YouTube Obsession

One of my least favorite genres of video games to play is the incremental progression survival game. I want to like them. Mostly because I want them to just be like Minecraft. The last survival game I played was V Rising and I ran into the same problem I have with all of these games: Eventually I have to grind. There are games that do grinds well, say rogue-likes, sure you have to play a lot of runs to progress but you’re playing a game. Survival games have you grinding by spamming a pick-ax animations to mine aluminum.

But just because I hate playing them, doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy a well edited, commented and completionist 8 hour YouTube playthrough.

Floydson plays these games with seeming ease and I commend him for it. I especially enjoy his chill Aussie demeanor and that he edits out all the boring item collection these games require.

Though some the games he plays are just survival-slop, there are some gems that I never would have experinced if not for his videos. The Half-Life Black Mesa scientist simulator Abiotic Factor (Shown above.) or the charming and surprisingly deep Grounded.

Watching

Shameless-self-plug incoming: My partner and I decided that there are just not enough people talking about the 2003 Japanese only live-action adaptation of Sailor Moon. So we’re going to talk about it!

Nothing has been officially announced yet but a few episodes are already produced and ready to launch. All episodes will be uploaded to Klash Media’s YouTube so even if you don’t become a Patron you can still see everything!

ANYWAY, while producing the first few videos we stumbled upon a site that hosts HD quality videos of the series: Miss Dream. Fully translated, HD quality episodes and DVD extras and AND the various ephemera surrounding the show; Music videos, reunion episodes, book and scripts. It’s kinda crazy the length these folks went to get this translated.

The HD is like watching an entirely new show, so we’re excited to share with everyone and bring more people to to this masterpiece of mid-aughts camp.

Reading

After reading some competent spy fiction last week, I got the hankering to dip into Nick Harkaway’s early book Tigerman. Though I initially scoffed at the synopsis:

I am willing to give Harkaway a chance because his books, especially Gnomon, defy their back-of-book blurbs. And while I enjoyed this book, it’s definitely the weakest of what I’ve read. But a weak Harkaway novel is still a good novel.

The book is, cleverly so, about English colonialism. Through the guise of a grounded superhero story, the main character explores subjects of ethical colonialism, responsibilities of the colonizer and ultimately, misplaced guilt.

Harkaway also has the ability to take an annoying character and make their annoying traits pay off in satisfying ways. And honestly, the more I think about this book the more I am retroactively enjoying it. lol.

Go read it.

Other Notables

** “We are about to witness the landing of the Hindenburg on the deck of the Titanic; we know it’s going to be crazy and nasty.”

** “We are all Cheryl Hines. Unprepared for the scenario in which we will be forced to run for our lives. Watching the important people be whisked away while we wonder whether we should try to follow them, or duck under a table, or grab the good wine. This country is exhausting and perverse. We should have worn different shoes.”

** There’s a point in this video where I stood up and yelled “Some fuckers have too much money!” See if you can guess when it was!