Tag: Consumption

Book review: Saga: Book One

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Saga: Book One.Saga: Book One by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples.
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

So, here’s something I picked up in an ebook bundle. And conveniently, it turns out to be one of the more enjoyable comic series I’ve dipped my toe into.

(It probably helps that I was a bit of a fan of Vaughan’s Y: The Last Man series, though.)

The setup is pretty easy: it’s a space opera. So it features rocket-ships (albeit ones made out of wood, on occasion), and plenty of pew pew action. There’s TV-headed robot royalty. One-eyed interspecies erotica authors. Sex planets. Freelance assassins. And an interspecies baby that’s not supposed to be – folk with wings don’t get it on with dudes with horns, at least they’re not supposed to. Oh, and there’s magic and spirits and talking cats that know when you’re lying, too.

I guess Lying Cat is like every other cat in the universe, then.

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Book review: The Castle of Otranto

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The Castle of OtrantoThe Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole.
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

So it’s coming up to the holidays so I thought to myself what better time to check out the first English supernatural novel, progenitor of the Gothic genre and on-point guide to decorating your home with revenge-themed supernatural armour? And so I reached for Horace Walpole’s 1764 banger.

Basically, everything you know about the Gothic mode – weird religious symbolism, perverse family intertwinings, twisted tunnels, ghosts kicking arse from beyond death, the horror of landscape and the terror of the built environment – is in here. Continue reading “Book review: The Castle of Otranto” →

Book review: The Aerodrome

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The AerodromeThe Aerodrome by Rex Warner.
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Rex Warner is these days more known for his translation of Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War than for his fiction. But it’s still worth reading his 1941 work The Aerodrome – one of ten he wrote – because though it’s flawed, it contains an odd power.
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Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (2017) and Kôna (2017)

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So, I followed up on my previous stint of Nazi-killin’ joy (briefly covered here) with a run through Machinegames’ newest instalment, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus.

Let’s just say that if you like machine-gunning fascists to death, it’s a good game. The lengthy trailer above should give you a good idea of what to expect if you’re unaware of the series thus far.

(Spoilers likely follow.)

Continue reading “Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (2017) and Kôna (2017)” →

Book review: Another Kyoto

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Another KyotoAnother Kyoto by Alex Kerr.
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is the third of Kerr’s books I’ve read. The first, I found vital, the second not so much. So this sits neatly in the middle, for me. Where it departs from the first two books, though, is in its level of personality: in Another Kyoto I think the reader receives much more of a sense of the author as a person. Continue reading “Book review: Another Kyoto” →

Yakuza 0 (2015-2017)

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Hey! Do you like Japan? Do you like hitting dudes in the streets with bicycles? And is your idea of fun the unravelling of a story involving loyalty, real estate, crime, blindness, identity and the sharpness of suits, offset by the ability to play darts with local drunks, try phone dating and collect phone cards?

If you answered yes to any of those – or are even vaguely curious – then Yakuza 0 is the game for you.  Continue reading “Yakuza 0 (2015-2017)” →

Book review: Nick Cave: Mercy On Me

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Nick Cave: Mercy On MeNick Cave: Mercy On Me by Reinhard Kleist.
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

So let’s get this out of the way first: I am a Nick Cave fan. Not a rabid one, no – I don’t believe he excretes perfect songs into the world, and almost every album he’s associated with could do with having about a third chopped off it – but I like him well enough. I’ve seen him play a couple of times, and have most of the records. Hell, I’ve even read his books a couple of times. (Well, not the Bunny Munro one. )

But there’s something important to know: I like him while disliking him.
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Killin’ time by killin’ Nazis (and others)

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So it’s been a bit of time since I last gave a games update. I’ve been a bit slow on the writing front, partially due to some run-of-the-mill bleh and partially because I’ve been making my way through my games backlog with a reasonable degree of success.

What’ve I been playing? Well, I’m glad you asked. Here’s some thoughts on the past couple of months’ worth of games I’ve played.  Continue reading “Killin’ time by killin’ Nazis (and others)” →

Book review: How Music Works

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How Music WorksHow Music Works by David Byrne
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

So, David Byrne knows a thing or two about music.

This shouldn’t be surprising. After all, he’s been a recording artist and performer – two very different things – for well over 40 years now, and he’s renowned for his creations and collaborations. I’ve been a fan – though not a rabid one – for a couple of decades, and so I figured a trawl through this was in order. What I found was a weird (yet enjoyable) hybrid: Continue reading “Book review: How Music Works” →

Book review: The Town

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The TownThe Town by Shaun Prescott
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Shaun Prescott’s first novel is a strangely compelling Oz-lit amalgam of kitchen-sink drama filtered through an odd, pastoral folk weirdness lens. It’s an examination of failure: of motivation, of society, of relationships and of the laws of physics. It’s a meditation on the pull exerted by cities and their rural sisters, a contemplation of one’s ability to record loss (and the writing process), and something of a rueful love-letter to a particular part of Australia. Continue reading “Book review: The Town” →