Here is a continuation of the two part series of what I have been reading, watching, and playing. Hope you enjoyed it!
30 Rock
After watching random episodes on airplanes, and then reading the Tina Fey memoir Bossy Pants, I decided I want to watch 30 Rock. I started with the first season, and while watching it I thought about how hard it must be to establish a series. Both trying to introduce characters, their relationships to each other, and then still trying to tell jokes is a really hard thing to do. 30 Rock stumbles here and there trying to make its mark, but it still manages to be just as funny as later episodes (especially with Tracy Jordan and the episode where they were trying to figure out whether or not he can read). I can’t wait to watch more!
Nichjou
I used to unconditionally love anime. Nowadays, I find myself wondering if I watch Japanese cartoons ironically, or mostly just watch them so I can make the excuse that I am studying Japanese in context. The days of that sort of genuine love of anime seems to be fading away into this sort of scholarly haze of trying to figure out what this animation says about its audience. When I watched Nichijou though, it is something I found hard to watch ironically. Maybe it is because of the language and culture barrier, or perhaps the quality animation, or how completely insane it is, but the show felt more like it was ironically appreciating me. It took all my assumptions, and made them completely useless. Whether it is the kid professor making its adult robot spurt roll cake, high school students getting smacked with raw fish, or a rich guy riding a goat, it is all kind of strange and wonderful.
Rin Tin Tin
If you read Susan Orlean’s book about Rin Tin Tin expecting a book just about the famous German Shepard, you may be disappointed. The entire book is surrounded in an exploration of how we are supposed to research history, and how people’s preconceptions can influence how history is written. Orlean uses Rin Tin Tin as the string in which World War 1, the early movie industry, and her own personal history are all strung along and examined through. I am not a big fan of how Orlean uses official sources, and then exerts her own personal opinions as fact, but as long as the reader parses through her interpretations, Rin Tin Tin is both entertaining and informative.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
I will admit I am several years late on the whole Harry Potter thing, and despite my skepticism of anything too popular, I am finding myself enjoying myself with every book so far. Harry Potter reads like if Charles Dickens decided to take his serial novel style and write fantasy. Stuff like character names, Victorian-esque values, the difference between adults and children, and the plot twists are all very Dickens-esque. While I don’t think Rowling reaches the type of insight that Dickens is famous for, she makes it up in shear readability. Dickens novels are characterized by the fact that he was paid by the word (hence, why they are very wordy and sometimes a bit hard to get through), but I can read through 200 pages of Harry Potter and feel like no time has wasted. I wish that the antagonists were a bit more relatable (especially with the 3rd person narration making that entirely possible), but Harry Potter is a very fun fantasy series, and I am looking forward to reading the next one!
Trials HD
Often times, when I find myself in video game discussions, I will hear the sentiment that video games just need to be “fun,” and any other aspiration is not only wasteful, but contrary to good game design. I am always confused by this because, first of all, “fun” is a very subjective term, and second of all, most of the best games aren’t just fun. Even classic games like Super Mario, Contra, Sonic, etc. had moments of failure after failure that I am not sure if many people would label “fun.” The experience as a whole might be considered “fun,” but games don’t have to be fun at all. Video games need to be fulfilling. “Fulfilling” is also a subjective term, but it is much closer to the truth of good game design than “fun” is. The word fun brings up images of candy, fireworks exploding, taking a swim at the beach, the sort of thing that brings joy without much effort put into it. Video games, by their very nature of being interactive, shouldn’t be just “fun.” “Fulfilling” implies that the more you put into something, the more you get out of it, which to me, is the perfect video game design. Granted, sitting on the couch and inputting button presses in not what most people would call “effort,” but it is that interactivity, that sort of metaphorical chess match between the player and designer, that makes games great. Trials HD is the perfect game to demonstrate this with. Sure, messing up on the same part of a track, cursing your motorcycle all the way may not be called “fun,” but once I clear that track and get that 30 seconds of joy that comes after conquering something I couldn’t do before, sure is fulfilling. That kind of fulfillment is the root of good video games
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