July 2023 - The Face Behind The Mask, Long-Running RPG Groups, And Twin Ghosts
Happy August everyone!
I entered the Baldur's Gate 3 mines this month and you can took forward to some thoughts in the next newsletter! Anyway...
I entered the Baldur's Gate 3 mines this month and you can took forward to some thoughts in the next newsletter! Anyway...
Work in July
Knights of the Old Republic hit its twentieth anniversary in July, so I wrote about the politics of its "big twist" and the game's relationship to Star Wars' uneasy binaries of Light and Dark, Machine and Man.
Over at Paste, I wrote about me and my friends' long-running Divinity: Original Sin 2 campaign and why I find the game so beguiling and expressive despite the fact that I only have a tenuous grasp on any of its narrative elements.
On the podcast side, Rose and I covered the horror film Jacob's Ladder behind the Patreon wall. It's a sometimes striking, sometimes simplistic portrait of death. Additionally, our wonderful friend Mark visited us to chat about Book of the New Sun and Twilight.
FYI, both these Podcasts were recorded before SAG-AFTRA released their strike guidelines for podcasters. Out of solidarity with strike, and in line with guidlines, we'll not be covering any more movies or TV on Found Footage or Shitposting until the strike ends. Look forward to our episode on Junji Ito's Tomie this month.
Finally, we covered Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly on the main feed! It's a really fantastic expansion of the original game, despite some tedium and narrative shortcomings, and it's just plain scary too.
Over at Paste, I wrote about me and my friends' long-running Divinity: Original Sin 2 campaign and why I find the game so beguiling and expressive despite the fact that I only have a tenuous grasp on any of its narrative elements.
On the podcast side, Rose and I covered the horror film Jacob's Ladder behind the Patreon wall. It's a sometimes striking, sometimes simplistic portrait of death. Additionally, our wonderful friend Mark visited us to chat about Book of the New Sun and Twilight.
FYI, both these Podcasts were recorded before SAG-AFTRA released their strike guidelines for podcasters. Out of solidarity with strike, and in line with guidlines, we'll not be covering any more movies or TV on Found Footage or Shitposting until the strike ends. Look forward to our episode on Junji Ito's Tomie this month.
Finally, we covered Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly on the main feed! It's a really fantastic expansion of the original game, despite some tedium and narrative shortcomings, and it's just plain scary too.
Bits and Bobs
My friend Nic released their game The Banished Vault this month. It's a moody and math-y game about surviving and dying in the cold, sacred vacuum of space. It's pretty cool shit and my colleagues Dia Lacina and Alexis Ong both wrote fantastic reviews of it.
Elise Soutar over at Paste wrote a fantastic retrospective of the New York Dolls' first record. Cultural essays that manage to be deeply felt and historically grounded are always a treat.
My friends Liv and Salem are currently raising money to move out of Florida. Any little bit helps them get into a better situation.
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