Ran

Finally got around to watching Ran today.  It's the fifth (?) Kurosawa film I've seen and the first one I've really loved.  It's quite a relief, actually.  When you come across feted Great Directors and try their output and are underwhelmed, there's a heady mix of disappointment and worrying if you've missed something.  But I missed nothing with Ran.  Excellent movie.

My films of 2016

With inevitability.  And a little late.  And, as ever, possibly including a film or two from 2015.

Literary-based humblebrag

My dad mentioned last Christmas that he'd written a list of all the books he'd read over the year.  I liked the idea so I did it myself for 2016.  And since I don't want the piece of paper kicking around anymore, I'm copying it up here.  This also serves as a neat way to brag about my reading habits to the Internet at large, aren't I clever etcetera.  (Seriously though, it turns out I read a lot more than I realised.)

Books in bold are non-fiction, books struck through are ones I gave up on.

BEGIN

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson (not sure if I'd already started this one or not when 1 January rolled around)
The Road to Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
The Celts by Alice Roberts
Trigger Warning by Neil Gaiman
The Children Act by Ian McEwan
Tales from Earthsea by Ursula LeGuin
Leaving Berlin by Joseph Kanon
A History of the World in 100 Objects by Neil MacGregor
Hokusai's Great Wave by Timothy Clark
Futuristic Violence & Fancy Suits by David Wong
The Other Wind by Ursula LeGuin
Wild by Cheryl Strayed
Kingdom Come by J. G. Ballard
The Peasants' Revolt by Alastair Dunn
The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Fingers in the Sparkle Jar by Chris Packham
Enchantments by Kathryn Harrison
Everything's Eventual by Stephen King
Japan: A Short History by Mikiso Hane
The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell
London: A Short History by A. N. Wilson
The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro
Ships and Seafaring in Ancient Times by Lionel Cassan
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
The Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack by Mark Hodder
The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu
The King in the North by Max Adams
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J. K. Rowling, John Tiffany and Jack Thorne
The Bachman Books by Stephen King
The Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan
Half a King by Joe Abercrombie
The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss
Monsieur Pamplemousse and the Militant Midwives by Michael Bond
For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
Our Kind of Traitor by John le Carré
Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie
Judi Dench: With a Crack in Her Voice by John Miller
The History of Mr. Polly by H. G. Wells
The Concise Pepys by Samuel Pepys
The Universe versus Alex Woods by Gavin Extence
Seveneves by Neal Stephenson
Half the World by Joe Abercrombie
Grotesque by Natsu Kirino - and that's what I'm currently about halfway through.

So, yes.  BOOKS

First world problems

So Steins;Gate 0 is out at the end of the month and now I learn about this other, intriguing new visual novel called Root Letter that's out a couple of weeks before that?

Why can't developers space their releases out a bit more?  I mean, honestly.  It's very inconsiderate.

*huffs*

Hmm

Just finished episode 4 of Life is Strange, and I'm not sure about the SHOCKING TWIST in its last moments.  The events of episode 5 may yet prove to justify it but at present it seems like a SHOCKING TWIST for the sake of a SHOCKING TWIST, rather than one that was properly seeded through the plot's earlier motions.  We shall see.

And another thing

As well as Life is Strange, my other big thing this week is watching the excellent Gravity Falls.  They're both frequently gorgeous to look at, and both set in Oregon.  So now I rather want to visit Oregon.

Life is Strange

So after my initial foray into Life is Strange after buying it, I basically forgot about it for four months and picked it up again at the beginning of the week.  I have not really touched any other game since.  It's absolutely stunning.  Thoughtful, beautiful, often better-directed than many films (the ending of episode 1 is just perfectly done) and an absolute credit to all those involved in its making.

I can see how certain aspects would irk some people, but I don't care.  Easily one of the best games I've ever played.  And I've still got a fair chunk of it to go!  (I'm near the beginning of episode 4 of 5.)

The 36th Chamber

I've just finished watching The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, and it was rather good.  I would recommend it.  Though the ending was bizarrely abrupt - I assumed there was some footage missing, but I can't find any corroboration to that on the interwubs. 

There were some excellent fight scenes (some very good weapon ones, particularly), but I rather liked the fact that the majority of it was about the hero's training at the Shaolin temple.  It gave it a calm, meditative quality that most martial arts movies lack, as well as some delightfully distinctive visual set-pieces.  The candle chamber was undoubtedly my highlight.

You can see why the famously kung fu-loving Wu-Tang Clan named their first album in its honour.  I initially wrote that as "fist album".  That works too.  But it does remind me of The Man with the Iron Fists, which I managed to stick about twenty minutes of before giving up.  Good lord, RZA,  Good lord.

Steins;Gate 100% CG

I just platinumed my copy of Steins;Gate on PS3 and since I had real trouble working out how to get the 100% CG trophy I thought I'd make a note here.  I have this YouTube vid to thank for it.

https://youtu.be/07aXs88xUS8

Go to the Stardust Sky chapter, the one that leads to the Mayuri ending where you haven't got any of the true ending flags.  Once you've shifted back to the Alpha wordline, you'll get a new email with the last CG.  I'm assuming this only works after you've collected all the other CGs and completely licked the game otherwise, though I don't know.  Anyway, 100% CG for you.

Zero Escape

I finished Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors last night.  Technically this morning at about 1.30 a.m. due to the mysterious phenomena that means you only ever finish a game when it's past midnight. 

It's the first title in the Zero Escape trilogy.  I'd already finished the second game, Virtue's Last Reward, back in 2014. 

I did 'em out of order because 999, originally a DS game, didn't get a UK release until a cut-down iPad port quite recently.  I imported 999 - unusual for me, I don't tend to bother importing stuff - because I loved VLR that damn much.  If you've played the games, you'll know that playing them out of order actually kind of makes a weird sense, given that several of the series' characters like to play merry hell with causality.

My point here is that if you haven't encountered the Zero Escape series, you really should.

Imagine Saw meets The Crystal Maze, to start with, then layer in a whole bunch of scientific and philosophical hypotheses, most of which I hadn't come across before and a pleasingly daft sense of humour.  They're intriguingly plotted, satisfying to work through (999 climaxes with a giant sudoku grid to solve - while I've previously understood sudoku puzzles in the abstract, I've never actually sat down and done one by myself before.  999 was the first time I ever did one under my own steam) and filled with meaty concepts to chew on.

The on-off-on-again final instalment, Zero Time Dilemma, is out this year.  Well, this year in Japan and the U.S., at least.  Europe has the good ol' ominously vague "TBD".  Still, I'll wait.  It'll be worth it.

Yep

Well, I was right about Akame Ga Kill!.  There were a grand total of four major characters left alive at the end, out of...twenty-odd?  And my joint-favourite character was one of the dead ones.  Although she died right near the end of the last episode doing something worthwhile and got quite a sweet death scene, so I'm less annoyed.  Slightly.

Gulp

I'm five episodes from the end of Akame Ga Kill! now and I'm genuinely terrified of getting any further because it's pretty obvious that everyone is going to die and I don't want them to

waaaaa

Opinions about stuff

I picked up the boxed edition of Life is Strange yesterday.  I've only had a chance to play the first forty minutes or so but it's looking very promising.

Indeed

Quatermass: "If we found our Earth was doomed - say from climatic changes - what would we do about it?"

Roney: "Nothing.  Just go on squabbling as usual."

Screenwriter Nigel Kneale there, nailing it in his script for Quatermass and the Pit.  Which came out in 1967.  Just sayin'.

Other stuff that was good in 2015

Because.

TV

I got a Netflix account this year, so a good chunk of my telly watching consisted of non-2015 anime that doesn't count.  But Kill la Kill, Aldnoah.Zero and Sword Art Online are all great so there.  As for stuff that does count, Netflix also dispensed the fantastic Daredevil, which was almost my show of the year. Also notable: Humans; The Hunt; Hannibal and The Returned both wrapping up with series that were good but not as good as proceeding series; Jessica Jones being good so far (only halfway through); Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead providing their usual levels of gore and WTFery.  The winner, though, must be Wolf Hall.

Games

I bought slightly too many games this year, many of which weren't 2015-era.  But some were.  And of them, it's a three-way tie between Splatoon, Fallout 4 and Steins;Gate for best of the year.  All three are fantastic; all three have certain major issues.  I love 'em all and can't decide.

Music

Song of the year?  Easy: "The Shade" by Metric.  Album of the year?  Trickier.  I only got...three or four, I think?  "The Shade"'s parent album, Pagans in Vegas, might be in with a shout.  But I do like Jean-Michel Jarre's esoterically titled Electronica 1: The Time Machine.  Hmm.

Books

I don't think I actually bought a 2015-published book.  So, um, yeah.  Read plenty of good ones, mind.  Actually, wait!  I bought Ernest Cline's Armada and David Wong's Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits.  The latter of which I haven't read yet.  So Cline wins by default and Wong gets Best Title For A Book.

My Top 10 Films of 2015

Because I was concerned that no-one anywhere had done one of these already.  Also, MY OPINIONS ARE VALID LET ME TELL YOU THEM

Stuff I Like Lately

Comic: We3 by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely

A dog, a cat and a rabbit are turned into cybernetic assassins then go on the run when the time comes to pull the plug on the project.  Heartbreaking and cleverly written.  Be warned, "eye-poppingly violent" is not a metaphor in this case.

TV show: Aldnoah.Zero

Giant robots in the finest anime tradition but with equal focus on the soldiers fighting an inherently ridiculous war, elegantly handled political power-plays and some truly spectacular plot twists.  It's kind of daft how the lead character saves the day almost single-handedly pretty much every single time, but the rest of the show is so well done I'll let it off.

Tea

I do like tea.  I'ma go make a mug.

I've got my iTunes on shuffle and a track from Bruno Coulais' astonishing soundtrack to Coraline just popped up.

Why that didn't get all the awards I'll never know.

Brief thoughts on Fallout 4

Based on three or so hours of play.

• It's good.  It's vair good.
• The opening is fantasically done.
• Going for a fully-voiced protagonist was a bit of a risk, but thus far it seems to have paid off.  I'm playing as a woman and Courtenay Taylor's performance is excellent.
• The game recognises what name you give your character, which completely blew my mind.  I decided to call my character Ruby and the bloke who voiced the robot Codsworth must've had to record hundreds of variations because he immediately referred to me, fully voiced, as "Mistress Ruby"!  It's not a super-obscure name, but it's not a common one either...
• The Minecraft-esque town building is brilliant.  I wasn't expecting to delve into it much 'cos I tend to find those sort of systems a bit of a headache but I love it.
• every item in the game has a use because you can scrap it for its raw materials Bethesda you bastards I have a hard enough time keeping my inventory weight limit down with useful items now I gotta pick up every coffee cup I see
• also I'll be modding my weapons forever argh
• Loads of great little touches.  Like the extra animations everywhere (especially fiddling with the Pip-Boy), the new layout and method for perks, being able to see inside containers immediately...
• Facial animation is still a bit odd but it wouldn't be Fallout any other way.  Otherwise the game looks yum.

The Nightmare Before Boston

With thanks to my friend Stokes and a guy on the STCO forum who did something similar ten-odd years ago (haha I'm old) for prompting the idea and apologies to Danny Elfman, I present my ode composed the day before Fallout 4 comes out.

What's this?  What's this?
There's rubble everywhere
What's this?
There's ashes in the air
What's this?
I can't believe my eyes
I must be dreaming
Wake up Jack*, this isn't fair
What's this?

What's this?  What's this?
There's something very wrong
What's this?
Someone's been dropping bombs
What's this?
The streets are lined with
Super Mutants laughing
Everybody seems so hardcore
In the aftermath of the war
What is this?

I'm firing off my shotgun
Exploding all their heads
I'm busy building towns
And making everybody dead
There's so much loot to pick up
Oh I can't believe my eyes
I wonder if this Fat Man could
Help boil up their insides?

Oh look
What's this?
The V.A.T.S. will help me not...to miss?  Why that'll come in handy
Inspired!
They're gathering around to hear a story, roasting Mole Rats on a fire!
What's this?

What's this?
In here
They're trading bottle caps
How queer
And who would ever think
And why?
They're collecting little Vault Boy statues
They've got useful stat boosts too
So, now, correct me if I'm wrong
This looks like fun
This looks like fun
Oh could it be I got my wish?
What's this?

Oh my, what now?
This cavern is so deep
And look, there's something that's all teeth
Let's try a hatchet, aim to take its head off
Maybe trade its flesh too, get a stimpack or two
Secure inside my Pip-Boy
Ahhh.....
What's this?

The Pre-War stuff's all missing
And clean water can't be found
And in their place there seems to be
Some Raiders all around
And through their screams, I swear
40's music's in the air
The smell of Feral Ghouls is absolutely everywhere

The sights, the sounds!
They're everywhere and all around
I've never seen so many guns before
My inventory is filling up
I simply cannot get enough
I want it, oh I want it
Oh I want it for my own
I've got to know, I've got to know
What is this place that I have found?
What is this?

....The Commonwealth?  Hmmm...

*for ease let's assume the male Sole Survivor is called Jack and the female is Jacqueline 
Also I know large chunks don't scan but damn if Danny Elfman can't cram an improbable number of syllables into a given line