy Harper/Arsenal, Jimmy Olsen, M'gann M'orzz/Miss Martian, Mera, Kate Kane/Batwoman, Archie Andrews, etc) or "Two Named Disney Kings/Princes" (Prince Eric, Prince Charming, King Stefan, Prince Adam (Beast), King Fergus, etc). Which was fun. Even if I disagreed with the game's stated interpretation of "franchise".

Anyway...

Today was more or less a rerun of last weekend. Although we did go to the new Coles in Norwood... which is lovely and shiny and new and it still won't make me want to shop there, but it's good that it's there for those times when the Foodland doesn't have specific things I want.

Then we did a brief trip to a different Kmart, in order to try and find something for Ma that it turns out nobody has because it's on clearance. So that was a lot of sound and fury signifying not much of anything.

character friday: hot boy warlock

So, sometimes you just fuck around and make a Hot Boy Sorcerer... and then later you think... how about that, but recoloured and rethemed as a warlock.

Which is how we started out with Sabola Black (and when I looked up what the name Sabola meant, I discovered that Past Me is an asshole, because it means "pepper"... so... basically Black Pepper)... and end up with Lucca LeClaire. And Lux. And then realise that you probably don't really want a warlock for your backup character. But at least this one is more of a fully formed idea.

Also, I need to make a character who has a pseudodragon familiar at some point. Because 75% of the warlocks I design end up as Pact of the Chain and 75% of those end up with pseudodragons. What can I say... tiny dragons are my jams.

I am leaning very much in a sorcerer direction though for an actual back up.

Anyway.

I think I said this last time, but part one of the secret of Pea and Ham soup is mint. I mean, you know, beyond the obvious. And part two, now that I can't easily get my hands on ham steaks, using kransky as the ham portion works really well.

It was good soup.

Thursday Night DnD also happened. So, mark that one down in your notebooks. Granted, we'll be off the first Thursday in July, but fingers crossed we might be able to make it to that point. The game itself was decent... some bandits learned that when they get told they should walk away, they should walk away. Also, I would have been in a lot of trouble without some temporary hit points I got.

Friday... everybody decided that they didn't want to play with me. So, it was supposed to be Chiro Day, but I got a message first thing to say that my Chiro was sick. So that's going to be next Friday instead.

And then Mr cancelled Friday Night DnD at about 4pm. So I had freshly baked bread to dip in my soup.

Anyway.

Today was things and also stuff.

Supermarket. I'm making up a beefy tomato-y soup this week, so wish me luck with that. We also somehow saved more money than we've saved in weeks at the supermarket and also spent more money. So I don't know what happened there.

Then we wanted to go to Kmart because I wanted some slippers. And came away with many really warm things. So bonus points there. My feet are currently very warm.

So, that's that.

movies: spider-man - across the spider-verse

I'm still slightly annoyed that I never got the opportunity to see Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse in cinemas. Because I was blown away when I finally saw it.

So, believe me when I say that Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse knocks that first movie completely on it's ass as far as visuals are concerned.

It is not hyperbole to say that legitimately any single still from this movie is an absolute work of art. You could also play this movie with no sound or no dialogue (well, maybe keep the music) and it would not only work, but it would be beautiful to look at.

Also, something something, there will be spoilers of a mild variety.

I can very much track the moment when I realised "oh, this movie is going to be breathtaking"... and that was when the Da Vinci Vulture showed up in Spider Gwen's universe. It's not a spoiler, it literally happens almost at the start of the movie.

But just looking at every single different art style that is blended and merged and overlaid and still feels like a coherent visual theme but at the same time being legitimately different and unique. They did it with the first movie, but that was other styles stepping into the consistent world of Miles' art style. This is taking Miles and the others into multiple different universes and realising that Spider Gwen's universe is water colours (there is a moment when her backgrounds start to run... that is... breathtaking), whereas Miles lives in a halftone dots universe, but it's also the tiny things like the very specific way that Jessica Drew Spiderwoman's eyebrows are drawn, or basically everything about Spider Punk and the total 90's shit show that is Ben Reilly's Scarlet Spider. And that's just the beginning.

I also love that this story is more centered around at first Spider Gwen, then, when we get to Miles and his universe, it's more about the relationship between him and his mother rather than him and his father like the last movie.

It should also be pointed out that I did not know going in that this was the first part of two part story, hence the movie ends with a "To Be Continued" screen. I was not expecting it and that legitimately made me throw up my arms and say "WHAT?!" somewhat louder than I'd intended. Which did get a laugh from the entire row of preteen boys in the back of the theatre.

But as such, it doesn't feel quite right to judge this movie too harshly on it's story, since it's essentially the first half of longer story. It doesn't wrap the story up, it legitimately stops with plot still in motion, things unresolved, tasks still yet to undertake.

Having said that, compared to what we have right now in Across, the story of Into the Spider-Verse is a tighter, more well crafted one. Not least of all because it takes just under two hours to tell a complete story. Across the Spider-Verse is going to take at least four or five hours to tell it's story, taking into account the probably length of the Beyond the Spider-Verse movie to come. Will they work as well when they're combined? I don't know yet. But I do know that they'll never be as tight and concise as Into, just because they can't be.

Also, once again, from someone who never really notices music in movies... the music in this movie is fantastic. Could I point to an actual song and say "I know what that song is without looking it up"? No, no, I could not. But as with Into, the music in Across definitely fits the vibes of the movie.

Everyone does a great job with the voice acting, from Shameik Moore and Hailee Steinfeld as Miles and Gwen respectively, through to Luna Lauren Velez as Rio, Miles' Mom, Karan Soni as Mumbattan Spider-Man, Daniel Kaluuya as Hobie Brown/Spider Punk and Jason Schwartzman doing his very Schwartzman thing as villain Spot.

Visually, this movie gets 42 out of 5. Because, you know... well, actually, if you know, you know. And the story is good, I just don't think it kicks that element out of the park in the same way as Into. So, while they will get the same score, consider this one below Into on the list. I reserve the right to adjust that opinion after Beyond comes out.

It is though, the most visually stunning Spider-Man movie... or possibly just movie, full stop, period... I've seen in a very, very long time.

yani's rating:5 Spider-Persons out of 5

character saturday: sixty-ish percent of thirty percent

Am I going to get in some amount of trouble for this week's DnD Character Colouring Book? We'll see I guess. But also this is what happens when you're in a DnD group and people make their characters in Hero Forge and you think... well, you think that clearly they don't spend as much time in Hero Forge as you. Also that bad design hurts your eyes and your brain. And also, they're straight men, what do they know from fashion.

But also, you think, well, that's your character, you do your own thing, they look however you want them to look.

So then maybe you just get inspired to Fuck Around And Find Out what your own version of their characters might look like, for your own, you know, edification. And just purely as an experiment, because, you know, why not. And maybe that will be the way that you'll proceed to see said characters in your own head, because nobody lives there other than you (well, you and all the voices... hey guys) and you can have whatever head canon you like.

Also, yes... I like knee boots. What of it. I actually didn't completely realise they both had similar lengths of boots until after both of the models were done.

This is also why names have been changed to protect the innocent... or possibly the guilty. Or maybe me, or just because it's funny.

So we have Mr Grumpypants, a tiefling fighter with Some Definite Issues™ and a big old sword. Which has a name, because of course it does. But, issues. Because, I mean, a tiefling who makes it look like his broken horns are perpetually on fire. Yeah. That screams maybe Daddy Issues, maybe Dead Wife Issues, maybe Betrayed by Everyone He Trusted Issues. Maybe Impulse Control Issues. Who knows. We're filing that one under "Issues". And who is definitely a criminal, no matter what he tells you. Definitely a criminal. 100%.

And then we have Huntress, which is the first Gender Swap character for that particular player, so that's new and exciting. As is the "Sounds a bit French, is it German, could it just be getting late and the accent is sliding around" accent. But also, when it says that a wood elf has "copper skin", they don't mean that literally. Like the "copper dragonborn" skin tone in Hero Forge, which is also fucking terrible BTW. They mean, "medium brown skin tone with a very, very slight hint of a reddish caramel" that is "commonly found among those with Middle Eastern and South Asian heritage". But, you know, that's fine too. Is my version a little dark... maybe.

But when you combine these two with my Bird Boy... well, you've got the 30 Percenters. Which isn't so much an "In Universe" name as a "Meta Universe" name.

Yeah, I'm going to get in so much trouble.

Do I care? Not so much.

Anyway.

I have, several times this week, considered collecting two of every type of animal, possibly in some kind of ark like structure, you know, just in case. Because of all the rain. Of which there as been a considerable amount, but also like, quite heavy versions of same.

What I will say, is that I'm actually glad I'm no longer in the Portrush Road apartment with the occasionally and intermittently leaking roof. Because that would have sucked.

This week's soup was... Chicken and Barley... essentially. Although it was one of those soups where I changed the way I was slicing the vegetables up about halfway through... so most of it was kind of julienned, but the first few not so much.

It was overall decent though.

Thursday Night DnD actually happened and everyone was in attendance. Which is a rarity these last few weeks.

Friday Night DnD was good... well, our first real kind of exploration of a full on combat/dungeon. It went... interestingly. See also Tiefling With Issues. But it did end up being something of a late night, since we were deep in the combat and it made more sense to finish it than try and pick up mid-fight next week.

Anyway.

Today was first supermarketry... then we went to the movies and followed it up with some lunch on The Parade to celebrate Ma's birthday this week.

Also, note to self. Yes, you are correct that there is a reason that you're not a huge fan of the movie theatre on the Parade. Not the cinema itself, that's fine. But the fact that our visit coincided with a birthday party of about 15 preteen boys.... all jacked up on sugar on a Saturday morning. And going to the same movie as us. No bueno.

Afterwards lunch was good, then Ma toddled off home.

Oh, also, and for reasons I don't quite understand, the place where some of my blog images used to be is no longer there, the work around I tried for my "current moods" didn't work... so that's the end of that I guess. At some point I'll summon up the interest to actually modify the blog layout.

photo saturday: peacocking it

Some left over Wonderwalls content this week... so, behold, some weirdly angled flying peacock action. And if you've never seen a peacock flying, you're missing out. How much, I don't know exactly, but some at the very least.

Anyway.

This week's soup was kinda sorta minestrone. By which I mean that I start with the idea of minestrone and just stick whatever I happen to feel like/have bought that week. Mostly this week that was broccolini. But I also put some baby spinach in, which worked pretty well.

Thursday Night DnD actually happened. But it was only four of us plus DM Fluffy... which is, you know, always more chill, but something we can only do a limited number of times when there isn't actively plot happening. But there was some weirdness and some interesting moments.

Friday Night DnD was more fun. We also leveled up between last game and this one... and again after this game... but that's a feature, we level up pretty fast for the first few levels, then it tapers off. Also, the Big Tigger Energy continues. With a side order of Talking Too Much and Talking Too Fast.

Essentially I'm kind of exploring the idea of "what does a high intelligence, average/low wisdom and charisma character feel like?"... So he gets ideas and needs to run all the way to the end of the idea before he can put that idea to one side and pick up a new one.

What I've also noticed is that I end up leaning forward and kind of hunching as a way to get into the roleplay headspace... which is less good for my actual spine. So we might need to adjust that going forward. I think it's essentially part of the earnestness that he seems to have, but also, in-world, I feel like maybe it's because he's spent the last several years living and working with people a couple of feet shorter than himself, so he's used to crouching and leaning down to talk to people.

Also, the group vibe is just different from anything we've done before. We'll have to see how that pans out as we move forward.

Anyway.

Today was basically just the supermarket. We originally had other plans, but the vibe wasn't really there.

So we'll potentially do things next week.

Oh, and it turns out that the old blog mood images are very dead. Which is just great. So, let's try a whole other way of doing it that might just annoy the hell out of me.

Current mood:

character saturday: big tigger energy

So... I'm only slightly making Last Week Yani a liar... because while this is a DnD Character Colouring Book... this is only a slightly altered version of a character that has already appeared. And it's not so much a revisit as it is me having finished the character and finally debuted him at the Friday Night table this week.

And not much about him changed really, beyond the accessories and his character background.

But more on that in a bit.

Anyway...

The issue with essentially making up soup every week is that when it's really, really good... it's very hard to replicate, because I never make exactly the same soup ever again. Which is not a problem I had this week, but potentially a problem that Future Me is going to have when trying to replicate this week's Potato, Bacon and Leek soup.

Because it was pretty damn good.

Thursday Night DnD is... cursed. No game again this week because of reasons.

Friday Night DnD was actually DnD again. And the start of a new campaign, with Mrs in the DM chair again. It was also the debut of Hali. I've said before that sometimes I don't really, properly know who the hell a character is until I sit down at the table and open my mouth and they come roaring out.

Hali was one of those. It was also "helped" by the fact that I sat out for the first part of the game while the others finished up some last minute Session Zero stuff... and while I couldn't hear most of what went on (predominantly through the ongoing conversation with a cat), I did hear Fluffy using the accent I'd been toying around with... so that went out the window and I had no idea what I was going to do for a voice or anything. And then I sat down at the table, opened my mouth and basically Big Tigger Energy came tumbling out. Not quite as much of the slight himbo vibe of Tigger, but definitely the bounce. Very... this...

He is cheerful, outgoing, competitive in a friendly way, and has complete confidence in himself.

He has the bounce. And there's a little bit of darkness there too, which is fun. Fluffy is the one who called out the Tigger connecting which is good, because now I have a go-to for getting to his personality and a benchmark to aim for.

The group dynamic seems interesting. And Mr is playing his first female character which was a surprise, given I kind of expected it to be a little bit of a Sausage Fest.

Of course, I couldn't roll for SHIT last night. I think the dice were sulking because they're the ones I bought for myself for Christmas and they've been sitting in my fancy dice container since then. So I think my first... three rolls were all under 10 and three fairly important rolls later were also sub 10. Doesn't bode well really.

It's also fun that I'm the weirdest race in the group... or, you know, I'm just the only non Players Handbook race.

So we'll see what happens I guess.

Anyway.

Today wasn't especially exciting... the usual supermarketry and that was it really.

Brief sidebar... I don't know if the place that hosts my mood images is completely dead or just currently down. And, honestly, the idea of going back through 4000+ posts and fixing them is too much to consider right now, so if they stay down I might have to upload them to Google, but if they're gone in old posts, they might just have to stay gone.

Current mood: