![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
2025 Writing Log, Part 22
- My essay “Final Fantasy VII Confronts Capitalism: Tifa Lockhart vs. Medical Debt” is now on Sidequest (here)! 👊🌟
- And the essay was featured on Critical Distance (here)! Huzzah!!!
- I finished Chapter 7 and wrote the first 2/3 of Chapter 8 (out of nine) of What Dreams May Come, a Bloodborne-themed Zelda AU. 80% of the way into any given story is generally where I lose energy, but I’m doing my best to power through to the end of this one without stopping for a breather. Now that I’ve finally made it to the fireworks factory, I might as well be messy and enjoy myself.
- As a treat, I commissioned a (non-fandom) artist to design the version of Ganondorf who appears in this story. I worked hard to put together references and a short description, and the artist immediately understood what I was going for. It’s been my experience that Ganondorf commissions are extremely hit-or-miss, but I have a good feeling about this one.
- I finished “Angus and Peaches Get Away with Murder,” an original story for Miaow Zine, an upcoming cat-themed digital charity zine. This was super fun to write, and I like to think it’s got some good one-liners.
- I also finished “The Wind at His Back,” a short story about Zelda and Link from Spirit Tracks for Enchantment, a magic-themed Zelda/Link zine. This story is cute and snappy but feels a bit generic, so I might try to workshop it a bit.
- I put together the paper that I’ll be presenting at the annual MLA conference this coming January. It’s super early, but I want to get this taken care of while it’s still fresh in my mind.
- This week’s post on my book review blog (here) is about Kogani Oshiro’s 2022 short story collection うみべのストーブ, which was rated as the #1 women’s manga in the 2024 edition of Kono Manga ga Sugoi (“This Manga Is Awesome,” a series of mass-market reference books). I’ve been a fan of this collection since it came out, and it’s good to see it get recognition. The art is unassuming, but the writing and use of sequential art devices are something special.
These days, the Italian Market district of Philadelphia is primarily Latin American, and I go there all the time to eat. This week I tried a slightly fancier seafood specialty restaurant called Blue Corn (their Instagram is here), and it was so fucking good. I’m not opposed to the idea of moving to Europe, but there are many benefits to living in the United States.
- And the essay was featured on Critical Distance (here)! Huzzah!!!
- I finished Chapter 7 and wrote the first 2/3 of Chapter 8 (out of nine) of What Dreams May Come, a Bloodborne-themed Zelda AU. 80% of the way into any given story is generally where I lose energy, but I’m doing my best to power through to the end of this one without stopping for a breather. Now that I’ve finally made it to the fireworks factory, I might as well be messy and enjoy myself.
- As a treat, I commissioned a (non-fandom) artist to design the version of Ganondorf who appears in this story. I worked hard to put together references and a short description, and the artist immediately understood what I was going for. It’s been my experience that Ganondorf commissions are extremely hit-or-miss, but I have a good feeling about this one.
- I finished “Angus and Peaches Get Away with Murder,” an original story for Miaow Zine, an upcoming cat-themed digital charity zine. This was super fun to write, and I like to think it’s got some good one-liners.
- I also finished “The Wind at His Back,” a short story about Zelda and Link from Spirit Tracks for Enchantment, a magic-themed Zelda/Link zine. This story is cute and snappy but feels a bit generic, so I might try to workshop it a bit.
- I put together the paper that I’ll be presenting at the annual MLA conference this coming January. It’s super early, but I want to get this taken care of while it’s still fresh in my mind.
- This week’s post on my book review blog (here) is about Kogani Oshiro’s 2022 short story collection うみべのストーブ, which was rated as the #1 women’s manga in the 2024 edition of Kono Manga ga Sugoi (“This Manga Is Awesome,” a series of mass-market reference books). I’ve been a fan of this collection since it came out, and it’s good to see it get recognition. The art is unassuming, but the writing and use of sequential art devices are something special.
These days, the Italian Market district of Philadelphia is primarily Latin American, and I go there all the time to eat. This week I tried a slightly fancier seafood specialty restaurant called Blue Corn (their Instagram is here), and it was so fucking good. I’m not opposed to the idea of moving to Europe, but there are many benefits to living in the United States.
no subject
no subject
I should warn you that the Aerith section of Traces of Two Pasts goes off the rails a bit in its attempt to justify some of the major retcons to the OG game’s story that appear in Remake. These changes make Aerith seem like more of a magical princess than I think she was originally meant to be, and Traces of Two Pasts leans hard into these “special snowflake” tropes. I love Aerith beyond reason, but the Mary Sue portrayal of the character can be a bit grating.
In the complete opposite direction, the Tifa section of the book makes the character feel much more human. It does one of my favorite things in fiction, which is taking a fantastic scenario (in this case, Tifa getting gored by Sephiroth) and viewing it through the lens of mundane reality. Tifa’s section is very good, and very emotionally + politically resonant. When you get a chance to pick up the book, I hope you enjoy this part as much as I did.