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What are we....
🕑 Added 2022-06-22 08:00:47 +0000 UTCThe "What Are We…" section of our newsletter is a perennial fan favourite - pulling back the curtain on team SU&SD's leisure time! So while newsletters #1-33 have been somewhat lost to time, we've excavated this section (which started in #6) for your enjoyment, nostalgia, and posterity! And always remember: It's not What You Are... it's What You Are... With.
What are we videogames?
#6 (October, 2016)
Quinns: My addiction to the only online card game that matters, Duelyst, has now mellowed into a comfortable habit (do watch my video on it if you haven’t yet!). I’ve also been playing Thumper, and if you’re not sure what that is the always-excellent Kirk Hamilton has written about it here.
Matt: I am still playing nothing but Duelyst, incredibly - only thing that currently fits into my OOH I HAVE 10 MINUTES FREE RIGHT NOW schedule.
#7 (November, 2016)
Quinns: I blasted through Dishonored 2, which was pretty nice, although it struck me that the writing's as boring as the art design is interesting. Now I'm just waiting for the price on Dragon Quest Builders to drop just a touch, and then I'll be all over it.
#8 (December, 2016)
Matt: This month I’ve been rediscovering just how much I love the Sorcery! series on the iPad. I wandered away from Part 3 in the series after my completionist tendencies crashed rather horribly into a big open-world. The finale so far feels more constrained than the dramatically ambitious game that came before it, but it’s giving me more space to soak up the world and strange plotting that rumble away beneath the surface. If you’re a fan of fantasy fiction and uncontrollably finding yourself saying the word “MAMPANG” in supermarkets, it’s really tip-top stuff.
#9 (January, 2017)
Matt: I'm trying to find the next videogame to get my hot under my digital collar. There’s a chance it might be the unusual OneShot - but in terms of stuff I can recommend right now I’m still quietly reeling over Commandos-alike Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun, a PC game with a terrible title that’s one of my favourites from 2016.
Quinns: As for me, I just ordered Gravity Rush 2. I fell head over heels in love with the first game and I've been looking forward to the sequel for four long years.
#10
Matt: I’ve been playing Hyper Light Drifter and Nioh, and filling my head and eyes and hands with twitchy action game delights. The latter is a chunky traditional thing that is solid and yet anything other than remarkable, while Hyper Light Drifter is really something else - a gorgeous piece of work about mortality and legacy, wrapped up in a wonderfully tough little game.
#13
Quinns: What Remains of Edith Finch was maybe the best thing I’ve played all year. Beyond that, I’ve been delighting at the possibilities of Oxygen Not Included. Whenever Klei put out a new game I sit up and take notice, and the alpha of Oxygen Not Included makes it seem like the accessible version of Dwarf Fortress that the videogames scene has wanted for so long. I can’t wait to see what it turns into.
#14
Matt: I've dipped into Torment: Tides of Numenra and I really like it. I wanted to love Pillars of Eternity but it turns out that tricky turn-based strategy combat with 5 characters and loads of skills isn't as much fun as loads of cool story? Two hours in and I've yet to have a fight, so I'm happy.
#15
Matt: After spending probably more than 100 hours working on a video about the design of Breath of the Wild, I’m now back to just quietly, slowly enjoying it. I can easily see the Nintendo Switch ending up being my all-time favourite console: give me rabbids doing XCOM or give me death.
#17
Quinns: I've had a delightful time planet-hopping in Destiny 2 this month (Matt and I are actually hoping too play it together tonight), but Cook, Serve, Delicious! 2!! is the game that I want to recommend to everyone. It would be enough of an achievement if it was simply the best cooking game ever made, but on top of that, the writing is so funny. And there's so much of it. How does that happen?
#18
Quinns: My wife’s been playing Persona 5. It’s not a game that I myself want to play, exactly (the glacial pacing of that series feels utterly improbable in 2017, like finding a working pocketwatch on the beach), but my goodness, I’m loving having it on in the background. Whenever I turn around from my PC Leigh’s character might be working in a 7/11 after school, or she might be negotiating with a horse for its immortal soul. And as a bonus, it has the best menus in any video game ever made. Fans of ornate interfaces owe it to themselves to check this game out on YouTube, at the very least.
#19 (November, 2017)
Quinns: Sonic Mania is one hell of a trip. A mix of old Sonic levels and masterfully-crafted new Sonic levels, old music and new music, but with no line of demarcation between the two, it’s essentially weaponised nostalgia that constantly has you wondering if you’ve played this before or not. Highly, highly recommended.
Matt: I just finished Torment: Tides of Numenera, an RPG set in the pen and paper game of the same name which Cynthia reviewed for us this year. It was surprisingly contained, wonderfully imaginative, and frequently had me grinning like a loon. In my attempts to chill out I re-bought Stardew Valley on Switch, and honestly it’s a game with zero chill: beneath the industrious loops of recurring tasks there’s really not a great deal of soul to be found. Arguably this was true of Harvest Moon too, but I’ve a lot less patience these days for games that feel like jobs - I’m already busy enough as it is!
#22 (February, 2018)
Quinns: I feel like I'm supposed to be struggling my way through Into the Breach at the moment, but it's Hollow Knight that's been my safe place this month. It's clearly inspired by Dark Souls but (unlike that game) underneath it's a big softy. There's heart and humour in the characters, the difficulty never really punishes you, and the world is sprawling without being intimidating. It's exactly what I need right now.
#23
Matt: I’ve been playing a ton of Into The Breach, which fits neatly into my favourite genre: Tactical Games That Put You In an Impossible Pickle That You Can Actually Escape If You Think REALLY HARD. It isn’t for everyone, admittedly - but it’s definitely for me. Factorio also seems wonderful? Once I got a few trains up and running, I was suddenly playing a cross between Transport Tycoon and Starship Troopers. Happy boy!
Quinns: For me, it's Surviving Mars that's charmed me to bits. I love city building games, but it's fantastic to play one in such a delightfully hostile environment. Constructing each new dome feels like a miniature triumph.
#24
Quinns: Matt and I have both gotten back into Duelyst recently, which after a wobbly period has gotten its shit together in spectacular fashion. This makes me happy, because it means that once again SU&SD can recommend it as our online card game of choice. If you try it, and you absolutely should, use the referral code "quinns" to start with an extra 100 gold.
Matt and I have also been enjoying Frostpunk, and off the back of fantastic early sales I was happy to see the developers this week confirming that they'll be making some extra content for it.
#25
Quinns: I’ve been playing Cultist Simulator, which is tough and moreish and delightfully confident. The writing’s fun, but more than anything I like how the interface resembles a disordered mind. It also just goes to show that every time you think you’ve seen everything that cards can do, a new game comes along and proves you wrong.
Matt: Speaking of cults, I briefly fell in love with The Shrouded Isle - a fascinating game that loses most of its appeal once you’ve sussed out the mechanical puzzle, but up until that point it’s one of those rare circumstances where a videogame does what boardgames do best: merging mechanics and mechanic discovery with theme, creating a world that’s intensely immersive based on very few moving parts. It’s a magic trick that fades after a couple of hours, but those hours are more than worth the asking price.
#26
Quinns: I bought a Switch, which has seen be playing Axiom Verge! It is not as good as Hollow Knight. I think you should allllll play Hollow Knight.
Matt: I’ve been playing Dragon Age 2, which is actually alright? Once you get past the fact that the game apparently only has one cave, the story is great and the characters are wonderful. Having recently realised that I just don’t gel with modern game design, it’s quite pleasant to go back to things from the past I somehow missed. Kerbal Space Program is great, it turns out? I’ve fully detached from the hype cycle, captain. I’M OFF TO PLAY TETRIS NOW BYE
#28
Quinns: This month, I cracked. I broke the promise I made to myself that I wouldn’t play Sunless Skies until it was finished, and spent a good fifteen hours threading trails between the floating islands available in Early Access.
Oh my gosh: Oh my gosh. It’s 100% the game that Sunless Sea wanted to be, and it’s big and dark and beautiful and just so lovingly crafted. You can practically smell the engine oil, tea leaves and fungal spores.
If you’re a fan of masterfully-written text adventures, darkly-hilarious fantasy, evocative worlds or if you just trust my opinion on games, buy Sunless Skies immediately. It’s been a long, long time since I found a game that so resonated with me, and it broke my heart this week when I found out that the studio was struggling to sell pre-orders. Add it to your Steam wishlists to heal my broken heart.
It’s all so exciting that I intend to take several days off work when it finally releases early next year. And I haven’t done that since Mass Effect 2.
Matt: I’ve only had time for handheld stuff lately, and my 3DS is getting a new lease of life. After working through Virtue’s Last Reward - fascinating, fun, a bit of a slog, I’m now getting my teeth into Zero Time Dilemma: a delightfully strange combination of audacious plot-twists, occasional gore and very decent puzzles. All of the usual shortcomings aside, I’d forgotten just how strong the best Japanese games of that era could be.
#29
Quinns: The Switch continues to be the best platform to play games on, ever. This month I've been loving the horrifyingly apolitical Valkyria Chronicles 4, as well as Mega Man 11.
I've always really liked the structure of Mega Man games. Like Dark Souls, they're not hard so much as they require patience, and slowly learning to pick my way through its playful landscape of traps feels like I'm in communication with the designers. They've always been a weirdly personal journey for me, perhaps because in traveling through the same rooms over and over, you end up in a weird conversation with yourself.. ?
#30
Matt: Tetris Effect knocked me off my feet for a few days this month, and was well worth the steep price for that alone. In preparation for an international flight I’ve also bought Diablo 3 on Switch. It’s just colours and noises and clicking on things! It makes time pass at an accelerated rate! Modern life is weird!
#31 (December, 2018)
Matt: I have two HOT recommendations for you this month - Twinfold is a mobile phone game that is unbelievably smart, charming, and showcasing tons of depth despite apparent simplicity, and The Return of Obra Dinn is an absolute smasher: you’ve got a boat in which everyone has either died or run away, and using the powers of time-travel freezeframe magic it’s your job to work out exactly who everyone was, and what happened to each and every one of them. I don’t think I’ve ever played a video game that so wholly lets you feel like an actual detective - it’s one of the most compelling, immersive, fascinating puzzles I’ve ever played with, an easy recommendation.
Quinns: Like some folkloric beast, Battle Brothers opened its digital maw this month and swallowed all of my free time. I think it's an absolutely awesome strategy game, and the best XCOM-like game I've played since XCOM 2. It also has one huge strike against it, which is that it has some of the most startlingly misogynistic writing I've encountered in years. You have been warned.
#32 (January, 2019)
Matt: I finally got around to playing SOMA, which was great. I think I’d been put off by the fact that it was horror - whilst honestly it’s not nearly as scary as I expected, just a fabulous exploration of some interesting themes. Quinns pointed out to me that it’s wild that Bioshock is held up as a benchmark and continually re-evaluated, while SOMA ticks to many similar boxes and is so much more clever, thoughtful, and cohesive. I’m really hoping to find time for Sunless Skies over the next week though, it sounds RAD.
Quinns: Oh my god. I’ve put about 30 hours into Sunless Skies in the last week since it came out. If you’re reading this, and you only take one video game recommendation from me each year, make it Sunless Skies. It’s just phenomenal.
#33
Matt: Sunless Skies is amazing, honestly.
Quinns: Ah, I’m so glad you’re playing it!
Matt: I am! I was surprised when you said it might be your all-time favourite game, but I can get that - I can see it. It’s one of those amazingly rare sequels that not only provides players with more, but also finely understands so many of the subtle failings of the first game’s formula. Don’t be fooled by the similarity you might glean from screenshots, the design behind this game is familiar but fundamentally refreshed. You don’t need to have played Sunless Seas either - hop in, it’s fantastic.
Quinns: After some encouragement from our streaming director Chris Bratt, I’ve finally grabbed Hearts of Iron IV by the horns and am finally getting comfortable with it. It’s the definitive, exhaustive (yet still entertaining) World War 2 strategy game, and as a fan of WW2 history I’m finding it equal parts fun and informative. I’m only comfortable playing as little ol' Finland for the moment, but I might step up to a baltic country in my next campaign, if I’m feeling brave, but the thought of playing a big nation like Germany or the United States is literally laughable.
What are we reading?
#6
Quinns: I am reading BLITZED! Holy crap, it’s the most fascinating non-fiction book I’ve read all year [ED's NOTE, which is to say Wife's Note: I've been reading it to him].
Matt: I'm working my way through the third book in the Magicians series, which continues to be a lot of fun.
#7
Quinns: I'm reading Seeing Things, the autobiography of Oliver Postgate, which I'd happily recommend. It keeps alternating between making me cry, making me laugh and making me bored. Which is probably the minimum you should expect from an honest biography of anybody.
#8
Quinns: I am DUAL-WIELDING a couple of very readable books this month. The Sympathizer was this year's winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and I enjoyed it immensely, although the ending took the wind out of my sails with the force of a black hole.
Nights at the Circus, on the other hand, is a book I'd recommend to anybody. It tells the story of "Fevvers", a circus performer born with a pair of functioning wings... or was she? Is it all a scam? And what does that make the narrator, who runs away with the circus to be closer to her? It's all fun and completely transporting, but every so often there's a page where the prose that bangs my heart like a gong.
#9
Quinns: I read The Silk Roads and The Sellout over Christmas and enjoyed both a great deal, but I bet you don't want to hear about them as much as the big, cheesy fantasy book I'm reading, eh?
I actually bought The Grace of Kings after I got so infuriated by The Name of the Wind that I had to give it away to a charity shop circa page 100, leaving me with a gnawing hunger for a big fantasy epic (albeit one that wasn't so transparently modern, American and un-self aware). So I picked up The Grace of Kings after two hours of browsing my local bookshop and oh boy! What a find.
Essentially it's Game of Thrones but imagined through an Asian, rather than a Western lens, though it's distinctly more fast-paced and jazzy than that implies. I'm just a few pages from the end and I'm already concocting mad schemes as to how I can make those pages last until Autumn, when the second book comes out.
It's funny- the last three fantasy/sci-fi books I've loved have been Ancillary Justice, The Fifth Season and now The Grace of Kings, and each one of them shows the value of having more diverse authors working in sci-fi and fantasy, bringing new experiences and ideas and infusing the whole genre with freshness. I can only hope that in a few years we'll have some more diverse creators in the board game scene, too.
#10
Matt: I’m still picking through Ancillary Justice, which was lent to me by Quinns. It is fabulous, packed with intoxicating ideas, and I’m looking forward to finishing it this week. My favourite detail is quite a simple one: the protagonist is an AI that comes from a culture that isn’t fussed about people being addressed with gender-appropriate words, and so every character in the book is described as “she”. Some of them - it becomes clear - are women, whilst some of them are obviously men. Many of them though, you have no idea - and for a sci-fi story it largely doesn’t matter? Which I guess is the author’s point, bluntly yet also expertly made.
Quinns: This month I found myself reading the most moreish book I’ve come across in years. Golden Hill by Francis Spufford is a soft, smiling, cream cake of a story about an Englishman who arrives in New York in 1746 with a bill of exchange for the astonishing value of £1,000. The central questions being, is he a charlatan or not?
The prose is beautiful, the wit never stops, and as a historical novel it’s meticulously researched and transporting without ever being hard work. The kind of book where, when you snap it shut, you’re startled (and more than a little relieved) to find yourself back in the present. I can’t recommend it highly enough.
I’m also reading The Devil’s Teeth, which is a lovely bit of non-fiction about the world’s largest hunting ground of great white sharks. I was actually reading it on the sofa last night with my foot dangling off the edge and became afraid that a shark would come and bite it off. Brains are weird. I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to be taking more away from this book than "sharks are the worst", but it's a real struggle.
#11
Quinns: My wife has a new obsession, Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan Novels, and she got me to try the first one this week and oh my goodness it's good. Just breathtakingly observant and honest prose. I'd encourage anybody to try the first book, and for the men reading this to not be put off by the plot synopsis. It's a dang masterpiece. And so gripping!
#12
Quinns: This week? Cookbooks! I'm stepping up my bread-making game with Flour Water Salt Yeast, and have taken my first, halting steps into the world of Indian cooking with Curry Easy Vegetarian. My flat is a cramped but delicious place to be, let me tell you.
#13
Quinns: OK. Oh my god. I’m late to the party on this, but my wife and I realised we wanted to watch South Korean movie The Handmaiden, but I said I wanted to read the book it was based on first, which is Fingersmith. And oh my god. Oh, my god. A while back I was recommending glittering 19th century yarn Golden Hill in this newsletter, but oh my GOD, Fingersmith is even better. It’s shockingly well-plotted, packed with incredible characters, and oh my god don’t read anything about it just buy it and be surprised and surprised and SURPRISED.
#15
Quinns: I'm shocked that I haven't mentioned Rat Queens in the newsletter yet, and not just because writer Kurtis Wiebe is a guest at SHUX this October. Rat Queens is about nothing more (or less) than a fantasy adventuring party of four dangerous women, and it's phenomenal. It's one of only two comics where I subscribe to individual issues, the other being bloody Saga.
Postmodern takes on Dungeons & Dragons are a dime a dozen these days, and I honestly have pretty little time for them, but Rat Queens expertly takes the best from the genre while mocking the worst of it. You still get heroism, tavern brawls, pocket dimensions and courtly intrigue, but also characters who make all of it seem fresh.
Do yourself a favour and take a peek. There's a preview issue on Comixology that's completely free, and issue #1 is just $0.99.
#16
Quinns: This month I'm reading Experience, the autobiography of Martian Amis, which is heart-wrenching but only really of interest to me as a life-long fan of his (divisive) prose. Instead, if you've not read any Martin Amis I'd (tentatively) recommend Money or Success. No author makes me laugh like this guy, so if SU&SD makes you laugh you could do worse than check him out... ?
#17
Quinns: Barkskins by Annie Proulx, and The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben. My inner world is basically a forest right now.
#18
Quinns: Sheriff of Babylon is the best comic I’ve read in six metric yonks, and the best depiction of the Iraq War (or its aftermath, really) that I've found since HBO's amazing adaptation of Generation Kill. My close friend Clark Burscough of the UK’s Thought Bubble independent comics festival suggested that I read it, and I feel silly for every day that passed between his recommendation and my picking it up.
I read a few great comics while I was on holiday last week, actually, including Matt Fraction’s Sex Criminals and Naoki Urasawa’s Monster (another gift from Clark).
(I swear, at least 50% of the joy in my life comes from having great friends who tell me what to spend my money on.)
#21
Quinns: I am listening to this new history of Napoleon as an Audible audiobook and I'm embarrassed at how exciting I’m finding it. I am turning into an old man at light speed
#25
Quinns: This month I’m listening to an audiobook of Inglorious Empire: What the British Did to India. As someone who grew up in a country that teaches you to be proud of the British Raj, it has, at times, seen me shouting out loud in horror while in the bath.
Since that book might be more of interest to our UK and Indian readers, allow me to point our American readers to Embracing Defeat, which I’ve been similarly glued to this month. It’s a pulitzer prize-winning history of America-occupied Japan after World War 2, and like Inglorious Empire, it’s readable and horrific in equal measure.
If you wanted a book that's a little more fun, I’ve just finished A Time Traveller’s Guide to Medieval England, which was absolutely awesome and makes me want to run a D&D campaign but get everything RIGHT.
#26
Quinns: Hey, you know what? This month I'm just going to tell you to read my favourite book of all time, The Shipping News by Annie Proulx. I read it six years ago but I feel like the images and characters are still living behind my eyes.
#27
Quinns: Following on from a load of reviews saying “Holy crap this is good,” (including Barack Obama, of all people) I am finally reading Lincoln in the Bardo. Here is my review: “Holy crap this is good.”
Award-winning literature can sometimes be a bit of drag. Not this time! Lincoln in the Bardo is a surreal story about a riot of ghosts in a graveyard who can’t bring themselves to move on. It’s made me cry, made me laugh, and made me want to throw the book in frustration at how clever it is, sometimes all on the same page. I think it’s easily in my favourite five books ever.
#29
Quinns: This month I was absorbed in Jennifer Egan's Manhattan Beach in the same way a dispersible aspirin vanishes in a tall glass of water. Not since I last opened something by Sarah Waters have I found a historical novel that reads so easily. No sooner had I popped it open that I was lost in 1940s New York, my heart breaking ever-so-slightly for each character in a staccato story of gangsters, heavy diving suits and dangerous desires.
(If you haven't read any Sarah Waters, I enjoyed Fingersmith and The Paying Guests, but it seems like you can't go wrong with any of her books?)
#30
Quinns: This month I read Less by Andrew Sean Greer, which won this year’s Pulitzer for fiction. Erm, that makes it sound incredibly dense and worthy, but it’s not! It’s not a long book, either, it’s just hilarious, gentle, sad, and reduced me to tears of happiness. I love it I love it I love it. I love it as a romance novel, but also as a travel novel- throughout the protagonist’s journey he visits six different cities, and all of them are brought to life with beautiful clarity and colour.
Matt: This month I’ve been reading the labels of shampoo and shower gel products in Quintin’s bathroom - there was one bottle I think was called “Her Mango Dreams”, which felt like the beginnings of a romantic novella, except actually it’s orange soap that you use to clean your bum. The world of literature is so rich and enthralling!
#31
Quinns: I like to gorge myself on fantasy novels over the Christmas break. So far, the standout this year has been Senlin Ascends, a book series about a man looking for his wife in the tower of Babel. It doesn't resemble an established genre, the protagonist doesn't fit any kind of heroic mould, and yet despite the author (and the main character) very much climbing without a safety net, it works wonderfully. I'm hooked.
Matt: After publicly revealing in last month’s newsletter that I mostly read the packaging for condiments and toiletries, Quinns in act of alarming sweetness bought me and Chris Bratt a book for Christmas - paired with a candle of an appropriate scent. I got The Fifth Season - a science fantasy novel that I started late last night, and after a mere six pages it’s evident I’m in for a bloody good read. I’ll let you know how I get on in January!
Quinns: (I got Chris The Lies of Locke Lamora, which might be my favourite fantasy novel ever.)
#32
Quinns: I’m reading Roll the Bones this month, which is a history of gambling. It’s actually not quite what I wanted, since mostly it’s the history of casinos (I’ll be buying a book on the history of playing cards next), but I’m still pretty engrossed by it. Turns out that lots of the useless techniques that people still try and use to “beat” casinos today have been around for centuries... but in that time, all sorts of people have nonetheless made fortunes from out-witting casinos. The difference is, when casinos take fortunes, they stay the same. When gamblers take fortunes, the casinos evolve, like horrible, predatory aliens made of pure maths.
Matt: After Quinns bought me The Fifth Season for Christmas, in January I chewed through all three of the books in the trilogy. Absolutely fabulous stuff! As is often the case with fantasy novels, towards the end things got a bit grand and harder to visualise - shifting away from the grounded world-building that keeps the first book moving with stunning momentum - but overall it’s just a remarkable series: beautifully written, beautifully angry.
What are we watching?
#1 (May, 2016)
Quinns: Speaking of doing a lot with a little, my fiancée and I watched Creep this week, which was distressing for a couple of reasons. Not only is it an excellent and terrifying film, but from a technical standpoint Matt and I could have filmed it. Check it out if you (a) like horror or (b) like seeing how much you can achieve with just one mid-price video camera and some decent microphones.
#6
Quinns: Along with the rest of civilised society, I am loving Westworld. Although we're watching it through a distinctly un-civilised proxy tunnel to get at Leigh’s parents’ American HBO account [ED's NOTE: PLEASE NOBODY LOOK INTO THE LEGALITY OF THIS IT'S FINE OK].
Matt: Ooh yep. We're obviously watching Westworld because GOSH it is good, and I'm near the end of series 2 of Mr Robot, which I think is largely average but shot and framed in such an interesting way that it effortlessly holds my interest regardless.
#11
Matt: It’s starting to lose flair somewhat now the series is drawing to an end and things are escalating, but I’ve been thoroughly enjoying Legion - Marvel’s latest thing that isn’t terribly Marvel-y at all. I jumped into it based on the fact that the showrunner was Noah Hawley - the same chap in charge of the amazing Fargo TV series. Much like series 2 of Fargo in particular, Legion is just constantly aesthetically inventive in a way that makes it joyful to watch. I’ve been having a blast with it, highly recommended.
#12
Matt: I’m fully into The Expanse at this point - which really found a strong stride in season 2 - but mostly I’m just vibrating with glee that Better Call Saul is back on telly. Tonally and structurally it’s vastly different from Breaking Bad, but I just love every minute of it. The slow pacing drives some mad from what I’ve heard, but I just find it utterly luxurious. In the era of hard cuts and internet editing, shows like this feel like a welcome oasis.
#14
Matt: Despite occasionally feeling like it's all a bit too much like watching an amped-up version of the news, I'm mostly enjoying The Handmaid's Tale - as an Atwood fanboy it's a treat, even if it occasionally
feels like hard work, or worse: feels a bit more entertaining
than it should
? Heavy TV is heavy, etc.
#15
Matt: Have you heard of Game of Thrones? It’s alright I like it. The last month have been a huge treat for me in terms of strong TV - Better Call Saul goes from strength to strength, and I continue to shout loudly and frequently about Fargo: the show that tells an entirely new story each season, always in Minnesota, and always wonderfully grim. It’s almost like procedurally generated television, repeatedly springing new scenarios into life that are ostensibly really similar to one another and yet also always bring in something new. Even the pacing of each series is identical - first few episodes leave you unsure, halfway through things really heat up, and then the final third is just edge-of-your-seat joy/horror. Amazing stuff.
Quinns: Asking my American wife to come and watch Dunkirk with me gave me a lot of feelings to unpack. It made me realise that in a lot of ways, seeing a respectfully-made WW2 movie is the closest I'll come to going to church. I didn't just want to remember the sacrifices made by my dad's generation (he flew planes in WW2), but for my family to be by my side while I did it.
#17
Matt: I recently got around to watching It Follows, which has really dug its way into my head since I saw it. In terms of plot & structure it’s a little thin and often unremarkable, but the stylistic choices quietly knocked me for six - using set, props, and costume design in odd, subtle ways. Small things, mostly - but it’s like airplane chaff for your sense of clarity, really amplified the ghostly vibe of the film.
#18
Quinns: On the plane home from SHUX I watched the excellent Shin Godzilla, almost crying at its depiction of people working together like a well-oiled machine. Organising a con is exactly like mounting a defense against a life-threatening kaiju, is what I’m saying.
#19
Matt: The plot of Star Trek Discovery is about on par with Mass Effect 2, which means yes I’m fully aware of why it’s rubbish but yes, I love it and I hope it never ends.
Quinns: My main problem with Star Trek Discovery is that it's not The Expanse.
(The Expanse is real good, y'all.)
#21
Matt: Best thing I’ve seen for a while is Dark - a German language Netflix show that takes a while to get going and then doesn’t slow down. It’s exactly the sort of thing you can expect to see re-cast and re-shot with Americans in the next few years, but it’s seriously worth persevering with subtitles. Oh! And be sure to switch them on - Netflix will default to an American dub, instantly chucking all of the show’s delicious ambience straight into the bin.
If you take one blind recommendation from me this year, make it this one. Don’t read up on it, pay attention to the exposition, enjoy the ride!
Quinns: I’ll second this. I started watching Dark last night on Matt’s recommendation and was absolutely blown away. The photography and sound design alone earned it a place in my heart, but there’s so much more to it that that...
#22
Matt: I’m very glad I stuck with watching The Good Place - I didn’t find it especially funny, but it continues to be hugely *interesting*. I can’t think of any other shows that so very much resemble a video game - with each episode introducing brand new mechanics. Loose themes on the idea of digital paradise have me thinking about Westworld again, too. Right now though I’m all about audacious and silly TV shows - Star Trek Discovery was joyously mad, Altered Carbon is delicious junk, and I’m increasingly hyped for the second season of Legion: one of the most visually inventive TV shows I’ve seen in years. Watching things is great!
Quinns: I think The Good Place is funny, especially as it goes on! I love Tahani most of all. It's rare you get a comedy English character who makes English and American people both laugh.
#23
Quinns: Never mind Mindhunter! For a peek into some wonderfully unbalanced minds, you wanna watch Wild Wild Country. It just went up on Netflix and it's grrrrrreat.
Matt: I really enjoyed Altered Carbon, despite the long list of reasons I could tell you it was rubbish. I’m far more forgiving of tosh these days, providing it’s thematically interesting and shot well. Everyone’s a critic these days, I think with films & TV I actively just try and zone out and enjoy the craft, if it’s there.
#24
Quinns: Seriously, have you all watched Dark yet? We shouted about this Netflix show back in newsletter #21 and #22, but I was thinking about the ideas it presented again last night, which is surely the sign of first rate science-fiction. Though if you do give it a try, be sure to switch from the terrible default dub to subtitles. The audio mix is one of the best things about Dark, and you don't want American actors gabbing awkwardly over it.
More recently I really enjoyed Phantom Thread and The Deuce but you're NOT ALLOWED to watch them until AFTER you’ve watched Dark.
Matt: I ended up developing a bit of a love/hate relationship with Wild Wild Country - the wonderfully edited Netflix docu-series following the story of a huge, lucrative cult making trying to make a home in rural Oregon. It’s a remarkable snapshot of a strange era supported by an amazing quantity of footage, as a ripping yarn it’s a jaw-dropping treat. As amazing as it was, though - I feel that a documentary on a topic this serious has a responsibility to be more than just entertaining: there’s not a single conversation about the psychological reality of cults, or even any screen-time with any of their numerous victims. Without wanting to too badly spoil the flow of the show, it relishes in presenting an ambiguous story, but in doing so undermines the cult's horrible reality. We live in strange times ourselves right now, and I think there’s real value in understanding the process and power of brainwashing.
#25
Quinns: Speaking of floppy starts, my wife and I have gotten hooked on Naked and Afraid. Two people are dropped in the middle of nowhere, completely nude, and have to survive for 21 days. Some episodes feature enough crafting that they resemble people LARPing Minecraft, whereas some are just curious explorations of places in the world that you’ve never heard of. Don't let this long-running series pass you by! It makes for better viewing than it has any right to.
#26
Quinns: Speaking of sci-fi, this month I watched Lost Soul, the documentary about the woebegotten '90s movie adaptation of The Island of Dr. Moreau. I prefer Jodorowsky's Dune, but recommend both docs if you have an interest in either sci-fi or breathtaking disasters.
#32
Matt: I’ve been laid up in bed for most of the weekend - myself and my wife have both been unwell, and binging on all manner of Netflix tosh. Better than it has any right to be is Sex Education - a show I’m ashamed to admit I was happy to watch purely because it features Gillian Anderson. Then again, I’m confident that the algorithms already knew that. I mention it mainly because this show is deeply strange in a way that I suspect we may soon be seeing more of: it’s set in a UK school and full of British actors, but in a reality that’s evidently heavily modified to be more relatable to American audiences.
The school’s logo is traditional Varsity-Chunk, the sports teams wear US-style college jackets - the town even features a gospel church. It isn’t bad by any means, just severely weird to watch if you’re British - it’s like they’ve peeled off the leafy-green veneer of idealised British culture and wrapped it around an American spine. I’d be fascinated to know if US audiences find it uncanny, but over here it gives the show such a strangely dreamlike quality - a story set in a place that phases between two disparate realities, a town that quite clearly doesn’t exist.
#33
Matt: True Detective Season 3 has been a slow burn that’s really stuck with me - just a fantastically interesting bit of work for a number of reasons I can’t express without spoiling it. After being a big-fan-with-caveats of the first series of Star Trek Discovery, I’m unfortunately surprised to find myself deeply bored by the direction of the second series - which somehow manages both glacial pacing and jarring edits. Strange stuff. Happily fitting into the slot that holds Matt’s Delightful Sci-Fi Junk is The Umbrella Academy. Good fun! Good, good fun.
Quinns: I was VERY excited yesterday to see that the new season of American Gods is out. I wasn’t wild about the book, and I’m still not wild about the script, but dear lord, the visuals of the TV series are tremendous and wild and FUN.
What are we music!!
#12
Matt: My biggest new obsession this month is a musician: Louis Cole has seemingly mastered both the art of funk AND the art of legs, and might just be my new favourite person.
Quinns: Can we please link this song of his as well? It had the SU&SD slack in stitches. I'd like to point people at Archie Pelago, who have made a lot of tedious backend administration on SU&SD feel meditative and complicated. For an introduction I'd consider playing Off-Peak, a free videogame for which they did the soundtrack. The soundtrack's better than the video game, mind you, making it feel more like an interactive music video. Alternatively, this album is super good!
#19
Matt: Quinns pointed me at Teens of Denial by Car Seat Headrest and it’s been on a loop for the past month, interspersed with Human Performance by Parquet Courts - it’s been a noisy close to the year. After editing Cool Ghosts Episode 1, I’ve also been enjoying Archie Pelago.
Oh, and remember Air? The French band? I dipped back into 10 000 Hz Legend recently, and I was blown away by how silly it is. Sincerity and silliness don’t get paired together as often as they should, and in music especially - it’s honestly a treat.
Quinns: God First by Mr Jukes and Aromanticism by Moses Sumney.
#21
Matt: Sunny cold days find me listening to The Horrors - a band that largely deal in loud melancholic dreamscapes with beautiful melodies. Skying is my personal favourite album, but Gathering from their most recent album is a gem. I’ve also recently been revisiting the music of my friend’s now defunct band Lime Headed Dog - some of it is likely too abrasive for most, but the melodies on stuff like Swan are just sublime. Final recommendation of the month: Lost my Head There by Kurt Vile. It’s been a floaty January.
#23
Matt: I’ve been really enjoying Ty Rex - an album of T. Rex covers by Ty Segall. It’s fuzzy and noisy, as all the best things are.
Quinns: My tastes run a little more electronic. This week I'm enjoying Romare's debut album. Gentle, jazzy house music that I love working to.
#27
Quinns: I have been listening to When You’re Ugly by Louis Cole pretty much on repeat. Are there other songs?
#29
Matt: It’s been a month of delving into music that’s either sleepy or strange - Hana Vu’s music is perfect for wobbling around town in a fugue, and Hope from the latest album by Blood Orange is currently my favourite way to start the day. Delicate Steve is another new discovery for me this month - ridiculously fun Ratatat-esque stuff with guitar work that SINGS: check out the live version of Afria Talks To You, it’s guaranteed good-times. Last but not least, To All My Future Lovers by KYO is astounding - the whole album is odd and intense in equal measure, but the opening track in particular is terrifyingly transportative. I mean I’ve no idea where it’s transporting me to, but gosh it’s taking me somewhere else.
#30
Matt: Having seen them live a few weeks ago, I remain trapped in a wonderful loop of Parquet Courts. But soon it will be time to get onto a plane, at which point the tempo needs changing - I don’t think it’s possible to beat Deerhunter for being in the air?
Quinns: I wasn’t particularly into Tune-Yards’ last album, but I am loving her new one. Last year I grudgingly admitted to myself that I don’t often enjoy seeing bands live, but seeing Tune-Yards live was the best thing ever. Someone’s singing has never dropped my jaw like that, before or since. That woman opened her lungs and just BLASTED the audience.
#31
Matt: This month I have been listening to music that features RUDE WORDS, so do approach with caution if harbouring sensitivities. Tai Tois by Baxter Dury has been looping around my head and making me laugh a lot this week, and Louis Cole doing mad live videos inside various houses remains one of my favourite things in the world.
Quinns: Cantos, by Okonkolo. The best music sung by a priest that you'll hear all month, or your money back!
#32
Matt: After two trips to PAX Unplugged I’ve got a low-key crush on Philadelphia, which probably contributes to my recent enjoyment of tight n’ dreary grunge outfit Florry. It’s not for everyone by a wide margin, though - which is why I’ll also include a mention to this ludicrously fun remix by Todd Terje: guaranteed to dispel the greyest of days.
Quinns: A bit of a throwback month for me, as I’ve been listening to a load of indie rock. The Murlocs and Cherry Glazerr. Also, some soaring Latin music in the form of Cantos by Okonkolo.
#33
Matt: I’ve had Twin Shadow’s latest album on loop for the best part of the month - his first album Forget is a melancholic beauty, but I found his more recent shift towards stadium pop a lot less interesting. Caer is an absolutely wonderful middle-ground - a vibrant, odd, remarkable pop album that practically vibrates with jagged heart. You can tell I really love an album when I veer into the realms of practical nonsense.
Quinns: It’s hip-hop for me this month. Iridescence by Brockhampton, and Oxnard by Anderson .Paak.
