The 70’s seen from the perspective of a child of the 90’s

When I think about the 70’s the word that comes to mind is “overbaked”. Everything is sort of yellow-ish (because they didn’t use acid-proof paper to store their photos on) and gross and there’s too many patterns everywhere. I start to think of it like this:

So, you have a tupperware– one of the old kind, from like the 50’s– and it’s got leftovers in it that you are fairly sure are still edible. Well, they’ve been back there a while, but you decide to microwave it first and then make up your mind on whether you can eat it. So, you pop the tupper in the microwave and hit the buttons to make it go.

Then you stand there watching the thing go ’round and ’round in circles, bathed in that same icky yellow light that you’re used to seeing everywhere. And you start to notice that the tupperware appears to be melting slightly- but that’s okay it’s old and you can throw it out later. Except as you watch your future meal turning, you notice movement. Yes, there’s definitely movement- the leftovers are moving. The food is boiling.

And that’s when you realize that the food isn’t boiling- it’s the tupperware that’s boiling and the melting plastic bubbles are causing the food to jerk around like it’s alive- and that’s when you decide that you should have something else for dinner. You stop the microwave, gingerly handle the remains of the melting tupperware and, unable to free it from the glass plate, pitch the whole thing into the trash because that’s just disgusting and it’s totally overbaked.

For good measure, you toss the microwave too because obviously this thing is too old to cook food properly. After all, it’s from the 70’s.

The World of Superkyute + The Farrot

Background

Superkyute is a world full of critters and creatures that can be found in the most unusual of places. They live in harmony with the rest of the world. Often overlooked by humans and animals, they keep mostly to themselves enjoying a life of contented existence. They do however co-exist with society and are all around us if we’d only take the time to stop and observe them. Finding one is a rare and exciting experience that is sure to brighten anyone’s day.

Critters- Part One, The Farrot

The main critters known to the Superkyute kingdom of animals are farrots, peehs, beanie dogs, cheezecats, taterbees and dragonfries. All of these animals were named after their obvious resemblance to many common food items. The farrot for example, is long and orange, with thin stripes around its back and a green, leaf-like tuft at the end of its tail [see fig.1]. It tends to be bottom-heavy, and buries underground in gardens with fresh soil. It eats the root tips of  weeds and crabgrass, making it an invaluable ally to your average gardener. If you leave a few open plots in your carrot fields, groups of farrots will nest there and keep the surrounding area free of weeds and bugs. The farrot is quite friendly and will only attack to defend its nests. If you accidentally pull a farrot out of its nest (possibly mistaking it for a garden variety carrot) the best thing to do is let it go so it can re-dig a hole elsewhere in the garden. Marking your garden with farrot stakes or flags can prevent this issue from occurring too often.

The farrot’s only known natural enemy is the Peeh, which we will be covering in the next installment.

Another Character Sketch (secret character!)

Since this character is a secret character in the story, I can’t say much! But I did want to say at least a few words about him, even though I haven’t developed him much. I picked another (almost totally) random country for him: Armenia.

His name is Kendall (random choice) Darbinian. Behind the Name says: Darbinian means “son of the blacksmith”, so is equivalent to the English “Smith”. This is interesting because he’s an agent of INTERPOL (or is he?) so the “Smith” equivalent is somewhat humorous. I don’t know anything about Armenia except it’s location, so he’s not going to have much of a rich cultural background like Pious, but his personality is certainly going to be rich and colorful. He will be fun to write for, I think.

Oh, and he’s an antagonist. This is the only image I’ve posted of him. His hair style is the only thing I have decided on completely as far as physical design. I still need to pick an eye color (probably light brown) and a clothing style, plus a general height. As far as most characters go, he’s pretty sketchy so far, but he’s important so I’ll have to really think about how to make him stand out as an antagonist.

Darbinian

Usage: Armenian

Means “son of the blacksmith”, so is equivalent to the English Smith.

Snedronningen Ideas

Snedronningen or “The Snow Queen” has always been one of my favorite faere tales. It has been many years since I sat down and read H. Christian Anderson’ s unabridged version, but the version that always stays fresh in my mind is the book on tape that I own narrated by Sigourney Weaver (who has an enchanting voice). Something about that story has always given me chills of excitement; even today I feel it. Magic.

Anyway, I was reminded of the story of young Gerda and Kay/Kai last night when reading a copy of Murder in Mesopotemia (a Hercule Poirot mystery by Agatha Christie) when M. Poirot mentions “the story of the boy Kay” and the heorine Gerda. I was so surprised by this totally random-seeming reference that I didn’t read any further as to why he mentioned it. I just put the book down and went into thinking about the story. Trying to remember all of the characters and the basic plot and such. And I started to think of another design exercise to give a try- designing a video game “cover” art box.

I had some great ideas for taking the story and mixing it around with a few other darker faerie tale bits and turning it into an RPG adventure game, starring Gerda of course. It wouldn’t be entirely based from the story because I wanted to involve wolves and spirits somehow. So I just decided that a “Scandinavian faerie tale” theme was good enough. I can’t wait to start doing research and sketches. This is my favorite part! And I want the characters to be very pretty and faerietale-perfect. I keep imagining them rendered in Squeenix-cutscene-perfection. Ah~

Character Sketch: H. Pious Kjeldsen (P1)

Here, I would like to introduce you to my character Pious Kjeldsen, the character previously mentioned in my Taler du Dansk? post (the Dane!). Forget his name, age, weight etc.- those things can be found out about anyone just my looking at a license. I want to tell you things about him that you would have to learn by really getting to know a person. Habits, hobbies, passions, and other such things. Prepare to meet…Pious Kjeldsen [PIE-yus KYEL-son].

He specializes in the sciences of Cryptography and is in fact a Cryptographic Engineer. He works as a simple coder at his current job, but hopes to move on to something more useful in the future. He strongly distrusts the security of his ATM card and wants to participate in the advancement of card security as a result. Security in general fascinates him and more than once he has been turned out of a store for paying “too much attention” to the security devices posted there. “Can’t a man express interest in his own security in this country? You think you are safe, but you are not! One day, you will see- you will.”

He is, for the most part, a weakling. His only athletic ability is fencing. Oh yes, fencing. A sport that takes close to no brute strength, but a great amount of dexterety and agility, not to mention brains. He spends more time learning to size-up his opponents and take them down using cunning than actually practicing his sword technique. It makes him a decent fencer against the average amateur, but against a professional opponent he will struggle and often fail. It ticks him off to admit it, but his pride and temper are also the cause of his downfall. “If I can best the average man, then I in turn will be above-average in skill and that is enough for me.”

What a mess he lives in. It’s not simply stereotype that such a busy and studious man be messy, it’s a necessity. If his apartment were not as messy as it is, he would find too many things and then he would drown in a neverending sea of things he’s been meaning to work on. His piles of papers, books and folders line the walls like columns reaching nye up to the ceiling. The apartment itself is sparsely furnished. A small futon, a cushion chair, one small coffee table and a selection of do-it-yourself shelving pieces are all completely covered in papers, so that every evening he is forced to swipe them off of his bed to sleep- assuming he sleeps on the futon. Ocassionally he has been known to collapse on the floor in a blanket to sleep. He also has a lamp and a fishtank. The lamp contains a very low-watt “green” lightbulb and the fishtank contains water, rocks and a plant- but no fish. He learned his lesson once. “Fish…they need food and without it, they die. I don’t have time to mourn for a fish everytime I have to…to…not think about feeding it.”