Metal Monday

Youtube Obsession

I’ve been following Skill-Up since he was doing Destiny and Division content but over the last few years he’s really become a staple of video game news.

His weekly show, aptly named, This Week In Video Games is a regular watch for me. Simple, streamlined and left leaning rundown on video game news with recommendations and notices for any major sales. My favorite part about his channel? He’s like chill. He doesn’t yell in his videos¹ , he’s not trying to make jokes all the time but he does have an overall positive outlook on the gaming industry. Watch his stuff, enjoy his stuff.

Watching

My partner and I went to see Akria Kourasawa’s 1985 masterpiece Ran on film at the Vista Theater. I was familiar with Kourasawa’s other work like The Seven Samurai and Yojimbo, and his ability to block the most beautiful shots in black and white film is unparalleled, so I was curious to see how his skill would translate to color.

It is a truly beautiful movie. Color is applied so expertly to organize and give pathos to what is essentially the best rendition of Shakespeare’s tragedy King Lear.

I highly recommend seeking out and seeing this movie for yourself.

Reading

I re-read Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov to confirm that it is the best book I have ever read. It is the best book I have ever read. I don’t want to spoil anything about the book because going into it completely blind is key. Don’t even read the dust jacket.

It is not a book for everyone but if you like to read, if you like to immerse yourself into a book, if you like literary philosophy and scholasticism, Pale Fire will give you depths.

Playing

Welp, I’m on a MechWarrior/BattleTech kick.

Not only am I -experimenting- with some homebrew games of BattleTech to see if I enjoy the gameplay before I commit to buying actual models but I am also playing MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries on PS5. I originally played MW5 on PC but I could never get full grasp of the mouse and keyboard controls. I am, if anything, a lowly console babby. It feels like you’re piloting a big clunky robot and that’s cool.

Also, I have been teaming up with FINE|Line contributor, Andrew, over in Destiny 2 to get into the last expansion: The Final Shape. Now, story in Destiny is not something I have ever invested in deeply. Some parts are cool but mostly I’m there to play the great shooter game behind it all. But it is cool that Bungie created not only one of the few successful MMORPGs out there but a wildly successful FPS MMORPG. Despite whatever complaints are thrown at it² , it’s a game that really offers a lot activities.

As for The Final Shape; I’m enjoying the campaign though I’m playing and bullshitting with Andrew the entire time and that’s no small part. Also, Destiny has always been good at showing my monkey brain numbers that get bigger. Sometimes it’s that easy. It’s been nice to have Andrew explain things to me because sometimes Destiny shows me a block of text that is filled with so much in-universe jargon that my brain just melts.

Other Notables

** Neoliberals are lamer than we ever imagined. 

** The app formally known as Twitter loses 40% of it’s revenue under Musk’s tutelage. 

**Modders create a raid replay for SPT

1  Ok, so this video I posted is a bad example because he does yell in it. But he’s yelling about a really good Destiny expansion and really, that is worth yelling about.

2  And there are many but the most obvious being Bungie’s complete disregard for multiplayer support. Do you like playing Gambit? Well that’s too bad because Bungie hates you.