Good afternoon everyone,

How are you? Well, I hope. I was at dinner last night and someone was talking about Sonic the Hedgehog, which reminded me of something I'm low level fascinated by - speedrunning computer games. It's combination of being amazed at the physical and mental skill/toughness that it would take to get to a point where you can complete "Breath of the Wild" in under an hour, but also being sad at all the loveliness you would miss in not really inhabiting this delightful world that lots of people have created for you.

Anyway, here are some of the women of speedrunning! There are interviews and profiles here, I was particularly interested in Lizstar's project, which includes playing every game ever made for the Sega Genesis (she is more than halfway through):

She likes exploring lesser played titles including those that are not as well made but can still be a source of joy while allowing for some fun discussion about just how bad a game can get. “I like trash and trash is not necessarily bad,” she says. “It’s just things that people don’t pay much attention to and kind of throw out as worthless but there’s a lot of worth in there.”

https://www.speedrun.com/news/632-2021-3-24-spotlight-four-women-in-speedrunning

Now here's t0uchan, who teaches high school and I guess is pretty great at playing Sonic the Hedgehog:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pWZHYVsibE

Now here's Amethyst_Rocks, here playing a Mario game. She also promises "big gay personal stuff" so if that is your jam, meet your new best friend!

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1718957227

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee,

Alex.