Chit Chat and Recommendation Post: February 2024! (Patreon)

Hello, Patrons! And happy Leap Yeap!

It's time for our first Chit Chat and Recommendation post of the year! A comfy space to update  each other on what we've been doing lately and all the things we’ve enjoyed during the month! My apologies for skipping January; my brain continues to function like a sieve with a shotgun blast through the net. But hey, at least that means I have more interesting recs to share this time out!

My January and February were busy as usual with real life commitments and responsibilities (RIP my burst pipe), but also a bit odd in spots! January felt a bit like being in stasis where the channel was concerned, because there was just so much fiddly stuff to do behind the scenes what with transferring everything over to a new computer and whatnot. 

I also spent some time gradually upgrading my studio space, pack of acoustic foam by pack of acoustic foam. Summer is going to be interesting, considering how much insulation I'm adding in there! Will it be an oven? Or a cool oasis? We'll see, I guess!

With everything transferred to the new computer, my old laptop has also finally started its cozy retirement as my gaming machine. And to celebrate, I dipped back into the Sims for the first time in like two years. I even made a version of the channel mascot, and tried to truly capture the Vanilla Velvet experience in a Sim:

If you don't love me at my Erratic Trait, you don't deserve me at my Romantic/Goofball Trait.

Silly? Yes. Of course! When am I not?!

Anyway, here are some other things I've enjoyed since the beginning of 2024!

Articles!

The 150 Greatest Sci-Fi Movies of All Time: My journey to cinephilia started with these kinds of lists (picture a Young Velvet, age 13, feverishly writing in her diary about all the cult movies a PBS documentary mentioned that she HAD to see) so they have a soft spot in my black little heart. This is a solid one! I was pleasantly surprised to see campier favorites of mine like Barbarella, Deathrace 2000 and This Island Earth alongside more respected classics like Soylent Green and Forbidden Planet.

You know me, I love the cheese.

How the Titanic's gym forever changed fitness: How do I keep reading sports-related articles when I don't care much about sports? No idea! But this was fascinating: a look at the gym on the Titanic, a concept that was pretty new and novel in its day! 

I've actually gotten super interested in exercise science recently (it's a long story, but I...kinda think maybe I want to be a personal trainer someday??) and this article merged that new super specific interest with history in a cool way that kept me occupied for quite awhile!

Podcasts!

Dear Hank and John: The Vlogbrothers--vertical video sensation/science communicator Hank Green, and YA novelist/Giant Squid of Anger John Green--being dorky nerds and giving dubious advice while I'm doing dishes and making thumbnails and such has made my life so much better. They're like a warm hug to me, and always will be. 💖

Weird Stuff and Websites!

Apple Rankings.com: A comedian and apple enthusiast ranks and reviews apples, often scathingly. That's it. I stumbled on this completely at random and spent too much time there. I love you, internet. You're so weird.

[Manga Talk]: I've been interested in vintage manga for a few years now (1950's-1980's, particularly!) and this is a great resource about shoujo! One of my favorite things about delving into pop culture is, once becoming familiar with a genre, poking through its earlier incarnations! I find tracing the origins of genre conventions so engrossing!

Games!

Yakuza/Like a Dragon/Ryū ga Gotoku 1-5: I have a confession to make: I've been slowly making my way through the Yakuza series for months. You may remember a friend gifted me a copy of one of the games back in like...2022? 

Sadly, because my time for dedicated gaming has been so sporadic, it's taken foreeeever to get this far in the series. Usually when I have downtime, I don't have the mental energy to throw myself into a long narrative, so I fall back on games I can easily jump in and out of, like management sims and the like.

But I love Yakuza! The characters are wonderful and the game play is fun. It's definitely a mixed bag, far from flawless, but the stuff I adore I really, REALLY adore. Definitely check it out!

Startup Panic: One of the aforementioned games I can easily start and stop when my brain is too fried for anything more complicated or emotionally taxing, Startup Panic is a management sim in the Game Dev Tycoon mold. Start a company! Manage it! Get called out for being a workaholic by the narrative!

Fuck you, Clippy. Don't tell me how to live my life.

Aaand...that's about it for me, this month! How are you all doing? See/play/read anything good?