Viewpoint Focus, Pt. 2: Recommendations
As a conclusion to the Viewpoint Focus, I wanted the recommendations section to have it’s own post.
What's a book, blogpost, movie, band, or videogame that Motte users may not know about that you'd like to take this opportunity to promote?
I rarely read books. Blogs don't exist anymore. So video games, movies, and music it is! It's also really long because apparently I'm gushing with enthusiasm and can't help myself.
Video Games
Cataclysm Dark Days Ahead - Everyone should listen to KulakRevolt. I've been playing this game for years, and it's an utter embarrassment how much it has influenced my real life. Ostensibly, it's just an open world, turn-based, roguelike, modern-day survival game. Something happened that was pretty bad, and now there's zombies and demons and shit running around. Just try and survive. But it's just such a beautifully realized simulation which is meticulously detailed. For example, the game tracks your character's micronutrition intake; you can't just guzzle down gas station pretzels forever and hope to be ok. As I played the game, it was mentally taxing to keep track of this, so I tried to streamline it into "What is the least amount of ingredients which would cover all my nutrient needs?". I then realized this would be perfectly appropriate to enact this idea in real life to. So I created a diet for myself following the same ideals. Because I played a video game. I am a fucking nerd. But hey, it worked.
The game also encouraged me to get into lockpicking, learning general first-aid, and eventually trying out welding and basic fabrication. All those seem like great skills to have. Especially if the Mi-Gos finally show up.
X-Piratez - Do you like X-Com? Do you like pirates? Well, you're in luck. X-Piratez is a total conversation mod made by one dude in Poland. It assumes that the aliens in X-Com took over earth but now it's just a forgotten backwater of an unimaginably immense stellar empire, and filled with mutants and pollution. Instead of trying to save the world, you play a merry band of all-female mutant pirates, and your goal is to kidnap, steal, kill, whatever, just to get that booty.
It is so ridiculous. The developer clearly has a thing for buxom naked anime women, but somehow the immense amount of lore gets woven together into a very coherent and compelling narrative. I felt like I was living through an Aeon Flux episode. But you start off with axes and flintlock pistols and billy clubs, until you eventually earn enough resources to outfit your gals in power armor and chainswords. So fun.
Age of Decadence - I admit, I bounced off this game really hard at first, but I think this is the greatest RPG ever made. I don't make this claim lightly, but it's because it fully embodies what an RPG can be with regards to player choice. I can't imagine how much work went into fleshing out the myriad of different player trajectories. You can play a hardened warrior of course, or the sly thief that never gets into direct combat, or the smooth-talking merchant that never gets into literally any combat. None of the avenues feel slapped on. They're all fully realized in an entirely original world set in a sort of post-apocalyptic fantasy version of the Roman empire.
Invisible Inc. - No other game has raised my heart rate as high as this. It has some extremely razor-sharp tactical gameplay which is stripped down to its bare essentials. It has a roguelike feature of permadeath. But then it compounds this by an ever-escalating alarm system which forces you to make some really tough decisions about whether you should escape now or take your chance at gathering a little bit more loot. Intense experience on the higher difficulties.
Anno 2070 or Anno 1404 - I want to live there. It's such a relaxing city-building slash logistic game. So charming, so chill.
Movies
Come and See (1985) - This is one of the most terrifying movies ever made. It's about the Nazi invasion and destruction of Belarus during WW2, told from the Soviet side. It's an unconventional war-time film in that it uses tropes and sound design that you typically only find in horror movies.
Ten Canoes (2006) [Full movie] - This movie was made and cast entirely by Australian Aborigines. It's a simple story, true to its culture, and refreshing to me just how funny it can be despite the enormous cultural gap inherent.
Jean de Florette / Manon des Sources) (1986) - If this doesn't make you want to run away and start a farm in the rural French countryside, nothing will.
The Great Beauty (2013) - I maintain that this movie has the greatest opening 15 minutes of cinema.
Blue Valentine (2010) - Despite Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams on the ticket, this film barely made a blip. I think the reason why is because it's such a painful and all too realistic depiction of how pathological and self-destructively toxic a "nice guy" can be. It's also an uncomfortable reminder of how different men and women can be in their needs and aspirations. Not a happy movie, but important.
The Baader Meinhof Complex (2006) [Full movie] - Might be especially relevant nowadays. Follow a ragtag of real life sexy young revolutionary terrorists/revolutionaries as they bomb US army bases, assassinate judges, and just wreck shit, yet still retain support from a significant portion of the population at large.
Holy Mountain (1973) - What the fuck.
Music
Music is very hard to give recommendations for haphazardly because tastes are so individualized. I'll just throw up a bunch of random shit and maybe some of it will stick.
Cheb - I never really appreciated music from my home country until I randomly found this solo artist. Mostly guitar singer-songwriter stuff, but some of his songs are total bangers.
Moullinex - Portuguese disco. I kind of hate how talented he is.
Dua Lipa - Dua Lipa is a former model who decided to also be a singer. It's probably all produced in a lab with a team of 43 producers, but damn does it slap.
Jenny Hfval - She's so fucking weird, and so amazing.
Flight Facilities - Australian disco-ish duo. The linked music video is phenomenal.
Crass - It's hard to say Crass makes "good" music, at least from a technical standpoint, and even from the standards of punk. But I still can't stop listening to it.
The Presets - Electro-house. They throw some phenomenal live shows and were my favorite band for a while.
At the Drive-In - post-hardcore (whatever the fuck that means), and also the reason I got into music in the first place.
Kid Creole & The Coconuts - Umm, I don't know how to describe this. But the singer wears a big zoot suit, and likely inspired the costuming behind The Mask. And the music makes me super happy.