#oh cry me a river emmanuel

[kerryweaverlesbian]

Miracle Man

He walked out of the river,

My miracle man,

And changed my life in ways that only miracles can,

For as I sat and molded personality from clay,

I couldn't help but wonder, could I scuplt myself one day?

The things that he remembered:

"I'm a man and I am poor,"

As he stood with chilling feet upon the tiled kitchen floor,

And I couldn't help but wonder whether I would do the same,

Would I know myself a woman if I didn't know my name?

"Emmanuel", I called him,

God was with him all the time,

Though I found myself believing his a better God than mine,

For I couldn't help but wonder, when he healed me with a touch,

Why to him the Gates were open and to me the windows shut.

On a quiet night I told him,

(Sleeping in our separate beds),

"If I could then in a heartbeat I would swap our crying heads,

Yes, I cannot help but wonder whether I should change inside."

"I don't think I understand you," came the river rough reply:

"The only thing I know is,

That the world is always new,

From the water, to the wind, and yes, I think, to me and you,

You are patient, you are gentle, you are loving, you are kind,

Tell me, what is it you'd change if you were building a new mind?"

At the time I didn't answer,

Though the question clearly stuck,

There was lightening in the rainbow, and it seemed I had been struck,

And I couldn't help but wonder, when we walked the river path,

If the water would sustain me, should I choose to take a bath.

Oh baptise me, Holy River!

Make me cleaner than before,

Put your miracle upon me, now that finally I'm sure,

Though Emmanuel is gone, the man, I'll make him once again,

I will make myself a person, I will build him to the end.

A "Daphne" poem for the @spnpoetryrenaissance prompt transnatural. Inspired by the brain shaking fic meet my girlfriend by transgederism <3

[dailychapel]

Revelation 8:1-13 NLT 1 When the Lamb broke the seventh seal on the scroll, there was silence throughout heaven for about half an hour. 2 I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and they were given seven trumpets. 3 Then another angel with a gold incense burner came and stood at the altar. And a great amount of incense was given to him to mix with the prayers of God's people as an offering on the gold altar before the throne. 4 The smoke of the incense, mixed with the prayers of God's holy people, ascended up to God from the altar where the angel had poured them out. 5 Then the angel filled the incense burner with fire from the altar and threw it down upon the earth; and thunder crashed, lightning flashed, and there was a terrible earthquake. 6 Then the seven angels with the seven trumpets prepared to blow their mighty blasts. 7 The first angel blew his trumpet, and hail and fire mixed with blood were thrown down on the earth. One-third of the earth was set on fire, one-third of the trees were burned, and all the green grass was burned. 8 Then the second angel blew his trumpet, and a great mountain of fire was thrown into the sea. One-third of the water in the sea became blood, 9 one-third of all things living in the sea died, and one-third of all the ships on the sea were destroyed. 10 Then the third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from the sky, burning like a torch. It fell on one-third of the rivers and on the springs of water. 11 The name of the star was Bitterness. It made one-third of the water bitter, and many people died from drinking the bitter water. 12 Then the fourth angel blew his trumpet, and one-third of the sun was struck, and one-third of the moon, and one-third of the stars, and they became dark. And one-third of the day was dark, and also one-third of the night. 13 Then I looked, and I heard a single eagle crying loudly as it flew through the air, "Terror, terror, terror to all who belong to this world because of what will happen when the last three angels blow their trumpets."

Oh, God of wisdom, I want to praise you and give you my life.

Like a loving parent, you bless me. You have watched over me, knowing my history and the path that led me to you.

Thank you for the peace you promise peace in my life. I ask that I be always aware of the strength of your great power. May it never leave me.

So many people before me in so many generations, have served you so humbly, answering your call. Please give me the wisdom and courage to be your humble servant.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel!

[the-jam-to-the-unicorn]

The bromance is back.

[esuemmanuel]

No perdí nada, todo lo tengo dentro de mí, pero... ¿por qué siento que no es así?, ¿por qué me cuesta percibir el aroma dulce de las flores recién bañadas en el llanto del cielo?, ¿por qué camino y siento que estoy corriendo, pero no con el viento sino con el fluir de un río que se ha inundado de lodo y desvarío?, ¿por qué mis manos tiemblan de frío y el alma se me vuelve hielo al roce de lo divino?, ¿por qué miro con los ojos abiertos, pero sólo puedo ser capaz de sentirlos desiertos, opacos, yertos? ¡Oh, es tan sencillo cegarse con la luz de una ilusión esplendorosa! ¡Es tan sublime dejarse abrazar por el perfume del jazmín! ¡Es tan placentero ser arrastrado por el torrente sangriento de la pasión! Es tan... tan... doloroso morir por el descaro de atreverse a sonreír, por la enajenación de sucumbir a las delicias del deleite, a las complacencias de la mente, a lo intangible, a lo impermanente...

— Esu Emmanuel(c), I didn’t lose anything, I have everything inside me, but... why do I feel that it is not like this? Why do I find it difficult to perceive the sweet aroma of the flowers recently bathed in the cry of the sky? And I feel that I am running, but not with the wind but with the flow of a river that has been flooded with mud and delirium? Why do my hands tremble with cold and my soul turns to ice at the touch of the divine? Why do I look with open eyes, but I can only be able to feel them deserted, opaque, stiff? Oh, it is so easy to be blinded by the light of a splendid illusion! It is so sublime to be embraced by the perfume of jasmine! It is so pleasant to be swept away by the bloody torrent of passion! It is so... so... painful to die for the impudence to dare to smile, for the alienation of succumbing to the delights of delight, to the pleasures of the mind, to the intangible, to the impermanent...

[sowhatisthisfor]

Movies 2018

 List of films I watched in 2018 from best to worst.

Updated soon after I’ve seen them.

A Ghost Story [David Lowery, 2017, United States] No film has made me feel this melancholic ever. This is a film so profound, it examines existence in the simplest yet most esoteric way possible. It surely goes straight to the top of my all-time favourite list. 10/10

Burning (Boening) [Chang-dong Lee, 2018, South Korea] Shows the interrelation of hunger and class, the truths and the unknowns. Of how desires could either free you or cage you in unhappiness and despair. A mystery of misery that parallels its political viewpoint. 10/10

Roma [Alfonso Cuaron, 2018, Mexico] Its technical expertise in every element of every frame and composition is overwhelming. It's a movie about contrasts and how each opposite gives life balance, told with such authenticity, it's luxurious cinematic experience. 10/10

Women of the Weeping River [Dayoc, 2016, Philippines] A film about a generational blood feud, and also a metaphoric portrayal of the unending armed conflicts in Mindanao where the vulnerable is the most at risk, and the strong isn’t really unbreakable. 10/10

Kung Paano Hinihintay Ang Dapithapon [Carlo Catu, 2018, Philippines] a small film that tackles layers after layers of things too close to heart. Sincere and profound, definitely my favourite. 10/10  

Loveless (Nelyubov) [Andrey Zvyagintsev, 2018, Russia] cold and chilling in all aspect from start to end. It has such great observation of the recognizable societal apathy. 10/10

Beats Per Minute (BPM) [Robin Campillo, 2017, France] Goosebumps. This is a film clear of its objective, it is exhilarating and exhausting in the good kind of way. 10/10

Cold War (Zimna Wojna) [Pawel Pawlikowski, 2018, Poland] Makes something despairing so beautiful with its artful composition, rightly-paced narrative transition, and cold but affecting character treatment. 10/10

Faces Places [JR, Agnès Varda, 2018, France] Wow. This is the film to watch when your soul is dying for art. Tears, I can't help them from falling. 10/10

Sid & Aya [Irene Villamor, 2018, Philippines] It’s too beautiful, I’m crying halfway through the film for how beautiful it is. You can watch this film without audio and understand it by its lighting, it’s that amazing. 10/10

Arrhythmia (Aritmiya) [Boris Khlebnikov, 2017, Russia] For a movie with characters of increasingly tenuous emotional bond, this is teeming with sensitivity and sensibility. It has so much love, neutrality, and longing, yet so cold and fleeting. Definitely, an emotional rollercoaster of my liking. 10/10

Shoplifters [Hirokazu Kore-eda, 2018, Japan] a film that questions if blood is thicker than the ties that bind us. Here’s Kore-eda capturing our hearts again with his gently-observed humanism. 10/10

Gusto Kita With All My Hypothalamus [Dwein Baltazar, 2018, Philippines] a genius anti-romance that plays along the lines of loving the thought of being in love and making yourself believe in your own ethereality. I love it. 10/10

Balangiga: Howling Wilderness [Khavn, 2017, Philippines] Disheartening and provocative in all its hypnagogia. 10/10

A Star is Born [Bardley Cooper, 2018, United States] If only for its music and its astounding performances, I'm already sold. 10/10

Oda sa Wala [Dwein Baltazar, 2018, Philippines] Is an ode to nothing, to the unseen, to the nobody, to the dead that's more alive than the living and to the living that's more dead than those who died. Baltazar has this gilt-edged technique that leaves its audience wretched yet buoyant. 10/10

The Shape of Water [Guillermo del Toro, 2017, United States] Elegant in its visuals, storytelling, and performances. It is del Toro’s best yet. 10/10

The Guilty (Den Skyldige) [Gustav Möller, 2018, Denmark] Is clever in its minimalism. A fast-paced action thriller and a psychological suspense, all shot entirely between four walls. 9.5/10

Hereditary [Ari Aster, 2018, United States] Unsettling down to the core with a convincing cast and a powerful storytelling. 9.5/10 

Batch 81 [Mike de Leon, 1982, Philippines] In its subversiveness and its sardonic undertone is a remarkable spectacle of expertise, bravery, esoterica, and dynamism. 9.5/10 

Dogman [Matteo Garrone, 2018, Italy] Examines a man's need to be recognized as a chihuahua in a shepherd's world. 9.5/10

BuyBust [Erik Matti, 2018, Philippines] a spectacular display of astounding filmmaking where every element is designed and choreographed fittingly well. Entertaining yet harrowing from start to finish, it's the kind of film that stays. 9.5/10 

God’s Own Country [Francis Lee, 2017, United Kingdom] Features a kind of romance with such carefully-observed realism. It was very well portrayed. Very well. 9/10

Sunday's Illness (La Enfermedad del Doming) [Ramon Salazar, 2018, Spain] Scene after scene of mesmerizing mystery and such powerful attention to detail. 9/10 

Annihilation [Alex Garland, 2018, United States] Though at times flawed, it ended with such thought-provoking, ambitious, and lasting impact. 9/10 

Captain America: Civil War [Joe Russo, Anthony Russo, 2016, United States] it’s hard to point out which part of the film I didn’t like, that’s if I hated anything. 9/10 

The Florida Project [Sean Baker, 2017, United States] Kids, no matter the social class, are still just kids in search for adventure, friendship, and love. This movie doesn't feel like a movie at all, it's brilliant. 9/10

Signal Rock [Chito Rono, 2018, Philippines] Very raw and phenomenal. Each character formidably plays an important role in characterizing a small town of heartwarming spirit. If not for its distracting bad CGI which I think is unnecessary, I’d give it a perfect 10. 9/10

Beti [P. Sheshadri, 2017, India] manages to oppose patriarchy in Indian culture in such an innocent yet intelligible perspective. 9/10 

Train to Busan [Yeon Sang-ho, 2016, South Korea] When everyone's becoming a monster, humanity is the way to survive. Fast-paced. Thrilling. Heartfelt. I honestly feel like Train to Busan lacks a stronger female character, but it's interestingly very human that I'm completely captured by it. 9/10

ML [Benedict Mique, 2018, Philippines] teeming with ingenuity and masteful filmmaking, it’s a suspense too relevant for anyone to miss. 9/10

Liway [Kip Oebanda, 2018, Philippines] Is at most powerful when it exposes the correlation of facts and fiction. Doesn’t hit you right away but when it does, it hits hard. It hits still. 9/10

Sicilian Ghost Story [Fabio Grassadonia, Antonio Piazza, 2017, Italy, France, Switzerland] Cinematic and poetic. Beautiful in all its mythological symbolism. 9/10

Get Out [Jordan Peele, 2017, United States] a satire of utmost significance, it lives. 9/10

Si Chedeng at Si Apple [Rae Red, Fatrick Tabada, 2017, Philippines] Hilarious with punchlines, intelligent with comebacks. This is comedy with brain, soul, and heart. 9/10 

Happy as Lazzaro (Lazzaro Felice) [Alice Rohrwacher, 2018, Italy] a charming small film with a subtext of such vivid social allegory. 9/10

I am Not a Witch [Rungano Nyoni, 2018, United Kingdom] For a debut film, this is quite a remarkable take on exploitation, abuse, and misogyny. 9/10

A Quiet Place [John Krasinski, 2018, United States] For a film that’s supposed to be silent, I find it quite overscored. Still a good watch though. 9/10

Ang Panahon ng Halimaw [Lav Diaz, 2018, Philippines] Sarcasm at its best. Quite fun. 9/10

L'amant Double [Francois Ozon, 2018, France] Wild and mindblowing, a film of endless curiosity. 9/10

Seklusyon [Erik Matti, 2016, Philippines] a thought-provoking jewel on the corruption of divinity and an examination of people’s inner evils. 9/10

BlackKKansman [Spike Lee, 2018, United States] Although satirically exaggerated, this film is teeming with entertainment and importance. 8.5/10 

In This Corner of the World [Sunao Katabuchi, 2017, Japan] It stays. Films like this, they always do. 8.5/10

Euthanizer (Armomurhaaja} [Teemu Nikki, 2018, Finland] An examination of how suffering is commensurate with cruelty. For something so bleak, it is surprisingly a good exemplification of moral values. 8/10

Padman [R. Balki, 2018, India] Speaks volumes in a humorous way. Something enlightening and empowering, I love it. 8/10

Gutland [Govinda Van Maele, 2017, Luxembourg] For a debut feature, Van Maele is a master of slow-burn tension. 8/10

The Square [Ruben Ostland, 2017, Sweden, Denmark] An ironic and satiric take on elitism, privilege, and humanity. 8/10

A Prayer Before Dawn [Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire, 2018, France, Thailand] For something that feels hesitant in showing violence, this is already quite a tough watch. 8/10

We Need to Talk About Kevin [Lynn Ramsey, 2012, United States]

A Taxi Driver [Hun Jang, 2017, South Korea] an entertaining yet affecting tribute to nameless heroes. 8/10

Memoir of War (La Douleur) [Emmanuel Finkiel, 2017, France] Sadly, its visual choices, experimental scoring, and drawn out structure don't match Marguerite Duras's poetic writing. 8/10

The Wound (Inxeba) [John Trengove, 2017, South Africa] More than the physical wound from a boy's transition to manhood, this movie tackles a deeper kind of pain, the kind that scars forever. 8/10

Pan de Salawal [Che Espiritu, 2018, Philippines] a hard-hitting reminder that the most painful challenges people overcome are also the most rewarding. Don’t be afraid to feel them all. 8/10

The Great Buddha+ [Hsin-yao Huang, 2018, Taiwan] Not sure if saying "this is my kind of humour" is something I should be proud of but damn this film is hilarious! Oh and really clever too. 8/10 

Leave No Trace [Debra Ganik, 2018, United States] a small film of massive authenticity and warm touch. It will leave a trace. 8/10

Manila by Night [Ishmael Bernal, 1980, Philippines] a classic representation of the realities of how Manila is a witness to the city's moral lethargy. 8/10 

Coco [Lee Unkrich, 2017, United States] Understands what La La Land doesn’t – relationships shouldn’t suffer when achieving our dreams. 8/10

Don’t Breathe [Fede Alvarez, 2016, United States] Alvarez has some serious skills to make this suspenseful with only a blind villain inside a small house. 8/10  

The Other Side of the Wind [Orson Welles, 2018, United States] Not for a Welles beginner but is surely a completist's delight. 7.5/10

Felicite [Alain Gomis, 2017, Senegal, Congo, France] With such lyrical tone, its narrative was thinly sketched that some of its elements don't match. 7.5/10

Malila: The Farewell Flower [Anucha Boonyawatana, 2018, Thailand] A beguiling narration of existentialism, redemption, and the philosophy of Buddhism. All told in such calming gaze, it's actually hypnotic. 7.5/10 

Revenge [Coralie Fargeat, 2018, France] Caution: explicit cursing while watching and cheering to this. 7.5/10 

Aria [Carlo Catu, 2018, Philippines] Could have gone deeper and darker to make a more harrowing but lasting impact. It borders on the safe side, but still able to tell something important. 7.5/10

Billie & Emma [Samantha Lee, 2018, Philippines] There's magic in its production design and an amusing chemistry that would remind you of what it's like to fall in love the first time. It is everyone's teenage romance, the kind that buries heteronormativity. 7.5/10

Of Love & Law [Hikaru Toda, 2017, Japan] Questions the intricacies of Japanese culture through a collection of simple yet meaningful moments. 7.5/10 

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom [JA Bayona, 2018, United States]

Saving Sally [Avid Liongoren, 2016, Philippines] Is the freshest and has the most creative visual style I’ve seen in a long long time. I want more of it. 7,5/10 

One Week Friends [Masanori Murakami, 2017, Japan]  There’s a good reason for my sunken eyes right now, right? 7.5/10 

Room 8 [James Griffiths, 2013, United States] Unique and smart. Too amazed, I had to share it with everyone. 7.5/10

Isle of Dogs [Wes Anderson, 2018, United States] A quirky imagination of a simple narrative, told in a hyper-stylized artistry. 7.5/10

Black Panther [Ryan Coogler, 2018, United States]

Hintayan ng Langit [Villegas, 2018] I'm not completely sold on a couple of its elements but boy, Gina Pareño is a gem. A sparkling one.  7.5/10  

Avengers: Infinity War [Anthony and Joe Russo, 2018, United States]

The Invitation [Karyn Kusama, 2016, United States] I know a psychological thriller like this is effective when I find myself so uncomfortable, wanting to leave, cautious of being brainwashed. 7.5/10

Ready Player One [Steven Spielberg, 2018, United States] Too amusing to the point of apathy. Still entertaining though. 7.5/10

Disobedience [Sebastian Lelio, 2018, Ireland] Depicts the beauty of internal turmoils and hidden desires, it’s gripping. 7.5/10

Apostasy [Daniel Kokotajlo, 2017, United Kingdom] the more it rolls, the more I loathe religion. 7.5/10 

Wonder Woman [Patty Jenkins, 2017, United States] More than it being a feminist is it being human and that I think is more important. 7.5/10 

Meet Me in St Gallen [Irene Villamor, 2018, Philippines]

Never Not Love You [Antoinette Jadaone, 2018, Philippines] Beautifully and realistically written. It’s just really hard for me to like Reid’s character. 7/10 

Eight Grade [Bo Burnham, 2018, United States] One of the most important and most natural teen movies of the year. 7/10

Cam [Daniel Goldhaber, 2018, United States] Pushing its flaws aside, this is actually quite an accomplished thriller of a possible near future. It didn't end with an impactful resolution though. 7/10

The Miseducation of Cameron Post [Desiree Akhavan, 2018, United States] Provocatively presents how emotionally abusing conversion therapy could be. 7/10

Crazy Rich Asians [Jon Chu, 2018, United States] Important and feel-good, but that's just it for me. 7/10

Distance [Perci Intalan, 2018, Philippines] a tender family drama with powerful performances of characters who choose to love no matter how wrong or right. 7/10 

Showroom [Fernando Molnar, 2014, Argentina] is a showroom of how beautiful and luxurious an artificial world could be. 7/10 

Contagion [Steven Soderbergh, 2011, United States] Believable but somehow lacking in its scare tactic. 7/10 

Zodiac [David Fincher, 2007, United States] Intelligent drama, boring thriller. Not a fan. 7/10

The Greatest Showman [Michael Gracey, 2018, United States]

Smaller and Smaller Circles [Raya Martin, 2017, Philippines] Suspense done right but there's something about its exchanges that seems unnatural. 7/10 

Pop Aye [Kirsten Tan, 2018, Thailand, Singapore] Is as slow but as heavy as its lead. 7/10

The Day After Valentine’s [Jason Paul Laxamana, 2018, Philippines] Brilliant in its canny use of language to illustrate people's tendency to miscommunicate emotions. 7/10 

Thoroughbreds [Cory Finley, 2018, United States] The kind of film that doesn't lead to what you think. It's black comedy of my liking. 7/10

Nearest and Dearest [Kseniya Zueva, 2017, Russia] displays the weakening social and moral values in contemporary Russian society. 6.5/10 

Hearts Beat Loud [Brett Haley, 2018, United States] Magical in its little ways. 6.5/10

Me Casé Con Un Boludo [Juan Taratuto, 2016, Argentina] Nothing much in here but laughter after laughter. 6.5/10

Delinquent [Kieran Valla, 2016, United States] a small-town thriller with a set location that breathes on its own. 6.5/10

Ang Babaeng Allergic sa Wifi [Jun Lana, 2018, Philippines] I thought it was just a cutesy take on appreciating moments and living life in the present, but heck no, prepare to find your tears falling. 6.5/10

Bakwit Boys [Jason Paul Laxamana, 2018, Philippines] a warm and light-hearted family drama with beautiful original songs to brag about. 6.5/10

Musmos Na Sumibol sa Gubat ng Digma [Iar Arondaing, 2018, Philippines] At times, it feels like it's trying too hard both to make a point and to sound subtle to a point that it feels a bit disconnected. 6.5 /10 

What If It Works [Romi Trower, 2018, Australia] Delightfully charming amidst the chaos of mental disorders. Works quite well. 6.5 /10

Eternity Between Seconds [Jan Alec Figuracion, 2018, Philippines] There’s comfort somewhere between the discomforts of bad acting here. 6.5 /10

Love, Simon [Greg Berlanti. 2018, United States] It’s a very familiar coming-of-age romance, but that familiarity is what made it stand out. 6.5 /10

Blockers [Kay Cannon, 2018, United States] Definitely my kind of humour. The sarcastic wit is overflowing. 6.5 /10

Alex Strangelove [CraigJohnson, 2018, United States] Nothing too new but isn't short of likeable. 6.5/10

Lobster Cop [Li Xinyun, 2018, China] Hilarious. I’d like it to be more brutal with its action scenes but it’s already otherwise quite entertaining. 6.5/10

Ant-man and the Wasp [Peyton Reed, 2018, United States] Funny as always, but I'm in love with Paul Rudd so I must be biased. 6.5/10

Kuya Wes [James Mayo, 2018, Philippines] explores the fundamental need of being appreciated in a light yet stinging narrative. I don't like a number of things, but the soundtrack works well, it's satiating. 6.5/10 

To All the Boys I've Loved Before [Susan Johnson, 2018, United States] There's substance in its shallowness, it's charming. 6.5/10

The Snow White Murder Case [Yoshihiro Nakamura, 2014, Japan] It’s a little too long to keep it entirely interesting. 6.5/10

Cardinals [Grayson Moore, Aidan Shipley, 2018, Canada] It was burning slowly until it was shot to the head. Could have been more painful if not for its loose ending. 6.5/10

Unli Life [Miko Livelo, 2018, Philippines] Not a fan of its comedic banters but I find its rare seriousness quite a gem. 6.5/10

The Cured [David Freyne, 2018, United Kingdom]

Sympathy for Mr Vengeance [Park Chan-wook, 2002, South Korea]

Berlin Syndrome [Cate Shortland, 2017, Australia, Germany] Cold and riveting with a third act that would push you to the edge. 6.5/10 

Wonder [Stephen Chbosky, 2018, United States]

12 Strong [Nicolai Fuglsig, 2018, United States] All that technical expertise and still end up saying nothing. 6/10

Goodbye, Grandpa [Yukihiro Morigaki, 2017, Japan] depicts the kind of mourning we tend to overlook and is only intensified by the bonding of family. 6/10 

Deadpool 2 [David Leitch, 2018, United States] Started off fun, ended up exhausting. 6/10

Bird Box [Susanne Bier, 2018, United States] a film with no emotional connection, no proper climax, and therefore no sensical resolution. 6/10

Madilim Ang Gabi [Adolf Alix, 2018, Philippines] seems like a show-off of stars after stars after stars playing bit roles to the point that it already feels unauthentic. 6/10 

Call Her Ganda [PJ Raval, 2018, Canada, Philippines] I'm not convinced of its storytelling, still an important one to watch though. 6/10 

A Million Happy Nows [Albert Alarr, 2017, United States] Despite the smallness of this film, it actually hits big. 6/10 

Bomba [Ralston Jover, 2017, Philippines] is brave in its defiance, bold in its commentary but it somehow failed to deliver. 6/10

Oceans 8 [Gary Ross, 2018, United States] Slow and mediocre, quite a waste of powerhouse cast. 6/10

Koxa [Ekrem Engizek, 2018, Turkey, Germany] Uninteresting for the kind of fact it exposes. 6/10

2 Cool 2 be Forgotten [Petersen Vargas, 2017, Philippines]

Beastmode [Manuel Mesina III, 2018, Philippines] ingenious and inventive but it’s not the kind I enjoy. 6/10 

Dedma Walking [Julius Alfonso, 2017, Philippines]

Can We Still Be Friends [Prime Cruz, 2017, Philippines]

The Belko Experiment [Greg McLean, 2017, United States] The experiment and the film are both pointless, but pointless sometimes is entertaining. 6/10

Hooked [Max Emerson, 2018, United States]

Sierra Burgess is a Loser [Ian Samuels, 2018, United States] I was enjoying it until its last act which felt rushed and unnatural. 5/10

Skyscraper [Rawson Marshall Thurber, 2018, United States] Plot after plot of action-packed impossibilities. 5/10

Glorious [Connie Macatuno, 2018, Philippines] Watching it is like riding a taxi cab with a clutch driver, it’s making me dizzy. 5/10

Rampage [Brad Peyton, 2018, United States] Feels like a bargain with nothing much to offer but cool CGI. 5/10

Je Ne Suis Pas Un Homme Facile [Eleonore Pourriat, 2018, France]  

Mga Mister Ni Rosario [Alpha Habon, 2018, Philippines] Entertaining but also miserably problematic. 5/10

Carrie [Kimberly Peirce, 2014, United States] Is quite an urban myth version of a school shooting. 5/10

Rough Night [Lucia Aniello, 2017, United States] Watched it on a plane, not sure if it's as fun if landed. 5/10

Bomba [Rolston Jover, 2017, Philippines] is brave in its defiance, bold in its commentary but it somehow failed to deliver. 5/10 

Avengers: Age of Ultron [Joss Whedon, 2015, United States] Boring with a capital B. 5/10

The Meg [Jon Turteltaub, 2018, United States] Mediocre. Very mediocre. 5/10

Final Score [Scott Mann, 2018, United States] It has potential but didn't quite scored a goal. 5/10

Uncle Drew [Charles Stone III, 2018, United States] I can't force myself to get comfortable watching this. 5/10

A Piece of Paradise [Patrick Alcedo, 2017, Canada, Philippines] It’s okay but there’s nothing much in there. 5/10

Happy Death Day [Christopher Landon, 2018, United States]

The Flu [Kim Sung-soo, 2013, South Korea] Stupid but fun. It's the kind of silly you enjoy. 5/10

Ali and Nino [Asif Kapadia, 2017, Azerbaijan, Georgia] Badly-acted, badly-designed production. Offers nothing much of excitement. 4/10 

Unexpectedly Yours [Cathy Garcia-Molina, Philippines, 2017] Fun at times. Corny at most. 4/10 

Forget About Nick [Margarethe von Trotta, 2017, Germany] is as if made as an example of movies that failed the Bechdel test from supposed to be feminist directors. 4/10 

I Love You, Hater [Giselle Andres, 2018, Philippines] I find its main plot gender insensitive so it’s a nope nope for me. 4/10

The Mumbai Siege: 4 Days of Terror (One Less God) [Lliam Worthington, 2018, Australia, India] That’s an annoying take on a siege that marked world history. 4/10

Life is What You Make It [Jhett Tolentino, 2018, United States, Philippines] For some reasons, I’m not sold on how it tries to inspire. 4/10 

We Will Not Die Tonight [Richard Somes, 2018, Philippines] If you're looking for brutal action and relentless stabbing where blood and sweat are like fireworks, go see it. If you're looking for sense or better fight choreographies, go somewhere else. 3/10 

Bleeding Steel [Leo Zhang, 2018, Hong Kong] Feels like switching between channels. 3/10

Citizen Jake [Mike de Leon, 2018, Philippines] Is like a collection of everything de Leon wants to try. Not effective at that. 3/10

On Again Off Again [Arsalan Shirazi, 2017, Canada, India] Undesirable characters in undesirable performances. 3/10

Jigsaw [Spirieg brothers, 2017, United States]

Tomb Raider [Roar Uthaug, 2018, United States] Impossible but fun. 3/10

Insidious (The Last Key) [Adam Robitel, 2018, United States] 

Pitch Perfect 3: Last Call Pitches [Trish Sie, 2018, United States] The worst of them all pitches. 3/10

When We First Met [Ari Sandel, 2018, United States]

Attack on Titan: Part 1 [Shinji Higuchi, 2015, Japan] Lacks character development, lacks plot continuity, it’s the movie adaptation disappointment of the decade. 3/10

Alright Now [Jamie Adams, 2018, United States] is said to be a feel-good movie but more like a feel-regretful for the time wasted watching this. 3/10

Hostel [Eli Roth, 2006, United States] Nothing here is pleasing. Not its concept, not its execution, and not even its gore. Down to the trash bin. 3/10

One More Chance [Cathy Garcia-Molina, 2007, Philippines] I’m sorry, I really can’t stand this movie. 3/10

Slumber [Jonathan Hopkins, 2018, United States] Is a snoozefest as simple as that. 3/10

In Un Giorno La Fine (The End?) [Daniele Misischia, 2018, Italy] Is funny in a bad way. 3/10

Peter Rabbit [Will Gluck, 2018, United States] RBF the entire freaking time. 3/10

You, Me and Him [ Daisy Aitkens, 2018, United Kingdom] Just one of those films that pass you by. 3/10

The Dawnseeker [Justin Price, 2018, United States] With that kind of premise, I honestly wanted it to be at least a decent watch. It isn’t. 2/10

Mara [Clive Tonge, 2018, United States] Generic. Mediocre. Forgettable. 2/10

Office Uprising [Lin Oeding, 2018, United States] Dumb. 2/10

School Service [Louie Ignacio, 2018, Phiippines] the intention is there but the concept isn’t concrete enough to be decently executed. 2/10 

The Strangers: Prey at Night [Johannes Roberts, 2018, United States] What a freaking stupid family that was. I could go on and on and on with my disgust towards this movie, but the bacon is cooked and bacon is more important. 1/10

The Matchmaker's Playbook [Tosca Musk, 2018, United States] a misogynist piece of bullcrap. 1/10

The Do-Over [Steven Brill, 2016, United States] Wow. That was boring. 1/10

Aswang [Michael Laurin, 2018, United States] a film perfect for when you can’t sleep. 1/10

The Lookout [Afi Africa, 2018, Philippines] is a joke after joke after joke, so unfunny, it deserves a laugh. 1/10 

[mittensmorgul]

Survival of the Fittest rewatch airs today. I have still never forgiven Sera Gamble for putting the words in Dean's mouth that no one cares that Cas is broken. :) I don't care how frustrated Dean was, no wonder Cas doubts where he stands with the Winchesters. I always imagine Cas remembers all of the times Dean made those comments like being called junkless sissy. This is not really a serious complaint, just sharing an observation that Ritchie was right, "Words hurt, Winchester." :) :)

Ooh, if we’re bringing Richie the Incompetent Hunter from 3.04 into things, let’s remember the context in which we’re quoting, because that’s key here:

RICHIE: Oh, man. You should have seen the rack on this broad. Freakin’ tragedy when I had to gank her.DEAN: Whoa, whoa. Wait. Who killed her? If I remember, your ass was toast until I showed up.RICHIE: Oh, I forgot what a comedian this guy was.DEAN: Richie, Richie, know what? I told you then and I’ll tell you again — you’re not cut out for this job. You’re gonna get yourself killed.(RICHIE’s phone rings)RICHIE: (to caller) : Talk to me.(to DEAN): FYI, Winchester — words hurt. (to caller): Yeah? (pause) No, it’s not a good time, babe. Later.DEAN: So you find anything in this town, anyway?RICHIE: Ah, no. I got nothing. Oh, wait a minute. You mean as in demons and whatnot?DEAN: Yeah.RICHIE: No, I got nothing.

There’s the quote in context. We’ve just met Richie, completely distracted by his “sister,” who is clearly a hooker, in a town that’s supposedly overrun with demons that he was theoretically hunting. His first story up there makes us wonder if he’d really had things under control on that previous hunt, but combined with his comment about the physical distraction the succubus provided and the fact that he also has NOTHING on the demons in town but is distracted so easily with the, uh… local entertainment… and the serious way Dean delivered his line about him not being cut out for this job, AND the fact that Dean was right and he DID end up getting himself killed… well… 

There’s also the joking bantering way he delivered that line to Dean about words hurting while he was talking on the phone with yet another woman he was hooking up with… I mean… Dean wasn’t trying to be hurtful, and Richie wasn’t actually hurt by his words. He was trying to be honest. Richie didn’t take his advice, and Dean ended up having to bury him. So take the quote in context.

Just like the quote about 7.23:

CASTIEL: I can’t help. You understand? I can’t. I destroyed… everything, and I will destroy everything again. Can we please just leave it at that?DEAN: No. [He gets up.] No, we can’t.SAM: Dean…DEAN: We can’t leave it. You let these friggin’ things in. So you don’t get to make a sandwich. You don’t get a damned cat. Nobody cares that you’re broken, Cas. Clean up your mess!

Out of context, it sounds awful. But look back at ALL of s7 (and really most of s6 too). What’s the advice that Dean himself got from Frank, and from Bobby, and from Eliot freaking Ness, and pretty much everyone else all season long?

That his personal problems aren’t as important as getting the job done. Paste on a smile and decide to keep doing the job or just give it up. That there was no time for wallowing in his own depression:

Eliot: Boo hoo, cry me a river, ya nancy! Tell me, are all hunters as soft as you in the future?

AND AS AWFUL AS IT WAS, IT KEPT HIM GOING UNTIL THINGS STARTED TO TURN HIS WAY AGAIN.

This… wasn’t a one-off pissy comment from Dean to Cas. Because why had Dean needed to suffer through pretty much everything he did in s7 until Cas came back? Bobby laid it out in 7.02:

Bobby: Course. You just lost one of the best friends you ever had, your brother’s in the bell jar, and purgatory’s most wanted are surfing the sewer lines, but you know, yeah, I get it. You’re fine.

But what was the DIRECT CAUSE of all of this? Cas’s actions in s6. This is why he had such a hard time forgiving Cas at first (which he talked about with Emmanuel in 7.17, before he actually DID extend the olive branch and essentially INSTANTLY forgave Cas for EVERYTHING). But as long as Cas was alive, and there, they could fix things. There was still hope that everything could be made right again.

In 7.21 when Cas first woke up, Dean let himself hope (despite Meg’s warning that he wasn’t quite the same) that Cas would progressively “get better,” because no matter how bad things sometimes got, Cas was still his friend, and still someone he relied on, put his faith in, because Cas had always come back to him… I mean, in the “Playing Sorry” scene, the nature of the board game and the moves they make essentially define the dynamic Dean’s struggling with here.

Dean plays first, and starts talking with Cas, but Cas refuses to engage with his questions at all. Instead he talks about something else entirely at the same time playing the game and knocking Dean’s piece back to the start. But Dean knows that Cas has information that can help begin to put this entire mess to rights. They literally have a tablet in their hands that may hold all the answers, and Cas is ALIVE and AWAKE, and he remembers EVERYTHING… and yet he doesn’t even seem to care ABOUT DEAN AT ALL. One of the things Cas can’t engage with due to his sense of abject guilt over IS DEAN. And what he did to Dean at the end of s6 and in 7.01. In his present state, Cas can’t see any way through to redeeming himself to Dean (which was ALL he wanted in 7.01 before the Leviathans took over).

But all season long, Dean’s been fighting mostly alone (or at least that’s how it felt to him) to try and clean up this mess that he’d tried to stop Cas from making in the first place. And goddammit, take ALL of that, Dean’s frustration from s6 and his desperation and loss throughout s7, mix it in a huge pot and serve it up when he’s so close to the finish line of saving the entire planet, knowing Cas holds the final key to taking Dick down… 

And he knows that CAS knows this. Dean’s spent three episodes trying to be understanding, trying to coddle Cas along, hoping HIS Cas that he knows is still in there somewhere, the one whose dying promise in 7.01 had been to redeem himself to Dean, the one who remembered everything and saved Sam in 7.17, the one Dean told they COULD fix it all if they worked together, the one who cares about humanity so much he stood alone against Heaven to save it.

The one Hester accused DEAN of having broken in the first place in 7.21:

DEAN: Whoa, whoa, whoa. Back off. We’re actually trying to clean up one of your angel’s messes! You know that.CASTIEL: He’s right. An angel brought the Leviathan back into this world, and – and they begged him. They begged him not to do it.DEAN: Look, just give us some time, okay? We will take care of your Prophet.HESTER: Why should we give you anything… After everything you have taken from us? The very touch of you corrupts. When Castiel first laid a hand on you in Hell, he was lost! For that, you’re going to pay.HESTER walks towards DEAN.CASTIEL: Please. They’re the ones we were put here to protect.HESTER: No, Castiel.HESTER backhands CASTIEL and he falls to the ground. INAIS and the other MALE ANGEL each hold up two fingers to stop DEAN and SAM from going to CASTIEL’s aid.HESTER: No more madness! [She punches CASTIEL.] No more promises! [She punches CASTIEL again.] No more new Gods! [She punches CASTIEL repeatedly and then holds up an angel knife.]

SHE DIRECTLY BLAMES CAS’S FRIENDSHIP WITH DEAN FOR EVERYTHING. “The very touch of you corrupts.”

Meanwhile, Cas is unable to even talk about his own actions in the first person. He’s doing everything he can to distance himself from his guilt. It’s the only way he’s able to engage with everything he’s feeling guilty about. And now Dean’s just got one more item on his checklist of things to feel like shit about– ruining an angel of the Lord– and not even through his actions or words or deeds, but by the simple fact of his existence. He’s poison.

Yet… he’s still fighting. He’s still swinging, until he just can’t anymore. And some combination of desperation over all of this, after a season where he seriously contemplated just giving up so many times, where he cared so little about himself or the fight or just… anything… Cas’s current state is just the last straw.

Look at what Dean tells Kevin in 7.21 about being “chosen”:

DEAN: Oh, I don’t know, man. What can I say? You’ve been chosen. And it sucks. Believe me. There’s no use asking “why me?” ‘Cause the angels – they don’t care. I think maybe they just don’t have the equipment to care. Seems like when they try, it just… breaks them apart.

THAT line always breaks my heart. Because it’s ABOUT CAS. And Dean’s guilt over what’s happened to Cas. HE feels like it’s entirely his fault that Cas is broken apart now.

Cas had done all of this to protect Dean. ALL of it. Including sacrificing himself to heal Sam in 7.17, which directly resulted in his current state.

And back to 7.23, Cas drops the bombshell on them that the entire garrison of angels is dead or in hiding– including the ones who’d been guarding Kevin Tran– and then veers off topic to talk about monkeys because he doesn’t want to get involved, he doesn’t want to fight, and he certainly doesn’t want to feel his personal guilt for yet another loss (of both the angels from his garrison AND the prophet).

This is also the first time that Dean tells Cas they don’t want him to fight, they’re just worried, and they need the information he has about Kevin in order to try and save him:

CASTIEL: I don’t want to fight.DEAN: No, I’m not – [very calmly] we’re worried.CASTIEL: They took him. He’s alive. I felt such responsibility, but it’s in your hands now.DEAN: Wait. Hold on a freakin’ minute.CASTIEL: I feel much better.

It’s in your hands now. As if that just absolved him of all that responsibility.

And that’s… just not how any of this works.

Plus, after what Crowley said:

CROWLEY: Certainly. Oh, bonus. Meg, I’m gonna scoop you up, take you home, and roast you till you’re jerky. [CASTIEL starts to move towards CROWLEY.] But not… yet. Cas can have you for now. Hilariously, it seems he’d be upset at losing you. And the boys need Cas to get Dick. Don’t they, Cas?CASTIEL: Oh, I – I don’t fight anymore.CROWLEY: Come on. Given the particulars of your enemy, sadly, you’re vital.

CAS IS VITAL. They’d can’t get Dick without him. And from Cas’s reaction to Crowley’s assertion there? Cas knows it. He goes so far to avoid that truth as to make the Solidarity Sandwiches in order to dodge his responsibility AGAIN. Because again, he can’t look them in the eyes when he says it:

SAM: And Cas, why was Crowley so certain that you need to come with us?CASTIEL: Crowley’s wrong. I’ll be waiting right here. But please – accept this sandwich as a gesture of solidarity.

When Sam and Dean show up at Sucrocorp the first time, they discover there are MULTIPLE Leviathans who ALL look like Dick. Their weapon only works once, so they can’t afford to bone the WRONG Dick, and they understand. Cas is the only one who can tell them which is the Real Dick. This is why they need Cas. And CAS KNOWS THIS. Yet he deflects AGAIN.

But WHY is he deflecting? Because just like Dean, who’s believed he was “poison,” and has been reminded of it very recently, Cas believes the same of HIMSELF. This is right in Dean’s personal wheelhouse. DEAN GETS IT. But he’s really got a limited set of tools in his personal emotional tool box for coping with that feeling he knows so well… 

This is also where they finally catch up with Bobby, and finally burn the flask keeping his ghost tethered to the planet, and Cas stands in the shadows witnessing Sam and Dean’s loss (that he also feels responsible for) of the closest thing to a father they had. He begins to realize that Dean and he are of a similar mind here…

CASTIEL: I’m not good luck, Dean.DEAN: Yeah, but you know what? Bottom of the ninth, and you’re the only guy left on the bench… Sorry, but I’d rather have you, cursed or not. And anyway, nut up, all right? We’re all cursed. I seem like good luck to you? [CASTIEL stares at DEAN.] What?CASTIEL: Well, I don’t want to make you uncomfortable, but I detect a note of forgiveness.DEAN: Yeah, well, I’m probably gonna die tomorrow, so…CASTIEL: Well, I’ll go with you. And I’ll do my best.

And despite Cas still not being able to forgive HIMSELF, he sees that Dean can’t really forgive himself either… yet they’re both able to forgive each other. It’s a start.

This story isn’t about just one or the other of them. It’s about BOTH of them, feeling the same weight of guilt and failure and loss. It doesn’t work unless you see that from both sides, in context of the gravity of the entire story, and what circumstance has taken from BOTH of them.

Which is why they BOTH ended up in Purgatory.

It’s not Dean “being mean” to Cas. And that one comment that Cas completely understood in context– he KNEW he was actively dodging his responsibility. Which is why I feel really uncomfortable labeling this incarnation of Cas “crazy.” Because he’s not. He’s in abject denial, but he isn’t crazy. The moment they land in Purgatory, he makes sure Dean knows what’s happened and where they are, and then takes off running to keep the Leviathans away from Dean. Perfectly lucid, perfectly aware, and doing the only penance he has left to him– protecting Dean by sacrificing himself.

Which is honestly how we got into this whole mess in the first place. It’s not DEAN’s words that drove him to this point. It’s just what angels DO.

Remember, Cas has been a warrior of Heaven for billions of years, reprogrammed at need to follow orders. His entire existence had been nothing but THIS. His notion of “family” in Heaven was an understanding that he had a purpose and a job and a place because of what he DID, not just because of who he WAS. It’s not even something Cas could truly understand yet– what family means to humans as opposed to what it means to angels.

Cas judged his personal worth on how useful he could be, not on the fact that he was someone Dean just cared about REGARDLESS of how useful he could be to them. Sure, in this case Cas was instrumental in fixing things, but no matter how many times Dean has told him he’s family, that they work better together, Cas still doesn’t have a human frame of reference to understand what that means. He will soon enough… *waves at s9 in the distance*

And wow, okay, I just spent nearly 4 hours on this. Wow. But this is important, this is everything, because this right here is the absolute Stone Number One in the foundation of ALL of Dean and Cas’s future relationship. This guilt on BOTH sides, for very different reasons. This feeling that they’re both poison. That they corrupt everything they touch… THIS pushed BOTH of them to find forgiveness in themselves through finding forgiveness in each other. I mean… without this there would BE NO DESTIEL. I mean… that’s the big picture here.

[neroswallowtail]

— Esu Emmanuel(c), I didn’t lose anything, I have everything inside me, but... why do I feel that it is not like this? Why do I find it difficult to perceive the sweet aroma of the flowers recently bathed in the cry of the sky? And I feel that I am running, but not with the wind but with the flow of a river that has been flooded with mud and delirium? Why do my hands tremble with cold and my soul turns to ice at the touch of the divine? Why do I look with open eyes, but I can only be able to feel them deserted, opaque, stiff? Oh, it is so easy to be blinded by the light of a splendid illusion! It is so sublime to be embraced by the perfume of jasmine! It is so pleasant to be swept away by the bloody torrent of passion! It is so... so... painful to die for the impudence to dare to smile, for the alienation of succumbing to the delights of delight, to the pleasures of the mind, to the intangible, to the impermanent...

[wrapupfam]

Week 4 Wrap Up

I know y’all look forward to these wrap ups as much as I do so I’m stepping in for week 4. Better late than never, right? But, wow. Some of these matchups qualify as breaking news so Ron Burgandy is gonna help us sort through this mess...

I’d be crying rivers too: T (1) vs. Mandy (4)

Oh, T’s Thielen it alright. Even after taking a hit to the head, Adam Theilen still managed another hundred-yard game. Combine that with five touchdowns from Goff and nearly 170 yards from Hopkins to score over 150 fantasy points for the week. Unfortunately for Mandy, with Drew not Brees-ing through this week and performing to his full potential, the numbers didn’t come together as nicely for Team Rivers. Speaking of potential, her bench regrettably looked good with her team’s namesake plus James White earning 20+ points each. Maybe next time? However, both Giovani Bernard deserves praise for delivering a worthy week despite facing possible injuries.

Hell’s Kitchen: Dirt (2) vs. Terri (6)

Not a lot of hiding but plenty of Zeke from Dirty Dan this week with Elliot going off for 152 rushing yards and an even more impressive 88 receiving yards and feeding the Cowboys a victory. Speaking of feeding, it seems that Burger Boi really grilled up some points with another stellar performance from the Cooks, Jared and Brandin. The Goooaaat Getters made an excellent call to start Matt Ryan, but it wasn’t enough between Julio Jones’ struggle to find end zone targets and receptions, and Mike Williams defecating the entire bed with single, measly catch for 15 yards. Should’ve rolled the dice on Tarik Cohen...

Ran out of juice: Jojo (3) vs. Me (7)

Things took a turn for the worst this week as I took advice (for the last time) from tall, dark, and apparently fantasy illiterate. Went with Baker Mayfield and O.J. Howard to start this week! but it seems Cam and Run CMC took my entire squad on a bye with them?? Fitzy continues to struggle (but hopefully will turn into trading material for a high-class wide receiver in the coming weeks?) Actually I should just stop caring so much since that worked so well for me last year (-Alex). Jojo, on the other hand, is all lights, Kamara, action... until Mark Ingram vultures all those goal line TDs the rest of the season. But with Kelce, Evans, an emerging Emmanuel Sanders, and Ertz on the bench (wtf), Jojo could pose as a threat to any team.

How refreshing: Jamie (5) vs. Scotty (9)

Looks like Clyde finally turned right to give Scott his first, very refreshing victory against the next blonde to have her dreams in this fantasy league crushed (but you’re living life on vacation so not a total loss?). But boy was it close. Gurley is OLD news (yeah I’m still bitter that I don’t have him) but Andrew Luck put up 464 yards and 4 touchdowns for a 30+ point game that I’m sure had us all thinking Jamie had this one locked down. However, Scott saw impressive points from Robert Woods, with another hundred-yard game, Kareem Hunt, with 121 yards and a touchdown. His lineup only gets scarier with 100+ points watching from the bench.

This is why we can’t have nice things: Pete (8) vs. Bobbi (10)

The only thing (that we know of) broken by Pete this week was Bob’s losing streak. Carson Wentz started to look more like himself, throwing 350 yards with two touchdowns, and Melvin Gordon finally broke 100 yards this year, but it wasn’t enough to to put up against this Brown Eyed Girl. Cooper Kupp wracks up 4 touchdowns and an all-time PR of 162 yards. Bob combine that’s with a sterling game from Sherpard with one TD to take her first victory of the season. Throw in Cousins and maybe it won’t be the last!

I guess cover it’s it for me, Fam, so I’m signing off.

[fenicerinnovata]

Bruce and Jasmina interview previous Villa owners!

Jasmina Tesanovic and Bruce Sterling are currently writers in residence in the "Vigna di Madame Reale," a baroque villa built in Torino during the 1650s.  In this post, Jasmina and Bruce are interviewing the original patroness and the interior designer of the villa.

"Madama Cristina," Cristina Maria di Borbone-Francia, is Duchess of Savoy, Princess of Piedmont and Queen of Cyprus (1606-1663).  Her master builder, chief dramatist and long-time companion is the Count Filippo San Martino d'Aglie (1604-1667).

JT: Your Majesty, and Signor Count, thanks for letting us write our novels in your beautiful hillside villa!  We're the "Globalisti a Torino," and we met each other in Torino, and we got married.  So it's wonderful to be here in your palace, which is the site of your famous Turinese romance.

BS: We're also grateful that you were somehow able to return from the dead in order to talk to us.

Fd'A: That feat was not easy.  I haven't appeared as a ghost in Torino since the late 1970s.

MC: I haven't been seen in Torino since the night that I died, and I flew across the River Po in a flaming carriage drawn by four flaming horses.

Fd'A.  I saw Her Majesty performing that spectral feat, by the way.  Because I was living in this villa at that time, and this is the place where she last came to me, in her flaming ghost carriage.

MC: I wanted to bid farewell to him, in the special place where we were most happy.

JT:  That is so romantic!  (she chokes up) That makes me want to cry!

BS: (handing her a tissue) You two hardly seem dead at all, to us two.  I'm from Texas, and I can see that the two of you are living presences in this city.  Especially you, Madama Cristina.  The San Salvario district has a big, long street called "Madama Cristina."  An excellent street!   Really nice shopping!

MC:  I command you to address me as "Your Most Serene Highness."

BS: What?

MC:  This is a royal audience!  A reigning monarch must be addressed in a polite and courtly fashion, such as:  "If it would please Your Most Serene Highness to offer us your wisdom on the following topic," and then, and only then, do you presume to pose any question to me.

BS:  But we're journalists!  This is an interview!  We can't engage in polite, elaborate Savoyard court rhetoric.  The people need to know the facts!

MC:  I know what a newspaper is!  We had a newspaper in Savoy. ��One only, and it was controlled by a Jesuit.

JT:   Your Most Serene Highness, may I presume to ask if you read that newspaper?

MC:  You are a foreign woman from the Balkans, is that not so?  Yet you're also a writer?  You are a woman, who writes?

JT:  Yes! Yes I am!

MC:  Then I command you to read "Astrae," by Honoré d'Urfé.  It is the best novel ever written at my court.  It has a thousand pages, so the court ladies can read it aloud to each other, all winter long.  It is a romance, so you are sure to like it.

BS:  Count Filippo, what do you think of that romance novel?

Fd'A.  I'm not a novelist.  I'm a man of action. I create festivals, choreography, costumes, opera, ballet, and tournaments.  And architecture of course.  I did a lot of urban planning.

BS: So, you were pretty much the one-man government of all Savoy, then.

Fd'A (nodding) At Her Majesty's command, of course.

BS:  Yet you don't have any street named after you.  I've noticed that Prince Maurizio and Prince Tommaso, who were bitter rivals of yours — they both have streets in modern Torino.  But not you.

MC (warningly) Sir, you are pressing on his sore spot.

BS: Count Filippo, let's be frank.  You were the court favorite of your Duchess here, her secret lover and basically the powerful Prime Minister of all Piedmont.  Yet there seems to be some shadow over your political achievements as a statesman.  The Turinese should have properly named a whole city square after you.

Fd'A.  My San Martino family, they have their street named in Torino.

BS:  But not you.  It's about the scandalous royal romance, isn't it?  You two were in a settled, intimate relationship, but you never married.  Because she's a royal Bourbon princess from France, the sister of Louis XIII, while you were just a modest Piedmontese country gentleman.  But you shared a bed in this villa, against all propriety.  Is that why you were denied your proper fame and glory?

Fd'A:  Look here, presumptuous foreigner: you may think you understand Turinese baroque politics, but you have it all wrong.  I don't need any fame and glory.  Her Majesty already has all that -- she was born into that condition!  As for me, I manage the grandeur and magnificence.  I design the glorious sets, I choreograph the dancing, the fireworks, and the public festivals, but personally, I'm  modest and humble.  I'm like a Capuchin monk, almost.

BS:  You don't appear very humble.  You have beautiful lavender silk clothing and all kinds of gold rings and royal medals.

Fd'A.  Ridiculous!  This color isn't "lavender!"  This is a special tint which is "gridelino" or "mauve gray."  It's Her Majesty's own signature color!  As her minister, I always dress in "Cristina Gray."

JT: We've noticed that your big villa here is full of that 'gridelino' color.

Fd'A. Because I decorated it myself!  Of course, the Vigna di Madame Reale doesn't look as grand today as it did when I managed it.  I gave Her Majesty huge formal gardens, a band-stand, a dance-floor, and her own zoo.

MC (to JT)  He is so nice to me.

JT: I can see that.

MC: He is so charming.  And so handsome, too.  The "Bel Filippo," they called him.  Every woman in my court was in love with him.

JT: That must have been troublesome.

MC: Yes, I had to put up with a lot of trouble to keep him always at my beck and call, but he was worth it.  Filippo d'Aglie is the most entertaining man in the world.  He was the greatest creative genius of Baroque Turin.  He was inventing ballet, and also opera, just for me.  He could play ten musical instruments and write poetry for me in four languages.

Fd'A.  All part of my day's work, Your Majesty.  It was my privilege to serve you and my native realm, the Duchy of Savoy.

MC:  You can see how good he is.

JT:  Yes.  I married a guy who is sort of entertaining, but he's Texan.  In your age, all the Texans were naked savage cannibals.

MC: Your Texan still seems rather rude and brutal.  You should make him sit up straight and comport himself more like a gentleman.  Does he speak any Latin?

JT: Not one word of Latin!  I'm a literary translator, but Texans are terrible at languages.  He's writing a book about you, but if this villa was still in Baroque Turin, maybe he could clean out the palace stables for you.  Other than that, a Texan would be no good at all.

MC:  Well, you seem a bit better than him.  My father-in-law, Duke Carlo Emmanuel, had a chance to become King of Serbia.  Then I would be the Queen of Serbia, and your people would have been my loyal subjects.

JT: Really?

MC: Why not?  My sister was Queen of Spain, my other sister was Queen of Britain.   I was Queen of Cyprus, even though I never saw Cyprus.  A small, primitive Balkan country like yours would be easy to conquer.  Serbia just needs better administration.  Then Serbia would be less ugly and backward, and more grand and magnificent, like Savoy.

BS: Your Most Serene Highness, that's some impressive political acumen.

MC: I pick good servants.  The key to governance is delegation.  Giovanni Botero, the geopolitical strategist of Savoy, was the best political thinker in the world.

BS:   I don't know much about Giovanni Botero.  I've seen his street in Torino, though.  It's right downtown.

Fd'A.  You must read Botero's treatise, "On the Grandeur and Magnificence of Cities." That was our manifesto for Turin.  Everything we built here, every map, every street, every citadel and artillery firing station -- it all relates to that plan.

BS:  Wow!  Thanks a lot, Filindo!  That's a great tip!

MC (to Fd'A): He knows that my pet name for you was "Filindo."  How does he know that?

Fd'A.  From books, probably.  Books can outlast great buildings, sometimes.  Not very often, though.

MC:  Filindo, why must we suffer as fictional characters?  Isn't it enough, for you and me, that we suffered as historical characters?

Fd'A.  Your Majesty, I was just thinking that myself.

MC:  Every relation between mortal man and woman has a sadness to it, because it must end.  Journalists, I must dismiss you.  This audience is at an end.

JT:  Oh no!  Please!  You can't!  We were just getting started!

BS:  There's so much that we still need to know!  What about the time you were kidnapped?  Did you really start your love affair during the Black Death?  And what about the Compagnia di San Paolo?

JT: It's too late!  They've dissipated into air, like spoken words...  There's nothing left of two of them, but one mauve gray fog...

[symbianosgames]

The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.

[Video Game Deep Cuts is a weekly newsletter from curator/video game industry veteran Simon Carless, rounding up the best longread & standout articles & videos about games, every weekend. This week's highlights include the magic of The Void, John Romero on the TEd tool, Hyper Light Drifter's charm, & much more.

We're here! GDC 2017 kicks off first thing on Monday here in San Francisco, and whoa, there's still lots to do, so I'll keep it brief. Oh, one useful thing - ex Game Developer magazine EIC (& excellent indie dev!) Brandon Sheffield made a super helpful post about all the cool stuff you can see with an Expo Pass at GDC this year - and if you have a bigger pass, you can see all the listed things too!

Whether at GDC or not, have fun this week, and I'll be back next weekend with an all-GDC Video Game Deep Cuts.

- Simon, curator.]

-------------------

Why Ever Stop Playing Video Games? (Frank Guan / New York Magazine) "Like so many others, I played video games, often to excess, and had done so eagerly since childhood, to the point where the games we played became, necessarily, reflections of our being. To the uninitiated, the figures are nothing if not staggering: 155 million Americans play video games, more than the number who voted in November’s presidential election."

All work and no play (Simon Parkin / Eurogamer) "Few video game protagonists keep to strict working hours, and how could they? When there's a war to win, a world to save, a lover's heart to ensnare and all the other grand and arduous problems that a game designer asks us to solve, it would be practically irresponsible to clock off a five for a pint of lager, a packet of crisps and a prestige TV box set."

The Dark Souls of News Journalism (Mega64 / YouTube) "If you don't understand this video, you really need to practice and get better at it. [SIMON'S NOTE: This is the Dark Souls of videos that mention Dark Souls.]"

The Video Game Industry Is Afraid of Unions (Emmanuel Maiberg / Motherboard / Vice) "On November 17 of last year, 450 members of the SAG-AFTRA union picketed developer Insomniac Games in Burbank, California. Some of the faces marching up and down the street with signs in hand were familiar, like Clancy Brown, who played Sgt. Zim in the movie Starship Troopers, but who, on that day, stood up for his rights as a voice actor in popular video games like Call of Duty, God of War, and many others."

"Make it Biblical:" How Vagrant Story Changed Game Localization (John Learned / USGamer) "Released that May in North America, Vagrant Story was a significant step forward for English localization... I recently had the opportunity to interview localization editor Richard Amtower and famous translator Alexander O. Smith over email on their breakthrough early work in the field and to reflect on the rise of localization as a craft that truly mattered."

It's time for cyberpunk games to remember how to be punk (Jody Macgregor / PC Gamer) "While most of the games in the genre that followed [Neuromancer & Syndicate] explored spaces somewhere in between those two extremes, there's been a tendency for them to focus on the high-tech and not the low-life. They get the cyber, but not the punk."

The Magic of the First Legend of Zelda (Mark Brown / Game Maker's Toolkit / YouTube) "The next Zelda game, Breath of the Wild, is said to be inspired by the very first game in the series. Let's revisit that seminal game, to see how Nintendo made such an intoxicating adventure."

How fantastical Atari box art taught the world what makes video games special (Nick Wanserski / AV Club) "Atari 2600 box art is well loved and rightly revered. Some of that can be chalked up to nostalgia for a system that was released in the first years of the Carter administration, but there’s no shortage of collectors who appreciate the amount of thought and technical accomplishment that went into crafting the identity of an emerging entertainment form."

What It Takes To Run A Fighting Game Tournament (Suriel Vazquez / Game Informer) "Without people like Rick Thiher, eSports tournaments would be chaos. Major events require hundreds of man-hours, months of planning, and the ability to manage dozens of moving parts deftly. Thiher runs Combo Breaker, one of the largest tournaments for fighting games throughout the year, and as attendees and players tell it, it’s a well oiled machine."

Virtual Reality’s Potential for Magic Gets Real (Brooks Barnes / New York Times) "In an ordinary office complex here, past stacked cartons of Mountain Dew and a throng of hoodie-wearing employees, sits a prototype for an attraction that Hollywood thinks will become the next entertainment craze — an offering that could mint money for its developers, throw a lifeline to struggling shopping malls and, at long last, jump-start sales of virtual reality gear."

World of Warcraft's gold rush has upended Blizzard’s economy (Daniel Friedman / Polygon) "There has been an economic panic in World of Warcraft. On Feb. 6, Blizzard changed the rules, allowing players to exchange WoW Tokens for Battle.net balance. That means that gold you earn or buy in World of Warcraft can now be used in any Blizzard property."

We tried IMAX VR, and it left us excited as hell (and weak in the knees) (Ryan Waniata / Digital Trends) "Suddenly, I’m propelled around a spiraling chute hundreds of feet above an arctic landscape before diving into a glittering river, through frosted ice caves... This isn’t Disney’s latest Star Tours ride, and it’s not exactly an arcade game, either. It’s part of an all-new take on VR from cinema magnate IMAX (that’s right, IMAX) called The IMAX VR Experience Centre."

Hyper Light Drifter: The Best Game Ever (Cool Ghosts / YouTube) "[SIMON'S NOTE: Another wonderfully deep analysis - as a YouTube commenter notes: 'So we get a "spoilers" warning but not a "this next bit will make you reflect back on your past, wasted opportunities, reflect on your future, inevitable demise and then cry inside" warning? Yeah cheers, Matt ;)'.]

The three reasons YouTubers keep imploding, from a YouTuber (Michael Sawyer / Polygon) "Allow me to extrapolate on a meme those kids today are using: “Dude, you had one job. And it looked like a really easy one.” Let’s Players, streamers or content creators, whatever you like, get to play video games and make jokes while doing so. It seems like a dream gig, so why even risk these sort of gaffes?"

Q&A With Eugene Jarvis: Cruis’n Blast And The Modern Arcade Industry (Arcade Heroes) "The last time we talked with Eugene Jarvis, CEO of Raw Thrills, it was about Jurassic Park. Fast forward to today and his company is busier than ever, pumping out Space Invaders Frenzy, The Walking Dead, Cruis’n Blast along with some other titles in development."

Meet The Woman Raising Japan’s Next Generation Of Street Fighter Champions (Cecilia D'Anastasio / Kotaku) "When I called Street Fighter pro Yuko “Chocoblanka” Momochi at 11 a.m. Japan time, her husband, the legendary Street Fighter champion Yusuke Momochi, was asleep. The husband-wife team, both Street Fighter players, had recently launched a school to train promising Japanese competitors."

Classic Tools Retrospective: John Romero talks about creating TEd, the tile editor that shipped over 30 games (David Lightbown / Gamasutra) "In recent years, retrospectives of classic games have been well received at GDC, but there have been very few stories about classic game tools... For the first article of this series, I have the great pleasure of speaking with John Romero about TEd, the tile editor that he created at id Software, which went on to ship 33 games."

VA-11 Hall-A is Not About Bartending, it's About Your Life (Jake Juliett / Field Notes For Play / YouTube) "Thusly, I enjoy VA-11 Hall-A for the thing it is - a story about living well in modern society. I also mention the woeful lack of analysis about the story."

Playing With Toys While People are Dying (Paul Kilduff-Taylor / Medium) "The work of video game developers distracts the world from problems which desperately need solutions. The culture this feeds is fundamentally depraved, the financial outcomes are random and, ultimately, nothing of worth is produced."

Rod Humble and Erica Gangsei in Conversation (Erica Gangsei / SFMOMA) "In this interview, Erica Gangsei, SFMOMA’s head of interpretive media and creator of the PlaySFMOMA initiative, talks with Humble about his personal and professional projects, and his aspirations for games and gaming."

Todd Howard Discusses Open World Multiplayer, Juggling Seven Projects, And His Hall Of Fame Induction (Matt Bertz / Game Informer) "On the eve of his induction into the AIAS Hall of Fame, we sat down with Howard to discuss his legacy, his plans for the future, and his noble crusade to get EA Sports to resurrect the NCAA Football franchise."

The future of Final Fantasy 15 (Jeremy Parish / Polygon) "That forward-looking attitude continues to guide Tabata's vision for Final Fantasy 15, as the company considers a new model for the franchise: Life for a single-playing story-based game beyond its initial release."

-------------------

[REMINDER: you can sign up to receive this newsletter every weekend at http://ift.tt/2dUXrva we crosspost to Gamasutra later on Sunday, but get it first via newsletter! Story tips and comments can be emailed to vgdeepcuts@simoncarless.com. MINI-DISCLOSURE: Simon is one of the organizers of GDC and Gamasutra, so you may sometimes see links from those entities in his picks. Or not!]

[symbianosgames]

The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.

[Video Game Deep Cuts is a weekly newsletter from curator/video game industry veteran Simon Carless, rounding up the best longread & standout articles & videos about games, every weekend. This week's highlights include the magic of The Void, John Romero on the TEd tool, Hyper Light Drifter's charm, & much more.

We're here! GDC 2017 kicks off first thing on Monday here in San Francisco, and whoa, there's still lots to do, so I'll keep it brief. Oh, one useful thing - ex Game Developer magazine EIC (& excellent indie dev!) Brandon Sheffield made a super helpful post about all the cool stuff you can see with an Expo Pass at GDC this year - and if you have a bigger pass, you can see all the listed things too!

Whether at GDC or not, have fun this week, and I'll be back next weekend with an all-GDC Video Game Deep Cuts.

- Simon, curator.]

-------------------

Why Ever Stop Playing Video Games? (Frank Guan / New York Magazine) "Like so many others, I played video games, often to excess, and had done so eagerly since childhood, to the point where the games we played became, necessarily, reflections of our being. To the uninitiated, the figures are nothing if not staggering: 155 million Americans play video games, more than the number who voted in November’s presidential election."

All work and no play (Simon Parkin / Eurogamer) "Few video game protagonists keep to strict working hours, and how could they? When there's a war to win, a world to save, a lover's heart to ensnare and all the other grand and arduous problems that a game designer asks us to solve, it would be practically irresponsible to clock off a five for a pint of lager, a packet of crisps and a prestige TV box set."

The Dark Souls of News Journalism (Mega64 / YouTube) "If you don't understand this video, you really need to practice and get better at it. [SIMON'S NOTE: This is the Dark Souls of videos that mention Dark Souls.]"

The Video Game Industry Is Afraid of Unions (Emmanuel Maiberg / Motherboard / Vice) "On November 17 of last year, 450 members of the SAG-AFTRA union picketed developer Insomniac Games in Burbank, California. Some of the faces marching up and down the street with signs in hand were familiar, like Clancy Brown, who played Sgt. Zim in the movie Starship Troopers, but who, on that day, stood up for his rights as a voice actor in popular video games like Call of Duty, God of War, and many others."

"Make it Biblical:" How Vagrant Story Changed Game Localization (John Learned / USGamer) "Released that May in North America, Vagrant Story was a significant step forward for English localization... I recently had the opportunity to interview localization editor Richard Amtower and famous translator Alexander O. Smith over email on their breakthrough early work in the field and to reflect on the rise of localization as a craft that truly mattered."

It's time for cyberpunk games to remember how to be punk (Jody Macgregor / PC Gamer) "While most of the games in the genre that followed [Neuromancer & Syndicate] explored spaces somewhere in between those two extremes, there's been a tendency for them to focus on the high-tech and not the low-life. They get the cyber, but not the punk."

The Magic of the First Legend of Zelda (Mark Brown / Game Maker's Toolkit / YouTube) "The next Zelda game, Breath of the Wild, is said to be inspired by the very first game in the series. Let's revisit that seminal game, to see how Nintendo made such an intoxicating adventure."

How fantastical Atari box art taught the world what makes video games special (Nick Wanserski / AV Club) "Atari 2600 box art is well loved and rightly revered. Some of that can be chalked up to nostalgia for a system that was released in the first years of the Carter administration, but there’s no shortage of collectors who appreciate the amount of thought and technical accomplishment that went into crafting the identity of an emerging entertainment form."

What It Takes To Run A Fighting Game Tournament (Suriel Vazquez / Game Informer) "Without people like Rick Thiher, eSports tournaments would be chaos. Major events require hundreds of man-hours, months of planning, and the ability to manage dozens of moving parts deftly. Thiher runs Combo Breaker, one of the largest tournaments for fighting games throughout the year, and as attendees and players tell it, it’s a well oiled machine."

Virtual Reality’s Potential for Magic Gets Real (Brooks Barnes / New York Times) "In an ordinary office complex here, past stacked cartons of Mountain Dew and a throng of hoodie-wearing employees, sits a prototype for an attraction that Hollywood thinks will become the next entertainment craze — an offering that could mint money for its developers, throw a lifeline to struggling shopping malls and, at long last, jump-start sales of virtual reality gear."

World of Warcraft's gold rush has upended Blizzard’s economy (Daniel Friedman / Polygon) "There has been an economic panic in World of Warcraft. On Feb. 6, Blizzard changed the rules, allowing players to exchange WoW Tokens for Battle.net balance. That means that gold you earn or buy in World of Warcraft can now be used in any Blizzard property."

We tried IMAX VR, and it left us excited as hell (and weak in the knees) (Ryan Waniata / Digital Trends) "Suddenly, I’m propelled around a spiraling chute hundreds of feet above an arctic landscape before diving into a glittering river, through frosted ice caves... This isn’t Disney’s latest Star Tours ride, and it’s not exactly an arcade game, either. It’s part of an all-new take on VR from cinema magnate IMAX (that’s right, IMAX) called The IMAX VR Experience Centre."

Hyper Light Drifter: The Best Game Ever (Cool Ghosts / YouTube) "[SIMON'S NOTE: Another wonderfully deep analysis - as a YouTube commenter notes: 'So we get a "spoilers" warning but not a "this next bit will make you reflect back on your past, wasted opportunities, reflect on your future, inevitable demise and then cry inside" warning? Yeah cheers, Matt ;)'.]

The three reasons YouTubers keep imploding, from a YouTuber (Michael Sawyer / Polygon) "Allow me to extrapolate on a meme those kids today are using: “Dude, you had one job. And it looked like a really easy one.” Let’s Players, streamers or content creators, whatever you like, get to play video games and make jokes while doing so. It seems like a dream gig, so why even risk these sort of gaffes?"

Q&A With Eugene Jarvis: Cruis’n Blast And The Modern Arcade Industry (Arcade Heroes) "The last time we talked with Eugene Jarvis, CEO of Raw Thrills, it was about Jurassic Park. Fast forward to today and his company is busier than ever, pumping out Space Invaders Frenzy, The Walking Dead, Cruis’n Blast along with some other titles in development."

Meet The Woman Raising Japan’s Next Generation Of Street Fighter Champions (Cecilia D'Anastasio / Kotaku) "When I called Street Fighter pro Yuko “Chocoblanka” Momochi at 11 a.m. Japan time, her husband, the legendary Street Fighter champion Yusuke Momochi, was asleep. The husband-wife team, both Street Fighter players, had recently launched a school to train promising Japanese competitors."

Classic Tools Retrospective: John Romero talks about creating TEd, the tile editor that shipped over 30 games (David Lightbown / Gamasutra) "In recent years, retrospectives of classic games have been well received at GDC, but there have been very few stories about classic game tools... For the first article of this series, I have the great pleasure of speaking with John Romero about TEd, the tile editor that he created at id Software, which went on to ship 33 games."

VA-11 Hall-A is Not About Bartending, it's About Your Life (Jake Juliett / Field Notes For Play / YouTube) "Thusly, I enjoy VA-11 Hall-A for the thing it is - a story about living well in modern society. I also mention the woeful lack of analysis about the story."

Playing With Toys While People are Dying (Paul Kilduff-Taylor / Medium) "The work of video game developers distracts the world from problems which desperately need solutions. The culture this feeds is fundamentally depraved, the financial outcomes are random and, ultimately, nothing of worth is produced."

Rod Humble and Erica Gangsei in Conversation (Erica Gangsei / SFMOMA) "In this interview, Erica Gangsei, SFMOMA’s head of interpretive media and creator of the PlaySFMOMA initiative, talks with Humble about his personal and professional projects, and his aspirations for games and gaming."

Todd Howard Discusses Open World Multiplayer, Juggling Seven Projects, And His Hall Of Fame Induction (Matt Bertz / Game Informer) "On the eve of his induction into the AIAS Hall of Fame, we sat down with Howard to discuss his legacy, his plans for the future, and his noble crusade to get EA Sports to resurrect the NCAA Football franchise."

The future of Final Fantasy 15 (Jeremy Parish / Polygon) "That forward-looking attitude continues to guide Tabata's vision for Final Fantasy 15, as the company considers a new model for the franchise: Life for a single-playing story-based game beyond its initial release."

-------------------

[REMINDER: you can sign up to receive this newsletter every weekend at http://ift.tt/2dUXrva we crosspost to Gamasutra later on Sunday, but get it first via newsletter! Story tips and comments can be emailed to vgdeepcuts@simoncarless.com. MINI-DISCLOSURE: Simon is one of the organizers of GDC and Gamasutra, so you may sometimes see links from those entities in his picks. Or not!]

[symbianosgames]

The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.

[Video Game Deep Cuts is a weekly newsletter from curator/video game industry veteran Simon Carless, rounding up the best longread & standout articles & videos about games, every weekend. This week's highlights include the magic of The Void, John Romero on the TEd tool, Hyper Light Drifter's charm, & much more.

We're here! GDC 2017 kicks off first thing on Monday here in San Francisco, and whoa, there's still lots to do, so I'll keep it brief. Oh, one useful thing - ex Game Developer magazine EIC (& excellent indie dev!) Brandon Sheffield made a super helpful post about all the cool stuff you can see with an Expo Pass at GDC this year - and if you have a bigger pass, you can see all the listed things too!

Whether at GDC or not, have fun this week, and I'll be back next weekend with an all-GDC Video Game Deep Cuts.

- Simon, curator.]

-------------------

Why Ever Stop Playing Video Games? (Frank Guan / New York Magazine) "Like so many others, I played video games, often to excess, and had done so eagerly since childhood, to the point where the games we played became, necessarily, reflections of our being. To the uninitiated, the figures are nothing if not staggering: 155 million Americans play video games, more than the number who voted in November’s presidential election."

All work and no play (Simon Parkin / Eurogamer) "Few video game protagonists keep to strict working hours, and how could they? When there's a war to win, a world to save, a lover's heart to ensnare and all the other grand and arduous problems that a game designer asks us to solve, it would be practically irresponsible to clock off a five for a pint of lager, a packet of crisps and a prestige TV box set."

The Dark Souls of News Journalism (Mega64 / YouTube) "If you don't understand this video, you really need to practice and get better at it. [SIMON'S NOTE: This is the Dark Souls of videos that mention Dark Souls.]"

The Video Game Industry Is Afraid of Unions (Emmanuel Maiberg / Motherboard / Vice) "On November 17 of last year, 450 members of the SAG-AFTRA union picketed developer Insomniac Games in Burbank, California. Some of the faces marching up and down the street with signs in hand were familiar, like Clancy Brown, who played Sgt. Zim in the movie Starship Troopers, but who, on that day, stood up for his rights as a voice actor in popular video games like Call of Duty, God of War, and many others."

"Make it Biblical:" How Vagrant Story Changed Game Localization (John Learned / USGamer) "Released that May in North America, Vagrant Story was a significant step forward for English localization... I recently had the opportunity to interview localization editor Richard Amtower and famous translator Alexander O. Smith over email on their breakthrough early work in the field and to reflect on the rise of localization as a craft that truly mattered."

It's time for cyberpunk games to remember how to be punk (Jody Macgregor / PC Gamer) "While most of the games in the genre that followed [Neuromancer & Syndicate] explored spaces somewhere in between those two extremes, there's been a tendency for them to focus on the high-tech and not the low-life. They get the cyber, but not the punk."

The Magic of the First Legend of Zelda (Mark Brown / Game Maker's Toolkit / YouTube) "The next Zelda game, Breath of the Wild, is said to be inspired by the very first game in the series. Let's revisit that seminal game, to see how Nintendo made such an intoxicating adventure."

How fantastical Atari box art taught the world what makes video games special (Nick Wanserski / AV Club) "Atari 2600 box art is well loved and rightly revered. Some of that can be chalked up to nostalgia for a system that was released in the first years of the Carter administration, but there’s no shortage of collectors who appreciate the amount of thought and technical accomplishment that went into crafting the identity of an emerging entertainment form."

What It Takes To Run A Fighting Game Tournament (Suriel Vazquez / Game Informer) "Without people like Rick Thiher, eSports tournaments would be chaos. Major events require hundreds of man-hours, months of planning, and the ability to manage dozens of moving parts deftly. Thiher runs Combo Breaker, one of the largest tournaments for fighting games throughout the year, and as attendees and players tell it, it’s a well oiled machine."

Virtual Reality’s Potential for Magic Gets Real (Brooks Barnes / New York Times) "In an ordinary office complex here, past stacked cartons of Mountain Dew and a throng of hoodie-wearing employees, sits a prototype for an attraction that Hollywood thinks will become the next entertainment craze — an offering that could mint money for its developers, throw a lifeline to struggling shopping malls and, at long last, jump-start sales of virtual reality gear."

World of Warcraft's gold rush has upended Blizzard’s economy (Daniel Friedman / Polygon) "There has been an economic panic in World of Warcraft. On Feb. 6, Blizzard changed the rules, allowing players to exchange WoW Tokens for Battle.net balance. That means that gold you earn or buy in World of Warcraft can now be used in any Blizzard property."

We tried IMAX VR, and it left us excited as hell (and weak in the knees) (Ryan Waniata / Digital Trends) "Suddenly, I’m propelled around a spiraling chute hundreds of feet above an arctic landscape before diving into a glittering river, through frosted ice caves... This isn’t Disney’s latest Star Tours ride, and it’s not exactly an arcade game, either. It’s part of an all-new take on VR from cinema magnate IMAX (that’s right, IMAX) called The IMAX VR Experience Centre."

Hyper Light Drifter: The Best Game Ever (Cool Ghosts / YouTube) "[SIMON'S NOTE: Another wonderfully deep analysis - as a YouTube commenter notes: 'So we get a "spoilers" warning but not a "this next bit will make you reflect back on your past, wasted opportunities, reflect on your future, inevitable demise and then cry inside" warning? Yeah cheers, Matt ;)'.]

The three reasons YouTubers keep imploding, from a YouTuber (Michael Sawyer / Polygon) "Allow me to extrapolate on a meme those kids today are using: “Dude, you had one job. And it looked like a really easy one.” Let’s Players, streamers or content creators, whatever you like, get to play video games and make jokes while doing so. It seems like a dream gig, so why even risk these sort of gaffes?"

Q&A With Eugene Jarvis: Cruis’n Blast And The Modern Arcade Industry (Arcade Heroes) "The last time we talked with Eugene Jarvis, CEO of Raw Thrills, it was about Jurassic Park. Fast forward to today and his company is busier than ever, pumping out Space Invaders Frenzy, The Walking Dead, Cruis’n Blast along with some other titles in development."

Meet The Woman Raising Japan’s Next Generation Of Street Fighter Champions (Cecilia D'Anastasio / Kotaku) "When I called Street Fighter pro Yuko “Chocoblanka” Momochi at 11 a.m. Japan time, her husband, the legendary Street Fighter champion Yusuke Momochi, was asleep. The husband-wife team, both Street Fighter players, had recently launched a school to train promising Japanese competitors."

Classic Tools Retrospective: John Romero talks about creating TEd, the tile editor that shipped over 30 games (David Lightbown / Gamasutra) "In recent years, retrospectives of classic games have been well received at GDC, but there have been very few stories about classic game tools... For the first article of this series, I have the great pleasure of speaking with John Romero about TEd, the tile editor that he created at id Software, which went on to ship 33 games."

VA-11 Hall-A is Not About Bartending, it's About Your Life (Jake Juliett / Field Notes For Play / YouTube) "Thusly, I enjoy VA-11 Hall-A for the thing it is - a story about living well in modern society. I also mention the woeful lack of analysis about the story."

Playing With Toys While People are Dying (Paul Kilduff-Taylor / Medium) "The work of video game developers distracts the world from problems which desperately need solutions. The culture this feeds is fundamentally depraved, the financial outcomes are random and, ultimately, nothing of worth is produced."

Rod Humble and Erica Gangsei in Conversation (Erica Gangsei / SFMOMA) "In this interview, Erica Gangsei, SFMOMA’s head of interpretive media and creator of the PlaySFMOMA initiative, talks with Humble about his personal and professional projects, and his aspirations for games and gaming."

Todd Howard Discusses Open World Multiplayer, Juggling Seven Projects, And His Hall Of Fame Induction (Matt Bertz / Game Informer) "On the eve of his induction into the AIAS Hall of Fame, we sat down with Howard to discuss his legacy, his plans for the future, and his noble crusade to get EA Sports to resurrect the NCAA Football franchise."

The future of Final Fantasy 15 (Jeremy Parish / Polygon) "That forward-looking attitude continues to guide Tabata's vision for Final Fantasy 15, as the company considers a new model for the franchise: Life for a single-playing story-based game beyond its initial release."

-------------------

[REMINDER: you can sign up to receive this newsletter every weekend at http://ift.tt/2dUXrva we crosspost to Gamasutra later on Sunday, but get it first via newsletter! Story tips and comments can be emailed to vgdeepcuts@simoncarless.com. MINI-DISCLOSURE: Simon is one of the organizers of GDC and Gamasutra, so you may sometimes see links from those entities in his picks. Or not!]