we can raise cities or raze them, it whispers

I'm gonna just assume everyone who is able has watched PSY's "Gangnam Style" music video. I believe we have here is the apex of global swag levels, the likes of which we will never see again in our lifetimes. I for one am honored to have witnessed this historic moment.

Okay, so I'm sick enough that I'm at the "heat up broth and butter some bread" stage, and I am going to now write about what video games each person in the Dresden Files would play if they all could play video games.

( I'm rather proud of myself for not projecting too hard on anyone here. )

brb need more broth now

1. So I just spent a full week reteaching myself computer information systems and web scripting after the drama of the move wrecked my college, right? And I succeeded (my teacher says he anticipates a huge recovery in my grade from all my catch-up work) for all intents and purposes.

Basically, Saturday was the first day in three solid weeks that I had to myself. No obligations, no moving, nothing to worry about for 24 hours.

So obviously my period decides to arrive that morning and incapacitate me for the duration.

My luck, guys. My fucking luck.


2. I HAVE DISCOVERED JOHN GREEN'S CRASH COURSE: WORLD HISTORY SERIES. oh my gooooood this shit is fascinating as fuck and hilarious and Green's enthusiasm for history makes it VERY easy to learn. I DIDN'T KNOW THAT ABOUT SNAILS! TELL ME MORE, JOHN GREEN! /chinhands


3. I realized yesterday that I haven't visited LJ to do anything but reply to comments in months. So it's gone from my bookmark bar. Do folks still use LJ? Whyyyyy. Come to DW, it's better in pretty much every way.


4. I am excited for Elementary and the next person to claim they are ripping off BBC Sherlock will be fed to a lion. This summarizes my feelings on the matter well:


A tweet by user peasantings saying "I'm really glad Sir Arthur Conan Doyle came back from the grave, and told Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat 'worry about my brand.'"

Moffat, shut your mouth and go ruin some more female characters or whatever it is you do in your free time.


5. So. Fic. I'm settled in Florida and despite the fact I fucking hate being here and everything about this fucking state (ask my about my grandmother's racism sometime), I am slowly getting back into the swing of writing again. I have a shortish one-shot Dresden fic that is half Binz's fault and half thisfishflies's fault about Harry wearing nail polish.

(Actually it's mostly Binz's fault because if you get her talking about Harry's idealization of femininity, she will give you Ideas about Harry embracing parts of himself he feels he's not allowed to and you will get Feels and it will suck, but seriously, if Binz wants to talk at you about this, let her, it's fascinating and full of feels.)

(Also, the fic is called Hand Jobs, WHICH I WANT TO ESTABLISH WAS BINZ'S IDEA. NOT MINE.)

So that'll eventually get posted. Then it's time for some fucking Matter of Chicago renewal, aaaaw yeeeeah.


6. 100% unrelated to Dresden, I have been slowly writing a Dragon Age: Origins fic that's pretty much me dealing with the game's lack of dealing with issues of anti-elf racism and the fact the City Elf origin revolves around rape and sexual assault. It's not grimdark, but it's pretty serious. Totally unbeta'ed though. For the curious: oh, bring me a love that can sweeten a sword.


7. I don't believe in uppercased letters in titles okay? okay.


8. So on Tumblr for some inexplicable reason there has been a random renaissance of The 10th Kingdom, a miniseries you probably never heard of but it was amazing, okay? It was a post-modern twist on fairy tales and had some really stellar writing and some of the most interesting characters ever. And this 10K renaissance reminded me of my love for the protagonist, Virginia Lewis, and that in turn made me think about the Characters I Have Loved. I came up with four, and I'm going to briefly share them with you under the cut.

( Characters Lucy Has Really Strong Feelings About )

10. Hey, anyone have any advice on getting cheap airplane flights? Or maybe have some coupon codes lying around? Just wondering.

Okay guys. We're going to sit down and talk about why the ending to Mass Effect 3 is terrible and why if you write off the fanbase as entitled brats, you don't understand the situation.

So here is the non-Mass Effect Fans' Guide To Why The ME3 Ending Was Objectively Terrible.

( Spoilers abound under the cut. )



That got long-winded to say the least. I hope it was illuminating and I hope I've shed some light on why fans are so angry. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me.

The worst of this is, outside the endgame, ME3 was almost flawless. It was the most emotive, powerful piece of fiction I have ever seen. If made me think, gave me real cause for personal reflection and made me think about ethical dilemmas I'd never considered before. It was a fucking masterwork.

And it was all throw out the window by that endings.

Bioware can fix this, and I hope they do. Their fans deserved better, and the story deserved better. As I told Holly, this is like Lord of the Rings having the same ending as 2001: A Space Odyssey.

It is Actually That Terrible.

Yesterday was one of the most painful days of my life. I spent most of it crying and looking at links and trying to distract myself from the pain. Ugh. Sucks.


I did actually find something pretty sweet. If you're even remotely interested in games, Amazon is having a huge games sale. If I had the money, I'd be picking up Civ5 or Civ4+expansions for 9 USD. There's also Spore, Battlefield BC2, both Dead Space games, and a Dragon Age 1 + Dragon Age 2 pack for just 12 USD. Crazy deals, guys.

From what the Amazon rep said (really nice guy), the Civ games should activate on Steam while most others on Origin, if that's a factor for you. ETA: OH and apparently the deal is America-exclusive. Shit, sorry about that. 8( I've seen it work for Aussies too though, so you may wanna check.

fireholly has made something that will be relevant to your interests if you are a video gamer.



[IMAGE: A bingo square for sexism in video games wank. LONG list of squares under the cut, but worth reading.]

( List of squares for screenreaders. )

"You were gone!"
"I came back!"
"Yes, and now Garrus is doing more than calibrating the main guns!"

DAMN GURL, YOU TELL HER.

This replay was the best idea ever. Liara, at long last, is FTW.


Okay, sorry. Last ME post for a while. I'm super fucking psyched after seeing the new E3 exclusives, but I haven't played the Arrival DLC yet and ME3 is nine months away, so. Yeah.

NGL, I am so angry at this chapter of MoC, I want to print it out just so I can set it on fire.

It's fucking FILLER. It's interludey shit before the next arc. Why is it so hard?!




Anyway. I'm randomly replaying Mass Effect 2. I forgot how much I fucking love this game. The writing is crisp and amazing. The VA work, even with such a wide and varied cast, is excellent (ESPECIALLY Jennifer Hale's female Shepard). The graphics are beautiful and some of the vistas are stunning. And the world-building is second to none.

No one world-builds like this game, holy crap. This is the only game where I'll voluntarily read all the background info from the in-game encyclopedia. I love the way the universe feels so lived in. You exist, yes, but history has already happened and it colors everything. The subtle tension between humans and turians that harkens back to the First Contact War, the way the asari control so much just by virtue of being so versatile and being the first race to find the Citadel, the entire Batarian-Human racism. You know the Skyllian Verge colonization is a hot-button issue, like a futuristic Israel.

I loooooove it. So excited for whatever BioWare has to show off at E3 this summer. ♥

Okay, so I can almost guarantee that the next chapter of The Matter of Chicago is going to be late because



came out today and I have it baby YEAH. This is going to ROCK SO HARD.


Also, note to fellow gamers: If you pick up Portal 2, remember the PS3 version comes with an activation code for a Steam copy of the game for your PC. So you basically get two copies of it.

Aperture Science: We do what we must because we can!

Dear today's Penny Arcade! comic,

Gosh. It must be so nice to shrug shit like that off.

Check your privilege.

Unimpressed,
-Aunt Lucy



I am starting to dislike this thread in PA! that when there is controversy, it's simply people wanking over things we can't change. Duke Nukem Forever allowing you to spank women is not equivalent to Call of Duty letting you "murder, like, a million people." The two points have little to do with each other. War games do not mock their subject matter and belittle soldiers. DNF? It was already juvenile and reinforcing bullshit stereotypes about gaming's maturity level. This is not helping the case.

Also, guys? It's still homophobic to use "that's gay"/"you're a fag" as insults. You were wrong there too.

I got Flower to install on my PS3.

It's so beautiful, I can't even

I cried at the end of the second level. Oh my god.