May 2020 Week 2 – stopthefud

Video Game 35: Levelhead:

I forgot I played this last week, but to be fair, I played it for part of a day. Levelhead is a 2D platformer with a focus on its level editor. The editor is fine. It isnt great to use on a standard controller, but it functions. My problem is more with the gameplay itself. Its a pretty traditional 2D platformer. The aspect that makes it unique is that its about delivering packages. To finish a level you need to collect a package somewhere in the level and bring it to the finish. Carrying a package doesnt limit your options, but improves them. You can use the package to reach higher areas, activate pressure plates, and other such things. The problem is that none of these aspects feel particularly good to use. They also arent taught very well. There is no narrative pushing the campaign forward, so what you get is just progressively harder levels. The suite of user created content is a mixed bag as well. Some players just forget the checkpoint system and other make things just fine. I liked the humor of the trailer, but none of that charm successfully carried over to the game.

Yeah I got a copy. Well two actually. I couldnt run the version built for DirectX 12, but I found a zip containing a version that uses Open GL and that worked. Its Super Mario 64. It might just be my old laptop that is the issue, but if I ever accidentally wiggled the usb port I used to connect my Xbox One controller the game would start having issues. It could certainly get better, but this is something that I probably wont fully explore until I have a desktop to play it on. For now Ill keep it safely on my laptop.

Its finally leaving Game Pass so now I have a fire under my ass to finish it. Im now a full two levels in and it might just be because all of the levels so far have been indoors, but the environments feel cramped and the path forward not always clear. Im playing on easy so difficulty isnt an issue, but I do wish the subtitles were much bigger. In a game where a lot of the speech is in German, I feel like getting this right should have been a bigger priority. This game will be done by next weeks post.

I planned to do the trilogy this week, but sadly the 2005 entry isnt coming until later this year. Escape to Witch Mountain is certainly an old movie, but its good. It uses a lot of practical effects work that has aged pretty well. In fact it isnt until the end of the movie that they start using special effects work that hasnt aged well. I dont think its a must see, but its fun and if you have the Disney+ its something to consider.

The sequel is much worse. The leading duo return for what they hope to be an authentic teenage experience when the brother is kidnapped by Christopher Lee who uses mind control to make him perform evil deeds. The sister teams up with a gang of ten year olds to find and rescue her brother. This is a dumb movie that has a few exceptionally funny spots. There are some interesting dynamics with the villain duo, one being a scientist who wants fame and the other being a woman funding him who wants fortune. This could be a fun dynamic with a better script, but as is Return from Witch Mountain is just not worth watching. Its not bad enough to be entertaining, at least not often enough.

I was made aware of this movie through Red Letter Medias coverage of it. When I saw it on Amazon Prime I knew I had to watch it. Its funny, but not like super funny. Its probably something that would be better enjoyed in larger numbers than my party of one. I cant say it isnt worth watching, but Id recommend getting a group together for it.

Fuck this movie. Just fuck it. Ella Enchanted is a movie that gives me reason to use a certain four letter word I dont often use, especially in written form, but the story has a female character so awful and unredeemable that the only word to describe her is cunt. Ella Enchanted is a sort of take on the Cinderella narrative. The twist is that from birth, or shortly afterwards anyway, Ella was enchanted. the aforementioned cunt gave Ella the gift of obedience. This means she will follow any command. Someone jokingly says bite me? She bites them. Someone says hurry up? Super speed. Someone tells you to wait right there while she is in the middle of the street? Oops. Someone tells her to blame her friend of another ethnicity for her bad behavior that was a result of this awful enchantment and then tell her she never want to see her again? Congratulations now she was forced to be a racist. The first thirty minutes of this movie are genuinely uncomfortable to watch. Its like this movie inspired J.K. Rowling to invent the imperius curse, but even she was like tone that shit down.

Now the movie is about Ella going on a quest to get rid of this curse by finding the cunt who did this to her, but the movie continues to use this curse for comedic effect. And it is never funny. Not once. As a take on the Cinderella story it does a better job making the dynamic between the prince and Ella interesting, but the leads dont have any chemistry. The movie has plenty diegeticsinging of real world songs that make the world feel poorly realized. Sure Shrek does it, but thats a good comedy that does it once. This movie is a terrible comedy that keeps doing it. Ella Enchanted has a 50% on Rotten Tomatoes. That clearly tells me that 50% of the critics who reviewed this movie shouldnt be allowed to be critics anymore. Ella Enchanted is a movie that starts awfully and never recovers. Maybe the book this is apparently based on is better, but this movie is a cinematic abomination that I will never watch again if I can help it.

This is a strange one. Its a movie about a woman who clearly has some psychological issues using her inheritance to travel west and become friends with an Instagram user who seems to be really nice. The movie is generally well acted and all, but its characters by the end are all unlikeable and by the end of the movie Im not feeling like the message the movie ends up trying to impart was warranted. This isnt a bad movie, but I dont think I would recommend it.

Ive continued gathering and placing villagers into my trading tunnel. I have a lot of easy methods for making diamonds and a lot of good deals on books. Ive got silk touch for a mere five emeralds. Ive got a boss fishing rod, but other than that Ive pretty much been pickily getting good book deals and farming stuff. My hill top house hasnt made much progress, though I have ideas of how to expand it into the ground.

I actually sort of slowed down this week. I sold a large amount of turnips for a small profit. Ive cleared out the basement and first floors of my house to store turnips. I also got a 5 star town. The rocks are all slowly starting to spawn into the garden I made for them. I got my resident Angus to move out so Maple could move in. She was one of my OGs from Wild World so her popping into the campsite without me needing to forge an amiibo card for her felt like a sign. Hopefully by the end of the week the rocks will be in place and I can finish setting up my town to my liking.

I dropped in and just need to wrap up the challenges for the final two weeks of the event. Im perfectly happy with the season being extended. It gives me time to wrap things up before I drop out for awhile. Fortnite is a really fun game, but as a game as a service, I find it hard to be motivated to keep up.

So the week leading up to this weekend wasnt that special. I completed the Kanto celebration research, and over the weekend I did the Johto one as well. Probably the best thing that happened during the week was a single shiny Pinsir I nabbed heading to work. The highlight of the weekend and the week as a whole was the Philadelphia Safari Zone from home. More than one tenth of the shiny Pokmon Ive caught in Pokmon Go were caught in a single day. Over the course of the event my shiny catches included four Yanma, three Krabby, three Marill, two Meditite, a single Snubbull, three Bronzor, four Voltorb, a single Mr. Mime, back to back Alolan Sandshrew, a single Ponyta, two Alolan Vulpix, a single Swablu, and one Safari Hat Pikachu. I accumulated over 400,000 star dust and it was dope. I am highly looking forward to the real thing. Its a shame the gathering itself was canceled, but I look forward to going when the event actually happens.

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May 2020 Week 2 - stopthefud