issue 8: one more time
Hello and welcome back. This is Issue 8 of “a bit of bird words” and if all goes well, you’ll be reading this when I am on a beach. Let’s not think about what it means if it doesn’t all go well.
March was a slow one, but I did finish a few things.
Game of the month: 1000xRESIST
sunset visitor, 2024 (PC/Nintendo Switch)
I’d heard a lot about this game prior to playing it, almost all about the story and underlying meanings and very little about the gameplay. It’s certainly a strange one, playing almost like a visual novel but with segments of adventure and puzzle games sprinkled throughout. It’s a challenge to navigate at times and there’s a very late-game timed challenge that probably had me sweating more than was reasonable, but the challenge fits pretty neatly into the idea of memory being a difficult and non-linear thing. Sometimes we remember things through the most roundabout ways, and sometimes we have to get to a garden by running up and down too many stairs.
Narratively, this game forced me to think about how much I’ve tried to escape my circumstances. I wanted so badly to live a life far from my family and the Midwest, and when I achieved that, I clung to it so tightly for fear that something would drag me back and trap me there in that wasteland. I still fear it, as though that place had a gravity of its own.
I think, in a way, Iris wanted to escape that, too. But she could never escape herself or the things she did. We can’t run from ourselves; we carry ourselves in every moment.
Games finished this year: 9 (+2)
Book of the month: Hammajang Luck
Makana Yamamoto, 2024
Have you ever read a book that wanted so badly to be a movie?
This book is that, at almost every turn. It’s a heist film in written form, drawing heavily on film pacing to drive itself forward. (There’s a very noticeable moment at the very end, a sudden cut-off before a character would explain everything that had just happened, that plays out almost exactly like you or I would expect in a movie.) It doesn’t detract from the story, but does give it a very strong “popcorn” feel that places some distance between the reader and the characters.
While the depth isn’t really there, it’s a delightfully fun read, and the characters are sketched out just enough that someone is certain to find a favorite among them. (Again, though, there’s a noticeable distance between them and the reader, and I wanted so much more from, and about, all of them.)
Books finished this year: 8 (+2)
What else?
This was a busy month! I finally got my hair cut to something that’s way shorter than I’ve ever had before…and I really like it. It’s got some Sailor Uranus in its look and that brings me a lot of joy.
More importantly, though, I went to a concert at the end of the month. The alt-rock band kent had a tour—their first in nine years, and for now their last—in Stockholm this month and I went to the last show with my partner and some of his family and relatives. It’s easily the largest concert I’ve ever been to and it was an incredible experience not only to hear the band live but to also see how much love and support poured out from the audience. I feel very lucky to have been there, on the very last day, for what they say is “actually the last time.”
Last times can creep up on us when we’re not looking, and last times can announce themselves baldly to us. It can be terribly tragic to know that the last song, the last conversation, the last meal is, in fact, the last of its kind. But the tragedy is there because of the love. I’ll hold the memory of that concert close and think on it fondly whenever I hear their music.
My recommendation this month is to take it slow. Take a breath, have a cup of tea or your favorite treat. Look at the buds on the trees and the blooms forming from the soil. I’m going to take it slow by, perhaps, eating pizza from a very special pizzeria while chilling on the beach, the Mediterranean rolling over the sand. I hope it won’t be the last time, but if it is, then I hope that memory will remain.
Thanks for reading. You can check out what games I’m playing on Backloggd and what books I’m reading on The Storygraph.