#a far future science fiction setting that is free to create its own narrative

[tanadrin]

i would enjoy the civ series a lot more if it didn't have, like, a paper-thin pseudo-historical skin on it. i guess i'm no fun, but george washington fighting the aztecs doesn't feel like a game about history. it feels like weird nonsense mad libs.

the crazy thing is that SMAC showed a reskin of the basic civ concept was a terrific delivery mechanism for lore and a fun new setting. not just far-future science fiction either. you could do something with fantasy like Lords of Magic, or a postapocalyptic setting, or a more focused historical setting. but the cartoony theme park version of world history just doesn't engage me in the same way.

i think this is also why i find the civ scenarios a lot of fun. they're much more focused and structured in terms of narrative. they scratch that 4X gameplay itch without ripping all the signifiers from their historical context in a way that leaves them meaningless and empty.

[motherwasapapafucker]

You've obviously spoke about the Ghost as a Superman figure within the larger context of Doctor Who but do you think the opposite is possible? A Doctor-like figure within a larger superhero setting?

There's been a couple of attempts, never quite as....jarring as the Ghost but that’s pretty much down to mad scientists and time travel being far more commonplace in superhero settings than overtly super-heroic figures are in Who. To the point the handful of times Who has played with that (Conundrum, Starfall, The Return of Doctor Mysterio) all draw at least some of their story out of the jarring presence of a superhero figure within the narrative. There’s a really nice sequence in Conundrum where the Doctor “explains” the presence of the superpowered figures in a way that reads like he’s as much kidding himself because he would like to think it’s possible as genuinely trying to explain how these people have gained their abilities. Which really feels like a deliberate building on “I wish...I wish I believed in wishing wells” given how Conundrum plays out. There’s obviously the conflation of Captain Britain’s Merlin and Who’s Merlin a couple of times, but that’s really overstated even if only in terms of Britain’s Merlin functionally different beast to the point any doctor connection is largely a minor detail as any attempt at creating a Doctor-like figure. I think then, when it comes to your Doctor-like figure the big thing that would distinguish them from other standard mad scientists and science heroes is the face changing, and basically none of your overtly doctor-influenced characters actually do anything with? Your big one in a standard setting is Professor Gamble in Power Man and Iron Fist #79, who really stands out in terms of being the only doctor-lite comic figure overtly building on Classic Who rather than Cultural Juggernaut David Tennant Doctor Who. Some overlap with Dr. Mysterio’s use of the Ghost in the conflation of the real and fictional but in very different directions; Gamble writing a fictitious account of his own life, dreadlox a fictitious account of the Incinerators. Gamble’s personal Dalek-stand in born of rogue temporal cleaning devices that have decided destroying space and time is the only way to clean everything. Where the overlap falls apart is the fact that Power Man and Iron Fist is arguably a far more flexible book at that point in its history than Who is by the point of Doctor Mysterio. So #79 is less of an out of genre moment so much as just more weird shit happening to Danny and Luke. As far as I know Gamble has popped up here and there since then, and is one of a fairly sizable amount of Who references across Marvel/Marvel UK (Yeah yeah we all know about Death’s Head, W.H.O. and aw that pish) The other big, very very direct and direct to Cultural Juggernaut David Teannant Doctor Who is...weirdly…Qubit in Irredeemable. Which is barely relevant to this question because it’s really not a standard superhero setting beyond the superficial, but bares some comment given it’s arguably the most prominent of recent takes and really hard to ignore how much he’s just David Tennant with a James from Twin Peaks forehead and LEGION hair. Also worth commenting on how fucking strange his entire role in the arse end of Irredeeamble is given the final 20 or so issues largely devolve into “The Tenth Doctor fights Evil Superman.” Given how little that aspect is remarked upon, and how incongruous it is with the broader attempt at presenting an Evil Superman story that gradually pairs back to show that the character’s never really been evil superman because for him to have that “turn” you basically have to have it be the tip of an iceberg that sketches back decades and ultimate reveals the character was never really Superman in any way beyond the iconographic. So the fact that happens while he’s fighting David Tennant is really strange, though I do like so much of that spilling out of the Plutonian forcing Quibit into one of those big, painful NuWho moral decisions, but I really struggle to care about Irredeemable beyond thinking Incorruptible was generally the stronger book towards the end. You’ve also got things like the Allred/Slott Silver Surfer that overtly drew influence from contemporary

Doctor Who, but it’s building on an already distinctive character so it can never really function as a direct one for one. I know, vaguely, that Ben 10 had a Doctor Who figure. But having never watched the show I’m not sure how he appears within the show and tbh I don’t care enough to look into it. I suppose the thing is that Doctor-lite easily slides into a superhero setting without losing too much and without drawing too much attention to the homage while someone like the Ghost is, by basic nature, designed to be at least somewhat strange within the larger normality of the show’s present day. The closest point of comparison I can think of is something like Silver Sentry in TMNT; There’s really nothing in TMNT or Doctor WHo that precludes the existence of “proper” superheroes, nether show is exactly the height of realism but the sudden introduction of basically superman presents a fundamental shift in their respective idiosyncrasies. I imagine people would be tempted to draw a comparison between the Milligan Shade the Changing Man revamp under Vertigo and Who, and given it’s MIlligan I’m sure there was some influence their even if only in terms of an English-coded otherworldly figure who undergoes startling changes across the run, but tbh it’s basically a passing resemblance and kinda overlooks the fact that Shade kinda hilariously preempts a lot of where Who as a franchise goes during the 90s and 2000s. It’s presentation of Shade’s changes as far-more psychologically damaging than classic who’s regeneration compared to some overlap with how NuWho treats the event particularly, but also in terms of the EDAs there’s a fairly notable arc where Shade gives up his heart to cope with a torrent of emotional loss and devastated worlds. Make of that what you will. I still haven’t answered the fucking question have I, right since you’ve asked me you’re going to get my shite, because here’s how I’d do it. There’s only one way really, one word Metalek Because the fucking rule don’t they? Morrison’s first, best Dalek-homage. The Xenoformers from Galaxy X, sentient construction vehicles serving masters that no longer exist. Terraforming the Galaxy one world at a time. Bow before Metalek. So yeah, those guys exist and they’re fucking great. I have...more thoughts than I’d like to admit about the “Metalek Empire” that’s really just self-indulgent pish. But that’s DC comics. So they exist, and they present what’s probably the best approach to a Doctor-alike in a superhero setting. In the same way the Ghost might as well be Superman in a setting where he isn’t the soul focus, you’re Doctor Who figure might as well just be Doctor Who in a setting where, building on the fact the key elements aren’t that notable, they really don’t stand out that much, so what then? Well he’s the mad scientist, but a good mad scientist. Counterpart to all the lunatics and madmen with their metal monsters, who is he? Who’s the grant morrison character fighting the dreaded metalek menace when they aren’t intruding on Superman’s narrative? Who spent decades trapped on earth, leading a reformed STAR Labs into a strange, wonderful new world? It’s Leo Quantum isn’t it. Basically, Leo’s one of those characters like Lan-Shin in Smashes the Klan or John Henry Irons who click perfectly into place with the larger idea of Superman’s social network. And given I’m an egotist, I’m going to do what I like with him building out of that admittedly bullshit old idea he’s future lex back to repent. If the Ghost is a version of Superman who’s world exists in the shadow of the Doctor, Leo would be a version of the Doctor that exists in the Shadow of Superman. He’s not literally Lex, he’s your Kristin Wells/Legion/DC One Million figure, possibly a future Luthor, possibly the first child of the Luthor/Kent families coming together in the far off 42nd century. A temporal adventurer who’s early experiments caused all his potential futures to crash down on top of him, transforming him into a hypertime singularity. His technicolor dreamcoat crafted from fifth world

wondertech, regulating his body to ensure each hypertime strand gets its time in sun while keeping the darker fringes in line….most of the time. Or at least, that’s what I’d do, feel free to discard this as mental bastard bullshit.

[rpgsandbox]

Blue Planet is a compelling RPG journey into humanity’s precarious future on a distant waterworld where political unrest and a hungry alien ecology threaten the nascent colony effort. A planet where GEO marshals struggle to maintain peace, Incorporate mercenaries wage amphibious proxy wars, and native insurgents fight for their adopted world. A frontier where human desperation and corporate greed ravage an uncanny ecology, threatening to plunge humanity into a war of survival with an ancient, alien legacy.

Though the original Blue Planet predates many of these titles, the setting is evoked by the movies Avatar, Blade Runner and Outland, the television series The Expanse, Firefly and Earth II and the books Legacy of Heorot, Songs of Distant Earth and the Mars Trilogy. A reviewer once gave a glib but accurate elevator pitch for Blue Planet as "Space marshal Cowboy and his cybernetic dolphin sidekick fight eco-crimes in alien Hawaii."

The Full Premise

Blue Planet's uniqueness and enduring appeal are in its deep, realistic, hard science fiction setting, and to really describe it requires more than a few sentences. For those new to the waterworld, we recommend exploring the more detailed premise here.

This campaign will fund the production of a new third edition of the critically acclaimed Blue Planet roleplaying game. We’ve brought Blue Planet to Kickstarter because we're excited to make the definitive edition of the game, but we need your help to do that.

We want to design a uniquely beautiful, full-color, two-volume, 600-page masterpiece, overflowing with evocative art, captivating text, and exceptional production values. We want to make the books themselves works of art with UV cover highlights, endpaper maps and page-marking ribbons. We want to fill them with a new rules set, stunning art, expansive color maps and compelling new locations, social structures, future technologies and alien secrets.

These features and content exceed our capacity to resource on our own, so we are here asking you to join the Blue Planet team and help us make the new version of this classic game truly exceptional.

Download the Blue Planet: Recontact Quickstart Guide here. This 80+ page, full color primer is free and contains the new version of the rules, a setting sampler and a demo scenario called "Trouble in Paradise," complete with ready-to-play characters.

The Recontact project includes

• An extensive evolution of the core mechanics, taking advantage of two decades of RPG development. The new system can be found here in our free, 80+ page Recontact primer.

• All new, full-color artwork bringing the waterworld to life in stunning, evocative imagery.

• Full-color world and regional maps, including submarine geography, redesigned and rendered by professional cartographer and game designer Mark Richardson (Green Hat Design).

• A series of campaign archetypes to help moderators jumpstart their games in the vast adventure space of Poseidon (see below).

• Updated speculative technologies.

• New sociopolitical systems, organizations, institutions and conflicts.

• New locations, settlements and facilities.

The Recontact project does not include

• Fundamental changes to the core sociopolitical tensions - the themes will remain staunchly pro-environmental and anti-colonial.

• Timeline advancements - the setting was originally - and intentionally - poised on a sociopolitical precipice, rife with plot and storytelling potential, and we want to maintain that same narrative tension.

• Global rewrites of the setting material - though updates, sensitivity edits and additions are being made throughout, we believe Blue Planet’s deep setting is why the game has endured, and so we are not making major alterations to that essential content.

A word about the delivery date

We know a reward delivery date of October 2022 seems unexpectedly far away. Though we intend to deliver Blue Planet sooner, our experience, and the last year in particular, have proven an essential truth about Kickstarter management - set a generous delivery date, then add six months. We hope this date does not discourage folks from becoming backers, but instead demonstrates our commitment to realistic planning and transparent communication.

All reward tiers (digital and physical) will receive PDFs of the out-of-print Blue Planet books the day after the campaign ends. Single book pledges will receive the corresponding v2 PDF, and book set pledges will receive copies of everything ever published for the line. All 10 past Blue Planet titles - over 1700 pages of waterworld adventure - as immediate rewards!

First edition Blue Planet, Archipelago, Access Denied, v2 Blue Planet Player's and Moderator's Guides, Fluid Mechanics, First Colony, Frontier Justice, Natural Selection and Ancient Echoes.

Blue Planet has received broad acclaim, particularly for its deep, detailed, and realistic setting, and has remained well regarded since its original publication. However, that publication was almost 25 years ago, and in the intervening decades, all versions have gone out of print and game design has evolved dramatically. We are therefore excited at the prospect of giving the game system an overdue overhaul and the opportunity to share Blue Planet with a new generation of players.  

More personally, Blue Planet features critical environmental themes, presenting a precarious future threatened by the dire consequences of ecological collapse. If issues like biodiversity loss, ocean acidification and climate change were only obscure concerns within the scientific community 25 years ago, they are now clear and present existential threats to the human species. This new edition will let us add our own small voice to those demanding true stewardship of our original blue planet.

Compelled by these reasons, the original creators at Biohazard Games have teamed up with publisher Gallant Knight Games to produce a modern edition of this classic RPG.

Recontact is the in-game term for the fateful day in 2165 when the UNSS Admiral Robert Perry entered orbit around Poseidon, “reestablishing contact” with Earth 69 years after the original colonists were abandoned. Given that more than two decades have passed since the publication of the first edition of Blue Planet, RECONTACT seemed a fitting subtitle for this new version of the game.

Anyone familiar with Blue Planet v2’s Synergy rules will recognize the new system as a modern evolution of those mechanics, sharing a little of that design's genetics and the same intent to support the hard science realism of the setting. Players will also find the new system is simultaneously simpler and more robust, while supporting richer, more evocative character creation that's focused as much on who characters are as what characters can do.

Characters have 4 attributes with optional foci and up to 8 skill sets - areas of expertise based on player-generated descriptors that evoke a character’s origins, training, occupation and experiences. The core mechanic is roll ≤ (attribute rank)+(skill set rank). The roll is made with either 1, 2 or 3 d10, depending upon whether the general, core or specialty in a given skill set is being used. For those who know v2, these elements should seem familiar. There are fewer attributes, but they work similarly, and the variable dice pool is a streamlined take on the aptitude mechanic. The skill sets are simultaneously simpler and more robust than the long list of specific aptitudes and skills in the 2nd edition.

Blue Planet does remain a realistically dangerous game, keeping the  wound levels and trauma tests from the 2nd edition. Weapons and sea monsters are therefore quite deadly, so characters should try to avoid getting shot. Or eaten.

The new mechanics also lean in to the qualitative roleplaying aspects of modern character design, providing Tags, Tracks and Ties unique to each player's character concept and each moderator's campaign. The emphasis is as much on who a character is as what they can do.

Tags are specific consequences, benefits, convictions, motivations or other active descriptors that a character incurs during their adventures - generally the result of narrative events, important tests, fallout from interactions with other characters and injuries.

Tracks model the range of specific character emotions, attitudes and mental states. They are usually campaign or party specific and can be offered by the moderator or created by the players for their party or their individual characters.

Ties describe a character’s primary relationships, identifying the people and organizations to whom the character is connected, as well as the nature of the obligations they must meet to maintain those relationships.

The only consistent criticism Blue Planet has received over the years is that the setting is so vast and wide open, it’s often challenging for game moderators to know where to start. They struggle to choose a single campaign current from among the sea of ideas in the setting. Blue Planet: Recontact will therefore provide a diverse set of campaign archetypes to provide ready-made options for GMs new to the game.

It’s common practice for RPG books to present a range of character archetypes, providing players with detailed examples of the kinds of PCs available to play. These campaign archetypes are similar in that they offer guidance for a variety of different adventure types that can be run in the world of Blue Planet, providing GMs with starting points, directions and enough details to get a variety of different campaigns underway. Each archetype outlines a premise, PC suggestions, unique NPCs, key locations, resources, themes, and plot threads from which a GM can build their perfect Blue Planet campaign.

Read the full first example - Red Sky Charters - in the Recontact Primer here.

Kickstarter campaign ends: Wed, May 5 2021 3:00 AM BST

Website: [Biohazard Games] [Biohazard twitter] [Gallant Knight Games] [Gallant Knight twitter]

[wehavethoughts]

Zack Snyder's Justice League Review!

Zack Snyder's Justice League dir. Zack Snyder (2021) Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Films, Atlas Entertainment and The Stone Quarry Science Fiction, Action, Superhero Movie

Rating: 3.5 Waves

Summary: Tormented by visions of a dark future, Bruce Wayne aka The Batman attempts to gather a team of superheroes to defend the planet. When alien tyrant Steppenwolf arrives on Earth seeking a long forgotten technology, this group of heroes must do everything in their power to keep him from locating all three Mother Boxes and destroying the world.

Content warnings: Violence, Death, Body Horror, Gore

This review DOES NOT contain spoilers for Zack Snyder's Justice League

A bit of background for those of you thinking “Didn’t Justice League come out years ago?” You are exactly right! Justice League was released in theaters in 2017 and is the fifth movie in the DCEU (DC Extended Universe). The same company that produced Justice League then funded Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021) which is a different version of the story that was released in 2017. Zack Snyder was actually the original director of Justice League (2017), but he stepped away from the project during post production and the film was handed over to director Joss Whedon. Whedon’s creative decisions led to rewrites, heavy editing and a notorious reshoot that required removal of Henry Cavill’s mustache via CGI. Therefore, Justice League as it premiered in theaters in 2017 was Joss Whedon’s vision of the story. As some of you might remember, Justice League (2017) was considered a “flop” as it lost the studio ~$60 million overall and was received by fans with mixed to negative reviews (6.2/10 IMDB, 40% Rotten Tomatoes). But since Zack Snyder had left so late in the project, there were rumors that his version of the film had been nearly finished and there was hope that the movie Snyder filmed was actually better than what Whedon had created. Fans took to social media to demand that Warner Bros release the “Snyder Cut'' of Justice League and in a move I personally find baffling, Warner Bros actually gave Zack Snyder another $70 million to finish his version. Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021) which was released on HBO Max is the final product.

While understanding the context of how this movie came about is neat and honestly pretty hilarious, I never got around to see Justice League (2017) so I cannot give any commentary on whether this new film is any better. For those who are curious, my fiancée who has seen both says that the movies are extremely similar in plot, but there are significant changes to characterization and pacing. This review will solely be on the merits and shortfalls of Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021) in a spoiler free context since the movie was released just over a week ago (if you want to talk spoilers DM me I have So Many Thoughts).

Honestly, I was surprised how much I enjoyed this movie. My expectations were quite low considering what I heard about the original 2017 version and the fact that I’m more of a Marvel fan. The most surprising thing for me was that I sat through the entire 4 hr and 2 min runtime (for reference the runtime for Justice League (2017) is 2 hrs). Aside from Lord of the Rings (Return of the King runtime 4 hr 11min), I usually don’t indulge in movies that require me to block off an entire day, but I was curious and I love bandwagons.

The highlight of this movie are the characters. Each of our main characters had a deep, solid backstory that drew me in and made me invested in what was happening in this world. One thing lacking in a lot of ensemble superhero movies is balanced screen time between the main cast, but Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021) uses its time wisely to give each character depth and critical purpose in the narrative. Even the villain had compelling motivation as to why he is on earth doing dastardly deeds, and while I wasn’t rooting for him, I respected his motivations. I also appreciated that the writers of this movie made the characters intelligent. Sure, some decisions were driven more by emotion than logic, but the way defenses are set up and how our heroes use their unique powers left me incredibly impressed.

The characters’ interactions with each other was also very enjoyable. Snyder took the time to include scenes centered around the team chilling with each other in ways that were refreshingly low stakes and mundane. The story was interspersed with scenes like Wonder Woman and Alfred making tea, Aquaman and Wonder Woman musing over cultural differences, and Cyborg and Flash digging up a body where you could really see the characters grow from strangers to teammates to friends. These scenes also peppered in some light humor that kept the movie from becoming too dark without distracting from the tone.

Since Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021) is technically an action movie and it is rated R, I feel like I should touch on the action sequences. Overall, the action was incredibly fun to watch! It was made for the big screen so watching the epic battles for the first time on my TV at home was a bit underwhelming, but the well choreographed, high stakes fights were still visually pleasing. For a rated R movie there was not as much gore as there could have been, which I appreciated and the level of violence was pretty much what I expected from a comic book movie.

The action scenes also do a fantastic job with power escalation. By that I mean the action illustrates the limits of one character’s power clearly in relation to other characters’ powers. This way you are aware of exactly how impressive the characters and their powers are on their own and so when someone or something stronger shows up we have context for how big of a threat we are dealing with. The clean way the story shows us everyone’s respective powers and their limits makes it so the stakes feel more tangible and it's not just unfathomably strong characters beating the shit out of each other with the winner decided by chance.

There are a few reasons the movie didn’t get a full five waves from me. First was that the Amazon’s outfits were very clearly made by horny men based on how much skin they were showing. I, a bisexual, personally love to see superheroes in less then full coverage, but when the Amazon warriors have their entire stomachs and cleavage out of their armor for no reason it exhausts me. What happened to the tasteful and stylish armor from Wonder Woman (2017)? This feels like a step in the wrong direction.

The next concern I have that has kept me from recommending this movie to people is the overall pacing and length. While there were some great uses of the extended run time like the action sequences and team bonding I mention above, there were so many scenes that were way too slow for me to stay engaged. I found myself editing the movie in my head, like did we really need 2 full minutes of Bruce Wayne and his horse climbing a dreary mountain? I don’t think so. This was a narrative where I needed to pay attention lest I miss critical pieces of the story, but the random scenes that dragged on too long had me going to get snacks and checking my phone throughout. If I could rate the movie by halves the first half would get 2.5 Waves because of how it dragged and the second half would get closer to 4.5 Waves since the story really picks up and fun things start to happen.

The final part of this movie that kept it from getting a higher rating was how closely it was tied to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. In fact, the first scene of Zack Snyder's Justice League is the final scene of Batman v Superman. There were many plot critical tie-ins to previous movies that left me feeling confused until I googled my questions during the slow scenes. If you have never seen Batman v Superman or Man of Steel then you will miss a lot of this movie, which I thought was unfair because other DCEU movies came out before the first iteration of Justice League like Wonder Woman and Suicide Squad and while events in those movies are mentioned in passing they are not nearly as important as the Batman and Superman-centric films. If the DCEU is going to pick favorites, the least it can do is pick movies I actually like (Wonder Woman (2017) remains my favorite DCEU movie to date). In general, superhero movies seem to be trending toward sagas and I prefer movies that you can just watch and enjoy without needing to see a bunch of other movies first.

Overall, I did very much enjoy this movie, but based on the run time alone it is not going to be for everyone. Measuring movie success during the pandemic is trickier than looking at box office numbers and labeling it a success or a flop, but it does appear that Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021) is doing well as far as critical reception and viewership. I hope that this success will allow the DCEU to explore all of the fun nooks and crannies of the universe Snyder pulled together. In fact, half of the epilogue of this movie felt like set up for future movies. I hope they come to fruition because there were some pretty compelling teasers at the end that I would love to see played out on the big screen.

As I mentioned before, I’ve never seen the original cut of Justice League, but Snyder’s version left me fulfilled and satisfied with the narrative, so I am happy to have seen this newest cut first. This is a movie for people who love DC, love superhero movies or are just really invested in the hype.

~TideMod

[heartschoicegames]

Heart’s Choice Author Interview: Melissa Scott, “A Player’s Heart”

Find love, fame, and intrigue on the stage of the city's all-woman Opera! Put on a show, survive drama on and off-stage...and win your lover's heart. A Player's Heart is a 222,000-word interactive lesbian romance novel by Melissa Scott. I sat down with Melissa to talk about her upcoming game, and the vicissitudes of romance writing. A Player's Heart releases this Thursday, February 13th for Heart's Choice. This is your first piece of interactive fiction, but not, I think, your first romance novel. Tell me a little about your other work. This is indeed my first piece of interactive fiction, but in my other life I'm mostly known as a writer of science fiction and fantasy. I have written two fantasy mystery series with strong romantic elements—the Points series (Point of Hopes, Point of Knives, Point of Dreams, Fairs' Point, and Point of Sighs), which I began with my late partner Lisa A. Barnett and continued after her death; and the Mathey and Lynes novels (Death By Silver and A Death at the Dionysus Club), which I wrote with another Choice of Games author, Amy Griswold.   The Points novels are set in the city of Astreiant, where astrology is a complex and important science, and center on the professional and personal relationship of pointsman (a kind of police officer) Nicolas Rathe and ex-mercenary turned guardsman Philip Eslingen. Each novel is a stand-alone mystery, but the development of the relationship is a major part of the ongoing story. The Mathey and Lynes novels are set in an Edwardian London in which metaphysics — magic — is a respectable profession akin to law or medicine. Metaphysician Edward Mathey has just purchased his first practice and rekindled his connection with a former schoolmate, Julian Lynes, a would-be consulting detective, when they are thrust into dealing with a series of mysterious deaths that risk outing their forbidden relationship. My most recent novel, Finders, is far-future space opera about a trio of salvage operators who stumble into a discovery that may destroy their civilization. Beyond those, I've written more than 30 science fiction and fantasy novels, most of them featuring queer themes and characters. I've won the Lambda Literary Award in SF/F four times (and been nominated four more times), and have won the Spectrum Award three times. I've written everything from near-future cyberpunk to far-future adventure to space opera in which the "science" is based on neo-Platonic magic, and the starships harness the music of the spheres to travel between solar systems. I've also written tie-in materials for Star Trek: Deep Space 9, Star Trek: Voyager, Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, Star Wars Rebels - and one more that I'm not allowed to talk about yet! What did you find most challenging about the process? Writing a branching narrative, editing it, or handling the code? Technically? Handling the code, hands down.  That's not something I'd ever done before, and, while mercifully ChoiceScript is more language-like than mathematical, I still feel as though I'm "speaking" it at a kindergarten level. On a conceptual level, though, the most difficult — and most rewarding —part of the process was learning to leave enough space at the center of the story for players to create their own character and experiences. The whole point of novel-length fiction is to put readers into characters' heads, to show the world through that characters' experiences, but that's the exact opposite of what interactive fiction does. The writer doesn't dictate the interpretation; you can only suggest and steer, and let the players make their own story happen. It was a hard leap to make at first, but once I'd gotten there, it was really fun to tell a story that way. In some ways, it suits my natural style — I prefer to create character indirectly, and allow readers to draw their own inferences — but it's conceptually a very different kind of story-telling. This is the first lesbian romance we're releasing for Heart's Choice and we would have loved to have it ready for the initial launch, because having a romance game for everyone is really the whole idea. Are you primarily writing for a lesbian audience in your other work? I was sorry it wasn't ready for the initial launch, too. I wouldn't say that my work is written for a lesbian audience—I want as wide an audience as I can get—but it is all definitely written from a lesbian perspective. I mean, it really can't not be! It's a huge part of who I am. But I've been an out lesbian writer since the 1980s, and that perspective has meant different things and received very different reactions over those decades. It's a lot less fraught than it was when I started, that's for sure! And of course some of my stories are addressing issues that are most directly relevant to and subject to debate by a queer audience—the Mathey and Lynes novels, for example, are partly about creating and maintaining queer community—but I also hope they'll be accessible to a non-queer audience as well.  Tell me a little about the fictional world of A Player's Heart. A Player's Heart takes place in Tristendesande, the rich, sophisticated mercantile city at the mouth of the great river that runs the length of the country. Everyone and everything of importance eventually comes downriver to Tristendesande, or so its inhabitants will tell you; they have nothing but disdain for the people of the rival industrial city of Castago, at the river's headwaters. But Castago's power is in the ascendant, and Tristendesande is ruled by a foreign-born regent in the name of her toddler son. Even if its power is waning, however, Tristendesande is a beautiful city — imagine fin-de-siecle Paris or Vienna, carved stone facades and gilding and gaslight. It's a center of the arts, and at the center of that artistic world are the Theater, where all the roles are played by men, and the Opera, where all the roles are played by women. Devas play female roles, dragons play male roles, and the artifices are responsible for special effects, costumes, and all the other technical pieces. The Opera's shows are generally bright and frothy, full of song and dance and sparklingly witty dialogue, but often there's serious point hidden among the frolics. Of course there are also cabarets and other venues, led by the upstart Electricity Theater, where — scandalously! — men and women perform together, on the same stage and in the same skits.  Did you have a character you most enjoyed writing and spending time with? I think the most fun was creating four love interests. They're very different women — the best friend, the sparkling rival, the powerful society hostess, the scandalous lead of the rival Electricity Theater — and there had to be good reasons for someone to fall in love with each of them. However, it did create a certain amount of mental whiplash. Just when I'd gotten really comfortable with one of them, and knew exactly why she was wonderful, I'd have to switch to one of the others — and convince myself the she was the perfect lover! The other "character" that I loved was the Opera itself. I really enjoyed creating that social world. from the semi-retired Elders who manage the company and decide on the performances to the students who take walk-ons as they work toward joining the Opera proper.

What are you working on now? I can't yet talk about the project that's currently eating my life (I hope to be able to say more by the end of the month), but beyond that I've just completed a fantasy novel, Water Horse, about the queer king of a beleaguered kingdom fighting to twist free of the prophecies that threaten his people. Next up is Fallen, a sequel to Finders, about a weaver of webs for forbidden AI who has to chose between saving her lovers or seeing her people fall into the Long Dark.

[peterchildofiris]

Biography

Name: Peter Pettigrew

Birthday: February 24th, 1994

Gender/Pronouns: Nonbinary. More specifically, agender. Peter uses a mix of he/him and they/them pronouns.

Sexuality: Bisexual.

Occupation: Cleaner. Were the magical community of Britain not at war, he might have set his sights a little higher (emphasis on the might). If Peter had a penny for all the times he’d told someone his profession then heard the words “but you’re not a squib”, he wouldn’t have to beg so many free pints off Sirius. There’s something about the word that deters people--perhaps because it’s easier and faster for those with magic to clean than it is for muggles. Doesn’t mean the job is easy. The messes are proportionately more complicated, in Peter’s experience. Owning house elves just isn’t as popular as it used to be, and many wix aren’t accustomed to cleaning up their own messes. Only ignorant people believe cleaning is a form of unskilled work. Take it from Peter, no one wants to sit on a toilet after a botched cleaning charm. Does he like his work? No, but if he clocks enough hours it pays the rent, and it leaves him enough time to make himself useful to both warring parties. He cleans at a variety of locations, including a weekend shift at an art college in central London, which Peter never misses, using the opportunity to fill his pockets with supplies. With a flakey goddess for a mother and a dad devoted to his work, now remarried with two young step-daughters, Peter never asks for help. If he needs something--if he stumbles upon a rare shade of paint and believes it will improve his life--he takes it. He has bigger mistakes to feel guilty about.

Powers: Peter possesses the power of photokinesis, meaning he can manipulate light to his will. He doesn’t rely on James and his cloak for invisibility; by bending light away from himself, he becomes invisible to the naked eye. He is also able to create illusions, making things appear where they are not. He doesn’t advertise his abilities--not like Sirius. He’s less occupied with helping others than helping himself, meaning the less people who know his true power, the better. There are advantages to being underestimated, and standing beside the likes of James Potter and Sirius Black, almost everyone estimates Peter.  

Past:

Peter had a gift and it was not to be stifled. He was the child of Iris, goddess of the rainbow, after all. Lesser men would be put off by such an association to femininity but not Peter’s father. Peter’s talents were nurtured, his fondness for art enthusiastically supported. Memories with his father are often set against the background of the V&A, the Saatchi Gallery, the Scottish National Gallery, and Royal Botanic Gardens. It was an interest they shared, his father being an architect. The homes he designed were modern, with suggestions of grandeur--nothing garish, nothing cheap--but most of all comfortable. Ironic, considering how little time the man spent in his own home compared to the office.

Growing up, while his father was at work, Peter spent his days playing assistant to his grandmother, whom he addressed using the Korean halmoni. Cooking was always Peter’s favourite, learning fruits and vegetables by their colours, how the pigment bled once the flesh was cut, and how the different colours swirled together on the chopping board, logging this information in his head for future illusions. As the child of Iris, it was thought unwise for Peter to attend a public school, thus he was homeschooled by a private tutor. His grandmother tried to teach Peter Korean, but he didn’t like how the language set him apart from the people around him, the sneers of “speak english”. He resisted her lessons. Then, shortly after his ninth birthday, she died.

Home became an empty apartment, the steady whir and ping of the microwave, and an extensive library of DVDs. This was before Netflix, before Peter discovered piracy. He devoured anything science fiction, favouring fantasy over realism. The further the narrative from his own experiences, the better. When the world felt small, he lost himself in infinite space through films such as Star Wars, Thor, Prometheus, and 2001: A Space Odyssey. If Peter is a filmophile, it’s only because circumstances required it. With his father working constantly, his mother on the other side of a rainbow, free-spirited and free from the burden of parenting, Peter was alone and bored.

At eleven, Peter was contemplating attending public school for the first time. Now that he was older, he could control his powers well enough to attend lessons with ordinary preteens. But he was afraid. And contemptuous. He wanted to be with people of his kind. What were the odds he’d find any children of gods at some piss-poor high school in the outskirts of London? Then a letter arrived inviting him to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Peter’s powers had masked his other magical abilities. It took Professor McGonagall a total of four attempts to explain to Peter that it wasn’t his mother that had given him this magic; that sometimes it passed to children of muggles for no reason at all. It was a mediocre answer to a question he would be ducking and diving for years to follow: why do you have magic?

Peter already had one foot out the door by the time September 1st drew near. There was nothing he wanted more than to leave home and start something new, embarking into the great unknown. He was sorted into Ravenclaw, and no one was more surprised than Peter when he learned the house was typically known for the intelligence and wisdom of its members. But the hat had recognised Peter’s creativity, and his individuality, having experienced a solitary childhood (though this was a quality Peter would later shed.) Lessons began, and Peter began to fear he’d be friendless for all seven years at the school. Then he fell into a trio of Gryffindors, Sirius Black, James Potter, and Remus Lupin.

Their friendship was instant for Peter, though calling people your friends and actually being friends are two different things, and the latter took somewhat longer. Peter came to see himself as the rock of the group, a role many credited to James. The thing about rocks is no one really pays attention to them or realises they’re there. They’re part of the scenery, and in their friendship group, so was Peter. For all his illusions, the colours and light he could conjure up, Peter was overlooked. Was it racism? If he was in the muggle world, he’d say probably, but racism worked differently in the world of magic. His blood then. Being muggleborn, his ignorance about the wizarding world made him look like a fool time and time again. Or maybe there was something about Peter himself, his personality--always saying the wrong things, not being athletic or clever or funny enough--that repelled people’s attention.

It shouldn’t have bothered Peter--and it didn’t, not until the Marauders left Hogwarts and people stopped treating him like one of the group, as if they expected him to drop off and slip away, out of their orbit. No one outside the Marauders asked what Peter planned to do after Hogwarts--it could hardly be as spectacular as James or Sirius’ plans, after all. When he joined the Order, people didn’t remark on his courage or self-sacrifice as they did with the others. In their eyes, Peter wasn’t being brave; he was just following along like he always did.

Peter wasn’t the wix he wanted to be, and he didn’t know how to be that person. It’s easier to change your friends than to change yourself. There’s no hiding from old friends. They know too much about who you used to be. Peter has found this to be useful, blinding the Marauders to who he has become. One death eater at a time, Peter has worked to redefine himself. No longer a cowering little thing always trailing after James, Sirius, and Remus, not that that was ever true; it isn’t following if the friendship is mutual. Perhaps it makes him a coward, concealing his betrayal with a false smile, lies, and illusions. Better a coward than dead--that’s the only smart choice. What use are you to anyone if you’re nothing but a rotting corpse?

His motives? Curiosity. Boredom. To prove that he could. To prove he could be clever too, infiltrate the Death Eaters and be their undoing. He tells himself it was all for a good cause. He had an in; he would use it, then betray the Death Eaters to his real friends in the Order. Only now he’s gone too far. He never wants James, Sirius and Remus to know what he’s done. They’d never want anything to do with him ever again. Strategy was never his strength. Illusions, deception: those were his strengths. But it was a mistake thinking he could ever outsmart the Death Eaters. The person he deceived most of all was himself. Now he’s in too deep. There are people he cares about on both sides. Peter is split in two, fractured. He is the wix who plays with light, but he can hardly see it for all the darkness in his life.

Present: 

If it wasn’t for his mother, Iris, Peter never would have stepped one foot into Death Eater meetings, unless it was for his public humiliation followed by a swift execution. There’s still time for that, of course, but so far having a godly parent has spared him, opening doors to the darker side of magical Britain. Peter’s mother might be a lesser goddess, but she’s a goddess all the same. Not human, but more, better, and by extension, so is Peter. Not everyone agrees, meaning Peter must watch his tongue should he desire to keep it, but for the most part being a child of a god makes up for the fact he hasn’t a single wix in his family line.

But Iris has appeared in Peter’s life even less than his father. It feels odd putting so much emphasis on his relation to a woman he barely knows, and it leaves a bitter taste in his mouth. Another person who doesn’t see him. The years have made Peter a follower, but can anyone blame him? His own mother doesn’t want to spend time with him. Such an injury leaves its mark on a person. Peter gravitates toward people, the good and the deplorable, among them and yet always apart. He knows what it’s like to walk alone. He’s done it before. Left in silence, it’s hard to keep stuff out, all his fears and anxieties and regrets. So he seeks noise, anything to drown out the silence and give Peter a break from himself. But if Peter is a sheep, he’s a sheep with teeth. A follower that marches to the beat of his own quiet drum.

Parentage aside, Peter is useful. Disarm him of his wand and he can still hurt you, conjuring an illusion of the face of a lost loved one, or forcing his victims to watch as their limbs appear to be ripped from their bodies. It’s far tidier than actually doing the deed, and since the pain isn’t physical, it keeps their victims alert, shaken just the right amount that they talk. Peter doesn’t play the role of torturer often, only when other Death Eaters wish to test him. And when it’s done, it’s difficult for Peter to return to the life he shares with the Marauders and the Order. They all talk about courage and morals as if death could somehow be made meaningful if they hurl themselves at it with their cause in their hearts. But only alive can you change the world. There’s no action in death. It takes you out of the equation, no longer a player in the games of life and war. It’s what Peter fears most--not belonging, and not being included; having no impact on the world or his friends whatsoever--and he’ll do anything to avoid it coming to pass.

[josephmyplace]

wider world research

an analysis of science fiction in the wider world:

Science fiction fundamentally exists as a way to express how the creator views the future, measuring the popularity of a given work allows us to gauge how how the public perceives that rendition of the future. 

Creative industries have always used sci-fi, its presence can be felt in books, board games, video games, movies and TV-series. 

My own project work lacks any real presence of science fiction, this is partially because i have yet to be assigned a project that i feel it would be appropriate for, and also because i have difficulty of thinking how to put it into my projects, though i have made some attempts at doing so.

In this image I drew an eye with mechanical detailing as part of our last project, though I still dislike it as my projects book took place in roughly the 1900′s and sci-fi esque details clashed with that context. as for my previous project ‘my place’ I felt was a missed opportunity early on,  my uncertainty over what i could do largely made me uncertain about expressing my interest in the subject, though i did make several artworks related to the subject.

overall id say that there is a large impact that science fiction has had on me, its just that i need to express my interest in the subject more in college work.

examination of science fiction:

one of the best qualities of scifi is the huge degree of creative expression it lends to the artist, the artist can then create any vision of the future they want to express, and because of this i find it to be an extremely interesting form of expression within media.

STAR TREK

Star Trek���s original series was notable for its highly political take on the future, the idea of multiple species working together for a greater goal, (an analogy for different cultures and races) unified under a federation that had no money; material goods were free, (a strong disavowment of capitalism), additionally of particular note here is the diverse racial cast depicted in the series, nichelle nichols as Nyota Uhura and  George Takei as Hikaru Sulu, additionally it gave female characters powerful roles as captains and commanders, and acknowledged inequalities and societal maltreatment of women. Star trek’s success was likely due to a political shift at the 60′s where civil rights were being passed into law and a general increase in leftist ideology across the USA, however its clear that its reach extends far beyond that, with its optimistic view of the future continuing to draw in viewers

WARHAMMER 40K 

the polar opposite of star trek, warhammer 40k depicts an awful future plagued by religious zealotry, fascism, prejudice, inept leaders, and an emperor that is nothing more than a corpse on a golden throne, such a terrible future was made as a direct (and perhaps satirical) critique  of the conservative party, and of religious influence in politics,  particularly of note is that Margret thatcher was in power at the time warhammer was launched, no doubt benefiting the game, however owing to the overbearingly dark tone it has remained relatively niche.

EXPANSE 

Taking a more realistic approach, the expanse aims for a future that is more morally grey, where modern day problems still persist, only in a different setting with the ‘belters’ engaging in terrorist acts for their independence, corporate corruption, tensions between nations, espionage and famine. even the climate disaster is till present on earth; referencing on going events, and goes onto mention the mass deaths and famines that occurred and are still happening to this day, this direct, realistic acknowledgement of modern day issues is one of the reasons why i suspect its as popular as it is, and i personally suspect an increase of these types of narratives will develop.

VIRTUAL TOUR

British museum (England, London): The British museum is dedicated to the preservation of historical artifacts taken from around the world, and because of that i thought it’d be interesting to view artistically. Ancient Egyptian artifacts are curious, because they seem to depict everyday life, it shows they they seemed to revere the everyday as much as their gods and kings, tomb relief carvings even depict workers going about their lives, i find this interesting as art rarely seems to focus on these moments of mundanity, today the idea of painting huge walls or tablets with just everyday life would be seen as strange and perhaps boring. 

Additionally the ancient Egyptian language is curious for its use of a pictograph language where images are words,and interestingly again we see the incorporation of everyday items into this language with rope, bolts, baskets and stool. 

National museum of modern and contemporary art Korea (South Korea, Seoul):

large empty rooms, long corridors covered in strange imagery, harsh fluorescent lights, the museum felt even more bizarre than it usually would be, when crowded with people there would be some semblance of normality, even among  the abstraction there is something recognizable, but it feels so much more alien to just be surrounded by strange shapes, bizarre caricatures of the human form and sculptures huddled together. while I’m aware this isn't the art itself per se the fact that i only feel this here is because of the art in this space, the art augments the absence into loneliness.

Uffuzi gallery (Italy, Florence) :

the first thing that struck me about the Uffuzi gallery was how the entire gallery’s ceiling was art, it’s coated in meticulously detailed paintings, which seemingly had no real reason for being, i felt like that was such an odd detail, having such a beautiful display put somewhere just out of view, It is that commitment to detail that i think i find interesting, the idea of putting so much effort into things that may never be taken notice of or fully appreciated, something that can be found in art generally, very few will ever take the time to appreciate every detail of any given work of art.

[lazyhomeread]

The Lucky Strike

“He was on the flight, no way out. Now he realized how easy it would have been to get out of it. He could have just said he didn’t want to. The simplicity of it appalled him.”

The Lucky Strike, Kim Stanley Robinson

↑ Sigh...... That hit me, but I’ll probably continue to say “yes” to everything and regret all of my life choices as, time and time again, I wait for the awful fulfillment of my agreement.

Anyhow, a little after this quote, in the same paragraph, is something less relatable but more crucial to the main idea of the story:

“Now there was no way out. It was a comfort, in a way. Now he could stop worrying, stop thinking he had any choice.”

The Lucky Strike, Kim Stanley Robinson

I found The Lucky Strike in Terry Carr’s Best Science Fiction of the Year (1985). A short story surrounding the bombing of Hiroshima, published about four decades after the historical event and the publication of John Hersey’s book. I was a little confused as to how it’s considered as science fiction, since the story takes place in the past and no time travel or alien gimmick is involved. The setting and the characters are all realistic and in that respect I thought the story should be categorized as historical fiction.

Robinson crafted the narrative around the character of Captain Frank January, a bomber tasked with the deployment of the atomic bomb. The larger half of the story is spent on build-up. January gets ever more sickened at the thought of killing hundreds of thousands with a flick of a switch in his hand, and entertains the idea of disobeying orders or sabotaging the strike. The pressure from his fellow men on the strike team (some who are more than happy to be on this particular mission), and the infeasibility of the solutions he came up with, deter him from backing out. And like the real bombers of WWII, he attempts the reasoning that it was Japan that started the war, that this strike would prevent the death of even more people, though that does little to resolve his conflict.

At this point the story seems to be a finely imagined character study that alludes to the deeper exploration of morality and consequence, a magnifying glass held to a small but important speck in history. However (SPOILER), just as you think history is about to take its course and the rest of the story would be spent on more inner monologues, Frank January deliberately misses the city, and the atomic bomb was never dropped on Hiroshima.

The twist made the story great, and although I’m still inclined to think it’s historical fiction, I guess the alternate history was what made it science fiction. While most alternate history stories focus on the grand picture of the new future, The Lucky Strike continues to follow January, a man now resolute, albeit miserable. Disgraced and condemned, he stays firm in his belief that he did the right thing, that bombing an entire city is unnecessary. And in this world, his decision made an impact. In his time, he is not hailed as a hero and meets his end facing a firing squad, but the melancholy ending shows a glimpse of the future, where January’s legacy is praised and his name becomes the front of an effort aiming towards denuclearization and peace. I’m glad Robinson didn’t give January a happy end — the conclusion has the right amount of real-world dismalness that gives tangibility to the belief the story imparts.

The Lucky Strike ultimately conveys the idea that each individual’s actions can make an impact, and the idea that while we like to distance ourselves from the bad decisions and actions — the general shakes off his guilt by not having his hand on the trigger, and the soldier dismisses his responsibility by relinquishing himself to orders — there is always a choice, a choice to do the right thing. While I generally dislike literary analysis and, as you can probably see from the previous sentences, am in no way good at it, I think every part of this story is worth looking into. The details made the story work. The pieces from January’s childhood further humanize the character and at the same time relate to the big story and theme at hand. There is not a sentence that is redundant. Foils to January, such as the strike team, the scientist, and the firing squad, add more depth to the world, create conflicts that make the narrative compelling, and present the other side of the argument. While a lot of time is spent inside January’s mind, you can still feel the world moving about him in its own way, obliviously pressuring in on him.

I didn’t start this out as a review, and it would be a mistake to take this as a review. I really liked the story and wanted to write about it, talk about the memorable parts, preserve the feelings that came from finishing the last paragraph — sadness but also an elevated sense of hope. Moreover, the writing is fantastic, and I wanted to copy down some of my favorite parts.

“They were having a good time, an adventure. That was January’s dominant impression of his companions in the 509th......His mind spun forward and he saw what these young men would grow up to be like as clearly as if they stood before him in businessmen’s suits, prosperous and balding. They would be tough and capable and thoughtless, and as the years passed and the Great War receded in time they would look back on it with ever-increasing nostalgia, for they would be the survivors and not the dead. Every year of this war would feel like ten in their memories, so that the war would always remain the central experience of their lives — a time when history lay palpable in their hands, when each of their daily acts affected it, when moral issues were simple, and others told them what to do — so that as more years passed and the survivors aged......they would unconsciously push harder and harder to thrust the world into war again, thinking somewhere inside themselves that if they could only return to world war then they would magically be again as they were in the last one — young, and free, and happy. And by that time they would hold the positions of power, they would be capable of doing it.”

The Lucky Strike, Kim Stanley Robinson

I always thought “Men who have seen battle are often among those who hold life most dear.” January is probably a man like that, but his companions are not part of the “often”. Reading the paragraph I also thought of All Quiet on the Western Front, but the young men in that story thought they wanted to fight and die in glory, only to see in the trenches that the reality of war is far from what they have imagined, and that they had never known what they wanted in the first place. Writing from the 1980’s, I wonder if Robinson was referring to any persons at the time — men who were in WWII in their twenties and went into politics or rose in the military in their sixties, mongering war and saying, “When I was your age......” But I think that as the living memories of the the great wars pass away and people forget the horror, the new generation of leaders may be more inclined to start war unaware of what they’re getting into. The old people that support wars nowadays seem to mainly come from a position of nationalism and prejudice.

Anyhow, let’s end with something more......inspiring.

“And he told him about the game he had played in which every action he took tipped the balance of world affairs. ‘When I remembered that game I thought it was dumb. Step on a sidewalk crack and cause an earthquake — you know, it’s stupid. Kids are like that...... But now I’ve been thinking that if everyone were to live their whole lives like that, thinking that every move they made really was important, then......it might make a difference.’”

The Lucky Strike, Kim Stanley Robinson

[theradioghost]

Audio Drama Podcast Recs

EDIT: well jesus this thing is getting old! If you’re looking for podcast recommendations I would recommend checking some of the newer posts I’ve made. I’ve expanded my subscription list from about 30 to over 150 in the years since I posted this, & at at this point it’s a pretty inadequate rec list.

Because I’ve gotten a few questions over time about podcast recs, both from people who are curious about audio drama, and fellow denizens of Podcast Hell™ who need something new, I wanted to put together this list so I could go a bit more into detail about why I love and recommend each of these amazing audio dramas.

Rather than trying to rank them, I tried to organize this list roughly based on popularity, at least based on my dash! More well-known shows are listed first, and then my faves that I don’t see getting nearly the love that they deserve. Especially with the volume of new innovative audio drama being created, there’s some really good stuff out there not getting nearly enough attention. Which is not to say that, if you’re a new podcast fan, you have to start with the most popular – but those shows are more likely to have an active fandom. (Of course, there are a ton of great podcasts out there, and plenty (both popular and obscure) that I don’t listen to yet.)

I also have a podcast rec tag and a very long list of audio dramas, if you want to go hunting for something beyond these recommendations here. Additionally, if you want more details or content warnings about any of these shows, feel free to message me on or off anon and I’ll do my best to answer! This post really focuses on the positives of each show and who I think might enjoy them.

WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE – Community radio from a friendly desert community where the sun is hot, the moon is beautiful, the dog park is forbidden, the mayoral candidates aren’t human, the weather is a mystery, and mysterious lights pass overhead while we all pretend to sleep.

If you know anything about audio drama podcasts, there’s like a 99.99% chance you know about Night Vale already. If not, just go listen. It’s weird and amazing and beautiful and helped to make a lot of this possible. Or if 100+ episodes plus live shows is overwhelming, don’t (but come back to it someday. It is magical).

For people who like: surrealism, humor, ‘radio show’ format, somewhat less emphasis on plot, diversity, indie music, experimental storytelling, a large back catalog of episodes, a fandom considered large by regular standards and not just podcast standards.

ALICE ISN’T DEAD – As she travels across America, a trucker tells the story of her search for the missing wife she had presumed dead, of the mysterious danger stalking her down freeways and backroads, and of the much bigger – and more terrifying – mystery she is uncovering.

The first and most popular of Night Vale Presents’ other podcasts. Gothic Americana soft horror lesbians! The writing, atmosphere, and orchestration are all superb, as is Jasika Nicole’s monologue performance. I personally recommend car/transit listening. (Also, you can get the whole soundtrack for free, and you should definitely do that.)

For people who like: surrealism, horror, Americana, female leads, lesbians, atmosphere, introspection, mystery, great music, something to drive to.

WOLF 359 – Doug Eiffel doesn’t want to do his job, Hera is a friendly but faulty AI, Dr. Hilbert is probably a mad scientist, Commander Minkowski wishes she wasn’t in charge of these idiots, and together, the four of them make up the entire crew of the USS Hephaestus space station. It’s not a picnic at the best of times: they’re isolated in a constantly malfunctioning tin can, orbiting a red dwarf star eight light years from Earth, and working for a shady corporation with coworkers they can’t stand. Then Eiffel starts to receive inexplicable transmissions from deep space – and everything gets so, so much worse.

It’s a hilarious office sitcom! It’s a character-driven deep-space sci-fi thriller! It’s a tragic, thematically powerful story about personhood, communication, and isolation! It’s all of those things, often within three lines of one another and frequently all at once! Wolf 359 is probably a masterpiece and now, heading into its fourth and final season, it continues to surprise and impress me every single time. Alan Rodi’s music is evocative and superb and the cast and writing are top-notch. One of the best. Listen to it.

For people who like: excellent character-driven writing, great music, well-written women, a gender-balanced ensemble cast, intimate sci-fi, hilarious and often referential humor, scary corporate overlords, cerebus syndrome.

THE PENUMBRA PODCAST – In Hyperion City, metropolis of a far-future Mars, a private eye named Juno Steel is pulled into life-threatening criminal conspiracies, and tangles with an even more dangerous, nameless thief – who could be his worst enemy or the love of his life. Within the Second Citadel, human civilization is protected by knights who venture out into the jungles to fight the monsters that threaten them – but some knights are discovering monsters who seem just a bit different. On the Painted Plains, a train-robbing bandit steals away a schoolteacher – and her heart. All of these and more are stories waiting to be heard behind the doors of the Penumbra, the grandest hotel this side of Nowhere. And absolutely none of them are straight.

Fabulously written genre-bending “queer AF” anthology show. The best is the Juno Steel series, about a bisexual, nonbinary sci-fi PI, which remains eminently and hilariously quotable even as it wrenches your heart out with genre-deconstructive depictions of mental illness and one of the most believable and emotional romances I’ve seen in ages . The Second Citadel fantasy series is also starting to come into its own in the second season and the standalone stories from the first season are a pretty damn good listen (LISTEN TO THE GAY WESTERN. DO IT.) I love this show, I love everyone from this show, I love everyone associated with this show, and I love Mick Mercury.

For people who like: playing with genre tropes, OTR, noir fiction, diversity, romantic chemistry, a variety of stories, suspense, heartache.

THE BRIGHT SESSIONS – Dr. Joan Bright isn’t an ordinary therapist, but her patients aren’t ordinary patients. Sam’s panic attacks bring on bouts of involuntary time travel; Caleb has it hard enough negotiating teenage emotions without also experiencing the feelings of everyone around him; Chloe can’t escape hearing other people’s thoughts; and the less said about Damien, the better. But Dr. Bright, too, is more than she first appears.

It’s a hard-hitting and poignant show about mental illness and people recovering from deep traumas, and also it is about superpowers. As the concept implies, the show is highly character-driven, and it develops an ensemble cast incredibly well. These guys are friends with the Wolf 359 crew and apparently have taken lessons from one another in how to ramp up a plot from “fun” to “oh god why,” but let’s be honest: that’s what we’re here for. Also, unjustifiably sweet gay teen romance, really cute friendships between ladies, at least one cat.

For people who like: highly character-focused narrative, superpowers, moral questions, ensemble casts, cool female leads, shady government activities, great acting.

ARS PARADOXICA – One minute, Dr. Sally Grissom is conducting cutting-edge physics research in her lab in early-21st-century Texas. A single mistake later, she’s on the deck of the U.S.S. Eldridge, in Philadelphia, 1943, smack dab in the middle of a classified WWII weapons experiment. She’s accidentally put time travel into the hands of the US government just as the nuclear era kicks off. And she can’t ever go back.

I assume everyone has heard of ars P because I assume that everyone knows Mischa Stanton. (They work on what must be like 50% of all podcasts that exist at this point, including The Bright Sessions.) Everything they do is pretty much a must-listen, but especially ars p, the “sad time show” to Wolf 359’s “sad space show.” The writing sticks out to me for its sense of consequence; it’s a major theme of the show that everything that happens will have serious and cumulative effects. Deservedly award-winning sound design. As a bonus, it crossed over with The Bright Sessions; if you like one, you might like the other.

For people who like: sci-fi, period settings, cold war thrillers, cool female leads, time travel with rules, complex and grey moralities, science lesbians, diverse ensemble casts.

EOS 10 – Dr. Ryan Dalias has enough to deal with just as the new head surgeon on a massive space station (alien aphrodisiacs, space anti-vaxxers, mind-controlling plants…) But as if that weren’t enough, his boss is an alcoholic misanthrope who has received an unwelcome ultimatum about his drinking; the nurse may or may not be inclined to bite people; there’s a deposed alien prince in the examination room who won’t put his pants back on; and an intergalactic terrorist who wants his name cleared is hiding in the cargo bay. And those are the people on his side.

I have my issues with EOS 10, not least of which is that it is still mired in a two-year hiatus (though Season Three is finally going into production soon? FINGERS CROSSED). I usually forget those issues when I listen because it’s still a frankly hilarious space comedy and the entire main plot is kicked off because of a potentially deadly boner. Think of it as the strange offspring of DS9 and Scrubs. Come for wild space shenanigans, stay for surprisingly heartfelt storylines about addiction (and even wilder space shenanigans). If W359 sounds cool but maybe a little heavy for you (or if the first season was your favorite), EOS 10 might be more up your alley.

For people who like: Star Trek, comedy, space scifi adventures, alien characters, gay space pirate cowboys, waiting.

THE THRILLING ADVENTURE HOUR – “America’s favorite new time podcast in the style of old time radio.”

An anthology show like The Penumbra which takes a comedic approach to its old time radio inspiration instead (and it is very OTR inspired – not just playing with the same genres). Has a lot of segments, not all of which are created equal; two are standouts. Sparks Nevada: Marshall on Mars (which has a continuous plot) follows a deadpan robot-fighting lawman, the Martian tracker who provides him with somewhat vitriolic companionship, and their various allies across the sci-fi-comedy-western landscape of Space Future Mars. Beyond Belief (which is episodic) stars alcoholic socialites Frank and Sadie Doyle, who may be world-renowned paranormal experts, but who mostly just combat supernatural evils so they can get back to their two greatest loves: booze and one another. It was recorded live, often featuring celebrity guest stars (most notably and frequently Nathan Fillion), and recently ended its many-year run.

For people who like: OTR, forties/fifties culture, really REALLY cute couple chemistry (Beyond Belief), humor, much more lighthearted content, a large back catalog, great music, corpsing.

GREATER BOSTON – Leon Stamatis’s perfectly organized life abruptly ends one day at the top of the first hill of a roller coaster – and that’s where the real story begins. His death will start a domino effect of change rippling through a Boston where activists agitate for subway lines to form their own city, shadowy executives watch over offices where magazine editors predict the future, and Google Calendars are updated from beyond the grave.

Guys, I am never gonna shut up about this show. At this point it’s probably my favorite podcast. Experimental fiction, a sort of regional-gothic-slice-of-life, with a plot that builds into the story of an interconnecting community of people, all of them growing and learning and changing and interacting, even the dead ones. And it plays more brilliantly and hilariously and beautifully and poignantly with format and writing and character than you’d think possible. I sometimes see it compared to WTNV (the “weird town” angle), but I think it’s likely to appeal to fans of The Bright Sessions: its characters may be dealing with incredibly strange situations, but the focus (and the appeal) is the development of those characters and their relationships with one another. Alternately, just literally everyone should listen. It’s that good.

For people who like: ensemble casts, experimental fiction, awesome women, strong character development, lesbians, playing with format, characters named Extinction Event, political intrigue, great music, Boston.

WOODEN OVERCOATS – Siblings Rudyard and Antigone Funn, along with their assistant Georgie, run a funeral home on the tiny Channel island of Piffling. It’s the only one, which is how they remain in business even though Rudyard is a punctuality-obsessed misanthrope and Antigone hasn’t left the morgue in daylight for 17 years. Then the world’s most perfect man, Eric Chapman, opens another funeral parlor directly across the street.

A British sitcom about rival funeral directors in a small town, with all of the dry, witty black humor that implies. "British” does always feel like the best adjective to convey the distinct sense of humor here. Also, it has amazingly high production values. Like, it just sounds really, really good. Also, it’s narrated by a talking mouse. The third season was just announced, so now is a really great time to catch up.

For people who like: black comedy, British comedies, rivalries of both business and sibling kinds, mysterious backstories, just a whole lot of dead people jokes, a more episodic structure.

THE BRIDGE – Once, you could drive all the way across the Atlantic in luxury and style, using the Transcontinental Bridge. Now, the Bridge is virtually abandoned. The employees of its Watchtowers are the only people left to tell its stories: stories about ghosts, about curses and illusions, about vanished and abandoned people and places, about the monsters whose places these were before the Bridge, and the strange and dangerous people who came there to find them.

IMHO, possibly the highlight of the writng for The Bridge is that they can create atmosphere like nobody’s business, and the show has a gorgeous soundtrack to boot. The characters are charming, the plot is intriguing, and the world they are building is like absolutely nothing else. Like Archive 81 below, it might appeal to those who’d enjoy Lovecraft if he didn’t suck so much in every possible way, although it’s much softer on the scary factor.

For people who like: atmosphere, storytelling, great character dynamics, sea monsters, spookiness, really fun ladies, ghost stories, mysteries, the bottomless depths and siren’s call of the ocean.

THE STRANGE CASE OF STARSHIP IRIS and UNDER PRESSURE – Starship Iris is the story of Violet Liu, a biologist forced by circumstance to join up with a ragtag crew of spacefarers to determine whether the explosion which killed every other person onboard her spaceship was really an accident. Under Pressure presents the notes of Jamie McMillan-Barrie, a researcher whose literary background did not prepare her to negotiate the kind of office drama that takes place on a research station at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.

Both of these are part of Procyon Podcasting Network, which also has more upcoming shows which I am beyond thrilled about; both are also incredibly diverse, both in-universe and behind the scenes. Both are charming and very, very gay as well as racially diverse; I’m particularly fond of Starship Iris, but everything that comes out of Procyon is more than worth a listen. They’ve started pretty recently and have only a few episodes each.

For people who like: space scifi, found family tropes, workplace drama, human/genderless alien romance, space lesbians, diversity, cool female leads.

THE ORBITING HUMAN CIRCUS (OF THE AIR) – The dreamy, accident-prone janitor of the Eiffel Tower does his best to get himself a place in the fantastical, impossible radio variety show being broadcast from the tower every night. Will he ever be successful? Will the show survive his attempts? And just where do the mysterious and magical acts come from?

Considering it’s a Night Vale Presents podcast and stars an A-list of my favorite underappreciated creatives I was kind of shocked at how little discussion I see. OHC is so charming and dreamlike and heartwarming; it’s like recapturing the feeling of a particularly magical bedtime story. It features Mandy Patinkin singing Cheap Trick and you need that in your life. Also, it has a platypus in it.

For people who like: OTR, John Cameron Mitchell/The Music Tapes/Neutral Milk Hotel, a gentler weirdness than other NVP podcasts, Paris, charm, experimental storytelling.

WITHIN THE WIRES – You are a patient at the Institute. You have been instructed to listen to this series of relaxation tapes to aid in your treatment. You must trust my voice. You must trust only my voice.

NVP’s other highly underappreciated show. WTW manages to tell a narrative in a format (self-help relaxation tapes) I would have never thought possible, and though it’s difficult to say much about what makes it so good without spoiling the effect of that excellence, it’s a great choice if you’re weird-fiction-inclined. Like Alice Isn’t Dead, it also features lesbians. (It may not be good for anyone who has trouble with unreality, disturbing second-person commands, or depictions of institutionalization.)

For people who like: experimental storytelling, WLW love stories, surrealism, dystopic fiction, suspense.

INKWYRM – Mella Sonder was hired to work with a recalcitrant AI, not to be personal assistant to Annie Inkwyrm, head of outer space’s premiere fashion magazine – and the two of them will probably be fighting about that, along with all of the other disasters they get tangled up in, until the star they’re orbiting explodes. Or until they fall in love.

My money’s on the latter (fingers crossed please make it happen), but this show just finished a really fun first season and I absolutely cannot wait for more of it. I’m a sucker for dysfunctional coworker comedy, and an even bigger sucker for girls falling in love; this offers both and is excellent, and is just incredibly done for an amateur podcast. The peeps making it are inspiring and badass and really, really talented.

For people who like: The Devil Wears Prada, scifi, diversity, vitriolic romantic tension, cool female leads, alien characters, wlw romance, incompetently homicidal AIs.

THE BEEF AND DAIRY NETWORK – The number one podcast for those involved – or just interested! – in the production of beef animals and dairy herds.

Honestly almost impossible to describe. What really gets me is the hilarity of how it somehow perfectly imitates the public radio/industry podcast style, delivering you important updates from the world of cattle products, except not from a world anything like ours. Endless beefy fun times with the occasional sharp right turn into body horror and potent unreality played for comedy. This and Alice Isn’t Dead are my dad’s favorite podcasts, which probably says something about him.

For people who like: Wooden Overcoats (it’s by the same folks!), weirdness, humor, much less of a focus on narrative, ‘radio show’ format, satire, rich beef sausages.

ARCHIVE 81 – Dan Powell is missing. He was hired, so he thought, for a simple job cataloguing an archive of tapes for the New York state government: a series of interviews that a woman named Melody Pendras conducted with the tenants of an odd apartment building. Then the story on the tapes becomes impossibly strange and terrifying, and so does Dan’s life.

Another one where I’m not sure whether everyone knows about it and just isn’t talking, but they should be. It’s probably a sign of how fantastic A81 is that it’s one of my favorites even though I ordinarily can’t stand horror. This post really extolls its virtues in a better way than I can. This show has some of the most incredible sound design I’ve heard yet, so if visceral body horror conveyed solely through the audio medium isn’t for you, then neither is Archive 81. On the other hand, if you like extradimensional lesbian apotheosis and the nickname “Boombox Fuckboy,” listen to this. On top of that, the acting is superb. (The creators, Dead Signals, also did an apocalyptic scifi survival-horror miniseries thing called The Deep Vault, which is similarly beyond well-made.)

For people who like: horror, weirdness, found footage format, great music, absolutely stellar atmospheric and action sound design, excellent and realistic acting, The King in Yellow, a ‘Lovecraftian’ feel not based on hatred of anyone who isn’t straight/white.

JIM ROBBIE AND THE WANDERERS – Three trouble-seeking wandering musicians (one brash and upbeat, one an argumentative engineer, and one a grumpy robot brought to life from a radio and assorted cutlery) wander a post-apocalyptic America populated by strange towns and fantasy beings, some friendly, others dangerous.

This is another show that really charmed me right out of the box. Not to mention that it’s a take on “post-apocalyptic” that I’d never seen before – why have grim ruins or cannibalistic societies when you can have giant friendly genderless bees, an NYC inhabited by partying undead, towns full of squid-people, and desert-dwelling leprechauns? It’s much more of a fantasy take on the genre and the characters are incredibly sweet. I was also really impressed by the quality bump it’s undergone over its run so far.

For people who like: fantasy, more lighthearted narratives, fun and creative concepts, a villain called “The Fig-Wasp King,” great music, friendship, cool female leads, diversity.

THE HIDDEN ALMANAC – A thrice-weekly, four-minute show hosted by the plague doctor Reverend Mord, offering historical anecdotes from another world, the feast days of unlikely saints, and useful gardening advice. 

Tired of that one analogy from every news article of the 2013 Night Vale boom (“like Stephen King/H.P. Lovecraft wrote A Prairie Home Companion”), writer/artist Ursula Vernon decided to take a crack at recreating Garrison Keillor’s other show, The Writer’s Almanac, in a similar fashion. Compared to WTNV, it comes off as less ‘weird’ and more fantastical, and is on the light side continuity-wise, though both the historical events and the frame show have arcs. In the past couple of years there have been a lot more story arcs, many lasting months, and a lot more appearances from guest character Pastor Drom and other characters. I find it incredibly charming and relaxing.

For people who like: fantasy weirdness, the actual Writer’s Almanac, WTNV, gardening, vitriolic friendships, worldbuilding, short runtimes, less of a focus on plot, large back catalogs, worldbuilding, crows.

[robedisimo]

Blade Runner 2049 [SPOILER-FREE REVIEW]

[Disclaimer: this review is based on the Italian dub of the film. As such, all opinions on the quality of dialogues and acting are subjective and partial.]

I’ve seen things – not many, but a few – you people wouldn’t believe. One of them is an empty theatre at the premiere of a Blade Runner sequel. All things considered, it’s not hard to understand why audiences, all hope beaten out of them by fifteen years of prequels, sequels, remakes and reboots, would initially shy away from this obvious candidate for disaster.

Yet we few, we happy few, who dared to sit down in a darkened theatre hall with low expectations and a hole in our wallets came out three hours later with the most unexpected of feelings: that of just having seen one of the best films in 2017, and possibly in quite a longer while than that. Thirty-five years in the making and likely one of the most warily anticipated films in our collective lifespans, Blade Runner 2049 is a small modern miracle. The ways it could’ve gone wrong were almost innumerable – two of them, Harrison Ford and Jared Leto, are right there on the poster – but, somehow, it managed to push through it all.

There’s very little I can say about this film without spoiling its plot, so let me get a few technical evaluations out of the way before getting to the true meat of the matter. Blade Runner 2049 is, first and foremost, a gorgeous piece of cinema. Denis Villeneuve (Arrival) once again proves to be one of the most prominent rising stars in contemporary filmmaking, elevating this sequel – and the blockbuster genre as a whole – to pure cinematic art. It doesn’t hurt that Villeneuve is probably more in touch with the description of “arthouse director” than Ridley Scott was at the beginning of his career, either; still, the bulk of the praise must go to director of cinematography Roger Deakins, whose now-inevitable fourteenth Academy Award nomination could result in civil war if this film doesn’t get finally get him a damn Oscar.

There’s little point in my describing the film’s visual feel: you have to see it for yourself. I’ll just say that the use of light in its scenes is some of the most arrestingly beautiful I’ve ever had the pleasure to see in a movie, and that the number of shots worthy of being framed and put on exhibit far exceeds my ability to recall at the moment. This is a supremely good-looking film, expanding and building upon the original’s seminal aesthetic in ways that update the franchise for a 2010s audience while staying true to the first film’s retro, neo-noir vibe.

The world 2049 creates is a deeply immersive one, believable and tactile in its concreteness. Everything that made Blade Runner’s cyberpunk design memorable is remarkably echoed and scaled up, resulting in often monumental sets of majestic dystopian grace. A great deal of credit for that also goes to Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch’s score, booming and rumbling with ominous tones and never quite content to simply recycle Vangelis’s iconic original soundtrack. Add a few legimately good ideas about the (near and far) future of consumer technology, and this Blade Runner sequel comes out an extremely poignant example of sci-fi entertainment packaged within a rounded, cohesive audio-visual experience. If you were worried the earlier release date of Ghost in the Shell – itself a Blade Runner-inspired franchise – would end up stealing 2049′s stylistic thunder, you can rest easy: this is a whole other level of spectacle.

Narrative-wise, the film moves assuredly on the strength of a solid plot and compelling characters, supported by generally valid performances. Villeneuve and screenwriter Hampton Fancher allow the film a relaxed, contemplative pace – not dissimilarly from its predecessor – but, thanks to a suitably expanded runtime, can devote time enough both to the setting and its atmosphere and to character development. Ryan Gosling’s protagonist – an alternately steely and emotional character reminiscent of his visceral role in 2011′s Drive, aided by a fantastically compelling turn by co-star Ana de Amas – is one we get to know deeply and personally, unlike the original film’s Deckard. Ironically, it’s in 2049 itself that we finally start knowing Harrison Ford’s enigmatic eponymous character as a man, outside of his professional detective persona.

For his part, Ford does his job to satisfying results, topping both his return in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (by roughly a cinematic light year) and his more recent revival in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. There’s something about the fact that these legacy sequels seem to get proportionally better the less screentime Ford gets in them, but I get the feeling that’s something best left unsaid. Meanwhile, Jared Leto and Syliva Hoeks work okay as the film’s eerie antagonists, but their characters’ motivations are, in fairness, the least explored, leading to their coming off as slightly more cartoony and melodramatic than the rest of the cast.

As to complaints, my only gripe would be that 2049 feels a bit like one film and a half, and not just because of its runtime. Clocking in at over 160 minutes, there’s a feeling at some points in its third and final act that the Blade Runner sequel we sat down to watch ended at the two-hour mark, and that the film’s climax is in fact a heavily condensed version of what could’ve just as easily been a third chapter in the franchise. Still, the movie ramps up to a tense and – ultimately – meaningful finale, and most remarkably one that manages to tie into the original’s while resisting the temptation to ape its ever-quotable monologue.

All that should do it for a critique of the film’s substance, but it’s its role in modern cinema that still deserves a fair deal of discussion. To begin with, Blade Runner 2049 is already being talked about as one of the best sequels ever produced, although we probably shouldn’t fool ourselves into thinking Hollywood will now know how to get sequels right: 2049 is less a messiah ushering in a new era and more a happy exception to a well-established rule. On the contrary: its mind-bending importance isn’t aimed forwards – despite the fact that everyone attempting a sci-fi thriller from now on will have to hold it as an inescapable measuring stick – but rather backwards, rippling all the way back to the original.

When I first became interested in cinema, Blade Runner was already a piece of film history. After all, Ridley Scott definitely had a sizeable role in shaping the concept of contemporary blockbuster filmmaking between the inception of this very franchise and his debut with Alien a few years prior. 2049 can’t touch that status, no matter how hard it tries; instead, it subtly works to change what its forefather was about, and how the two instalments relate to each other. Amazingly, brazenly bold in their narrative scope, 2049′s plot developments are of such pivotal magnitude in its world’s history that the original Blade Runner’s story becomes positioned as set-up to what we didn’t know was coming.

In more than a way, 2049 eschews the performance anxiety so common among sequels by completely refusing to act as a narrative appendix to its predecessor, instead actively working to turn the first film into a prologue to this new chapter’s much bigger, much more momentous events. Even more than that, it could be argued that 2049 consumes its final act of defiance by treating Blade Runner as somewhat unnecessary viewing, though that’s entirely unintentional. Make no mistakes, this sequel treats its predecessor with nothing but the utmost reverence; it just happens to be assembled so competently that all you need to know about the first film’s role in the latter’s plot is conveyed, with grace and effectiveness, within the sequel itself, with very little need for the viewer to have actually seen the original.

Thus 2049 finds itself in an extremely eccentric position: that of being one of those few fabled sequels that manage to vastly improve upon the original – The Empire Strikes Back, The Godfather Part II, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes being the most readily available examples – but, unlike most direct follow-ups, being so remote from the first film in terms of chronological separation that its status as the superior product can’t be acknowledged without an impressive measure of awkwardness. Blade Runner is simply too iconic to be knocked off its pedestal, and yet 2049 is, plainly speaking, the better product... even if a lot of what’s so great about it owes a vast creative debt to the original’s groundbreaking nature. Like a snake eating its own tail, it’s very likely we’ll never hear the end of this debate in the coming decades of academic film critique.

In conclusion, Blade Runner 2049 is the closest thing to a masterpiece I’ve witnessed in quite a while. As science fiction, as a sequel, and as a film unto itself, it’s a prime example of something done very, very right. Could the minds behind it choose to tempt fate once more and dare to go for a threequel? Who can tell. As I type this, 2049 is headed for what could very well be a way more contained opening-weekend box office than projected, poetically joining its iconic parent film in the ranks of critically-acclaimed commercial failures. Perhaps, in modern Hollywood’s sea of cinematic replicants, the only thing viewers can no longer stomach is a film with a soul.

[Verdict: VERY POSITIVE]

[rpgsandbox]

                    Check out the free Quickstart PDF right now!

Venture Into The Expanse!

The Expanse Roleplaying Game brings James S.A. Corey’s award-winning series of science fiction novels to the tabletop. Using the Adventure Game Engine (AGE) rules found in Fantasy AGE, Blue Rose, and Modern AGE, The Expanse takes players to a far-future solar system where humanity is divided: Martians, Belters, and the people of old Earth struggle for political power and resources, but even older, alien, forces are stirring in the universe, and human history is about to take an unexpected new turn. The Expanse applies the fast-playing and action-based AGE rules to spaceships, solar colonies, and adventure and intrigue in the far-future, where the actions of the characters may change the course of history!

As long time fans know, The Expanse was a roleplaying game campaign long before it was a series of novels or a TV show. We are delighted to bring it full circle with this game! And here's the best thing about The Expanse RPG: we've been working on this for well over a year and rules are done! They've been through multiple iterations and playtesting, and we've worked closely with Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham (together, James S.A. Corey) throughout to ensure we are getting The Expanse right.

Want to check the game out RIGHT NOW? Download The Expanse RPG Quickstart today!This is a 40-page PDF that includes stripped down rules, pre-generated characters, and an adventure you can play right away. The download is free. We'll also have printed copies of The Expanse RPG Quickstart for sale at GenCon. Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham will also be there!

The Expanse RPG Features

The Expanse is based on the exciting new Modern AGE rules-set, and includes many of its features, such as customized character building using Backgrounds and Professions, Drives for character engagement, and an abstract resources system. It also makes use of the Modern AGE approach to action, exploration, and social encounters, complete with stunts and systems for all of them. To get a closer look at Modern AGE, you can download the Quickstart here.  

The following are some of the unique features of The Expanse in comparison to other AGE games:  

Fortune: Rather than Health, characters have a Fortune score that measures lucky near-misses, close scrapes, and trivial hits before the character takes serious harm. Fortune is also useful for modifying die rolls and offering players some narrative control but, watch out! Spend too much of it and your luck could run out when you get caught in a crossfire!

Conditions: In addition to a running Fortune total, characters use various conditions to measure things like injuries and fatigue as well as tactical challenges like hindered movement or sensory abilities.  

Interludes: The interludes in between encounters are given their own treatment, allowing players to make use of their “down-time” (including long hauls between destinations in the System) to recover, do maintenance, build their connections with others, or pursue their own projects.  

Spaceships: The Expanse RPG features a system to model and create spaceships and its own system for space combat, including the assault on Thoth Station as an example of the system in action!  

The Churn: The Expanse also offers something for the Game Master with the Churn: A ticking counter that measures the crew’s progress through a story and just when things are going to suddenly go sideways and become even more complicated!

Two Editions to Choose From!

We are offering the core rulebook of the Expanse RPG in two formats:

The Standard Edition is a 200+ page full color hardback as of the launch of the Kickstarter. With stretch goals we can make it even bigger and better! This is the version that will stay in print after the Kickstarter has been fulfilled.

The Special Edition is a deluxe version of The Expanse RPG. It features the same beautiful full color interior of the Standard Edition with a black leatherette hardcover and a ribbon bookmark. This version is a Kickstarter exclusive, so it will not be available after the close of this campaign. If we reach the right stretch goal, the Special Edition will also include a dust jacket featuring the game's gorgeous cover art.

The Expanse Game Master's Kit

This Kickstarter also includes The Expanse Game Master's Kit, which will ship alongside the book. It currently includes the following, but may expand with the unlocking of stretch goals:

A three-panel landscape format GM Screen with vital game system reference tables on one side and three panels of Expanse art on the player-facing side.  

A set of game reference cards, including an initiative tracker, stunt references, and action references useful for players at the table.

Design Team

We assembled a great team to design The Expanse Roleplaying Game. Steve Kenson is the lead designer. You may know Steve from our Blue Rose and Mutants & Masterminds RPGs, or from any of the dozens of RPG books he's worked on over the last two decades. He had the able assistance of Seth Johnson, Ian Lemke, Rich Lescouflair, Rob McCreary, Jason Mical, Neall-Ramon Price, Zack Walters, Nicole Winchester, and of course James S.A. Corey!

Kickstarter campaign ends: Thu, August 23 2018 2:00 AM BST

Website: Green Ronin Publishing

[lorraynedominicanrepublic-blog]

10 Dominican Fiction Books

In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez     

     It is November 25, 1960, and three beautiful sisters have been found near their wrecked Jeep at the bottom of a 150-foot cliff on the north coast of the Dominican Republic. The official state newspaper reports their deaths as accidental. It does not mention that a fourth sister lives. Nor does it explain that the sisters were among the leading opponents of Gen. Rafael Leonidas Trujillo’s dictatorship. It doesn’t have to. Everybody knows of Las Mariposas―“The Butterflies.” In this extraordinary novel, the voices of all four sisters―Minerva, Patria, María Teresa, and the survivor, Dedé―speak across the decades to tell their own stories, from hair ribbons and secret crushes to gunrunning and prison torture, and to describe the everyday horrors of life under Trujillo’s rule. Through the art and magic of Julia Alvarez’s imagination, the martyred Butterflies live again in this novel of courage and love, and the human cost of political oppression (Amazon)

Drown by Junot Diaz

     A coming-of-age story of unparalleled power, Drown introduced the world to Junot Díaz's exhilarating talents. It also introduced an unforgettable narrator— Yunior, the haunted, brilliant young man who tracks his family’s precarious journey from the barrios of Santo Domingo to the tenements of industrial New Jersey, and their epic passage from hope to loss to something like love. Here is the soulful, unsparing book that made Díaz a literary sensation.(Amazon)

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

     Oscar is a sweet but disastrously overweight ghetto nerd who—from the New Jersey home he shares with his old world mother and rebellious sister—dreams of becoming the Dominican J.R.R. Tolkien and, most of all, finding love. But Oscar may never get what he wants. Blame the fukú—a curse that has haunted Oscar’s family for generations, following them on their epic journey from Santo Domingo to the USA. Encapsulating Dominican-American history, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao opens our eyes to an astonishing vision of the contemporary American experience and explores the endless human capacity to persevere—and risk it all—in the name of love. (Amazon)

Let It Rain Coffee by Angie Cruz

         Angie Cruz has established herself as a dazzling new voice in Latin American fiction, her writing compared to Gabriel García Márquez's by The Boston Globe. Now, with humor, passion, and intensity, she reveals the proud members of the Colón family and the dreams, love, and heartbreak that bind them to their past and the future. Esperanza risked her life fleeing the Dominican Republic for the glittering dream she saw on television, but years later she is still stuck in a cramped tenement with her husband, Santo, and their two children, Bobby and Dallas. She works as a home aide and, at night, hides unopened bills from the credit card company where Santo won't find them when he returns from driving his livery cab. When Santo's mother dies and his father, Don Chan, comes to Nueva York to live out his twilight years with the Colóns, nothing will ever be the same. Don Chan remembers fighting together with Santo in the revolution against Trujillo's cruel regime, the promise of who his son might have been, had he not fallen under Esperanza's spell. Let It Rain Coffee is a sweeping novel about love, loss, family, and the elusive nature of memory and desire. (Amazon)

Soledad by Angie Cruz

     At eighteen, Soledad couldn't get away fast enough from her contentious family with their endless tragedies and petty fights. Two years later, she's an art student at Cooper Union with a gallery job and a hip East Village walk-up. But when Tía Gorda calls with the news that Soledad's mother has lapsed into an emotional coma, she insists that Soledad's return is the only cure. Fighting the memories of open hydrants, leering men, and slick-skinned teen girls with raunchy mouths and snapping gum, Soledad moves home to West 164th Street. As she tries to tame her cousin Flaca's raucous behavior and to resist falling for Richie -- a soulful, intense man from the neighborhood -- she also faces the greatest challenge of her life: confronting the ghosts from her mother's past and salvaging their damaged relationship. Evocative and wise, Soledad is a wondrous story of culture and chaos, family and integrity, myth and mysticism, from a Latina literary light. (Amazon)

Black Behind the Ears by Ginetta Candelario

     Black behind the Ears is an innovative historical and ethnographic examination of Dominican identity formation in the Dominican Republic and the United States. For much of the Dominican Republic’s history, the national body has been defined as “not black,” even as black ancestry has been grudgingly acknowledged. Rejecting simplistic explanations, Ginetta E. B. Candelario suggests that it is not a desire for whiteness that guides Dominican identity discourses and displays. Instead, it is an ideal norm of what it means to be both indigenous to the Republic (indios) and “Hispanic.” Both indigeneity and Hispanicity have operated as vehicles for asserting Dominican sovereignty in the context of the historically triangulated dynamics of Spanish colonialism, Haitian unification efforts, and U.S. imperialism. Candelario shows how the legacy of that history is manifest in contemporary Dominican identity discourses and displays, whether in the national historiography, the national museum’s exhibits, or ideas about women’s beauty. Dominican beauty culture is crucial to efforts to identify as “indios” because, as an easily altered bodily feature, hair texture trumps skin color, facial features, and ancestry in defining Dominicans as indios.

Candelario draws on her participant observation in a Dominican beauty shop in Washington Heights, a New York City neighborhood with the oldest and largest Dominican community outside the Republic, and on interviews with Dominicans in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Santo Domingo. She also analyzes museum archives and displays in the Museo del Hombre Dominicano and the Smithsonian Institution as well as nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century European and American travel narratives. (Amazon)

How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez

     In this debut novel, the García sisters—Carla, Sandra, Yolanda, and Sofía—and their family must flee their home in the Dominican Republic after their father’s role in an attempt to overthrow a tyrannical dictator is discovered. They arrive in New York City in 1960 to a life far removed from their existence in the Caribbean. In the wild and wondrous and not always welcoming U.S.A., their parents try to hold on to their old ways, but the girls try find new lives: by forgetting their Spanish, by straightening their hair and wearing fringed bell bottoms. For them, it is at once liberating and excruciating to be caught between the old world and the new. How the García Girls Lost Their Accents sets the sisters free to tell their most intimate stories about how they came to be at home—and not at home—in America. (Amazon)

Before We Were Free by Julia Alvarez

     Anita de la Torre never questioned her freedom living in the Dominican Republic. But by her twelfth birthday in 1960, most of her relatives have immigrated to the United States, her Tío Toni has disappeared without a trace, and the government’s secret police terrorize her remaining family because of their suspected opposition to Trujillo’s iron-fisted rule. (Amazon)

Song of the Water Saints by Nelly Rosario

     This vibrant, provocative début novel explores the dreams and struggles of three generations of Dominican women. Graciela, born on the outskirts of Santo Domingo at the turn of the century, is a headstrong adventuress who comes of age during the U.S. occupation. Too poor to travel beyond her imagination, she is frustrated by the monotony of her life, which erodes her love affairs and her relationship with Mercedes, her daughter. Mercedes, abandoned by Graciela at thirteen, turns to religion for solace and, after managing to keep a shop alive during the Trujillo dictatorship, emigrates to New York with her husband and granddaughter, Leila. Leila inherits her great-grandmother Graciela’s passion-driven recklessness. But, caught as she is between cultures, her freedom arrives with its own set of obligations and dangers. (Amazon)

Wicked Weeds by Pedro Cabiya

     Set at the contact zones between Haiti and the Dominican Republic, this is a polyphonic novel, an intense and sometimes funny pharmacopeia of love lost and humanity regained; a most original combination of Caribbean noir and science-fiction addressing issues of global relevance including novel takes on ecological/apocalyptical imbalance bound to make an impact. A Caribbean zombie—smart, gentlemanly, financially independent, and a top executive at an important pharmaceutical company—becomes obsessed with finding the formula that would reverse his condition and allow him to become "a real person." In the process, three of his closest collaborators (cerebral and calculating Isadore, wide-eyed and sentimental Mathilde, and rambunctious Patricia), guide the reluctant and baffled scientist through the unpredictable intersections of love, passion, empathy, and humanity. But the playful maze of jealousy and amorous intrigue that a living being would find easy to negotiate represents an insurmountable tangle of dangerous ambiguities for our "undead" protagonist. Wicked Weeds is put together from Isadore's scrapbook, where she has collected her boss' scientific goals and existential agony, as well as her own reflections about growing up as a Haitian descendant in the Dominican Republic and what it really means to be human. The end result is a precise combination of Caribbean noir and science-fiction, Latin American style. Wicked Weeds, A Zombie Novel combines Cabiya's expertise in fiction, graphic novels and film to create a memorable literary zombie novel of a dead man's search for his lost humanity that can now take its place alongside other leading similar novels like Jonathan Mayberry's Patient Zero, S.G. Browne's Breathers: A Zombie's Lament, Daryl Gregory's Raising Sony Mayhall, World War Z by Max Brooks, and The Reapers Are The Angels by Alden Bell. As for the novel's immersion in orality and Caribbean folk traditions and noir it can very well align with Wade Davis' The Serpent and the Rainbow and Karen Russell's St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves. (Amazon)

[lindyhunt]

Are We Living in a Modern-Day Dystopia?

It’s one of those experiences I now recount self-deprecatingly over drinks. But in the moment, it felt like my inescapable demise. Last spring, while I was waiting to board a connecting flight at Santiago International Airport, the earth suddenly began rattling with the kind of ferocity you only read about in doomsday prophecies. Keep in mind that I was passing through Chile, one of the world’s most quake-prone nations, and I could still vividly recall the horrifying footage of the 8.8-magnitude monster that had killed hundreds of Chileans in 2010. As glass windows from nearby shops shattered like fine porcelain and light fixtures dangled ever so mena­cingly from above, I bolted upright and unsuccessfully searched for cover. A minute later, the seismic shocks had stopped, my life had been spared and I Googled what had just caught us travellers unawares: a 7.1 earthquake off the country’s west coast.

By far the most terrifying thing about my short-lived brush with seismicity was being left entirely in the dark. Receiving a quake-related heads-up (impossible, I know, but indulge me here) might have made no difference, but at least I wouldn’t have been caught in a state of paralyzed surprise—my worst nightmare. “I’ve got some good news and some bad news,” goes the double-edged affirmation. Hit me with the bad, always. I’d rather get a tipoff about what’s lurking just around the corner than live in blissful ignorance about the stage IV cancer, the deceitful partner or the boss who changed the lock on my office door.

Lately, I’ve been gravitating to entertainment that administers disheartening and undeniably dystopian doses of truth serum. Let’s face it: Un­interrupted optimism can be exhausting, and there’s something quite healthy about acknowledging the odious, supersized catastrophe staring us in the face. Since 2018 got off the ground, soon-to-be-waterless Cape Town has launched a water-monitoring map to publicly shame citizens who consume too much H2O; Hawaii residents had to wait 38 interminable minutes before the warning of an incoming ballistic missile was retracted; and the leader of the free world and his administration continue to leave everyone speechless with their Bowling Green massacres, fake news and abhorrent round-the-clock reality show.

Yes, we are living in dystopian times, and sometimes escapism no longer suffices. As news of the world going to hell in an Ivanka Trump handbag keeps pouring in, dystopian narratives have not only provided end-of-world comforts but also become the harbingers of human turmoil.

Yes, we are living in dystopian times, and sometimes escapism no longer suffices. As news of the world going to hell in an Ivanka Trump handbag keeps pouring in, dystopian narratives have not only provided end-of-world comforts but also become the harbingers of human turmoil. And I’m clearly not alone in my hunger for fiction that’s sadly more realistic than it is scaremongering. Take Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale—one of three classics that Vintage Books put back in print last year (along with Brave New World and 1984, of course)—created more than 30 years ago. Its premise of an oppressive Christian regime where abortions are illegal and women are raised to be reproductive slaves has come to resonate once more with readers and viewers. The acclaimed TV adaptation premiered mere months after the “very stable genius” took office. The story has tapped into the zeitgeist in ways only the most powerful dystopian fiction can, sparking slogans at the inaugural Women’s March such as “Make Margaret Atwood fiction again!” We want to believe in brighter days, but such a process can only be set in motion by recognizing the blazing inferno we could just as easily slip into.

Examples are scrawled across marquees and battling for choice TV slots. Recent critical and commercial faves such as Mad Max: Fury Road and its feminist insurrection, The Lobster and its societal burden to find a mate, and Denis Villeneuve’s bleak cyberpunk sequel Blade Runner 2049 have all addressed contemporary anxieties in frighteningly relatable ways. Whether it’s technological devastation, climate destruction or the otherworldly ways we relate to one another, dystopian fiction has increasingly served up fresh and uncomfortable takes on modern mores. The main difference between dystopias new and old is that while they once mostly portrayed primitive, wholly ravaged and inhospitable future worlds that looked nothing like our own, they’re now often set in strangely familiar settings that, save for a few skewed elements, could very well be your neighbourhood.

The main difference between dystopias new and old is that while they once mostly portrayed primitive, wholly ravaged and inhospitable future worlds that looked nothing like our own, they’re now often set in strangely familiar settings that, save for a few skewed elements, could very well be your neighbourhood.

As for TV, 2018 has already seen the release of Amazon’s Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams, a 10-part series of stand-alone political hellscapes and mystical mini-dramas based on the short stories of Dick, the prescient sci-fi giant who questioned the nature of reality like no other. It’s already being marketed as Amazon’s answer to that ubiquitous Netflix anthology series I’ve found myself talking and thinking about endlessly in recent months. What Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror has nailed is the notion that dystopias need not be set in far-fetched realms. By mostly steering clear of pie-in-the-sky stuff and instead turning his attention to robotic bees, cartoonish PMs, pig scandals and a callous world overrun by popularity ratings (which have all had real-life reverberations), Brooker created unnerving narratives that provide us with relatable ways to make sense of our surreal world.

Take “Nosedive,” one of the program’s most-talked-about episodes, about citizens whose lives are governed by an oppressive rating system, with top-tier users rewarded with access to luxury apartments and better job prospects. News that China began rolling out Zhima Credit, a system of social credit scores to track and rank its citizens, reminded viewers of Black Mirror’s real-life relevance. Speaking to Time about the episode, co-writer Michael Schur (also the co-creator of one of the kindest comedies in years, Parks and Recreation) commented that he considered “Nosedive” not to be set in the near future but rather a parallel present. “That, to me, is the best science fiction,” he explained. “It’s the kind that doesn’t take place in the year 17,000 on a distant planet; it takes things that exist right now and turns them one degree to the left or right to shine a light on the way we’re interacting with each other as people.”

In this season’s “Hang the DJ” episode, about an all-seeing dating system that decides on behalf of singletons whom they’ll be paired up with and for how long, partners Frank and Amy agree on the fact that things must have “been mental before the system.” The same could be said about our politics, climate and social hierarchies. At times, we need fiction to acknowledge the crazy mess of the world we live in. Creators like Brooker and the late Dick take things even further by chillingly anticipating technologies, behaviours and laws that eventually migrate from make-believe to matter of fact. While that’s certainly no cause for celebration, it also allows us to keep an ear to the ground. Silver lining?

[reviverradio]

The 14 Most Visionary Sound Pictures of 2017

Set your pitchforks and delight in some of the finest 2017 had to offer you.

Since  I wash off so lots of people in sharing my preferred music videos of 2016, I have decided to go a slightly different route with this year’s version. We’re all conscious of it. The whole issue with each one of these end-of-the-year lists that ranks songs, film, TV shows, etc. is that–guess what? –art is subjective and everyone has different preferences. Nobody is wrong in their opinions!  

As somebody who has a very unique set of preferences, I am really conscious that what I enjoy isn’t for everybody (just ask my father). With that   disclaimer in place, I’m discussing what I believe to be among the most visionary music movies of this year. Instead of rank them, the songs movies are listed in a manner that, when played with in sequence, should mash up into its own story.

When it’s their budget, theme, or moderate, these selections push boundaries in every sense of this term. Most of all, all of them highlight precisely how fascinating the music video kind could be. It’s been a difficult year for a great deal of individuals, but one positive is an extraordinary urgency apparent in art, an outpouring of voices from every portion of the world.    

You may either sit back and let it ride or you can take a look at the highlights from 2017 in almost any order you would like.

Kendrick Lamar – Element.

Manager –  Jonas Lindstroem & The Little Homies

This isn’t the only time you’ll visit Kendrick Lamar on this list.   King Kendrick put three amazing music movies this season at  Element. , DNA, and HUMBLE. , and every was fueled by gorgeous vision, Don Cheadle, or powerful social messages.   Element.  Introduces us with the artist at his strongest.  

The juxtaposition between beauty and violence combines perfectly with Lamar’s lyrical content. In actuality, after several watches, it is difficult to separate the songs in the movie. If you think about one, you immediately think about the other, and that’s what makes this movie great. A number of these images are direct   recreations of this work of Gordon Parks, the photojournalist who captured much of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s.

As Cassie da Costa wrote at The New Yorker back in June, “In Element. , blackness, or the dynamic existence of black bodies and the lifestyles that inhabit them, is reimagined not just lyrically and narratively but also visually. The movie’s aesthetics are not additional but, instead, essential to this activity within and significance of every scene.”  

Kamasi Washington – Truth

Manager – AG Rojas

Yep, this is a lengthy one. That is no real surprise considering Kamasi Washington’s last record The Epic clocked in at almost a three hours long. This year’s launch, Harmony of a Difference, is a far simpler record to digest because of several reasons.   Washington debuted his suite earlier this season at the Whitney Biennial, and because  Truth  acts as the record’s culmination and climax, it is only fitting that part of this installment  contains  this short film from celebrated music video director AG Rojas.  

At just 37 minutes in length, it won’t require an eighth-of-a-day to listen to, and also its memorable theme weaves in and out through every track, directing the listener together. The exact same could be said about the above video which goes back and forth through space, time, and topic, constantly returning to a picture on which you can grasp while still keeping a sense of cosmic mystery. Kinda like Terrence Malick, wouldn’t you say?

Björk: The Gate

Manager – Andrew Thomas Huang

Just Björk being   Björk.

Un Lock – Drowned Beast

Manager – Dr. D Foothead

Very few people can inform an epic work of science fiction in just under 5 minutes. Dr. D Foothead, whose function is featured on Adult Swim, is the rare exception. Having made a name for himself along with his brand of comedic, music movie psychedelia, you might dismiss his art as “trippy,” however the apt way to describe it is “characterized by hypnotic detail, hyper-saturated color and lively, flowing kind. The characters in his work navigate outer and inner worlds, experiencing conditions of mental abstraction, mystical sin, and transformation.”   The pen and paperwork is, very  simply, some next level shit.

In addition, this is a sterling example of how a visual artist can create a story entirely of his own from just a grain of sonic inspiration. As un Lock frontman John Dwyer stated of this animator/director, “I wrote this song largely from the studio and it had been, in my head, about the insatiable appetite of mankind, but kind of bent in this weird fantastical way.” Once Foothead got control of it, however, it appeared to change into something else completely. ” I enjoy working with Dr. Foothead,” Dwyer continuing. “Due to his take is always coming from another planet.”  

Pipe-Eye – Sweets & Gamble

Manager – Alex McLaren along with Sean McAnulty

Jumping from pen and ink to stop-motion cartoon, Sweets & Treats   is something along the lines of which you have probably never seen (or heard) before.   Clay and candy aren’t the key tools you would usually encounter when seeing a multimedia job, but I will be damned if the mix doesn’t work perfectly for this sweet yet nightmarish clip.  

St. Vincent – New York

Manager – Alex Da Corte

This one definitely takes the cake for best use of color palettes and art management. Da Corte also led St. Vincent’s music video for Los Ageless which acts as a companion piece to New York.   Being a lover of Da Corte’s visual art, St. Vincent seemingly reached him out using a pitch along the lines of “do whatever it is you do this well.”

In an interview with Pitchfork, Da Corte pointed out one of the best benefits of this moderate, saying, “Moving images and moving movies, set to songs or not, are all artworks in themselves. What is really special about creating a music video is all the fact that it may be shared so quickly and so widely. Everybody can gain access to it. It is actually free.”

Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile – Over Everything

Manager – Danny Cohen

Whereas New York shows us the possibility of vibrant color, Over Everything  proves how its lack can prove just as successful. For people unfamiliar with this particular international supergroup, Kurt Vile, an American rock staple, and Courtney Barnett, an up and coming Australian celebrity, found their music preferences aligned so closely that they needed to come from across the world to collaborate on a record together.  

In Over Everything, we get a glimpse of just how similar these two  are as they swap verses. The actual stars of this movie, but are the artists’ respective backdrops.     Danny Cohen took the movie in Philadelphia and Melbourne, sourcing a new team from every city. His excruciatingly close attention to detail has been observed with every mirroring background. No matter how stark the contrast is between our two society’s cultures, the settings show how music is able to bridge the gap. Particular kudos to the place scout, a hat that I can only envision Cohen wore as well.  

Manchester Orchestra – The Sunshine

Manager – DANIELS

The DANIELS are always a divisive directing duo, but I am firmly on the side of “I’ll like these men put out since they truly don’t give a f***.” Both are no stranger to the art of audio movie, catching their biggest breakl using the legendary clip for Lil Jon’s Switch Down For Everything back in 2014. However, with the success of their debut feature Korean Army Man this past year, some were bound to wonder whether they had outgrown the moderate.

It appears they are at least ready to do it one more time to the man who scored their feature. Manchester Orchestra given the sonic vibes for Korean Army Man, therefore it was only reasonable to refund with a visual favor. The result is this movie for The Sunshine, which comprises a few of DANIELS’ trademark out-there humor and capacity to blend CGI oddness into seemingly normal conditions.  

The Babe Rainbow – Peace Blossom Boogie

Manager – Kristofski

The Babe Rainbow is probably the closest thing to a group of traveling hippies that we have in today’s music landscape. Together with Peace Blossom Boogie, manager  Kristofski masterfully captures the spirit of this group through what appears to be a Super 8 film straight out of 1964.   The YouTube page also has what I believe are the most precise comment of 2017 using “I can not believe these folks exist.” Everybody in Australia is seemingly beautiful, forcing double-decker buses to bright areas where they could frolic the afternoon off. Seems like an alright life.

Jay-Z – Moonlight

Manager – Alan Yang

JAY-Z came out with his new record 4:44 this season and with the launch came the opportunity to bend some TIDAL muscle. Many of the music movies he dropped were initially only available to see on TIDAL for a lengthy window following their premiere. This, obviously, was utilized as an incentive for people to sign up for the streaming support. If that money has been used to fuel the creation of movies like   Moonlight,   then I’m all for it.

The hype around this audio video was certainly real. A reboot of Friends starring some of the freshest African-American confronts in Hollywood and led by Master of None co-creator Alan Yang? Who wouldn’t wish to see what that looks like? The result is an allegory that’s more melancholy than funny, more short film than audio video. It has to’ve generated a great deal of new subscribers for HOV.  

Young Thug – Wyclef Jean

Manager – Pomp&Clout

You do the best with what you got, and this movie illustrates that.

Tyler, The Creator – Who’s Dat Boy

Manager – Tyler, The Creator

Tyler, The Creator is one of those rare few who can do it all. At just twenty-six years old, he’s been, well, producing, because the beginning of the Odd Future move back in 2008/2009. That includes everything from several albums to multiple TV shows, his own clothing line, and music festivals.

This year’s release   Flower Boy was clearly a significant step forward for this artist. Previously criticized for leaning too heavily on sophomoric humor, Tyler, The Creator’s movie for Who’s Dat Boy is the consequence of many years of satisfying his irreverent, damaging style. He’s unleashed his private struggles with identity out to the world, and when it is too dreadful for some to witness, then so be it.

Ty Segall – Split a Guitar

Manager – Matt Yoka

Many guitars were hurt in the making of the film. The great Matt Yoka strikes using his kaleidoscopic music movie for Ty Segall’s Split a Guitar. If you’re a lover of this rock-and-roll, there’s nothing quite as satisfying as watching guitars being obliterated to smithereens, particularly if Jack Black, Henry Rollins and Fred Armisen would be those accountable for their own destruction.  

The thing to note here is that none of all these explosions were set together in post with VFX. They are all the practical work of the   pyrotechnicians at Court Wizard, and also this movie simply wouldn’t be the same if the  consequences were not completed on set.   Do not worry, there has been a set medic in place to ensure nobody got hurt. Cronenberg fans will also be Delighted to find an almost frame for frame Scanners tribute at the end.      

Kendrick Lamar – HUMBLE.

Manager – Dave Meyers & The Little Homies

As I said initially, this is Kendrick’s entire year, therefore it is only fitting we feature at least 2 of the movies on this list. While Element. May be the more powerful of both, HUMBLE will wind up being the one that we most remember. It could just be the most iconic movie of 2017.

from reviverradio http://www.reviverradio.net/the-14-most-visionary-sound-pictures-of-2017/

[hentaihunblog-blog]

Best Anime Movies To Watch – OtakuKart

New Post has been published on https://hentaihun.com/blog/2017/12/12/best-anime-movies-to-watch-otakukart-2/

Best Anime Movies To Watch – OtakuKart

Looking for some Marvelous Anime movie? I have got you some astonishing hand-picked collection of the movie. Here is a list of  Top 10 Best Anime Movies You Must Watch.So without any further delay let’s start with our Top 10 Anime Movie List

Top 10 Best Anime Movies Of All Time

Patlabor: The Movie (1989)

Many of the films on this list are here because they’re landmark films for their directors, or that they move the art form of Japanese animation forward in meaningful ways. Patlabor is just a good-ass movie made by a bunch of talented people, including future Ghost in the Shell collaborators Mamoru Oshii and I.G Tatsunoko (the early name for the production company that would become Production I.G). Set in the distant future of 1999, Patlabor’s hardboiled sci-fi police procedural explores the connection between humanity and technology, and how we approach law enforcement in an age of automation. Also, this list would otherwise be sorely lacking in giant mech movies – this film has them in spades, and they fight a bunch. It’s pretty cool.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006)

Studio Ghibli commissioned director Mamoru Hosoda to make Howl’s Moving Castle, but sent him packing after rejecting his initial concepts. Hosoda then turned around and directed The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, an abounding and inventive dramedy that’s as entertaining as it is thought-provoking. Based on a novel by Yasutaka Tsutsui, the film follows high schooler Makoto Konno as she learns that she has the power to quite literally leap through time. First, she uses these powers to get good grades, but she quickly learns that her actions have consequences. It’s a wildly imaginative slice of life and marked the emergence of an important voice in animated films.

Your Name (2016)

Since the release of his first short film Voices of a Distant Star (which he wrote, directed, and animated by himself over seven months), Makoto Shinkai has been described by multiple critics as the next Hayao Miyazaki. With his most recent film Your Name. (yes, the period is part of the title), Shinkai finally steps out steps out of the shadows of the greats and finds his own voice. To describe it as a mere body-swapping film does it a great disservice, as it finds the humor and humanity in a situation where two young high schoolers find themselves in each others shoes and desperately want to find each other. But then, Shinkai pulls the rug out from under you halfway through and Your Name. turns into a different kind of film entirely.

Vampire Hunter D (1985)

Vampire Hunter D is often credited as being one of the first anime films specifically targeted for an older audience, and its success paved the way for many of the films on this list. It’s a slow, haunting burn that follows the titular, monosyllabic vampire hunter as he aids and protects a young woman from a demonic menace. Featuring the brooding character design of none other than Final Fantasy concept artist Yoshitaka Amano, Vampire Hunter D is the dark glimpse into the maturation of anime as a genuine theatrical art form.

Ninja Scroll (1993)

If Akira and Ghost in the Shell were the opening salvos for anime’s initial resurgence in the West as more than Saturday morning fodder, Ninja Scroll was the knockout punch. Releasing in the West around the same time as Ghost in the Shell, Ninja Scroll is a stylish, hyper-violent flurry of over-the-top battles and geysers of blood. Ex-ninja Jubei is coerced under threat of death by a Tokugawa spy to hunt down and defeat the Eight Devils of Kimon, each one with its own mystical set of powers. In an hour and a half, Jubei fights a dude whose skin can turn into stone, a naked snake lady, a guy who can melt into shadows, and a woman who plants gunpowder in people’s bodies and uses them as living time bombs.

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984)

Studio Ghibli is perhaps second only to Disney in terms of cultural relevance and worldwide recognition in animation, and Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind is where it all started. It follows the eponymous young woman as she navigates a post-apocalyptic future where venturing outside small population centers means having to contend with giant insects and a deadly miasma. Here, you will see many of Ghibli’s themes on humanity, community, mortality, and environmentalism converge, accompanied by lush hand-drawn animation and swashbuckling action.

Perfect Blue (1997)

After working as an animator on other films, Satoshi Kon made his explosive directorial debut with Perfect Blue. It’s about a J-Pop idol who leaves behind a music career to pursue acting, and the further she dives into the role, the more reality and fiction begin to blur together. Kon’s signature style seems to spring forth fully realized from the first frame, his unique take on magical realism ensuring you never see the seams until he wants you to. Kon’s career was cut short due to pancreatic cancer, but his influence can be seen everywhere, including Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan and Christopher Nolan’s Inception.

Ghost in the Shell (1995)

Oshii’s adaptation of Masamune Shirow’s seminal graphic novel series is simultaneously one of the most influential and enigmatic anime films ever made. There’s definitely a plot here, as a team of armored police officers leads by Major Motoko Kusanagi attempt to hunt down a mysterious hacker known as the Puppet Master, but Ghost in the Shell is far more concerned with exploring the philosophical ramifications of its transhumanist themes than it is providing any sort of narrative payoff. It’s a strange one to watch, packing a lot of information and world-building into its brisk 82-minute runtime, but its length and structure allow for repeat viewings that are as rewarding as the first.

Spirited Away (2001)

If you want a good snapshot of Studio Ghibli’s history, first watch Nausicaa, then watch this one. Here is Miyazaki at the height of his craft, using advancements in animation technology to enhance but not overpower an Alice in a Wonderland-esque story filled to the brim with strange creatures and imaginative scenarios. It’s a coming of age story about a young girl who finds herself lost in a bathhouse for the spirits, interacting with an assortment of fantastical creatures as she attempts to rescue her parents. That Miyazaki still explores the consequences of the convergence of nature and technology shows how timeless and important these themes are.

Akira (1988)

Akira is a powerhouse of a film, every frame of animation exploding off the screen with kinetic energy and effortless style. It’s based off the first half of Otomo’s massive graphic novel series of the same name (the second half created after the film was completed, explaining the wild divergence in plotlines), following a group of delinquent teenagers in Neo-Tokyo decades after the end of World War 3. One of these boys, named Tetsuo, is abducted by a secretive government unit and experimented on, awakening his latent psychic abilities which quickly spiral out of control. What follows is a strange, gut-wrenching landmark of science-fiction, filled with rad bikes and an absurd amount of destruction.

Did you like this list.Comment your reaction after completing any one of these.Also if you want any list to be done by me feel free and lemme know, If you wanna get in touch with me on social media like Snapchat-Vibsz16 and Instagram you can follow me there ^_^

Top 10 Best Anime Antagonists And Their Quotes

A major and most part of a show’s appeal is the villain. Be they suave and sophisticated, or insane and genocidal, they’re always one of the more memorable aspects of a series. With this in mind, I have constructed a list of the Top 10 anime antagonists.

10.Future Rouge – Fairy Tail

Quote – The earth will crumble, the skies shall burn, and the flames of light shall be extinguished, for I am the Dragon King: the emperor born from the.Dragon King Festival!

9.Satou – Ajin

Quote- When I Play Games, I always play on hard mode.Because higher the difficulty….more fun it gets.

8.Neferpitou – Hunter X Hunter 2011

Quote- This person is important to someone who’s important to me.

7.Envy – Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

Quote-uit your pathetic blubbering, you idiot! You were trying to kill one of our most important sacrifices. Do you understand me?! You could’ve messed up the entire plan! What would we have done then?! Huh?!

6.Vicious – Cowboy Bebop

Quote- I’m the only one who can keep you alive… And I’m the only one that can kill you.

5….

CONT READING…

[euro3plast-fr]

Yes, a robot can write your advertizing copy – here’s how

...And you won't be able to tell the difference

2017 is the year that copywriting by Artificial Intelligence (AI) has moved from science fiction fantasy to commercial fact. Game-changing new tools mean that computers can now produce convincing, accurate product descriptions that look as if they were penned by a trained copywriter. The future has arrived.

Download Business Resource – AI and Machine Learning for Marketing

The guide aims to help businesses of all sizes to apply to their marketing, focusing on Artificial Intelligence. All businesses can now use the services we recommend to implement Machine Learning. The guide explains why, how with an actionable and practical approach.

Access the AI and Machine Learning for Marketing

Many people regard AI as a bit of a joke and cannot imagine a day when software will write better than humans. Tay, the ill-fated Microsoft chatbot, became a laughing stock when she went from innocently playful tweets to racist rants and swear words in just 24 hours.

Who wouldn’t snigger at the romance novel titles generated by a state of the art neural pathway software, including such classics as Surgery Seduction, The Man for Dr. Husband and Lady Convenience Wife?

Yet in 2016 a world first for AI writing occurred at the Rio Olympics. The Washington Post covered 300 events using Heliograf, their in-house AI software. These robot-generated articles were published alongside ones written by humans.

Crucially, no-one spotted the difference. The paper now regularly uses Heliograf for sports reports like the one below and the same software is used under license by news organizations around the world.

Massive investment in Artificial Intelligence

So why has AI suddenly got so advanced? One reason is a recent explosion in investment that is now starting to bear fruit. Since 2014, AI has been a hot new target for ambitious venture capital funds. Across Europe, fundraising is booming. In 2017 there were 271 funding rounds for AI start-ups raising an average of $3.7m each, according to Serena Capital. That was a 250% increase on the previous year of 83 rounds.

Although these include a broad spectrum of AI specialties, not just those involved with Natural Language Processing (NLP), the trend is clear. It’s little wonder that Gartner predicts that by 2018, 20% of all content will be authored by machines and the International Data Corporation (IDC) estimates that the AI market will grow from $8billion in 2016 to more than $47billion in 2020.

Natural Language Understanding v Natural Language Generation

Any human who tries to learn a new language generally finds it easier to understand than to write or converse. Computers are the same. Natural Language Understanding (NLU) is much easier for them than Natural Language Generation (NLG).

NLU software is brilliant at hunting for keywords or key concepts in documents or the spoken word or rapidly scan thousands of pages and making sense of it all. However, NLU can’t create an article worthy of the Washington Post.

For that you need its much smarter cousin, NLG, the software designed to create original text from scratch that could soon be writing your web copy. Because it’s so difficult there are hundreds of tech firms worldwide working in NLU but only a handful dedicated to NLG.

Beautiful writing by Quill

An acknowledged leader in the field of Natural Language Generation (NLG) is Chicago-based Narrative Science and its platform Quill. Many NLG systems so far have been underpinned by templates, which is why so many sound robotic.

By contrast, Quill is smart enough to understand the user’s intent, pick out what’s interesting and develop an understanding of the story to be told. Feed it some structured data and Quill will transform it into a written narrative with a tone and style that reads as if a living person had sat down and tapped it out on a keyboard.

Customers of Narrative Science are a diverse bunch, including USAA, Mastercard, and the US Intelligence community. The company also works with over forty different partners including Microsoft, Deloitte and Tableau.

Product description copy written by a computer

One of its partners, Indix, has developed a Products Information Platform that marries the writing capabilities of Quill with its own vast catalogue of product data. To date it has collected information on over a billion branded products, plucking details from internet sources such as retail and brand websites and feeds.

Indix then uses AI and machine learning to clean, refine and structure each record into a standardized format. Key details such as category, price, size, availability and other features are all captured, ready to be made into unique, search engine optimized product descriptions. It’s hard to believe that this copy for adhesive (below) was written by a computer:

Say you have a website selling barbecues.  At the moment, you would need to get specifications from a dozen or more different manufacturers. All the sizes, burner and grate specifications, colour options, accessories and other attributes come to you in different formats, often with key features missing.

You then have to rearrange them into a standard order and write some copy in your brand style. Each one has to be checked for accuracy, approved for tone and style and tracked as it makes its way through the system. It’s expensive, laborious and time consuming with lots of potential for error.

That could soon be a thing of the past. Once everything is set up, Indix can create vast numbers of standardized product descriptions in just a few hours, all guaranteed accurate, free of spelling errors, optimized for search engines and at incredibly low cost. If copy needs to be split tested, Indix can swiftly and easily generate two different versions, such as one with bullet points and one without.

Copywriting project management

Over the years, I have headed up teams of writers producing large amounts of product copy. There is striking parallels in the way those projects are managed and the AI process.

Both start with a setup phase, in which a master document is created with all the available information for every product. I give the writers examples of tone and style while Indix builds a phrase library. In both scenarios a tight specification is drawn up defining attributes such as word count, number of bullets, keywords, where the benefits should appear, important features not obvious from the product photos and call to action.

If you think that sounds rather uncreative, then you’re right. There’s a place for creativity in copywriting, but a product page is not it. Consumers want clear information not poetry.  In a previous blog about large-scale copywriting projects, I argued that a cookie-cutter approach not only improves conversion but also reduces costs and frees up management resources.

Indix may not be for everyone, however. It currently only offers the service for products that are already on sale elsewhere. That’s not so helpful if you are the manufacturer selling direct and exclusively, although in future it may be possible to use the same system with data from your own records. The other hurdle is a minimum quantity of 10,000 products, which rules out many of the smaller and mid-sized ecommerce sites.

Email subject lines written by robots

Another trailblazer in the NLG field is London-based Phrasee.  It specializes in writing email subject lines. It’s a crucial part of the marketing because if an email isn’t opened it doesn’t get read. Phrasee’s technology is so advanced it captures the brand voice with uncanny accuracy and can even include emojis, emotions, colloquialisms, and alliteration.

Using science to learn what makes the audience tick, its software measures thousands of data points including behavioural analytics as well as emotional drivers. Split testing of the subject lines and scheduling is handled by the client’s Email Service Provider (ESP).

Phrasee doesn’t just produce subject lines in a fraction of the time it would take a copywriter, it claims to improve them. 95% of its AI-generated subject lines outperform those written by humans, like this one for the loyalty card Nectar which gained 41% more opens and 64% more click-throughs:

Control (human being) - 3x points AND 50% off Virgin Trains East Coast Advance Tickets

New (AI) - After 18 August it'll be too late... Make huge savings and collections with 3x the points and 50% off Advance tickets

Below are three more Phrasee subject lines that all got double-digit uplifts in open and click-through rates against the same control above.

Build up your balance...

How many points could you collect when you book? After 18 August it'll be too late...

Make the most of your train journey...

Pay per algorithm

Phrasee charges a fixed fee per algorithm. Different targets, such as men or women, lapsed or loyal customers, each need their own algorithm. It’s not cheap, but the proof is in the split test results. Demonstrably higher open rates keep clients like Dominos, dfs and Wowcher coming back for more. Saul Lopes, Customer Lifecycle Lead at Virgin Holidays is a fan, because “Phrasee’s AI has increased our email revenue by a few million pounds”

It takes around 3-4 weeks for Phrasee to build an algorithm and start generating subject lines that are on-brand and appropriate. The minimum list size is around 200,000 and the technology also works best if there’s at least a year’s worth of data about the performance of old email campaigns. The more subject line results that can be fed in, the quicker the algorithm starts to get warm and produce sales busting suggestions.

Currently, Phrasee only puts its AI to work on subject lines. However, the firm does have plans to offer email body copy as well as product descriptions in the future.

AI blog posts, commentaries, and personalization

It’s not only copywriters who could have their work done by a machine. Texas-based Yseop (pronounced Easy-Op) is a self-serve software used by banks, retailers and Fortune 500 companies to write commentaries from Excel charts at the press of a button. Would you guess this (below) had been written by a computer?

Personalisation is taken to new heights by the NLG tool Wordsmith, owned by Automated Insights. In one case study, the basketball team Orlando Magic used it to create customised emails and in-app messages unique to each one of their fans, like the one below.

  What does this mean for the future of writers?

I’ve been a copywriter for over twenty years, and the question everyone asks is ‘Are you worried that a robot will take over your job?’

Analyst Henry H Eckerson of Eckerson Group believes that will happen.

“In some cases NLG tools will reduce the number of people required to generate and analyze data. For business owners, this is great news: they can reassign staff to other jobs, increase their productivity, or lay them off”

AI vendors refute this, claiming that NLG tools augment, rather than replace, the writers and free up skilled staff to focus on higher value tasks, such as reading and acting on the reports generated.

Arden Manning, Senior Vice-President at Yseop says,

“None of us went to University to write data-driven reports all day long, but for many of us that is the reality. Asking highly educated analysts to write data-driven reports is a waste of time, money and human capacity.”

Jeremy Gilbert, Director of Strategic Initiatives at the Washington Post concurs:

"In no way do we want to replace human reporters with automated reporters," he said. "We want to free up reporters to do the kind of high-impact stories they want to do."

From my perspective as an experienced copywriter, I feel the same. It’s much more interesting to write a radio commercial or develop a new brand positioning than spend all day churning out standardized bullet points. There have been times when that’s actually made me feel like a robot!

But it was product descriptions that I cut my teeth on as a junior writer. If those kinds of writing opportunities disappear, how do the next generation of copywriters perfect their craft?  The industry as a whole will need to rethink training and qualifications for copywriters. If that helps humans stay smarter than robots, it’s got to be a good thing.

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Thanks to Mel Henson for sharing their advice and opinion in this post. Mel is an author, consultant and copywriter specialising in ecommerce websites and retail catalogues. She is the founder of copywriting agency Words that Sell, and Head of Creative at AWA digital an international conversion rate optimisation agency. You can follow her on Twitter or connect on LinkedIn.

from Blog – Smart Insights https://www.smartinsights.com/persuasion-marketing/web-copywriting/yes-robot-can-write-advertizing-copy-heres/