Read some reviews of the Aespa concerts in Australia as prep for my review. A lot of people said they mimed much of the performance, which if true, is a drag, but I didn’t notice. A lot of criticism for the in between lore video dramas. A lot of negativity in general. Not really a reflection of my own experience. I guess some people just like to complain. Sucks being them.
| Watched a nice video on Youtube titled How To Structure a Kpop Song. The Vlogger, 2ndgenbias, really knew her stuff, including unusually structured songs like Aespa’s Next Level and raved over Nmixx’s O.O. Then there was a cheeky coda featuring Girl’s Generation’s I Gotta Boy, which pretty much started it all.
Played more Surviving Mars. I’ve finished the tutorial. Can’t wait to get back into it. |
Had a session of Surviving Mars. Loaded one of my old games, titled Marsport. Turns out it’s a Twice-themed game I must have made around 2021 during Covid. The city is called Twice Town and there are five domes running, each named after a Twice member. I’m pretty sure my goal for this game was to eventually create nine domes so I had one for each member. That is so typical of me, but I’d forgotten I’d done it. I have domes named after Jihyo (the biggest one for some reason, but appropriate as she’s the leader), Jeongyeon, Momo, Sana and Mina. None for Nayeon, Dahyun, Chaeyoung or Tzuyu, my poor babies. I guess I’ll have to get cracking and make those other four domes. But first I have to manage my population, which is what I started to do for this session.
It’s actually not a badly designed city. I put a bit of work into it and everything runs pretty smoothly. The main issue is managing the work force, which is constantly being made unemployed because I’ve installed a lot of automation. There was also occasional homelessness, which I quickly fixed, because I can’t abide having any of my people homeless. The virtual reality workshop is booming, and I guess that’s where a lot of my unemployed colonists are hanging out. The only resource I seem to be down on is electronics, although I have a fully functioning electronics factory. I had to send a rocket back to Earth for a fresh shipment. I also took one of the rovers out for a scenic drive. There’s so much more to do. I think I’ll make some schools or research centres where some of my unemployed or unskilled colonists can get some training and start to specialise. It feels so good to be back in this game. So, expect more updates!
Had the day off so played a lot of Surviving Mars. I put up the four missing domes to complete my Twice collection. The Maknae line Tzuyu, Chaeyoung and Dahyun all got barrel domes. Nayeon got a regular dome. Now I just need to fill them with buildings and people. Also watched a series of Youtube training vids on the game to give me some tips on how to proceed. The vlogger, Skye Storme, is a British guy with a very infectious nerdy enthusiasm for the task. Gave some good tips, especially on how to control my population.
Played more Surviving Mars. Started a new challenge game where I have to get 5 machine parts, 5 electronics and 5 polymers made on Mars before a set date. Not doing too well so far. Main problem is I haven’t been able to connect my polymer factory to a dome in order to start producing them.
Gave up on the new challenge game. That fucking polymer factory just wasn’t playing dice. And a never-ending dust storm shut down my power. It was obviously time to kill it. I’ll have to try a new challenge.
 Didn’t do much today. Arvo work at FTG, chat with colleague Mario. He told me a funny thing about the TV show Get Smart. There was an episode featuring KAOS’s rock band, called The Sacred Cows. Their mantra was Kill, Kill, Kill. Then he went online and showed me a clip on Youtube. It was hilarious. It features Larry Storch as the Groovy Guru. Max and 99 can’t resist dancing to/being controlled by their groovy music, with 99 especially getting into it. The three guys who played the band were a real group, called the Wailers (not the Marley version). Made delivery of the first lot of my Weird reservations, including a Poe and Jinji Ito manga.
Had the evening shift, which gave me time to work on the poster for the Weird Fiction display. Have added that definition of the genre from HP Lovecraft, plus a picture of the man. Worked on my Weird Fiction poster at work. I think it’s finished. Added a centipede, but I think maybe I’d prefer a raven. There was also an author talk in the evening shift I was on. The author, Katherine Larsen, was launching her book The Little Black Book of Publishing. I spoke to her before the presentation and mentioned I’d self published a book (Eye of the Timegate) and she congratulated me on that feat. I was interested enough in the book to buy a copy off her afterwards, and got her to kindly sign my copy. Added that raven to my Weird Fiction poster. Also changed the font on the heading. Printed out the final version as a poster. Here ‘tis.
| Inertia is the word…For what? Guess! But it does seem to sum it up. Trust me. Have thought of something I’m calling Paris Hilton syndrome. It’s the desire to become rich and famous by doing fuck all. I’ve seen a lot of examples of it lately. Prime candidates: Blackpink. Though, to be fair, they at least did the bare minimum. The pager explosions that went off in Lebanon yesterday, and that were done by Israel, seemed to be hailed by the MSM as nothing unusual, instead of the terrorist acts that they were. Imagine if Hezbollah detonated pagers held by Israeli soldiers, that killed some of them plus civilians in the heart of Jerusalem. It would be called a terrorist act by them.  My Twitter feeds were agog with news that Twice Momo’s solo song for the new Misamo album (titled Haute Couture) will be called Money In My Pocket. It prompted the first tweet from me in ages. I just wrote ‘I hope she uses her Momo voice’. It’s important.
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Conversations With Paul
I was in the JB store in Knox having just knocked off work, and seriously considering buying the bluray of the third Evangelion movie, 3.33, when my old mate Paul rang. I haven’t seen him for about two years. He was in my neighbourhood so came around with his wife, Joanne. The thing about Paul is he’s more obsessed with pop culture than I am. When we get together it’s a popculturequake, which isn’t much fun for his wife, who gets left out. Anyway, over beer and pizza, among all the PC talk, Paul told me about some Youtube sites to check out on music and books, including Bookpilled and the Classic Album Review site. We watched CAR’s feature on Led Zeppelin and the Mudshark, a story I already knew, but fun to have it recapped. He also recommended and played on Spotify an Irish singer, Muireann Bradley, who sounded a little like Jolie Holland, one of my faves. Then there was his Mellotron song playlist on Spotify. He’s always full of great pop culture references.
I could go on, but I’ll leave it there – except for the coda. Paul and Joanne had parked their very large car on the lawn in my front yard, and when they tried to back out they got bogged. My brother Carl, who has a 4WD that would easily tow it out, was in bed asleep. So I drove them back to the B&B they were staying at nearby, with the intention of driving them back tomorrow when the car could be pulled out. But when I arrived at this B&B it looked amazingly like a house I often see in my dreams. It was uncanny. I love discovering these dream places bumping up against my conscious reality. It doesn’t happen very often. I can only think of one such other place, but it’s a magical phenomenon to me.
To be continued…