June 17, 2018

Halfway Point - Part 2

Updates

Not too many this week.

• Thank you to all those who pledged to the Mitch Hammer Kickstarter. The project was fully funded!

• Metropo has begun to creep out into the wild. Magnus recently showcased the title at the Oslo Comic Expo.

Halfway Point (Part 2)

As promised, here are some other things I’ve enjoyed so far this year.

TV

My TV viewing has taken a bit of a hit as to where it used to be. This is mostly down to choice paralysis. There is a lot to get through nowadays.

Killing Eve

After Fleabag, Phoebe Waller-Bridge can do no wrong (I hear she’s in a little film called Solo this year too). This time around she’s adapting Luke Jennings’ Codename Villanelle series of books and playing in the spy genre sandbox. The initial setup of the series reads like your typical espionage fare.

A deadly, definitely psychopathic, but highly competent assassin is cutting a swathe through the corrupt and powerful of Central Europe. An agent within MI5 is tasked with tracking her down and bringing her to justice.

Instead, what plays out is a subversion of the genre’s tropes, playing with gender stereotypes, the politics of marriage, and the power of obsession. The titular role of Eve is played fantastically by Sandra Oh, who imbues the role with a skittish enthusiasm that slowly morphs into a curious transfixion. Jodie Comer plays the aforementioned assassin, giving us one of the most playful and sarcastic psychopaths in recent memory.

As well as veering away from tropes, the creators also lean into genre when they need to. There’s one chase sequence set in Berlin that is frantically paced and laced with tension throughout. The sequence then completely turns on its head in the most upsetting fashion, all conveyed through an expression. Amazing stuff.

Atlanta

Season 2 of this show has really upped the ante in terms of quality. Episodes lean towards being standalone rather than merely fulfilling an overall season through-line. Don’t get me wrong, there’s still an overall narrative arc to the season as a whole, especially where Earn is concerned, but the show shines brightest in its more isolated episodes.

Firstly, the episode Helen is a piece wholly dedicated to the relationship between Van and Earn, including the cracks that are beginning to form in their ‘arrangement’. The whole episode has a surreal air to it, bordering on horror, as the two attend a Germanic themed Fastnacht celebration before culminating in a table tennis match for the fate of their relationship (I’m not kidding).

Two episodes later that horror dial is turned all the way up for the wonderfully macabre Teddy Perkins. Here, the character of Darius ventures out to a dilapidated mansion in to pick up a piano. We soon discover it’s the home of the titular Teddy and his brother, Benny Hope. The episode then spirals into pure horror with commentary on abuse, the pressures of showbusiness and sibling rivalry.

Another season highlight is Woods which centres on Alfred as he makes his way back across town after being left without a ride. This episode soon takes a turn too, giving us an odd descent into a madness-infused fairy-tale as Alfred tries to find his way home.

By themselves, most episode in this season of Atlanta serve as fantastic character studies that play with genre and tone. Taken as a whole they contribute to an excellent mediation on what it takes to ‘succeed’ in modern America.

Flint Town

This one is a bit of a recent addition and has been on Netflix since around March, I think. The series is a documentary that follows the fortunes of the Flint Police Department over the course of a year. The first two episodes are interesting, but nothing to write home about. However, by episode three, the chief of police is promptly turfed out and his successor has very different ideas about what policing should be going forward.

The series then begins to delve into questions about race, community tension and the increasing militarisation of the modern police force. The series is a study of chaos and a portrait of a community and police force on the brink.

Podcasts

My podcast game is still strong. A commute and large swathes of time in the day job allow me to tune in. That said, I am looking to cut back a bit and gain back some ‘wandering thoughts’ time that is so conducive to creativity. Anyway, here are a few that have got my attention this year:

Stop and Search

This one is from Scroobius Pip’s podcast network and engages with and discusses the different facets of drug policy in the UK and further afield. What sounds like a fairly dry subject matter is instead made incredibly interesting and engaging through its choice of guests, the questions asked, how such policies overlap with the rest of society and using simple, direct language. The podcast was recently nominated in the British Podcast Awards and it’s not hard to see why. Excellent and important.

In the Dark

I am a bit of a sucker for True Crime and the podcast world is rife with it. However, some podcasts come off as quite salacious and exploitative so I’ve cut way back on the genre. In The Dark is different. Each season covers a single investigation. It then takes a deep dive on these crimes looking at it from every conceivable angle, talking to investigators, the families involved and those affected.

The first season deals with the disappearance of Jacob Watling, a child whose kidnapping remained unsolved for 27 years. Just before the first season aired a man confessed to this kidnapping and the subsequent murder of Jacob. Tellingly, In The Dark, was able to continue its first season without losing any of that inherent ‘quest for truth’ angle. This was due to the fact the podcast had always chosen to focus on how this crime remained unsolved for so long, the wrong turns the investigation took and where that blame lies. It is a fascinating look into the measure of trust we place into the agencies who are meant to protect us and whether that trust is always earned.

Season 2, currently in progress, covers the case of Curtis Flowers, a man who has been tried six times for the same crime over a period of 21 years whilst still maintaining his innocence.

The Constant

Not a Lost podcast. This is a history podcast focusing on those moments that humanity just got it plain wrong. Episodes include all the weird ideas we’ve had about where babies come from, a pointless war over an inhospitable island in the Mediterranean and parachuting cats into the middle of Borneo.

My favourite episode though is Shipwreckless, centred around the entirely preventable ship disasters of the 19th century and one man’s quest to change it all. As well as serving as a reminder that the actions of a few can change the world, the ideas displayed in the episode are then brought into the present day and the all important discussion of gun control.

It is passionate and engaging and a clear display of what this podcast does best.

Links

• I appreciated this personal piece on The Division an imperfect, problematic game with an incredibly atmospheric game world.

• The science of happiness and the most popular course at Yale.

• Seymour Hersh is a bonafide hero of mine. His new memoir sounds fantastic.

• In a reveal that shocks no-one it seems treadmills were originally designed as punishment/labour devices for prisoners.

• It’s an unwritten rule that any article on numbers stations will automatically be included in this newsletter.

• The history of fingerprints. Knowledge missile!

“Fingerprints are formed by friction from touching the walls of our mother’s womb. Sometimes they are called “chanced impressions.” By Week 19, about four months before we are issued into the world, they are set.”

• A harrowing story about David Buckel, a lawyer turned environmental advocate. Buckel killed himself on April 14th in Brooklyn by setting himself alight, a final act of a man despairing at what we are doing to our planet:

“My early death by fossil fuel reflects what we are doing to ourselves”

• Flat-Earth theory. A New Yorker story about how nonsense becomes fact.

• ICV2 on the recently announced ComiXology Originals line.

• On Milennial entitlement:

“I don’t expect to own a home. I don’t expect to retire well, or at all. I don’t expect anyone to give me anything I haven’t explicitly asked for, and even then. I don’t expect it will ever be affordable to continue my education in any formal way. If a package gets lost in the mail, I don’t expect to see it again. I don’t expect the government or the banks or the universities to do anything that benefits regular people. I don’t expect them to hold each other accountable on our behalf. I don’t expect them to expel abusers from their ranks, or to put my safety over their legacy. I don’t expect to feel safe in large crowds or alone late at night. And I don’t expect that my privacy will be respected, online or in general.”

• The Quietus on the absolute grimy insanity that was The Professionals.

• The sad story of the last mouse-eared bat in England.

• A great article over at Tor.com about how to build exposition into prose without it coming off as terrible.

• Chuck Wending on maybe not killing your darlings.

• A beautifully written piece about how radio allows us to time travel:

” In the town of Whitesburg, Kentucky, it is 4:06 A.M., and WMMT is broadcasting Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline.” Would I ever put that song on out of choice? Probably not. But knowing it is going out to who knows who, somewhere in the Appalachian Mountains, do I love it? Yes, I think I do. Maybe that’s the joy of all this.”

• Finally, artists need pockets.