wildfillysama: Horses in Frozen and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

All 6 angry alpha nerds went to see the Boxing Day release of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, and yesterday also went to go and see the new Disney movie, Frozen.

Since I didn’t get to say much about it at the time, due to standard cinema etiquette and a challenge from marsy that I couldn’t make it through the whole film without saying something about the horses, I’ll now take the time to do so!

(Also, I failed that challenge. Whatever.)

1. The Hobbit: Gypsy Vanner horses!

This is one of the fabulous mares who featured in the party riding to Mirkwood scenes. Just for the record, I consider horses like Sugar (from the Royal Gypsy stud in New Zealand) to be pretty damn close to hairy perfection. Only issue I had with the film is that they didn’t get much screen time, and were CGI’d to less-hairy oblivion in some of the clips. Much disappointment. But still, the moment the big screen filled with Gypsy Vanners was a great one!

2. Frozen: Fjord ponies!

One of the characters rides a Fjord pony, based on a real horse named Prisco. Here he is in a dressage competition:

Now here he is in the movie:

Apparently Prisco’s owner didn’t know that her photo had been used as the reference picture for the film, at least, not until she was coincidentally at Disney Land and saw one of the design development boards on display at the Production Gallery room inside “The Magic of Disney Animation”. That’s one way to get your horse famous, I guess?

In short, both films were awesome and are very recommended. Even more so for their dedication to massively fuzzy horses who don’t usually get so much screen time.

DM prep is hard.

So I’m going to be running a one-shot campaign with minimal prep time, and not even a skeleton of a plot in a little more that 12 hours. As I’m writing this, I have a little more than one hour to get a blog post done.

 

A small consolation is that I’ll be taking so many liberties with my mother culture’s history that it is hilarious.

 

This brings back to mind high-school essays, and trying to write a couple thousand words in the space of a few hours. I type at 50 words-per-minute, on average, so that’s 110 minutes to write out a fully-fleshed, well-thought-out, nicely-concluded one-shot campaign.

 

Best case scenario.

 

I am so screwed.

 

In other news, a crack team of five magical girls is sent by master strategist Zhuge Liang into a nest of demons, to assassinate the great Cao Cao himself.

 

Stay angry my friends.

lorekai: I don’t like jigsaws.

They are not fun, especially when you don’t know what the picture is supposed to look like.

Aside from that The Desolation of Smaug was finally released here today, and, a part from a few minor complaints, it was truly an awesome movie, I’d recommend seeing it if you haven’t already. Though, I wish I could say the same about the Doctor Who Christmas special, it was a very disappointing to Matt Smith’s time as the Doctor, though I did quite like Capaldi’s introduction.

I’m afraid that’s all I have to say today, have had two long and busy days. Hope everyone reading this has had a great holiday time, thanks for reading.

wildfillysama: All I want for Xmas…

Since we’re nearly at Christmas, the peak of overindulgence, today seemed like a good day to mention some of the things that I’d like to get! Now, these are all extremely unlikely, but it’s nice to share delusions with the internet instead of keeping them entirely to yourself (or at least, that’s certainly the gist I get from every comments section on every website ever).

Without further ado… my wishlist!

If only… a big, dressage-inclined Friesian horse with extra fancy feet/mane/tail/beard would be awesome!

ALL OF THESE UNICORNS

And finally, an assortment of Shetlands, to start assembling the small army I have planned…

Alternatively, I’ll continue to make plans of world-equine-domination in my own time and save Christmas for stuffing my face and rolling around on the floor, surrounded by fairy lights and wrapping paper and cats attacking said wrapping paper. That works too!

EbolaBooze’s Fortnightly Astro Corner: A Work in Progress

This fortnight, I bring you a work in progress!

The weather has been remarkably uncooperative the past few weeks, and as such, no new pictures, unfortunately…

Well, that’s a lie, I do have pictures, but they’re not of the quality I’d like to put up here. So instead, have a work-in-progress shot of the Great Orion Nebula!

(My Horsehead/Flame Nebula widefield shots were ruined by my half-complete windbreak blowing over onto my telescope. 50kph+ gusts of wind will do that!)

Clear skies!

Hold the phone!

Christmas in 3 minutes.

Christmas is coming,

Loot is impending,

Get the damn cats out of the tree.

The tinsel, oh God it’s everywhere.

Last minute gifts,

Stores please be open,

Damn cat tore open the present already.

Now there’s cat hair on the sticky tape.

Oh shit, got volunteered for Secret Santa,

Twice.

Bought chocolate,

Such piking.

Carolling does not include fairytale in New York.

Also does not include Grandma got run over by a reindeer.

God Damn it cats,

Get out of the presents.

Done. Happy Holidays!

lorekai: Long Live the Queen

Long Live the Queen is a cute and addictive strategy game developed by Hanako Games and available on Steam for PC, Mac and Linux systems. You play as the young Princess Elodie, making decisions about what she learns and the way that the kingdom is run, in hopes of surviving to your coronation.

Gameplay:

Despite the false sense of security that it’s cutesy exterior might lead you into, the game is surprisingly complex, with almost every decision you make affecting what events become available to you. Each in game week you pick two stats to raise, these stats determine the outcome of events, and their growth is determined by Elodie’s mood. There are also a variety of different outfits to unlock, which, as well changing Elodie’s appearance, grant benefits in different stat areas.

Story:

While the basic premise of the story is quite simple and generic, the variety of endings, deaths and different events all based from your decisions keep it an interesting and fun experience.

Sound:

The soundtrack for this game is pretty good. The tunes chosen are appropriate for the in game situations, and composition and instrument choices are well fitted to the game’s setting. The only downside is that it can get to be a little on the repetitive side after a couple of playthroughs.

Graphics:

The art in this game is very cute, fun, and colourful. The character designs are pretty nice, generic but done well, and easier differentiated from one another. The background art is also pretty nice, though it would of been nice to see a little more variety.

Overall I would say this game is well worth getting, it’s downsides are minimal, the presentation is lovely and, while it was given to me, for the amount of fun I’ve had with it so far I would say that it is more than worth it’s price. Thanks for reading and for anyone interested in playing this game but not certain about buying it there is a free trial available here.

marsy: Fun times

I had a ride on a segway the other day. This is how I felt.

wildfillysama: Library Peace

It’s that wonderful time of year.

I don’t mean Christmas, although it’s pretty good too. I’m talking about that wonderful slew of months in which most students are at home, getting smashed or trying to hold down a job for the holidays.

This is the time of year when the libraries on university campus are empty.

So what does this mean, other than that wildfillysama needs to get a life? It means that you can get away with all kinds of things in the library. Things that you can’t do normally. Of course, this includes some pretty normal things like:

1. Access a computer and printer.

2. Find a desk.

3. Find a desk that isn’t covered in rubbish or someone else’s books.

4. Find books.

Instead, you can branch out into much more creative thinking. Today, for example, I have:

1. Run flat-out from one end of the library to the other and not seen another person. (For the record, I was going to the drink fountain but didn’t want to carry my stuff. Mercifully it remained unstolen).

2. Acquire and eat cake in full view of library staff without being murdered.

3. Recline in front of the windows, using the best desk space and power points while cruising the internet and not doing any actual research work.

The next point on my agenda is to build a fort of some kind. This post will now be temporarily suspended while I construct this.

… next time it will have flags and banners. Need to bring scissors and string to the library and get even less work done.

 

Of Cars and Shit Magnets

Or: Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

 

Another trip down south, and another war wound discovered on my car, thankfully not as impressive as the last one.

Only a small dent in the bonnet this time, but enough to crack the paint and maybe bare some metal. Gonna have to bend it back out and repair the paint. Not a great inconvenience, but an inconvenience all the same, and additional proof that either someone has cursed my car with voodoo witchcraft, or someone, somewhere has installed a shit magnet onto it, as it attracts bad luck and damage like no-one’s business.

 

Stay angry my friends.