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Showing posts from June, 2019

“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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WEBTOON: Lots to Read, Lots to Love

Hey all, I'm breaking from our regularly scheduled book rec because I'm behind on my TBR pile. (Sorry, delicious books. I will get to you shortly!) Today, I want to share with you the invaluable wonder of the WEBTOON, and all the excellent comics to be found there. It's a free app with hundreds of comics in just about every genre you can think of. Sometimes translations are hinky, but I've found a lot of real gems here. Some of my favorites are: SWEET HOME by Carnby Kim and Youngchan Hwang. If you like horror, this one's for you. A young man moves into an apartment building after the death of his family, and a strange sickness turns people into powerful monsters. The story and art are both amazing. LET'S PLAY by Mongie. Game designer, Sam, is devastated when her puzzle game Ruminate gets trashed by vlogger, Marshall Law, and his rabid fans downvote her into oblivion. And then Sam meets her new neighbor...Marshall, who has no clue he's destroyed her
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Ramblings of a Gamer: FFVII Remake First Thoughts

When the Final Fantasy VII: Remake was first announced, I expressed my excitement and fears for the new rendition of the game that turned me into a gamer. Years passed, and it looked like the remake might go the way of Versus:XIII, but once again, Square-Enix has announced the Final Fantasy VII: Remake--this time with a release date! The game is supposed to release on 3/3/20, and the footage they've released looks promising. The character designs are top-notch, the secondary characters appear to have been given more a role in the story, and the game-play looks great. Reports of those who played the demo say it plays great, too. I hope those of us who weren't at E3 get a chance to play a demo between now and March, but I can live without it as long as the game gets the attention it needs to be the best version it can be. The first installment centers on Midgar, which hopefully means that the story has been fleshed out. I'm eager to stroll through the sectors and see what
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Book Recs: DAMSEL DISTRESSED by Kelsey Macke

CW: Self-Harm I'm not going to go into details on that, but it does play a factor in the story so be aware. What I really liked about DAMSEL DISTRESSED is that Imogen is flawed, knows she's flawed, and even though she's trying to work on it, sometimes she fails hardcore. She sometimes thinks or says terrible things about people she loves, but she usually calls herself out on it or someone else will. Which was nice because too often things like slut-shaming or body-shaming slip into a protag's dialogue and they aren't pointed out as wrong. Imogen lives with clinical depression, and in her low moments, it's hard for her to believe in herself or other people, even when they are supportive of her. She struggles with the fact that even with therapy and medication, she still feels broken. She isn't magically cured by a pill or a couple therapy sessions or by the love of her best friend, Grant. Rather than curing her, the support of her family and friend
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Ramblings of a Gamer: Kingdom Hearts III Part 3: Final Rant

**** SPOILERS**** I have quite a few bones to pick with Kingdom Hearts III; I’ve already mentioned the POV fail and the overabundance of Disney, but there were a few other points that hit my editing nerve. The dialogue tags were excruciating. There was no need throughout the game to keep naming all the characters when they were talking to them. It came off very awkward the first couple times, and was painful the longer I played. The cut scenes were another problematic area. Don’t get me wrong; I absolutely love those little mini movies in my RPGs, but in KH3, there were so many that the gameplay was interrupted. Cut scenes are good for a reward after a long battle or to tell a part of the story that can’t be told in the gameplay, but too many can pull the player out of the game, which was the case for me. Kairi got shafted in this game. She worked so hard to be a member of the team, and she doesn’t even get to use her skills. Instead of being the fully-fleshed out chara
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Book Recs: A SUN IS ALSO A STAR by Nicola Yoon

Natasha and Daniel’s lives collide on a crossroads to their uncertain futures. Natasha is on a desperate mission to stay in the states, and a poetic boy in a red tie doesn’t fit into her plans. But Natasha is the twist-of-fate Daniel has been wishing for; the sign that he can escape the life of Ivy League ambition his parents have planned for him. Coincidence or destiny, their collision will change their hearts and minds forever. Even though there is love-at-first-sight (at least for Daniel), this isn’t a reality-breaking insta-love story where nothing matters anymore because the characters are in love. They still have decisions to make, and while they influence each other, they still have to make them on their own. However, Natasha and Daniel’s meeting creates eddies that alter the world around them, and these ripples add subtle layers that enrich the depth of the story. These small twists make this one of those books that sticks with you long after you read it. You can find
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Ramblings of Gamer: Kingdom Hearts III Part Two: Plug Much, Disney?

****SPOILERS AHEAD**** Kingdom Hearts started as a Final Fantasy/Disney mashup, and I loved it. I loved the incarnations of my FF favorites and how they were integrated into this strange new world that had me visiting Ariel in Atlantica and the Beast in Hollow Bastion. Somehow, they were balanced so that one didn’t overpower the other. That joy continued in KH2. And then we got to KH3. And there was something conspicuously missing. Where the heck did the Final Fantasy aspect go? Where were Cloud and Aerith and Sephiroth? What had happened to Leon and Cid? And why was everything so unapologetically pushing everything Disney? Everything was Disney; the worlds (per the norm, fine), the summons (okay), but then the special attacks? Theme park rides in full neon lights? Really? There was so much going on in this game when it came to battles, and some of it was completely unnecessary. With special skills, group skills, Rage form, weapon changes, and summons, the them
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Book Recs: DREAD NATION by Justina Ireland

If you like kickass girls fighting zombies in a post-Civil War alternate history, then you should read DREAD NATION by Justina Ireland. Attendant-in-training Jane McKeene knows her way around a sickle when it comes to taking out shamblers, and she hopes to use those skills to make her way home to her family once she graduates from Ms. Preston’s, an academy where black girls are trained to fight the risen dead to later serve the white elites in the protected cities of the United States. But Jane has different plans—graduation is her ticket to carve out her own path and attain the freedom that the end of the Civil War failed to bring. DREAD NATION has great, well-rounded characters and a fascinating alternate history. People’s prejudices often lead them to underestimate Jane, and she uses this to her benefit not only to save her own hide, but usually theirs as well. Unfortunately, Jane’s smarts are often dismissed due to the racism of the white Survivalist party that’s in charg
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Ramblings of a Gamer: Kingdom Hearts III and a Storytelling Fail

**** SPOILER ALERT: IF YOU HAVEN”T PLAYED AND HAVE MANAGED TO AVOID SPOILERS, RUN AWAY NOW! ***** Still here? For real, there’s going to be spoilers because I can’t talk about this without them. Staying? Okay! Here we go! I’ve been a fan of the Kingdom Hearts series since the early days. The thought of Final Fantasy mashed together with my fave Disney characters was just odd enough to make me check it out, and that gorgeous opening sequence with Utada Hikaru’s Simple and Clean absolutely drew me in. The game was beautiful and strange, and it had a compelling story that somehow made these characters from completely different franchises work. I bought a Gameboy Advance to play Chain of Memories, and I eagerly snatched up KH2 when it came out, but after that, I couldn’t keep up. There were too many games on too many platforms, and while I love my gaming collection, I’m not much of a handheld gamer, and I couldn’t justify all these extra purchases
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