Elysium Planitia

[greygirlbeast]

Somehow, I allowed yesterday to slip between my fingers, or I breathed it out when I was meant to inhale. Either way, it's gone now. And I made nothing much of the time. I didn't write. I think I'm actually afraid of finishing this book. Don't ask me why, because I'm not yet sure. What did I do yesterday? I can hardly recall. I walked to A Capella books in L5P (these days, I need all the exercise I can get) and picked up some books to send to Poppy, who wanted me to send her books more than anything else. I went ahead and sent her care package number one yesterday, figuring all the massages from fans can go into number two. It was mostly a stack of paperbacks — Ramsey Campbell, Thomas Harris, Neil Gaiman, John Steinbeck, Carson McCullers, and etc. A few silly things I'd picked up at Junkman's Daughter thinking she and Chris might get a laugh from them. I did that. I ate an apple for lunch. Late in the afternoon, I beat Spooky at Scrabble. Sophie's diabetes is acting up again, and Spooky spent much of the day plotting a glucose curve on her. I read "Nemesis," a poem by Lovecraft. But no, I didn't write. One or another or several of the Nine Seven Deadly Sins is to be blamed, I'm sure.

We had a good Kid Night, though I sort of felt as if I didn't really deserve it, not having written and all. We watched It Came from Beneath the Sea (actually a very funny movie it you watch it just the right way) and Men in Black II. After four films by Herzog and the one by Kar Wai Wong, after five nights of subtitles, I had an intense need for visual junk food. Oh, and I also watched a Biography Channel thing about the life of Andre the Giant, which was rather sad. Late, I finished Final Fantasy X-2 sooner than expected. I completed 62% of the game in 38 point something or another hours. Yuna, Paine, and Rikku defeated Suyin and Vegnagun, and I was left wanting more. Despite the insipid music and the sugary, goofy dialogue, this was perhaps the closest I've ever come to playing a movie — though, at the opposite end of the cute spectrum, The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher's Bay is probably tied for this distinction. And that's really what I want from a video game. I don't want a game. Games bore me. I want a story. I want to play a movie. I suppose I'll play Final Fantasy X next. I'll probably grab a used copy cheap off eBay. Who the frell would ever have thought that I'd become addicted to Final Fantasy? Oh, the shame.

I have a message from Stephen King to pass along to Poppy. That feels almost as strange as having become addicted to Final Fantasy.

We have entered Day Four of Hideous Construction Noise across the street. I'd hoped the painters would be taking the weekend off, but no. The perpetual dentist-drill sound of the paint scrapers is loud and clear.

Well...anyway. I should go try to write.

Comments

[chocolatebird.livejournal.com]

My boss's son, Frank, owns A Capella. He's an extraordinarily nice guy, from what I know of him.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

My boss's son, Frank, owns A Capella.

Ah. It's a drad place. It sucks me in and makes me spend more money than I should.

[ninevah.livejournal.com]

I think I have a copy of FFX sitting around somewhere. I've never played it and I don't think I ever will. If you want it, it's yours (as I got it for free). Anyhow, lemme know and I'll dig it up and make sure it's in good shape.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

I think I have a copy of FFX sitting around somewhere. I've never played it and I don't think I ever will. If you want it, it's yours (as I got it for free). Anyhow, lemme know and I'll dig it up and make sure it's in good shape.

Wow. That would be amazingly sweet of you. Yes, if you can find it and it isn't too much trouble, I'd love to have it. (Caitlín R. Kiernan, P.O. Box 5290, Atlanta, GA 31107).

[ninevah.livejournal.com]

Pah. I suck. It was FFVII that I have. :( Sorry to get your hopes up.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Pah. I suck. It was FFVII that I have. :( Sorry to get your hopes up.

Ah, well. No problem. Thanks anyway!

[jlundberg.livejournal.com]

It Came from Beneath the Sea is unbelievably funny. I caught it a couple years ago at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences, as part of a monthly pulpish movie thing run by the local A/V Geeks club, and I was only one of maybe five adults in the crowd; the rest were groups of boys, I think from Boy Scouts. I and the buddy I went with were howling throughout the thing, not just at the bad dialogue and cheesy sfx, but at all the surprising sexual innuendo. And when the woman starts stroking that test tube (or whatever type of lab glassware that was), I just lost it. It lucky we weren't kicked out.

[setsuled.livejournal.com]

After four films by Herzog

Your Herzog binge inspired me to go out and see Grizzly Man. Well, your binge and this quote in Roger Ebert's review, "Against this is Herzog, on the soundtrack: 'I believe the common character of the universe is not harmony, but hostility, chaos and murder.' And over footage of one of Treadwell's beloved bears: 'This blank stare' shows not the wisdom Treadwell read into it, but 'only the half-bored interest in food.'"

Games bore me. I want a story. I want to play a movie. I suppose I'll play Final Fantasy X next.

For story, you can't do much better than Final Fantasy VI, but I don't know if you could acclimate yourself to the Super Nintendo era graphics (but, if your interest is piqued, there's an anthology edition for the Playstation). Anyway, Final Fantasys VII, VIII, and IX are all really good too, and, while I've not played much of X, I feel they have better stories. At least, they certainly have better looking characters (Tidus was just too tan for me. Healthy looking people freak me out).

You can still get 100% in X-2 if you do its second quest thing. And you get to start the game with the dresspheres you finished with (from what I hear).

Incidentally, I noticed a nifty exploit in X-2 the other day--at the beginning, when you're running around with just Rikku and Paine, you can find Yuna hiding in a corner in her moogle costume. When you press the X button when standing in front of her, your HP and MP are refilled. And since enemies run up to you constantly at that point, you could conceivably go through an infinite amount of battles by just pressing X repeatedly (thus automatically selecting "attack" and the nearest opponent). If you have a controller with a turbo button, you could leave a book on it, go to sleep, and wake up the next morning with level 100 Rikku and Paine.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

but I don't know if you could acclimate yourself to the Super Nintendo era graphics

I think that would drive me nuts.

You can still get 100% in X-2 if you do its second quest thing. And you get to start the game with the dresspheres you finished with (from what I hear).

Yep. I've already started the second round. I'm pathetic.

[setsuled.livejournal.com]

I think that would drive me nuts.

I wish they'd do a remake or something. The anthology edition has some cgi cutscenes, but the game itself is unchanged (except in that the translation is a lot better). There is talk that there may be a remake of Final Fantasy VII.

I've already started the second round. I'm pathetic.

Well, you're talking to the fellow who still plays Super Nintendo games.

I hear it's extremely difficult to get 100% in X-2 the first go around. I was trying to do it with a detailed walkthrough--I'm at the beginning of Chapter 3 with 57%--which, unfortunately, is one point below where I'm supposed to be.

By the way, I highly recommend getting the Lady Luck dressphere if you haven't already. It's quickly become my favourite--aside from showing a lot of skin (always a plus), it has some amazingly useful abilities, like Double Experience (which doubles the amount of experience points you get from each battle), Gillionare (doubles the gil), Double Items (it's rare now that I don't have 99 hi-potions), and Reels, where you play a slot machine thing to get random spells and items in battle at no cost to your MP--I find it easy to get Ultima, which allowed me to chew through some really hard random encounters. I've rather quickly gotten my characters up to level 70 and I've only barely started chapter 3.