Holiday: Have a Blood Orange Boston Sour to celebrate New Year’s Eve!

Have a Blood Orange Boston Sour to celebrate New Year’s Eve!

Coupe: Coupes, pronounced coop like where a chicken lives, we’re designed specifically for the drinking of champagne. They were not made in the image of any famous French breasts as many scandalous rumors would have you believe. The wide saucer shape makes this a subpar glass for enjoying champagne sip by sip, but that same shape makes it ideal for showing off interesting textures and colors in cocktails. 

If you want to enjoy a drink from a coupe glass this New Year’s Eve, why not try a Blood Orange Boston Sour. The ingredients and instructions required to make it are below.

What you will need:

2 ounces fresh blood orange juice

2 ounces bourbon

1 ounce fresh lemon juice

½ ounce ginger liqueur

1 egg white

Blood orange slices for garnish

What you do:

Combine orange juice, whiskey, lemon juice, liqueur, and egg white in a cocktail shaker, fill halfway with ice, secure lid and shake vigorously for 30 seconds. Strain into a coupe glass and top with blood orange slice.

This recipe brought can be found on Zestful Kitchens.

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COVID, economic hardships, systemic inequality, and even the weather are causing great harm as we leave 2021 behind. If we all made improving the lives of everyone our top priority we could make a titanic change in the lives of millions in 2022.

Do things to make the world a better place.

Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

Four Swords: A locket from Four Swords.

 A locket from Four Swords.

Heart Container: In Four Swords heart containers are similar to and different from their counterparts in the main branch of the Zelda franchise. This is mostly due to the procedural nature of the game. In Four Swords, heart containers increase the total health max for all Links by one when found. Each stage has between two and four heart containers to find, but the added health is lost between stages.

Last Christmas they gave you their heart, the very next day you gave it away. This year, you’ll be in tears. ‘Cause they are coming to get you. 

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Big thank you to George Michael and Wham! For inspiring my Christmas music horror-themed post this day after Christmas.

Christmas can be an extremely stressful time for many for a lot of different reasons. Make sure the people you love and care about know that and hear that love in a way that makes sense to them.

Let’s spend more time worrying about making other people feel special and less time worrying about what new things we’d all like to own. That idea is the basic moral of so many Christmas movies you’d think we’d have gotten the message by now.

Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

Holiday: A lump of coal for christmas.

A lump of coal for Christmas.

Coal: Given to the naughty in their stocking, coal is supposed to be a warning for those naughty individuals to change their ways. Based on current events, those naughty people just leaned into being extra naughty and then sold the coal to the energy sector and made off like bandits.

If you celebrate Christmas, Merry Christmas. If you don’t, today is the 25th of December, 2021.

Most people that know me would describe me as quite the grinch around Christmas, but I’m working on letting others have their holiday joy.

Hope they would also say that I’m no miser and strive to make sure that everyone has something to be happy about this time of year.

If you are in a position to make someone’s life better, you should do it. Every little bit helps in these ever difficult times.

Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

Four Swords: A tablet of ancient power from Four Swords.

A tablet of ancient power from Four Swords.

Heart: As both the measure of Link’s vitality and the primary means of restoring it, hearts are a precious resource while adventuring. Especially if you are a jump first look later sort of player such as myself. Hearts can be found all over levels in Four Swords, but most often by defeating enemies, cutting grass, or breaking the right breakables.

In searching for anything that would cure their child’s illness, parent and archaeologist Dr. Evelyn Weisz has left the boundaries of traditional medicine and turned to the occult. While they studied at university they wrote a thesis on mystical healing practices in the ancient world, but that was just intellectual curiosity then. Now, with an ancient tablet in hand, they are attempting to call up a spirit to cure their child no matter the price.

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I won’t say that most of the text that appears in my drawings actually says something, but this tablet definitely says something. The problem is I actually forgot what I made it say.

The world is a crazy and difficult place. You don't need ancient magic to make it easier for others.

Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

Four Swords: A council of fairies from Four Swords.

 A council of fairies from Four Swords.

Fairy: As in many Zelda games, minor fairies heal Link for a significant amount of hearts when found during his adventures. As Link is without bottles in Four Swords, he can’t store fairies for a later time when his health drops. The great faeries preside over each of the three zones prior to Vaati’s Palace. They are responsible for awarding any medals and keys Links might have earned during the level.

In the ages since mortals ascended into de facto rulership of the world, the power of the fae has dramatically waned. Now, centuries after the last sighting of a great the surviving faeries are considerably diminished from their once grand stature. The strongest among them still meet in secret councils to plot how their people might survive, but some are beginning to speak about what should be done to take back what was stolen.

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The look of these fairies is based on the stray faeries from Majora’s Mask. The people making Zelda games used the design created for an N64 game in two different handheld adventures, Oracle of Ages and Four Sword. The mischievous forest fairies of Labrynna’s lost woods in Oracle of Ages appear as stray fairies as do the great fairies in Four Swords before they take on a more human form. I think that call back to the connection between Great Faries and stray faeries in Majora’s Mask is a neat design touch that probably is missed by most. It was by me until I started drawing and writing about all of the items.

Weather disasters are way more common than they used to be. A global pandemic is still ravaging the world. People are buckling under increased asks and pressures. Make the world a better place in some way. Give if you have something to give. Do if you have time to do.

Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

Holiday: A dreidel on the last day of Hanukkah

 A dreidel on the last day of Hanukkah.

Dreidel: This simple spinning top is marked on its four sides with Hebrew letters. A simple push your luck game uses the four letters to indicate whether you should put into the pot, take the whole pot, take half the pot, or do nothing on your turn.

I am not Jewish nor do I speak, read, or write Hebrew so I hope my Hebrew lettering is acceptable. I originally was going to have hey and shin but shin was not happening so I went with nun.

Anti-semitism is reprehensible and should be squashed out whenever it appears. Being anti-Israel or critical of the Israeli government is not inherently anti-Semitic. Harmful colonial practices are bad whether the colonial power represents a persecuted minority or not.

Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

Four Swords: Three magic keys from Four Swords.

Three magic keys from Four Swords.

 

Hero Keys: A few weeks ago we discussed the Golden Keys in Four Swords which can only be obtained after obtaining the three Silver Keys, defeating the sorcerer Vaati for the first time, and then earning 3,000 rupees in each of the three levels. The Hero keys are the next and final goal for Link in Four Swords. Any Link that has earned a set of Golden Keys and then vanquished Vaati a second time can earn the three Hero Keys if they complete a level with a whopping 5,000 rupees in their pouch. Defeating Vaati after gathering a complete set of Hero Keys is the final challenge for the Links in Four Swords.

These keys don’t open such an insignificant thing as a mundane lock. Instead, they open up the unbelievable possibilities of magic. The metal used to forge these keys allowed each to be imbued with a unique power. What would you do with such power, and what could you do to keep yourself safe from people who want that power for themselves?

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Locke and Key season 1 inspired these drawings and Locke and Key season 2 recently came out on Netflix. I really enjoyed both seasons and recommend them if you’re looking for something to watch. I know they are based on a comic. I never got too into the comics as there were so many when I found out about them that I didn’t know or care where to start. There is some really interesting storytelling and worldbuilding in Locke and Key though. Maybe I ought to sit down and give them a real chance. 

The U.S. had yet another school shooting. I am deeply saddened by the tragedy and I hope that something tangible and effective will eventually be done to stop the cycle of violence plaguing schools and other supposedly safe communal spaces. Guns shouldn’t be freely available to children, nor should they be sprinkled throughout the world like lethal confetti.

Be excellent to everyone, it could save a life.

-Ceph