My wife and I got a Nintendo Switch to help us pass time during her pregnancy. I’ve been playing “Zelda: Breath of the Wild” and have been absolutely blown away. There’s a post brewing about the progression from the old “Baldur’s Gate” games that I used to play—role-playing-games (RPGs) of the first order—to “Breath of the Wild” and on to the next generation of games that will take place largely inside the Metaverse (or equivalent).
There’s also a Calvin and Hobbes essay lurking somewhere inside me that I haven’t been able to fish out yet, but one day, it’ll bite and I’ll be ready on the reel.
For now, though, it’s been a while since I did a recommendations post, and I’ve encountered several excellent pieces of Sci Fi that are just begging to be shared. Observe!
“The Wheel of Time” on audio book. I’m currently re-reading Robert Jordan’s epic fantasy series—or rather I’m re-listening to it. I had always struggled with audiobooks because I would find myself getting distracted and then, rather than being able to back up and re-read, I would get frustrated trying to find where I dropped off in the audio stream.
These books, however, are lavishly paced, not too dense, and this makes them excellent for audiobook consumption. They’re so long and epic that if you miss a bit, you can just keep going and figure they’ll remind you of whatever it was at some point. If you've never really gotten into the genre, this is an excellent way to give it a try.
These audiobooks are also widely available through local public libraries; I’m getting all my copies from the Tacoma Public Library using the Overdrive App. Over the course of 14 books, that’s a lot of money and a lot of paper saved.
Libraries tend to have a good collection of epic fantasy in general. Also check out the work of Brandon Sanderson, N.K. Jemisin, or Joe Abercrombie—libraries will usually stock them and they’re all excellent.
https://www.overdrive.com/apps
“Plague Birds”, by Jason Sanford - I read this for my book club and was knocked over by it—a blend of sci fi and fantasy that concerns human-AI hybrids that wander the far-future, exacting justice from wrongdoers as judge, jury, and executioner. The first quarter of the book is a little heavy on world-building, but hang in there and be rewarded by one of the weirdest, most mind-bending books I’ve read in some time.
https://www.amazon.com/Plague-Birds-Jason-Sanford/dp/1937009947/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1647753511&sr=8-1
“The Last Duel” directed by Ridley Scott (currently streaming on HBO Max) - This was criminally underseen when it came out last year. I choose to believe that it had to do with the pandemic, and absolutely will not accept the reality that Joe Public doesn’t care about movies like this and just wants the same Marvel movie made the same way over and over. It was the pandemic! *places hands over ears* Lalalalala!
I honestly think that one of the reasons people didn’t give this a chance was the silly blond hair and goatee that Ben Affleck is wearing. I call it the Movie-Star-Problem, and it subtly screws up a lot of movies. Namely: We know who Ben Affleck is. We know what he looks like, what color hair he has, etc. And so when he appears in a historical drama wearing a hairstyle that obviously came out of a bottle of bleach, we read it as silly *even when the costume is actually good and would look fine on someone else*.
I watched the trailer and groaned at it too! But once the movie starts, and you see his character and get used to it a little, it doesn’t even look weird anymore! It’s a great argument for just never watching trailers or advertising of any kind and seeing stuff made by people you think are talented or taking chances on anything that doesn’t look like the ninth iteration of some derivative crap.
Also note that it’s only a certain level of costume that evokes this reaction. There’s an uncanny valley effect—it’s *close* to a complete transformation, but just a little short, and instead it’s transparent and silly. So Christian Bale can gain 50 lbs and wear a huge wig and a bears=d and transform his voice for “American Hustle”, and we buy it. Or Matt Damon (as he does in The Last Duel) can play a knight who looks like Matt Damon with more scars. But Affleck looks like Batman Affleck *except* his hair, and I think it made a lot of people dismissive.
But so the point is this movie *slaps*. It’s got vibes of “Amadeus” with a socially inept warrior tormented by a lesser talent with a silver tongue and discerning eye for high society. It’s also giving me “Rashomon” homage with it’s overlapping storylines, varying point-of-view, and unreliable narrators. And the concept and characters are totally fun and believable, with scripting that keeps it on the rails!
Anyway, I will not stop beating the drum for this movie until they make something better. And given the state of Hollywood at this point—plus the fact that this movie made $30 million on a $100 million budget—that could be a while.
Hope one of these catches your fancy! Have a great week, and I’ll be back next Sunday with another original story. :)
I might watch The Last Duel specifically to SEE Ben in a white wig and goatee!