“Things Every Southern Woman Should Know How to Make”

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Alice clicked on the headline, mildly curious about what yet another stranger thought should be in her kitchen repertoire. Pictures of China plates mounded with crispy fried chicken, greens, cobbler, and a pile of biscuits a mile high flooded the screen, all set off with a pitcher of sweet tea beaded with condensation. The table was set; an apron draped off to the side next to a box labeled “Gramma’s Recipes” in fine calligraphy. She closed the browser and put away her tablet. She was born a Georgia peach, but she couldn’t make a cobbler to save her life. Did that mean she wasn’t southern? Or maybe just not “Southern.” For Alice, there was no recipe box full of family traditions. Her younger years were filled with rental homes in different states and her father’s voice coaxing her toward a text book rather than a cookbook. Metalworking and fabrication held more interest than learning to flambé or sauté. Did it make her less of a woman that her cooking skills consisted of fresh salads...
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Ramblings of a Gamer: On the Final Fantasy VII Remake (from an FFVII Fanatic)

Happy 2016, folks!
First off, I’ve decided to stop calling myself a casual gamer. I may not be a hardcore gamer, but I do take my games seriously; therefore, I am a gamer.
What does this have to do with Final Fantasy VII?
Everything.
FFVII was the RPG that opened my heart to gaming. The immersive story pushed me to keep going even after I died repeatedly trying to get past that giant freaking snake. (If you’ve played, you know the one.) I was so in love with the characters that I didn’t want their stories to end, and when they were continued through spin-offs, I eagerly bought them to live in their world for just a little bit longer..
Thank you, Crisis Core, for the uncontrollable sobbing, by the way.
Over the years, Square-Enix has teased us with demos for the new platforms, showing us glimpses of what a remake could be like, planting the dream of traveling through a HD Midgar with a detailed Cloud Strife and crew.
And now it’s going to be real.
I’m terrified, but I can’t wait. I need to see how they handle turning a 20-year-old turn-based game into something that will grab new fans while keeping the love of the old fans. There isn’t much info so far, but the snippets Square-Enix has released look really killer. Some people think episodic is a bad way to go, but honestly, if this allows them to flesh out all the story gaps from the original and to turn out the best remake they can possibly make, then I’m happy to dish out the extra cash.
This version will be fully voice-acted, and I’m hoping Steve Burton and George Newbern will continue to play Cloud and Sephiroth. I’m pretty happy with Steven Blum as Vincent, too. They have a great roster of actors who are familiar with the characters from previous games and Advent Children, so they shouldn’t have to search too far.
Things are changing—Square-Enix has made that clear. I’m going to embrace it, for better or worse.
I hope this has been in the planning for much longer than we’ve been told, and the first installment will hit in 2017—the 20th anniversary of the original FFVII.  

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