The Kickstarter for The Crane Rider's Tale, a Chinese fantasy-inspired murder mystery is live! I hope it gets funded, I'm really looking forward to it. The art style, the ability to RIDE A BIRD, and the murder mystery aspect already have me sold. The cited influences (besides Disco Elysium) are also games I have on my wishlist...!
Photos of recent eats. I'm still a little sick—thankfully it's a long weekend, but me not making a full recovery in 12-24 hours is making me antsy.
I caught the ONE OK ROCK - Detox Tour movie last week. The theater surround sound + audio editing really made me feel like I was there, I was so hyped for Make It Out Alive and The Beginning. (And, as a bonus, I had Din Tai Fung for dinner, so I have nothing but positive associations.)
I read the first 6 volumes of Touma Rei's The Water Dragon's Bride, a shoujo manga about a girl who is transported to another world and chosen as a sacrificial bride. Very 2000s animanga vibes but lacking an interest in details. Thoughts here.
I've been posting more on Bearblog lately bc it's less social (and thus anxiety-inducing) and I like the Discovery feed where you can see the posts of other blogs! I hope the platform doesn't die...???
It's so hot haha and electricity rates have been spiking again haha and according to the news other countries might build data centers here haha (but I suppose I'm glad that we still have power since a month ago we were worried about rationing electricity)
Current Music:ONE OK ROCK - NASTY (Live from DETOX JAPAN TOUR 2025)
I am now 10 chapters into The Fellowship of the Ring (via audiobook), here are my journal pages on it. I'm a full month behind the Shelved by Genre (podcast) pace, and a lot of the things that are being discussed go right over my head anyway, but I'm enjoying having the readalong experience.
Some photos I took this month: 4 photos of flowers + 1 of a magnificent chicken that I passed by on the small residential road that I privately think of as "the chicken path". I'm trying to be better at ID-ing plants but it's not really going well.
I'm at the part of Legend of Mana where I have gotten the Sword of Mana artifact? But I still have so many quests left? Even though I totally messed up the artifact placements and have been locked out of a bunch of other quests? Shoutout to this beautifully designed Legend of Mana fansite + walkthrough which is so neatly organized and ad-free. Without its step-by-step dungeon guides I would have dropped this game within 5 hours and left too many quests unfinished because I can't be bothered to explore from place to place.
Just set up a personal fantranslation site (halfxin.bearblog.dev) for organizing old works--just audiodrama clips and fancomics for now. I'm not fannishly active in any capacity anymore, I just like clean websites.