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Media Recap #2

A collage of different things I've read/watched/played. Is a mashup of every image shown in the article below in one giant collage. Read on for more!
A recap of things I've enjoyed since March!

Following on from my first media recap, here’s the second edition!

It feels odd to write about the media I’ve enjoyed while my country falls into facism, but, well, here we are.

Writing these blog posts help me gather my thoughts, and make slightly less of a passive consumer, so I think it’s worth it!

Vampires

This was the Spring of Vampires for me, where I ended up watching/reading/playing lots of vampire related art! Here it is all in one place :D

Castlevania: Nocturne (Season 1)

The four protagonists of Castlevania Nocturne, standing in the rain, having just been spotted by a bunch of vampires.
The least stealthy people I’ve ever seen, sneaking into a vampire’s gala.

A friend recommended this to me, and I dove in without having played any of the Castlevania games, or watched the previous Netflix series.

Overall, I enjoyed it! The show doesn’t take itself too seriously, the fight choreography is fun, and the animation gets the job done.

My favorite protagonists are definitely Annette and Edouard, with Olrox as the compelling villain character.

I really like how the show tackles concepts like colonialism and class through the lens of the vampires. Vampires have always been protrayed as the blood sucking elite, but making them French slave owners is next-level metaphor.

My biggest complaint is the sheer number of Deus Ex Machinas, but again, the show doesn’t take itself too seriously, so it still kinda worked for me.

I recommend it if you’re looking for a fun actiony romp, with some suprising social justice depth.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PS1)

A pixel art Vampire (Alucard) standing in a room with stained glass windows.
I thought this game had beautiful art.

After watching the first season of the Nocturne show, I decided to go and play one of the original games that inspired it!

I never played any of the Castlevania games growing up, but figured they’d be up my alley, as they inspired the “metroid_vania_” genre – I was right!

This game is 27 years old, but it still felt fresh and fun to me. There was so much to explore in the castle, with a large variety of enemies and some challenging boss fights. The magic and transformations were rewarding to unlock, and finding another huge new wing of the castle never got old.

I thought the art and the vibe were immaculate – I stopped moving the character several times just to take in the background.

Alucard standing in front of a waterfall, with a faerie floating above him.
Alucard standing on top of the castle walls at night, with a large crescent moon lighting up the scene.

I technically didn’t beat it, only getting to the . But at that point I felt like I’d gotten everything I wanted out fo the game, and was ready to move on.

I see why this game inspired a genre! I may try Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow next.

Killadelphia

The Killadelphia Volume 1 book cover, with the word Killadelphia going down the left side, and a vampire face with fangs beared taking up the rest of the image.

The same friend that recommended Castlevania Nocturne had told me to check out Killadelphia a while back. So, when I saw the first volume in the comic book store, I gave it a try!

I like the art style of the comic, it’s vibrant and engaging.

I’m not sure about the story yet – it’s goes from 0 to 100 real fast, and I’m not sure that it’s going to give the violence the weight I think it needs.

But it’s still a promising start for me, and it’s really cool to see Philly (the city I just moved to) illustrated in a comic!

Sinners

The Sinners movie poster, with all the main characters looking towards the camera. Michael B. Jordan's two characters feature prominently at the top of the poster.

This movie is worth watching on the big screen – if it’s still in theatre’s at time of reading, definitely go!

I didn’t know anything about this going in except that it was about vampires in Mississippi, and it blew me away.

The music especially – Miles Caton is fantastic.

I saw it two weeks ago, and I’ve been thinking about it a lot since (and listening to the soundtrack).

I don’t think I picked up on all of the themes/meanings in my first viewing – I want to go watch it again to try to lock in my thoughts about it.

I’m not going to go into the themes of the movie myself – if you’ve watched it and want some analysis, I highly recommend checking out these videos:

One thing I did love is how hard it leaned on the folklore that vampires can’t enter a building unless invited in – something that none of the vampire media above adheres to!

Go watch this movie! :D

Games

Counterfeit Monkey by Emily Short

The game map from counterfeit monkey. This is an entirely text based game -- this map is just a little extra visual crutch.
Point the k-remover at “funk game”.

Another Interactive Fiction game for this list! This one may have ruined me for other games, it’s so good. See my review of The Bat for more context on IF games in general.

Counterfeit Monkey is set in the European city-state of Atlantis, in a society that has mastered “linguistic manipulation” technology. You play as a spy armed with a letter-remover, trying to smuggle some tech schematics and a cocky university student off the island.

The main mechanic of the game is using the letter-remover to manipulate your environment. Have an apple but fancy a drink? Use the p-remover on the “apple” and now you have an “ale”!

Need a distraction, but only have a leftover wrap from lunch? Use the w-remover to turn it into a “rap”! Easy!

The amount of creative problem solving this game lets you do is unreal. I can’t imagine how much time it took to make, and how much careful word-smithing it required.

The game took me something like 15 hours to complete, and the letter-remover never got stale! You also get your hands on more powerful letter manipulation tech later in the game, which is fun, and I really enjoyed learning more about the dystopian government of Atlantis.

This game was an experience like none other, I recommend it to anybody who likes playing with words.

The Bazaar (DNF)

Played for a couple of days. Uninstalled.

Realized that these sorts of endless roguelike games are bad for my mental health.

They’re the video game equivalent of eating a bunch of potato chips. You can’t stop eating them, but you feel sick afterwards.

If you like this genre, you’ll probably like this example of it, but it made me realize I need to stay away!

Clair Obscura: Expedition 33

The protagonists of the game, facing a giant monolith with the number '33' painted on it. The title of the game is printed above the monolith.

(May 15th) UPDATE:

I finished the game tonight. Unfortunately, I had big problems with the story starting at the end of Act 2, and it soured me on it. :(

Planning to write a larger post about my thoughts, so stay tuned.

Mindblowing.

I’m about halfway through this game right now (~25 hours in) – I’ll probably write up a full blog post for it when I’m done.

This game, along with Sinners, show what passionate artists can do in a world with (less) money-grubbing management.

The combat is fun and snappy, the visuals ethereal and dreamlike, the music gripping, and the story devastating. The theme of the game is “dealing with grief” and boy do they hit that note well.

My only complaint about this game so far is that it feels a bit long, and some of the minigames are frustrating, but overall, I’m blown away.

Will write more once I finish it!

Watching

Scavenger’s Reign (DNF)

One of the protagonists, Azi, reading a book, sitting against the corpse of some sort of insect creature.

Sadly, I didn’t gel with this show.

The world was beautiful and inventive, but I didn’t gel with most of the characters. I watched a couple more episodes after the halfway point but found the character moments frustrating, so gave it up.

I did love all the wonderful flora and fauna – I’d watch the National Geographic documentary on the planet in a heartbeat.

This is one of my friend’s favorite shows, so definitely give it a try if you think you’ll like it, just wasn’t for me in the end.

Grow Up! Why does everyone hate children? by the Leftist Cooks

One of the Leftist Cooks, Neilly, on a stage, wearing a pink jacket. The words Grow Up are in white across the top of the screen.

This is a great (if oddly lit) video essay about how society treats children and about the concept of childism.

Childism refers to the fact that we don’t really treat children as people with their own desires and autonomy, with their own needs and their own ability to care for the needs of others.

My girlfriend and I have been exploring this concept for a while (she recommends the book Trust Kids!). This video essay did a good job putting a lot of what we’ve been learning in one place.

I recommend it to anybody for whom this is a new (maybe radical?) idea! And I recommend The Leftist Cooks in general – they’re great.

Indie Cross by MORØ

What if all of the Indie Game darlings of the 2010s were in one game?

You’d get Dead Cross.

Ba dum tssssssss

But if it was an animated story instead, you’d get Indie Cross!

The thumnail for episode 1 of Indie Cross. Features the protagonists of Cuphead and Shovel Knight, with the word 'Episode 1' in the corner

These videos are fantastic. I believe it’s written and animated mostly by only one person, with a few key models and the voice acting done by others.

The amount of love MORØ and team have put in to this is astounding. I’ve only played half of the games referenced (Hollow Knight, Celeste, and Cuphead), but at least for those games, they nail so many little details.

My favorite section is Hollow Knight filling in his journal after a battle :D

And it’s made me want to play Hyper Light Drifter – the character seems so cool!

The battle scenes are gorgeous, and the interactions between the characters feel almost realistic – they’re not just putting a bunch of gags in for laughs, they really nail the different characters.

I could go either way on the meta-plot that’s dragging them all together (some sort of evil robots named after game development engines are attacking everybody), but that’s really not the focus of this. The interactions between the characters of the different games are.

If you’re a fan of any of these games, give this a watch, you won’t be disappointed! I can’t wait for Episode 3.

Reading

Comedy against work: Utopian Longing in dystopian times by Madeline Lane-McKinley

The cover of the book. It's just the words of the title and author (see above) in white, against an orange background.

This book started out real strong, but I felt it struggled to pull together into a cohesive conclusion. Still, I enjoyed the feminist marxist lens on the American comedy scene.

The book interrogates the balance between the harmful aspects of the industry (capitalism, “punching down”, the patriarchy and racism of it all), and the revolutionary seeds that exist within humor and satire.

Most of the history of the world of comedy was new to me – the fucked-up history of West Coast standup stood out in particular.

My favorite parts of it were when the author brought her own experiences into the work, talking about her time in academia, working on her PHD, her job as a professor, and her struggles balancing the above with being a new mother. And of course, her favorite comedy.

While reading this, I realized that a lot of the comedy shows I watch these days are British, in particular Taskmaster and Would I Lie to You. I’d love a similar book exploring the UK scene (Lane-Mckinley does have a section about Monty Python, but not about anything more recent).

If you like comedy, and are up for an academic book, I’m sure you’d get something out of this book.

Delicious in Dungeon

The cover of volume 14 of Delicious in Dungeon. The protagonists stand holding plates of food, while a large feast takes place behind them.

I started reading the manga a couple of years ago, but only just finished volumes 13 and 14 recently.

I loved it!

This was a weird series to get into shortly after becoming mostly vegetarian, but I didn’t let that stop me!

Ryoko Kui’s art is fantastic and very understandable. I sometimes find it hard to follow action scenes in comics, but not hers! Her world is beautifully realized, and her characters simple but compelling.

I’d also like to plug her short stories collection: Seven Little Sons of the Dragon: A Collection of Seven Stories. Not every story is a masterpiece, but if you enjoyed Delicious in Dungeon you’ll like them. The werewolf story was my favorite :D

I can’t wait to see what she does next!

Blogs

CAW: Collective of Anarchist Writers

I’ve been reading Vicky Osterweil’s blog for a while now, and am now following her as a part of the new collective CAW!

The things the CAW team write about are grim, but I find that they help me grapple with the crazy world we’re living in.

Vicky’s articles about the Silicon Reich have been particularly useful to me as a former big-tech worker.

Give them a read and a donation!

Articles I’ve liked recently!

Like in my last recap, here’s some blog posts I’ve read recently that stuck with me.

If the titles of these articles give you whiplash, well, welcome to my mental state the last few months…

In no particular order:

An excerpt:

Why not make shrines, IRL?

What is the genius loci of your landscape? What memorial can you build at the entrance to your neighbourhood? What spirit lives in your favourite tree? What is an appropriate votive offering for the fish-god gestating in the canal; the engine-god in the car you drive to work?

We are very good at immersion, at playing as if things were real.

So make it real. Speak to your trees, aloud. Let your neighbours see. Leave candles at the memorial you made on your roundabout. Build an altar to birds. Cast spells at a protest rally.

Because attention is devotion, and devotion is attention. If that dark god Mammon, whose name is Capitalism, has seized speedy, frictionless materialism—playful, small-scale, deliberate animism is radical.

Have relationships with the gods of your life, your community, your stories. Be devoted to these things. Build shrines to them. Focus on them. Make them real. Make your place real.

Thanks for reading! I plan to do these recaps a little bit more frequently going forward, so look out for one in a month or so!

Stay safe out there.