#ALSO. for a show for a mostly young audience it gets surprisingly graphic at times?? kinda gagged me a bit

[zeph-phyr]

jentry chau vs the underworld is probably one of the best cartoons to come out in recent years and im not kidding. that last episode had me in tears omg

[disembodiedapparition]

Masterpiece

"Hello, everyone," Gerard Way began, his shifty hazel eyes darting through the crowd with nervousness, searching for a familiar face in the ocean of the inquisitive audience. "I'm here today to inaugurate this majestic gallery, which, admittedly, consists of a few of my own works" — a laugh reverberated like a ripple through the audience — "but also beautiful pieces from tons of other talented artists, like Kurt Cobain, Ray Toro, Bert McCracken..." he mindlessly listed off.

He had been coerced into "opening" for the gallery, the organizers clearly not caring about his tendency to stutter, or his crippling anxiety — "You're popular," they had reasoned. "Everyone will love you anyway."

So here he was, having around sixty simultaneous panic attacks, cheesily introducing their display of swirls and colors as the crowd scrutinized and judged his every move. As you can tell, Gerard was having the time of his life.

As he rambled on about the hard work and effort and time that everyone had put into the gallery — it's not like anyone really cared; it had become a mere formality at this point — his eyes stealthily raked over the crowd, scanning the variety of expressions on people's faces; boredom, interest, restlessness, a couple of eager relatives who were hoping their kin would be mentioned — you know, the average. Everyone at art galleries were just naturally boring, he reasoned. It was sort of a given that anyone who actually wanted to spend a good three hours just walking around and staring at brush strokes was.

His eyes suddenly landed on a young scruffy man standing apart from the crowd in total contrast; unlike the formally dressed men and women, who were clad in suits and dresses, he was wearing worn ripped jeans, muddy brown converse that had been defaced with black sharpie, and a tattered black hoodie — and Gerard wondered what someone like him was doing at some sort of fancy art convention like this.

He concluded his monotonous speech (which had surprisingly only gone on for ten minutes; really, it had felt like ages) and stepped down from the podium, as the crowd applauded, actually seeming like they'd enjoyed his half-hearted monologue; further confirmed by one of the managers patting him on the back and telling him that he'd done a great job. Gerard, however, was not focusing on the meaningless validation he was being showered with; instead choosing to occupy his thoughts with that of the young man who'd been staring at one of his comic book displays in the little corner in the back of the room.

Yeah, Gerard did comics too, and today was one of those rare events in which the managers had allowed him to put them up for display (after literally hours of persuasion, but whatever). They were in the back corner, where they wouldn't ruin the whole "abstract art" vibe they had going on, but still there, and that made him very happy — despite the fact that barely anyone ever spared a glance for the tiny superhero-themed stand in the dark shadows of the room.

He pushed his way through the chaotic swarms of art critics and interviewers, all flocking to congratulate one of the alternative scene's most popular artists — he wished he was liked solely for his artwork, but everyone knew his soft hazel eyes and fluffy black hair had a little to do with it as well; although he couldn't understand what was really attractive about him, as such. All he really did before leaving the house was brush his long fingers through his loose hair, pull on an Iron Maiden shirt or something, and yank on a (probably unwashed) pair of unfashionably faded denims — yet everyone claimed that he was an artist, he was only expressing himself.

He was making a statement.

Really, the press overanalyzed the hell out of everything he did — he could blink, and the press would conjure something up about how he closed his eyes to avoid the harsh reality of the dying earth, but opened them again to show bravery, or some bullshit like that.

Gerard finally got through the ocean of scrambling reporters and fans when one of his equally well-known peers caught the media's eyes, and they all rushed over to the latter; Gerard shot him a look of pity before wrapping his suit tighter around his chest, furtively scrambling to get near the enigmatic stranger. Which was quite funny, considering it was usually the other way round — with fans and paparazzi rushing for a photo with him, or an autograph, or a quote they could slap on the cover of their magazine.

"Hey, dude," he awkwardly started, causing the stranger to lightly choke on his coffee and whip around, his eyes settling in relief and mild irritation at the sight of the harmless looking artist who'd been on stage merely minutes ago.

"Oh my god, man, you scared me," he laughed, breathing deeply. His voice sounded playful, and his eyes were a cocoa brown, with tinges of eyeliner coating his thick lashes — Gerard immediately liked him.

"Sorry!" Gerard replied with a giggle, before pausing, rocking back and forth on his toes. "So, um, how do you feel about these..." he gesticulated erratically at the graphic novels lain open on the plastic table.

"The comics?" the tattooed man asked, scratching the back of his neck. "Dude, they were rad! I totally need to find this, uh—" he stole a glance at the cover of one of the issues. "Gerard Way guy."

Which totally made Gerard smile; he never really got any feedback on his books, apart from semi-interested kids, who'd been dragged along by their parents, flipping through the pages. An actual person who thought his comics were half-decent would be an angel in his eyes, to tell the truth — yeah, he was that thirsty for validation.

"Here he is," he laughed, as the guest's eyes widened and a light blush erupted on his freckled cheeks.

"Oh damn — that sounded stupid."

Gerard immediately shook the suggestion off, a wide grin overtaking his features.

"No really — it's fine. I'm so glad you like them, usually no one really bothers with this little stand in the first place." The stranger hummed, smiling at the illustrations on one of the pages.

"I usually don't bother with art galleries in general," the man admitted. "I mean, they're mostly filled with pretentious people trying to sell some blue blob in the midst of black smudged paint under the pretext of "deep thoughts", and a bunch of gullible, mainstream, rich people too focused on staying with everyone else that they can't understand that they're literally paying thousands for shit their kindergartener could do."

And Gerard couldn't help but choke as he realized that that was actually a perfect description of more than a few of the "abstract" paintings hung up in this place.

The man took a breath, looking at the snorting black haired man in front of him with a grin.

"Never seen comics at one though. I'll have to check out more of these places."

"Dude, are you not seeing how my managers attempted to completely hide the very existence of these things at a place as respectable as this?" Gerard chuckled. "Literally — they're actually so embarrassed that I insisted on keeping them here, a bunch of lowly comic books at their high and mighty art gallery — they probably wouldn't even be here if it weren't for the fact that I'm kind of the only reason half these people showed up."

Gerard realized his last few words sounded mildly egoistic, relieved when he noted that his new companion didn't seem to mind much, in contrast actually nodding along with him.

"Yeah, I bet at least half the girls are here because of you," he winked, causing Gerard's lips to round into a surprised O, shaking his head before a throaty laugh escaped his throat.

"Wha- no! They're not — they don't—"

The stranger burst out into peals of laughter at Gerard's flustered state, as Gerard slowly realized he didn't even know the dude's name.

"What's your name anyway?" he questioned, a grin tugging on his lips.

"Frank," he replied, while Gerard just laughed again at the contrast — the guy had such a childlike personality, yet he was called one of the most serious names in history, Frank — honestly, he was beginning to think someone had spiked one of the drinks he'd had tonight. Since when did he laugh so much?

Maybe it's because you're not hanging out with some boring wannabe Da Vinci for once, his subconscious told him, and Gerard proceeded to ignore that suggestion, and stick with his spiked drink theory.

[movimblog]

(preview only*)

The audience for artists' moving image practices has grown extensively in recent years. Of course, the Internet has played a huge role in this. An ever-growing part of this audience is using the video-sharing platform Vimeo. This website was founded in 2004, just a year before YouTube, and since the beginning its peculiarity has been the support of high-definition videos. Compared to the Google-owned colossus, Vimeo represents a smaller presence on the Internet, the Alexa rank being 2 for YouTube and 131 for Vimeo.

For a lot of reasons which I won't discuss here, Vimeo is mostly used by professionals such as filmmakers, animators, motion graphic designers, but also by private companies and institutions, most notably the White House under the Obama administration. Artists working with moving image use Vimeo's services to upload their work, password-protect it and share it with festival programmers, curators and other professionals. They also publish teasers, trailers and excerpts of their works.

I can't tell you when (I wish I could), but out of this standard practice another quickly came: a lot of these artists started taking the password-protection off their works. By doing this, of course, the artists aim to reach a larger number of potential viewers. But this practice is linked to two common (and closely-related) film festival policies: in order to be considered for selection, the work submitted needs to be recent (with the limit usually being set as two years since its completion) and not publicly available online (that is, password-protected). For this reason, after their two-year festival tour, a lot of experimental films and videos were being set free from their passwords and released into the wild.

In this framework, one should also mention other interesting practices: when artists don't care about festivals and make their new works accessible to everyone, or when they finally publish their older works (sometimes remastered, sometimes never before released). There are also artists who come from the contemporary art world, whose works are represented and sold by galleries and shown in contexts other than those of film festivals. They too, for one reason or the other, are now playing the game of free online availability.

With an increasing number of interesting works made officially and freely available, a niche audience was born. One that is potentially growing—because the general interest in artists' moving image is visibly growing, but also because, within the demographics of artists' moving image fans, not everybody can easily attend festivals and visit galleries. Some live far from big cities, some can't move, some can't travel, some are still too young to travel. Not everyone has access to closed, selective online communities such as Karagarga. And I could go on with these examples for a while.

I recognise myself as part of that audience. As a fan, it's been a fascinating experience since I started paying attention to what was being made available online by the artists I liked. Between 2013 and 2014, I  happily enjoyed the works of Portuguese artists João Maria Gusmão + Pedro Paiva both in physical exhibitions (at the Venice Biennale and at the IAC in Villeurbanne) and online through their Vimeo account, where one can watch a selection of digitised versions of their already iconic slow motion 16mm films.

In the winter of 2016, I was discovering the contemporary North-American scene. Through blogs, newsletters and social media, names like Robert Todd, Margaret Rorison, Stephen Broomer, Dan Browne and Mary Helena Clark were popping up and there they were with their accounts full of previous works available to watch. I remember sitting at my desk, watching Mary Helena Clark's astonishing Palms (which, at the time, was the most recent work she had made available in its entirety) and feeling lucky to get to see such revealing work. It felt like a gift.

Whether it be purely strategical or emotional, releasing a piece of work online can be the easiest or the toughest decision to make for an artist. It can be the result of (quite a few) compromises: selecting only a few pieces to release, making them available for a limited time only, going back to password-protection because of the renewed interest of festivals in a certain piece. For a distributed or gallery-represented artist, the choice can be quite difficult. After all, we have to consider that nineteen years of Web 2.0 have taught us to use and share online contents in ways that can clearly clash with the traditional sense of authorship. In the case of this niche, it has become common practice to hold public screenings of pieces found on video-sharing platforms without asking for permission from the author. Surprisingly, this happens in contexts where a wide range of authorship regulations should normally be acknowledged, including film studies classes and exhibitions (See the Abounaddara / Triennale di Milano case).

In the winter of 2016, I was thus looking for a way to give something in exchange, to contribute to such a thriving exhibition of works. My contribution ended up being the online project The Moving Image Catalog. At first I only created a Facebook page where I posted links to videos. It gradually became a curated selection of works that attempts to link artists, practices and themes, in the form of a website, with a sort of index that was going to be a perpetual work-in-progress, and various social media pages. That was my small contribution—that, and the daily romantic act of (always) barely scratching the surface of this huge collection of works.

Growing up in a small town in northern Italy in the early 2000s, with almost no galleries and only three cinemas that showed only dubbed films (one of them was torn down to build an expensive clothes shop), being interested in moving images meant having to rent DVDs and watch TV, notably the RAITRE channel. RAITRE had and still has an all-nighter film programme called FUORI ORARIO, where one can catch the latest Lav Diaz, or a De Oliveira film, or a segment from an amazing and mesmerizing film whose author you'll never know (because the programmers like the idea of not presenting the segments). As FUORI ORARIO shaped generations of film lovers, my emotional attachment to moving images was also shaped by these nightly encounters in front of a small screen and not in a traditional screening room. Today, while I do prefer galleries and screening rooms to TV and computer screens, I consider the act of watching moving image works on Vimeo to be a highly aesthetic and emotional experience.

About a year ago, I was checking the Vimeo account of an artist whose work I love and who is very popular today. Going to festivals and screenings, one gets to watch the films made by this artist. I was browsing this particular Vimeo account because the said artist's work was being gradually made available for free watching. Due to the prolific nature of this artist, I often visit this account. So, I was browsing, and I noticed a change. Placed between parentheses, a brief expression is now added at the end of each title:

(preview only*)

The asterisk directs the viewer to a disclaimer message which appears in the info section below the player.  This disclaimer is addressed to professionals who intend to screen the films in public events (festivals, lectures, classes etc.). The artist asks them to contact the distributor. By doing so, the artist warns us that the Vimeo link should not be used as such for a screening. Again, the addition of the said disclaimer speaks volumes about the decisions involved for an artist when it comes to showing work online.

But let's adopt the perspective of a viewer, and not the practical purposes of the artist. Even if one understands that the disclaimer is intended for a specific category of viewers - those who use Vimeo to select works to be shown in public events - one's experience can be thoroughly modified by this indication. I consider that the sentimental experience I normally have when I watch artists' moving image works on Vimeo is not one that can be described as the “preview only” of another, possibly better, experience, such as the public projection.

Which brings me to a few questions I've been asking myself, and which I now would like to ask you:

Is there an emotional hierarchy in the aesthetic experience of watching moving images? Is this hierarchy genre-related? Should public screenings still be considered the only true experience?

Are we, as artists, paving the way towards acknowledging online audiences as audiences in their own right, and as important as the audience at public events? Or are we just riding the online wave in the sole hope of reaching more physical screening possibilities?

[spaceorphan18]

Spaceorphan’s Movie Reviews: Batman (1989)

Before settling down to watch (and rewatch) all the films related to Marvel properties, I thought it’d be fun to take a look back over at DC.  Batman was probably the first superhero I was aware of? Since he (and Superman to a lesser extent) were the most well-known superheroes in the cultural zeitgeist.  I still say DC’s merchandising is far more prominent among children than Marvel, so of course, even in the late 80s, when I was a very young little person, I knew who Batman was.  

Of course, before 1989, there were other iterations of the character, most notably the Adam West series (and TV movies) of the 60s.  I remember catching those old episodes when it reran on Nick-at-Nite in during the 80s - I mean they were ridiculously campy, which of course also makes them family friendly, and so we had them on all the time.    Then Tim Burton came along and updated Batman to be dark and gritty.  (Like the comics! Actually, I have no idea, I’ve never read any Batman comics, so I can’t actually comment on that.)  Of course, being six at the time of theatrical release, I didn’t know what a big deal this would be.  

I don’t remember when I first watched the film.  It wasn’t in the theaters (I was too young - but not too young to see the sequel!), but I did see it a lot once it came out on VHS.  And I’ll be honest with you, it straight up scared me as a kid.  The Burton-esque imagery, mixed with dark cinematography, and the horror-esque elements of the film really seared into my young brain.  It wasn’t a film I sought out (though I don’t remember my parents watching it either, even though we owned it, I wonder if my brother watched it) but it was one that had a lasting impression, much like Ghostbusters and Back to the Future - it’s a film that I vividly remember from my childhood.  

The interesting thing (to me) is that I haven’t seen it (until now) since I was a kid.  I can think of no time as an actual adult that I’ve had the chance to pop it in again and watch it.  But, interestingly, there wasn’t a single moment of the film that I had forgotten - watching it again after, maybe, fifteen-twenty years, I really do remember every beat of this film.  However, maybe for the first time, I really understand the film as it’s intended - cause, yeah, it’s not a kids’ film (even if there was a ton of merchandising for kids - which there was, we had a toy batmobile and batwing).  

So, how does this film hold up all these years later? Surprisingly well - for what it is.  

So, maybe this is the analytical person in me, but I think this film is, maybe, more fun to talk about than to actually watch.  Of all the super fascinating things going on - the plot is the least interesting part of it, even the film itself seems to loosely hinge on the random things The Joker decides to do and is a little, meh, don’t think too hard about it.   To sum it up quickly - Gotham is being run by a crime ring and mob bosses and Batman is single handedly taking them down.  Meanwhile, The Joker is a crazed guy who wants to be bigger than the mob bosses who whole him back, and after he nearly dies in a vat of acid - he decides to become even more of a psychopathic killer and tries to kill everyone.  Because why not?

First, standing out to me much more as an adult, is all the Tim Burton-ishness about it.  Which I don’t say as a bad thing.  He has a certain Gothic, horror, cartoon-ish style, which I may say, is slightly toned down in this film than a lot of others.  Visually, I think he was a good choice of director, I think the film has such a captivating stylized look that it holds my attention when the plot doesn’t.  I think what stood out to me the most was that Burton went a drearily dark, with an occasional splash of white that made the whole film almost seem like it was in black and white - which was purposefully contrasting to the colorfulness of The Joker.  I mean, Burton is purposely giving artistry to the cinematography in a way that I don’t necessarily see in superhero films anymore, and I think that’s kind of cool.  There are times when the film is, maybe, too (literally) dark - but I feel like had the technology been just a bit better, it would have helped.  

Burton also seems to be aware of the special effects limitations of the time, because at no point was I taken out by how cheesy the graphics looked (it helps that there weren’t very man), and some of the scarier images from when I was a kid, like when The Joker kills the guy by incinerating him, hold up pretty well.  Some of the fight scenes seem weaker and stiff, not helped by the fact that I don’t think Michael Keaton could move much in that suit, but the action isn’t overdone.  The action sequences aren’t what they are today, by any means, but I think they work fine given the era of the film - I don’t really judge them for that.  

So - Michael Keaton’s Batman.  Does he do a good job? I say mostly.  As Bruce Wayne, I completely buy him.  He’s a bit charming, a bit reserved, a bit mysterious, and a bit crazy - and when Keaton is actually allowed to do something with the character, he comes alive pretty well.  The unfortunate thing is that this film really isn’t about Batman - it’s about The Joker (which I’ll get to in a moment) and therefore we don’t get to see much of Bruce Wayne doing anything - except staring off into the distance thinking about things.  I get The Joker is iconic and everything, but Keaton has made Bruce Wayne interesting enough that I do wish there had been more - because his character doesn’t get to move much beyond ‘brooding about my parents; murder thirty years ago’.  

As for Batman himself, he’s… fine.  I don’t really have any complaints, but he feels incredibly limited - more so because of the suit, and the constricting ability to do much while wearing it than anything in Keaton’s performance.  It makes sense that Batman would be a near silent warrior, but not being able to see Keaton’s expressive face holds this version back a bit.  

Meanwhile… The Joker.  Before I rented the film again, I was looking through some old reviews - and many of them mentioned that this film seemed to be more about The Joker than Batman.  And I was a bit taken aback.  I hadn’t remembered it that way.  However, it wasn’t like I was paying that much attention as a kid.  But yes, it’s true, this film really is not Batman’s film.  It’s The Joker’s.  And I understand why - The Joker is possibly one of the most intriguing characters and villains in all of literature.  He’s a character who merges tragedy, comedy, and psychopathy all in one - and yes all three are in this film.  I’m sure there are hundreds of think-pieces on The Joker as a character - understandably so.  So, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised at how much of the film he takes up.  

I’m not invested enough to say who played The Joker the best, I hardly think comparisons are necessary (even if inevitable), but I really like Jack Nicholson in the role.  More so now than what I remembered.  Nicholson really embodies that whole crazed-lunatic pretty well, and I think he’s captivating enough that he does steal the show from Batman himself.  I feel like there are so many people who discuss The Joker, much better than I can, that I won’t elaborate much more.  But yes, Jack Nicholson’s Joker is pretty amazing, and I think it holds up relatively well.  

Rounding out the limited cast is Kim Basinger’s Vicki Vale.  And, well, she’s… there.  Despite being the literal stand-in for the audience during most of the craziness - an outsider coming into Gotham and being a conduit between Batman and The Joker.  She doesn’t get much to do and is the pretty standard obligatory love interest.  Keaton and Basinger don’t have that much chemistry - but I don’t blame them, they really only have one big scene to sell the romance, and for me, that’s just not enough.  You just really aren’t given any reason why these people would like each other more than they’re supposed to.  

Meanwhile - during the scene where The Joker is dancing around with Vicki - I kept think about that one test where if the woman is replaced with a lamp, would it change the scene?  And no - no it really wouldn’t.  I get the time period of the film, and how the ‘romance’ angle is kind of beat by beat what you would find in most films around this time, so I’m not judging too harshly.  But still, she’s almost third wheel to the more entertaining and layered dance Batman and The Joker are having throughout the film.  

Smaller Thoughts: 

Prince was the official artist of this films’ soundtrack - and I’m not entirely sure how I feel about it.  The film has such a 40s-esque feel about it that when something slams it into the modern 80s, it feels a little jarring.  At the same time, the dirtiness of 80s New York, and the cultural materialism is all over this film, so the Prince songs fit nicely in.  It’s a weird dichotomy.  

Music, in general, is also what sells this film - and keeps it at ‘Classic’ level.  Danny Elfman (Tim Burton’s go to director, and a personal favorite of mine) does amazing things with the score - and helps deliver the atmosphere Burton is going for.  

I have a soft spot for Alfred - even if he weirdly decides to bring Vicki to the Batcave unannounced.   She’ll disappear next film anyway - so ultimately it won’t matter. 

I kind of enjoy the fact that Jack Nicholson insisted the actor who played Bob be in the film - and that Bob is unceremoniously and somewhat randomly killed off.  

This film is very murdery - even Batman is murdery.  He tries to kill off The Joker whenever he gets the chance.  

Billy Dee Williams is here as Harvey Dent - so that’s a super interesting thread that was never pulled on again.  

Most of the government/police force was kind of meh - and I couldn’t even really tell who Commissioner Gordon was.  

I did really like the flashback to Bruce Wayne’s parents’ deaths.  That guy who they had play a young Jack Nicholson? Spot on.  

There’s a lot of mask symbolism throughout the film.  Again, I’m impressed by Burton as an artist - and as someone who’s willing to tell a more layered film within a superhero film.   

Things that scared me as a kid: The mimes, the parade floats, The Joker’s girlfriend wearing that mask, the two dead models, the dead mob guy being burnt to a crisp, The Joker’s grin, The Joker’s laugh, really every time Jack Nicholson was on screen, and that laugh box that kept going after The Joker had died.  This film really did use to scare me.  

Final Thoughts: This film was incredibly interesting and enjoyable to come back to as an adult.  I don’t think it’s entirely rewatchable - it’s plodding along at a snail’s pace during some sequences, and I don’t think the plot is that engaging.  But I do think there’s a lot of artistry here given to us by Burton, and worth coming back to every now and then to see a film that would inspire superhero films for decades to come.  

[lydiaandarry]

{5 Cartoons That Could Possibly Survive a Live Action TV Remake}

Hello there!

My name is Arabella but you can call me Arry, if it’s easier. I don’t know about you but I basically grew up on cartoons. And it seems to be a new craze in television history for cartoons to be remade into new adaptations for a new audience. It doesn’t surprise me that cartoons are the main source for this as they are noticeable. Recently, Riverdale and Sabrina: The Teenage Witch have been remade into CW Television Shows. And while I find Riverdale to not be that great of adaptation and murder of character. I have heard more nicer things about Sabrina: The Teenage Witch yet never watched it. Despite this and me thinking this television shows have not survived their live-action adaptations. I will be listing five cartoons that I think could survive a Live-Action Adaptation and I will explain my reasoning and how it may be done and also issues that may be concerning. Let’s invade this topic!

(Scooby Doo)

      My favorite cartoon of all time, Scooby Doo. I am nineteen years old and I have yet to grow out of Scooby Doo and probably never will. It is reaching its 50th year anniversary this year and is still a cult classic. We have had four (not including Daphne & Velma) live-action films that have featured Scooby Doo but we are talking about television shows here. I personally think that Scooby Doo could do better as a live-action television show because you can get multiple mysteries, more monsters and the characters will receive more development. You can also have guest star characters such as The Hex Girls. Yet I have my doubts due to how poorly Archie has been transformed with Riverdale. I feel like Scooby Doo will help avoid stereotypes and forced diverse tropes. As the gang is one of the most diverse group of characters ever. It would be extra amazing if they added in the 60’s-70’s fun charm that the cartoon had. And of course, kept it light-hearted and fun yet aiming it for more young adults and less-so teenagers and children. This will open doors. After watching Daphne & Velma, I do have concerns with forced diversity that may murder the characters as Daphne and Velma did not portray either character accurately. In the name of forcing female empowerment yet ignoring the female empowerment that is there. Fred is the brave, kind-hearted, hilarious and slightly clueless jock who is friends with everyone. Daphne is the fashion-motivated, kick-ass and clumsy popular girl whose greatest value is how quick she finds out things. Velma is the intelligent, sarcastic nerd who is an equal to Fred and fits in perfectly. Shaggy is the hippie who is hilarious, a scaredy cat and athletic who has yet to use more than 1% of his power. And Scooby Doo is the animal sidekick who has character development and has an actual snack named after him. It would make a great television show if done properly and written great.

(The Jetsons)

      I promise, these are not all Hanna-Barbera shows. Except that all of them could be made into wonderful adaptations. The Jetsons is about a futuristic family who live in 2062 that includes George Jetson, a hard-working father. His wife Jane who shops and takes care of the house. His oldest child and only daughter, Judy whose a teenage girl and slightly rebellious. And his youngest child and only son Elroy whose an intelligent kid. And their dog Astro and robot Rosie. Non-surprisingly, The Jetsons is actually outdated and nothing like the actual future. This adds a lot of fun aspects with mixing vintage and newly futuristic ideas. While introducing new concepts into the already existing plot. The Jetsons unfortunately was limited due to animation budget and short-running time with only two seasons that they weren’t able to expand the universe. I feel as if, a new revival of the show could potentially expand the universe and make the characters a bit more realistic. As they are your average futuristic family who can go through relatable issues while keeping with the theme. They could also embark on making Judy more fashion-forward and gifting us unique character designs for the character. As I know that Judy was my favorite character and definitely someone that I could relate to. And of course, keeping the 60’s charm and having more humor. Less dramatics for TV Remakes please! Embrace the humor. And sci-fi is definitely still selling in pop culture and with the graphics we have nowadays, The Jetsons would look absolutely stunning compared to what would have happened if they had perhaps made one in the past. Again, it all comes down to casting and writing. The real-life aesthetics of The Jetsons would be beautiful cinematography wise. It may seem a bit more impossible due to how high a budget would probably have to be to achieve most of the futuristic aspects like flying cars and in the air scenery. Yet the best thing to take advantage of with The Jetsons is how vintage the futuristic aspects are, they can really use a retro futuristic vibe. The Jetson’s futuristic isn’t on the same level as Star Wars or even typical Sci-fi. The effects do not need to be overly complicated as it is mostly dependant on vibe and charm. They could very much go for an Indie vibe where it could be made with a low budget. Choosing style and substance over realism and overdone effects.

(The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy)

     Hear me out, as this is a weird one. I grew up with The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy and I lowkey blame it for my dark sense of humor. Mandy was one of those unique characters whose clothes did not match her personality whatsoever. Billy was humorous with how stupid yet straightforward he was. And Grim is… I relate to Grim in my old age. This show was such a creative premise to young me that like I adored it. Of course, I loved all things creepy. But seeing that Billy and Mandy and the other young characters were only 9, it is a realization that it may be physically impossible to have a live-action show where the young actors could react in a way similar to let’s say Mandy and Nergal Jr. However after some consideration, I realized that as this will probably be a revamped version, that they could age up the characters. And we could see how Mandy, Billy and the rest have developed into older ages. This of course brings up a lot of new ideas and concepts, new plotlines, and new character developments. Aging them to be teenagers and even young adults can add a more mature theme while keeping the dark humor. It can be darker yet still keep the fun and theatrical side. As it would no longer be targeted to young children but more so, the audience who grew up with the show. Seeing how our childhood characters have grown up to be near our ages. This could bring up more conflicts, relationships, and dynamics. Especially because a popular ship is Mandy and Billy as they are older, so it would be interesting to see if that would come to screen and if they would be compatible being at least ten years older at most. And of course, the graphics would absolutely fantastic since we have ways to make CGI look realistic and would bring on the creep factor. And perhaps, they could even give Nergal Jr more of a character and more humorous scenes. It could survive a TV Remake in this sense because it would be more so, a sequel and they would be working on newer material and not trying to perfect older material which may come in handy with writing.

(Totally Spies)

     If anyone asked me what my three favorite girl-based cartoons were as a child, I would always respond with, “Powerpuff Girls, Bratz, and Totally Spies”. Totally Spies was my ultimate dream television show, they were my Charlie’s Angels before I discovered Charlie’s Angels. Even in my youth, they were relatable. And I don’t care what anyone says, Totally Spies was ahead of its time and very diverse. You had Clover, the fashion-forward girl with a sassy personality and although her flaw was being shallow, she usually always learned her lesson. Sam, the introverted and intelligent one of the group who figures things out quickly yet is too quick to trust others. Alex, the hilarious and tough one who has problems with being invisible. They were feminine and kick-ass and taught me that I shouldn’t be ashamed to be into clothes or hair or makeup as I could still kick ass. I think Totally Spies has the diversity that Hollywood is looking for as they will not have to force anything into the mix, it can be a relatable and humorous show about three girls who are best friends and spies. They can have awesome character designs, great dialog, and mix realistic issues into the fictional issues of being a teenage spy. While also showing girl power and how to handle evil people. While also bringing back former fashion trends, especially the 70’s that Totally Spies is known for. With cool costumes and cool gadgets. This would be a kick-ass show when given the right humor, writing, casting and charm. No one can prove to me otherwise.

(Daria)

    I am ending this on a rather tricky note as this television show really depends. With the other ones, they’re classics but changes can be made. Daria was ahead of its time and has relatable humor that even fits now. I remember discovering Daria when I was fifteen and going through a tough time and she really learnt to accept myself and my sense of humor. Now while Daria is being rebooted and I have lots of issues with the reboot before it has even come out like the fact it’s called “Daria & Jodie” when Jane Lane was a bigger character than Jodie yet they just ignore her because diversity. I do think if they were to reboot Daria properly, a live-action television show could be great. It will give a new element to the already great show. Of course, casting Daria would be rather hard as you need someone who can remain likeable yet still have a sarcastic aura. And Jane, the slightly more expressive witty best friend. And of course, Trent, the hot older brother of Jane who should have gotten with Daria! Daria is a great show for all ages, especially teenagers to young adults as it really shows the humor of common high school stereotypes. While keeping the complexity of each stereotype in its sense. A lot of Daria’s quotes still hit a string with me to this day. Especially the one where she is at college open-house and responds to the woman asking what goals she has, “My goal is to not wake up at 40 with the bitter realization that I’ve wasted my life on a job that I hate because I was forced to decide on a career in my teens”. That quote still stays by me as I am nineteen now and it’s like my life motto at the moment. And a live-action Daria could play off the nostalgia and have a lot of older watchers which will make it more money than a reboot that may destroy the characters for the sake of diversity. And forgets the true importance of Jodie. I would rather watch a live-action television show than a reboot cartoon as reboots never go well in cartoons.

    Well, that was five cartoons that I feel can survive a live-action remake and how they could. Keep in mind that everything you just read is my opinion and I am not asking Hollywood to look at my post and make all of these into live-action television shows. As the thought of that frightens me. Yet I feel like with the right cast and writers, it can be done. Thank you for reading my post. If you like my post, feel free to follow our Tumblr as I write posts on every Wednesday and Saturday similar to this one. And also feel free to like or reblog the post. I’ll see you on Wednesday! Peace out!  

[cat-sophia]

‘The Expanse’ Is Lapping Its Science Fiction Competition

Forget ‘Altered Carbon’ and ‘Star Trek’—the space drama you need to be watching is on Syfy

source - x

The third season of The Expanse, Syfy’s ambitious space opera, begins on Venus. It picks up right where Season 2 left off, in the aftermath of a humanity-altering, semi-supernatural event in which a research ship is immaculately disassembled and its crew is left suspended in midair after making contact with a mysterious biological substance. The action then pans to Earth, where there’s discourse over whether recent actions by Martians (that is, humans who colonized and live on Mars) are a prelude to war. Out on Mars at the same time, similar paranoiac conversations are ongoing about “Earthers.” Finally, we see that Earth and Martian ships are also duking it out over Jupiter. Just like that, interplanetary war has begun.

The opening is a massive, solar-system-wide tour of The Expanse played out in miniature — and quite simply, it’s awesome to watch. In just two seasons — Season 3 premieres on Wednesday night — the show has quickly become one of the most compelling small-screen sci-fi shows in the past decade.

But that’s not for a lack of competition. In the past 12 months, there’s been a boom in science fiction: the debuts of Altered Carbon, Counterpart, Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams, and Star Trek: Discovery; new seasons of Black Mirror and Stranger Things; and in the next couple of weeks, Netflix’s rebooted Lost in Space and the second season of HBO’s Westworld premiere. That’s an overwhelming amount of mostly good science fiction. But hear me out: The Expanse is better than all of these shows. Need proof? Thomas Jane is in it and he has the most hideous haircut I’ve ever seen.

Need more proof than that? Fine. Here are five other ways that The Expanse excels over the rest of science-fiction television.

The World-building

The Expanse has a surprising amount in common with Game of Thrones beyond both shows’ wide-ranging political conflicts and supernatural forces that could wipe out all of humanity. (The similarities between Thrones and The Expanse are perhaps unsurprising. The Expanse is also an adaptation of a series of rich novels, James S.A. Corey’s — a pen name for writers Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham — book series of the same name that began in 2011 and is already seven books deep, with nine total books expected to be completed by 2019. Additionally, Abraham has collaborated with George R.R. Martin on several occasions, including a Thrones graphic novel.) Like Thrones, The Expanse has packed its universe with detail, and has done so with subtlety, eschewing the dreaded exposition dumps that plague most shows of its ilk for narrative-driven asides. One of the more underappreciated aspects of Thrones’ first season was Ned Stark’s trip from Winterfell to King’s Landing. Thrones not only used the voyage to develop its characters (that’s when we first realized that Joffrey was the fucking worst), but to literally traverse the world of Westeros and give the audience a better understanding of place, culture, and scale. The Expanse takes a similarly deft approach in communicating its world to the audience, explaining the physics of human space travel in Season 2, for example, with a carefully crafted subplot that has utility beyond mere exposition.

It also helps that The Expanse, like Thrones, begins small before widening its scope. While mankind has been split up into three factions — those living on Earth, those on Mars, and folks around the asteroid belt who are known as Belters — 200 years in the future, the action initially keys in on only two things: (1) a ragtag group of survivors from the Canterbury, an ice freighter that is blown up after answering a mysterious distress call, and (2) a Belter detective (Thomas Jane and the beguiling haircut) who’s attempting to solve a missing persons case that’s somehow connected to the explosion.

Focusing on the diverse Canterbury survivors and Jane’s detective Joe Miller, the show cleverly introduces you to characters that are from Earth, Mars, and the Belt, allowing you to learn about each faction on a microscopic level. From there, it lets you choose your own allegiances. Whereas sci-fi contemporaries like Altered Carbon and Star Trek: Discovery are more black and white about who the good guys and bad guys are in their stories, there’s no faction to immediately root for or against in The Expanse. Creating empathy for all sides of the conflict allows the viewer to understand their actions and behaviors — the Martians, for instance, have a militaristic background — even if you don’t necessarily agree with them. Nevertheless, you’ll most likely fall in love with the scrappy Belters and their bizarrely entertaining accents, which sound like a Die Antwoord spoken-word poem .

The Twists

Game of Thrones, which had a trifecta of game-changing twists at the start of its run (Ned Stark’s death, the Red and Purple weddings), led to more and more shows that live and die with their big moments. In shows as disparate as This Is Us (Jack’s death) and American Horror Story (honestly, just pick a season), the goal is to somehow shock the viewer and keep them on their toes, even if it’s at the expense of the story. The Walking Dead rigged its plot to set up a huge cliffhanger about who its new villain Negan killed at the end of its sixth season, but when the time came for the reveal, it was apparent that the show had mistakenly prioritized gratuitous shock value over character development. Television hasn’t always borrowed the best lessons from Thrones.

But The Expanse understands better than most that big, twisty moments shouldn’t make or break a story, and that when those moments do arise, they should be genuinely shocking.

The Expanse’s most surprising moments also happen to be its most subversive — a main character in Season 2, who in most shows might seem infinitely protected by plot armor, is suddenly in mortal danger and might not make it out alive. It feels as though the novels’ coauthor Abraham adopted these strategies from his collaborations with Martin — moments like Ned Stark’s death come to mind — and applied them to a space opera. Watching The Expanse when it’s firing on all cylinders and executing its twists is like witnessing J.R. Smith have one of his scorched-earth shooting runs: You can’t just look away.

The Timely Political Themes (Please Hear Me Out)

I get it: It seems like every TV show or movie is suddenly being spun as a reflection of the divisive times we live in. Not all art does, or has to, serve as a mirror for our current moment. But The Expanse has a lot to say about international relations, and it offers a compelling perspective that toes the line between hopefulness and futility.

The way the series’ antagonists want to weaponize a mysterious extraterrestrial biological substance known as the protomolecule bears some striking parallels to nuclear warfare — boiled down, it is something that would be eminently dangerous in the wrong hands. Replacing China, Russia, or North Korea with planets and interconnected asteroid belt stations, The Expanse posits that 200 years in the future, humans are no less prejudiced. Tribalism still exists, regardless of how much progress has been made in space exploration.

Rather than work together to stop the protomolecule, Earth and Mars are going to war against each other in the third season. The Belters, meanwhile, just got their hands on the protomolecule and plan to weaponize it for themselves. The Expanse is pessimistic about the id of humanity’s future (and current) leaders. But it’s also optimistic about the power of the collective. The Canterbury survivors, with a bit of help, could be just enough to save mankind from itself. Nearly every protagonist is young and every antagonistic character is from an older generation, which doesn’t feel like a coincidence. It’s up to the new generation to rescue mankind from the sins of the past. Sound familiar?

The Stunning Special Effects, Somehow

A big obstacle for The Expanse is the premise: The show jumps through multiple story lines across the solar system. Special effects are more of a necessity for a show like The Expanse than, say, a run-of-the-mill police procedural. Also — no offense! — Syfy hasn’t exactly been a haven of good visuals in recent years. Observe the wintry effects of the Syfy original series Helix at your own risk.

Yet The Expanse looks … surprisingly great? The space battles are thrilling and rooted in as much scientific fact as possible. Syfy has not disclosed how much The Expanse costs to produce, but the network appears to have spared no expense to make the series’ solar system look the best it can. The little details, such as characters in stained, strained suits and cracks on computer monitors, make the world feel lived in. One factor that certainly helps is the repetition of settings: The characters on Earth sit in the same political boardrooms, and the Canterbury survivors spend most of their time on the Rocinante, a Martian attack ship they acquired in the first season.

While there is a backdrop of war this season, The Expanse keeps the focus on the Rocinante crew, who avoid space confrontations. It makes narrative sense, and it saves on the budget, too. And when the action does arrive, it looks like this:

And this:

It might not stack up to the more lavish small-screen sci-fi productions — Altered Carbon (reportedly the most expensive Netflix series to date), Westworld, and Stranger Things — but for a show on a network with far fewer resources, The Expanse is the best you’ll get. And their best is still top-notch.

Shohreh Aghdashloo

A fact: No other sci-fi shows have Oscar-nominated actress Shohreh Aghdashloo. That’s big, because Aghdashloo is a scene stealer and plays possibly the most entertaining character on television who doesn’t go by Wags.

Aghdashloo is Chrisjen Avasarala, a member of Earth’s United Nations and a cunning political strategist. Avasarala has shades of Thrones’ Littlefinger, only she’s more likable and has a far superior wardrobe.

Avasarala’s purpose wasn’t exactly clear in the first season — on Earth, she was removed from most of the action and it felt like she was trapped in a less interesting, interplanetary version of House of Cards. But then she got wind of shadow-government conspiracies on Earth and Mars and the protomolecule, and she started threatening people while dropping F-bombs.

Every time Avasarala drops a caustic one-liner — which is, honestly, at least 75 percent of her dialogue — your soul will be nourished. Nothing will bring you greater joy than Shohreh Aghdashloo chewing up scenery and eviscerating people on The Expanse.

That is a promise, as is this: If you watch The Expanse, you won’t regret it.

[vintongxvw210]

Everything about Farming Simulator 19 Soundtrack

Simulation | Economic | farm | multiplayer | machines and equipment

Developer: GIANTS Software

Publisher: Focus Home Interactive

Game mode: single / multiplayer

Multiplayer mode: Internet, players: 1-16

Game release date: 20th November 2018

Formats: PlayStation 4 (reviewed), Xbox One, and PC

User ratings: 7/10

The latest Farming Simulator offers a class new organization harvester. But will it have the means to connect with beyond the role audience?

Over the years Farming Simulator has invited a surprisingly big and ranged fanbase. Whether it is young children, curious non-gamers, or die-hards looking for that frank simulation feel it might have an entrancing effect on them that further just can’t place their mind around.

Rudimentary images along with a target monotonous busywork have conducted numerous to stick fun at the business yet here it is, 10 years after it is debut, even moving strong. Farming Simulator now say a ‘Farmcon’ annual meeting in Belgium (shocker) and has actually used their chief moves in the globe of eSports with Championship, a competing mod in which teams go visit head. Ludicrous, you may well consider, but the taste for the activities takes just intensified over the years, Farming Simulator organizing a type which has no dearth of imitators including the creatively named Real Farm, Pure Farming, and Farm Expert. Farm Games

Although technically an annual franchise Farming Simulator stick to a peculiar release pattern, with a system and PC version one year then a handheld port the next. It’s slightly confusing but really means that odd-numbered instalments live where developer Giants Software drives the series forward before including new elements.

But just what those new traits are would be difficult to take out when they weren’t carry for the support with the field (or download show). They amount to the regular number of secondary twist and cultures, with an advance on the game’s images with a bit great fans have apparently been expecting all these years… horse riding!

It will not mean significantly to people that aren’t agriculture maniacs but that latest instalment features the most extensive list of standard automobiles and instruments in the sequence. Where people sims vie for high-end Porsches and Ferraris, Farming Simulator 19 has managed to land fabled make like as Massey Ferguson with Bob Deere. So if your sense of pulling an officially licensed trailer somehow arouses you, and then Farming Simulator 19 is pure filth.

Whichever vehicles you set your own vision in, you’re about to meet plenty of them. Because always, much on the Farming Simulator experience turns around driving around the same direction, cultivating fields, sowing seeds, and waiting to produce the scalp ad infinitum. You’ll occasionally need to refuel or replace vehicles/tools depending on the job at hand but there’s no evading the natural repetition. Distractions, such as raising animals, adds some type but the focus here is mostly with working in the fields, finding out what to stand, where to offer this, also what exactly state or equipment to purchase next.

In Farming Simulator 19 there are several systems to kickstart the profession, either jump from the start, with a significant farm, or like a larger farm manager. There are more street to help customize your simulation as well, like as changing timescale and seed increase, with sufficient more granular settings to twist. As in previous instalments, workers can also be hired to automatically perform tasks (doing everything yourself hand is pure madness). Having those options there is great, allowing you to streamline certain amounts from the sport, but there’s nothing to end this unappealing, never ending loop.

Farming Simulator 19 is means far more appealing after opening your farm to additional players, hosting online conferences also controlling together with friends. This demands organisation but state six nations farming in tandem revs the otherwise sluggish pacing, whatever side antics you get up to do as a welcome tonic to the soul-destroying isolation of solo play. Those on PC may even run a walk further, being able to host up to 15 other players for a wild online hoedown. If only Giants had gone to the whole 100, Fortnite and PUBG would’ve received many critical competition.

If the collections were near do multiplayer still more, pushing towards something resembling far more involving an MMO, it could certainly breathe new go into the franchise. Speaking of multiplayer, it’s a waste this doesn’t include any of the competitive Championship modes mentioned before. With the central sim experience seemingly entrenched, Giants really should occur seeming to try around the edges on the essence game, but alas they have not.

A new graphics engine means that this is the best-looking Farming Simulator to date, which isn’t really about much. The not just what you’d call picturesque, rolling from the same chaos of subjects with modest in the way of variety stop a smattering of clean landmarks. At the same time these visuals are inoffensive (you’ll find some god-awful textures, yet just when you move looking for them) also the job done to help recreate the video game group of certified vehicles is actually quite impressive.

In terms of audio, there’s not much to say. When there’s a brief silence with what playlist, podcast, of audiobook you’re surely paying attention to while people act, you’ll be cured with a regular soundscape of equipment and the occasional chorus of digitised farm animals. There’s a in-game radio else, yet that must simply be used if with dire necessity of roughly further background noise.

The thought of trying any simulator is both terrifying and stimulating, but there’s reasons why these sports attract such a particularly hardcore see. In drawing, they’re labour intensive and entirely monotonous but tick all the boxes when it comes to faithfully recreating day-to-day vocational life. Although Giants Software can be admired for its work on the license, and catering to supporters, Farming Simulator 19 has nearly no entertainment value at all for gamers, no matter how open-minded you are.

System requirements Farming Simulator 19

Minimum: Intel Core i3-2100T 2.5 GHz / AMD FX-4100 3.6 GHz 4 GB RAM graphic card 2 GB GeForce GTX 650 / Radeon HD 7770 or better 20 GB HDD Windows 7/8/10 64-bit

[aion-rsa]

25 Best Games of the PS4, Xbox One, and Switch Generation

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

It may be harder to name a defining feature of the eighth generation of consoles than in previous generations. You could argue that this is the 4K generation, as it was the first to boost visuals to that resolution, but that feature only popped up midway through the generation in enhanced versions of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Even now many current-gen releases don’t support 4K just yet.

This generation could also be remembered as the one where a reliable, high-speed internet connection became more important than ever, not only for innovative new experiments with online connectivity and the burgeoning battle royal genre, but just to download the hefty updates most AAA games require today. Still, some of the best games of the last few years have been single-player only affairs.

Perhaps this is the console generation that embraced the idea that gamers should be able to play what they want, how they want. Whether you wanted to play a big-budget new release in glorious 4K on the Xbox One X or PS4 Pro, or relax with an on-the-go port of an old favorite for the Nintendo Switch, these consoles had your back. Best of all, cross-platform play, cloud gaming, and subscription services like Xbox Game Pass made it easier than ever to play some of the most popular games on the device of your choosing.

Regardless of how we ultimately remember this generation, one thing is for sure: there have been plenty of great games across the PS4, Xbox One, and Switch. As we look forward to the impending launches of the Xbox Series X and the PlayStation 5, these are the very best games we played on the current generation of consoles…

25. Fortnite

2017 | Epic Games

It’s no secret that there are still plenty of legitimate criticisms lodged at Fortnite, even three years after its release. New updates often leave it feeling incredibly unbalanced, it unapologetically targets its core audience of young gamers with microtransactions, and it really sucks when those kids handily beat you in solos and start screaming into their microphones. But Epic deserves a lot of credit for popularizing many of the staples of the once-niche battle royal genre, from parachuting unarmed into a remote island to the closing circle pushing players toward each other. In the years since its release, those ideas have been co-opted into everything from platformers to racing games.

Yes, PUBG came first, but the hardcore nature of Fortnite‘s predecessor turned off more casual players. With its bright, inviting graphics and forgiving gunplay, Fortnite made the battle royal accessible to the masses, while also spearheading the genre’s push to mobile devices and adoption of cross-platform play in an effort to get the game in as many hands as possible. Fortnite isn’t for everyone, but even if it’s not your cup of tea, it’s hard to escape the profound influence that Fortnite has had on this generation of gaming. 

24. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice 

2019 | FromSoftware

Many gamers rank Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice as not just one of the best games of this generation but among the greatest action games of all time. This is a deeply rewarding game that emphasizes intricate, precise combat and meticulously planned stealth, while also boasting a faster pace than its classic FromSoftware predecessors. With its mix of historical and fantastical elements, Sekiro is the shinobi game that many players have spent years fantasizing about. 

Sekiro’s biggest flaw is what others will say is its greatest strength: mercilessly unforgiving difficulty. FromSoftware’s previous titles were difficult, but Sekiro can be a downright masochistic experience, demanding not just skill, but absolute perfection to defeat its bosses. If you’re not perfect, you will die. A lot. Some gamers welcome that kind of challenge, but for the more easily frustrated among us, there are plenty of other games that offer just as much enjoyment with a lot less frustration. Still, you can’t deny this game its place as one of FromSoftware’s very best.

23. Inside

2016 | Playdead

Inside is a master class in minimalism. The visuals are simple and monochrome. Sound and music are used sparingly. And the story is largely open to interpretation. But all of that is used expertly as way to entice the player fill in the gaps and project their own beliefs into the experience. Does the Boy you control have free will or is he under the control of some other force? Do you even have the control over him that you think you do?

For most of its brief runtime, Inside plays like a fairly traditional puzzle platformer but then the last half hour or so turns into something very, very different. If you haven’t experienced it yet, we won’t spoil it here, but it’s well worth taking the time to play before moving on to the next generation of consoles.

22. Persona 5 Royal 

2020 | Atlus

Many of us would have liked high school better if it had been more like Persona 5. Atlus has been working on this high school-set RPG saga for years and Persona 5 might be its masterpiece. The game doubles as both an incredibly well-written day-in-the-life simulation of the life of a student — with all of the social interactions, stresses, and crushes that go with it — and an intense dungeon crawler to rival the best in the genre. There’s a lot to do in Persona 5, but the story and gameplay are so engrossing that even the 100 hours it takes to complete the game feel like they fly by.

Even the original 2017 release of Persona 5 would have made this list, but the addition of a new playable character, new palace, and a third semester make Persona 5 Royal the definitive version of the game to pick up if you’re digging into it for the first time.

21. Death Stranding

2019 | Kojima Productions

When Death Stranding was first announced in 2016, there were a lot of questions about what exactly it was about. A year after release, it’s still hard to fully explain a plot that intertwines magic babies, whale ghosts, strategic urination, a complete misunderstanding of how the federal government works, and the potential extinction of mankind. Also, Conan O’Brien shows up and everyone drinks Monster Energy for some reason.

There’s a lot going on here, but Hideo Kojima’s overly-complex storytelling is ultimately much less important than the point he’s trying to make: though technology is making us drift apart, and we might feel lonely and separated from each other at time, we are all inextricably connected and stronger when we realize it. And Kojima does a fantastic job of making players feel the weight of Sam’s mission to connect with others across the game’s beautiful and haunting environments.

Death Stranding’s story of a porter who keeps America together by delivering packages to people stuck in their homes due to an invisible danger overtaking the outside world seemed rather silly when it was released, but the Covid-19 pandemic quickly made the game feel much more poignant. You might not get what’s happening from one moment to the next but it’s clear that Kojima’s latest is a prescient work of art.

20. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey 

2018 | Ubisoft

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey really doesn’t care about the Assassin’s Creed franchise. In fact, you don’t even play as an actual assassin once you enter the animus and select to play as either the male or female protagonist. There are no Templars to fight, no creed to follow, and not even a hidden blade. Instead, Odyssey lunges head first into its Ancient Greece setting to just tell the best (mostly) self-contained story possible. There are kings to topple, famous battles to fight, legendary philosophers to argue with, and even a few mythical creatures to discover late into the game.

If Odyssey has one flaw, it’s that it’s too big. Even after 80 hours, it’s unlikely that you’ll have seen everything that the game has to offer or unlocked all of the upgrades for your character and their ship. But for such a lengthy game, Odyssey remains surprisingly enjoyable dozens of hours in, which just speaks to the strength of its gameplay systems.

19. Rocket League

2015 | Psyonix

“Soccer, but with vehicles,” is such a simple but brilliant concept that it’s amazing that it didn’t catch on sooner. Of course, any idea is only as good as its execution, which is why Rocket League has been so successful, especially when compared to its little-known predecessor, the 2008 PS3-exclusive Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars.

But Rocket League hasn’t achieved greater popularity just because it has a better name. The secret to its success is in the physics. The way that the cars and trucks move and boost and fly through the air to hit the giant soccer ball just feels like the perfect mix of skill and luck..

The version of the game that Psyonix put out in 2015 was great before any changes, but the constant flow of updates, including new cosmetics, skins, arenas, and game modes solidify Rocket League’s place among the best games of the generation. At this rate, there’s a very good chance that we’ll still be playing it years from now, even when the successors to the PS5 and XSX come around. 

18. Undertale 

2015 | Toby Fox

Undertale is proof that groundbreaking 3D graphics and a huge team of developers aren’t necessary to create a classic title in the modern gaming landscape. Developed almost entirely by one man over the course of 32 months, the beauty of Undertale is in its simplicity, the clear inspiration it takes from so many classic games of the 16-bit era, and the way it turns so many of those retro conventions on their heads.

Undertale might look like a typical old-school RPG at first, but once you dig into it, the fantastic writing and turn-based/bullet hell hybrid battle system reveal a much more innovative game. Undertale is proof that the indie game development scene is still alive and well. 

17. Animal Crossing: New Horizons 

2020 | Nintendo

Playing AAA games can sometimes be stressful: tough new enemies around every corner, the constant threat of death or failure, the burden of resource management, mind bending puzzles, and unending list of quests and collectibles to find. But Animal Crossing: New Horizons isn’t like those games. New Horizons is about chilling on your own personal island with friends, living life at your own pace, and creating your own little slice of paradise. Go fishing, collect fruit, redecorate your house, or just ignore all of those things and talk with your friends. It sounds really boring to a lot of people who have never experienced the magic of an Animal Crossing game, but it’s hard to deny how incredibly cathartic the experience is after just a few minutes.

Part of New Horizons appeal can be attributed to the timing of its release. The game came out just as Covid-19 lockdowns were being instituted across the globe, and it gave us all a nice, pleasant distraction from the chaos of the outside world. But even without the pandemic, it’s impossible to deny just how relaxing New Horizons is as a sort of anti-game free from the stresses caused by so many other games.

16. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain 

2015 | Kojima Productions

Even before his high-profile departure from Konam in 2015, Kojima warned us for years that Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain would be his last installment in the series. After his contentious exit, it seems that he has truly closed the door on the series, but at least he went out on top in his final adventure with Snake. Sure, the storyline is as convoluted as ever, but The Phantom Pain is easily the best Metal Gear Solid from a gameplay perspective.

After years of required linear stealth gameplay, The Phantom Pain opened up the world and gave Snake way more tools and options that ever before, making a full-on assault just as viable a plan as sneaking around. Sure, other games took similar approaches years before The Phantom Pain’s release, but the trademark Kojima quirkiness, including equipment like Snake’s customizable prosthetic arm and the ability to recruit goats to your home base via giant balloon, puts it a step above the titles that influenced it.

15. Doom 

2016 | id Software

It’s difficult to innovate in a genre as well-worn as first-person shooters, but with Doom, id proved that there’s still new ground to cover. The genius of Doom is its incorporation of risk-reward gameplay to encourage a faster, more aggressive style of play. If you hide behind cover, don’t move much, and play more conservatively, the hordes of hell are going to tear you to pieces. You need to constantly jump into the fray and go for glory kills to gain more health if you want to progress and live to fight another day. Add in superb level and creature design and you have the recipe for what’s easily the best first-person shooter of this generation.

And yes, the sequel Doom Eternal is quite good as well, but the gameplay additions never click quite as well as in its predecessor, and the additional platforming sections feel out of place. Doom 2016 remains the undisputed king of fast-paced, edge-of-your-seat running and gunning. 

14. Bloodborne

2015 | FromSoftware

What if the best Dark Souls game isn’t technically a Souls game at all? Yes, Bloodborne is built on the foundation of that classic series, but by tweaking the combat to focus more on offense than a carefully timed defense, Bloodborne is a faster, and frankly, more enjoyable game. Plus, the Gothic, Lovecraft-inspired world is just a lot cooler than Dark Souls’ fantasy setting. And while all of FromSoftware’s Souls titles have garnered a hardcore fanbase that continues to play these games years after release, Bloodborne’s randomly generated Chalice Dungeons gives it a staying power that few other RPGs and even the Dark Souls trilogy can compete with.

Rumors of a Bloodborne sequel have swirled online basically since the game’s release. Given its overwhelmingly positive reception, its curious that Sony (which owns the IP) hasn’t officially commissioned a sequel yet, but maybe the release of the PS5 will be just the motivator the publisher needs to make another Bloodborne game.

13. Overwatch

2016 | Blizzard Entertainment

Of all the games released this generation, Overwatch may have inspired the most imitators, but more than four years after release, still nothing comes close in terms of quality or popularity. Part of that success is thanks to developer Blizzard, which has spent years perfecting multiplayer modes and has put in the work to keep Overwatch fresh with everything from minor balance tweaks to new characters, maps, and modes.

But another part of Overwatch’s appeal is its accessibility. If you’ve barely played a shooter, you can hop into a game with a hero like Soldier 76 who plays like a traditional FPS character and have a ton of fun. Or, you can put the time in to master a more complicated melee hero like Doomfist for a much more unique experience. Prefer more of a supporting role? Heal and revive your teammates just in the nick of time to turn the tide of battle as fan-favorite Mercy. The ways to play in Overwatch are essentially endless, easily making it the best multiplayer experience of the generation. 

12. Marvel’s Spider-Man

2018 | Insomniac Games

There have been plenty of Spider-Man games over the years, but few developers have nailed the superhero and his world as well as Insomniac. This isn’t the first game to let you swing freely around New York City as Spider-Man, but it may be the best designed, thanks to the intuitive controls and brilliant map design that encourages and facilitates high-flying maneuvers. And the combo-based combat system makes each fight a joy right up until the credits roll.

But what really makes Marvel’s Spider-Man great is that it never forgets the man behind the mask. Like the best Spider-Man comics and movies, Insomniac’s game smartly weaves between the struggles of Peter Parker’s daily life and his duties as a hero to create one of the best Spider-Man stories ever, regardless of the medium.

11. Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End

2016 | Naughty Dog

To be fair, we didn’t really need another Uncharted game. The trilogy was tied up neatly on the PS3. But Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End is certainly a welcome finale to Nathan Drake’s story and arguably the best of the series. For one thing, it’s absolutely gorgeous and still has some of the best graphics of the generation, even though it was released midway through. Uncharted 4 isn’t an open world game, but its levels are so large that it might as well be. And with locations that span the entire globe, it’s impressive just how much detail Naughty Dog was able to include in each level.

But A Thief’s End is also one the best told video game stories of the last few years, featuring both the big, explosive set pieces that we’ve come to expect from the series, as well as quieter, more introspective moments that tie the story together. This was a proper send-off for this all-time great action-adventure franchise.

10. Nier: Automata

2017 | PlatinumGames

After abought eight hours of hacking and slashing through hundreds of robotic enemies in Nier: Automata’s post-apocalyptic setting, you’ll reach the ending. But it’s just the first of several endings you’ll encounter, as you tumble deeper down this rabbit hole. Dozens of hours of gameplay await you after that. And right up until the end, Nier: Automata will keep surprising you, not just with its somewhat convoluted plot, but by constantly throwing new styles of gameplay at you. Sometimes it’s more of a shooter. Other times, it’s a brawler. There are even a few text adventure segments.

Then there’s the sprawling chorus-filled soundtrack, which is among the best of the generation. It’s the type of music you’ll be listening to long after you beat the game. Well, beat it for real. 

9. Outer Wilds 

2019 | Mobius Digital

Outer Wilds is perhaps the most unique and innovative game of this generation. You play as an unnamed alien astronaut preparing to launch a decrepit spaceship into your solar system 22 minutes before the sun goes supernova. Your goal is to explore the different planets, solve puzzles, and figure out just why the solar system keeps exploding every 22 minutes, only for you to end up right back where you started in a sort of Groundhog Day-style time loop.

Outer Wilds emphasizes discovery above all else, enticing you to explore every last corner of its unique environments. The new worlds and the game’s surprising storyline will keep you entertained until the very end(s). 

8. Horizon Zero Dawn 

2017 | Guerilla Games

So much of Horizon Zero Dawn‘s gameplay is obviously inspired by other titles, but it emulates those games so well and its setting is so strong that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. At its core, Horizon Zero Dawn is an open-world sandbox with combat and missions similar to other titles in the genre like Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and Far Cry. But what separates it from the pack is its post-post-apocalyptic setting.

Horizon Zero Dawn takes place in a world so far in the future that it resembles the prehistoric past, except the towering monstrosities that dot its landscape are made of metal and circuits instead of flesh and blood. You might have tracked a beast through the wilderness using nothing but a bow and arrow in other games, but only Horizon Zero Dawn will let you use shock arrows to take down a giant robot dinosaur. 

7. The Last of Us Part II

2020 | Naughty Dog

While its predecessor was one of the most widely acclaimed games of the previous generation, The Last of Us Part II has the distinction of being one of the more divisive games of this generation. That mostly comes down to the story. The Last of Us Part II is a hard game to get through, not so much because of its difficulty, but because of the emotions it invokes. This is a lonely, brutal, and tragic game, and it leaves Ellie changed in ways that turned off many hardcore fans of the original. The Last of Us Part II pulls no punches in how it handles some difficult issues.

With so many sequels going the iterative route, The Last of Us Part II’s bold narrative choices are a breath of fresh air. Making Ellie a more nimble character who can jump, swing, and avoid combat also added some interesting twists to the strong gameplay foundation that was laid down in the original. The Last of Us Part II may not quite surpass the first game, but it stands out as a prime example of a fantastic and daring sequel.

6. Super Mario Odyssey

2017 | Nintendo

The gaming landscape today is nearly unrecognizable from what it was like in the ‘80s, and yet after all that time, Nintendo’s plucky Italian plumber still stands tall as one of the biggest stars in the industry. Super Mario Odyssey is impressive for the way it embraces the entire history of Mario, with fun throwbacks to his original adventures on the NES and the timeless platforming mechanics from his first forays into 3D, Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine. It says a lot about the quality of those games that the basic gameplay fundamentals still hold up so well.

But then Super Mario Odyssey improves on those ideas with the addition of Cappy, Mario’s new sentient hat who he can use to take control of other characters and objects in the environment. This mechanic leads to some of Odyssey’s very best moments. And while it’s debatable whether Odyssey is the very best of Mario’s many outstanding adventures, it’s a testament to his staying power that after all these years, we’re still talking about him.

5. Control  

2019 | Remedy Entertainment

Even if you’re not typically a completionist, Control will get you searching every last nook and cranny of the constantly-shifting The Oldest House for files detailing the paranormal phenomena investigated by the Bureau of Control. It’s not that these collectibles unlock anything that great or that they have a ton of achievement points attached to them, it’s just that the writing is that good. Control expertly weaves so many threads about the occult, paranormal, and government conspiracies that you’ll just want to keep learning more about the world as you take down the monsters.

While Control seems to be a fairly typical third-person shooter at first, it quickly opens itself up to reveal a whole host of psychokinetic powers that make each combat encounter feel unique. With all your combat powers unlocked, it’s a real thrill to launch debris at a group of Hiss or turn them against each other with mind control.

Control is constantly surprising, unapologetically weird in the best possible ways, and always fun to play. While it may not have received as much mainstream attention as many of the other games on this list, it is absolutely worth checking out now, especially with a confirmed next-gen upgrade on the way.

4. Red Dead Redemption II

2018 | Rockstar Games

Red Dead Redemption II is the pinnacle of what this console generation is capable of in terms of game design, and a prime example of what some of the best developers in the world can do when given near limitless time and money to complete their vision. Arthur Morgan’s journey of redemption in the final days of the Wild West is told with the skill of an Oscar-worthy film. And much of that comes down to the details. Everything, from the dust covered trails to the signs you encounter in the game’s lively towns, is artfully constructed to give this land a special, lived-in feel.

For a massive game that demands 50 hours of play just to complete the main story, there’s remarkably little repetition from mission-to-mission. Red Dead Redemption II evokes a living, breathing place and in a way few other games have. It’s likely as close to Westworld as any of us will see in our lifetime.

Red Dead Redemption II isn’t perfect, of course. The increased focus on realism, requiring things like dressing properly for inclement weather and keeping your horse fed and groomed, annoyed some players. And for all of the successes of the single-player campaign, the multiplayer mode has remained unusually glitchy and underdeveloped two years after release. Yet, few other games even come close to its standout world development and story.

3. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

2017 | Nintendo 

The Legend of Zelda games have been consistently great throughout the franchise’s long history, but let’s face it: the series was getting stale after cruising on the formula established by Ocarina of Time for almost two decades. Luckily, Breath of the Wild was exactly what Nintendo needed to reinvigorate Hyrule.

The genius of Breath of the Wild is how it uses fairly simple gameplay mechanics to explore the world in a multitude of ways. Unlike previous games, which would regularly introduce a dozen or more new weapons and tools, the Link in Breath of the Wild really just relies on four abilities: bombs, stopping time, ice blocks, and magnetizing metal. All four of these powers are introduced within the first hour or so, and then you’re off to explore the world however you see fit. You can even try to fight Ganon immediately, though that’s almost certain to end in a quick death.

Breath of the Wild successfully reimagined The Legend of Zelda by stripping it down and remembering that above all else this is a series about exploration, experimentation, and the thrill of discovery. And by returning to that foundation, Nintendo create a game that arguably surpasses Ocarina of Time.

2. God of War

2018 | SIE Santa Monica Studio

The adventures of Kratos have always been well regarded, but 2018’s reboot/sequel solidified God of War’s place among the greatest series of all time. Much of the credit goes to the revamped combat system. Kratos’ new axe, Leviathan, feels revolutionary. There’s a real impact each time it hits an enemy, but the true innovation is in being able to throw it and call it back at will, much like how Marvel’s Thor wields his hammer. It’s a simple mechanic, but no game had ever pulled it off quite this well.

The other thing that separates God of War from other games is the cinematography, something that seemingly gets little attention in most games. Putting the camera closer to Kratos is one of the design decisions that makes the combat feel much more visceral, but the real accomplishment is that the entire game, from brutal combat to introspective cinematics, is told in one continuous shot, creating one of the most immersive and innovative experiences in gaming history.

1. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

2015 | CD Projekt Red

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is now five years old, having come out relatively early in the console cycle, but it still holds up as the very best example of what gaming has had to offer over the last generation. The Witcher 3 tops this list for its outstanding world building and storytelling. Sure, it’s a fantasy game at heart, but every inch of the map, from Skellige to Toussaint, feels like an actual place. And characters like elves and trolls have backstories and emotions that make them feel just as real as any living, breathing human.

The world building in Wild Hunt is second to none, and that extends far beyond the main questline or even books and notes scattered around the world. While many open-world games cut corners with simple side quests that recycle locales and goals, some of the side quests in The Witcher 3 are actually among its best content, with stories and missions that rival some full games. The level of detail is absolutely astounding, and that’s before even mentioning the deep combat system which lets you fully customize Geralt of Rivia’s weapons, armor, spells, and traps. There is a ridiculous amount of quality content in The Witcher 3 and no shortage of ways to complete it.

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Had CD Projekt Red just shipped Wild Hunt in 2015 and called it a day, it very likely would have topped this list, but the support the developer has shown in the years since has just further solidified its place in gaming history. Two expansions, Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine, essentially added two full games-worth of content while still maintaining the high quality of the base title. Updates for the PC, PS4 Pro, and Xbox One X added 4K support, making an already stunning game a contender for best graphics of the generation. And if you’ve seen everything in those versions of the game, a shockingly good Switch port has now made the entire adventure playable on-the-go. Looking ahead, a free next-gen upgrade for the PS5 and Xbox Series X is already in development. With that many options to play, there’s really no excuse to have missed out on Wild Hunt at this point.

The post 25 Best Games of the PS4, Xbox One, and Switch Generation appeared first on Den of Geek.

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Day N Night Fest Recap (Part II)

Day N Night 2017 - Recap

By Miguel Ochoa

Photos by Brandon Chang

Day 1

7:30 pm - Khalid

One of the newer names in the modern music, Khalid certainly surprised me with his performance at this year’s Day N Night Festival. The 19 year-old Texas native showed up to his set with a heart full of American spirit, complete with two backup dancers dressed as high school cheerleaders in patriotic red, white, and blue uniforms. And with songs that emanate a young John Legend and a voice to back it up, it’s no wonder every girl wanted to sit on someone’s shoulders to get a closer look at the teenage heartthrob. His backup band provided some new texture to his live music, while still keeping the slow, wavy vibe that compliment the singer-songwriter’s sticky-as-syrup lyrics (I’ve only heard his hit single “Location” about 4 times and I already know most of the words). Above all, the great Khalid seemed like a natural on stage, perfectly comfortable interacting with the thousands in the crowd - which might have been the biggest shock considering his first (and only) album was only released 6 months ago. But with a combination of song topics relatable to millennials (like falling in love at school, texting your crush in class, and sneaking out of your parent’s house to party) and an all-around wholesome stage presence, it certainly was no surprise why the young Day N Night crowd resonated with Khalid so well.

9:00 pm - Travis Scott

I’ll be honest, I didn’t know much about Travis Scott before his performance besides that his song “Goosebumps” was all over the radio (I actually only listened to it because Kendrick Lamar was featured). Out of the 3-day festival’s headliners, Scott was the only one I had never seen live. I had never listened to an album of his, and frankly didn’t even really know what he looked like. One performance later and I’m a huge fan, and I’ve listened to his albums multiple times. How was this possible?

First off, it’s important to note that while Travis Scott employs a heavily auto-tuned voice, similar to other contemporary Southern-based rappers like Future, his musical style is more of an experimental trap-soul fusion, like something off of Kanye West’s MBDTF. This production provided for some epic live moments, such as on the songs “Outside” and “Through the Late Night” - a dragged-out, drugged-out rendition of Kid Cudi’s 2009 hit song “Day ‘N’ Nite”. Add to that Scott’s decisions to ride a giant metal eagle around the stage and you’ve got yourself one hell of a live performance. With lights, visual effects, and backdrops that made me feel like the whole stage was pulsating with a heartbeat, the 20,000 or so people in the crowd (including me) were quickly intoxicated with Scott’s raw, unfiltered antics, eerie vocals and larger-than-life persona.

Day 2

2:20 pm - Ugly God

The memelord and internet superstar emerges from his cave to play. With the hit single “Water”, a spot in XXL’s 2017 Freshman Class, and a brand new album under his belt (it’s called The Booty Tape, in case you were curious), Ugly God is quickly becoming a fan favorite and a prince of parody. A relative newcomer to the trap-rap scene, Ugly God’s quick wits, raw lyrics and hypebeast personality are making a splash both on and offline. While many of his beats are oddly minimalistic and play like something off of a Soundcloud playlist, the Booty Gang Captain’s crowd is largely drawn by his songs like “Stop Smoking  Black & Milds”, “Bitch!”, and “FTBT” (an acronym for “Face, Titties, Booty, and Toes”, in case you were curious again).

His performance at Day N Night seemed like something out of an Adult Swim cartoon. Sporting a vintage Supreme racing jacket, Supreme ski goggles, and his signature black skinny jeans, Ugly God performed most of his debut discography, including my personal favorite “Fuck Ugly God” - which is actually a diss track about himself, a paradoxical spin on a big element of the rap game. With ad-libs like skrrt! and phew! phew! the Houston-based lizard aficionado felt right at home here under the Orange County sky. Yet, the show felt incomplete - until Ugly God and his posse rushed back on stage after his set and shot wads of dollar bills into the crowd with Supreme Cash Canons, causing a ruckus in the crowd as people savagely climbed over each other only to collect $3. The Booty Gang strikes again.

3:20 - Rich Chigga

If you follow Brian Emmanuel’s online presence, you’ll know that he’s got some fast bars, fat beats, funny Vines and dank tweets. The young Indonesian MC pulled a big crowd at the Postmates stage, and rocked a two-piece matching striped suit that looked like Macaulay Culkin’s outfit from Home Alone. Though he has no album, EP or even mixtape in his roster, Rich Chigga’s singles have taken the internet by storm, even getting him signed with the Asian-centric, Bay-area based music label 88rising. During his performance, he performed bangers like “Seventeen”, “Who That Be”, and “Bankroll”, a Diplo produced song that featured Emmanuel alongside Young Thug and Rich the Kid. He also played his latest song, “Glow Like Dat”, a slow, dreamy breakup ballad that’s quite different from the rest of his tracks and proves that his music can be more than just hype and bass. He finally closed out the show with an extended version of his biggest song “Dat $tick”, which was the original track that garnered the internet’s attention to the young lyricist (it currently sits at over 60 million views on YouTube).

Also, the DJ mentioned to the crowd that it had recently been Emmanuel’s 18th birthday, and the audience soon broke into singing “Happy Birthday” to the rising star. After the set, I had the opportunity to go backstage and briefly meet with Emmanuel and his media team. They had been arguing for about 10 minutes over what the caption on the video from the performance would be. That’s some serious attention to detail.

4:20 pm - Playboi Carti

Another member of XXL’s 2017  Freshman Class, Playboi Carti had a unique stage presence for the weekend, and an energy that focused more on the ab-libs and vibes than the actual music. With graphic, gruesome cartoons playing in the background, Carti’s energy was translated into the numerous mosh-pits that formed like tornados in the crowd - quickly forming and wrecking everything in their paths (my glasses got broken during Carti’s set, but that’s the price paid of having a good time I suppose).

Playing tracks like “wokeuplikethis”, “New Choppa”, and “Lookin”, Carti was more personality than performance, as he mostly let the song play on its own and chose instead to dance and move with the crowd. But even the people in the back were getting into it, as Carti’s IDGAF attitude infected the crowd and had everyone vibing. Widely criticized as a mumble rapper, his performance had me better understanding Playboi Carti’s popularity. Without the lyrical chops of contemporaries like Denzel Curry or the intricate beats of Young Thug, Carti’s set was more mischief and chaos than anything, and surprisingly had me wanting more.

5:30 pm - SZA

Probably one of the most enthusiastically anticipated performers of the weekend, I went into SZA’s set with extremely high expectations. And they were not met.

They were exceeded.

Though SZA’s recently released debut album, CTRL, had its release date pushed back multiple times due to internal music industry turmoil, it was met with large commercial success and has even garnered the 26 year-old singer-songwriter some heavy radio airplay. All this translated into what was perhaps the largest crowd at Day N Night for a non-headliner I saw all weekend, and for good reason. As TDE’s only female artist (label mates include Schoolboy Q, Ab-Soul and Kendrick Lamar), SZA’s very personal, honest and intimate lyrics on tracks like “Love Galore”, “Doves in the Wind”, and “The Weekend” had the Orange County crowd singing at the top of their lungs. Even Chance the Rapper was spotted on stage admiring the Missouri native prance around on stage, with her pumpkin-patch orange hair waving wildly against the Anaheim sunset. Sporting some cut-up jeans, a sports bra, and some clunky Timbs, SZA was one of the few artists who chose to forgo a DJ for the support of a full backing band. Though with a voice like hers, she could have had a parakeet playing piano and would’ve still sounded beautifully.

6:35 pm - Post Malone

Trap-rap’s crooner king was present in full-force at Day N Night 2017, and was welcome with nothing but open arms on the Postmates Stage. Though this was Malone’s second year playing Day N Night, a lot has happened for him since we saw him last year at that small dusty campsite. Since then, his album Stoney was released on Republic Records, he’s played shows all over the country (even making a pit stop at The Observatory in Santa Ana back in March), and his song “White Iverson” has been certified quadruple platinum (a fact he thanked the Day N Night crowd for, as “it ain’t nothing without the fans, man”).

Though obviously a bit inebriated, you could tell Malone was up on that stage to have a good time and to vibe with anyone else who wanted to do the same. With his long hair unraveled from its iconic braids and his yellow flannel waving in the wind, Malone performed hits like “No Option”, “Too Young”, and “Go Flex”, even taking a break during his set “for a quick smoke”, playfully encouraging those in the audience to do the same. Holding a beer/cig combo in one hand and microphone in the other, the 22 year-old Texas native talked about life, love, and the importance of friends in between songs - even giving a nod to pop superstar Justin Bieber for lending his vocal chops to the track “Deja Vu”. He finished his set with “Congratulations” and a shout-out to everyone who didn’t believe in him growing up, mentioning that their doubt and pessimism turned into false applause after he made it big.

Sauce on, White Iverson. Sauce on.

9:00 pm - Chance the Rapper

Have you ever been on your way to a rap concert, gotten the directions wrong, and ended up at a Baptist Church? I haven’t either. But I honestly felt like that as Saturday’s headliner took the stage at Day N Night.

Chicago’s Lil Chano and crew had a full house on stage, with band support coming from brass powerhouse Nico Segal (known otherwise as Donnie Trumpet), a percussionist, an organ player, and a four-piece choir that had the vocal range of a hybrid with a full tank. Rocking his iconic “3” baseball cap and a simple baby blue t-shirt (perhaps an homage to the song “Baby Blue” with Action Bronson?), Mr. the Rapper’s set was one feel-good song after another. He even did some fan service, playing a few songs off of his first mixtapes and EPs instead of sticking solely to his 2016 album Coloring Book’s tracklist. And during his track “All We Got”, Chance even gave a shout-out to his homeboy and mentor Kanye West, showing footage of the two of them hanging out on the jumbotron, saying that Ye was one of the best friends he could have ever asked for (I’m not crying, you’re crying!).

Chance the Rapper is a rarity in the hip-hop world, as he continues to remain unsigned years into his career, even becoming the first artist to ever reach the Billboard Top 200 with a self-released album that was only available on digital streaming services. This, combined with his pastor-like stage presence (just about every song off of Coloring Book has religious undertones) equates to him commanding a large degree of respect from his fans. And considering he’s headlining festivals and working with the biggest names in music (Justin Bieber, Future, Lil Wayne, and Young Thug to name a few), it seems Lil Chano has no ideas of stopping anytime soon.

Day 3

2:20 pm - Princess Nokia

New York’s Afro-Latin lovechild came out in full force to Day N Night weekend, and brought an attitude and style onto the stage to be reckoned with. Rapping under the pseudonym Princess Nokia, 25 year-old Destiny Frasquieri was rocking a floral sundress, spitting bars and pumping the crowd up with bangers like “Tomboy”, “Kitana”, and her recently released single “Kitana”. With the upcoming release of her extended mixtape 1992 Deluxe, fans were almost as pumped as she was, as the East Coast rapper often sticks to her side of the continent for performances, making this appearance somewhat of a rarity (though, she is set to perform in late November in Los Angeles to promote her new record).

7:35 pm - YG

Honestly, YG’s whole setup, performance, and overall vibe had me speechless. But I’ll do my best.

Bompton-based bangsta bapper YG was clearly out here for a good time, not a long time. With his West Coast fusion of old-school G-funk and new-school trap-rap, the 27 year-old didn’t skimp out on the pimpin’. With a stage setup that resembled something out of a Katt Williams routine, a whole crew of about 15 was on stage, vibing and tossing water into the crowd. Playing club hits like “Why You Always Hatin’?” and “My Nigga”, the DJ Mustard-produced beats and YG’s antics had the whole crowd tooting it and booting it. The rapper than proceeded to rant about politics, mentioning that politicians “ain’t nothing but crooks”, following up with his 2016 hit - and one of my personal favorites - “FDT” (an acronym for Fuck Donald Trump” if you were wondering).

But the atmosphere wasn’t complete until YG brought out two strippers, with poles and all (might I remind you, the show was advertised as “All-Ages” not “Family-Friendly”), out for his song “Who Do You Love?”. Dollar bills were thrown, fishnet stockings were ripped,  and I’m pretty sure I saw a bottle of Hennessy on stage. What a legend.

9:00 pm - Kendrick Lamar

What’s to say about King Kendrick that hasn’t already been said. One of the biggest names in not only hip-hop, but music overall, Kendrick Lamar has managed to stay on the Billboard Top 200 without compromising originality and the message behind the music. With his album DAMN. coming at a divisive time in our nation’s history, Lamar’s lyrics provide insight into the Compton rapper’s beliefs and offers an introspective peek into the mind of K. Dot. If Saturday’s headliner, Chance the Rapper, had a performance full of gospel and inspiration, then Kendrick closed out the show with fire and brimstone. Pyrotechnics aside, his performance was minimalistic, with no band, no possee, no dancers, and no DJ. A crowd of 20,000 was all Kung Fu Kenny needed to light up the night, showing short skits about martial arts training in between songs (one which included the classic training montage with an old monk).

Performing both classic Kendrick tracks like “Backseat Freestyle” and “King Kunta” and newer releases like “DNA” and “Humble”, the crowd came with the energy to match. Ending with a bang, Kendrick closed out the show on high gear, and fireworks started to fill the sky, launching from behind the Postmates Stage. Until next year, Day N Night.

[rosanina-estrella-blog]

Second Interview!

Writing this a few days since my interviews since I’ve been quite busy.

So the Monday after I noticed my dashboard status changed from ‘Under Review’ to ‘Interview’, I got an email from my interviewer telling me that they liked my work and that they would like to interview me via video chat. I chose my date for Wednesday October 11th at 2:30PM PST which would be 10:30AM the next day. 

Overall, this has probably been my best interview in a long time - probably even more so than when I interviewed and got the job at Touchcast NZ. Surprisingly this has probably been the only interview I wasn’t that nervous about - even my phone screen was a bit more nerve wracking! I was more nervous about whether BlueJeans (their video conferencing software) would work or not/ if the internet speed would make things laggy, but everything went perfectly fine! The questions I was asked in the interview were

Did you study Typography in university?

While I was studying at Victoria University, our design degree didn’t  teach communication, branding or much graphic design (heck it was only introduced this year). Even more so, Typography was only taught in one or two classes (and not it’s own course) and a lot of people graduated with pretty atrocious typography skills. 

I explained that although we had minimal classes that I had been self taught from a young age through posting online and getting feedback. I also took online classes and watched video tutorials to make up for it.  

Have you been to a Disney park?

A question mostly because I was coming from outside the USA and because New Zealand is so far away. I told her I had when I was younger, didn’t have the chance to last time I was in the States in 2012 and that it was a dream to come back.   

What do you want to learn most in my professional internship?

I told her mostly about aspects of Information Design. How to structure information in the best way visually so that anyone who looks at the information could understand it. I mentioned how information in it’s raw form can be pretty overwhelming to those who don’t look at data normally/ large bits of information in general and how I want to tackle problems like those in the best way possible.  

What stood out about information design?

I told her how Information Design combination of both my skills as a designer and an information systems.

As a UX Designer, I like to understand the product, the user, the target audience and everything that goes into the research of a design. But it lacked the fun of creating something visually appealing and sometimes does not even get seen to the public. 

However, as fun as graphic design was, it was missing the research and depth of information behind a project as UX design had. 

Information Design was a beautiful balance between graphic and UX design/ design research.  

Talk to me about your design process 

I was asked to pick a favourite project and explain the process I took for it. I chose one of my larger case studies I worked on while I was at Touchcast NZ and dove into each step of the design process + explained my design thinking.

She asked specifically to explain how I used typography while I was explaining my process as well. 

Overall this took a large chunk of the interview - probably around 15ish minutes since it was such a big case study.

How big was the team?

I explained that the was one of my first big project I got to work on where I had a lot of control to where the design direction went. I worked collaboratively mostly with an experience senior designer, but my UX Design mentor helped me with the earlier aspects of the project. I also had the Head of Design pop in from time to time and give me feedback.

What part of the process do you spend on the most?

Especially since my portfolio shows my entire process from research to iteration to visuals, it can be hard to pinpoint to whether I spend time more on the visuals or research/information. I told her that I spent a lot of time on the visuals, but would spend a lot of time on the information and research as well.

I explained that even the smallest detail of information could change an overall design which was why I enjoyed working with information. The more I understand about a project and the information that goes into it, the better understanding and visual ideas I have to create the product. 

I answered each question quite well so I was happy to how I came out of it. My interviewer explained more about what the role entitled and even gave me a small tour of the office on her laptop which was pretty awesome! She let me know that I would hear back after a week and we ended the interview. Now I’ve never been as anxious or as dashboard-checky as everyone else in the Facebook group has been, but I think now that my final interview had finished, the edgyness of waiting has finally started to kick in... 

Well just a few more days till I know the answer...

[brawltogethernow]

Neutral Element - Outside the Castle

Installment Masterlist

Characters: Rescue Party, Gil, Klaus, Lucrezia, Agatha; Relationships: Wulfenbachs, Agatha/Lars and Agatha/Gil; Length: 2k. Immediately after no bless obli cheese.

The Jägers are definitely going to go after Agatha, so Zag jumps them before they’ve even started conferring. Because he knows Jägers well from working with the ones crashing with the Empire, and once they decide to plot the turnover rate from plan to action is functionally nonexistent. He sneaks up where they’re listening in from a wagon roof like creepy gargoyles and leans over the silent trio. “You’re going to get her, yeah?” he says. “Take me with you.”

They exchange looks. “He iz hendy,” says Oggie.

“He iz Miz Agatha’s friend,” says Maxim.”

“Yah, you iz coming, keedo,” says Dimo.

“Ve couldn’t schtopp you enny vay, yah?” says Maxim, grin fierce.

“Come on den,” says Oggie cheerfully. “Toot-sveetie!”

“Nobbles and wobbly cheese, honestly,” Dimo mutters to himself for some reason.

 *

Circling the castle doesn’t tell them anything good. Zag scouts around and then shares the rundown of what people are saying, and what they aren’t, and how no news is bad news.

“And I’ve heard things around,” he adds, nodding up at the Keep of Storms. “About that place. Things I do not like.”

“Hyu mean like, in repports from somevere, mebbe?” says Ognian, trying for sly.

“Yes, alright, I get news from damn reports to my father,” says Zag. If they’re asking leading questions, they already know. They smirk at him sharply, but it seems approving. “That doesn’t matter right now. Right now we have to get her out of there. And that means we have to get in there.”

“Hm,” hums Dimo, looking through the arcs of lightning barring the way to the keep. “Hyu know, ven she was out-like, the other day, Miz Agatha met op with a pretty gorl — hoo, she looked like she could rilleh fight! — mit a verreh pretty little airship.”

“No, Hy dun tink dat vould be enny good,” says Oggie.

“Dot ting, hit looked pretty small, yah?” adds Maxim. “How many pipple you figure it fit?”

“Hy dunno, brodder,” adds Oggie, doing a show of looking Maxim up and down speculatively, “mebbe if ve start cotting bits off uf hyu —”

“Hoy dere!”

“She could get in, though,” Dimo reasons, demonstrating seasoned experience ignoring tomfoolery. “Hy think ve should be tellink her habout dis, before ve go in. Hyu know, in case she vants to help Miz Agatha, like.”

Zag stares up at the sky above the castle. “Hm. I think they would still notice a dirigible, even a small one. It’s dark out, and the lightning moat is going to kill visibility a bit, but this is a town square. It’s not that dark.”

“Iz not a dir-rigy-bill, zo much,” says Oggie.

“Hyu’s be growink op in de sky, yah?” says Maxim. “Mebbe hyu will like it.”

 *

“They have Agatha?!” says Gil, looking overwrought, and Zag thinks, Hmm, to himself, quietly. His friend should have options, is all. Lots of options. Lars is a real sweetheart, and the wild woman Agatha apparently found in the Wastelands does not look like a sweetheart, but she’s a spark, and Agatha is giong to need someone who can keep up with her….

Zag regards Agatha’s friend (hee) as she waves her hands and explains that her flying machine definitely would not get off the ground carrying five people and a lobster. “But I could make modifications,” she says, staring at it speculatively like she’s considering ripping it apart then and there. She was patting it earlier, so it’s kind of unsettlingly like watching someone turn that look on a baby. Sparks, amirite. Sparks in ~love~, possibly. Zag is assessing.

“See, the vertical blades spin to get it off the ground straight up, and then I basically drop it and then it stays airborne.”

“Iz dot…safe?” Oggie asks, goggling.

“So!” Zag cuts in before Gil can find some acceptable-to-her way to say, Well, no. “I’m glad you’re going to help us help Agatha! Apropos of nothing, how do they feel where you’re from about having three or more people in a relationship? Good? I’m asking for a friend.”

Gil drops the wrench she was gesturing with on her foot.

“You don’t have to answer!” Zag calls back to her when they finally take their leave. “Just think about it!”

 *

“Huh,” Gil says to Zoing after the odd party of Agatha’s friends starts  back the way they came, getting into some sort of scuffle that involves a lot of gentle elbow-checking, as she starts to prep her ship. “I didn’t think you got that hair color around here.” She looks at the Jägers. “Uh, in humans.”

 *

The way back is a trudge, but Dimo seems pleased with the results of their detour. “She iz definitely good beckup for Miz Agatha to keep hendy,” he says. “En mebbe also odder things.”

Oggie leans over into the green Jäger’s personal space. “Hyu tink she can help her vit dot vagon she kept svearing at de odder day?”

“Dot vos some spicy language, dot vas,” muses Maxim. “Vere hyu tink she learn dot?”

Dimo shoves at them both. “Hy am sayink —” He breaks off into a gusty sigh. “Zott, hyu are so dense.”

“Hy am not dense!” says Oggie, dramatically offended. “Hy am very schooled in matterz of luff! See? Hy even knew vat hyu vas tokking about. Hend you thot hyu vas beink schneaky. Heh.”

Dimo rolls his eyes. “Yez, yez, hyu heff shown me op. Woe, woe.”

“Not that I don’t appreciate the free entertainment,” says Zag (the Jägers shrug, sheepish at being caught at it), “but when did you three see that ship, anyway? She was explaining it to you like she’d never met you before.”

Dimo rubs the back of his neck. “Oh, hyu know.”

“Ve vas in de neighborhood,” says Maxim, eyes on the sky.

“Hy vas not op to ennything!” Oggie insists, distressed. “Honest!”

“…So you were following Agatha,” says Zag.

Maxim shifts, uncomfortable. “Vell…mebbe.”

Zag meditates on this, then reasons that the wild Jägers are pretty good guys and are also turning out to be surprisingly adorable about their real master. They were spying on Agatha on her dates. “Take me next time,” he settles on.

“Ey, vusn’t very interestink,” says Oggie, trace readings of shame gone. “Dey mostly tokked science schtuff.”

“Dot type, dey tink de interestink part iz de science schtuff.”

Everyone present groans.

 *

When the assembling rescue party gets back to the middle of Sturmhalten, again, they practically miss Lars. Also again, apparently.

“Been following you,” he says, breathing hard. “You keep moving around.”

Yeah, Zag can’t imagine an actor, capable point man or no, moving as quickly as three Jägermonsters and him, especially since he seems to have acquired a furry legwarmer, hooked into his leg for dear life. “You brought Krosp.”

Lars shrugs, a stage gesture. “He wanted to come!” Then he grimaces with his whole body when Krosp responds by flexing his claws. Also a stage gesture. Zag loves the Circus people, he honestly does. He thinks he could be at home in their “the world is a stage, so why not mug for the audience” mindset.

“So if you grabbed the Jägers because you knew they would come after Agatha,” says Lars, shaking out his cat-burdened leg (no joy) “— Uh, how did you know that?”

They’re Jägers, and she’s the Heterodyne. “They seemed to like her!” Zag says. He grins (leers, he leers) and nudges Lars with a playful elbow. “You like ‘er too, don’tcha?”

“I — !”

Tormenting Lars is a delight. Zag hasn’t known him very long, but he’s certain the guy isn’t normally this easy to fluster. Except about matters of life and death, which, whatever Agatha obviously privately thinks, is perfectly reasonable.

Krosp groans. (Krosp trying to make traditionally low human noises always sounds adorable, and this is no exception.) “I thought catching up with all of you might be better than being stuck with this genius, but I was wrong.”

Zag looks down at him. “…You’re gonna have to tell me what happened on your way here sometime, buddy.”

Lars and Krosp exchange a look of mutual, recent horror. Which is just the look of a half-decent story, so no regrets.

“Sewers,” Krosp whispers to himself quietly, his expression haunted.

 *

The Baron is framed by a brightly colored circus wagon, and it only makes him look more menacingly enormous. His swathe of silver hair is a chin-length version of Zag’s fluff without the two strands that frame his son’s face like thick ribbons. His gaze is riveted on Agatha and Zag, cutting out the rest of their crowd of allies. The Jägers finger their weapons; Lars looks like he’s on the edge of panic; Gil landed on the field nearby earlier but hasn’t approached. Krosp’s flicking tail detracts from the severity of his expression, and the Sturmhalten Sewermen look like they’re only still on the scene because bolting just then would make them the only moving things around, and if they were that dumb they wouldn’t have lived to be Sturmhalten Sewermen. To a one, they all stand around awkwardly. Gil hovers awkwardly to the side, and everyone else hovers awkwardly in the center. It’s not a brave day for rescue parties. The Baron’s speech to Agatha swallows up impetus for action.

“My son trusts you,” the Baron says meaningfully. His eyes cut back and forth between the swordsman and Agatha at this point, but Zag has always responded to Klaus’ allusions toward his romantic prospects by upping the ante and making the conversation as awkward and graphic as possible, so by this point Klaus is too subtly well-trained to ask about his motivations in running off with Lucrezia’s daughter. “If you both come back —”

Zag shakes out his shoulders, tense. “…You talk like it’s a given that I’m coming back with you, father.”

“Oh, no,” says Klaus. “The Lady Heterodyne, should she agree to talk terms, has her own responsibilities, but you will return. It’s time we had a long talk, young man.” The Baron looms forward, expression forbidding, and wraps his massive hand around Zag’s wrist.

And then chokes on something.

Agatha springs into action before anyone can blink. “Why are you all standing around?!” she shouts. “He’s choking! Let me through, I can help him!” The footsoldiers confer frantically and okay her, and she darts in.

“I’ll help, I’ve got medical experience!” says Gil, leaping forward.

“Oh, great!” chirps Agatha. Turning, she elbows Gil in the nose. “Oh, sorry! Here, I’ll just deal with it,” she says as the princess reels away, clutching her face.

She kneels to the ground, pressing a hand to Klaus’ chest.

“Stay back!” shouts Agatha. “He’s, uh, fructivorous!”

“Wot’s dot mean?” Oggie asks Gil, leaning over to consult her.

“Fzzrk,” says Gil, possibly trying to set her own nose. Her inarticulate response has a whistle in it.

Then the tide of the entire negotiation flips over in a breath, and everyone is moving.

 *

There’s a storm of motion. Lars and Agatha form its eye. The Jägers have leapt into the fight. The Sewermen  have vanished. Gil, her nose purpling, is bent over her ship ranting, and appears to be trying to refit it to use as an impromptu crowd disperser.

Klaus has given up on subtlety and negotiation, grabbing for his son. “You cannot stay with her!” he shouts at Zag, who grimaces and barely dodges. “You do not understand how dangerous — !”

“Hey!” says Gil, abandoning her ship and lunging forward with something she grabs from its backseat gripped in her right hand — it looks like a big fork with electricity dancing on the end — and one of her swords fisted in her left. “Get away from him!”

“Do NOT interrupt — !” starts the Baron, only half-turning from Zag. Gil darts into the space Zag has put between the two Wulfenbachs, fork thing aimed at the Baron’s torso, sword up to defend. Klaus raises his sword arm, his greatsword dripping crimson, then hesitates, eyes snagging on Gil’s snarling brass circlet, then darting to the bifurcated blade of her katar. His complexion turns from a red fury to an only arguably better putty color. “You — Djorok’ku Skifandias von?!”

Gil looks like she’s been smacked. “What — S’vek? Zur bakken Skiff?!”

“Kar!” The Baron presses a hand to his chest, greatsword mostly forgotten. “Mor bakken Skiff!”

“Morbukinskif vok!” says the blue coat by the Baron’s leg, which really puts a cap on Klaus’ day.

“What —” he says, and then is interrupted when the entire battlefield is overtaken by an upset like someone has picked it up and shaken it. The Baron and the Skifandrian dodge debris in opposite directions.

 *

The debacle with the chicken house and assorted other circus wagons ends with the Baron’s son, the Heterodyne Girl, and the mysterious foreign spark all unaccounted for.

Gil: What — What? You speak Skiff?! Klaus: Yes, I speak Skiff! Zoing: I speak Skiff too! Klaus: Augh what the shit

I do not feel bad about adding more pointless doubling back to the Rescue AT ALL, because the Rescue Party mostly runs in ineffective circles and facilitates a lot of really great comedy.

Lars’ arc is not significantly impacted by this AU. Unfortunately? I tried to scootch events surrounding “Showtime!” around to save him, but it didn’t work out.

Why did I structure this so I have to make up Skiff and then render it in Zoingspeak. @ me: What is this. Oh, right, Zoing is present and color-inverted, I’ll get into it later/earlier. Learlier.

When asked in an AMA whether all Skifandrians had green hair, both Foglios answered differently. For the purposes of this AU, the answer pretty much has to be no.