Topic: The Chit Chat Thread

@TheBrandedSwordsman I love to read (particularly fantasy and sci-fi) but I need to have some free time and be fully relaxed or my racing-mind just veers off from what I'm reading and the next thing I know is, I've done twenty-or-so pages and cant remember a thing.

I'm not familiar with Stapleton but know of Morcock and like his viewpoint. I really like Iain M Banks but am struggling to find the time to invest in his works.

@TheBrandedSwordsman you've actually inspired me, as it's a quiet day in the office I'm gonna start Consider Phlebas... just one more time.

@colonelkilgore Right on, man. Wouldn't you prefer...The Player of Games though? As someone who uses this forum? 🤣

@TheBrandedSwordsman nice! Well that'll be my next one after CP, as it was the next one that was published. Let's hope this quiet spell in work lasts a while eh?

@colonelkilgore You're reading whilst at work? Hope none of your bosses use Push Square!

@TheBrandedSwordsman Nah, I'm actually a 4-star General, so they would never think that I'd assume such a lowly rank as Colonel 🤫

@TheBrandedSwordsman I only caught the post-tea session of the test this morning. The coverage was pretty good although the on screen graphics were a bit weird (maybe to compensate for 4:3 screen size?).

Delighted for Root getting his ton on his 100th test and gutted for Sibley not managing to last the over.

@Thrillho Yeah Burns did well as an opening batsman I felt? But, yes Joe Root did well, and still in ,I believe. Are you a fan of cricket in general? Watching tomorrow?

@Jimmer-jammer I think I had a conversation on here with someone about the life of sex drugs & rock n' roll generally dividing the artists in society from the "regular people" it's a clear-cut choice about who you want to be sending you down either path, as a musician and someone who smokes that stuff I think you fall into the artist category, what do you think on this subject?

N.B I am only talking in generalized and traditional definitions of artists and non-artists, and obviously there are many grey areas in between where you indulge or don't up to or less than a certain level of either black or white extreme.

Furthermore, what do you think about the relationship between drugs and art in general?
imo all you need is your imagination to create art, but if you fall into a clique or scene the drugs and peer pressure are always gonna be there, to the detriment, presumably, one would think, of the art.

@TheBrandedSwordsman It sounded like Burns was doing well but had an utter brain fart for the shot that got him out (I only saw it in the end of play highlights).

Three centuries for Root this year already is pretty amazing too!

I do like cricket but just don’t get to see much of it seeing as it all went to Sky. And much like F1, I then almost always end up missing the highlights so only read the reports online. My dad took me to England vs Bangladesh in the World Cup the other year which was amazing. Watching the final on TV was awesome too!

I’ll probably see some of the post-tea session again tomorrow.

And then the Six Nations kicks off in the afternoon

@colonelkilgore Rofl ok, General!

@Thrillho Excellent, I've only been to Lord's once but would like to go again, I am looking forward to seeing how Stokes performs in this match, personally, especially after the heroics at Headingley! Good point about Root, though - three centuries in that space of time is very impressive indeed. Regarding Burns, yes, that was an astounding reverse-sweep and I have no idea what he was thinking, astounding for all the wrong reasons!

@TheBrandedSwordsman at ease swordsman!

@Jimmer-jammer I don't believe we've discussed this before - Where do you stand on Miyazaki's Souls games? They're some of my favourite games besides Legacy of Kain: Defiance and some Resident Evil and Silent Hill games.

My avatar is a picture of a build I created in Dark Souls Remastered (Baldur Armour, Golem Gauntlets (from a boss), Knight leggings, and Greatsword) based on the main character from the manga that partially inspired Dark Souls, and my name is a nickname for that character within the manga.

@TheBrandedSwordsman sorry to butt in but cool story that has a little to do with your subject-matter. I got heavily into souls games as we have discussed previously. I eventually learned of how there was some loose inspiration from the manga Berserk, so immediately ordered the Blu-ray of the old anime translation from the 90’s and absolutely loved it. Then a couple of weeks after I finished the anime for the first time and was playing Dark Souls 3, I got to the end of The Ringed City (the Dark Souls 3 epic dlc) and was struggling a little against the Slave Knight Gael. After a couple of deaths, a summon sign appeared at the bonfire just as I respawned so I summoned and the player that emerged could not have looked more like Guts... in fact I’m pretty sure his username was Gatsu-something or another.

He was pretty epic and we kicked Gael’s ass without much drama. It was an epic way to conclude my first play through of the trilogy.

@Jimmer-jammer If you can handle black and white graphics then the manga is great, otherwise, just watch the anime of the 90s series like @colonelkilgore did, I've seen some of that and I've read the manga's deluxe edition up to volume 6 (volume 7 due out in march) and, you'll be pleased to know that I've also pre-ordered the Sweeth Tooth compilation. Jeff Lemire is Canadian, as I'm sure you're already aware - is that how you got to hear about him? Is he popular over there or did you just Google Canadian graphic novelists or something?

@Jimmer-jammer I think that drugs can be quite bad for you, full stop, but being involved in art scenes I have always been around people who took them, some of whom are still my friends today, but afaik there is no indulgence going on nowadays - people are in a similar situation to yourself, starting families and working jobs. The problem is that family life is directly opposed to the artistic one, for the most part, it's hard to be a bohemian and hold down a nine-to-five job.

Example of this: I did a jazz gig in London pre-covid at a notable jazz venue, and one of the other acts frontmen snorted a line of something at the bar before going on stage! I was just so shocked and disgusted by this that it put me off playing in bands for a while. Those people are always going to be around, unfortunately, wherever there is any form of art. I am sure Raphael and Da Vinci or their contemporaries were into cocaine and laudanum, the romantic poets certainly indulged in the latter.

But I digress, I think, personally I am just comfortable writing songs and recording guitar pieces at home as a hobby, rather than (looking to the future, post-covid times) getting mixed up with substance abusers as part of a scene.

Also, I think I will probably give up the guitar in favour of game design as a hobby before too long, because I have this mentality of: If you are going to be an artist, you have to go all in, at least in music: just do everything that comes with being a part of that scene or you won't truly be an artist, unless you're 100% living that lifestyle. Playing guitar and recording by myself is just like having my toes in the water, rather than taking the plunge.

However, afaik ,and according to everything I've read, game design is much more like a regular job, I can't imagine someone like Miyazaki indulging in substance abuse at all, let alone, for example during the process of crafting something like Bloodborne or Elden Ring. Therefore my hobby isn't something I'd associate with an art movement like music, as it is an art and a science at the same time, and, whilst I've already created some basic game design documents as a casual thing, I'd like to take it more seriously, over guitar, in the future.

You may wonder about my Creative Writing studies - that is just academia, I hope to be an English Literature academic one day and just thought Creative Writing would be an easier Master's for me than an Eng Lit one, but I hope to go on to do a PhD in Eng Lit before becoming a fully-fledged academic.

But now, back to drugs and art, have a look at this article:

https://www.kooness.com/posts/magazine/the-ever-lasting-relat...

@Jimmer-jammer the Ringed City is tough, particularly the bosses... but (& this probably should go in the unpopular gaming opinions thread) it’s my favourite area/location in all of the Souls Games.

... and Darkeater Midir, wow he was really hard! Proper satisfaction on defeating him though.

drugs are 4 mugs but drugs are fun in moderation. Alcohol is a drug. Nicotine is a drug. Chocolate is a drug. Those pills you bought from that one-toothed guy in the club toilets are drugs. Just don’t be stupid and you’ll probably be fine.

@colonelkilgore Congratulations on beating Slave Knight Gael with a fellow Gatsu-cosplayer. I reckon he had Griffith in his mind when he took him down. 😉 Do you reckon you will at least platinum DS3 if you haven't platinumed any of the other Souls games already? I think that should be the easiest, and a worthy notch on your trophy-belt.