Air Asia QZ 8501 vanished early this morning local time, somewhere to the east of the Indonesian island of Belitung while en route to Singapore from Surabaya. The plane is still yet to be found.
This feels uncomfortably close to home right now considering my family and I just flew the opposite route (Singapore to Bali, specifically - but they're pretty close) two days ago, and we're flying Air Asia tomorrow to Jakarta.
I used to have a major phobia of plane crashes over large bodies of water and air turbulence during flights (ironic considering the number of times I've been on a plane in my life: too many), but lately I've been feeling mostly apathetic about it, considering that the likelihood of dying in a plane crash is statistically much lower compared to dying in a car crash. It's just that it's easier to picture escaping from a car crash compared to a plane crash (especially from a plane going into the ocean), and the crashes this year have been more high profile than usual even though the overall frequency was lower, so it seems a lot scarier than usual.
(Then again, I haven't experienced any turbulence on a flight as bad as one particular trans-Pacific flight from 8 or so years ago that apparently caused planes smaller than the one I was on to shift a few thousand feet... I thought I was going to die on that flight.)
It's really more like a "I won't be paranoid about it until it actually happens" kind of feeling though, since if it ever does happen I probably won't be worrying about it for very long anyway. Que sera, sera.
Still, for the families awaiting news on the fate of that plane... Lord have mercy.
Sunday, December 28, 2014
Sunday, December 7, 2014
interim
Leave it to the end of a good trip to make me feel existentially depressed all over again. (Nothing to worry about; just another one of my usual mood swings.)
1. I don't often talk about a lot of the emotions I really feel throughout the days, or rather aside from whatever ends up reported here, which is more like a tiny sample of what I really experience. For the record, I'm an F by Myers Briggs standards [ignore if you dislike Myers Briggs; I understand lol]. I don't necessarily talk about my feelings that often with people, but I generally go through the same motions mentally as a lot of other F's I know who tend to be more vocal about them. Most of the time I don't think my emotions are worth voicing aloud, as they tend to feel shallow or naive in retrospect; I can get jealous over the stupidest little things and upset over issues that aren't worth getting riled over.
But I still feel, and I can't help but experience feelings that I regret having later on down the line... like becoming over-possessive of my friends. There was once a time when I become so obsessive about how close I was with people that in one circumstance I just had to have a conversation with the same particular person everyday or else I'd start growing paranoid about growing distant from that person (which I uh... tracked using our chat logs during a time when AIM didn't automatically store them) and it progressed to the point where we kinda grew sick of each other and stopped talking for a year (which might've been considered abnormal at the time). This was only with a friend though- I still worry about what would happen in a romantic relationship, like I might turn into one of those jealous and over-possessive boyfriends.
It's partly why I've kinda kept my distance sometimes from friends when I might not emotionally want to otherwise- because I'm afraid of growing sick of someone whose presence I used to enjoy or likewise alienating them. I don't want to repeat the past again.
2. I worry about becoming so preoccupied with the little things I tend to obsess over (for the last few weeks it's been Pokemon again >_>) that I grow more distant from the people I do get a chance to see, because nothing else going on in my life happens to be relevant to them at the moment. This also means that when I do see signs of the closeness of other people's relationships, I randomly feel jealous pangs inside, even though it's no business of mine and really my own fault for letting my own relationships wither anyway.
Not that they're really withering right now... but for lack of a better term, I don't feel as "connected" to most of my friends as I sometimes wish I could be (and other times I just feel apathetic about it). Sometimes I come and go in people's lives for various reasons, and then the next time I see them they tell me that it feels like they haven't seen me in ages, even if it's only been a month. This last month being Japan, two weeks of jetlag and sickness triggered hermiting, Fog City Stomp, Thanksgiving in Socal, and then Tahoe. I've kinda lost what consistency in seeing people that I had even a month ago... although my current life-flow might be considered normal by some people's standards.
3. Sometimes I feel like I'm just going through auto-pilot motions even when I'm around people now. Like I'm going along with whatever plans happen to come up as another means of keeping me distracted from the little things that might otherwise demand my attention... like my future, which I keep putting off to some later date when I'm not occupied with trips (Indonesia and NYC coming up... I know, I travel a lot) or the weekly/bi-weekly movie night-swing dancing-small group-sometimes game night routine I had going earlier before everything got all jumbled up. I don't know what will happen in the coming weeks either.
I need a break from life to figure out my life, but that's probably not that feasible without pulling something drastic like arbitrarily quitting my job or something but I don't intend to go there.
But in the meantime... I'm keeping my calendar minimal for the next couple of weeks. I need room to breathe and think again. I was starting to forget what it was like to pay attention to my own thoughts till now.
-- I also went snowboarding this weekend for the second time (and for the record it was exponentially better than this depressing post because I took a lesson instead of trying to free-form learn and failing), but that's another story. Kinda knew this already, but I find I enjoy activities a lot better when I actually understand how to do them properly. This will sound petty but I still feel a little bitter about that first experience... but that's what I get for not preparing for it ahead of time.
1. I don't often talk about a lot of the emotions I really feel throughout the days, or rather aside from whatever ends up reported here, which is more like a tiny sample of what I really experience. For the record, I'm an F by Myers Briggs standards [ignore if you dislike Myers Briggs; I understand lol]. I don't necessarily talk about my feelings that often with people, but I generally go through the same motions mentally as a lot of other F's I know who tend to be more vocal about them. Most of the time I don't think my emotions are worth voicing aloud, as they tend to feel shallow or naive in retrospect; I can get jealous over the stupidest little things and upset over issues that aren't worth getting riled over.
But I still feel, and I can't help but experience feelings that I regret having later on down the line... like becoming over-possessive of my friends. There was once a time when I become so obsessive about how close I was with people that in one circumstance I just had to have a conversation with the same particular person everyday or else I'd start growing paranoid about growing distant from that person (which I uh... tracked using our chat logs during a time when AIM didn't automatically store them) and it progressed to the point where we kinda grew sick of each other and stopped talking for a year (which might've been considered abnormal at the time). This was only with a friend though- I still worry about what would happen in a romantic relationship, like I might turn into one of those jealous and over-possessive boyfriends.
It's partly why I've kinda kept my distance sometimes from friends when I might not emotionally want to otherwise- because I'm afraid of growing sick of someone whose presence I used to enjoy or likewise alienating them. I don't want to repeat the past again.
2. I worry about becoming so preoccupied with the little things I tend to obsess over (for the last few weeks it's been Pokemon again >_>) that I grow more distant from the people I do get a chance to see, because nothing else going on in my life happens to be relevant to them at the moment. This also means that when I do see signs of the closeness of other people's relationships, I randomly feel jealous pangs inside, even though it's no business of mine and really my own fault for letting my own relationships wither anyway.
Not that they're really withering right now... but for lack of a better term, I don't feel as "connected" to most of my friends as I sometimes wish I could be (and other times I just feel apathetic about it). Sometimes I come and go in people's lives for various reasons, and then the next time I see them they tell me that it feels like they haven't seen me in ages, even if it's only been a month. This last month being Japan, two weeks of jetlag and sickness triggered hermiting, Fog City Stomp, Thanksgiving in Socal, and then Tahoe. I've kinda lost what consistency in seeing people that I had even a month ago... although my current life-flow might be considered normal by some people's standards.
3. Sometimes I feel like I'm just going through auto-pilot motions even when I'm around people now. Like I'm going along with whatever plans happen to come up as another means of keeping me distracted from the little things that might otherwise demand my attention... like my future, which I keep putting off to some later date when I'm not occupied with trips (Indonesia and NYC coming up... I know, I travel a lot) or the weekly/bi-weekly movie night-swing dancing-small group-sometimes game night routine I had going earlier before everything got all jumbled up. I don't know what will happen in the coming weeks either.
I need a break from life to figure out my life, but that's probably not that feasible without pulling something drastic like arbitrarily quitting my job or something but I don't intend to go there.
But in the meantime... I'm keeping my calendar minimal for the next couple of weeks. I need room to breathe and think again. I was starting to forget what it was like to pay attention to my own thoughts till now.
-- I also went snowboarding this weekend for the second time (and for the record it was exponentially better than this depressing post because I took a lesson instead of trying to free-form learn and failing), but that's another story. Kinda knew this already, but I find I enjoy activities a lot better when I actually understand how to do them properly. This will sound petty but I still feel a little bitter about that first experience... but that's what I get for not preparing for it ahead of time.
Monday, November 10, 2014
from two weeks ago
"People need to conform the external reality they face daily with this subjective feeling they likewise experience constantly."
-- A Naked Singularity
This book makes me wish my everyday conversations were more abnormal.
It's only natural to want to give your own thoughts and feelings significance while paying less attention to others at the same time. To desire that people would acknowledge your words as meaningful and impactful even when they aren't always.
When someone asks you what the highlight of your year was and you have trouble thinking about it because what seems like a highlight to you may not be so for others. and I don't just mean that in the insecure about the worth of my experiences sense, but in the I might kinda value things differently sense. [Good question though.]
You speak of viewing things only in terms of how they affect you, and not on its own terms. Of course, we shouldn't be fear-mongering over issues that likely wouldn't ever come anywhere near us like the news cycle would suggest, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't be paying attention to it. Unless the only reason you pay attention is for that direct applicability.
I have issues conforming to things I don't fully accept even though I haven't really thought out why I don't accept them in the first place. Or why I accept the things I do allow myself to conform to.
Sometimes it'd be nice to just disappear, but it's not worth the cost of ignoring responsibilities that would matter to you in the long run.
-- A Naked Singularity
This book makes me wish my everyday conversations were more abnormal.
It's only natural to want to give your own thoughts and feelings significance while paying less attention to others at the same time. To desire that people would acknowledge your words as meaningful and impactful even when they aren't always.
When someone asks you what the highlight of your year was and you have trouble thinking about it because what seems like a highlight to you may not be so for others. and I don't just mean that in the insecure about the worth of my experiences sense, but in the I might kinda value things differently sense. [Good question though.]
You speak of viewing things only in terms of how they affect you, and not on its own terms. Of course, we shouldn't be fear-mongering over issues that likely wouldn't ever come anywhere near us like the news cycle would suggest, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't be paying attention to it. Unless the only reason you pay attention is for that direct applicability.
I have issues conforming to things I don't fully accept even though I haven't really thought out why I don't accept them in the first place. Or why I accept the things I do allow myself to conform to.
Sometimes it'd be nice to just disappear, but it's not worth the cost of ignoring responsibilities that would matter to you in the long run.
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Dream Post #51
I went through this phase for a while of not recalling having any dreams, and now after shifting my bedtime a little earlier somewhat unintentionally, I've been having a lot more dreams... and also waking up multiple times in the middle of the night because these dreams tend to wake me up randomly. Sigh.
(I realize the numbering got off-track in previous posts, and this technically is post #52 under the dreams tag, but whatever.)
1. I'm gchatting with Yvonne who's supposed to be in the Dominican Republic right now, and she's asking me lots of deep questions that I'm having trouble answering. Then she suddenly signs off after growing impatient with me typing up a response to her creative writing prompt [ugh why is it always in-class essays] because she has to board a plane in Boston.
2. I'm in a classroom explaining the merits of Ryan L's personality to a bunch of primary schoolers. (Ryan, stop abusing your hive mind privileges.)
3. I'm playing an RPG that ends somewhat haphazardly (trick the enemy into holding the bomb!) and discover at the end of it that the entire plot was masterminded by one of my party members, but this fact was never revealed in the end. Kuai points out to me from one of his film critic's video analyses that you would've only noticed this if you'd paid attention to that guy's change in attire during the last hour of the game. And then I wake up wishing this game were real because I want to see more random subtleties in entertainment like that- the kind with answers that are never spelled out for you outright but not too obscure either.
4. At some point, I'm watching a video on facebook of Jason [roommate Jason, not brother Jason] performing a forehand shot from tennis in slow motion, except for some reason he's purposely mis-hitting the ball so it looks weird. Typical Jason.
5. I'm chasing after Peter and his nephew (who apparently runs ridiculously fast for a baby) up a flight of stairs on a dark and stormy night, with my dad and brother tailing after me. We realize that we bypassed the hotel/apartment room we were staying at several flights ago, so we turn the other way and I suddenly remember that Dad can't see at night but luckily there are handlebars on the stairs... until there suddenly aren't and he falls off the gangway and I wake up.
6. All I remember is being trapped in a car and Rosemary's outside making fun of me for doing something that very easily could happen in real life [but I don't remember what now].
If I have more dreams in the next week I'll just add them into this post.
7. A parasitic alien species reminiscent of the Yeerks from Animorphs has burrowed deep into the earth beneath a desert and begun assimilating people I know a la The Thing. Most of what I can recall involved chasing teenage martial artists through desert pits as they were pilgrimaging towards the source similar to those teenagers who travel to Syria to join ISIS. By the time I woke up, Wes and Johny had already been taken and the world was doomed.
8. I'm walking through a 3rd floor school hallway only to run into a huge number of SWAT team members running in the direction I came from. I take this as a signal that a shootout is about to happen behind me and I run downstairs as fast as possible... only to be stopped at a security checkpoint where I have to prove that I actually read books using the three book purchases I apparently just made and my Kindle.
(I realize the numbering got off-track in previous posts, and this technically is post #52 under the dreams tag, but whatever.)
1. I'm gchatting with Yvonne who's supposed to be in the Dominican Republic right now, and she's asking me lots of deep questions that I'm having trouble answering. Then she suddenly signs off after growing impatient with me typing up a response to her creative writing prompt [ugh why is it always in-class essays] because she has to board a plane in Boston.
2. I'm in a classroom explaining the merits of Ryan L's personality to a bunch of primary schoolers. (Ryan, stop abusing your hive mind privileges.)
3. I'm playing an RPG that ends somewhat haphazardly (trick the enemy into holding the bomb!) and discover at the end of it that the entire plot was masterminded by one of my party members, but this fact was never revealed in the end. Kuai points out to me from one of his film critic's video analyses that you would've only noticed this if you'd paid attention to that guy's change in attire during the last hour of the game. And then I wake up wishing this game were real because I want to see more random subtleties in entertainment like that- the kind with answers that are never spelled out for you outright but not too obscure either.
4. At some point, I'm watching a video on facebook of Jason [roommate Jason, not brother Jason] performing a forehand shot from tennis in slow motion, except for some reason he's purposely mis-hitting the ball so it looks weird. Typical Jason.
5. I'm chasing after Peter and his nephew (who apparently runs ridiculously fast for a baby) up a flight of stairs on a dark and stormy night, with my dad and brother tailing after me. We realize that we bypassed the hotel/apartment room we were staying at several flights ago, so we turn the other way and I suddenly remember that Dad can't see at night but luckily there are handlebars on the stairs... until there suddenly aren't and he falls off the gangway and I wake up.
6. All I remember is being trapped in a car and Rosemary's outside making fun of me for doing something that very easily could happen in real life [but I don't remember what now].
If I have more dreams in the next week I'll just add them into this post.
7. A parasitic alien species reminiscent of the Yeerks from Animorphs has burrowed deep into the earth beneath a desert and begun assimilating people I know a la The Thing. Most of what I can recall involved chasing teenage martial artists through desert pits as they were pilgrimaging towards the source similar to those teenagers who travel to Syria to join ISIS. By the time I woke up, Wes and Johny had already been taken and the world was doomed.
8. I'm walking through a 3rd floor school hallway only to run into a huge number of SWAT team members running in the direction I came from. I take this as a signal that a shootout is about to happen behind me and I run downstairs as fast as possible... only to be stopped at a security checkpoint where I have to prove that I actually read books using the three book purchases I apparently just made and my Kindle.
Monday, September 29, 2014
History
Random memory: 5th grade, having just learned about Tiananmen Square, asking my mom why Communism still exists in China when "everyone knows that it's bad."
Mom's response: "It's not that simple..."
[I don't actually remember the rest of the sentence lol. Probably something about how it's really difficult to just change a government like that, because some people actually saw it as a good thing. Or maybe that's how I'd try to answer my 10-year-old self.]
I don't know how long it took me to grasp what she really meant, but looking back on it now... It's weird to be able to distinctly recall a time when you thought of things completely differently.
---
At the moment I'm currently reading A History of the Modern Middle East by Cleveland. I'll admit that I've read more excitingly narrated nonfiction books in the past, but by history textbook standards it's actually fairly interesting, and doesn't feel as dense as say People's History of the US.
A few thoughts while reading so far, which probably will not be of interest to anyone up-to-date on their history:
- This book glosses over subjects a lot faster than other nonfiction books... which is probably a given for it being a tertiary source, but still. One moment you're reading about the monarchy in Iraq for the first time, and then the next thing you know the royal family gets killed off in a sentence and it's bye-bye monarchy. Not even a word on how they died. But eh, I'm planning to read more books after this one anyway.
- This is a topic that's been addressed by Lies My Teacher Told Me (decent read by the way), but I've been realizing more how inadequate my history classes in the past have been at addressing recent events. The textbooks always tended to taper off somewhere around the Gulf Invasion, but at some point after Watergate I think my mind would just stop retaining anything that we learned... aside from Reagan=trickle-down economics, but I didn't really care by that point lol.
But moreover, I think what I really missed was the ability to make connections between the events we did learn about in class and the current events ongoing at the time. I mean, I was able to see the connections between the events we learned about during class, but take a look at the news on any given day and I'd always experience a disconnect, as if people who really were able to keep up with current events were in on something that I had no idea of... which technically was true in a way.
- Part of the reason why I'm reading about Middle East history now is because I want to get a better understanding of what's been going on in that area today and why, considering how pervasively often it's been in the news for the past decade and then some. I mean, I feel like for as long as I can remember I kinda just assumed things were messed up there... because it's always been that way (see this previous post), but when you actually start to read up on that region's history from a considerably less Western-centric view, it really starts to change how you see things.
- I used to view Islam similar to how I viewed Communism like above, but learning about it now, it's made me realize how much of a stabilizing presence it brought to the Arab peoples of the past (and to some extent presently... well that's another story). That's not to say it isn't without its own issues either, but I can see why people in the Middle East would seek out renewed forms of Islamic governance especially in response to the governments they had to deal with in the 20th century.
- To summarize the last 150 pages read... McMahon-Hussein Correspondence, Balfour Declaration, Sykes-Picot (...Britain and France really screwed things up here), skip a few and World War II, and then you have the era of Nasser and the Arab-Israeli Wars up to the June War and Nasser's fall from grace. I just reached the chapter on the 1979 Iranian Revolution, and I have to say it makes a lot more sense now knowing the general background of the decades leading up to it from Iran's perspective rather than having it turn up in the middle of nowhere during American history class. I guess that's a show of the extent of my ignorance of things up to this point.
- I would really like to play a game that simulates 20th century geopolitics. Like with the addictiveness of Civilization, the historical accuracy of Europa Universalis, and for once actually going past the World War II era that a bunch of other games seem to be preoccupied with. Well okay, I realize the caveat of these games is that the longer you play them, the further away from reality they get with all of the alternative "what-if" decisions you end up making, but still.
Or maybe I just want to watch/interact with a computer simulation that shows all of the major world events in history happen via the graphical interface of a 4X Civ/EU style game. Like a universal world replay or something that lets you zoom in on specific countries and events and directly links you to the relevant wikipedia article or whatever if you want to read more. I mean, I'm practically wikiing every major world leader I come across in my book anyway.
- Ryan will probably groan if he ever sees this haha, but some part of me wonders why I never set aside the time to take an actual history class (Race and American Film only half-counted) in college. I'm pretty sure I would've enjoyed it. Screw all those pre-med courses I took... even though I don't really regret those either.
- All of a sudden, I really want to watch Lawrence of Arabia. After I finish this book, probably.
Mom's response: "It's not that simple..."
[I don't actually remember the rest of the sentence lol. Probably something about how it's really difficult to just change a government like that, because some people actually saw it as a good thing. Or maybe that's how I'd try to answer my 10-year-old self.]
I don't know how long it took me to grasp what she really meant, but looking back on it now... It's weird to be able to distinctly recall a time when you thought of things completely differently.
---
At the moment I'm currently reading A History of the Modern Middle East by Cleveland. I'll admit that I've read more excitingly narrated nonfiction books in the past, but by history textbook standards it's actually fairly interesting, and doesn't feel as dense as say People's History of the US.
A few thoughts while reading so far, which probably will not be of interest to anyone up-to-date on their history:
- This book glosses over subjects a lot faster than other nonfiction books... which is probably a given for it being a tertiary source, but still. One moment you're reading about the monarchy in Iraq for the first time, and then the next thing you know the royal family gets killed off in a sentence and it's bye-bye monarchy. Not even a word on how they died. But eh, I'm planning to read more books after this one anyway.
- This is a topic that's been addressed by Lies My Teacher Told Me (decent read by the way), but I've been realizing more how inadequate my history classes in the past have been at addressing recent events. The textbooks always tended to taper off somewhere around the Gulf Invasion, but at some point after Watergate I think my mind would just stop retaining anything that we learned... aside from Reagan=trickle-down economics, but I didn't really care by that point lol.
But moreover, I think what I really missed was the ability to make connections between the events we did learn about in class and the current events ongoing at the time. I mean, I was able to see the connections between the events we learned about during class, but take a look at the news on any given day and I'd always experience a disconnect, as if people who really were able to keep up with current events were in on something that I had no idea of... which technically was true in a way.
- Part of the reason why I'm reading about Middle East history now is because I want to get a better understanding of what's been going on in that area today and why, considering how pervasively often it's been in the news for the past decade and then some. I mean, I feel like for as long as I can remember I kinda just assumed things were messed up there... because it's always been that way (see this previous post), but when you actually start to read up on that region's history from a considerably less Western-centric view, it really starts to change how you see things.
- I used to view Islam similar to how I viewed Communism like above, but learning about it now, it's made me realize how much of a stabilizing presence it brought to the Arab peoples of the past (and to some extent presently... well that's another story). That's not to say it isn't without its own issues either, but I can see why people in the Middle East would seek out renewed forms of Islamic governance especially in response to the governments they had to deal with in the 20th century.
- To summarize the last 150 pages read... McMahon-Hussein Correspondence, Balfour Declaration, Sykes-Picot (...Britain and France really screwed things up here), skip a few and World War II, and then you have the era of Nasser and the Arab-Israeli Wars up to the June War and Nasser's fall from grace. I just reached the chapter on the 1979 Iranian Revolution, and I have to say it makes a lot more sense now knowing the general background of the decades leading up to it from Iran's perspective rather than having it turn up in the middle of nowhere during American history class. I guess that's a show of the extent of my ignorance of things up to this point.
- I would really like to play a game that simulates 20th century geopolitics. Like with the addictiveness of Civilization, the historical accuracy of Europa Universalis, and for once actually going past the World War II era that a bunch of other games seem to be preoccupied with. Well okay, I realize the caveat of these games is that the longer you play them, the further away from reality they get with all of the alternative "what-if" decisions you end up making, but still.
Or maybe I just want to watch/interact with a computer simulation that shows all of the major world events in history happen via the graphical interface of a 4X Civ/EU style game. Like a universal world replay or something that lets you zoom in on specific countries and events and directly links you to the relevant wikipedia article or whatever if you want to read more. I mean, I'm practically wikiing every major world leader I come across in my book anyway.
- Ryan will probably groan if he ever sees this haha, but some part of me wonders why I never set aside the time to take an actual history class (Race and American Film only half-counted) in college. I'm pretty sure I would've enjoyed it. Screw all those pre-med courses I took... even though I don't really regret those either.
- All of a sudden, I really want to watch Lawrence of Arabia. After I finish this book, probably.
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Lists... p2
Movies: (excluding fully animated films cause I have a separate list for that)
1. Bedknobs and Broomsticks
My first actual memory of seeing Angela Lansbury in a role ever... I don't think I made the connection to Mrs. Potts in Beauty and the Beast till sometime after. If I didn't know any better I would've thought Disney was trying to cash in on the live actor + cartoon hybrid film hype from Mary Poppins or something; it even has Mr. Banks (why did I remember him as Mr. Brown...) from that film starring as... himself as far as I was concerned, cause at the age of five I couldn't tell the difference. According to my parents I watched this even more times than I remembered watching it. Good memories of imagining that my bed could travel through space-time after watching this song.
2. Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny- no, more importantly, DONALD DUCK AND DAFFY DUCK. IN THE SAME FILM. WITH DUELING PIANOS. But more seriously, considering the fact that more than half this film takes place in the cartoon world, it's surprising how dark it is- it's actually an example of a neo-noir given the familiar mystery/crime storyline and typical jaded hardboiled protagonist. I can think of a couple of other elements of this film that I'm surprised didn't leave me more traumatized as a kid, but I won't touch on them for spoiler reasons. Also, the inspiration for one of my favorite Disneyland rides growing up, Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin in Toon Town. My parents never wanted to go on it again after I forced them to wait in line with me for two hours and then made us leave right when we reached the front because I had to go to the restroom. Sigh.
3. The Godfather I + II
First time I watched a film seriously and not for the casual movie theater going kind of entertainment. I have this thing for stories that show how people change over long periods of time, and seeing the transformation of Michael Corleone over the course of both films (I didn't watch III) left quite an impression on me. I actually still kind of liked him by the end of it, though more in the sense that I sympathized with him still somehow. Isolating himself from everyone as a culmination of all the life choices he made... it's such a human thing to do.
4. Vertigo
As with Dickens, I thought I'd have hated Hitchcock after being forced to watch The Birds in school (which was the cause of my eye... damage... phobia by the way) as well as the one obviously scarring scene from Psycho, until I saw this. I love the soundtrack, the colors, the tension, the backdrop of the Golden Gate Bridge, the promotional poster, Jimmy Stewart... and the list goes on. But especially the tension; it's what makes me come back to watch other Hitchcock films now, other than the two hated ones listed earlier; Shadow of a Doubt and Rope are two of my other favorites of his. Speaking of which, I think I'm due to watch another Hitchcock film...
5. The Philadelphia Story
From that one summer when Jade was going through a Jimmy Stewart craze and I caught the fever from her. Still my favorite Jimmy Stewart role, although the other characters were great too. To be honest, I don't really bother to watch many happy-go-lucky fun comedy films (more of a depressing/serious psychological thriller-drama watcher), but for some reason the feelings from this one stick with me even though I haven't rewatched it since.
6. Clue
I seem to have a thing for discovering properties based off of the Clue board game franchise- first the children's books, then the Clue Jr. children's books (...don't know why they needed an even younger age children's book series, aside from the lack of murders I guess), and then finally this film. I actually didn't see this until college, but it had the exactly the kind of humor that I'd have been a sucker for as a kid... meaning it still gets to me now haha. This might sound weird, but Tim Curry's character, Wadsworth the butler, was the kind of character that I aspired to be like whenever I had make-believe adventures as a kid on the playground: frenetic and seemingly omniscient about the entire scenario. This is probably why I felt a sudden weird feeling of nostalgia watching him force everyone to reenact the entire movie in ~90 seconds in order to explain who the murderer was at the very end. Also, three endings!!
7. Do The Right Thing
It seems that Spike Lee hasn't been doing very well in the news lately, like that one time he tweeted the wrong address of George Zimmerman (not that he should've tweeted anything to begin with). But this film he made back in '89 about the tension of race relations in a low income Brooklyn neighborhood still feels incredibly relevant today considering the number of recent racially charged news stories in the headlines, and some of the images are pretty powerful. Had to watch this for the Race and American Film AC class I took in college, and (like basically all of the films we had to watch in that class) it was a pretty worthwhile experience.
8. The Act of Killing
I already wrote a blog post/review on this one, so I don't really have much to add here... except that I found out one of my family members tried to watch it and wasn't able to make it very far. It really is a sickening (but necessary) subject to touch on. I think being a generation removed from the events that took place, I found it less difficult to watch this film; I really can't imagine what it would be like to try to watch this and have had relevant experiences in your own life. Just hearing the stories of what happened in the 60's from my own family was... heavy in itself.
9. Yi Yi
An overall compelling look into the introspective lives of a multigenerational Taiwanese family. I wish there were more films out there that explored and focused on the depth of everyday moments like this, or more likely I haven't been seeking them out enough haha. The most recent comparison I can think of now is Boyhood, but I think Boyhood focused more on general experiences over a longer timescale, whereas Yi Yi takes place within a rather short period of time and is spread more evenly in attention among most of the family members rather than focusing on just the boy. Consequently, the latter actually had more interesting dialogue to me. The final lines at the end left me speechless.
10. High and Low
Just saw this one recently, and looking at it now, it's probably my favorite Kurosawa film. Reminded me a lot of another police procedural film of his, Stray Dog, except this was better paced and had a more striking visual dynamic going on. It took me until partway through the second half to realize what "High and Low" actually meant (better translated as "Heaven and Hell" actually), after seeing such striking contrasts play out within the film. A number of awesome visual moments, and the train scene especially pulled me in for how well it was executed and the tension it exhibited, in a manner I didn't expect... perhaps because of how realistic the scenario was.
Solo Jazz/Lindy Hop Routines:
Because after learning enough of these, I'm starting to lose track of how to do them.
1. The Jitterbug Stroll
So I have yet to learn this officially considering that I tried to improvise learning and performing it at the same time by copying the people around me...but aside from the tick-tock tick-tock's, most of it wasn't too bad to figure out on the spot.
2. The Electric Slide (Frankie Manning style)
I originally learned the Electric Slide to Electric Boogie like you're supposed to do it, but I have to say Frankie's version of it to Easy Does It is pretty fun too. It feels like a great morning wake up routine.
3. The California Routine
Technically only learned up till around the 1 minute mark (missing the Whirlibird or however you spell it...) but otherwise it matches up.
4. Black Coffee
Two years ago Kevin St. Laurent and Jo Hoffberg taught an 8 week performance routine class at Wednesday Night Hop. I didn't have an available partner by the end of it but I was able to stick around long enough to learn the full routine itself before they started going around performing this at different venues. This is the performance they did at the 920 Special in SF.
5. The Frankie Manning Shim Sham
If you had to learn just one solo jazz routine/line dance, this is the one that most dancers know and gets performed most often at the venues. It's relatively simple to learn and a classic.
6. Doin' the Jive
A relatively short but sweet looking routine. Missed out on the class that taught the first half so I had to improvise learning it again... but it worked out in the end.
7. The Dean Collins Shim Sham
It looks like the Frankie Manning Shim Sham at first, but the second half is COMPLETELY different and considerably more difficult to do. I forgot how to do most of that half already.
8. The Lindy Chorus
The middle part at around :50 seconds still throws me off. If we ever do this again, I'll have to work that out. The song this is normally performed to is actually called Wednesday Night Hop as well, and it really grew on me the more times we did it.
9. The Tranky Doo
Oddly the most clear performance I could find of this to "The Dipsy Doodle" was by a Korean flash mob... Just learned this one this month! I've had "The Dipsy Doodle" stuck in my head a lot lately as well. Sometimes it's hard to resist the urge to just dance this one on the spot.
10. The Big Apple
Ever since seeing this performed by a crap-ton of people at Camp Jitterbug two years ago, I've always wanted to learn this. It's arduously difficult to learn compared to the others, but finally did it this summer!
1. Bedknobs and Broomsticks
My first actual memory of seeing Angela Lansbury in a role ever... I don't think I made the connection to Mrs. Potts in Beauty and the Beast till sometime after. If I didn't know any better I would've thought Disney was trying to cash in on the live actor + cartoon hybrid film hype from Mary Poppins or something; it even has Mr. Banks (why did I remember him as Mr. Brown...) from that film starring as... himself as far as I was concerned, cause at the age of five I couldn't tell the difference. According to my parents I watched this even more times than I remembered watching it. Good memories of imagining that my bed could travel through space-time after watching this song.
2. Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny- no, more importantly, DONALD DUCK AND DAFFY DUCK. IN THE SAME FILM. WITH DUELING PIANOS. But more seriously, considering the fact that more than half this film takes place in the cartoon world, it's surprising how dark it is- it's actually an example of a neo-noir given the familiar mystery/crime storyline and typical jaded hardboiled protagonist. I can think of a couple of other elements of this film that I'm surprised didn't leave me more traumatized as a kid, but I won't touch on them for spoiler reasons. Also, the inspiration for one of my favorite Disneyland rides growing up, Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin in Toon Town. My parents never wanted to go on it again after I forced them to wait in line with me for two hours and then made us leave right when we reached the front because I had to go to the restroom. Sigh.
3. The Godfather I + II
First time I watched a film seriously and not for the casual movie theater going kind of entertainment. I have this thing for stories that show how people change over long periods of time, and seeing the transformation of Michael Corleone over the course of both films (I didn't watch III) left quite an impression on me. I actually still kind of liked him by the end of it, though more in the sense that I sympathized with him still somehow. Isolating himself from everyone as a culmination of all the life choices he made... it's such a human thing to do.
4. Vertigo
As with Dickens, I thought I'd have hated Hitchcock after being forced to watch The Birds in school (which was the cause of my eye... damage... phobia by the way) as well as the one obviously scarring scene from Psycho, until I saw this. I love the soundtrack, the colors, the tension, the backdrop of the Golden Gate Bridge, the promotional poster, Jimmy Stewart... and the list goes on. But especially the tension; it's what makes me come back to watch other Hitchcock films now, other than the two hated ones listed earlier; Shadow of a Doubt and Rope are two of my other favorites of his. Speaking of which, I think I'm due to watch another Hitchcock film...
5. The Philadelphia Story
From that one summer when Jade was going through a Jimmy Stewart craze and I caught the fever from her. Still my favorite Jimmy Stewart role, although the other characters were great too. To be honest, I don't really bother to watch many happy-go-lucky fun comedy films (more of a depressing/serious psychological thriller-drama watcher), but for some reason the feelings from this one stick with me even though I haven't rewatched it since.
6. Clue
I seem to have a thing for discovering properties based off of the Clue board game franchise- first the children's books, then the Clue Jr. children's books (...don't know why they needed an even younger age children's book series, aside from the lack of murders I guess), and then finally this film. I actually didn't see this until college, but it had the exactly the kind of humor that I'd have been a sucker for as a kid... meaning it still gets to me now haha. This might sound weird, but Tim Curry's character, Wadsworth the butler, was the kind of character that I aspired to be like whenever I had make-believe adventures as a kid on the playground: frenetic and seemingly omniscient about the entire scenario. This is probably why I felt a sudden weird feeling of nostalgia watching him force everyone to reenact the entire movie in ~90 seconds in order to explain who the murderer was at the very end. Also, three endings!!
7. Do The Right Thing
It seems that Spike Lee hasn't been doing very well in the news lately, like that one time he tweeted the wrong address of George Zimmerman (not that he should've tweeted anything to begin with). But this film he made back in '89 about the tension of race relations in a low income Brooklyn neighborhood still feels incredibly relevant today considering the number of recent racially charged news stories in the headlines, and some of the images are pretty powerful. Had to watch this for the Race and American Film AC class I took in college, and (like basically all of the films we had to watch in that class) it was a pretty worthwhile experience.
8. The Act of Killing
I already wrote a blog post/review on this one, so I don't really have much to add here... except that I found out one of my family members tried to watch it and wasn't able to make it very far. It really is a sickening (but necessary) subject to touch on. I think being a generation removed from the events that took place, I found it less difficult to watch this film; I really can't imagine what it would be like to try to watch this and have had relevant experiences in your own life. Just hearing the stories of what happened in the 60's from my own family was... heavy in itself.
9. Yi Yi
An overall compelling look into the introspective lives of a multigenerational Taiwanese family. I wish there were more films out there that explored and focused on the depth of everyday moments like this, or more likely I haven't been seeking them out enough haha. The most recent comparison I can think of now is Boyhood, but I think Boyhood focused more on general experiences over a longer timescale, whereas Yi Yi takes place within a rather short period of time and is spread more evenly in attention among most of the family members rather than focusing on just the boy. Consequently, the latter actually had more interesting dialogue to me. The final lines at the end left me speechless.
10. High and Low
Just saw this one recently, and looking at it now, it's probably my favorite Kurosawa film. Reminded me a lot of another police procedural film of his, Stray Dog, except this was better paced and had a more striking visual dynamic going on. It took me until partway through the second half to realize what "High and Low" actually meant (better translated as "Heaven and Hell" actually), after seeing such striking contrasts play out within the film. A number of awesome visual moments, and the train scene especially pulled me in for how well it was executed and the tension it exhibited, in a manner I didn't expect... perhaps because of how realistic the scenario was.
Solo Jazz/Lindy Hop Routines:
Because after learning enough of these, I'm starting to lose track of how to do them.
1. The Jitterbug Stroll
So I have yet to learn this officially considering that I tried to improvise learning and performing it at the same time by copying the people around me...but aside from the tick-tock tick-tock's, most of it wasn't too bad to figure out on the spot.
2. The Electric Slide (Frankie Manning style)
I originally learned the Electric Slide to Electric Boogie like you're supposed to do it, but I have to say Frankie's version of it to Easy Does It is pretty fun too. It feels like a great morning wake up routine.
3. The California Routine
Technically only learned up till around the 1 minute mark (missing the Whirlibird or however you spell it...) but otherwise it matches up.
4. Black Coffee
Two years ago Kevin St. Laurent and Jo Hoffberg taught an 8 week performance routine class at Wednesday Night Hop. I didn't have an available partner by the end of it but I was able to stick around long enough to learn the full routine itself before they started going around performing this at different venues. This is the performance they did at the 920 Special in SF.
5. The Frankie Manning Shim Sham
If you had to learn just one solo jazz routine/line dance, this is the one that most dancers know and gets performed most often at the venues. It's relatively simple to learn and a classic.
6. Doin' the Jive
A relatively short but sweet looking routine. Missed out on the class that taught the first half so I had to improvise learning it again... but it worked out in the end.
7. The Dean Collins Shim Sham
It looks like the Frankie Manning Shim Sham at first, but the second half is COMPLETELY different and considerably more difficult to do. I forgot how to do most of that half already.
8. The Lindy Chorus
The middle part at around :50 seconds still throws me off. If we ever do this again, I'll have to work that out. The song this is normally performed to is actually called Wednesday Night Hop as well, and it really grew on me the more times we did it.
9. The Tranky Doo
Oddly the most clear performance I could find of this to "The Dipsy Doodle" was by a Korean flash mob... Just learned this one this month! I've had "The Dipsy Doodle" stuck in my head a lot lately as well. Sometimes it's hard to resist the urge to just dance this one on the spot.
10. The Big Apple
Ever since seeing this performed by a crap-ton of people at Camp Jitterbug two years ago, I've always wanted to learn this. It's arduously difficult to learn compared to the others, but finally did it this summer!
Monday, September 15, 2014
Lists that have stuck with me... p1
So there's a fad going around on Facebook regarding books that have stuck with you for some reason... it got me thinking more on the general basis of things that have stuck with me in general. So with no particular order in mind:
Books:
1. Regarding the Fountain by Kate Klise
For showing me that fiction doesn't have to be written in just prose. I know it's a kid's book, but it was also my first epistolary novel and I loved it so much that I lost count of the number of times that I reread it. Also, a mystery that doesn't involve murders!
2. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
For providing insight into what it's like to be mentally ill and the difficulty of trying to explain the experience to another person while you're still undergoing it. This felt especially more relevant to me during college.
3. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
For triggering my random obsession with Russian literature. A crazy murder setup, a crazier Ubermensch-obsessed perpetrator, some cat-and-mouse detective mind games, a moment of redemption at the crossroads, and a long ass character list. So much awesome crammed into one book.
4. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
For making me conscious of how easily and completely the past can consume one's thoughts years later. Not my first stream-of-consciousness book, but the first one to make me really appreciate the technique and what it could accomplish.
5. To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
For teaching me the value of considering other people's perspectives. So many insightful thoughts and ideas worth pondering on here. I feel a little spoiled by reading this first, as Woolf's other novels, while great, haven't impacted me anywhere near the same level that this one did.
6. Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs by Sussman/Abelson
For making me fall in love with computer science. I would not be where I am today career-wise were it not for this book. Considering that I hadn't had any real exposure to the subject before, my mind was blown away by the concepts presented here.
7. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
For having some of the most memorable characters and moments that I've ever experienced in literature. Also because the BBC adaptation with Maggie Smith and 10 year-old Daniel Radcliffe left quite an impression on me when I was ten. I thought I'd have hated Dickens after reading Great Expectations, but this and Oliver Twist made me realize that I'm a huge sucker for his immersive serial writing style when the characters don't actually piss me off.
8. The Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan
For explaining the value of critical thinking and reminding me why I love science. Sagan points out of a lot of common threads that can be found in pseudoscience/fallacious viewpoints and the dangers of not maintaining healthy skepticism in the face of them. Quite an eye-opening book.
9. The Orthodox Way by Kallistos Ware
For forcing me to completely rethink my understanding of what it means to be Christian. I'm not Orthodox, but there are a lot of ideas in Orthodox theology that fundamentally make sense to me, some of which I actually feel more inclined to agree with than their Protestant counterparts. It's made me realize how much thought we take for granted within Protestant circles that might actually merit reexamination.
10. Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger
For blowing me away in its combination of depth and simplicity. Props especially for its incorporation of the Jesus Prayer from Orthodox tradition and portraying its use in a different light. I probably should've realized this after Arrested Development, but stories about dysfunctional families are actually really fascinating.
Games:
(This list will probably be familiar if you've seen/paid attention to any of my past video game posts, but eh, one more won't hurt.)
1. Pokemon (Blue, Silver/Soul Silver, Platinum, & X in particular)
So I probably haven't consumed as much time on this as some people I know ahem, but it's hard to deny that the sum total number of hours I've spent on this series is greater than almost all other game series I've played haha. Also the number of lists I've made trying to come up with teams I liked. -__-
2. Putt-Putt Travels Through Time and Spy Fox in Dry Cereal
It's hard for me to decide between the two here, but both of these Humongous games are my favorite in their respective series. They were so memorable that replaying them over and over again was really an integral part of the experience, and despite being targeted at kids, they never really felt like they were forcibly talking down to you the way some educational kids games and TV shows did. Love the quirky characters in Humongous games in general and their imaginative settings.
3. Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross
First set of games that got me seriously into RPGs in general (Pokemon/the Mario RPGs don't really count... those were more Nintendo diversions) as well as video game stories. Just hearing some of the songs from Yasunori Mitsuda's soundtracks for both games is enough to make me emotional even today, especially To Far Away Times. And Frog from Trigger has been my avatar on every computer I've owned ever since.
4. Kingdom Hearts
For all the gripes I have with this series, the first game was something special. It's hard to imagine that someone actually thought combining Disney and Final Fantasy in a game was a good idea, and yet somehow it turned out to be massively popular. All those hours spent discussing the storyline on message boards and theorizing about the future games... one of the forums I frequented for this game ironically is the reason why I got into indie music and going to concerts, but that's a whole other story.
5. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
First introduction to visual novels and the adventure game genre at the same time. I was looking for a murder mystery kind of game to begin with since I had a random obsession with mysteries (blame The Boxcar Children and the Clue books... yes, the Parker Brothers board game Clue spawned a children's book series) and stumbled across an article on Hardcore Gaming 101 in anticipation of the upcoming English DS release of the series. It was love at first sight.
6. Day of the Tentacle
Okay, so this is the first real grown-up point and click adventure game I played. I am still in awe of some of the puzzle solutions in this game; such a clever use of time travel object manipulation, the likes of which I wish I'd seen in Putt-Putt, though obviously it would've made that game too complicated for its target age group. Purple Tentacle was a pretty awesome villain too.
7. Planescape: Torment and Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer
Two of the best stories (and settings) I've ever experienced in a video game and my introduction to Western RPGs. I really wish there were more games that aspired to this level of thematic depth... one could argue that these kinds of stories are best sought after in novels, but realistically speaking, trying to novelize Torment's story actually weakens its impact (I know... I've seen the novelization). It's all about the Choice and Consequences.
8. The Longest Journey
April Ryan is my favorite female protagonist in a game ever just because of how down-to-earth she is... in the face of being tossed into a somewhat nonsensical fantasy world. I also love how this game takes the "Chosen One" trope from typical fantasy storylines and turns it on its head.
9. Mother 3
Strange, funny, and heartrending. Lucas in the field of sunflowers. I have never wanted to cry so much while playing a freaking video game (Chrono Trigger was more after the fact than during to be honest); it's odd how both tragic and lighthearted this game is at the same time.
10. Gemini Rue and The Blackwell Epiphany
My two favorite Wadjet Eye releases thus far. Gemini Rue for exploring the relationship between our sense of self and our memories (the last series I can recall that did this was the anime Kaiba), and Blackwell for its unique take on the relationship between spirit mediums and ghosts. Blackwell kinda requires playing the first four games in the series to really appreciate, but luckily they're each fairly short (a few hours per game), and the payoff at the end is seriously worth it, which is not something I can say for a lot of other series. So many bittersweet feelings in the end.
I have plenty more where those came from, but stopping here for now.
Books:
1. Regarding the Fountain by Kate Klise
For showing me that fiction doesn't have to be written in just prose. I know it's a kid's book, but it was also my first epistolary novel and I loved it so much that I lost count of the number of times that I reread it. Also, a mystery that doesn't involve murders!
2. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
For providing insight into what it's like to be mentally ill and the difficulty of trying to explain the experience to another person while you're still undergoing it. This felt especially more relevant to me during college.
3. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
For triggering my random obsession with Russian literature. A crazy murder setup, a crazier Ubermensch-obsessed perpetrator, some cat-and-mouse detective mind games, a moment of redemption at the crossroads, and a long ass character list. So much awesome crammed into one book.
4. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
For making me conscious of how easily and completely the past can consume one's thoughts years later. Not my first stream-of-consciousness book, but the first one to make me really appreciate the technique and what it could accomplish.
5. To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
For teaching me the value of considering other people's perspectives. So many insightful thoughts and ideas worth pondering on here. I feel a little spoiled by reading this first, as Woolf's other novels, while great, haven't impacted me anywhere near the same level that this one did.
6. Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs by Sussman/Abelson
For making me fall in love with computer science. I would not be where I am today career-wise were it not for this book. Considering that I hadn't had any real exposure to the subject before, my mind was blown away by the concepts presented here.
7. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
For having some of the most memorable characters and moments that I've ever experienced in literature. Also because the BBC adaptation with Maggie Smith and 10 year-old Daniel Radcliffe left quite an impression on me when I was ten. I thought I'd have hated Dickens after reading Great Expectations, but this and Oliver Twist made me realize that I'm a huge sucker for his immersive serial writing style when the characters don't actually piss me off.
8. The Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan
For explaining the value of critical thinking and reminding me why I love science. Sagan points out of a lot of common threads that can be found in pseudoscience/fallacious viewpoints and the dangers of not maintaining healthy skepticism in the face of them. Quite an eye-opening book.
9. The Orthodox Way by Kallistos Ware
For forcing me to completely rethink my understanding of what it means to be Christian. I'm not Orthodox, but there are a lot of ideas in Orthodox theology that fundamentally make sense to me, some of which I actually feel more inclined to agree with than their Protestant counterparts. It's made me realize how much thought we take for granted within Protestant circles that might actually merit reexamination.
10. Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger
For blowing me away in its combination of depth and simplicity. Props especially for its incorporation of the Jesus Prayer from Orthodox tradition and portraying its use in a different light. I probably should've realized this after Arrested Development, but stories about dysfunctional families are actually really fascinating.
Games:
(This list will probably be familiar if you've seen/paid attention to any of my past video game posts, but eh, one more won't hurt.)
1. Pokemon (Blue, Silver/Soul Silver, Platinum, & X in particular)
So I probably haven't consumed as much time on this as some people I know ahem, but it's hard to deny that the sum total number of hours I've spent on this series is greater than almost all other game series I've played haha. Also the number of lists I've made trying to come up with teams I liked. -__-
2. Putt-Putt Travels Through Time and Spy Fox in Dry Cereal
It's hard for me to decide between the two here, but both of these Humongous games are my favorite in their respective series. They were so memorable that replaying them over and over again was really an integral part of the experience, and despite being targeted at kids, they never really felt like they were forcibly talking down to you the way some educational kids games and TV shows did. Love the quirky characters in Humongous games in general and their imaginative settings.
3. Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross
First set of games that got me seriously into RPGs in general (Pokemon/the Mario RPGs don't really count... those were more Nintendo diversions) as well as video game stories. Just hearing some of the songs from Yasunori Mitsuda's soundtracks for both games is enough to make me emotional even today, especially To Far Away Times. And Frog from Trigger has been my avatar on every computer I've owned ever since.
4. Kingdom Hearts
For all the gripes I have with this series, the first game was something special. It's hard to imagine that someone actually thought combining Disney and Final Fantasy in a game was a good idea, and yet somehow it turned out to be massively popular. All those hours spent discussing the storyline on message boards and theorizing about the future games... one of the forums I frequented for this game ironically is the reason why I got into indie music and going to concerts, but that's a whole other story.
5. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
First introduction to visual novels and the adventure game genre at the same time. I was looking for a murder mystery kind of game to begin with since I had a random obsession with mysteries (blame The Boxcar Children and the Clue books... yes, the Parker Brothers board game Clue spawned a children's book series) and stumbled across an article on Hardcore Gaming 101 in anticipation of the upcoming English DS release of the series. It was love at first sight.
6. Day of the Tentacle
Okay, so this is the first real grown-up point and click adventure game I played. I am still in awe of some of the puzzle solutions in this game; such a clever use of time travel object manipulation, the likes of which I wish I'd seen in Putt-Putt, though obviously it would've made that game too complicated for its target age group. Purple Tentacle was a pretty awesome villain too.
7. Planescape: Torment and Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer
Two of the best stories (and settings) I've ever experienced in a video game and my introduction to Western RPGs. I really wish there were more games that aspired to this level of thematic depth... one could argue that these kinds of stories are best sought after in novels, but realistically speaking, trying to novelize Torment's story actually weakens its impact (I know... I've seen the novelization). It's all about the Choice and Consequences.
8. The Longest Journey
April Ryan is my favorite female protagonist in a game ever just because of how down-to-earth she is... in the face of being tossed into a somewhat nonsensical fantasy world. I also love how this game takes the "Chosen One" trope from typical fantasy storylines and turns it on its head.
9. Mother 3
Strange, funny, and heartrending. Lucas in the field of sunflowers. I have never wanted to cry so much while playing a freaking video game (Chrono Trigger was more after the fact than during to be honest); it's odd how both tragic and lighthearted this game is at the same time.
10. Gemini Rue and The Blackwell Epiphany
My two favorite Wadjet Eye releases thus far. Gemini Rue for exploring the relationship between our sense of self and our memories (the last series I can recall that did this was the anime Kaiba), and Blackwell for its unique take on the relationship between spirit mediums and ghosts. Blackwell kinda requires playing the first four games in the series to really appreciate, but luckily they're each fairly short (a few hours per game), and the payoff at the end is seriously worth it, which is not something I can say for a lot of other series. So many bittersweet feelings in the end.
I have plenty more where those came from, but stopping here for now.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)