I saw this last night, and I liked it. It was an enjoyable, visually stunning romp, and it passed the Philip Rodger Bladder Test which is always a big plus for films which I see in the cinema. A film passes that test if it can distract me from how much I need the toilet at the end of it.
Now don’t get me wrong, it was far from a perfect film. The plot felt messy, and it didn’t have a consistent theme running through it; but that’s hardly rare for big budget movies.
I get the feeling that the film had two major aims: to be a fantastic visual spectacle, and to be a love letter to the comics on which it’s based; and I think it succeeded at both of those. The visual bit I can say for sure, but my judgement of the later is hampered a bit by the fact that I’m not particularly knowledgeable about Valerian and Laureline. But even without that knowledge, I could clearly see just how many concepts and elements were included in the film, all seemingly so that fans could get that feeling of “I know that!”.
I think this is why the film lacked a consistent theme, as the focus was on including as much as possible form the comics, rather than including things to push an idea; but could this not be said to be a theme in its own right?I think it could, and that’s why I’m so willing to give it a pass.
One thing it didn’t include from the comics was time travel, which was nearly totally absent, I can understand that though. The inclusion of time travel would have pushed the already considerable scope to be truly overwhelming.
And you know what? I know that a lot of people have derided it, but I liked the relationship between the two main characters. Sure, it’s not going to go down in history as one of the greats, but it was a decent depiction of a bickery relationship, something which I’ve oft thought underrepresented by Hollywood.
It’s a shame the film isn’t going to make it’s money back, but with the amount they spent on it, and lack of big names attached that was never going to happen. I doubt they thought it would either. I think that the creators just loved the comic series, and were willing to spend a lot of money to bring it to the big screen, and that’s something I can respect.
I’ve been watching The Royal Tutor and today when I watched the most recent episode, I noticed a little thing which I really appreciated. Youngest Prince was imagining the way his brothers would react if they discovered that he works in a café, imagining them all calling him boring. The thing in particular which struck me was that Kai spoke in a way inconsistent with his normal dialog, still speaking simply but without the missing words which are normally found in his speech.
This kind of thing annoys me when it happens for no reason, but I adored it here, simply because it was happening in Youngest Prince’s imagination. It wasn’t a case of the writers messing up, it was a case of the character putting his own words in his brother mouth, thus creating this half way point between their dialog.
It was a tiny thing, and was only really on Kai (the others don’t speak differently enough to Youngest for me to be able to notice if it was there or not), but I still really appreciated it.
Also I’d recommend the show, it’s got a lot going for it.
I’ve recently been watching and loving Press Buttons and Talk’s Phoenix Wright playthrough. I could never get into the game itself because I kept on getting pissed of at the mechanics and the way that the court works in it, but there’s a really solid story at work there, so I’m glad I’m actually gettin got see that play out.
That said, it’s the players which I’m really loving in this LP. The two of them are taking the game exactly as seriously as it should be taken, taking the piss out of its many flaws and issues (they highlighted most of my problems in it early on which really helped bring me in), but also paying due respect to what the game does well.
They’re also really funny and do a brilliant job at voicing the characters. I doubt that the characters would be half as alive to me were it not for these two voicing them so well. They do such a quality job that I can almost forget that the voices aren’t actually a part of the game, and I wouldn’t want to play it without them. Of course I wouldn’t particularly want to play the games anyway due to the actually gameplay, but that’s besides the point.
I’m loving this let’s play, regretting how close to finishing it I am, and really looking forwards to seeing them play the other games in the series.
“But Philip, it’s March! Why are you doing your best of 2017 list now?”
Well that’s because it sometimes takes me a while to get around to things, and hey, at least it isn’t April.
Anyway, I had a pretty good time in 2017. There were some really important changes in my life, some great people and events, and a whole heap of good media.
Presented below are some of my favourite medias of 2017. This is stuff I experienced for the first time in 2017, not necessarily stuff which came out in 2017. Also the things aren’t ordered within their sections.
Books
Strange Practise by Vivian Shaw
This was one of those books which I picked up in Waterstones entirely on a whim, and I’m incredibly happy I did (as should be obvious with it being on this list). It explores one of my favourite concepts, that of how the fantastical actually operates in the real world. The main character, Dr. Greta van Helsing (descendent of the usual van Helsing) is a doctor to the supernatural, and through her presence causes the monsters who make up her clientele to feel much more grounded and real than they would otherwise.
The book also makes really good use of public domain characters, placing them in the world such that they feel they belong there, without their public domain status being the spotlight. Another thing the book does well is conveying emotions; in particular it does a fantastic job of conveying emotional vulnerability without it being a synonym for weakness.
Dune by Frank Herbert
You know what Dune is. I don’t need to explain it.
Dune has been haunting my reading list and bookshelf for an awful long time. Every time I would pick out a new book to read, Dune would be there, waving it’s pages to catch my attention and calling “Hey! It’s me, Dune! I’m a classic of the genre. I’m beloved for good reason. You’re not having read me causes you to miss out on many references, and you’re well aware of this. I can explain to you what the Gom Jabbar is. Read me!” And every time I would glance at Dune, think about how long and revered it is, avoid eye contact, and pretend that I hadn’t heard or seen it.
Well this year I finally put that right. It felt good to finally have it stop taunting me, but it felt even better to actually read it, because it turns out that Dune is really fucking good.
The way that the world is built, the interactions between the characters, the way things grow and develop in the book, all of it is just so damn good. It’s Dune, go read it.
City of Miracles by Robert Jackson Bennett
City of Miracles was a fantastic end to a trilogy which I’ve loved. Tying up the major loose ends, answering the major unanswered questions, and taking the world and themes to a wonderful ending point.
The trilogy as a whole did some really nice stuff with the perspective and pacing. Each book has a different main character (though they’re each always important), and they’re set many years apart, decades even. This results in the world feeling and characters feeling very alive and functional in that they’re doing stuff even if we’re not seeing it. The books focus on the three major Divine events since the Blink (incidentally, I’m a big fan of this type of post-big-event setting), and just lets us know that stuff happened during the time between.
The book also contains a bit I adore, in which exposition is explicitly and dramatically avoided in a way which ties perfectly into the characters in the scene.
The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson
I’d fallen a bit behind on Cosmere stuff recently, so I spent a bit of this year catching up. They were all good, but The Bands of Mourning really stood out to me as excellent, and some of Sanderson’s best work. Something I loved in particular about this book was the way in which it managed reader emotions. I don’t want away too much, so I’ll just say that the reader’s feelings are directed in such a way that it maximises impact and catharsis, and really elevates the later parts of the book.
The Tropic of Serpents by Marie Brennan
The first of the Lady Trent books was good, but it really came into its own with The Tropic of Serpents. The way that these books approach dragons, from the perspective of a natural historian viewing them in a scientific manner, is incredibly refreshing; it’s so nice to see Dragons actually fitting in a Victorian era (I think, I get all the eras named after monarchs mixed up) world, and the characters treating them like they belong.
Even leaving the dragons aside, the handling of the era is really good. It deals really well with the struggle of science in the face of politics, as well as the struggles of women and the lower class within the scientific communities.
The Brothers Cabal by Jonathan L. Howard
I love the Johannes Cabal books. Cabal is a real bastard, and that makes him a joy to read about. He’s not evil mind you, he’s certainly not a pinnacle of virtue either, but he’s mostly kind of a good guy. Any shitty things he does are in service of a greater goal, but he’s still a bastard. It brings a texture to his internal conflicts which you don’t really see often.
He’s a great character, but having his brother around elevates him even further. The two of them are fantastic comparisons and foils for each other.
The way in which the Cabal books handle the supernatural is also great. It feels functional and integrated into the world, yet still unmistakably outside of the normal.
Kill All Angels by Robert Brockway
Much like City of Miracles, this was a fantastic end to a trilogy.
The Vicious Circle books are fascinating and notable for a variety of reasons: there’s the way in which they keep two timelines going throughout the whole trilogy; there’s the way it showcases cosmic horror on a human level, as well as placing the horror on that level; there’s the way it handles the idea of humanity, and what it means to loose it; and there’s also the way in which it takes the question “Why is Mario Lopez so weird?” and builds it out into one of my favourite horror series.
I rather not say any more about the series, just know that I really recommend it.
Also when I said “Mario Lopez”, I actually meant to say “A character similar to, but legally distinct from Mario Lopez”.
Games
Doki Doki Literature Club
This game hits like a ton of bricks, and good bricks at that. At this point I think that most everyone knows the deal with DDLC, but I’m still going to avoid big spoilers.
DDLC is one of those games which catches you by surprise, and isn’t what you first expect. It’s got a big old twist, shocks the hell out of you at some moments, and does some terrific integration of mental illness into the plot and characters. All of that is done fantastically, but the thing which really makes DDLC stick out to me is just how good the core game itself is.
The first part of DDLC, before stuff hits the wall, is the best dating sim visual novel I’ve played. That’s super important for setting up and enabling the later stuff, but it’s also just great. If Team Salvato announced that they were doing a pure dating sim, I would be well up for that.
West of Loathing
Considering the amount of time I’ve put into Kingdom of Loathing over the years (spoiler: a lot), it’s should be no surprise that I love this game. However I will say that I was a tad surprised with just how much I loved it.
KoL has always been a game driven mostly by it’s writing and concepts, and this game capitalises on both of those. There’s an awful lot of writing in the game, and all of it is good. Everywhere where there can be a joke, there’s a good joke, and everywhere where there isn’t a joke, there’s some damn good writing which would have had its impact lessened by a joke (to be clear: all of the joke writing is also good; I mean just that there’s always a good reason for jokes being absent).
The story the game tells, and the way it does it, are both incredible; and there’s a real elegance to the game’s art style.
Super Mario Odyssey
This game is a true delight. I’m famously bad at sticking it all the way through games, but this one kept hold of me and I finished it in a weekend. Not that I’ve 100%ed it mark you, but I also didn’t exactly rush through the campaign, I took my time, did a bit of sightseeing and all that.
The game’s also kept me coming back. I keep on finding myself popping back in to pick up a few more moons.
It’s just so joyous, so lovely, so utterly delightful. There’s just so much in the game, and it’s all just so good.
Just Dance 2017
Yeah that’s right, Just Dance. I’d never really played Just Dance before this year, but I have now and I love it. It’s just a whole heap of fun to play, and a nice alternative to going for a run if I want to exercise but don’t want to leave the flat.
I specify 2017 because that’s the one I’ve played.
Monument Valley 2
The first Monument Valley is one of my favourite games, so there was a bit of a worry that the sequel wouldn’t live up to my expectations. Thankfully those worries were unfounded, and I’d put MV2 right up there with the first. It plays like the first, but with twists on the mechanics to keep it feeling fresh. Similarly, it explores the same themes, but from a different perspective. The looks are just as stunning as the first, and go even further in many points, really exploring what the graphic style can do.
Ultimately the game is more Monument Valley, and that’s exactly what I wanted it to be.
Linelight
Linelight was a nice little puzzle game with straightforward, easily understood mechanics and a delightful, simple aesthetic. It managed to excel due to the excellence in puzzle design, and the way in which it conveyed ideas and meaning.
Put simply, if Thomas Was Alone didn’t exist, then these would be the strongest emotions a game has made me feel about such simple shapes. This game however didn’t have a narrator, instead it used just the mechanics to make me attached to some of my companion lines, and did so in a sublime way.
TV Shows
Girls’ Last Tour
I’ll be honest with you; I picked up this show because they dab in the OP. It turned out that was actually a good decision, as it led me to one of my all time favourite shows.
Girls’ Last Tour is a slow paced, intimate show. It’s an exploration of the two main characters travelling through a dead world, and just trying to survive. The world feels empty in a way which few other post-apocalypse things manage, mostly due to the fact that there are so few characters. In the 12 episode run, only 2 supporting human characters are encountered, and each is around for only one episode. This means you really get to know the main characters, and to truly see how their time in this dead world is affecting them.
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable
It’s no secret that I love Jojo, and Diamond is Unbreakable is without a doubt my favourite part so far.
I loved Stardust Crusaders, but I had several issues with it. Diamond is Unbreakable fixes damn near all of them, and it really feels like Mr JoJo learnt some lessons from SC and applied them here. The characters are great and you really get to know them, the fights are cool and satisfying, and all the Stands feel unique and interesting.
Then there’s the actual presentation of the show, which is absolutely stunning. The unusual colour palette gives the world a whole new depth, and the soundtrack is just incredible. In particular there’s a certain use of a certain theme, which results in one of my all time favourite moments in a tv show.
Cromartie High School
Cromartie’s really damn funny, though it’s hard to put into words exactly why. I think a large part of it is the show’s absolute commitment to inconsistency. It’s committed to the extent that not even the show’s inconsistency is consistent. Things are forgotten, the forgetting is lampshaded, but then some characters will remember things whilst others won’t. Storylines will just stop, but then they might suddenly restart at a later date as if they had been going all along. It’s a show where nothing is ever really forgotten, but nothing is ever really remembered either.
It’s art is what I’m trying to say. Pure art.
My Brother, My Brother and Me
That’s right, this one isn’t an anime. It is a spin-off from a podcast though, so it’s a pretty nice lead in to the next section.
Do you like the MBMBaM podcast? If yes, then you’ll love the show. If no, then there’s a good chance you’ll still love the show. The podcast is used as the basis for it, but it’s built up into something even greater. It’s not just that it has editing and a budget, it also shows us new layers to the relationship between the brothers, and puts them in the real world as opposed to the podcast void which they normally live in. Everything in the show is so funny, and so good. I really do love it.
Podcasts
Wonderful
Wonderful is an aptly named podcast; it’s a true joy to listen to.
In the podcast, husband and wife, Griffin and Rachel Mcelroy, talk about the things they like. That’s the entire premise, and it makes for a truly wonderful podcast because it’s just so positive and sweet and lovely. There are no rules on the kinds of things they talk about, so they could be as general as a genre of film, or as specific as a sequence of notes in a particular song.
This podcast is the second iteration of Rose Buddies, which was a Bachelor fancast, and shares the same podcast feed, so watch out for that if you pick it up. Not that Rose Buddies wasn’t also a great podcast, but it was of a different style. The fact that I picked up Rose Buddies in 2016 does make the podcast’s place on this list a touch more dubious, but I’m the one making up the rules here, so I’m saying it’s fine.
Pretend Friends
This podcast is a delight. It’s an RPG podcast with the Continue? guys, and I have a history of finding them funny, so it makes sense I like this podcast. But what really elevates it is the game that they’re playing, that being Space Kings. Space Kings is notable in several ways, one of those ways being that it isn’t actually out yet. The GM of the podcast is one of the devs of the game, and the podcast is a bit of a beta test for it. That’s a nice novelty, but the thing which is really great about Space Kings is how it’s built around making a good collaborative story and having a laugh, rather than being built around firm mechanics.
It’s a podcast of a bunch of friends trying to make each other laugh, succeeding, and telling a story about a bunch of friends travelling around in space and getting up to some good hijinks. At one point a cat cuts a spaceship in half, at another a mop fires a gun. It’s a good time.
The Worst Idea of All Time
You know how I said that Wonderful’s place on this list was a tad dubious? Well TWIoAT is even more dubious due to the fact that I’ve been listening to it for years. The reason I’ve put it here is that it ended this year.
TWIoAT was a fantastic ride the whole way through. If you’ve ever wanted to listen to a pair of skill Kiwi comedians lose their minds over a few years, then this is the show for you. Whilst I’m sad to see it go, I’m happy that the two of them can start the road to recovery now.
Web Shows
Super Beard Bros - Dark Souls 3
Beard Bros is a long time favourite of mine, and I think that this might well be one of their best series. Brett is just such a fantastic addition to the crew, and allows the other two to shift into slightly different roles. All of them are on utterly top form in this series, and it leads to a fantastic atmosphere, and lovely series.
The core of it is how wonderfully positive it is. Alex gets frustrated at times, but never really angry and seems to be having a great time with the game. Brett’s a fantastically encouraging person, and a true delight to listen to. And it’s so nice to get to hear Jirard chilled out, and finally having the time to make the wrap of the day.
Press Buttons ‘n’ Talk - Phoenix Wright 2
I discovered PB’n’T late last last year (2016) with their playthrough of Phoenix Wright 1. From there I worked my way through the rest of their stuff and caught up in PW2, which was a pleasing symmetry.
The channel is always great to watch, but the Phoenix Wright games are where they really excel. The voices given to the characters really bring the games to life, and they’re off high enough quality, and consistently enough applied that they’re now firmly in my head as the cannon voices for the characters. Even Phoenix himself, who’s handed back and forth between the two of them, feels consistent and has a real identity in his voice.
I finally got around to watching the Paddington movie last night, and I’m so glad I did because it was wonderful and I genuinely believe it’s one of the best films ever made. I could spend an awful long time singing the film’s many praises, but for now there’s one particular bit which I’d like to highlight.’
Shortly after first appearing, Henry Brown says the line: “Keep your eyes down, there’s some sort of bear over there. Probably selling something.”
It’s so damn good. It’s a perfect line. The one line completely sells the concept of the film. The line, and it’s delivery, perfectly sets up a world in which a talking bear can walk the streets of London without it being a big deal. It gets in early, answers one of the big questions, and lets us know what to expect going forth. Wonderful.
I listen to quite a lot of podcasts, but there couple a few things which really make VGHD stand out to me; which makes it different to the rest.
I don’t listen to particularly many video games podcasts nowadays, but back when I listened to more VGHD was unusual in that all of the others were hosted by games media people (in their various forms) whilst VGHD was (and indeed, still is) hosted by devs. The immediate impact of this is the different perspective it provides on things, seeing the other side of the figurative curtain. But it also changes the way that games are spoken about.
The very vocabulary used to talk about games was different as a result of the hosts being devs, and the way that they experienced many things was different too.
The other thing which makes VGHD stand out to me is the way that jokes work on it. Most funny podcasts have the style of improv or of stand-up, but VGHD is different. Two of the hosts are explicitly comedy writers, and the other two are adjacent. This means that the way that jokes are formed, presented, and bounce around is different; the jokes are built and worked on in a way I don’t see in any of the other podcasts I listen to.
Monument Valley 2 is a fantastic game. The first was one of my all tome favourites, and number 2 has definitely lived up to my hopes. The game is once again an absolute joy, and stunningly beautiful; but one area in which I feel the sequel actually exceeds the first is in theming and storytelling.
The first game told the tale of a girl maturing and accepting responsibility. This game tells that same story, but from the perspective of the mother. It's the same thing becoming something else through a change of perspective! That's brilliant! They took the core idea of the game, and applied it to the story itself.
And let's not forget the way that the story is conveyed through the theming of the levels. The pictures included are from a level just after the mother has parted ways with her daughter, and just look at it. It's a slate grey world in which normally the normally pleasant noise of movement gains the harsh click of a stone thrown at slate, but which gains more and more colour as the Mother comes to terms with parting ways. It's fantastic, and the rest of the game is just as good.
I finished reading Robert Jackson Bennet’s “City of Miracles” today, the final instalment in the Divine Cities trilogy which I’ve been keeping up with over the past few years.
I’m not going to go into detail because the book only came out last week, but trust me that I’ve got a whole bunch of specific stuff that I could get deeply into. The book is fantastic, easily living up to the previous ones (for the record: I thought that City of Stairs was really good but had a lot of room for improvement, whilst City of Blades was truly great), and doing a brilliant job of expanding on the world and themes of the earlier book, yet still being it’s own thing and not overly encroaching on the earlier stories.
That’s something which I feel to be an important point, as it’s pretty common for the final book in a series to eclipse the earlier ones and make their events feel redundant. City of Miracles didn’t do that, partially that’s due to the stakes in each of the three books being incredibly high, but it’s mainly just that each story had something of it’s own going on, and whilst there was definitely a lot of crossover and bleed, the cores of each story were self contained.
City of Miracles might well be one of the best endings to a trilogy that I’ve seen. The way it ties everything together, and brings all of the themes and elements of the story to a satisfying conclusion, is truly great. The very ending of the book (and by extension the trilogy) is a work of true beauty, and I simply adore it.
There’s a lot more I could say about the book, in particular about Sigrud Je Harkvaldsson and his position in the story, but as I said I’m being light on the details at the moment, so I’ll leave it here. Suffice to say that a heartily recommend the book and the whole trilogy.
