Steve

I shitpost with the rhythms of eternity, also video games and anime

[hev-mark-iv]

[parasitoidism]

I love when games have a protagonist with a backstory that doesn't really jive with the actual gameplay and it just kinda makes it seem like there's something wrong with them. Like Gordon Freeman is a 27 year old theoretical physicist and he holds grenades like he's been waiting his entire life to pull the pin on one. what did he see in his postdoc

[parasitoidism]

second one

[orchid-purple]

I've been replaying Half-Life 2 and the episodes with commentary nodes available and 20% of the nodes are just like "As developers of Half-Life one of our key priorities was to ensure that the player likes Alyx Vance as much as possible. Almost every area was set up to generate maximum attachment to her as a character, and the player's investment in the plot hinges on them identifying and empathising with Alyx at all times. If a playtester finished a session feeling anything less than complete adoration for her, we considered it our own failure as developers and spent the next six months fine-tuning the segment until we could statistically guarantee that they would like her again."

[orchid-purple]

Not only was the writing dedicated to making Alyx the most fleshed-out and empathisable character in the game, but the level designers found that if playtesters ever found her annoying then they'd tweak the progression of the level to prevent that, if her combat felt too flat then they used specially choreographed animations to make her feel more dynamic even if it didn't make her more effective as a fighter, they put up gates everywhere that stopped the player from progressing until they listened to all of Alyx's dialogue. The entire dev team were really harnessing their full power to ensure that you, personally, like Alyx Vance.

[orchid-purple]

Commentary mode in a nutshell:

[hawkpartys]

the problem with being someone who 1) lives in mountain lion range 2) enjoys night hiking is that there is a nonzero chance my last words will be "oh fugg a gougar"

[kineticpenguin]

i heard about the killdozer guy but what about the rooftop koreans?

During the LA riots in 1992 the LAPD abandoned minority neighborhoods, leaving the locals to fend for themselves. Some Korean families posted up on the roofs of their buildings to protect their businesses with guns. Without any other context, they've become something of a right-wing gun culture meme. Y'know, the whole "model minority defending their property against the savage hordes with glorious firearms" sorta thing, you can see the marketing appeal.

(And I do mean marketing quite literally, there are tons of Roof Korean merch churned out on Internet shops).

The thing is, this is a somewhat whitewashed version of events. Racial tensions had been inflamed between the local black and Korean communities recently, most intensely by the killing of Latasha Harlins by a Korean store owner, Soon Ja Du. Du accused Harlins of stealing juice even though she had money in hand to pay, initiated a physical conflict, and then shot Harlins in the back of the head when she was trying to flee the store. Du received a suspended sentence for manslaughter: five years' probation and 400 hours of community service, plus a $500 fine and Harlins' funeral costs. The killing is widely seen as a contributing factor to the 1992 riots, especially with regard to Koreatown being targeted.

As for the actual defensive actions by the "Rooftop Koreans," in practice it was kind of a disaster.

What's more, if you talk to the actual Koreans who were out there that day, they don't see anything to celebrate about it. If anything, they found the abandonment to be a wake-up call with regard to their standing in society: Second-class and fully expendable.

But because of the sanitized version of history that became a meme, you can guarantee every time there are mass protests and riots, some douchebags are going to run in, drop their pants, and start furiously cranking their hogs, moaning "we need roof Koreans!" for the duration.

[kineticpenguin]

Here we go again Same old shit again

[deafmic]

the oceangate rabbithole is un-fucking-paralleled. what do you mean they left that thing outside in the snow in canada for the entire fucking winter. of course it imploded literally the next time they put it in the water. holy shit.

[deafmic]

there's a video now of the moment it imploded where the topside ship hears this incredibly loud bang from outside the ship (ie, not on monitoring or microphones) and that's bad in itself but the only reason the people topside didn't freak out more was because the exact same thing had happened 8 dives earlier on dive 80. and they also knew using their own monitoring systems that the bang they heard had fucked the hull in some capacity. and then they still left it outside for the entire winter.

[deafmic]

they tested the tin can carbon fiber hull with people inside it. not even oceangate people. regular civilians. after their first test model had imploded.

[deafmic]

STOCKTON RUSH DESCRIBED THE TERRIFYING POPPING AND CRACKING SOUNDS AS THE HULL BEING "SEASONED" BY THE CARBON FIBERS. LIKE A CAST IRON PAN. LIKE A WOK. SEASONED.

[ether--net]

[kachikirby]

Kirby and the Forgotten Land

[ornerycrab]

I need female presenting cock and balls NOOOOOW! *throws golden goblet filled with wine against the wall, the reverberating echo of metal meting stone makes my servants and loyal subjects scatter in a panic to search the land for the most hung maidens the world has to offer*

[maryn-jpeg55]

She’s just like me honestly

[cryptotheism]

In 1837, the Frenchman Charles Poyen travelled to the good old USA, which had even less scrutiny in regards to medical practices compared to europe. Animal Magnetism was even more popular in the states. Many words have been written as to why, but I venture there are more material reasons for the popularity of Mesmerism. Medicine in 1837 sucked, and Americans love a con artist. 

When homeopathy was invented in 1796, the vast majority of doctors in Europe were still following medieval doctrines of medicine. For all the innovations made by our dear friend Paracelsus, doctors often caused more harm than good. Homeopathy has no effect whatsoever, and was therefore often preferable to bloodletting and induced vomiting. Mesmerism benefited from a similar relationship. It was often more popular than institutional medicine, simply because it was not making the problem worse. That said, Mesmer wouldn’t give you cocaine. 

Mesmer and Animal Magnetism, today on Patreon

[vinnigami]

Here's my demifiend, his name is Karl Khakis

I thought you'd appreciate him

i liked him so i drew him working at target where his khakis could go properly appreciated

[tanookitalez]

all of my pacman comics

[malibuklaus]

[jame7t]

if I was the devil I’d punish SAW by making it so that everyone in his traps is always Houdini no matter what

[cryptotheism]

According to the average twitter poster, McDonalds is a simultaneously a foundational piece of American culture that has been eroded by the forces of wokeness, and a fiendish trap to degrade American people with some nebulous yet affordably priced spiritual burger poison.

[cryptotheism]

Needless to say, the price of said burger is no longer affordable. As a consequence, American civilization has adopted a sort-of centerist apocalypticism.

[juney-blues]

[juney-blues]

[nando161mando]