• Member Since 26th Aug, 2013
  • offline last seen Dec 7th, 2023

Cerulean Voice


Father of twin 8yo boys, partner of Arcelia, and so glad to remain here.

More Blog Posts74

  • 69 weeks
    I've been honoured and humbled yet again

    Two things to announce today! :yay::twilightangry2:

    The emojis were clues btw

    Read More

    5 comments · 355 views
  • 75 weeks
    Ancient relics (I never forgot)

    So the other day, I got a comment on Diamond Eyes. You might not think this an extraordinary occurrence (and you'd be right, inherently), but this comment drew my attention to the fact that some art I had linked in the Author's Notes had a broken link, and that they would like to see it if I could find it. The link to the artist was broken too (they formerly went as _Vidz_).

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    3 comments · 228 views
  • 115 weeks
    Surprise!

    So my girlfriend entered this competition and she put a lot of hard work and effort into her entry.
    Then she struggled with self-esteem issues and almost didn't post it.

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    2 comments · 271 views
  • 166 weeks
    Persona 5 is awesome, you guys

    And in a minute or two, Arcelia and I will be playing it. Our progress so far: We just got Queen (Makoto) and we're about to hit Kaneshiro's Palace

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    2 comments · 203 views
  • 217 weeks
    The beginning of the end of the beginning of the end

    Arcelia and I are rewatching mlp from the first episode until the last. Neither of us have seen season nine. She's successfully moved back in with me and we are celebrating by taking the most epic trip down memory lane, culminating in the end of the show that brought us together in a way neither of us ever anticipated. I imagine it will be quite emotional when the time comes to say goodbye to the

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    5 comments · 419 views
Oct
25th
2015

Cerulean's Voice On The Matter #25: hiatus-breaking edition! · 10:36am Oct 25th, 2015

Yeesh. Been quite a while, huh? Between having a broken laptop until recently, working as much as I can, and having to be at least somewhat of a parent to my young sons, I’ve hardly had much opportunity to read anything lately. Not that I haven’t wanted to. It gets to me every day I tell myself ‘Yes’ and life comes through my bedroom door, gnashing its teeth and growling a resounding ‘No.’ To put it bluntly, I’ve been tired. Very tired. All the time. So tired that I haven’t been able to concentrate.

I need to be able to concentrate. Bed, blanket, chocolate milk, Radiarc’s discography, and silencing all other distractions are the only ways I can achieve this. It’s why I usually work at night, when everyone else in my house has gone to sleep. When I’m concentrating, I get more absorbed in what I’m doing. I produce better reviews, which I know you enjoy. I haven’t put any out for the last few months because I haven’t been confident enough about my ability to produce the quality that you deserve from me.

That said, I’m here again. Somehow I’ve managed to land myself some free time. I’ve even had an unprecedented and accidentally large amount of sleep. So let’s see if I can’t pump out some opinions for you while my precious time and focus lasts.

Cerulean’s Voice is back, hopefully with far greater frequency than of late.

So what have I managed to read in the past couple months? The answers are but one click away. Check ’em out!



Previously-reviewed favourites with new chapters read: Letters From A Disgruntled Friendship Student, Heart Invasion 101, Transdementia, EG: Nyx and the Sunset, Besides the Will of Evil (complete!), Dust and Harmony



Story: Dying to Get There

Author: Titanium Dragon

Synopsis:

PRINCESS TWILIGHT SPARKLE: DEAD AT 18
TELEPORTATION INVARIABLY FATAL, WARNS LEADING SCHOLAR
One look at the headline of the Canterlot Times and Twilight knew that she should have slept in today. But at least none of her friends would be silly enough to believe she was killing herself every time she teleported, right?

Length: 4,814 words (one-shot)

Status: Complete

Review: A humorous deconstruction of a not-uncommon theory regarding teleportation and relocation, first established from as long ago as the heydays of Star Trek. Also a response to—but not an attack upon, it’s important to note—the highly rated, RCL-featured Blink, by Zaponator. What could have easily been forced upon readers as stubborn headcanon assertion is instead played for laughs in a way that only borderline feels like something the actual show wouldn’t tackle. Twilight’s frustration takes centre stage as she grows more and more annoyed at all of her friends. Character voices and actions are strong, especially Pinkie’s and Applejack’s. There’s also a decent amount of sufficiently subtle meta-humour in there, good for a chuckle but not intrusive or obnoxious; my favourite moment in particular goes to Twilight bringing up, more than once, that bad things regularly tend to happen to her on Saturdays.

If I have two complaints about the story, they’re how Twilight seems to take just a little too much time to realise why Pinkie is baking so many cakes, and how she shuts Rainbow down by straight-up telling her that ponies don’t have souls. I honestly feel the way this is handled so nonchalantly and matter-of-factly detracts from the intended humour there. As far as we know, Equestria doesn’t have a religion per se, so the idea of souls being even worth mentioning in Equestria feels unwelcome to me, and further unwelcome to be flatly denied.

This it just my opinion though, and if you can look past that part, you’ll find a good amount of chuckles and a read that doesn’t waste your time. It’s not hilarious as a whole, but it has its moments.



Story: All of It, for Her

Author: Pav Feira

Synopsis:

Thirty five years. Been roaming Equestria from town to cloying town, looking for her. Not for lack of trying, mind you. Equestria's just that big of a place. There's only so many places left to look, though, and it'd be foolish to throw in the towel already. I'm getting close. So I'll do the same thing I did yesterday: search.

Length: 4,386 words (one-shot)

Status: Complete

Review: Inquisitor M, Titanium Dragon, and I all had the great pleasure of reading this story for The Royal Guard. As you can probably tell, I really enjoyed this one. But I’ll get into that in just a moment. For now, I’d like to say that AoIfH managed to hit a significant milestone, at least for me: so far, it’s the only story that all three of us as reviewers have unanimously agreed deserves the highest honours. This is, far and away, the best one-shot romance I’ve read in all my time on fimfic.

Pav has tapped into the voice of Cranky Doodle so well that one could swear he, as an author and a real human, has been through the exact same situation before. Cranky is gruff, shows his displeasure with every day’s minor annoyances—including a certain mare who brings him even more—and is stubborn as all getout, but I had to admire his unwavering resolve as I followed him through his day. This is a delightfully sad-yet-hopeful tale that managed to caress my heart and croon softly to it, all the while sneakily extracting it from my chest. The only thing that truly stops this from being a tragedy is that we, as fans of the show, know how the events from beyond the story’s conclusion eventually play out. If you choose to throw away this knowledge and think about it, the story just went through an average day in the life of Cranky Doodle; and therein lies the true heart of the story, the character, and all the acquaintances he’s made that he’ll likely never see again. Powerful and impacting, this is a character study at its finest.



Story: Sunset Shimmer Goes to The Zoo

Author: KitsuneRisu

Synopsis:

Hooray Animals! Sunset Shimmer sees all the animals! She is very happy to see all the animals.
Today she went to the zoo with her best friend New Twilight! They had a lot of fun! Come read about their funs!
Sunset Shimmer had a great time!

Length: 3,079 words (one-shot)

Status: Complete

Review:

“I got a bad feelin’ about this…”

Who’s mastered the art of the Unreliable Narrator? KitsuneRisu, that’s who! And bloody hell, does he show it here. Set in the EqG-verse, although sorta-kinda-not at the same time (I’ll let you figure that out), we see a very childish Sunset talking about the exciting things that she and her friend, New Twilight, get up to whenever they spend time together. Here and now, I must warn you that while this initially comes across as incredibly light-hearted and whimsical, the dark comedy/horror elements do have a tendency to sneak up on the reader. I can only 100% recommend this to fans of mental deconstruction through narration, but at least give it a try if you’re chasing something different. For maximum thrills, I suggest reading along in sync with this, and possibly even waiting until Hallowe’en to do so.

Viewer discretion is advised. That said, viewing is highly encouraged!


Special thanks to Singularity Dream, Super Trampoline, and Horizon for helping to fund this long-overdue review post. If you’d like your name here as well, in addition to possible other rewards, please consider supporting me on Patreon. Further details about how your support helps can be found in my previous blog, located here.

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Comments ( 4 )

The souls thing is the most controversial joke in that story, but I think I played it correctly. The original version (which no one but my editor read) came off as too atheist ranty, so I changed it to totally casual dismissal that barely put any attention on it, just some offhanded comment by Twilight triggering an existential crisis in Rainbow Dash. A lot of people thought it was the funniest thing in the story, but it also offended the most people - so, really, it was just an edgy bit of humor.

PresentPerfect
Author Interviewer

It's back! You're back! Ahaha! :D

For now, I’d like to say that AoIfH managed to hit a significant milestone, at least for me: so far, it’s the only story that all three of us as reviewers have unanimously agreed deserves the highest honours.

This did not go unnoticed. :rainbowlaugh: Especially when Inquisitor M's fav notification came in, I needed a moment to collect myself! But the acceptance letter from TRG had me blushing, all the same. :twilightblush:

Pav has tapped into the voice of Cranky Doodle so well that one could swear he, as an author and a real human, has been through the exact same situation before.

...was it that obvious? :twilightsheepish:

The circumstances are different, to be sure. We dated for 4 months, rather than a single evening. I knew that she was moving away, and where. I made my fair share of foolish, immature mistakes, but I also made the decision not to pursue a long-distance relationship. But like Cranky, that relationship pushed my life off in a direction that influenced a lot about who I am today, more than a decade later. Like Cranky, I still think about her a lot.

I'm not unhappy. Far from it. I've got wonderful friends, passionate hobbies, I've learned and grown as an individual, and heck a friend might be setting me up on a semi-blind date over Thanksgiving break. Unlike Cranky, I let go and moved on with my life. But somewhere out there in the multiverse, there's a Cranky Pav who didn't let go, who chased after her. I think about that from time to time, who that person is and what his life is like. He probably made a ton of sacrifices along the way, but... in the end, he got the girl, right? That's the emotion I tried to capture when writing this, which is part of why the story is so personal for me, and I think is why it resonates so strongly with readers. That said...

This is, far and away, the best one-shot romance I’ve read in all my time on fimfic.

You're far, far too kind. :pinkiehappy: Thank you for the review!

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