Derik Badman's Journal

Finally watched the restoriation of Rohmer's Tale of Autumn, like with Ozu movies, there is something I find comforting in watching Rohmer's films. I am struck now by having nothing to say about this one. I perhaps, having not seen it for a long time (and being the one of the series that was least available to watch in the interim), had higher expectations for my enjoyment of it than my actual enjoyment of it.

Struggling with finding a book to read that I stick with right now. Tried and gave up on a few novels, slowly reading a few Clark Ashton Smith short stories, slowly finishing up some magazines.

Read the first volume of Aki Irie's Ran & the Gray World manga. I've been enjoying her Go with the Clouds, North-by-Northwest which is mostly Icelandic travelogue and partially a really really slow burning mystery/thriller. But this one is about a magical girl who puts on shoes and turns into an... older girl/young woman. It almost immediately gets a little creepy when some older dude seems to fall in love with her.

Finished up Disco Elysium which was a really satisfying game that wasn't overly long. I looked up the ending a bit later, and I didn't totally unlock all the information about what was going on in the overaching plot. As a whole there is a ton of misdirection and sidequests in the game, and in the end it's kind of suprising which ones end up being the important ones. Apparently they are planning a sequel, I will be excited to play it. For now I think that's it for video games until the Mass Effect remaster comes out in May.

Two weekends in a row doing yard work. Since we got the landscapers to clean up, plant, and do some other fixes, I vowed that I wouldn't let it all go to hell again. I'm not finding it too bad so far, though that may change when full summer heat arrives. I always wish I were better, or rather more knowledgable, about identifying plants. Maybe there are ones I'm pulling up that I could let flourish.

Finally got a v1.0 version of my Hadleyville Old West RPG finished in both a pdf for screen and one for printing out as a booklet. First booklet I've made in quite awhile, even had to break out the really dusty long-armed stapler that I've had since... 1995. All in all I'm fairly happy with the result. The art (redrawn from some old western comics) is subpar and the layout isn't amazing, but I think the game can work (not that I've actually had a chance to try it yet) and I'm happy with the work I put into the random tables and lists. Thinking I will finally return to my aborted Ancient Greece RPG notes and do something in a similar vein.