Roderick

It makes total sense for Nintendo to do a weird hybrid thing. In fact, that's what I had hoped the Wii U would be in the first place: a handheld/console/tablet thingy. If I recall, I was crossing my fingers that it's be a full tablet that you could use as either. I like it when things are clean. Unfortunately, the Wii U turned out the opposite of that: a tablet AND a regular console box, making the thing convoluted rather than elegant. It's so strange to me that it's already been 4,5 years since the WIi U came out. Feel like 2. I feel like the 'next gen' of PS4 and XB1 have just begun, while the truth is we're nearing the halfway point. In this case, the halfway point is also the launching point of the follow-up generation, at least in terms of hype. Am I getting old, that the world feels like it's spinning faster than before? I'm very interested to see what Nintendo can bring. Even if it's weird and not quite what I want, it'll be interesting.

I still find it odd that Nintendo is already releasing an actual new console (as opposed to, say, the follow-up to the 3DS). I get it from their standpoint: the Wii U is a big failure and the dearth of games released on it isn't helping. Makes sense that they'd want to wipe that blot away as quickly as possible and start afresh. I worry, though, that especially the loyal fans of Nintendo will feel a little betrayed at supporting a console that is so unceremoniously abandoned. I also wonder if the average consumer, insofar as they are aware of any of this, won't feel that they can't trust Nintendo to deliver. I guess it all depends on whether they can pull another 'Wii' out of their hats. Personally, it'll take more than new Marios and Zeldas to return to Nintendo. But that probably has more to do with my own evolving tastes than the quality of those titles.

It took me a week and a half of Wordpressing, but the redesigned site is finally done: http://www.uitgeverijleeuwenhart.nl/ (Dutch, I'm afraid!). Luckily I only need to do this shit once every three years or so, when the code really starts breaking down due to updates. That said - Wordpress is a godsent, most of it is pretty easy. Clicky-clicky. It's only when plugins start conflicting and you want something specific that's not supported that the real fun begins!

Ugh. Referendum's a bad word ever since a few weeks here in the Netherlands. Populist theatre, is what it is.

I am totes up for a new Red Dead game. One of the finest open world GTA-emy games ever made. I recall virtually nothing from the plot, but fondly remember strutting around on my horse, eagle-aiming a noose and shooting armadillos, then getting mauled by a bear. I'll have more of that thank you

I read The Spy Who Came In From The Cold last year and got a kick out of it. I loved how it digs into the premise that 99% of spy work is convincing the enemy that you're a dumb schlub, incapable of anything. It's constantly trying to sell yourself as incompetent and slow, and maintaining that persona for years until it actually becomes your skin. It's so weird. It's why Hollywood people go crazy, so I can imagine spies going nuts as well. I mean, personality is in itself such a malleable concept, after a while you can't help but wonder who the hell you are. Rewatched Tinker Tailor a few weeks ago (the movie), and it was so good. Absolutely loved it, and this time I actually understood what was happening, which was a plus.

That's what I think too. You can only live those precious first 20-30 hours of Dark Souls once, and then they're lost like Kevin Spacey blowing wind from his fingers.

About damn time Mon Mothma got her moment in the spotlight! I kind of expect this is going to be better than The Force Awakens, if only because they're not carrying the weight of having to tie in with all the main characters. But who am I kidding? This is Star Wars, it's going to be another children's movie, and that's fine if you want that. I possibly want that.

I want to latch onto Children of Man being mentioned here because that's what needs to happen every time it's mentioned: what a great film. Was thinking about it this weekend. It is an amazing piece of cinema, so subtle that, yes, I totally get that you don't understand how awesome it is until the repeat viewing. From the shots and the editing to the world-building which is done exclusively through showing you the disintegrating results of the previous few decades of political decisions. Feel free to connect the dots yourself.

We're all gonna have to migrate to Canada at some point. Yes, Europe is at this moment quite the powderkeg of unstoppable nationalism, jumping like hungry wolves on the influx of immigrants from Syria and other Middle-Eastern warzones and failed states. For a small while, Germany seemed to be the shining example of how to do it right, with Angela Merkel bravely declaring "Wir schaffen das". Regrettably, reality has appeared a tad more resilient to this ideal. The Cologne incident at new year's eve, where a group of North-African gangsters (not refugees) attacked women en masse, did much to sway public opinion in favor of let's-close-our-borders-sentiments. Here in the Netherlands, after ten years of insane mini-Trump shenanigans, we STILL have to deal with Geert Wilders and his terror-politics. I just really, really can't believe that so many people actually want to close the borders again. Preposterous ideas and ungrounded fears for sharia law (never ever going to happen) and terrorism (yes, the Parisian attacks were awful and Cologne was painful, but let's be really honest here, without being facetious or taking this lightly, they were incidents, looked at from even a short distance away. The number of serious 'attacks' in the last ten years can be counted on a single hand) seem impossible to allay. Now, I don't think the end of the world is nigh. I still refuse to believe that Trump can be president, and I have this unquenchable optimism that things will work out in Europe. In the end, the moderate masses will calmly say: "let's not do this", and that'll be the end of it.

I've watched it a couple of times now too. It's wonderfully weird out of context. Can anyone tell me what this originally was? Is this satire on Seinfeld or really just a funny mashup?

That is exactly what it is. In recent years Deadpool just sprung up as the thing to cosplay (replacing such classics as "Kakashi from Naruto" or "random Bleach character). In part I suspect this is because of the high accessorizability of Deadpool. You can do any theme or mashup with him. But Deadpool is, like Joker, a highly present character and if you're not in on the joke or you have little affinity for the character, it's easy to start to dislike him. It took me until just about before the movie came out and I saw the trailer for the second time and suddenly I found myself chuckling.

I professed some ire towards Deadpool and the Deadpoolization of the cosplay scene in recent years, but I did just yesterday saw the Deadpool movie and it was pretty funny. As I've let it sink in, I've even grown more favorable towards the film, despite leaving the theatre thinking the final act was the laziest, most generic 'third act' they could've possibly done. Ryan Reynolds kind of nails it. I laughed a lot, even at fourth wall-breaking jokes that I'd have expected would be embarrassing to watch. Nope. It was all good-natured fun, really. That's perhaps the biggest surprise: despite the enormity of cussing, it all felt like a bunch of people having a good time and not really trying to be nasty. Even the expletives had a feeling of 'oh boy, we finally get to say ass all the time because we're R-rated!', and that made it feel funny and juvenile in just the right way. What the ass?!

Well, at least they stayed in the business. It's weird and inspiring to read this. I write for a Dutch anime magazine (AniWay), which has been going on for over a decade, but it hardly reached this level of writing, I'm afraid. We deliberately keep it 'entry level', whereas this went virtually into academic-level analysis. Would love to do that in AniWay, but I fear it's too much attuned to a younger demographic.

Read that from start to finish, very good! I'm a little confused about the final remarks in the last article though. The writer states that since the events of End of EVA make it clear that Instrumentality is actually happening (as opposed to just a way to visualize Shinji's mental struggle), it can no longer work as a metaphor for this. But why couldn't it? This is fiction. Something can still be a metaphor, even if it is actually happening in the fictional world.

I had a rare anime tasting evening and I saw two things currently going on that I loved: Overlord, which seems a typical 'person gets trapped in an MMO' type of story, but it's funny and the dude's a giant skeleton overlord. I liked how utterly ponderous the show is. There's very little action and a lot of strutting around hallways. I haven't seen a ton of those shows, so maybe it's fresher for me that it is for people who religiously watch anime seasons. And Gundam Thunderbolt, which, well... I've never seen much of Gundam, but that doesn't seem like a huge setback here. It sets up a very simple fight: Zeon against... the Gundam people. Both sides seem believable and human, enduring losses and coping with a really stressful war. And the way they've put together those fights in the first episode is amazing. I hope the budget and the effort stays on par throughout the show. Goddamn. It fuses music, mania and loss in a delectable way.

It's like ten thousand spoons

I have met with some resistance whenever I bring up the Lords Management genre in real life. Some people profess confusion, others hostility to the idea of 'lords' in need of 'management'.

Thought I had something, but I didn't!

Well then allow me to give it some well-earned ranking power. Here's what I'd say, and allow me to only do a top 3. 1. A Serious Man 2. Burn After Reading 3. True Grit A Serious Man: When the truth is found... to be... lies. And all the hope... within you... dies. And I agree about Burn After Reading. Such a wickedly hilarious movie, from John Malkovich' slow descent into slobness and uncontrolled rage to the reveal of George Clooney's masterful contraption. And it has the perfect ending scene.

Those faceplates are so nice and slick. Such a shame that Nintendo invariably only gets around to that way into the lifecycle of a console/handheld (and yes, New 3DS is still the most part a 3DS).

Wouldn't this be the perfect opportunity for the 'Mr. Remo is my father' line?

I don't disagree there!

It has made me curious towards his earlier books.

I just had a wonderful time reading Undermajordomo Minor by Patrick DeWitt. Anyone else read it? I found it very humorous (without being farcical). I'd describe it as a contrary, Blackadder-like parable.