Monthly Log: 10.26
LOTS of good stuff this month!
Books
- ๐ La mascella di Caino (Torquemada): Italian edition of "Cain's Jawbone", and this is one of the reasons I dropped it. If you don't know anything about the book, it's basically a 100-out-of-order-pages puzzle in which you have not only to determine the order, but also the names of murderers and victims of three different crimes. I got it for 2 euros at a used books market, and my brother considered it "impossible", so of course I was up for the challenge! Especially after having so much fun with Iacopo Cellini's "Il gioco di Andromeda", which is directly inspired from this one. I assumed Andromeda had puzzles, but this one was fairly clear in its single pages; I was wrong. The text is full of word games, spoonerisms, obscure hints which are hard to look up because they lack a common thread (unlike Andromeda, where the more you research on mythology and literature the more you might find the same information elsewhere). Turns out I hate spoonerisms with a passion and reading every page brings up a feeling familiar to having a stroke, something that Andromeda did as well but the amount of tiny mysteries one could solve throughout made it a lot more engaging. Unfortunately, I think it's just way out of my league, and reading it through a translation only makes it more difficult (but I don't think I'd have a lot more chances by reading it in English either!).
- ๐ Nobuo Uematsu: On the Record (James Mielke): I loved this book so much. Biographies can be tricky, because it's easy to flatter its subject to no end for the sake of it. I despise it. If I'm reading a biography, I probably already know why that person feels so great or interesting to me; I don't need that to be explained, and it unnerves me. It's vapid, tasteless, and often completely misses the point of someone's work, dismissing it to the natural outcome of their genius. I hate it. This book manages to praise Uematsu while never hiding his humanity, which is what I actually look forward in biographies! The part about his childhood was relatable at times, and it paved the way nicely for what came together with his work life. It's also very easy to focus on what made someone famous, but I was so very happy to see Final Fantasy was an important part of the book, but certainly not the beginning and the end of everything. Mielke did a wonderful job in giving space to things that are important to Uematsu (his passion for Ufology, how he approaches music making, his current musical endeavors...) while also inquiring about things we might think important, but that he doesn't give a lot of thought about. That also, in itself, says something about him. Lots of fun and interesting trivia about his coworkers, or people who had anything to do with him, abound all over the book! I'd love to read another book like this on other composers I admire...
- ๐ Il Ciclo delle Fondazioni - Prima Fondazione (Isaac Asimov): Slightly nudged by a friend who's read it recently for the first time, I've finally started reading the Foundation Series after about 10 years since I did so for the first time: back then, it took me almost all of my university years! It's kind of funny how easy it feels to read now. It might have something to do with the fact that I'm not reading about calculus, physics and electronics everyday anymore. Anyway, I've finished the first book right at the end of the month! I had very little memories of it, mostly the premise and a vague hint of "it starts off slow"; it seems I've acquired a taste for slow-starters (looking at you, Trails in the Sky), because I've enjoyed Foundation a lot more than I expected! I've also taken some good notes about characters, so my media journal is now filled with names and short descriptions that made the reading a lot more enjoyable, as if I was a space journalist, or an archaeologist. There's one thing I was very surprised by: for being a sci-fi story set in the distant future, there's a good amount of analog technology and systems in place. Leaving aside for a moment how all tech is just "atomic this" or "atomic that" (with the occasional "ray something"), psychohistory is done mostly by hand with the aid of a tool resembling a powerful calculator. In part 2, a document and a recording are both analyzed not by a machine, but by an expert in the flesh (Muller Holk from the Logic Institute). Real people (a lot of them) are working on the Galactic Encyclopedia. It was the 50s, and the state of deterioration of knowledge and technology available is a big theme in the book (although the Foundation never suffers from it, so this doesn't really hold up), but I'm more used to the kind of sci-fi where machines do everything. I, Robot leans more heavily on that (duh), but Foundation is, at the end of it, a story about people, and that's what I like so much about it. Somehow, it made me feel a bit less alone.
Movies
- ๐ฅ Backrooms: It was a fine movie, but I found it a bit overhyped. The direction was great! The writing... I get what it was trying to convey, but it dragged a bit too much for my taste and ended up tackling the really interesting bits when the runtime was almost over.
- ๐ฅ The Drama: This movie made me so mad. It's a good movie. There's one scene in particular that basically spells out "Your reason to attempt something crazy isn't good enough for me so I'm going to make up one in my mind so I can accept it instead of understanding you" and I wanted to enter the movie to strangle Pattinson. I really liked how it speaks of the culture around school shootings, as an European who's never had to worry about it. Just a big moment of "wait, this is so far from my own school experience despite the bullying and being on Tumblr too much". I'm not so sure it was supposed to be the main theme of the movie, but that's what stuck with me the most.
- ๐ฅ Digimon: Il Film: The Digimon Movie is a fucking riot and I love it. Hadn't seen it in years and my friend Laxy never had, so it was a great chance to subject her to this jewel of a trainwreck. Had lots of fun, I still remember some quotes by heart, god this movie is hilarious and it just never shuts up. I'd like to rewatch the original OVAs to palate cleanse from the cringe but for now I'll keep that sweet aftertaste.
Videogames
- ๐ฎ Rhythm Paradise Groove (Nintendo Switch): Done with the main game, will grab it now and then to perfect some minigames! This is the best iteration of Rhythm Paradise so far, although it's a lot easier to get a passing grade, but the true endgame has always been getting all Perfects so that's not too big of a deal. The extra content is fun, the new Rhythm RPG campaign has been made explicitly for me (it has lesbians, Harold), they're not translating songs anymore but there are a couple in other languages (including Italian, I can accept that) and there's a fantastic mode in which you can have basically misheard subbed lyrics in the language you're playing. For all songs. It's. Wow. This should be in every game ever.
- ๐ฎ Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon (Nintendo Wii): I wanted a friend of mine to experience this game but I knew she wasn't going to play it on her own, and I wanted to replay it as well, so I took it as a chance to play it together and I streamed it to her. It was a lot easier than I remembered and I thought playing it using the mouse as a Wiimote would've been a pain in the ass... but it wasn't! A bit clunky as expected in general, and the last third of the game reeks of "we're out of budget, make this hallway bigger", but it's just so charming. I tear up every time Seto speaks of friends. I'm a little baby. Also, the UI is just great...
- ๐ฎ The Children of Clay (PC): It's free on Steam! I would've never bought it otherwise, not because it's a bad game but because I'm a pussy. I was however intrigued by the presentation and I saw it was pretty short, so I gave it a shot. Dear god. Play it if you like horrors, but if you don't at least play it during daytime and don't be like me.
- ๐ฎ A HERO AND A GARDEN (PC): Last month I got a bunch of npckc games on Steam and I'm slowly playing them while I go through my backlog. This one I had my eyes on for so long and, well, what can I say? I always like kc's stuff, and I believe it's pretty to like any of their games if you liked one. They all ooze a special kind of gentle understanding. The titular Hero starts out as a bit of a bitch and that's part of the charm: it's nice to see him grow and become kinder to others... and to himself most of all. A delightful experience.
- ๐ฎ TRUE LOVE'S CURSE (PC): Another gem by npckc, this one is a lot more recent (but you'd be surprised as I was if you play both in a row). It revolves around a "make your own curse" mechanic that is simple on its own but which makes the writing shine, because each combination (or most of them, at least) lead to a specific outcome, and I ended up trying the wackiest stuff to see them all. Also, the soundtrack is so good! I had a smile on my face the whole time, especially as I was coming up with new, disastrous curses.
The Good Stuff
- Do you see those Blue skies?: Amazing post from Alli as always, this one's about how one's experiences shape the art they make, more specifically the kind of games they think of. It mentions at some point the Zรผrich Street Parade as the inspiration for Rez, which I haven't played yet but now want to! Even though I've only been to the Street Parade by accident and dread the thought of it happening again: way too chaotic for someone like me, but it's definitely something.
- I hate planners so I made a Quest Board instead: I actually have my own quest board already, but I got some cool new ideas from it. And the urge to craft stuff with foam. I need... to make... toys........
- Hobonichi Interview: Hobonichiโs History, Designs, and Future: An entire interview about the history of Hobonichi?? SIGN ME UP
- Videogames as Art: Shin Megami Tensei's Spell Language: I'm personally torn over the methodic names of Shin Megami Tensei and the wacky ones one might find in Dragon Quest (although I'm thinking of the Italian translation, which is far more liberal than the English one). It's a good analysis of spell names in JRPGs, and it also brings up some of the possible reasons some SMT spells might have that name! Details, man...
Misc
- The curse has been broken: I've started embroidering. It's pretty calming, recommended.
- November is here, and I'd like to think hard about what I want to have accomplished before the end of the year. "Not needing therapy anymore" has sadly become a lot harder due to recent-and-not-so-recent events, but I'm going to keep going forward.
- I've started studying orchestration seriously! I still wish, sometimes, I had pursued regular music education. Then I remember I actually did, with the wrong school system, a shitty teacher, in the wrong specialization, the nervous system of a small prey animal, and an overwhelming lack of support, so maybe I shouldn't worry too much about that.
- I'd like to try hiking on my own next month, but I don't like how lonely it feels. Maybe I just need to learn how to like being on my own...