Author’s Note: I’m aware this is quite long! the following link will take you to the section labled Blaseball, I keep it at the bottom of the article so someone not interested in my non blaseball thoughts can consume what they please. Additionally on review I’ll probably do bi-monthly “This the the stuff I think is cool as hell” section, sans the blaseball fanworks appreciation that’s always gonna be here.
Blaseball Play and Siesta
Click the above link for my thoughts!
I think February is a strange month, in terms of the false start it provides between the transition between winter and spring. It’s been cold. I’ve been tired.
Things are starting to thaw?
Evidently from the recent updates I’m quite focused on my personal site. It’s been a welcomed piece of fun for me. I’m reteaching myself JavaScript, which is nightmarish, but hey, this blog is running so that’s a plus. I’ve been messing around with art, specifically the pixel kind, a lot of stuff isn’t ready to be put on my site yet, but I’m getting there.
In terms of other affairs, I’ve been applying for additional work and housing situations as returning in the fall draws closer. I’ve been filling in morning shifts, from 7am to 12pm several times a week just about, it’s a radio station job that I’ve done for a long time. I find being up that early with a task to focus on extremely fulfilling. It’s harder to keep that energy up working at home. But the call of radio work is always there man. It’s pretty funny.
There’s this artist I quite like, Annabelle Gao, who did a series some time ago called Slow Living. I think there’s an obvious difference between the lives she and I live, but I do find a lot of her motivational sentiment and vulnerability quite refreshing. There’s a lot of good to take from the work she does! Both artistically and as what I kind of what, working as an adult in fields I’m passionate about. (An aside, I’d love to find other women, in particular fat women or queer women who document their lives from an artistic standpoint, I haven’t had much luck there. You ache to see people like you yknow?)
I think Slow Living stuck in particular in my head because of the length of time it’s taken me to repair a lot of the routines and fix the damage those disruptions caused for me. When I reflect on January, I am proud of the cycles I took through recovery, and I’m excited for more to come.
There’s so much in the world that I cannot control, and it terrifies me greatly, but I can fight for what I can control.
Blaseball: Play and Siesta
Running parallel to the cycles of life and work and personal affairs is of course the cycle of everyone’s favorite fictional death sport, Blaseball.
The team behind it announced this week that they will be going on a longer siesta as both the fanbase and the development team recognized the major problems with the sim, the UI and accessibility could not be resolved as the game went on.
I am so, so incredibly relieved for them.
I’m going to be frank, I think it is so vital to give grace and nuance to creators, artists, designers, anyone who is working to provide something to others. I sent in accessibility complaints, the Wild Wings’ season one was wrought with bugs, errors, and glitches (I say this not in a “we were being targeted way” more of a “they changed our acronym and it broke the entire team page view on the site way.”)It was a mess on all sides, whether or not they believed they were ready for the Return or not.
I still had a lot of fucking fun.
I think I find as someone who participated in, watches and engages with actual sports, the frustrations being levied at The Game Band are quite expected; its like staring into a funhouse mirror where parodies of both the sports industry and the games industry are seen all the way down here. I also think a large part of the community who, while existing in not too dissimilar positions as TGB in terms of being hungry and passionate people at all levels of their professions, understand the highs and lows that come with the development of what is arguably a product of pandemic mind power.
I’m not going to be the person to rattle on about the funding they’ve received, we’re all living in capitalist hell. I am going to be the person to say I hope the team at TGB is taking care of themselves. I hope fan volunteers are taking a break as well. I’m excited for what’s to come.
Fanwork Appreciation
among the reeds, among the rushes by Novelsinourhead
Stara has been capturing some absolutely beautiful storytelling within Blaseball for a long time, and xer continuous commentary on antisemitism within our community and fiction in general is frankly a weight that ze does not deserve to bare. I think this interp of Mike Townsend is really, really fantastic, and could talk at lengths at how stunning I find Stara’s writing on players across the league. Read this.
Blink hitting it out of the park as always, what a fucking stunning exploration of such a sensitive subject. You and Gob both are so fucking good at just absolutely heartbreaking depictions of grief. This features Nagomi Mcdaniel, York Silk’s Mother Lehua Silk, and her son. Read this.
This section is for things I’ve enjoyed this week:
Untold Story of Disco by Polyphonic, I have a deeply fond memory of disco as a young child, babysat by post-hippie movement adults in an economic recession, my impression of of a lot of that subculture feels so distant now as an adult, understanding their passions as people and their passions for the genre kinda clicks a little more now, and I think that is quite sweet.
RadiAngel by zeddy-bear, I read through this entire game for the lesbian groupchat, check the content warnings of course, but I thought this was a really stunning novel, I’m glad Kish got us to play this, it’s been in my “play this” folder for too long.
This zine is A) absolutely stunning and B) such a blessing for a guy who has soup as a safe food.
Signing off
I’m not sure how often I’ll do these, we will have to see. maybe monthly, maybe bi-monthly, whenever I wanna talk about something extensive is probably a good guess.
I enjoy writing appreciations for other artists work so much, I know that will be frequent
Until next time I suppose, keep your eyes out for site updates and fic archiv websites, and thanks for reading :]