January + February 2024: Illuminated Manuscripts And Dueling Women
Welcome to the first newsletter on Buttondown! Apologies for not getting one out in January. I delayed the newsletter a bit hoping I could make some big announcements, but alas, these things take time. Look forward to some big updates soon!
I compiled a few writers talking about how to think about creativity during genocide and atrocity. What is the function of writing? What does it do? These are worthwhile questions in any moment, but obviously urgent to think about and act on now.
I talked about the various kinds of martyrdoms in Kingdom Hearts, endless damsels and endless heroes, and how the franchise gains a grand tragic quality through these repetitions.
Also for Paste, I pleaded with the general public to play Pentiment, possibly my favorite game ever. This is really just a pond skip over the game's plentiful powers, but I think it captures the arc of it.
We were fairly busy over on The Safe Room, both behind the paywall and in front of it.
First up, on Found Footage, we watched Jordan Peele's Us and found a lot to love and a lot to quibble with.
We covered one of my personal favorite films, the bloody and heretical Alucarda. Sometimes you're the only goth girl in Sunday School and the only thing to do is burn the world.
We also debuted a new paywall-locked show called Closet Crit. The first episode is free for everyone! It's a book club show with my dear friend Sophie Blair, where we talk about theory and philosophy but mostly goof off and ask each other pointed questions. New episode is coming later in March!
On the main feed, we played The Evil Within 2, the less dreamy and less effective sequel, but still a proper good time.
Finally, we covered the modern FMV games Her Story and Immortality. I... did not like these, but we had a really multi-faceted discussion about them.
Thanks everyone for reading and stay tuned for some bigger updates soon!
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