Sign in to follow this  
Chris

Idle Weekend October 1, 2016: A Whole Candy Bar

Recommended Posts

Idle Weekend October 1, 2016:

1000__header.jpg

A Whole Candy Bar
We're discussing the phenomenon of the ever-game this weekend, including the curious case of Destiny, a game that is good—but never too good. We also have our fun with low-budget Canadian science fiction, the secret best export of our northern neighbors. Finally, we dis magical realism and The Leftovers, and enjoy the greatest pleasure in life: finding a huge chunk of candy in Ben & Jerry's ice cream. It's the weekend, after all!

Discussed: Destiny: Rise of Iron, Civilization (series), WOW, Animal Crossing, Infinite Jest, Warehouse 13, Killjoys, Gossip Girl, Universal's Halloween Horror Nights, The Leftovers, Ben and Jerry's Coffee Toffee Bar Crunch

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

My ever-games are Smash Bros and StarCraft, which I have played in its various iterations almost constantly for 10 and 8 years respectively. They're multiplayer games which enable a certain level of expressing a personal touch on playing the game, due to the way they encourage experimenting with movement and play-styles. They are also games that have allowed me to meet great people and communities, which is one of the big reasons that keeps me playing these games.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

My ever-game is Minecraft on a Creative mode server. It's a fun chat room to build stuff in. The MSpaint of MMOs. So fun to see the weird stuff and awesome superstructures people build.

 

I've recently watched two great shows on Netflix Rob and Daniel might dig, and they are even a little Halloween themed. "Jonathan Strange and Mister Norrell" is like if Harry Potter went on to have a career. What I love about wizard battles is that they are power fantasies for nerdy intellects. 

 

I've also started watching "Penny Dreadful." It is a more campy, gory, and sexy exploration of Victorian horror tropes. It goes for Quantity where "Strange" goes for Quality. As such, it gets into some great character drama exploration, shifting the main players around in fun ways. The main characters are all Victorian tropes, the brooding witch-like seance psychic, the Colonial explorer on a forbidden quest, the mysterious American cowboy, Dr Frankenstein himself. What I love is the show plays with the Mary Shelly's depiction of Frankenstein's creature as brooding existentialist; something rarely portrayed in favor of the zombie brute. You could say it even explores Dr Frankenstein as a manifestation of "womb-envy". The show also reminds me a little of another great Netflix show, "Sense 8," in that both explore queer identities, with Penny Dreadful having a focus on sexual abuses, and including tons of non-sexual nudity.

 

I also can't deny the way these shows play with the Christian values. "Norrel" obscures it by focusing on Fairies. "Dreadful" interacts with it directly. "Norrell" focuses on the power that preists have, and the story mimics a sort of Protestant Reformation, but for magic. "Dreadful" jumps headfirst into Satanism.

 

I grew up Episcopalian, had a great youth group featuring guided meditations, and was an altar boy (a "crucifer") for a while. I never fully believed, listened to Alan Watts in Highschool, and have considered myself an Atheist in college when Dawkins was popular. But since then I've read more Foucault and Max Weber (or at least gotten the crash course from School of Life youtube channel), and I admit the influence of my childhood obsession with the Protestant afterlife; and how this influences my proclivity for escapism, and workaholism. Even in my escapism I must be "productive," because if I'm not productive, I won't be redeemed for the afterlife. Intellectually I attempt to be the rational, but subconsciously I am deeply motivated by these ideas. I can't commit to truely "unproductive" Act of Nothingness that is meditation; I have to participate in a facsimile of productivity, and sell it off as meditation, when it is actually "somnolent obeisance". (A phrase used in "Penny Dreadful")

 

This is why the Darksouls series and Bloodborne are so resonant with me. They all play with this milleu of Christianity, the angst of that worldview; but also sort of mixed with Eastern concepts of reincarnation.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

My ever-game is Crusader Kings II. It's very difficult to fail, the fall can be just as much fun as the rise and it doesn't require as much attention as most Paradox titles. Yet if I feel like it the game offers tons to micromanage. But everything is safe and familiar, no new concepts to learn, nothing difficult or demanding to tackle with. Just turn off your brain and use prejudice and bigotry as an excuse for taking more land.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this