Ghost Mike's Ponyfic Review Monday Musings #56 · 5:00pm Apr 3rd, 2023
"Everyone being ridiculous on April Fool's Day. Yet I just find it annoying. Am I so out of touch?
"…No. It's the children humans that are wrong."
"Everyone being ridiculous on April Fool's Day. Yet I just find it annoying. Am I so out of touch?
"…No. It's the children humans that are wrong."
January’s often a quiet month for many, both in life in general but also in the workplace. And that is mostly true for me too. However, as I work on mobile apps/games for the kids, this isn’t the case as much as you might think; on top of the work we’re integrating into the app always being for the next release or two ahead (meaning December is actually the quiet month, when folks start taking their holidays and the January/February updates are in core production/integration), it’s also where
My UK PonyCon report should start publishing soon, just want to do another round of polish. I took plenty of pictures this time, so it’ll be an easier read than last year. A lot happened beyond what I’ve shared already (one panel was so tailored to me it demanded a play-by-play ), so there’ll be plenty to sink into. Not yet sure how many parts it’ll be split across, that’ll depend on final length and good breaking points. But it’ll be a good one!
We are in a liminal state.
There's an audio clip circulating around YouTube that is from an upcoming episode of Steven Universe Future. Steven struggles to talk about his feelings to Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl. Apparently, he crushed the van with Greg in it and denies having an outburst when he's clearly having one. He needed some personal space, but the Gems know that something's wrong. He's losing control of his anger and they tried to calm him down, but to no avail. I'm just afraid that he would turn into a corrupted
I am literally in the door from getting back from UK PonyCon, and am still reeling from what a great experience it was again. Not perfect, but undeniably great. And I am not a heavy con goer (or really a con goer at all), nor do I like large crowds – but one as well managed and as cosy as this, once a year? Yeah, that’ll suit me. Three years since my last one was much too long. Least I can finally move past hesitating for last year’s one and regretting it ever since.
This show is pretty good and funny and the story is interesting. Overall, I give it about a 10-ish/10.
September really is a rather quiet month once you’ve no new year of education for it to mark. Not close enough to the holiday season for the media blitz to start (sans the last week, of course, and not just in the world of MLP), hardly anything at the cinema* or in gaming (I’m sure Splatoon fans would like a word on that), rarely any big intended events – not like the Queen planned to kick the bucket last week – and so forth. I mean, there’s not nothing, especially for me: passing
*Sigh*… You ever just have one of those weeks? I literally haven’t read any Ponyfic since last week’s Monday Musings, and while I have enough stockpiled that I’m not nearly scrambling yet, in general, my prepared reviews and word count of fics therein has shrunk gradually but consistently this year. Today puts it below 200K and across less than 30 stories. I might not be getting the novel-length fics here as soon as I’d hoped.
Yowzers, I’ve had a busy week. If an exciting one – filling in lead duties on managing the dev workflow on my team’s project at work while the lead engineer is off was something I was very grateful for, naturally. But between various things popping up, and other fics I read recently being confined to future weeks of specific groupings, this is one of the shortest weeks for fics in wordcount in ages.
Christmas is almost upon us! Though the holidays are a time that should be celebrated by all, of course. Personally, not being the most social ghost, the family gatherings and togetherness can be a bit much, and are something I prefer in limited quantities. But I do fully believe in taking time off from regular things and doing low-stress relaxation things not on a schedule. Which, after the 23rd, will be through to 2024. As it should be!
Last week was the “serious” side of looking back at 2023 for Ghost Mike’s Ponyfic Review Monday MusingsTM in review, focusing largely on quantifiable stats calculated in the Archive Spreadsheet. Now it’s time for the fun, goofy side of that – quirky takeaways that don’t mean much except being something to chuckle at.
Okay, well, after three weeks of fun year-in-review stats, no real news today. Just moving out of the January doldrums. Not that it’s been a bad month: outside of the royal pain from last week, it’s actually been pretty good, as January tends to go. And I have a weekend with friends coming up centred around a Bank Holiday next Monday (new enough in Ireland, only its 3rd year). But nothing to really say here and now.
The big #100. Honestly, I was never doubtful I’d hit it, least after the first few months: my backlog was substantial enough that my reading pace would have to slow fast to not get here without a break. I don’t have any big sentimental feelings or sense of celebration associated with it – I associate that mentally with the first Monday of March, the anniversary of Monday Musings – but yeah, it’s still pretty cool.
Hope none of you are feeling the post-Thanksgiving blues too hard. Me, well, it’s an odd holiday to observe from outside America. I’m well aware and tuned in to its commercial reach and importance (when you work in mobile app development you can’t avoid the importance of holiday season targets, plus you kind of notice any American-based companies you’re in collaboration with largely vanishing for a week), but the actual familial reunions and bonding? Doesn’t tend to penetrate my mind too much.
Eventually I’ll have to contend with these yearly anniversaries getting a day further off each time (or two, Leap Year and all), as I started on March 7th. Price to pay for committing to a fixed day in the title, eh? But that day isn’t yet (likely next year, where I’ll have it three days after rather than four before, to be closer). Right now, it’s here. Folks, Ghost Mike’s Ponyfic Review Monday MusingsTM has been going on two years now.
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Something a bit unusual this week. I’ve had more and more review stories pile up on my backlog lately from an Ponyfic audiobook reader that isn’t Scribbler, and I figured, why not do an edition of exclusively fics read by them? It gives me the chance to also talk about the quality and quirks of their readings. That reader being StraightToThePointStudio.