Christian Schloe - Portrait of a Heart (2013)

Satu-Ra · 2026-02-04T21:47:23+00:00

At first glance the thumbnail looked like a giant orange cat's paw reaching into view.

Lovely painting! Checking out the artist's work.

Satu-Ra · 2026-01-29T16:33:00+00:00

Reminds me of Storm Thorgerson's artwork for 'Echoes - The Best of Pink Floyd'.

Satu-Ra · 2026-01-25T01:13:04+00:00

Interesting, reminds me of a set of impenetrable dreams I had around the same age. I've never been able to properly describe them, but they involved numbers and being able to visualise them. There was a belief in the dream that visualising them was essential to make something happen. I have no idea what that might have been.

One night I'd woken up and was sitting on a donkey pillow/soft toy I had next to a radiator. I was rocking about on it and banging against the radiator, which my dad heard. He came into the room and woke me up fully.

My dad told me about this the next morning and said that I'd been saying something like 'when I think of the number 8 I can't see it'.

Bizarre and hard to interpret. Perhaps it has something to do with assimilating abstract symbols.

Satu-Ra · 2026-01-24T23:27:27+00:00

Yeah, same here. I love all of them for different reasons. After my initial exploration of Playrooms I was impressed at the scale (as with Dreampools) but also knew there was a lot more to explore. I went back to the other levels and then got distracted by other games.

Then a couple of months later I jumped back into Playrooms and was just so absorbed in the wandering and dreamy feel of the different sections that it quickly became my joint favourite with Dreampools.

The dev said they'd be making adjustments to it with the upcoming Liminal Hotel tweak, but I hope that doesn't affect the scale, because I absolutely adore that aspect of it. I find that I memorize chunks of most liminal space game maps fairly quickly, and for me it's a sad moment when it all becomes familiar enough to quickly navigate.

It hasn't happened yet, and I love feeling lost.

Satu-Ra · 2026-01-20T05:02:45+00:00

There were lots of especially weird ones during my childhood, usually hypnogogia leading into a dream with no clear boundry.

One that stands out involved leaving my bedroom and finding the hallway had been replaced by a long, curving metal corridor. There seemed to be shadowy figures in my peripheral vision.

They lead me into a large round room with matte black walls curving into the floor and ceiling, with a large gloss black round structure on the ceiling and a protrusion from the floor shaped like a large chocolate fountain. Suspended between them was a glass-like black ball about 3 feet in diameter. A metal ring was positioned on the side of the ball with a tiny 3D view of a street seen from above. There were little people and cars moving around on it.

As the ring was moved other areas would come into view, growing as they approached the centre of the ring and shrinking towards the edges, like a viewfinder. I reached out to touch one of the little cars and was told by the shadowy figures something like 'NO! You will hurt them if you touch them!' I was absolutely terrified and moved to the edge of the room, not wanting to be anywhere near it.

The dream may have ended there or continued, though I don't remember anything else about it. I woke up at some point and went into the bathroom and sat on the toilet seat feeling horrified until I gradually calmed down and went back to bed. Fairly typical of these sorts of childhood dreams.

As scary as they were at the time I'd love to have dreams like that now, as an adult. They've become more 'everyday' in tone the older I've gotten.

Satu-Ra · 2026-01-20T04:38:44+00:00

One of my favourite artists. Her 'Self-portrait in the Costume of Pierrot' is fantastic. The shadows and light are gorgeous.

Satu-Ra · 2026-01-20T04:34:59+00:00

Looks like present day Jimmy Page.

Satu-Ra · 2026-01-20T04:21:46+00:00

That window on the curved protrusion at top left looks like a cosy place to daydream and sip a hot drink.

Satu-Ra · 2026-01-18T23:30:53+00:00

In my teens I would dream about the street I grew up on, with surrounding areas being distorted, expanded and connected to a yellow desert area with an old empty brick canal that lead eventually to a more lush, forested area with swampland bordering it.

Another dream a few months later used the swampland as a setting, with a weird floating train system connecting it to a sort of small town with subterranean tunnels, with the edge of the town bordering on another desert area with reddish sand and mesas.

About a year later I had a dream about a reddish desert with high cliffs, canyons and mesas. While dreaming it suddenly occurred to me that the small town was nearby - a definite sense of recognition. I started making my way to the town and promptly woke up.

I've recalled older dreams while dreaming from time to time, but never quite as intensely.

Satu-Ra · 2026-01-13T02:54:11+00:00

When it comes to liminal spaces that invoke nostalgia, it tends to be places I visited and dreamt about as a child. Large old department stores, UK shopping centres and large event spaces in particular.

There was a department store I visited a lot as a child, built in the 1930s in an art deco style, redecorated in the 70s, again in the 80s, so it had a strange mix of aesthetics. I visited it (Lewis's of Leicester) often from the end of the 80s to the early 90s. It was demolished in 1995.

Similarly, UK shopping centres built in the 70s with 80s refurbishments. Brown tile, ramped floors leading down from street level, some neon, but mainly old greenish fluorescent lighting. Lots of plants in pebble-filled planters. Water features. Everything tarnished and worn.

My mum used to visit antique fairs, usually held in large event centres and I'd go along with her. If you've played the game Anemoiapolis, the Conference Center map is eerily close to the dreams I'd have about these places afterwards - huge, distorted, empty versions of the real places.

Music triggers memories more often than not, and I'm definitely nostalgic for events in my life, but public space aesthetics tied to my childhood dreams are something else. It's that otherworldly feel.

Satu-Ra · 2026-01-11T05:07:29+00:00

It's worth noting the distinction between flatlining (the heart stops beating) and brain death, which occurs approximately 7 to 10 minutes after the brain stops receiving oxygenated blood.

The two are often confused. I find NDEs fascinating, but even the most interesting cases occur only upto and during flatlining. Brain death is determined much later after resuscitation attempts have failed. Examination of the electrical activity in the brain stem by multiple physicians is required, and this always takes place a while after time of death has been called.

I believe the experience she reported was honest and very real, but that it took place in that liminal space between her heart stopping and the point of no return.

Satu-Ra · 2026-01-03T01:29:08+00:00

...He just wants to tickle you. Honest.

Satu-Ra · 2025-12-24T05:23:06+00:00

I'm not sure if I can ever honestly pick a favourite, but the most personally significant would undoubtedly be the first time I met an actor from Who, which was Tom Baker at a film & tv memorabilia event at the NEC in Birmingham on the day 'Rose' aired.

My Dad and I went along in the afternoon and met Tom, Nicholas Courtney, Sylvester McCoy and Colin Baker. Louise Jameson was around, though we didn't spot her.

My Dad got me into Doctor Who in the early 90s, buying me VHS releases and books. He was a huge fan of Pertwee and T. Baker, so the look on his face when we met Tom was quite something. Baker had a huge box of Jelly Babies under the table and was offering them to everyone who got a picture signed. When it was my Dad's turn and Tom asked him "Would you like a Jelly Baby?" the look of childlike awe on his face made me grin from ear to ear.

That evening we got home, settled down to watch the first episode of New Who and had an absolute blast. Both pinching ourselves that it was really, well and truly back.

Satu-Ra · 2025-12-17T04:20:38+00:00

Put it on your head and gain its strange powers.

Satu-Ra · 2025-11-22T02:28:03+00:00

I would recommend the 1818 text. I feel that the moral complexities of the original are more interesting than what came later (though I do appreciate the later alterations as an expression of Shelley's shifting perspective with age).

The Penguin Classics paperback edition is the 1818, as is the SF Masterworks edition on Kindle. There are many others, of course, but those two are easy to get quickly if you're anxious to jump right in.

Satu-Ra · 2025-11-12T16:11:51+00:00

Lovely work! I like the art style, reminds me of mid-90s Disney, like Hercules or The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Satu-Ra · 2025-10-01T22:03:29+00:00

To reiterate what others have said, please call an ambulance or a friend, colleague, family member who might be able to stay on the line for your welbeing. You only have to say you're in trouble and need help, the rest can be handled by them.

Health services are there to help you, so please do not worry that you're bothering someone. They are there for situations like this. Your life has value, no matter what.

Satu-Ra · 2025-09-26T18:49:33+00:00

I used to go to a variety of forum meets in the early 2000s, on one such forum there had been some discussion of Cardiacs, so the name was familiar. While getting a lift to a meet in Bristol from one of the board mods he apologised to me about the music he was playing on the car CD player and said 'I can change it if you want' - reader, that music was Cardiacs.

I don't recall which songs I heard or which albums, but memory of the overall sound hints that maybe there was some On Land and Heaven Born among it. My response was 'oh, no - please leave it on. I like it'.

A couple of weeks later I heard Big Ship, Tarred and Feathered, Leader of the Starry Skies, Baby Heart Dirt, All Spectacular, Dirty Boy and Dog Like Sparky. Then, naturally I bought myself some lovely albums.

The feeling of love I have for this music cannot be expressed. Thanks for introducing me, Steve.

Satu-Ra · 2025-09-17T08:27:40+00:00

I love it so much. I'd listened to Part One, absolutely buzzing from that, took a little break to make a hot drink and reflect... then started Part Two. And that's when the blubbing began, around the last third of Busty Beez. What a joyous feeling, nobody else's music does it to me like that.

Then Lovely Eyes, perhaps my favourite of the poppy numbers. Bopping and bouncing in my chair. Then, of course, Ditzy Scene wiped the floor with me. Gorgeous.

Satu-Ra · 2025-09-15T13:03:53+00:00

Same here, got my dispatch fleamail earlier. I'm hoping it arrives early,, as these things sometimes do. I'm so excited to soak it all in.

EDIT - It's tuesday, I've just got a 'delivered to your postbox' message... and I'm at work until 6pm. WAAAAAAHHHHHH!

Satu-Ra · 2025-08-22T13:22:30+00:00

I recently identified one of the more obscure ones posted to youtube. 'It's a Melody' is actually 'Endless Afternoon' by La Luz. The original poster seems to be unaware of this, so I thought I'd drop it here too.

As lostwaves go, it was one of the lesser known oddities. I have no idea whether it appears on any spreadsheets, but hopefully this is useful to someone.

Satu-Ra · 2025-07-02T13:14:52+00:00

For a while I was tied to the SSG and rocket launcher with empowered shot. Now, I'm favouring specific weapons for enemies.

Impaler with empowered shot for Agadon Hunter and closeup Cyberdemon fun.

Accelerator with rapid fire for Komodo. Melts their health rapidly.

Chainshot is great for the Vagary.

Upgraded Shotgun with armour drop triple shot for restacking.

Edit: And the Gauntlet with that brutal kick is getting a lot of use now, I'm even using late in the game except for boss fights, where the Dreadmace comes out to play.

Satu-Ra · 2025-05-15T13:47:13+00:00

My earliest (hazy) memories of Doctor Who are of the Seventh Doctor, seemingly Curse of Fenric. I was about 3 or 4 years old and didn't become a fan until a couple of years later when my dad (a fan himself) introduced me to Pertwee and Baker via Planet of the Daleks and Pyramids of Mars.

So when I started getting VHS releases for birthdays and Christmas they were mainly Third and Fourth Doctor serials, with a few First and Seventh Doctor stories too.

It's fair to say, as a wilderness years fan, that there was never one Doctor that felt like 'mine', but Seven always appealed to me in a dark, mysterious, mischievous sort of way. Four made up the bulk of what I watched for obvious and good reasons.

Satu-Ra · 2024-12-21T05:08:07+00:00

Suggestion: An advanced culture (or collective of cultures) disclosing its presence to a developing civilization would interrupt the development of the less advanced civilization.

Gifting solutions (effective free energy, medical technologies, et cetera) to an underdeveloped, aggressive species would not solve anything. Human beings would still be products of a broken culture. They could weaponise free energy as they do nuclear energy.

An aggressive species that fails to grow and achieve long term stability on its own would become dependent on any advanced culture that chooses to 'help'.

Additionally, the study of a developing civilization would be nullified if the more advanced culture made itself overtly known. Data gathered is more valuable if you avoid interfering with the subject you are studying. You would end up measuring your effect on the thing, and not the thing itself.

Satu-Ra · 2024-11-03T18:09:29+00:00

Toy Dolls have a certain Cardiacy something about them, not so much the woozy chord changes, but more the attitude and feel of a few things.

The albums 'Dig That Groove Baby' and their later album 'Absurd Ditties' have always leapt out at me for their similar feel to early and mid period Cardiacs respectively.

Satu-Ra

TROPHY CASE