James Crowley

@structuregeek
33 Followers
98 Following
116 Posts

Pop culture and narcissism, not necessarily in that order. I try to be one of the good randos.

Most posts self-destruct eventually.

๐Ÿ†”he/him, ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€๐ŸŒˆ
๐ŸŒŽNew York, NY, USA
๐ŸŒhttps://structuregeek.com
๐Ÿฟhttps://letterboxd.com/structuregeek
James Crowley6d ago
Glib melting pot discourse has a lot of problems but I do prefer living in a city where you can hear people saying Erin go bragh (semi-ironically, for St. Patrick's Day) and Eid Mubarak (sincerely, for the end of Ramadan fasting) in the same week.
James CrowleyMar 6
Gooder LivingMar 6
If someone asks how you knew something would work, calmly say "pattern recognition" and refuse to elaborate further. Mystique is a powerful and renewable resource. #gooderliving
James CrowleyMar 6
ฮตฮปฮฅ.๐คMar 6
And that's how I ended up on mastodon
James CrowleyMar 6
Accidentally hurriedly typed something in iNcorrectly mIXeD CasE into a form at work, then said aloud to a coworker, "oops, I SpongeBobbed that, let me fix it" and they were either too young or not Online enough to have any idea what I meant.
James CrowleyJan 16

For years Burning Wheel was a white whale #TTRPG in my head: fiction-first, character focused, using D6 pools and life paths, but digital unavailability made it a nonstarter to even consider.

Well, it's available digitally now, and it's in a Bundle of Holding currently, and I bought it, and I couldn't even finish the introduction. Just the most Not For Me tone imaginable, a Cilantro Tastes Like Soap To Me situation. Ah well.

James CrowleyNov 10

Modded Bethesda games are like 80% of my actual gaming, so I would have been genuinely shocked if the new version of #Fallout4 actually worked on launch. Breaking existing installs for another monetization pass is just how they roll.

(I'm actually just happy because after a decade of vanilla plus DLC season pass I can just buy a bundle of Creations without engaging with digital funbux. The ever-dwindling mod community will tweak this stuff to actually be usable eventually.)

James CrowleyOct 31
I was diagnosed with #lupus on this day in 2003, so even though it's been a really shitty few months medically, I've managed to hit year 22 of Operation: Fuck You, Traitorous Meatsack!
Show threadJames CrowleySep 29
My review of Evil of Dracula on Letterboxd https://boxd.it/bdgl6L
A review of Evil of Dracula (1974)

Michio Yamamoto's vampire "trilogy" wasn't meant to be binge-watched any more than the Hammer Dracula or AIP Poe cycles it draws so heavily from. So many cast, crew, and gags are repeated that they start to blur together. This was easily my least favorite of the three. The girls' school setting (and increased prurience) doesn't do much for me. They aren't willing to let the male protagonist go full Jonathan Harker victim so you lose the Gothic heroine angle that made the first two work emotionally. This has some of the best staging and performances of the cycleโ€”the final shot

Show threadJames CrowleySep 29
My review of Lake of Dracula on Letterboxd https://boxd.it/bddG9Z
A review of Lake of Dracula (1971)

An even more perfect pastiche of Hammer Horror than The Vampire Doll, for good (moody sets, autumnal fashions) and ill (irreconcilable differences between old-fashioned style and modern setting). As a Gothic it's an incredible mood piece and lookbook but kind of rote, a definite "for fans of the genre" exercise.

Show threadJames CrowleySep 27
My review of The Vampire Doll on Letterboxd https://boxd.it/bbQ7NP
A review of The Vampire Doll (1970)

Gothic ghost story from Toho with western elements. I almost wish I'd watched without subtitles: the moody visual storytelling with Hammer Horror and AIP Poe Cycle vibes, and the insistent harpsichord score, do most of the heavy lifting. I only know like six words of Japanese but three of them are aniki, shinda, and akuma (elder brother, dead, demon), and permutations of those words are like half the dialogue. Good times.