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HeavyMetalSunshineSister

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Blog Entries posted by HeavyMetalSunshineSister

  1. HeavyMetalSunshineSister
    So, I liked X-Men Apocalypse. Haven't had more than a few hours for it to sink in yet, but, you know, so far so good.
     
    I like how the main villain's early actions make it understandable how someone could choose to follow him without personally desiring the end of the world. I mean... nuclear disarmament? Good start, buddy!
     
    But
     
    What if
     
    What if there were a story where some mighty immortal, trapped under rocks for literally thousands of years, woke up, got to see the world
     
    And had an overall positive reaction at first? Like,
     
    They saw cars, and were impressed with the speed at which a machine, unaided by any beasts of burden, could move
     
    And they saw trains, and got excited about trains, because trains are exciting
     
    And then planes. Wow, planes. Planes! If I were that old, and had been asleep that long, planes would blow my mind.
     
    And then someone tells them that smallpox isn't a thing anymore, and oh my good golly gumdrops, smallpox isn't a thing anymore! Again, coming from that far back in history, I'd be blown away.
     
    So they're impressed by that, and by the scale on which people live now (because Cairo ca. 1984 is much, much bigger than Cairo back when there were still working out the issues in pyramid-building), and at first this mighty, immortal ruler, this ancient world-ruler, is just walking around, taking in the sights, and they're thinking, y'know, this is good. I like what you've done with the place. A+ work, kids.
     
    And where they go from there kind of depends on the tone you want to set. Do they remain impressed? Do they decide that humanity, while it has progressed, still needs them at the helm for some reason? Do they see something, some darker side to this advancement, that convinces them that they need to do something big to change things?
     
    Can't really get into that last one without discussing what it is that would convince them that the world needs re-making, and I'm not in the mood to make it something ridiculous like Adam Sandler movies (though, to be fair, "burn the world" is a perfectly understandable reaction to Adam Sandler's financial success), so... yeah. Fun thing to think about.
  2. HeavyMetalSunshineSister
    So
     
    It's been a while. Things have gotten... kind of weird, since the last time I made a blog entry.
     
    I haven't composed a new piece of music in more than a year, thanks to my computer's speakers and headphone jack breaking - followed, back in May, by the computer itself. About to go ahead and install a couple of programs for that on this borrowed computer, once I can verify that the owner is cool with that.
     
    In less aggravating (but probably more important) news, some of you might have noticed I've flipped the gender marker on my profile. Not joking about that one, in case you were wondering. To be honest, I should have figured it out a bit before I did, but hey, I was busy.
     
    Lastly, to leave things on a light note, finally bought and played through The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. Ghirahim's a pushover, Demise is a filthy cheater, the game itself honestly talks too much, and the whole thing leaves me yearning for Skyrim's world design - not heavily-modded Skyrim, either. Pure vanilla, with all of its failings and, as I judged it at the time, emptiness.
  3. HeavyMetalSunshineSister
    So today I took my shiny new diamond pickaxe down into a cavern to mine some obsidian (and maybe more diamonds, because hey, I'm an optimist like that).
     
    Instead, a group of skeletons decided it was high time for me to take a good long time-out in a column of lava, beginning today's adventures in messy death.
     
    Next, I went back into the cave, recovered what I could (which did not include the diamond pick, because of course it didn't) and set out to mine some more - this ended with me using water to pillar up to a lava source and get shot into it by a skeleton. Dead again.
     
    So I set off on another rescue mission, climbed near where I died, lagged out, and logged back in. Dead again.
     
    So I dropped back into the cavern with no tools at all, ran past a bomb-shop quartet, and finished climbing to where I died and lost the rest of everything.
     
    I recovered nothing but 19 redstone, a stick, and a bucket.
     
    So, at this point, I'm sitting in a cave with 21 melon slices, and I'm pretty angry. I'd just used most of my iron reserve trying to save my own precious behind, and I had exactly nothing to show for it.
     
    So I start dismantling the planks of the mineshaft I'm in, and I make a wooden sword and a wooden pickaxe, and I declare to the server at large my intention to maul every living thing underground.
     
    An hour and a half later I bob to the surface of a river, hauling 3 stacks of rails, 2 stacks of iron, a stack of coal, 16-ish gold, a bit of redstone, some lapis, and various other odds and ends.
  4. HeavyMetalSunshineSister
    As I sit here, listening through The Whirlwind for the first time in a couple of years, it strikes me that the vocals on this album compare rather unfavourably to those on Thick As A Brick 2, Ian Anderson's follow-up to Jethro Tull's legendary single-song album, released forty years late.
     
    It's not so much anything about the quality of the voices involved - years of smoking certainly were not kind to the pipes of Ian Anderson - but the technique of the singing. With Transatlantic's 70+ minute outing, while the voices don't sound bad, the phrasing and inflections leave much to be desired, lacking, for the most part, the confidence and impact heard from the very first track of TaaB 2. When the 1:37 mark of an old dinosaur's follow-up project is, vocally, stronger than the first fifteen minutes of a prog rock supergroup's intended magnum opus, someone hasn't done their job right.
     
    I have, thus far, enjoyed The Whirlwind, but if what I've heard so far is any indication, I rather doubt that my reward for reaching the end will be anything like as powerful as the pairing of Confessional and Kismet in Suburbia. Anderson's vocal work on TaaB 2 may not come close to the original album, but it's still miles ahead of Transatlantic so far.
     
     
    EDIT: I was going to cut this album so much more slack before they started padding the length with mindless repetition. I can only hear "Is it really happening" so many times before I conclude that you've run out of ideas.
     
    EDIT 2: I was right. In summation, The Whirlwind is an instrumentally fun/kind of impressive album/song with merely okay lyrics and mediocre delivery of those lyrics.
  5. HeavyMetalSunshineSister
    So, yesterday, everyone's favourite guitar-playing undead penguin released a new album - his third, if you don't count the EP released under his metal side project, the name of which I can't even type right because Windows refuses to believe that you can put an Ümläüt over a t. You can follow the link above to the album's Bandcamp page, where you can pick up this shiny new album for a very reasonable seven bucks - not bad for 45:18 of instrumental rock. The cover art might be a bit sketchy, and there are no actual grenade launchers included with the album, but that doesn't change the quality of the music within.
     
    I could take the time to review the album in detail, but that would be time you're not spending checking it out yourselves - so go have a listen, buy the album, and pay special attention to the tracks Underwater, The Snake Charmer, and Hitchhiker.
  6. HeavyMetalSunshineSister
    Turns out - and I am ashamed for not figuring this out earlier - narrow hallways are the perfect place to fight Wither Skeletons. You just string three blocks along at their head height, stand back, and hit them until they die. The only way it could be simpler is if someone had already placed the blocks for me.
  7. HeavyMetalSunshineSister
    So, I found the most adorably stupid Daily Mail article today - yes, I know, that's a tautology, but bear with me.
     
    The article, you see, was about the Greenland Shark, a large, cold-water shark most closely related to dogfish, that looks like this;

     
    Now, most of what the article said in describing this "fearsome creature" isn't factually incorrect - they have indeed been found with the remains of polar bears, reindeer, and seals in their stomachs.
     
    The article just failed to mention one thing - the top speed of the Greenland shark is about 1.6 miles per hour - somewhat slower than a live polar bear, but considerably faster than a dead one. In keeping with the tendency for these sharks to be mostly or completely blind (due to a parasitic copepod that feeds on their corneal fluid), and their goofy, mostly-harmless appearance, the Greenland shark is believed to primarily be a scavenger.
     
    As the delightful Wikipedia article on this shark put it;
     
    Fearsome creature, indeed.
  8. HeavyMetalSunshineSister
    Decided to try my luck at finding a mesa in another world, just for giggles.
     
    Given the known incident with the 'indianajones' seed (spawned the player in a jungle, I thought maybe, just maybe, blackmesa would spawn me in, you know, a mesa.
     
    Nope, zombie dungeon.
     

  9. HeavyMetalSunshineSister
    In an effort to get some more productive work done than wandering and dying in search of a mesa biome, I elected to hunker down by my river and fish.
     
    This was, on the whole, an excellent idea, considering the fishing rod I dredged up - Unbreaking III, Lure II, Luck of the Sea II.
     
    Clearly, great Cthulhu would like a favor in return for his generosity. Perhaps a temple is in order.
  11. HeavyMetalSunshineSister
    So, my search for a mesa biome continues, as I have covered more than ten kilometers searching for that magical land of disco clay and pretty sand.
     
    Today, the search has hit a milestone - the first time I've found an entirely different ultra-rare biome while looking for mesas.
     

     
    On the one hand, this is really cool.
     
    On the other, I really wanted a mesa.
     
    It doesn't really help that I have nothing with Silk Touch.
  12. HeavyMetalSunshineSister
    Found myself in a Deep Ocean biome for the first time, and it's honestly kind of scary, swimming at the surface, looking down, and not being able to see the bottom.
     
    They need to add ocean-going hostile mobs now, just so you can get the experience of having a great white shark come rushing out of the depths, or even just see a faint hint of movement down there, and start fearing for your life.
     
    And once they add hostile ocean-going mobs, they need to give you an update or two to wait and be afraid of the water..
     
    ...and then they need to add a bigger boat.
     
    Anyway, great whites, giant squid, and maybe a couple of other nasties would really make the oceans more fun.
  13. HeavyMetalSunshineSister
    My luck in Minecraft has an interesting flavour to it lately - I set out from my home on a savanna plateau, hoping to find a mesa from which to get hardened clay for use in the construction of my house.
     
    I did not find a mesa biome.
     
    Instead, I found three villages and five desert temples, leading to quite the collection of enchanted books, horse armor, diamonds and other goodies... and a rather low food supply by the time I turn back - or think that is what I am doing.
     
    This results in me getting desperate enough for food to drop some planks and craft a fishing rod.
     
    This results, not in food for the first few casts, but a Punch II, Power IV bow, 4 puffer fish, and a few random useless trinkets. After getting enough salmon and unnamed fish to stop starving to death, I continue south, confident that I will see my hilltop tower any second now...
     
    ...Except I'm now two kilometers south of the origin point, and did not walk that far in setting up my base.
     
    Good thing I found a horse right after making this realization, really. Diamond horse armor and a convenient saddle undoubtedly saved my life tonight.
  14. HeavyMetalSunshineSister
    ...and Star Trek Colon Into Darkness becomes a much better movie. Why?
     
    1.
    That's the Captain speaking, right there.
     
    2.
    "Khan" was basically the hero anyway - he exposed a corrupt, war-mongering admiral, went toe-to-toe with the Federation to save his friends, and got shot in the back by Kirk and Scotty. Keep Burgerking Custardbath in the role, and it's just Sherlock Goes to Space with thirty minutes of desperately scrambling to make him the villain at the end.
     
    Swap Mal in, and it's just another day at the office.
     
    3.

    [All glory to the greatest webcomic on Earth. Fan poster by offsite artist deino-erd.]
  15. HeavyMetalSunshineSister
    The actor [Gal Gadot] that is slated to play Wonder Woman has confirmed that she is undergoing some serious training/physical conditioning for the movie.
     
    Training that involves swords.
     
    I may still have some doubts about her acting ability, based on what I know her to have been in - the Fast & Furious franchise isn't exactly known for nuanced performances, or actors capable of the like, but...
     
    Well, if the long list of training material is any indication of her role in the movie - a list including swords, Kung Fu, swords, Ju-jitsu, and freaking swords you guys - then Wonder Woman is going to be a pretty entertaining character in a braindead action movie about Batffleck and some neck-snapping enthusiast wearing Superman like a cheap suit.
  16. HeavyMetalSunshineSister

    Hoo Boy

    By HeavyMetalSunshineSister,

    So, a few months ago, I tried to find some reference on the medieval Chola naval vessel known as the Thirisadai - essentially the equivalent of a battleship. At this time, I posted a blog entry, requesting aid in finding these references - the request was unsuccessful, which is hardly shocking; BZPower is not exactly a community built upon a shared fondness for naval history, nor is a high proportion of the site's population comprised of historians.
     
    Anyway, I let that project rest for a while, as I tried to find the pictures I needed. Other ideas came up, I wrote some music, bought a didgeridoo, and the idea slid to the back of my mind, resurfacing earlier today.
     
    So, feeling lucky, I tried Google again.
     
    This was the top result.

     
    That's how little relevant material there is on this.
  17. HeavyMetalSunshineSister
    Let's just take a moment to reflect on the fact that the Green Hornet got a movie before Wonder Woman got to appear in one.
     
    Okay? Had your flashbacks to how awful that movie was yet?
     
    Great.
     
    Wonder Woman's going to be played by a cardboard actress in a movie directed by Zack Snyder.
     
    Let me put it this way - given the choice between not eating, and eating a muffin made of broken glass, I'd go ahead and not eat.
     
    Zack Snyder movies tend to be muffins made of broken glass - very shiny, no real substance, and it leaves kind of an unpleasant, metallic taste in your mouth.
  20. HeavyMetalSunshineSister
    10. Inbred Chocobo Spies
     
    9. National Lampoon's Dog Hospital
     
    8. Invisible Landmine in the Outback
     
    7. Deep Space Spelling of the [consigned to an unpleasant afterlife]
     
    6. Shady Pachinko Encounter
     
    5. British Sushi - The Game
     
    4. Relentless Furry Dancers
     
    3. Olympic Ninja Desperados
     
    2. Children of the Cheese-Fight
     
    1. Flying Hamster Combat
     
    Honourable mention: Mario's Wrestling Power, Heavy Metal Sunshine Sisters, NCAA Dwarf Fiasco, Narcoleptic Harpoon - the Gathering Storm, Muppet NASCAR Overload
  21. HeavyMetalSunshineSister
    The blogs have become an uncomfortable place lately, and, due to some disagreements on the way a few things have been handled, I have found myself at odds with people I would rather count as friends. I don't see an end to this situation coming as soon as I would like it to, so there is something I would like to make clear before things go too far.
     
    I do not want a fight.
     
    I have never logged onto BZP with that desire in my mind. I have enough people to argue with elsewhere, were I the sort of person who revels in confrontation - but I'm not. When I log onto BZP, I want to relax, laugh with my friends, and maybe debate minor matters of philosophy. No matter what is said in the rather more serious debates happening now, and those still to come, no matter what my errors of communication or careless, accidental, hurting words, I am here to talk, relax, and have fun. Not to make enemies.
     
    If the time ever comes that I do not respect you, I will not fight you. I will not argue with someone for whom I have no respect, whose views, desires, and feelings hold no value for me. I will ignore them. I will give such a person up as a lost cause, and happily avoid the irritation they brought me.
     
    So unless the time comes that I never reply to anything you say, never visit your blog, and never argue with you, know that I respect you. I may not be your friend, I may not agree with you on anything, you may not even like me, but I would rather have you as a friend than an enemy, and if, by some chance, all the people who are so much better at being human and nice and comforting than I am have disappeared, know that, if you need it, I will try to have something good to say. I will try, in the small ways available to me, to make your day better.
  22. HeavyMetalSunshineSister
    I have recently seen an instance in which a single female character was portrayed overreacting to something. The scenario was played for laughs, and while a good amount of time could be spent going over the joke itself and why it was or was not funny, a more important issue is some of the criticism that the joke received - that having this character, who was female, overreact in an emotional manner, was sexist. That it implied the attitude that all women were prone to overemotional reactions.
     
    This, I believe, is a flawed judgment, for the reason that some individual women are, in fact, prone to overemotional reactions.
     
    This is not because they are women.
     
    This is because they are human, with any of an assortment of personality quirks that come along with that condition. I know more than a few men who are prone to such an overreaction.
     
    And perhaps, one might say, it would have been better to use a male character for that role - to make a man overreact instead of a woman, to deter the accusations of sexism.
     
    I disagree. Women are approximately fifty percent of the human population, and it is probable that approximately fifty percent of overemotional freakouts are had by women. Simply because years of consistent portrayals of a trait as a quality exclusive to women has made it a sensitive subject does not mean that this trait can never again be ascribed to women in fiction, nor does the ascribing of such a trait to one character mean that the writer is sexist. For that to happen ,the writer has to consistently portray the majority of their female characters as overemotional basket-cases - have a look at a good many sitcom writers if you need an example. Having one character with this trait is not sexism, it's having a character with believable human qualities - or, in the case of some works of amateur comedy, somewhat unbelievable human qualities. Even exaggerating these traits to absurdity in one case, however, does not make the writer a sexist - anymore than making a male character an unbelievably smug windbag suggests a belief that all men are cartoonishly smug windbags.
     
    When writing fiction, it isn't healthy to constantly be looking over your shoulder to make sure that nothing you write could possibly offend someone. Just write natural characters that fit the story you're writing. And even if you can't do that, a bad joke doesn't make you a bigot - perhaps a bit thoughtless, and certainly not a master comedian, but not necessarily a bigot.
  23. HeavyMetalSunshineSister
    So I've got a piece of music that's been sitting unfinished on my computer for something like two years. The current list of instruments is as follows-
     
    -Flute
    -Alto Saxophone
    -Electric Guitar (Jazz)
    -Electric Bass (Fingered)
    -Drumkit
    -Timpani
     
    The first section went along fairly smoothly, with a four-measure ostinato primarily played by the flute and saxophone... the only problem is that, at this time, there isn't actually a lead instrument. Nothing's actually playing a melody over this, which is a big problem that kind of needs to be fixed before I go forward with this.
     
    I'm going to experiment with various instruments to see what works well here. Suggestions are encouraged, as they might make my work here a little bit easier.
  24. HeavyMetalSunshineSister
    Gets a whole lot less intimidating when you realize that, with a quick enough draw, Gilderoy Lockhart could have won a duel against him.
     
    What's that? Most powerful Dark wizard in living memory? That's impressive. Shame he can't remember which way is up.
  25. HeavyMetalSunshineSister
    For a personal project, I find myself needing to know what ships of the medieval Chola Navy looked like - my particular interest rests with the Thirisadai and Vajara classes. My own searches on the topic have come up empty, for the most part. Accordingly, I am asking you to assist in this search, in the hopes that you might have better luck finding good sources than I have.
     
    To be useful, pictures of these ships should show them from the side, front, back or top. A view of the ship from beneath is unlikely but would be nice. Colour images are preferred, but black and white is acceptable as long as there is enough detail. Photographs are probably more than we could hope for, but don't ignore the possibility.
     
    If you choose to help with this, thank you. If you do not, it is not your project and you had no obligation to do so.
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