kalloway: (Xmas Ornaments 6 Golden)
The pile got too high again...

Gundam SEED Destiny (Original Version + Final Plus) - watched pretty much as canon review for war-gaming and there were a lot of things I kinda forgot or found more interesting this time around. Anyway, Freedom only makes sense with Final Plus and now I'm wondering if they just edited it into the remaster. Actually, I think I started with the Remaster but switched to the original because I like the old English dub (and British!Arthur) a lot.

Char's Counterattack - again, canon review for war-gaming, I swear. It's been some time and I both love and hate everyone and Gyunei is such a jealous boyfriend, lol.

Natsume's Book of Friends (Season 1 & 2) - delightful, though it seems like only a couple more seasons are on disc and the rest streaming-only.

A Magical Girl Retires (Park Seolyeon) - enough people talked about this that I got curious and oh, it's an entire journey and then some in like 150 pages. At it's heart, it is very much a magical girl story and the route to the ending is never entirely obvious.

Jianghu (L Si X Xi Y) - baihe short story, interesting and delightful in weird ways. (More Info)

Broken Controller #4 - zine about retro-gaming. I wanted to like Broken Controller but it became very image-heavy with difficult to read layouts. I know the group doing it are still doing zines and I wish them success but they just weren't for me.

Samurai Pizza Cats - this was a stupid lot of fun; I can't say I paid close attention to every episode but this was great to have on in the background in general. Absolute kudos to the writing team. If you don't know the story, Kyatto Ninden Teyandee underperformed in Japan and a lot of the production materials weren't kept. When it was licensed for an English syndication, it arrived with partial scripts and audio. The writers literally just made everything up and dialed the ridiculous to 11. It does not 100% hold up, but it's very very good.

Twittering Birds Never Fly - a BL movie that kept catching my eye on Sentai's sale page. It was okay to watch but that's about it.

The Da Vinci Code - was given this, after being asked if I'd seen it. I promptly described what I think is actually the plot of American Treasure and then realized that. Anyway, nothing about this felt original but this was an entire genre for awhile, too.

American Graffiti - a loaner that shoot, I need to give back. Didn't get into at first, enjoyed it by the end. Nice cars, good music. I think I'm the wrong generation to really some of the nostalgia, though.

Bastard!! (S1, new anime) - a surprisingly good adaptation! Apparently quite a few of the voice actors went uncredited because it is a horny, mature show. But it's a different actor doing dub-Darsh which is a little disappointing because I still hear OVA!Darsh in my head from time to time. (dub!Darsh sounds a smidge young, which is kind of interesting all around) Spends the entire season telling a thorough version of the story that's raced through in the OVAs.

and then last quarter's JFF titles:

Ito - about an awkward introvert who goes to work at a maid cafe and everything that happens along the way.

A Handful of Salt, The Genealogy of Sake - two documentaries.

Three Sisters - family drama, where I never quite worked out how every single bit of the drama but there was a lot, but also a lot of good moments between the sisters.

Love & The Grand Tug of War - another family drama, also centered on a cultural festival that culminates with a city-wide tug of war.

Nabbie's Love - family drama, and all of these family dramas are set in specific parts of the country so also cultural dramas, with a wall-banger of an ending. This one had a lot of traditional musicians in various roles so there was a lot of music and song.

Of these, I probably liked Ito the best. I enjoyed watching all of them, as well as all the little cultural shorts explaining more about music and food and festivals and art, but none of them really hit the same spots as some previous JFF films.

Randoms

Sep. 6th, 2025 11:01 pm[personal profile] kalloway
kalloway: (FFVIIAC Hear Me Now)
[community profile] fandomgiftbasket has all the baskets posted now, so I'm skimming through to see what I might be able to fill.

The folks who made the mobile game Grimlight are about to launch a TCG, Echoes of Astra on Kickstarter. I don't need another TCG but I'll definitely watch and see how things go for them and probably end up with a starter.

Still deciding on Wares Blade (TTRPG) but there's time. I'll probably just get the basic hardcover.

I've possibly either finished Starfall, or finished him for now. He's on his shiny base and while I feel like I have a lot of leftover parts, some of them are because I cannot make him look as cool as some of the promo stuff and some are because of how runners work. I suppose I'll figure out where he's going to get displayed and go from there with packing the rest up. He does have a lot of decals but honestly, his stark darkness is a big part of his draw.

Visited a trio of cemeteries earlier, two on purpose and one on accident. The latter was very small, in extreme disrepair, and managed to be an absolutely overwhelming liminal space without feeling in any way creepy, scary, or upsetting. Of the other two, one was an old but active township cemetery and we darted out quickly when suddenly a couple dozen cars arrived for a service. The other was possibly also a township cemetery. It, too, was old but still active. And somehow surprisingly difficult to find, which was how we ended up at the small, liminal space cemetery. (Except getting back was very easy! Looking at the notes and book I was working from, the addresses were hysterically incorrect, maps drawn wrong, etc. So I wrote in some new notes but wtf. At least the farmers we kept encountering were all friendly.)

Semi-related, [personal profile] spook_me is open for sign-ups. No clue what I'm going to write, but something.
requiems: (ashe ☙ little red)
Time has gotten away from me so here's what I've done this week:

• my dad put up my new bookcases on Monday, and as I was ahead of my clearing schedule and had emptied out my original divider kallax, put three inserts into that
• I then cleared my dining table by putting 90% of that into aforementioned kallax inserts
• I take down a large painting frame with the intention of putting some smaller posters into it. I line them up. I know in my heart they are going to slip the instant I put the frame upright but I believe. They slip. I celebrate this non success by getting down another painting frame and replacing the posters much more successfully in that.
• I got a handful of figures out, mostly statues. I need to figure out what's going in my tall bookcases, my short bookcases, and what's going in the original kallax when double sided transparent acrylic inserts arrive. I also need to put the figure boxes in the bottom of my original kallax but can only do this now when I can easily access it with an empty dining table. So I pivot and spend three and a half days getting nineteen nendoroids and two figma out of their boxes.

(This isn't even all of the nendoroids or figma I own, lmao.)

I would not recommend getting out nineteen nendoroids somewhat consecutively to anyone. It was enjoyable in that I got to see my treasured possessions and pose them as I've always wanted to do, but I feel very discombobulated from time loss and exhausted: which should not be the case with small pieces of plastic but also unsurprising. Nendoroids are their own little nightmare as of themselves, especially when pegs do not fit or refuse to go in.

Still, the majority are temporarily displayed, and I can figure out what I want where with the visual assistance of being able to see everything accurately in size. The only figures I haven't freed are the ponies, Estelle, and a couple of nendoroid/figma. I also started going through another cupboard where most of the bigger box nendos were hiding out... it's on my list of things to do.

I have early groceries tomorrow and am also getting some sealing adhesive for bookcase door gaps, which will fully protect from dust getting in. And some hanging tape for the picture frame fiasco. But I may truly need a break for a week, we'll see.

My body also rejected three foods this week, one which was previously fine but is a case of natural flavourings striking again, another which should have been okay but wasn't, and one that was somewhat expected, so that's been, as always, super duper fun.

Days of What

Sep. 3rd, 2025 07:53 am[personal profile] kalloway
kalloway: (Panilla Saga 2 Mephisto)
I know I had something that I wanted to mention... Ah well.

It's honestly kinda nice that the work-week is half over already. Last night wasn't bad at all, either, just normal-busy with a few bits of bad timing. I ended up taking a few bits of a model kit (Starfall) in because while I don't mind gently reaming a single tight hole with my hobby knife now and then, fourteen of the same part is kind of pushing it for patience and safety. So I found an appropriate drill bit in the big box and just quietly took care of all of that between calls. ^^;;

I'm in a couple of gunpla discord servers and in one of them, a handful of people are basically playing tariff-chicken and reporting back. Current (and more research is needed) studies suggest that if a holy grail pops up on Suruga-ya in the $100-150 range, or an order around that amount is made, fees+tariffs pretty much negate the free shipping. Obnoxious but not horrific.

[community profile] bitesizedcleaning has their Annual September Stampede running right now. I haven't actually started on it, but I do want to give it a try. Flat surfaces... ^^;;

Oh, now I remember - I don't think I even mentioned this, but there was an anime convention last weekend a couple of towns away. I didn't go because it was a first year con, looked messy, and the single-day badges were something like $60. in this economy?! Anyway, some Youtuber guest of theirs was running a non-sanctioned predator sting and while a couple of people were arrested after being confronted, one of them was carrying a (completely legal) gun. I guess that while the police and con-ops were cooperative, they were also very much like 'uh, don't actually do this and we didn't think it'd be during con hours what the actual fuck'. So yeah I do not have words for how catastrophic that could have been and I am very glad I didn't go.

Clicky

Sep. 2nd, 2025 09:48 pm[personal profile] kalloway
kalloway: Tieria from Gundam 00 looking grumpy (Tieria)
The grocery store had a small rack of clicker-style Sakura Gelly Roll pens; I immediately bought a pack. (I will probably buy more.) Of course, being very used to normal Gelly Rolls, I keep trying to yank the 'cap' off them. ^^;; I'll get used to it... (I hope.)

I am not entirely sure, but last night might've been the first time in my years that we didn't even get close to finishing shop start-up. It was bad. It was not personally terrible for me; I was busy but never overwhelmed. But overall, yeah, machines hate long weekends. Or, perhaps, also do not want to go back to work after them. ^^;;

Of my international Kickstarters/Crowdfunding, one just went 'oh fuck US shipping dunno what I'm gonna do but I'll let you know', one said that a few weeks back, and I've not heard a peep from the last that I can think of. (That one is a ways out, though.) At least two other int'l projects are launching this month. I don't know what options will even be. (I wouldn't blame the one smaller one for just excluding US backers altogether.)

I picked up a September Bingo card on [community profile] lyricaltitles. Much like last year, I expect the fun will be picking songs and I won't actually manage to write anything.

Monthly Roundup Again

Sep. 1st, 2025 08:55 am[personal profile] kalloway
kalloway: Camilla from Fire Emblem Fates looking pleased/smug (FE:F Camilla)
Alas, August ended up being a huge pile of Too Hot, though I did get to go see the local Gunpla Builders World Cup event mid-month.

August Plans )

Seriously, there are a lot of days I got home from work, took a shower, ate something, and laid in bed looking at pictures of Gundams til it was time to sleep. (At least it wasn't all doomscrolling?)

Anyway, September...

September Plans )

Again, posting this before it gets lost...

What a Month This Week Was

Aug. 31st, 2025 08:52 am[personal profile] kalloway
kalloway: (Cemetery 2)
It is the weekend. Whew.

Fri - adulting. Follow up Dr's appt & updoot in meds but everything trending good, no other problems. Mailed stuff. Bundled insurance to save ~$200/yr. Farmer's market!

The weather has cooled into False Fall, which I will take, since even though Second Summer is surely waiting, it means we are off Hell's Front Porch.

Sat - adulting? Home improvement store with my father. Lunch with [personal profile] purplehellebore for one last bit of birthday. (I guess I am finally older?)

I want to set a goal for myself for [community profile] smallweb September, as far as archiving goes, but idk what yet. I would like to get things archived... (ETA: goal of 'archiving some stuff' set, lol)

Working on Starfall again, and I guess I'm ready to try painting my IIBB project. I know I'm running out of time there. ^^;; Humidity continues to thwart my ass but maybe I can start hand-painting some small bits and see how it goes.

And I'm going to post this before I decide not to bother. IDK why posting has gotten so something, but I suspect increasing General Universe Fatigue.

The season of Stadium

Aug. 28th, 2025 06:51 am[personal profile] requiems
requiems: (ashe ☙ so cynical)
I am still awake due to having to experiment on an ingredient and my body losing its collective marbles from what can be described as a splatter of sauce that was not even an amount. The pain is not too bad because it was so practically nothing, so I should escape it within a day (here's hoping). Having this reaction to chives was kind of expected but still, annoying!!

Whilst I'm awake though, Stadium recap. Season 17 ended on Tuesday evening, as did Drives. I did almost the entirety of Drives in Stadium bar a half dozen games in normal competitive, because the score thresholds were incredibly over generous in Stadium - two consecutive wins would clear a threshold, same if you had a singular loss in the middle, whereas standard could take you four to six wins per. The fact duo and I had a win streak helped for sure, but I was done in three days and returned to my side goal of maybe also getting Ashe into all star, which I was not planning to do. Then I hit Pro 2 just before Drives and was like, hngh, maybe I will try...



And I did it ♥ it was TOUGH. I switched my build up significantly after discovering how devastatingly impactful couch gun being able to set people on fire was, particularly in the first two rounds when the bonus flat damage to burning targets could instantly win you fights; the best way to do it with your baby dynamites later on is to toss the first in, detonate, coach gun them into the baby dynamites which also detonates them immediately and watch the kill feed fill up. I was winning rounds by myself... but unfortunately dps is not a role you can carry on in stadium. Truly the games I won I was seemingly underperforming purely because the rest of my team was competent.

It took 73 games/38 wins to get her into all star, a great deal more than the 50 games/30 wins both tank and support took, but as the love and light of my life, she was worth it. As you can tell... I played a hell of a lot of stadium this season. I kept a running tally of games played and competitive currency earned, and I played 226 games, won 121 of them, and accrued 5,120 competitive points for weapons over the course of the season, excluding the 3,000 point drive bonus - 8,120 overall. 3k is the cost of a weapon, and with Juno's as well, I got three out of this season and am a third of the way to the next already. It really was the season of stadium for me.

And as a reward for all star, of course Ashe had to get her galactic. And Brigitte, she is my goat.






Season 18 has kicked off but unfortunately they added something into competitive stadium that nobody asked for, which will dramatically reduce my time in the mode until they maybe remove it (and if they don't, i doubt I'll play tank or dps again in it for a while). (ETA: no mirror picks was disabled. Total time in the game: 49 hours. lmao.) In the meantime, I'm building myself a Brigitte build as she was just added in, and hopefully one for Moira whilst I'm at it...

Next time I really will sit down and talk builds. And also about undercoverfic. I went through C1-6 again and posted C1-3, C4-6 are ready to go and 4 will go up this week (6 I added in something at the start, so maybe a bit more work later on) and dove in to rewriting C7-10. C7 has been mostly rewritten except for some Cassidy aligned things I have not had the Cassidy inner train of thought epiphanies for yet, but likely an introspective for that soon before I move on to rewriting C8.

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