December 2022 - Cross-dressing Swindlers, Hyperlocal Industries, And Explosive Science (Fiction)
Hello everyone!
I hope the new year is treating you well and that you managed to dodge getting sick in this hectic, unpredictable time. Rest up, stay safe, and help each other.
Here's what I got up to this month!
I reviewed The Knight Witch for Paste, a little game with big ambitious that unfortunately feels ill-equipped to seriously consider the questions it raises (shooting things with yourguns magic powers is cool though).
Also for Paste, I wrote about how Norco reminded me of hyperlocal Utah art, not because it has anything particular in common with those works, but simply because it comes out of a particular time and place.
I blurbed about Sephonie and Pentiment in the A.V. Club's best of the year list! Two absolutely remarkable games.
For GameSpot, I talked about the crossdressing in Card Shark and how its vagaries encourage players to "play" with gender, even if it's just to swindle people.
For The Angel Looking Backward, my "column" about under-explored video games, I take some big swings at science fiction genre theory to talk about what makes Mr. Rainer's Solve It Service so beguiling.
This was a bigger month than usual podcast-wise!
The Safe Room this month was about Japan-only cult classic The Nameless Game and itch horror staple Anatomy. The Nameless Game is so formally inventive that it's a delight despite its slight and silly story, while Anatomy is maybe the scariest game Rose and I have ever covered!
I also guested on TBH with Sené and Liv to talk about Chie The Brat, one of legendary director Isao Takahata's pre-Studio Ghibli projects. It's a really complex film, despite (and because of) how goofy it is, and we have a really interesting conversation about its broken, and forcibly reconstructed, family. Also we talk about (plot critical) testicles a lot.
Here's what's coming up for the blog in 2023.
I hope the new year is treating you well and that you managed to dodge getting sick in this hectic, unpredictable time. Rest up, stay safe, and help each other.
Here's what I got up to this month!
I reviewed The Knight Witch for Paste, a little game with big ambitious that unfortunately feels ill-equipped to seriously consider the questions it raises (shooting things with your
Also for Paste, I wrote about how Norco reminded me of hyperlocal Utah art, not because it has anything particular in common with those works, but simply because it comes out of a particular time and place.
I blurbed about Sephonie and Pentiment in the A.V. Club's best of the year list! Two absolutely remarkable games.
For GameSpot, I talked about the crossdressing in Card Shark and how its vagaries encourage players to "play" with gender, even if it's just to swindle people.
For The Angel Looking Backward, my "column" about under-explored video games, I take some big swings at science fiction genre theory to talk about what makes Mr. Rainer's Solve It Service so beguiling.
This was a bigger month than usual podcast-wise!
The Safe Room this month was about Japan-only cult classic The Nameless Game and itch horror staple Anatomy. The Nameless Game is so formally inventive that it's a delight despite its slight and silly story, while Anatomy is maybe the scariest game Rose and I have ever covered!
I also guested on TBH with Sené and Liv to talk about Chie The Brat, one of legendary director Isao Takahata's pre-Studio Ghibli projects. It's a really complex film, despite (and because of) how goofy it is, and we have a really interesting conversation about its broken, and forcibly reconstructed, family. Also we talk about (plot critical) testicles a lot.
Here's what's coming up for the blog in 2023.
- I've been bookmarking and keeping links for various bibliographies and/or just to have a big archive of games crit I like. I've been wanting to make things like that more accessible to others for a while and have tentatively started some work on getting that off the ground. No promises about when that will release, but you'll at least get some updates in 2023.
- Hopefully a revitalization of The Witching Hour, kicking off with The Witcher 1! Again I have no schedule for this, but I would like it to happen.
- I'll be continuing The Angel Looking Backward every month--already have an exciting plan for January.
- More writing on movies and things besides video games, on the blog and (hopefully) elsewhere
- And if I really carve out some time for it, fiction of some variety.
Going to try and not prioritize work, as much as I can when I have to work to live, but I do really care about writing generally and criticism in particular and want do to more of it on my own terms.
As always, if you don't do so already, you can support the newsletter, my blog, and my work in general at Patreon or on Ko-Fi.
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