Read More

It’s probably not a surprise I don’t play party multiplayer games much. What I have said in here has probably spelt out that I prefer games with clear, linear objectives with definitive ends, and while I’m all for playing with friends, in person or online, doing the same against strangers runs its course once I’m used to the game. So it was certainly an experience last Friday when I found myself playing that (by now ancient ) early lockdown hit, Fall Guys.

Read More

I don’t know about America, but the price of travelling is going up more and more here. Just got booked in for UK PonyCon in October, nearly six whole months ahead, yet the hotel (same as last year) wasn’t even £10 less despite getting there two months earlier. Not even offsetting the £8 increase in ticket price. Then there’s the flights and if train prices will be different by then… yep, the worldwide travelling cost spike in the wake of COVID sure isn’t slowing down!

Read More

Anyone else ever remember giving something up for Lent when they were young? Even though it hasn’t been a thing in close to two decades for me, I’m reminded of it by two people in the house doing it for the first time in donkey’s years. Okay, one person, my mom to combat her sweet tooth: my brother is merely relaxing on the soft drinks outside of before and after sports training/matches. But that’s still 1.5 more than usual.

Read More

Well, that was definitely a bit of a wallop revealed last week, wasn’t it? All the same, I’m relieved the announcement of Monday Musings’ end as a regular, scheduled upload series went over well. Gave me greater confidence about the hard decision, enough that I can set it aside from active discussion here for the next few weeks until it goes live.

Read More

I don’t know how long ago it feels to you all that I announced Monday Musings would be ceasing regular weekly uploads, and moving to uploads only when I happened to have enough eligible fics, at max fortnightly (it was five weeks ago, for the record). But given I’d been wrestling with it since March, it feels long enough coming I can barely believe this is the final outing. And yet… here we are.

Read More

I had planned to let G5’s end sit for a while before publicly reflecting on it again (the final TYT short, off the series' cancellation, released 39 days ago). And that does still stand. However, a well-informed PonyTuber, Cxcd, posted a video last month breaking down a lot of relatively-unknown facts about G5’s production, its ambitions, and exactly why, behind the scenes, it blew up. One I think even people who don’t care about G5 should see.

Read More

As far as “officially” watching Friendship is Magic has gone over the years, the overwhelming majority have done so via Netflix. To the point that, reportedly, something like ten times as many people watch it there compared to its home network The Hub/Discovery Family. That may be small potatoes to us fans who obviously don’t wait for it to come there, but it’s worth acknowledging.

Read More

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving! Or, if they live outside the States, a good weekend. Myself, between taking yesterday off (I typically have enough leave leftover by year’s end as to use quite a bit in December), and our work Christmas party on Friday being huge, it’s certainly been less pressured. Still going through the motions, not much of a mental turnaround for me yet, but gonna try and make good there this Christmas.

Read More

It is pure coincidence of scheduling, and nothing but, but it seems oddly fitting that A New Generation came out exactly three years ago. This Roundup post marks the end of my movie review stockpile built up over the last year (plus scattered ones during the year-and-change prior), meaning it’ll be just an end-of-month roundup thereafter. And wouldn’t you know what film I specifically left the review of till last with these Roundups in mind?

Read More

It’s 2024, according to the calendar. Some other folks will have a much better opener to the year in their first blogs, something I typically struggle with, but given today is New Year’s Day, I suppose I should say something too, no?

Read More

I would caution that my rating criteria here is obviously not the same as with Ponyfic reviews, accounting both for them not being free (well, okay, they are if you’ve got the right streaming service, but you know), the different medium and higher standards. Perhaps in the future I’ll say more on this, but for now, ★★★1/2 is a good benchmark for “worth a watch, no strings attached”, though you have to go higher to get to hearty recommendations.

Read More

Most of you will know that animation more broadly (though not all types and genres, of course) is probably my biggest passion. And as I am generally more a film ghost than a tv ghost, reviewing, analysing and dissecting animated films (plus live-action at times) is certainly something I've dabbled in over the years. If nothing else, it's been the primary developer of my style when discussing other media, and thus, the foundation of how I look at Ponyfic in Monday Musings.

Read More

That time of month… well, not again, as this is the first time this is monthly, but close enough. Technically, half the roundup is actually films from the tail end of September, but I felt five roundups on the weekly to cover everything in the stockpile then was bordering on overload. Thus, I could justify pushing the last few into the first regular monthly post. But that means the films here, and therefore the fun, has been doubled. Huzzah! [insert Luna emoji]

Read More

Best turn away if legacy Disney Animation isn’t your thing This roundup is mostly dedicated to the remaining Disney100 rereleases I saw last year, though there is a surprise or two to round out the lot to seven.

Read More