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heavyelectricity · 6 years ago

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Five years ago today I started working on Retro Gamer, and the time has flown by. To mark the occasion, I thought I’d reminisce about another batch of ten issues. Previous parts can be found below:

Part One Part Two

Issue 144 (1942): The cover feature here was a regular Ultimate Guide and did fine. Sometimes, we put too much work in when we don’t need to… I was unwell during the production of this issue and sadly didn’t end up getting to do the Wonder Boy III: The Dragon’s Trap feature I was scheduled for. The Dig Dug feature I did was considered for the cover, despite the fact that the editor hates the game. This issue featured three really strange things. Firstly, I found out that Jesse McClure off Storage Hunters is an arcade collector and interviewed him. Secondly, Wargaming planned to fly me out to Paris for a Master Of Orion preview day - until the night before when it was cancelled, and then un-cancelled a few hours later. I did end up going to Paris for a brief tour of the studio and a 30 minute look at the game, before spending the rest of the day sightseeing until my flight. Lastly, the main news story (and I can’t remember what it was) got scrapped at the last minute because Shenmue III got announced.

Issue 145 (Space Harrier): This is one of my favourite covers ever - we went with a Japanese treatment and it worked out just great both artistically and commercially. The feature was one of mine, too. We didn’t get loads of text from Yu Suzuki but I was able to do a bunch of research and produce a feature worth reading. I also got to do a top 25 PC Engine games, and I do love that system. This stands as one of my favourite issues to have worked on.

Issue 146 (Neo Geo): Not my favourite, to be honest. I like the cover but wish I’d done the feature. It did do surprisingly well sales-wise. There was loads of cool stuff in this issue that I’d have loved to have done - Broken Sword, Metal Gear Solid, Dreamcast Minority Report. I did an interview about GRIP, which has just come out, and this was the month Resident Evil 2 Remake was announced. I was pleased to get Maya Pixelskaya in for the A Moment With page. What I actually did was transcribe Darran’s interview with Kevin Toms (he’s very tall) and do a list feature on the best weapons in games, which a reader described as having “read like it was written by a drooling 14 year old boy, getting off on murder porn.“ I don’t much like that reader and didn’t much like that feature.

Issue 147 (Mario Moments): We themed this cover around Nintendo’s official Super Mario Bros 30th anniversary art. We spent ages planning the feature, got multiple people to write it, and the managing director said it looked like we’d put no thought into it whatsoever. I wasn’t happy. I was happy with how my other feature came out, a Mortal Kombat II Ultimate Guide. I interviewed a guy whose nickname was “BARG” - earlier this year I learned from a former colleague that this stood for “Bangs Any Rough Girl”. Lovely. I did the interviews for the Splatterhouse feature in this issue, but it was farmed out to a freelancer. Boo.

Issue 148 (BBC Micro): Ugh. The entire team hates this cover, because it was originally going to be either the SNES, Lords Of Midnight or Gunstar Heroes. The managing director decided that none of these were cover-worthy and put the shitty BBC Micro list feature on the cover instead, which resulted in last-minute puffing up with interviews. Of note: Mike Kennedy talked about the ill-fated Retro VGS here, and I interviewed Ashens. I also did a Classic Moments on Fat Worm Blows A Sparky, a real game I promise I haven’t just made up. Despite not making the cover, I was pleased with how Gunstar Heroes went, especially with the crazy Boss Rush spread. I also got to do the making of Gunblade NY, which you should play if you haven’t - the 3D animations were programmed with joystick and buttons! Ghost Blade on the Dreamcast was the lead review this month, and wasn’t very good. Still better than Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 was though!

Issue 149 (Star Wars): I don’t really like this issue even though it’s not a bad one, because it’s technically counted as one of my covers but I feel awkward about the whole thing. At some point during the cover meeting process, it was decided that Star Wars should go on the cover. The only problem was that the freelancer had already written the piece beforehand, and because we hadn’t considered it as a cover feature, it wasn’t written to that length. This meant that I was drafted in to bulk out the feature and got credited as a co-writer. I’d rather not mess with someone else’s work, though. I also co-wrote a list feature on Star Wars games with the editor, though I really wanted to write the feature on all of Acclaim’s insane publicity stunt bullshit that I’d been pitching for a couple of years. I did at least get to do a GameCube Minority Report which was fun (although again, the main entry was edited from something else Daz had written about it), and I did Pursuit Force as a Future Classic.

Issue 150 (Top 150 Games): Oh my god, this was a monumental effort. We knew we needed to do something special to mark the 150th issue, so we decided to go big. We ran a poll on the greatest games ever. It lasted months, I had to add every vote to an Excel sheet manually, and I did a whole bunch of data analysis that didn’t get used. Shenmue fans got hold of it, too. The resulting feature was 56 pages long - a truly insane length. It took a day and a half just to plan it out, multiple writers to realise it, and many contributions from developers and high profile fans to give it more weight than a standard list feature. I wrote the Ultimate Guide for the #1 game (Super Mario World) and the rest of the issue was filled with features on even more big things. The C64, the long-awaited making of Jet Set Willy (featuring the ever-elusive Matthew Smith), Alexey Pajitnov on Tetris, the making of Resident Evil 4, the history of Nintendo, Sid Meier on Civilization and a bespoke interview feature with Yu Suzuki. We ended up sending this issue at 2:00am on deadline day, and it does have some mistakes as a result. Word Of Warcraft, anyone? Still, it sold really well and was an appropriate milestone celebration.

Issue 151 (Street Fighter II): Oh man, I love this issue - it’s another one of my cover features too. We were trying to think of a way to get Street Fighter on the cover to tie in with Street Fighter V, which meant coming up with a new angle to cover the game from. We came up with the new “legacy” feature - interviewing developers of sequels and rival games in the genre to assess a game’s impact, as well as other figures such as pro players, speedrunners, tournament organisers. It came out well and we’ve revisited the idea since. I did get to interview the dude who did all the old western art for Street Fighter II. Lovely, chatty guy who cites Paul as one of his favourite films. It takes all sorts. Notably, Street Fighter V was really popular in the office up until we realised that the preview build we’d been given was basically the entire launch package. My other big feature for the issue was the top 25 Neo Geo games. This ended up costing me a fuckton of money because it inspired me to buy a Neo Geo MVS, but it was a lot of fun. I also did an N64 Minority Report (how did I have time?!) which caused me to buy Fighters Destiny.

Issue 152 (Wipeout 2097): I’ve always loved TDR’s work on the Wipeout games, and this cover is just beautiful - especially with the metallic effect of the print version. Unfortunately, it didn’t do great at retail. Right cover at the wrong time, I guess - if we’d timed it to coincide with Omega Collection it might have done better. The feature was the work of one of our freelancers. I got to interview Charles Cecil for the main news, he’s great. I did the Ultimate Guide to Turrican II, which isn’t a game I have a huge amount of love for, but the feature came out fine. My other feature was the history of Sega Rally, which I was super excited about - this was considered as a cover but ultimately discarded. Just looking at it again now, our designer did a great job. The Ikari Warriors feature in this issue allowed us to get back in touch with SNK when we asked about artwork, which gave us the access we needed for the Fatal Fury feature a few issues later.

Issue 153 (Sega’s Big Gamble): In retrospect, this is a strange cover. The idea, as I recall, was that Mega Drive stuff sells well and it was the 25th anniversary of the Mega-CD. But then the 32X was added and it all got a bit muddy. I spoke to Steve Lashower, who worked on Star Wars Arcade, plus usual suspects Tom Kalinske and Tom Zito (who seems less spiky with me than most other journalists). My other feature was the Ultimate Guide for Super Monaco GP - a really popular game at the time, but now one of the less celebrated entries in Sega’s long line of great arcade racers. Sega barely acknowledges it either, perhaps because of the cigarette advertising controversy that cost the company a buttload of money. The feature turned out fine, but it’s not one of my favourites ever. Of note: we featured the ZX Spectrum Vega+ here, for what I believe was the last time as the project descended into farce. We won’t touch it now. Also, the letters page featured someone urging us to go to Arcade Club. Over two years later, we finally did.

#retro gamer #nostalgia #magazines

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avaliveradio · 3 years ago

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New Music Release Radar featuring New Singles from Ed Sheeran, Lil Baby and Kid LAROI

NEW PODCAST EPISODE:

Coming up April 27th.

FEATURED LINEUP!

Discover new singles that will blow you away. These new releases are amped up with energy and attitude.

Ed Sheeran and Lil Baby support Ukraine with new single '2step'

Before the video even begins Ed Sheeran blows us away with a personal message in support of Ukraine. The artist filmed the video before the war began and decided to take all of the video royalties and dedicate the money to help those effected by the Russian invasion. The new single just released April 22, 2022 by Ed Sheeran and American rapper little baby called two step has a catchy even groove Put in motion by acoustic guitar.

The Kid LAROI ‘Thousand Miles’ single is a journey through recent relationships

I love an artist with a great sense of humour and Kid LAROI certainly demonstrated that in The music video for his latest single ‘thousand miles. ‘ In my opinion the video takes the single to the next level and gives the audience more context On the songs theme. Kid LeRoy finds himself in a battle against good versus evil in the video and the Australian singer playing both roles brings a new level of levity to what would usually be a bad relationship. The video has the two characters played against each other for the attention of a female. Evil fines brand-new ways to derail the affections of the good LeRoy as he pursues his dream girl only to lose her in the end. Spoiler alert.

Bulow releases an obscure ‘Booty Call’ EP with melancholic undertones

22 year old singer-songwriter Bülow released her first EP in three years. The project is called ‘Booty Call’ and features five tracks exploring themes such as desire trust and betrayal through different lenses. here are many songs that will keep you entertained o

The Song Tailors Neo Pop Soul Release 'Anything For You' featuring Dylan Kline

'Anything for You' is songwriter Ruth Picker's latest release under The Song Tailors brand. She has worked again with singer Dylan Kline from San Diego in another of her global collaborations for which The Song Tailors has become known.

Greg Hoy and The Boys Releases 'Jet Black, Get Back!' Lead Single on New Album

Oakland, California plug-in-and-play rock artist Greg Hoy has blown the cobwebs off the van to tour supporting the 'The Special Party' album release. Lead single 'Jet Black, Get Back!' infuses a classic rock n roll vibe and oozes with an retro fresh attitude.

Daniel Caesar and BADBADNOTGOOD ‘Please Do Not Lean’

An interesting new release to our ears. Toronto powerhouses Daniel Caesar and BADBADNOTGOOD ‘Please Do Not Lean’ sets the tone for what’s to come with a collab blending luscious jazz with juicy warm vocals. The new single is all about knowing your limits before tackling too much. Could this be an introduction to the kind of sound you’re going to hear from this artist during this next chapter of his career?

The Soul Bros 'High Road' ~ San Francisco Jazz Reaches a new level of Soul Funk

A jazz single from San Fransisco group The Soul Bros, ‘High Road’ melts drums, percussion, guitars, keyboards and flute into a monster soul funk groove.

Inspirational New Single Released 'You're With Me' by Cabela and Schmitt

You're With Me’ by songwriting team Cabela and Schmitt opens with a gentle piano and soft harmony. The vocals are lovely with an inspiring message that nourishes and lifts the soul in ways that are so unexpected. I love how this melody surrounded you with a big positive and loving hug. It’s presented in a way that is both spiritual and empathic to the pain of others.

Christian Single 'Giving it Up' by Cabela and Schmitt encourages you to give up your Demons

’Giving it Up’ is a new single about giving up your demons and surrendering to something better in your life. Realizing that if you are willing to open your mind and heart to something bigger and better for your life .

Living Waters 'Alive Again' is a beautiful song that can reach into your soul

This song is something beautiful that can really reach into souls with the Sword of the Spirit. I think we have a ‘flow’ going here! Mike has written a song that is pretty obviously inspired and there is a definite thematic pattern happening in Lajoie & McBride songs. It is a joyful hope & perseverance through real-life trial, fed by the certainty, if we turn to Him, of final victory, at death, in the Lord’s all-powerful Mercy!

Listen on Playlist: The 100 Weekly Fresh Fire:

Every day we update our playlist with fire that you need to hear.

FOLLOW This Playlist:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3beDUCLBnklkqoe4scKjY9?si=5c16ae131ad04e72

#new music monday #release radar

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kpoptimeout · 7 years ago

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Top 10 Most Underrated K-pop Songs of 2017 (Artist Edition)

2017 has come and gone before we knew it.

Continuing with the K-Pop Timeout Tradition (see 2016 Ver) of listing the Top 10 Most Underrated K-Pop Songs because all the other sites are just bothered with the Top 10 that pretty much everyone will have heard of/have fan wars over, below are our top 10 picks of songs that did not rank high but deserves your attention! This is the list for artists’ tracks, so the Top 10 underrated non-idol tracks. Click here for the Top 10 underrated idol tracks. A separate post will also be made for Top 10 underrated K-Drama OSTs later.

Some of the non-idol artists have escaped the list in recent years to stardom (for example ZION.T, CRUSH and MAD CLOWN) so hopefully it happens again!

This is in alphabetic order NOT order of awesomeness because all of them are awesome. Also, all MVs are linked in the song titles because Tumblr won’t let me share that many videos in one post.

The Black Skirts “Who Do You Love”

While being signed to a YG sub-label like HIGHGRND makes things better for The Black Skirts, this one man band has yet to make it big domestically or internationally. “Who Do You Love” is a beautiful track that continues the underrated The Black Skirts sound - orchestral instrumentals with simple alternative rock percussion that mixes with the haunting vocals of Bryan Cho. If you are a huge fan of more haunting Western vocalists like Lana Del Rey and Troye Sivan and like some slow alternative and indie rock like The Drums, Mac DeMarco, and Vampire Weekend, check out The Black Skirts “Who Do You Love”!

Car, The Garden ft. OHHYUK “Island”

Returning to the list again this year, Car, The Garden continues to impress our ears but somehow not the charts in “Island”, featuring trending indie band Hyukoh’s lead singer OHHYUK. With the jazz and soul influences like his earlier stuff, singer-songwriter Car, The Garden delivers a smooth and addictive track perfect for listening to in lounges. Also Car, The Garden’s lighter but soulful voice blends beautifully with OHHYUK’s raspier and deeper voice to create a very layered piece. If you are a fan of Hyukoh and also into jazz and soul, like the works of Scott Bradlee with Postmodern Jukebox, “Island” is the song for you!

G.Soul ft. Hoody “Tequila”

WHY. IS. G.SOUL. SO. UNDERRATED. Hopefully, things are looking up now that the boy has left JYP Entertainment to join fellow former JYP start Jay Park in H1GHR Music Records, as JYP did not seem to know how to promote his artist line well. With many more promotions since leaving JYP, “Tequila” is definitely the best of them - the dancehall instrumental works perfectly with G.Soul’s crazy soulful voice and talented AOMG soloist Hoody’s softer tone also made the already amazing track even better. If you are a fan of Jay Park’s company’s artists or Western alternative RnB and neo-soul artists like Frank Ocean and Miguel, it’s time to check “Tequila” out!

Jannabi “She”

Having been around since 2014 and dropping endless somewhat retro feeling but super touching crooners, the boys are back with another underappreciated and heartwarming track in “She.” You know the old school but the warm feeling you get from listening to Christmas songs? That is what you get from this track. One of the best parts of the song is definitely the end of the song where backing vocals playing with the scales in this way reminiscent of Queen in the “Bohemian Rhapsody”. Seriously lead vocalist Jung Hoon is probably one of the best singers out there, his deep and emotional voice easily playing with the notes throughout the song. If you were a fan of the 80s tracks in Reply 1988 and want a more modern twist of those vibes, check out Jannabi’s “She”!

Jane Jang “Carmin”

While she is revered as an OST Queen, Jane Jang still needs a lot more attention as a solo artist making her own music. Not only is she mad talented, her voice is unique and much needed in K-Pop - a mature drawl that is inviting, attractive, and rare in the scene. Anything she sings just sounds 10 times classier than it already is. And “Carmin” is one classy track, to begin with, sounding like the background music playing in a boutique French café in an arthouse film, with Jane Jang’s vocals making the song all the better. If you like a good track to wind down at the end of the day or easy listening artists like Jon Brion and Pink Martini, this is the song for you!

Jane Jang, GIANTPINK, PERC%NT “Dumb Dumb (Remix)”

The SNOWBALL PROJECT in 2017 was a competition between MYSTIC Entertainment and SM Entertainment where each company needed to remake a certain song from the rival company. While SM’s remake of Yoon Jungshin’s “Rebirth” by Henry and performed by Red Velvet has 4.7 million views, honestly MYSTIC crushed them even though their non-mainstream status meant they only got 400,000 views on Youtube. Not only was the song amazingly produced to the point it shed its previous sound and can straight up be a MYSTIC song. Moreover, the rap of GIANTPINK and PERC%NT is out of this world in flow and power and Jane Jang’s wistful vocals allowed for a whole new interpretation of the “doll-like” concept Red Velvet had during this song. If you are a fan of the cool stuff PRIMARY does with other K-Pop artists, you are going to love this “Dumb Dumb (Remix)”!

Lee Jinah “Random”

After her great run on K-Pop Star 5, I was excited for Lee Jinah’s first mini album under Antenna Music “Random” and the same named title track. And girl did not disappoint. Her unique child-like story-telling voice when singing is great as always and combined with her amazing jazz piano skills we have a wonderful laidback piece of endless fun. And since her “Appetizer” release, Lee Jinah has clearly matured as an artist and I love seeing her continue to explore more in future music! If you are a fan of the quirky pieces of IU and Lim Kim, check out “Random” by Lee Jinah!

NELL X Groovy Room “Today”

NELL is one of the top sunbae rock bands of South Korea but not many people seem to have noticed their amazing collaboration with Groovy Room, the duo producing team that works with Jay Park, ONE, Heize, SISTAR’s Hyorin and so many more! And this EDM infused rock track shows Groovy Room can do a lot more than hip-hop and RnB and that NELL is also going to be evolving continuously with the times. If you are a fan of K-Rock groups like FT ISLAND, and Day6 but also like the anthems from western rock groups like Coldplay, this is the song for you!

Yoon Hyun Sang “Silhouette”

Another underrated K-Pop Star alum, Yoon Hyun Sang from Season 1 continues to grow in FAVE Entertainment (former LOEN Entertainment). From his more Korean Drama OST music at the beginning of his career, he has now moved onto laid-back and mature jazz and bosa nova sound that I am completely down for. Hopefully, more people start showing his music more love too. If you are a fan of Eric Nam and Eddy Kim’s music, it’s time to add Yoon Hyun Sang’s “Silhouette” to your playlist!

Younha ft. pH-1 “Hello”

Younha was once a big name in K-Pop and J-Pop for her ballads but does not seem to be getting as much love since she moved onto a more RnB sound. Which is unfortunate because her new RnB stuff is just as good, if not better. “Hello”, produced by hitmakers Groovy Room, has a catchy water dripping sound acting as the base beat that melds well with the smooth sound of the song. Also, the repeating of the word “Hello” in the chorus and pH-1’s powerful rap gives the song a sense of urgency, making the song sound like it could be the OST for the best K-Drama of the year. If you like stuff by Heize, Suran, and LEE HI, I highly recommend Younha’s “Hello”!

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lunapaper · 7 years ago

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Album Review: ‘Crush’ EP - Ravyn Lenae

Girl meets boy online. Girl flies out to LA to record. Girl and boy create a cut of retro loveliness for the modern age…

Following on from the restless, eclectic soul of her Moon Shoes EP and last year’s Midnight Moonlight, Ravyn Lenae teams up with The Internet’s Steve Lacy – the producer wunderkind who creates beats via his iPhone – for the Chicago singer’s third EP Crush, her most fully-realised effort yet.

Highlight ‘Sticky’ burns with a warm, sultry groove circa 1976 as Lenae channels disco divas Diana Ross and Donna Summer with her swooning falsetto, leaving a shattered heart across a glowing dancefloor while trying to detach herself from a cruel yet irresistible lover (‘You know we're bad together/You don't want this forever/Then I look stupid, call me foolish/But I'll do whatever’). ‘Closer (Ode 2 U)’ recalls the slinky, enigmatic funk of Erykah Badu, the Chicago singer liking how ‘you take me 'round your boys like I'm your girl/I like it when you run your pretty fingers through my curls,’ soon gliding into the swirling, low-key party anthem ‘The Night Song’ as a confident Lenae proclaims ‘I wanna be no one but me/And all I really need is my own company.’

The aptly futuristic ‘Computer Luv’ (featuring Lacy on vocals) gives its slick 90s RnB vibe a flower child twist akin to the earthy sensuality of Midnight Moonlight, Lenae ruminating over a long-distance love over luscious harmonies and the seductive stutter of 808s before ending on the brassy, celestial funk of ‘4 Leaf Clover,’ beneath Lenae’s sweet, sugary vocal lurking a green-eyed monster as she tries to navigate her way through pulsating synths and mixed signals (‘I get jealous/When you don't wanna give this a chance/But then you wanna hold hands/(what do you want?)’).

Ravyn Lenae’s Crush EP shows incredible growth for the just-turned 19 year old as Steve Lacy takes her hazy, sensuous neo-soul to brighter, bolder, even funkier heights, making an impressive team as Lenae enters the big leagues (recently signing with Atlantic Records). No doubt an artist many will be crushing on in 2018…

- Bianca B.

#music #ravyn lenae #crush EP #new #albums #EPs #reviews #Bianca B

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ssunvulcan1981 · 1 year ago

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Team Neo Retro Girls visit to Pasio Beach

Greta, Flannery, Gardenia, Elesa & Nessa go to Beach

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heaven-delight · 7 years ago

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[NEWS] TRANS: “This time it’s R&B.” We’re Happy to See Red Velvet’s Unpredictable Transformation

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[K-Pop Diagnostic] Red Velvet’s Repackage “The Perfect Red Velvet” is an apt name for its contents

[OhmyNews Writer: Kim Sang-Hwa, Editing: Oh Soo-Mi]

From the Editor: “K-Pop Diagnostic” is a corner about the various stories of Korean pop music. We’ll publish colorful stories, such as reviewing popular music or explaining the current trends of the entertainment industry.

Last year, Red Velvet spent one of their busiest years ever by releasing three hits in a row, “Rookie,” “Red Flavor,” and “Peek-A-Boo,” and therefore solidifying their ground as the mainstream girl group.

Through their second full album “Perfect Velvet,” which was released in November 2017, Red Velvet sold the most albums since debut (over 100,000 copies). In the album, futuristic and retro sound were mixed harmoniously, and thus it was able to hit two birdsㅡpopularity and musicalityㅡwith one stone.

Two months after their previous release, Red Velvet started 2018 off with “The Perfect Red Velvet,” which had three new songs added to “Perfect Velvet.” What color of music have these five girlsㅡwhose always shown unpredictable transformations in musicㅡput in this new release?

Another Musical Experiment with R&B Up Front

Unlike “Rookie” and “Red Flavor” where Red Velvet showcased a cute, fresh and bubbly charm, in “Peek-A-Boo,” they took on a new image, first through a horror-movie-like music video, and then also through their beefy music. In the end, this turned out to be a wise decision.

In “The Perfect Red Velvet,” which is an extension of SM’s musical experiment, Red Velvet put on a different style once more. If, in the previous albums, they had a lot of songs with hits of euro-pop in them, this time they incorporated a lot of American R&B from the early 2000s (also known as “neo-soul”). Even though this is a repackaged album with only three new songs, this album feels like a completely different one.

The title song “Bad Boy” depicts a different image of Red Velvet, through a never before heard beat based on trap music and a slow tempo full of grooviness. The Stereotypes, who were in charge of producing Bruno Mars’ “That’s What I Like,” and “24K Magic,” and Yoo Young-Jin participated in this song.

“Bad Boy” is filled with simple but well-crafted sounds that lived up to the fame of the producers. On top of this, the neatly stacked vocal harmony of the five membersㅡwith Wendy in the centerㅡshows great chemistry with each other as always.

The Fun that Comes from Unpredictableness... The Contents Live up to their Name

In the second song “All Right,” like the track “Look” in the previous album, Red Velvet emphasized music with roots in the British pop music of the late 1980 (especially the music of DeBarge) by using cheerful synthesizers and dynamic bass. Those songs also incorporated aspects of disco, dance and funky music perfectly.

Other than that, like “Bad Boy” did, Red Velvet tried their hands on genuine American R&B through “Time to Love.” Through this song, you can fully enjoy Red Velvet’s charm, which has matured along with their years of experience.

After debuting in 2014, Red Velvet entertained our eyes and ears through their unpredictable transformations, which weren’t stuck in just one frame. These witty transformations, which the public can’t even predict, also enabled the group to earn a bewitching charm that made the audience anticipate their music always.

Always trying out a new image instead of extending the previous successful one, can prevent the team from building a certain image. But, these attempts acted positively on Red Velvet and gave them a chance to grow and develop. In that aspect, the name of this new albumㅡ“The Perfect Red Velvet”ㅡshows how confident Red Velvet is about their new songs and about themselves. This is an album that lives up to its name.

#red velvet #rv #red velvet translation #rv translation #rv trans #red velvet trans #t:news #m:mention #e:theperfectredvelvet

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sandhyamodi · 5 years ago

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The Best Movies on Amazon Prime Video in India

Amazon Prime Video's movie acquisitions might not have the same international depth as Netflix, but it's undoubtedly stronger and richer in its local variety, with its titles spanning the Tamil, Telugu, and the Malayalam world of filmmaking in addition to Bollywood. And that's matched with a powerful collection of American imports, to deliver a collection that can more than stand its ground against the world's biggest streaming service. It lacks with its original efforts — a few are present below, for what it's worth — but it's also a lot more affordable at Rs. 999 per year, versus Netflix's Rs. 650 a month. To pick the best movies on Amazon Prime Video, we relied on Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic, and IMDb ratings to create a shortlist. The last of them was preferred for Indian films given the shortfalls of reviews aggregators in that department. Additionally, we used our own editorial judgement to add or remove a few. This list will be updated once every few months if there are any worthy additions or if some movies are removed from the service, so bookmark this page and keep checking in. Here are the best films currently available on Amazon Prime Video in India, sorted alphabetically. 12 Years a Slave (2013) Duped into slavery on the account of a job, Steve McQueen's adaptation of a free New York black man's (Chiwetel Ejiofor) 19th-century memoir is an incredible true story, and an important watch. 3 Idiots (2009) In this satire of the Indian education system's social pressures, two friends recount their college days and how their third long-lost musketeer (Aamir Khan) inspired them to think creatively and independently in a heavily-conformist world. Co-written and directed by Rajkumar Hirani, who stands accused in the #MeToo movement. Agantuk (1991) In Satyajit Ray's last film, a mysterious and world-weary explorer returns to India after 35 years to see his only surviving relative, his niece, but has trouble convincing the family who he claims to be. Aladdin (1992) Disney puts its animation flavour onto the famous folk tale of a street urchin who disguises himself as a wealthy prince after finding a genie in a magic lamp, in an attempt to impress the Sultan's daughter. Amal (2007) After a poor Delhi auto-rickshaw driver (Rupinder Nagra) is named as the sole inheritor by a local billionaire (Naseeruddin Shah) just before his death, he must decide whether to keep it. American Beauty (1999) A depressed advertising executive (Kevin Spacey) in the midst of a midlife crisis falls for his teenage daughter's best friend, in Sam Mendes' satire of American middle-class that ultimately won five Oscars including Best Picture. Anand (1971) Rajesh Khanna stars as the eponymous happy-go-lucky man, who doesn't let his diagnosis of a rare form of cancer get in the way of enjoying what's in front of him. Told from the viewpoint of his doctor friend (Amitabh Bachchan). Hrishikesh Mukherjee directs. Anbe Sivam (2003) Kamal Haasan and R. Madhavan star in this Tamil cult film, in which the two are stranded over a thousand kilometres from home after heavy rain cancels all flights and strike up an unlikely friendship on their way back. Haasan also wrote the script. Andaz Apna Apna (1994) Two slackers (Aamir Khan and Salman Khan) who belong to middle-class families vie for the affections of an heiress, and inadvertently become her protectors from a local gangster in Rajkumar Santoshi's cult comedy favourite.

Ankhon Dekhi (2014) After an eye-opening experience involving his daughter's marriage, a man in his late 50s (Sanjay Mishra) resolves that he won't believe anything he can't see, which naturally leads to some dramatic complications. Aruvi (2016) A social satire from a debutante writer-director, which follows an eponymous young woman (Aditi Balan), who going through a bout of existential crisis, decides to shine a light on the consumerist and misogynistic behaviours in her society. Back to the Future (1985) Not many films come close to the worldwide appeal and legacy left by this sci-fi entry featuring the iconic DeLorean that Michael J. Fox's character uses to (accidentally) time travel to when his parents were his age. Strange then that it didn't get the green light for years. Bajrangi Bhaijaan (2015) The heavily controversial Salman Khan stars as a devout Hindu Brahmin and an ardent devotee of Hanuman, who embarks on a journey to reunite a mute six-year-old Muslim girl, lost in India, with her parents in Pakistan. Kareena Kapoor co-stars. Salman is a convicted poacher, out on bail, and accused of culpable homicide, pending appeal. A Beautiful Mind (2001) The life of John Nash, a brilliant but asocial mathematician, from his spiral into paranoid schizophrenia and working on a secret project he made up, to regaining control over his life and becoming a Nobel Laureate. The Big Sick (2017) Kumail Nanjiani stars as himself in this rom-com loosely based on his romance with his wife, in which an aspiring comedian connects with his girlfriend's parents after she falls into a mysterious coma. Blood Diamond (2006) Set during the Sierra Leone Civil War at the turn of the century, an arms smuggler (Leonardo DiCaprio) promises to help a fisherman (Djimon Hounsou) find his family in exchange for a priceless diamond the latter found in a river. Bombay (1995) Set during the 1992–93 Bombay riots, writer-director Mani Ratnam offers a look at the communal tensions that cause a strain on the relationship between a Muslim woman (Manisha Koirala) and a Hindu man (Arvind Swamy). The Bourne trilogy (2002–07) Technically not a trilogy, but the first three chapters — Identity, Supremacy, and Ultimatum — starring Matt Damon in the lead as the titular CIA assassin suffering from amnesia were so good that they changed the longest-running spy franchise of all-time: James Bond. Brazil (1985) Terry Gilliam blends social satire with his signature visual inventiveness in this dystopian sci-fi set in a retro-future world, which follows a lowly clerk who becomes an enemy of the state after trying to correct an administrative error.

Captain Fantastic (2016) After his bipolar wife suddenly dies, a single father (Viggo Mortensen), who brought up his six children living off the grid and isolated from society, must introduce them to the real world for the first time. Carol (2015) Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara star in this intimate, thoughtful and gorgeous drama about two lesbians living in polar-opposite worlds in 1950s New York, as they navigate societal customs and their own wants. Based on Patricia Highsmith's novel, The Price of Salt. Cast Away (2000) After his plane crash-lands in the Pacific, a FedEx employee (Tom Hanks) wakes up on a deserted island and must use everything at his disposal and transform himself physically to survive living alone. Catch Me If You Can (2002) Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks star in Steven Spielberg's biopic of Frank Abagnale (DiCaprio), who forged millions of dollars' worth of cheques as a teenager, while being pursued by an FBI agent (Hanks). Chak De! India (2007) Ostracised and vilified by the press and public, a former Muslim men's hockey captain (Shah Rukh Khan) plans to redeem himself by coaching the unpolished Indian women's hockey team to glory. Charade (1963) After her husband is murdered while trying to leave Paris, a young woman (Audrey Hepburn) is pursued by three men, who want a fortune he had stolen, and seeks the help of a stranger (Cary Grant). Known as “the best Hitchcock movie that Hitchcock never made”. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) Frequent collaborators Tim Burton and Johnny Depp are behind this ‘remake' of the 1971 original based on Roald Dahl's 1964 book, in which the title character — a young boy (Freddie Highmore) — wins a tour of an imaginative chocolatier's chocolate factory with four other kids. Chhoti Si Baat (1976) This remake of the 1960 British film School for Scoundrels transports the story to then-Bombay, where a meek young man (Amol Palekar) turns to life-coach Colonel (Ashok Kumar) to battle a suave, bold man for the affections of a woman. Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra, and Hema Malini cameo as themselves. Basu Chatterjee directs. Chupke Chupke (1975) Hrishikesh Mukherjee's remake of the Bengali film Chhadmabeshi, in which a newly-wedded husband (Dharmendra) decides to play pranks on his wife's (Sharmila Tagore) supposedly smart brother-in-law, released in the same year as Sholay. Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan also star. Collateral (2004) Tom Cruise plays a hitman who takes a taxi driver, played by Jamie Foxx, hostage in Michael Mann's neo-noir crime thriller, in which the latter must figure out how to stop the former. The Conjuring (2013) A pair of paranormal investigators (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) are hired by a family who have been experiencing increasingly disturbing events at their farmhouse, in this effective horror from James Wan.

Crazy Rich Asians (2018) Based on the novel of the same name, a Chinese-American professor travels halfway around the world to Singapore to meet her boyfriend's extremely-rich family, where she must contend with weird relatives, jealous socialites, and the boyfriend's disapproving mother (Michelle Yeoh). A Death in the Gunj (2016) In Konkona Sen Sharma's feature-length directorial debut, a shy and sensitive Indian student (Vikrant Massey) pays a heavy price for his gentleness, while on a road trip with his conceited relatives and family friends. Ranvir Shorey, Kalki Koechlin star alongside. The Death of Stalin (2017) Veep creator Armando Iannucci approaches this momentous occasion in the history of Russia through the lens of black comedy and political satire, depicting the power struggles that ensued following the titular dictator's death in 1953. Jeffrey Tambor, who stars, stands accused in the #MeToo movement. Dil Chahta Hai (2001) Farhan Akhtar's directorial debut about three inseparable childhood friends whose wildly different approach to relationships creates a strain on their friendship remains a cult favourite. Aamir Khan, Saif Ali Khan, and Preity Zinta star. Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995) Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol's characters fall in love during a trip to Europe with their friends in this now iconic film — which is still playing over two decades later in a single-screen Mumbai theatre — but face hurdles as the woman's conservative father has promised her hand in marriage to someone else. Dum Laga Ke Haisha (2015) After a court order mandates a video cassette store owner and an RSS volunteer (Ayushmann Khurrana) and a plus-sized teacher-in-training (Bhumi Pednekar) to salvage their failing marriage, the two begin to put themselves in each other's shoes, before deciding to take part in a piggyback race. Won a National Award. Ee. Ma. Yau (2018) A son struggles to organise the grand burial he promised his dad in this Malayalam-language black comedy that's largely shot in natural light. Lijo Jose Pellissery directs. The Exorcist (1973) One of the greatest horror films of all time, that has left a lasting influence on the genre and beyond, is about the demonic possession of a 12-year-old girl and her mother's attempts to save her with the help of two priests who perform exorcisms. Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) Roald Dahl's children's novel about a fox who steals food from three mean and wealthy farmers gets the stop-motion treatment from Wes Anderson, featuring the voices of George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray, Willem Dafoe, and Michael Gambon. Fight Club (1999) Brad Pitt and Edward Norton star in this cult hit from David Fincher, about a white-collared insomniac disappointed with his capitalistic lifestyle, who forms an underground fight club with a devil-may-care soapmaker, which evolves into something much more.

Forrest Gump (1994) A slow-witted but kind-hearted man (Tom Hanks) takes part in a series of defining events of the second half of the 20th century in the US, while pining for his childhood love. Forushande (2016) Oscar-winner Asghar Farhadi uses Arthur Miller's play “Death of a Salesman” as his story within a story, to depict thematic parallels with the deteriorating relationship of an Iranian couple after an assault on the wife. The husband wants to find out who the attacker is against her wishes, while she deals with post-trauma stress. Gangs of Wasseypur (2012) Inspired by the 2008 Tamil-language film Subramaniapuram, Anurag Kashyap concocts a gangster epic that blends politics, vengeance, and romance as it looks at the power struggles between three crime families in and around the Jharkhand city of Dhanbad, the epicentre of the coal mafia. Ghare Baire (1984) Based on Rabindranath Tagore's novel of the same name, and set in the chaotic aftermath of the partition of Bengal, writer-director Satyajit Ray tells the story of a woman married to a forward-thinking man whose lives are upended by the appearance of the husband's radical friend. Ghostbusters (1984) A bunch of eccentric paranormal enthusiasts start a ghost-catching business in New York, and then stumble upon a plot to wreak havoc by summoning ghosts. Gave birth to one of the most iconic song lyrics in history. Gladiator (2000) Winner of five Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Russell Crowe, this Ridley Scott-directed film tells a moving story of a Roman general (Crowe) who loses everything — his family and rank —to end up as a slave and then seeks vengeance on the perpetrator (Joaquin Phoenix). The Godfather (1972) In what is considered one of the greatest films of all-time, an aging leader (Marlon Brando) of a New York mafia transfers control of his empire to his youngest son (Al Pacino), who goes from a reluctant outsider to a ruthless boss. The Godfather Part II (1974) Francis Ford Coppola's follow-up to his original, centering on Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) at the top of the pecking order while offering a look back at his father's (Robert De Niro) past, is considered by some to be better than its predecessor. Gol Maal (1979) A chartered accountant (Amol Palekar), with a knack for singing and acting, falls deep down the rabbit hole after lying to his boss that he has a twin, in this Hrishikesh Mukherjee comedy. Gone Girl (2014) Based on Gillian Flynn's best-selling novel and directed by David Fincher, a confounded husband (Ben Affleck) becomes the primary suspect in the sudden mystery disappearance of his wife (Rosamund Pike).

Gravity (2013) Two US astronauts, a first-timer (Sandra Bullock) and another on his final mission (George Clooney), are stranded in space after their shuttle is destroyed, and then must battle debris and challenging conditions to return home. Gully Boy (2019) An aspiring, young street rapper (Ranveer Singh) from the slums of Mumbai sets out to realise his dream, while dealing with the complications that arise out of his personal life and the socioeconomic strata to which he belongs. Zoya Akhtar directs, and Alia Bhatt stars alongside. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) Alfonso Cuarón stepped behind the camera for what many consider to be the best Harry Potter film, as the boy who lived enters his third year at Hogwarts, and is told that Sirus Black, an escapee from the wizarding world prison Azkaban, is after his life. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) Working off the tone set by Alfonso Cuarón, the fourth entry in the series finds the titular chosen one pulled into an inter-school magical tournament, while battling the disturbing visions and the aching pain that stem from his forehead scar. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011) In this final thrilling chapter, the famous trio — Harry, Ron, and Hermione — face a race against time to find and destroy Voldemort's remaining Horcruxes, while the students and teachers of Hogwarts unite to defend the school. Heat (1995) Al Pacino and Robert De Niro star on opposite sides of the law — the former a detective, the latter a thief — in Michael Mann's stylistic crime drama, with a group of bank robbers planning a heist unaware the police are onto them. Hera Pheri (2000) Unemployed and struggling with money, a landlord and his two tenants (Paresh Rawal, Akshay Kumar, and Sunil Shetty) chance on a ransom phone call and plan to collect the ransom for themselves in this remake of the 1989 Malayalam film Ramji Rao Speaking. How to Train Your Dragon (2010) Brought up in a world where Vikings have a tradition of being dragon slayers, a young teenager becomes an unlikely friend with a young dragon and learns there may be more to the creatures than everyone thinks. The Hurt Locker (2008) Best picture winner at the Oscars, a new leader (Jeremy Renner) of a bomb disposal squad surprises his subordinates with his views and reckless approach to the job in the Iraqi capital. Kathryn Bigelow became first woman to win best director. Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) Directed by Steven Spielberg off a story by George Lucas, an eponymous archaeologist (Harrison Ford) travels the world and battles a group of Nazis while looking for a mysterious artefact, in what is now often considered as one of the greatest films of all-time.

Into The Wild (2007) Based on Jon Krakauer's nonfiction book, Sean Penn goes behind the camera to direct the story of a top student and athlete who gives up all possessions and savings to charity, and hitchhikes across America to live in the Alaskan wilderness. Iruvar (1997) Aishwarya Rai made her acting debut with a dual supporting role in Mani Ratnam's biographical film, which is inspired by the real-life rivalry of 1980s Tamil Nadu political icons M.G. Ramachandran (Mohanlal) and M. Karunanidhi (Prakash Raj). Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro (1983) In this satire of politics, bureaucracy, and the media, two photographers (Naseeruddin Shah and Ravi Baswani) inadvertently capture a murder while trying to expose the rich. A Mahabharata dramatisation in the third act is a renowned highlight. JFK (1991) When a New Orleans district attorney (Kevin Costner) tries to unearth the mystery and possibly conspiracy behind the assassination of former US President John Kennedy, he's faced with considerable pressure from the government. Tommy Lee Jones, Gary Oldman co-star. Oliver Stone directs. Jurassic Park (1993) It might be over 25 years old at this point but watching the very first Jurassic film from Steven Spielberg — based on Michael Crichton's novel, which he co-adapted — is a great way to remind yourself why the new series, Jurassic World, has no idea why it's doing. Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959) Guru Dutt directed and starred in what is regarded as one of the greatest films of all time, about a famous director (Dutt) who casts an unknown woman (Waheeda Rehman) in his next film, and the opposing trajectories of their careers thereon. Kannathil Muthamittal (2002) Upon learning that she is adopted, a young girl embarks on a journey across civil war-ravaged Sri Lanka to find her biological mother who is part of the revolutionaries. Mani Ratnam directs. The King of Comedy (1982) In Martin Scorsese's overlooked satire of celebrity worship and media culture, an aspiring comic (Robert De Niro) stalks his late-night talk show idol to earn a big break, and then kidnaps him when things don't work out. Kumbalangi Nights (2019) Four brothers who share a love-hate relationship stand behind one of their own in matters of the heart in this Malayalam-language family drama that explores masculinity with nuance and in detail. Directorial debut of Madhu C. Narayanan. Kung Fu Panda (2008) After an obese kung fu enthusiast panda is supposedly mistakenly chosen as the Dragon Warrior to fight an impending threat, he is unwillingly taught by an elderly master and his students who have been training for years.

L.A. Confidential (1997) As corruption brews in post-war Los Angeles, three police officers — one sordid (Kevin Spacey), one brutal (Russell Crowe) and one moralistic (Guy Pearce) — investigate a series of murders in their own way, and form an uneasy alliance. Spacey stands accused in the #MeToo movement. Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006) In this sequel to the 2003 original (also on the list), the Mumbai underworld don (Sanjay Dutt) starts to live by the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi to impress a radio jockey (Vidya Balan) he's smitten with. Some felt it dumbed down Gandhism. Co-written and directed by Rajkumar Hirani, who stands accused in the #MeToo movement. The Legend of Bhagat Singh (2002) Ajay Devgn plays the titular socialist revolutionary and freedom fighter in writer-director Rajkumar Santoshi's biopic, which follows Singh — and later his associates, Shivaram Rajguru, Sukhdev Thapar, and Chandra Shekhar Azad — from the Jallianwala Bagh massacre to the bombing of Parliament House. Some did not like its treatment of Gandhi. The Lego Movie (2014) An ordinary, rules-following Lego minifigure (Chris Pratt) is mistakenly identified as the most extraordinary person and the key to saving the world from an evil tyrant, for which he is hilariously underprepared. It spawned the hit single, "Everything Is Awesome". Lipstick Under My Burkha (2016) Denied for a release for six months, this black comedy centres on four women in small town India who set out on a journey to discover freedom and happiness in a conservative society. The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-2003) Peter Jackson brought J.R.R. Tolkien's expansive Middle-Earth to life in these three three-hour epics, which charts the journey of a meek hobbit (Elijah Wood) and his various companions, as they try to stop the Dark Lord Sauron by destroying the source of his power, the One Ring. Maanagaram (2017) Crises befall a few youngsters — a cab driver, a BPO interviewee, and a hot-headed lover — whose lives are interlinked after they arrive in a big city in this Tamil-language thriller. Feature-length debut for writer-director Lokesh Kanagaraj. Manichitrathazhu (1993) In this Malayalam-language psychological thriller classic, a young wife (Shobana) is possessed by the spirit of a vengeful dancer after she opens a locked room in their new haunted mansion. To help get rid of it, the husband's psychiatrist friend (Mohanlal) suggests an unusual cure. Mean Girls (2004) Tina Fey's cult hit teen comedy follows a home-schooled 16-year-old (Lindsay Lohan) who's an instant hit with A-list girl clique at her new school, until she makes the mistake of falling for the ex-boyfriend of the clique's alpha.

Men in Black (1997) Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones star as two agents of an eponymous secret organisation, whose job is to monitor extraterrestrial life on Earth and hide their presence from humans, using neuralysers to erase memories if need be. Mera Naam Joker (1970) By far the longest film on this list with a four-hour runtime, this semi-autobiographical take on director, producer, and lead star Raj Kapoor's own life is about a circus clown (Kapoor) who must make his audience laugh no matter how unhappy he is within. Told in three chapters, it features three women — Simi Garewal, Kseniya Ryabinkina, and Padmini — who shaped his world. Negatively received upon release, it later underwent a critical revaluation. Minority Report (2002) Steven Spielberg loosely adapts Philip K. Dick's short story of a future where a special police unit can catch criminals before a crime is committed thanks to a technology, and what happens when an officer from that unit (Tom Cruise) is himself accused of a murder. Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011) After the agency he works for is wrongly implicated in the bombing of the Kremlin, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and a new team are forced to go rogue and clear their employer's name in this fourth entry of the franchise. Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015) With the organisation he works for disbanded and his country after him, Hunt (Cruise) races against time to prove the existence of the schemers pulling the strings in this fifth chapter. Introduced Rebecca Ferguson to the franchise. Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018) In what is arguably the best entry in the franchise yet — sixth, if you're counting — intelligence agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) & Co. set off on a globe-trotting adventure from Europe to Kashmir, to retrieve three plutonium cores from the hands of terrorists. Henry Cavill joins the fun. Moneyball (2011) Based on the true story of Oakland Athletics and manager Billy Beane (Brad Pitt), it follows the latter's attempts to build a competitive team by relying solely on statistical analysis, with help from a Yale graduate (Jonah Hill). Munich (2005) After a Palestinian terrorist group kills 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, the latter's government launches a secret retaliation, tasking five men to hunt and kill those responsible for the massacre. Steven Spielberg directs, based on a true story. Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. (2003) After his parents find out he has been pretending to be a doctor, a good-natured Mumbai underworld don (Sanjay Dutt) tries to redeem himself by enrolling in a medical college, where his compassion brushes up against the authoritarian dean (Boman Irani). Co-written and directed by Rajkumar Hirani, who stands accused in the #MeToo movement. Mustang (2015) Set in a remote Turkish village, this debut feature by a Turkish-French director depicts the lives of five young orphaned sisters and the challenges they face growing up in a conservative society.

Nayakan (1987) Inspired by The Godfather — though good luck getting writer-director Mani Ratnam to admit it — and the life of Bombay (now Mumbai) crime boss Varadarajan Mudaliar, it depicts and the life and death of Velu (Kamal Haasan) who becomes a gangster and builds an empire. Newton (2017) Winner of the National Award for best Hindi film, in which Rajkummar Rao stars as a government clerk who tries to run a free and fair election in the Naxal-controlled conflict-ridden jungles of India. Once Upon A Time in America (1984) Spanning four decades, Sergio Leone's final sprawling film about a kid in a Jewish slum (Robert De Niro) who rises to prominence in New York's world of organised crime remains one of the greatest gangster films of all-time. Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood (2019) Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, and Margot Robbie lead the ensemble cast of Quentin Tarantino's “fairy tale tribute” to the waning days of Hollywood's golden age, which follows an ageing actor (DiCaprio) and his long-time friend and stunt double (Pitt) as they navigate a changing industry. Padosan (1968) Sunil Dutt, Saira Banu, Mehmood, and Kishore Kumar star in this remake of the 1952 Bengali film Pasher Bari, about a young man (Dutt) who falls in love with his new neighbour (Banu) and then enlists the help of his singer-actor friend (Kumar) to woo her away from her music teacher (Mehmood). Pariyerum Perumal (2018) An idealistic young man from a poor, oppressed caste family strikes a friendship with a much wealthier female classmate at law school in this Tamil-language film, earning him the wrath of her relatives and the society at large. Debut for writer-director Mari Selvaraj. Peranbu (2019) After his wife abandons him and their cerebral palsy daughter for another man, a single father (Mammooty) working as a cab driver in Dubai must return home and raise his only kid, while on the brink of homelessness. Pinjar (2003) Based on Amrita Pritam's Punjabi novel of the same name and set in the years before and after the Partition, a Hindu woman (Urmila Matondkar) returns to her Muslim kidnapper (Manoj Bajpayee) after she's disowned by her family upon escaping. Won a National Award. The Prestige (2006) After a tragic accident, two fellow magicians (Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale) turn bitter enemies in this thriller from Christopher Nolan, and engage in a battle to create the ultimate illusion, while sacrificing everything they have. Prisoners (2013) After his daughter and her friend are kidnapped, a father (Hugh Jackman) takes matters into his own hands while the police methodically track down multiple leads, getting himself into trouble. Jake Gyllenhaal co-stars. Pyaasa (1957) Guru Dutt directed and starred in this classic set in then-Calcutta which follows a struggling, anguished poet named Vijay (Dutt) who is unable to get recognition for his work until he meets Gulab (Waheeda Rehman), a prostitute with a heart of gold. Raazi (2018) Based on the real-life events depicted in Harinder Sikka's 2008 novel “Calling Sehmat”, Alia Bhatt stars as an undercover Kashmiri RAW agent who marries into a Pakistani military family to spy on the enemy prior to and during the 1971 Indo-Pak War. Some critics found it improbable.

The Report (2019) An idealistic government investigator (Adam Driver) uncovers shocking secrets as he dives into the CIA's post-9/11 use of “enhanced interrogation techniques” — in simpler words, torture — and faces severe pushback from those in the know. Roja (1992) Before Dil Se.. and Bombay, Mani Ratnam's exploration of human relationships against the backdrop of politics began with this Tamil-language film, about a newly-wed woman who moves to Kashmir and struggles to find her husband after he is kidnapped by Kashmiri separatists. Rosemary's Baby (1968) In this psychological horror based on Ira Levin's best-selling novel, a young pregnant woman (Mia Farrow) suspects an evil cult — involving her neighbours — wants to take her baby for use in their rituals. Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam (1962) Based on Bimal Mitra's similarly-titled 1953 Bengali novel and set during the fall of British Raj feudalism, a part-time servant (Guru Dutt) develops a close, platonic bond with the ignored, lonely wife (Meena Kumari) of an aristocrat (Rehman). Waheeda Rehman also stars. Sankarabharanam (1980) Winner of four National Awards, a classical music legend faces ruin in this Telugu-language drama owing to changing music trends and the unexpected bond he forms with a prostitute's daughter, who is driven into exceptional circumstances. Saving Private Ryan (1998) In Steven Spielberg's World War II drama, while war rages on in Normandy, an army captain (Tom Hanks) is given the task of searching for a particular private (Matt Damon), whose three brothers have already been killed. Searching (2018) Told entirely through screens — computers and smartphones — a father (John Cho) breaks into his teenage daughter's laptop after she goes missing and detectives are unable to find a single lead. A Separation (2011) Asghar Farhadi's Oscar-winning drama follows an Iranian middle-class couple, whose 14-year-old marriage begins to dissolve after they reach a crossroads over the wife's wishes to leave the country and the husband's concerns for his elderly Alzheimer's father. Sholay (1975) Not many films have a level of prominence in popular Indian culture that is enjoyed by this fine example of “Curry Western”, which blends real-life elements with the works of Akira Kurosawa and Sergio Leone. Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra, Hema Malini, Sanjeev Kumar, and Jaya Bhaduri (now Bachchan) star. Shutter Island (2010) Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese collaborate for this adaptation of Dennis Lehane's 2003 novel, about two US Marshals (DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo) investigating the disappearance of a criminally-insane patient, who was imprisoned for drowning her three children. Siddharth (2013) After a poor Delhi man's (Rajesh Tailang) 12-year-old son goes missing while away on work hundreds of kilometres away in Punjab, he sets out across the country to find him, fearing he's been trafficked.

Spider-Man 2 (2004) In what many consider the best Spider-Man movie of all-time, Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) can't catch a break. He loses his job, his powers, and the love of his life Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst). And his best friend (James Franco) is out for Spider-Man's blood to avenge the death of his father. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) Drawn with a mix of computer-generated and hand-drawn art, Miles Morales is drawn into an inter-dimensional conflict soon after he's bit by a spider and gains superpowers, pushing him to team up to save the multiverse. Set for a 2022 sequel. A Star Is Born (2018) Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga star in this latest — fourth, if you're counting — remake of the 1937 classic tale, of an alcoholic fading star (Cooper) meeting and discovering a future star (Gaga). Cooper marks his directorial debut. Star Trek (2009) J.J. Abrams reboots the Trek film franchise by taking it into an alternate reality, where the young Kirk and Spock aboard USS Enterprise must combat a determined enemy from the future, who's creating black holes to destroy planets one by one. Sully (2016) The true story of the 2009 emergency plane landing on New York's Hudson River gets the everyday-hero treatment from Clint Eastwood, focusing on the pilot's (Tom Hanks) heroics and the subsequent investigation that tried to paint him otherwise. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) Arnold Schwarzenegger returns as the android, now reprogrammed and sent back in time (again) to protect a younger version of a resistance leader, in James Cameron's sequel to the original that is considered one of the greatest films of all time. Thalapathi (1991) Mani Ratnam directs this Tamil-language crime drama loosely based on Karna and Duryodhana's friendship from Mahabharata, in which everything changes for a slum-dwelling orphan (Rajinikanth) who's taken under the wing of a local gang lord (Mammooty) with the arrival of a new district magistrate. Tumbbad (2018) While looking for a secret treasure in a village in 20th-century Maharashtra, a man and his son face the consequences of building a temple for a legendary demon who's not supposed to be worshipped in this psychological horror film. Unda (2019) Based on a true story, a nine-man Kerala police unit (Mammootty among them) must ensure peaceful elections in the Maoist-prone areas of Chhattisgarh with an insufficient number of bullets — unda is Malayalam for “bullet”. Vaastav: The Reality (1999) Loosely based on the life of Mumbai gangster Chhota Rajan, a young man (Sanjay Dutt) from the ghettos accidentally murders someone, which leads him into a life of crime where he swiftly climbs up the ladder — before launching into a spiral. Virus (2019) Set against the backdrop of the 2018 Nipah virus outbreak in the Indian state of Kerala, individuals from various walks of life come together to contain its spread in this gripping Malayalam-language thriller. Parvathy, Tovino Thomas, and Revathi star. Whiplash (2014) An ambitious young drummer (Miles Teller) is pushed to his limits and beyond by an abusive instructor (J.K. Simmons) in what became writer-director Damien Chazelle's breakthrough. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) Leonardo DiCaprio stars as a real-life stockbroker who swindled over $100 million from buyers and scammed his way to the top, before he was caught and charged with fraud, corruption, and money laundering. Martin Scorsese directs, in ways that were accused of glorifying its protagonist's reprehensible actions. Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011) Hrithik Roshan, Farhan Akhtar, and Abhay Deol star as three childhood friends who set off on a bachelor trip across Spain, which becomes an opportunity to heal past wounds, combat their worst fears, and fall in love with life. Source link Read the full article

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letdecemberburninflames · 8 years ago

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Whack-A-Nazi

Fic Type: Winchester Sister!Reader

Warnings: mentions of Neo Nazism, minor violence, blood, mention of school shooting

Song: Pumped up Kicks by Foster the People

I roll out of bed, a yawn slipping through my lips as I stretch. Throwing on some clothes (a flannel shirt, jeans, the usual) I walk down the winding hallways and into the kitchen where Dean was cooking breakfast.

“Morning, Sleeping Beauty.” Dean hands me a plate with bacon and some eggs. “There’s orange juice in the fridge.”

“Thanks, Dean.” I peck him on the cheek before pouring myself a glass of orange juice and making my way to the library, where I knew my other brother would be slaving away. The only person we were missing was Castiel. He was gone, and we hadn’t heard from him in months. Yeah, I was worried. But I also knew that Cas could handle himself, and that if he needed help he’d ask. Hopefully. It had been stressful, between meeting Henry Winchester, my grandfather, and finding out about the Men of Letters, I had had a very busy few months. But, we finally had a place to call home. The Bunker. Sure, we had a minor problem. Abaddon, a Knight of Hell. She was a bitch, but not exactly a major problem at the moment. I mean, she wasn’t causing any mass destruction, so it wasn’t high on our to-do list. Not that we weren’t hunting her. Of course, Kevin was still busy trying to figure out a way to close the Gates of Hell forever.

I sat down next to Sam, taking a drink of my orange juice.

“So get this,” Sam looks up from his computer screen. “Apparently, this high schooler, Timothy Byrnes, from Arlington, Virginia shot up a three of his classmates at school.”

“And?” I ask through a mouthful of bacon.

Sam rolls his eyes. “And, all these kids had something in common. The three kids he shot all had the same brand of shoes, Air Jordan 3 Retro Soulfly’s. They’re about $7,000 on Ebay.”

I sigh. “How is this our kind of thing? How do we know he just didn’t want the money?” I put down my fork and scoot closer to peer at Sam’s computer screen.

“Because he didn’t need the money.” Sam’s fingers flicked across the keyboard. “Timothy Byrnes’ family owns almost half of Apple in stock. He could’ve just as easily bought the shoes himself. On top of that, he’s a straight A student with an immaculate record. Real mild-mannered, from what it looks like. But here’s the kicker. Mr. Byrnes is a real big World War II history buff, and apparently likes collecting antiques from that time period.”

I grin. “Sounds like we’ve got a case.”

---

“Mrs. Byrnes, I’m agent Natalie Ackerman and this is agent Keith Banner. We’d just like to ask you a few questions about your son.” I flashed my fake FBI badge to the woman who strongly reminded me of Mrs. Dursley from Harry Potter.

“Yes, yes of course.” Mrs. Byrnes opened the door wider and invited me and Sam in. Dean was off investigating the crime scene and interrogating Timothy, leaving Sam and I to do some sleuthing of our own.

Mrs. Byrnes was tall and skinny with brown hair and a pale, pointed face. Behind her stood a little girl, who she promptly shooed off saying, “Abby, mommy has to talk with these nice agents. Why don’t you play in your room for a while?”. She had the posture of a pencil, and would’ve been quite intimidating if it wasn’t for the fact that she was dressed in Bugs Bunny pajama pants and looked like a disgruntled emu. The Byrnes residence was more or less a mansion, probably an inheritance from a wealthy uncle. Mrs. Byrnes led us into a living room with a grand piano and motioned for us to sit.

“I’m so sorry, the house is such a mess. I’ve been meaning to call the cleaning lady, but just haven’t gotten around to it.” She sat down on a white silk couch opposite of my brother and I.

I tried not to gape at the huge crystal chandelier hanging above us. “It’s quite alright, Mrs. Byrnes-”

“Please call me Janet.” She smiled warmly.

“You have a lovely house, Janet.” I complimented. It never hurt to butter people up a bit before you roasted them.

“Thank you, I inherited it from father.” She smiled warmly at us.

“Janet. If you don’t mind, my associate would like to look around Timothy’s room?” I motioned to Sam.

“That’s no problem, dear. Just up the stairs and down the hall, fifth door on the right. On the left is his game room, if you’d like to look in there as well.” Janet motioned to a grand staircase just visible through the wide doorway. Sam nodded and excused himself.

“Janet, did you notice anything odd about your son’s behavior before the shooting? Maybe a drop in grades, less appetite than usual, bouts of anger?”

Mrs. Byrnes’ brow furrowed. “No, not that I can recall. I mean, he’s always been a bit strange. He’s very smart you know- took all the AP classes, was in chess club, the debate team, mathletes group, TAG programs.” She gestured to a glass case by the fireplace full of trophies and photos and letters from the mayor, governor, and president. “He was very upset when his father wasn’t able to make it to his birthday last week…”

I looked up from scribbling notes as she paused. “Go on.” I encouraged.

Mrs. Byrnes took a watery breath. “My husband, James, is on a business trip in Germany currently. He was supposed to be home a matter of weeks ago, before Timothy’s birthday, but he wasn’t able to make it, something about a business transaction mishap. He sent him a lovely phonograph for him to play his vinyl record collection on, though.”

“Uh huh. So, anything else odd? Maybe cold spots, traces of sulfur or-”

Mrs. Byrnes’ eyes narrowed. “Are you asking if my son was involved in the Occult?”

I swallowed hard. It wasn’t every day that people knew what we were talking about when we mentioned demonic omens and signs of hauntings. “Uh…”

Mrs. Byrnes lowered her voice and leaned closer to me, covering her mouth with her hand so no one could read her lips. “Meet me at the Blue Cafe at one.” She sat back up and resumed her normal demeanor. “No, nothing like that. In fact, I’m insulted that you’d suggest such a thing.” Her voice was icy and stuck up.

“Right... well my partner should be finished by now. Would you mind if I went up to Timothy’s room and looked around a bit before we leave?”

Janet sighed exasperatedly, as if I was wasting her time. “I suppose. But make it quick, I have to go down to the juvenile detention center in an hour. My son has been given the death penalty.”

---

I peeked into the fifth room on the right to see Sam digging through a box of records. “Find anything?” I asked. Timothy Byrnes’ bedroom looked just like every other high school boy’s bedroom: messy. A half eaten box of pizza sat on the desk, along with stacks of calculus books and classic literature like Gulliver’s Travels. A Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 poster was hanging on the wall, next to a Sports Illustrated calendar featuring a bikini-clad model. Shoved up against one wall was a flat screen TV and almost every XBox game in existence.

“Other than a stash of Playboy magazines and enough A+ homework assignments to choke a dragon? Nothing.” Sam tossed me a record. “I did find this.”

“Hey, I know this band!” I examined the vinyl record. “Okay, but what does a Foster the People record have to do with a school shooting?”

“I don’t think it’s got anything to do with the record so much as the record player. Come look at this thing. It’s gotta be from the 1940’s.” Sam motioned to the old phonograph perched precariously on top of a stack of comic books.

“Yeah, didn’t you say Mr. Byrnes was a huge WWII fanatic?” I trace my finger along the tone arm.

“Yeah… How about you? What’d you find out from Mrs. Byrnes?” Sam took the record from me, slid it back into its sleeve, and dropped it back into a box full of vinyls.

“Not much. Just what we already know; he’s a great kid, super smart, etc. She started acting really weird when I mentioned demonic omens though. Like, she knew about the sulfur thing. She told me to meet her at this place called the Blue Cafe at one.”

Sam glanced over to me. “Seriously? That’s kinda suspicious.”

I rolled my eyes. “Thanks, Captain Obvious.”

“You’re welcome, Lieutenant Sarcastic.”

---

At one o’clock sharp I showed up at the Blue Cafe in downtown Arlington. Sure enough, Janet Byrnes was sitting at an outdoor table reading the latest edition of Vogue.

“Mrs. Byrnes.” I nod a greeting and take the seat opposite her.

“Agent Ackerman, thank you for coming on such short notice. I’m sorry for the cryptic invitation, but I can never be too careful, especially with my husband…” She shook her head. “Would you like anything to drink? My treat.”

“Yeah, sure. A beer sounds great.”

“It’s my husband, Agent. He’s… Well he’s very secretive to say the least. I believe he had something to do with my son murdering those three boys.”

I thanked the waiter for my beer and took a sip. “How so?”

Janet looked around nervously. “I have reason to believe he may be a part of a cult.” She ran a finger along the rim of her martini glass. “James’ family, well his ancestors were Nazis. That’s why he’s so interested in the history and collecting artifacts, but I think he’s gotten into more than just the history. He’s a member of the American Nazi Party.”

---

“American Nazi Party, huh?” Dean sipped his beer.

Sam’s eyes were glued to his computer screen. “Yeah, I learned about that in high school. It supposedly started here in Arlington, Virginia in the sixties. Big on socialism and white power.”

“But what does that have to do with a clean cut kid shooting up three of his classmates with $7,000 shoes?” Dean asked.

I shrugged. “Beats me. Mrs. Byrnes thinks that it was some sort of initiation for the ANP, but her husband’s off in Germany right now, so I don’t know…” I reached over to turn on the radio next to Sam’s elbow. Music usually helped me think.

All the other kids with the pumped up kicks

You better run, better run, outrun my gun

All the other kids with the pumped up kicks

You better run, better run, faster than my bullet

“SAM!” I yelled as the lyrics hit me, slamming my hand down hard on the motel table.

“Jesus fucking Christ Y/N, what the hell is it?” A startled Sam Winchester eyed me like I’d lost my mind.

“The record! Sammy, the record!”

“Yeah, what about it?” Sam looked confused and Dean shot us both a look that clearly told me he thought we were crazy.

“The vinyl album in Timothy’s room. The album, Torches, is the album that this song is on.”

“And?” Dean’s eyebrow was raised, and I could tell that he was wondering what drugs I had taken.

“Listen,” I turned up the radio volume as the chorus of the song played again.

All the other kids with the pumped up kicks

You better run, better run, outrun my gun

All the other kids with the pumped up kicks

You better run, better run, faster than my bullet

“Shit.” Sam ran a hand through his hair. “You can’t be serious.”

“Okay guys, what’d I miss?” Dean asked, still puzzled.

“This song, Pumped Up Kicks, is by a band called Foster the People. Timothy Byrnes had an album by this band with this song on it. It was on a record player in his bedroom. I’m not sure if you were listening to the lyrics, but the song is about a school shooting where this kid with a father who’s gone a lot goes after some kids with “pumped up kicks”, in other words, really high end shoes.” I grinned. “Cursed object.”

“Okay,” Dean took another swig of beer. “But what does this have to do with the Neo-Nazi thing?”

Sam shrugged, closing his laptop. “Probably nothing. The mom’s just in hysterics because her kid did just kill three students. She’s probably looking for a outlet, some explanation as to why her kid just acted up and just happened to affiliate her husband’s love of WWII history and the fact that they live in Arlington to the murders. When really it’s just a cursed vinyl that made him go Charles Manson on his classmates.”

Dean put his beer in the fridge. “Makes sense. Let’s go smash some records.”

---

Three hours later, the Foster the People album was burned and we were on our way back to Lawrence, Kansas when we got a call from the police station where Dean had interrogated Timothy Byrnes. Apparently, his little seven year old sister, Abby Byrnes (the little girl I had seen with her mother when I first visited the Byrnes residence) had jumped off the top of a bank building on Williamsburg Boulevard in Arlington. Nobody knew how she got up there, only that she had gone to the bank with her mother, only to disappear. When they found her again, she was nothing but a blood splatter on the pavement.

---

After talking with the local sheriff at the crime scene, Sam pulled Dean and I aside. “So apparently it wasn’t the Foster the People album.”

I shook my head. “Yeah, and I’d say that it was the phonograph, but Timothy isn’t dead and his sister is. It doesn’t add up.”

“We’re going back to the Byrnes residence anyway, so might as well check it out.”

---

“John Mayer. Guess what song it just played?” Sam held up a vinyl record.

Dean, the avid classic rock fan that he is, had his lips pressed in a thin line. “Free Fallin’.”

“Yep.” Sam didn’t even bother to resleeve the record before he tossed it back into the box. “Which means,” He sent a malevolent glance towards the phonograph. “We have some research to do.”

“I know a great place for lunch,” I pipe in. “The Blue Cafe.”

---

I swallowed a bite of my BLT club sandwich, an uncomfortable feeling that I was missing something important settling in my stomach. Dean was inhaling his second burger, and Sam was busy typing away on his laptop.

“Okay guys, get this. The building that Abby Byrnes was “Free Fallin” off of was the first headquarters of the American Nazi Party. The second was a mansion on Rudolf St. that belonged to a the widow of a man named Willis Kerns. When Mrs. Kerns died, she passed the house on to her daughter, Janet and her husband James Byrnes, an Apple stock investor and avid World War II artifact collector who passed away in 2005.”

Dean and I both dropped our sandwiches. “You’re joking.”

“Nope.” Sam glanced up from his computer screen. But it gets worse. “Apparently, the American Nazi Party was founded by George Rockwell, the right hand man of Commander Eckhart, leader of a sect of the Thule Society.”

I groaned. “Not them again. Please tell me you’re joking.” The Thule Society was a group of Nazi necromancers that could regenerate because of a successful experiment. We weren’t really on the best of terms with them, considering we destroyed a ledger that was the only remaining information from the experiment that gave them their regenerative abilities.

“Son of a bitch…” Dean muttered, rubbing his eyes. “So what about the phono-whatever?”

“I’m working on it.” Sam’s fingers were practically a blur as he scrolled through pages of information. “Right here. Apparently, the phonograph belonged to Hitler himself. It’s a myth, but yeah. Legend says it’s how he got his closest advisors and the foot soldiers to actually do all those horrible things to the Jews. Whatever is played on this phonograph, whether it be a recording of a voice or music or whatever, it would brainwash the listener or listeners into doing whatever was spoken. So, in Timothy’s case, he killed a bunch of kids with “pumped up kicks” and Abby went “free fallin”.”

“Wait.” I turned on my phone and started to do some research of my own. “Mrs. Byrnes told me that her husband was on a business trip to Germany and sent Timothy the phonograph as a birthday gift. Which means, assuming that her husband is dead, that she knew full well the capabilities of the phonograph.”

“Then why would she- Oh. OH. Sam, Y/N, Abby and Timothy aren’t dead. It only looks that way.” Dean’s eyes widened.

I nearly laughed. “She hid the truth in plain sight. She told me that she thought her husband was trying to get Timothy initiated into a Nazi cult, when it was really her all along. She’s a member of the Thule Society, a necromancer. Abby and Timothy aren’t dead, they’re back at their house, the Kerns Mansion.”

---

I double checked the bullets in my handgun. “Headshot, then salt and burn right?”

“Yep.” Dean kicked down the front door of the Byrnes’ mansion.

I could hear rushed chanting coming from the living room where I had first talked to Janet Byrnes. I followed Sam and Dean, keeping my eyes peeled for any other members of the Thule or the ANP. I peeked into the living room, only to see the bodies of the three boys Timothy killed lying on the coffee table, stomachs slit open and organs spilling out onto the floor. Blood stained the white marble floors and silk couch as the mother and her son and daughter continued to chant in Latin, oblivious to the fact we had just stormed the gates. Each person held one of the dead boys’ hearts in their hands, blood spilling from their palms as if they had pulled the hearts from the boys’ chests with their bare hands. They probably had.

We took no time in pumping as many rounds of lead as we could into their brains before dragging them out into the backyard gardens and having ourselves a nice, large Thule Society/American Nazi Society barbecue that we seasoned heavily with salt. With a side of charred cursed phonograph, of course.

---

Dean collapsed in an armchair in the Bunker library. “I’m getting real sick of those Thule motherfuckers.”

“You’re telling me.” Sam poured himself some scotch and grabbed a book to read.

“Let’s just agree that next time Hitler pops his head up, we’re gonna let someone else whack-a-mole him, okay?”

#dean winchester #sam winchester #sister winchester #sam x reader #dean x reader #winsister #bunker #supernatural #castiel

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theteddyblaze · 6 years ago

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An #UnapolegeticallyBlackPR @unapologeticallyblackpr #REPOST from @somelikeithaute__ - @Netflix announced Tuesday that it will air its first animated original series from #Africa titled #MamaKsTeam4. The series will revolve around four teen girls, who reside in a neo-futuristic #Lusaka, #Zambia, that are recruited by a retired secret agent to save the world. Designed by Cameroonian artist #MalcolmWope, Mama K's Team 4 draws visual inspiration from the retro-R&B and hip-hop girl groups of the '90s. The series was created by #MalengaMulendema, a Zambian writer who was one of eight winners in the #TriggerfishStoryLabInitiative in 2015. #blackgirls #blackcartoons #blackheroes #blacksuperheroes (at Los Angeles, California) https://www.instagram.com/only1sirjones/p/BwceoVCFjG5/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=19esewml78vf2

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jenniferasberryus · 5 years ago

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The 25 Year-Old Japanese Game Getting an Improbable French Sequel

In 2020, a group of French developers are launching a sequel to Windjammers, a Japanese arcade game first released in 1994. It’s an improbable story, even before you get to the fact that this obscure title nearly faded from history - with what seemed like little chance of a re-release, let alone a follow-up - before a small, fanatical community of players nurtured it back to health, and helped raise it to new heights of popularity. But, for the uninitiated, what even is Windjammers? I’ll let a panel of (French) experts answer that for you.

Cyrille Imbert - CEO, DotEmu: “Windjammers is a mixture between Pong and Street Fighter.”

Kévin ‘Keikun’ Creff - Windjammers Pro: “It really is the Street Fighter 2 Turbo of Pong.”

Arnaud de Sousa - Head of Marketing, DotEmu: “The game is crazy. It’s like muscular dudes throwing frisbees with fire, and it’s crazy fun.”

Romain ‘Pyrotek’ Godart - Windjammers Pro: “It’s crazy.”

Édouard Ardan - Musician and Windjammers Fanatic: “It’s a crossover between a Street Fighter game - with Kamehameha, Hadouken, things like that - but the game, it’s a Pong game. But with dynamic fire!”

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/01/08/a-full-match-of-windjammers"] Windjammers (or Flying Power Disc in Japan) was released for Neo Geo MVS in February of 1994. Described as a Battle Sports Game, it took an easy-to-learn, hard-to-master approach, adopting the fundamentals of Pong, adding the technicality of Street Fighter 2, and slapping on the looks of some kind of California spandex muscle beach fever nightmare. Because of the sheer cost of the Neo Geo home console and its cartridges, you’d find it most commonly in arcades, its clean neon looks contrasting with the explosions and gunmetal on neighbouring attract screens. It went down… just fine. No one really went crazy for it, but (and I may be editorialising here) no one could truly dislike a game this vibrant, silly, and easy to pick up. The exception to that relative disinterest came in France, where a community of players began to take notice of this arcade oddity.

Édouard Ardan: “25 years ago [on] the arcade game, the Neo Geo MVS. You know, the big one? And I remember there was Metal Slug 1, Metal Slug 2, and I saw the Windjammers game with, again, the cool powers, visual effects. That was amazing when you were a child. And 10 years after, I worked for 6 months to save a lot of money to buy a Neo Geo AES with Windjammers. That was a crazy thing to do. But now I’m cool, I have the game. I’m a big fan of this game.”

Romain ‘Pyrotek’ Godart: “I think I was 12 or 13 with a friend on the Neo Geo CD.”

Arnaud de Sousa: “[At] every tournament there was Windjammers. It’s like, yeah, it’s the game in the corner you look at it: ‘Oh looks nice, but I have my tournaments to do, so maybe another time’. And [then] you see people get excited and you say, ‘OK, I need to play that game.’”

Such was its popularity, that some I talked to weren’t fully aware that it was such a French phenomenon. When I start to tell Ardan that it never really made an impact in England, he interrupts me:

Édouard Ardan: “What? No, I can’t believe that.”

[widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=windjammers-2-concept-art&captions=true"] Uncaring of the rest of the world, that little French fanbase kept growing, and getting more and more fervent. Kévin ‘Keikun’ Creff - who’d go onto become one of the world’s highest-ranked Windjammers pros - tells me he bought a Neo Geo cabinet, and hired vans to drive it to fighting game tournaments across the country. He didn’t do it for any reward other than introducing people to the game. Eventually, some of those fans organised - Windjammers France was born, a community with the sole, virtuous purpose of helping people learn and play the game, long after Neo Geos had disappeared from shop shelves.

Cyrille Imbert: “There was this association called Windjammers France, they started to gather people around, because the game is really cool to play. So it was, kind of, I would not say easy, but it was not that hard to gather people around. And then [...] the founders of the association just decided to go all the way into the game, and because of that people saw the level of complexity and depth that Windjammers could bring. Basically, because of a small team of French players, they started to really nail the game and understand all its core mechanics and show people the possibilities behind it - and other people gathered around it and developed a whole culture around this game.”

Kévin ‘Keikun’ Creff: “Yeah, we’re a big part of the coming back of Windjammers, and what Windjammers is today, and it’s part of that French love.

The community only kept growing from there, to the point where it became as much a talking point as the game itself - the first time I was ever told about Windjammers, it was introduced to me as an amazing game with a weirdly big following in France. If you want to know how much some people like Windjammers, Édouard Ardan is a founding member of Powerdisc, a band inspired by and named after the game. Seriously: [youtube clip_id="jpmCx6g5H7w"] All of this leaves me with a major question. Why is this odd little game quite so popular with French players?

Cyrille Imbert: “It’s a very good question. I think it’s a bit random. Video games are really big in France, particularly video games from Japan. France is one of the biggest markets for Nintendo in Europe, contrary to other consoles. So, I think there was a fertile background for Windjammers, I would say.”

Édouard Ardan: “It’s cool in France because we love the California vision from the '80s - you know, the frisbee, the dog, the girl, the sunshine. That’s cool, that’s a cool vision.”

Arnaud de Sousa: “Maybe we’re super-competitive, so that’s why, maybe, French people really thought it was cool to build a community around it. For me it’s more like a fighting game than a sports game - there's a lot of debate around the office about that - but for me it’s more like a fighting game, so there’s a lot of mind games, stuff like that. And we love our fighting games in France, there’s a huge community.”

Édouard Ardan: “Windjammers, it’s magic. I don’t know why. Because, again, the frisbee.”

[ignvideo url="https://uk.ign.com/videos/2016/12/03/windjammers-psx-reveal-trailer"] But no matter how much some people liked the game, a true revival for Windjammers seemed highly unlikely up until recently. Developer Data East ran into financial troubles not long after the game’s release, stopped making games in 1999 and, by 2003, had filed for bankruptcy. Its properties and trademarks were systematically sold off, primarily to mobile game company G-Mode. But not Windjammers. Aside from a Japanese-only Wii Virtual Console release, France’s favourite power disc game seemingly disappeared altogether, with emulation the only meaningful way of playing the game on modern machines. That is, until French retro gaming experts DotEmu went looking:

Arnaud de Sousa: “Bringing back the first one was a big surprise, because everybody thought the rights were lost. And it kind of was, actually - they were a bit lost. The game was released in '94, and wasn’t released until the release on PlayStation 4 which was in 2017, so it’s almost 25 years. The rights holder never thought about bringing it back [...] But we thought differently.”

Cyrille Imbert: “So I said, ‘OK, let’s find who has the license and let’s try to do something with it.’ I don’t remember exactly how we tracked it down but usually what we do is we do some research on the internet - very basic research - and then with our contacts in Japan we try to ask around: And basically we narrowed it down to Paon DP, which is the actual owner of the license, because former employees of Data East joined this company at some point. And so we met Paon DP four years ago I think.

“We explained that there was a huge community in France, that we were ourselves playing a lot of Windjammers in the office, so they kind of felt that we were the right people to take care of that. They really saw that we had passion for it. Because it’s not a super-famous game, right? It’s famous within the fighting game community, it’s famous within the Neo Geo fans, but it’s not that famous, so they kind of knew that we were not there to have an easy cash grab, you know? It was more about something that we were passionate about, and that we wanted to spread a bit more because the game really deserved it. And especially because we had this long-term strategy of not saying, like, we’re just going to do a simple port of the game and that’s it.”

Windjammers, somehow, was back. In its 2017 port for PS4, PS Vita and, later, Switch, DotEmu created a game that looked and ran exactly as the original did in ‘94, primarily by digging into Data East’s code to perform digital archeology. The only major addition came in the form of online play, finally allowing people to play Windjammers across continents without emulation. It played perfectly into DotEmu’s goal to spread the game to more people. Across the world, people began to talk about the game - helped massively, it must be noted, by some tireless campaigning by the team at Giant Bomb. Some even began suggesting it deserved a place among the great and the good of the fighting game community. In 2017, Windjammers unexpectedly broke into the upper echelons of the Player’s Choice poll for games at Evo, the world’s biggest fighting game tournament. The next year, it would do even better.

Cyrille Imbert: “So of course it got into the loop because we were relaunching it and people were hearing more about it. So were like, OK, we need to push for that. We did a full campaign called ‘Road to Evo’, where we tried to kind of spam Evo with, like, ‘Hey, let’s have Windjammers at Evo!’ and everything. And then AnimEvo, which is like a side tournament for fans and smaller games, they were super interested in it, until we got in basically.

“The whole idea behind it was to first get people more familiar with the license, with the original games, with the exact same game, but with online multiplayer so that people can compete online and the community can grow around this competition. And the second step was Windjammers 2.”

[widget path="global/page/imagecomparison" parameters="comparisons=%7B%22comparisons%22%3A%5B%7B%22caption%22%3A%22%22%2C%22images%22%3A%5B%7B%22id%22%3A%225e15baa2e4b065e1d37b54ae%22%2C%22label%22%3A%22Windjammers%22%7D%2C%7B%22id%22%3A%225e15baa4e4b065e1d37b54af%22%2C%22label%22%3A%22Windjammers%202%22%7D%5D%7D%5D%7D"] Part of DotEmu’s pitch to the license holder was that, after it recreated Windjammers, it would get to create a sequel too. Windjammers 2 - which arrives on Switch later this year - is aiming to add extra complexity to the game, without ever losing the core formula. Its biggest change is in its looks, which swap pixel graphics for a '90s cartoon style that aims to emulate the original game’s boxart. And who better to test whether those changes worked than Windjammers France, the community that helped keep the game alive for all these years?

Arnaud de Sousa: “The first time I heard about maybe bringing Windjammers [back] at the office, I was like ‘Yeah I know the guys at Windjammers France, that little community that are really into the game, so it could be nice to have them try the game, tell us if it’s good and just help us bring the best Windjammers possible.’”

Cyrille Imbert: “So right from the port of Windjammers, the first one on console, we included people from Windjammers France. It’s super practical because they’re around - they’re not all in Paris, but they’re in France, and it’s easy to make them come. And they’ve been super nice, and given us a lot of feedback. So we’re making sure that the emulation was pixel-perfect on console. That was the first step. And then, little by little, we kind of revealed that we were working on a sequel - because we didn’t tell them from the beginning.”

Arnaud de Sousa: “Of course there’s pressure. There’s a lot of nostalgia for it. So of course they’re waiting for something - they want something new but also something that is close to the original.”

Kévin ‘Keikun’ Creff: “We’re kind of patriotic, so yeah, we’re really happy. And for us it’s also reassuring to be able to talk to the devs to give ideas on how we see the game.”

Cyrille Imbert: “So we do a lot of playtests with [Windjammers France] because, for us, they’re the best players in the world, and they’re the ones that would be able to break Windjammers 2 [...] The developers of Windjammers 2 here at DotEmu are really good at Windjammers, but they’re not the same level - these guys have being playing for years, they, like, read The Matrix in the game. So that’s what we really want to do, and it's super exciting to see them playing with this new toy, trying new strategies and trying to exploit new stuff. So that gives us a really good idea of what’s the right way of doing it.”

[ignvideo url="https://uk.ign.com/videos/2019/08/22/windjammers-2-10-minutes-of-gameplay-gamescom-2019"] It’s not just behind-closed-doors testing - DotEmu recently held the world’s first Windjammers 2 tournament at Ultimate Fighting Arena 2019 in Paris, with two-time Evo champion Romain ‘Pyrotek’ Godart taking home this crown too. The developers probably couldn’t have wished for a better confirmation that they’re on the right track.

Romain ‘Pyrotek’ Godart: “It has a lot of options, it forces you to be more aggressive because if you stay at the back you’re going to lose. You really feel it’s Windjammers just like the first one, but there’s more - just more dynamism to it.”

Arnaud de Sousa: “It’s the community that help make a game, you know? If the people don’t play the game it won’t go to Evo, so it’s like we all have our part to play in bringing back Windjammers and making it really crazy.”

So the pros are happy, and the devs are happy. But surely the most important group are those regular French fans, the people who quietly loved this odd little game for a quarter of a century. How do they feel about getting a sequel - a French sequel no less - after all this time? I ask Édouard Ardan, the man who saved up for a console to play Windjammers, made a band based on it, and smiles literally every time he talks about it. He drums his hands on the table, a sheer physical reaction to his happiness: “Yeah! I am so happy with that! It’s amazing.” After 25 years of simmering delight, it feels like sheer French enthusiasm has helped summon a new Windjammers game out of nothing - some kind of emotional alchemy. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joe Skrebels is IGN's UK Deputy Editor, and he will jam at a moment's notice. Follow him on Twitter. from IGN Video Games https://www.ign.com/articles/the-25-year-old-japanese-game-getting-an-improbable-french-sequel via IFTTT from The Fax Fox https://thefaxfox.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-25-year-old-japanese-game-getting.html

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