Hallowedlady

I’ve deleted my original review of this book for a number of reasons. Firstly it was rather sugar coated and didn’t really cover the issues, of which there are many. Lastly I was still friends with the writer; one should never review a friend’s work. However since I’m no longer in his good books, I can actually be a bit more truthful about his writing. I’ll admit before reading his work I did white-knight him; at the time Jon was someone I thought I could talk to about writing. None of my friends were really into writing and I was kind of gullible. If I’d bothered to read his Livejounral or Facebook page I

Videogames have a lot of issues, especially in terms of representation. They don’t really give anyone a good image, unless they are macho men who have a limited range of emotions. That or smug assholes with a limited range of emotions, and too much mouth to be alive. And the female of the species really do pull a short straw here. Female leads are very rare even in this day and age, so they are often background characters. Admittedly there’s a bunch of games where you can choose your characters gender, but they are still outnumbered by those where you don’t. As background characters then often get more passive parts, they&

This is once again a loaded subject. It is mostly because of how subjective the topic is; after all we don’t have a definition of a ‘Strong Female Character’. There are just ideas of what these characters should be, but none of them are right…okay maybe a few of them are. First and foremost is that she needs to have agency. You cannot have a character that is merely dragged from place-to-place, they need to make choices. This applies to any key character really and there’s a good reason; they type of person who allows themselves be swept along is rarely interesting. She has to have a reason to carry on, even if

In Dark Souls there is a massive question mark hanging over the identity of Gwyn’s firstborn son. We know he was the war god and lost the annals, therefore leading to the loss of his status as a deity. But from here we’re left in the dark and have a few obvious candidates for firstborn, if he is indeed in-game. The most obvious of these happens to be Solaire, who is found just before the bridge with the Wyvern on it. He’ll give you the white soapstone and can be summoned to help out in a number of boss fights, even the final one if he lives that long. He is an all-round good guy who’s a little strange, and also thinks

In my last piece I was criticising the new web series by Anita. However I did say it had potential and if she does more research, her series will be more interesting. I still stand by that and despite my scepticism of her motives; I think the negative reactions are overblown. Don’t get me wrong there are some well-reasoned responses, but the way people are reacting is out of proportion. I’ll admit my own piece on this was part of the knee-jerk response to anything linked to Feminist Frequency; I have little room to talk. I did say my opinion of her is not very high and doubted she didn’t know what she was getting into, whic

Hello and welcome to my first ‘Thoughts on’, a thing where I try to dissect various things. I’ll be looking at videogames, books and alike, turning my eyes to a subject and coming up with theories about it. Or in some cases talking about them and giving an opinion Today I’ll be looking at Tropes vs. Women in Video Games. Now my opinion on the creator of this series is not very high, for a number of reasons. I watched a few of her previous videos and read her thesis, both of which showed a woman who doesn’t really think outside the box. In her paper she listed off feminine and masculine traits, without really ex

Carried by the howling winds, Brought from very far away, Both whispers and screams Words of anger and betrayal, Words of longing and love, From the tender lips of death Last wills of soul departed, Final figments from beyond, That may fall upon deaf ears These last rites of the dead, Blow in from lands long gone, Ghost words spoken to the living

And so you've left the path, Where your mother cannot find you, And you might bite from the apple, Handed to you by the old crone But there is no woodsman, To cut open the wolf, Nor a prince in shining armour, To wake you from sleep Instead I give you a sword, So these beasts may not harm you. Instead I give you the knowledge, To you make much wiser For this world we live in, Is full for tricks and traps, But you must be the one, To solve all these riddles So lift your sword up high, And lay waste to those monsters, And use your wits well, To dispel the fog of dreams For this is no fairy-tale, But it is your story, Where

Prefect face and prefect skin, But lacking a living thing, Not quite human nor machine, But something lying in-between Mankind has been built anew, Flesh and metal no longer two, But merged into a single being, Vast knowledge lacking feeling And we see what we have done, Questioning what we have become, And too late we do ponder, Breaking free from awe and wonder We were caught in electric sleep, And walked onward like sheep, Erasing everything that we are, Creating humankind's cure Now we look in broken mirrors, And are frightened by what is seen, No longer do we mortals stand, In place there are machines

Now before anyone starts to get upset, no I am not going to be having a go at any religion in particular but stating a few observations. I'm also going to state here and now that my own beliefs to colour this piece. I'm an agnostic, this means that I believe there is the possibility of a God but we can never really know until we're dead and then that's a little late. In a way religion could be seen as a way for the human mind to cope with death and out own end, something we fear, but that a discussion for later. So what is my problem with religion? Well nothing as such, since we have no proof either way I see no issue with believing in an a