The Good News, #11
Hello True Believers!
Welcome back to The Good News! We’ve got a show coming up! And a poster for it! Also tickets!
Something fun to get lost in this week:
Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe
For most folks the Stanley Parable is either completely off their radar or an old favorite that one remembers fondly, but is like a toy you've put away forever. If you're in the first category, check out this silly little game without looking into it at all. It doesn't take very many video game skills, and will fill an afternoon with a little joy and silliness. For those who haven't thought about it and didn't dive into the modern remaster, all I can say is there's good reason for coming back and feeling nostalgic about it. And if you know a kid who likes video games, clue them into this one. It'll blow their little minds if they get into it. It's a little pricy at $25, but it goes on sale from time to time.
A nice thing to listen to this week:
Young Ejecta - Dominae (2013)
Young Ejecta's Dominae starts off strong with a dancy, emotional ballad, Mistress, and for my money, the rest of the record doesn't really rise to the occasion. But! But but, Mistress is incredible, and should be heard by all. Every time I go to this album, I listen to it twice in a row, and then let the album flow from there, disappearing into the background. It's the rest is perfectly fine, but I'd be lying if I said I was recommending the whole album haha.
Terrific thing to watch:
Hard Boiled (1992)
Holy flamethrower in a hospital batman, Hard Boiled is an absolute Riot of a film. I've seen a lot of Hong Kong cinema in my life, but over the past few years I must have just been watching exceptionally low budget schlock because when I caught this in theaters this last week, my first time seeing it, my jaw was quick literally slack on about a dozen occasions. Generally I'm perfectly happy with a Cynthia Rothrock, Scott Adkins, or classic Michelle Yeoh martial arts flick, and having been seeped in that world for a good decade, I had completely forgotten what could be done with a bigger budget. I walked away from this flick shook to the core and aching for more haha (so dumb haha). But for real, if you too have forgotten what got people into asian action flicks, and all you've been watching are low budget slugfests, please plug Hard Boiled directly into your brain.
A good read:
Rice Boy - Evan Dahm (2008?)
I've followed Evan Dahm's career since probably late 2007 or early 2008, around when he was wrapping up his first big comic project, Rice Boy! According to him (or my memory of what he said about his work when I started following it haha) it started off as just an experiment with absurdity and abstraction, and he found himself returning to this little world he'd made, so he just kept going with it. I bought his Rice Boy book when it came out, but then promptly dropped off his work because keeping up with webcomics is a young man's game. A few years back, unpacking once again, I re-found this silly little Rice Boy book still in my collection, and decided to check up on ol Evan. Well holy fucking shit has he been busy. He's since written three complete stories set in this little world, and each improving on the last in their own little ways, and then a whole heck of a lot of other books and comics and such. I think Vattu is maybe his most moving work, and he claims the stuff he's putting out right now is his best stuff, but I think if you're going to peak into this world, Rice Boy is probably the best jumping off point. I've got a surprising number of web-comics-in-print, and this is definitely the diamond of the bunch.
And finally, our weekly pic of the pup, Apollo:
Be nice to each other, and we'll see you next week!
Best,
Luke