Sunset
Reflections of a Housekeeper, by Angela Burnes, week 39
Nothing that came before took me to this place...not the white kids at school teasing me for having big lips, or the old woman at the movie theater refusing to sell me tickets because of the color of my skin. I didn't feel hatred for the ignorant rednecks who set off the bomb that killed four of my friends, or for the cops who let those men go without arresting them. I prayed for them all. And even when I was burning the skin around my ears with a hot iron, after one of my teachers told me I'd never be pretty unless my hair was straight, I didn't hate her for saying it, or hate myself for doing it.
Earlier injuries across my years filled me with anger. Brought despair to my soul. But they never ignited the hatred that's burning inside me now for President Miraflores.
For what you did to my baby brother, I hate you with all I am, Generalísimo. My only Valentine's wish is for your heart to turn rotten and split apart inside your chest.
Traduction française
Amusez-vous bien !
Sunset can now be played with French on screen text!
Reflections of a Housekeeper, by Angela Burnes, week 38
At least the former president, Hermes Losada, seemed to have good intentions that sometimes went awry. May he rest in peace. By way of contrast, Miraflores makes it easy to believe in evil as a concept. And of course it's Miraflores' jail that my brother David got his ass thrown into. Now we have to do something!
Русская версия
Всего хорошего!
Version 1.05 of Sunset has just been released with Russian translation, bug fixes and work-in-progress French translation.
Reflections of a Housekeeper, by Angela Burnes, week 37
The games we played as kids were never that far removed from war. Chess, Battleship, Capture the Flag, so many of those games take on gravity because they're based on military conflict. Why doesn't it ever work the other way around, where we laugh at war and consider it childish because it resembles the games we played growing up?
I guess killing people is something we do in the grown-up world in order to grant our games a kind of puffed-up seriousness, to give them the illusion of meaning. Sacrificial payment.
Oh, David, I hope you're safe.
Reflections of a Housekeeper, by Angela Burnes, week 36
You need a massive infrastructure to supply energy to all the homes in a city like San Bavón. But if that infrastructure enables political agents like Miraflores (or Nixon back home, for that matter), I wonder if it's worth it. If people can't provide for themselves without also feeding the machinery of an oppressive regime, then maybe we'd be better off living in the wild.
Gabriel didn't leave a task list today, and it's not like him to forget. I hope he's all right.
Deutsche Übersetzung
Außerdem vielen Dank an Steve Gardner, dass er sich die Mühe gemacht hat, das wunderschöne scharfe S (ß) zu der Schriftart hinzuzufügen, die wir für Angelas Handschrift verwenden.
Viel Spaß!
Sunset can now be played in German. More languages to follow!
Reflections of a Housekeeper, by Angela Burnes, week 35
But the work is comforting. Rinsing dishes in warm water, ironing clothes, and straightening the place up. It grounds me.
Beyond the windows, the spectacle of fire and chaos is not a real existence. Reality is living day to day, tidying up, mending things, and sitting down to write in a journal. It's eating and sleeping, taking pleasure in the sun on your face as you walk past the food market. It's hearing a song through a neighbor's window and following along with it for a while.
Only when things begin to burn or are torn apart by explosions do we realize how essential those things are, in the true meaning of the word. War turns harmony into a luxury, and makes us all wide-eyed and desperate, creatures scurrying through rubble, hearts and minds full of discord.
How we turn back from that, and give everyone in the world those mundane, essential moments is exactly what we should all be fighting for.
Update 1.04 now available
In a further attempt to improve performance, we have added levels of detail to the most complex models in the game.
A number of bugs have been fixed and a first iteration of the German translation by Marcel Weyers is also included (although it needs some more tweaking).
Cloth physics are now off by default. You can switch them on in the advanced display options.
We've fixed also the subtitle display on non-HD screens.
Please have a look at this update and do let us know if you encounter any errors. Fixing things is always prone to causing new errors that we may have missed.
Reflections of a Housekeeper, by Angela Burnes, week 34
Almost every magazine back home runs advertisements for the military, aimed at young Black men and Latinos. It seems cynical, but it's a system.
First they throw your family into poverty, make life almost impossible, and deny you all the good things you see happening around you. So few Black Americans end up going to college. Getting hired by some white boss, and getting a fair deal afterward, is another set of challenges. Just when you're about to give up, they dangle this carrot in front of your face. Join the US Army! Travel the world! Get a cheap education! Meanwhile the white kids are going to the good schools, or getting trained to take over the family business. It's an environment designed to separate us out by class and race.
I don't admire the people who turn their backs on it all, to become pimps or dealers instead, but I know where they're coming from. Sometimes it feels like there's not much choice. Submit, or swallow so much of that cynicism that it becomes who you are.