Friday Caterpillar Blogging

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Yes. Yes, please.

Between the Resident Evil and Ace Attorney series I probably owe my soul to Capcom by now. This new game from Ace Attorney creator Shu Takumi (who also directed Dino Crisis 2) looks like it might just clinch the deal...

Wschod, another short film online

It's always pained me that so many great films by interesting film makers disappear into the ether, just because they're not feature length. So this new trend of short films being posted on the Internet after they've done the festival circuit is pleasing me no end - especially when it allows us to see gems like Wschód (East), a low-key, post apocalyptic story filmed inside the Chernobyl exclusion zone.

This is exactly the kind of science fiction I love - the kind that has a vivid, evocative setting, but that doesn't make the setting the focus, instead telling the story of those who live there. This thing's got atmosphere you can cut with a knife - and the simple, implicit storytelling totally hooked me.

Hat tip Twitch, of course.

Post 1000

So this is my 1000th post at Space Cat Rocket Ship, the blog with the slightly erroneous four word title that no-one knows quite how to space out or hyphenate.

The popular portrayal of a blog (at least by the newspapers that have so much to fear from them) is of a soapbox from which to try and inflict your views on the world; a sea of monologues readily available to all, but completely drowning one another out. I'm sure there are some people who have important things to say in particular niches who succeed in using their blog in just that way. I'm sure many more try, wonder why no-one reads their posts, and then give up.

Because I don't see a blog as a monologue. Even the most authoritative and well known blogs are clearly dialogues - their authors, commenters and communities all blurring together.

Space Cat Rocket Ship has kind of barrelled through the intertubes like the aimless rocket referred to in the header above. I first started reading blogs when my friend Disillusioned Kid began one of his own, and I clicked a few of the links in his sidebar. When leaving comments, I decided I wanted to be able to provide a space which would act as a kind of dynamic profile page, letting people know what kind of a person was visiting. I guess that's still the ethos behind this blog even now, as most of my posts here are fuelled by the desire to share something I think is cool and articulate why, or to post something creative that I've worked on.

I know some of you are interested in generating traffic to and/or monetising your blogs, but I'm quite happy knowing that a visitor coming to this blog for any one thing is probably going to leave disappointed after a while. Because, like I said, I see this place as a two way dialogue, and I like the fact that I'm just as, if not more interested in what you guys have to say.

So thank you to all my regular and irregular commenters, whether I first saw you commenting on Pinko Feminist Hellcat, read your Sunday Scribblings, found you through Blogging Against Disablism Day, grabbed your interest with one of my little freeware games, or just happened to be the landing pad for a random link clicking. Let's have another reunion at post 2000...

Thursday Comic

20th Century Boys, vols 2-4 - Naoki Urasawa

When Kenji was a kid, this wasn't what he expected the future to be like - running his family store, now a part of a national chain, while raising the baby his sister was unable to care for herself. No, Kenji had imagined a future of laser guns and an evil conspiracy to destroy the world - a detailed and fantastic future-history that he wrote down in a "Book of Prophecy" along with the rest of his childhood gang. Only, certain events are starting to seem rather familiar, and he's sure he's seen the symbol of this new doomsday cult somewhere before. Could it be that a member of his old gang is now actually trying to enact Kenji's absurd plans of global destruction?

I started reading this series on the back of a number of mentions from people who praised it highly, but did little to explain just what was so great about it, and I now find myself in the same position. Mystery, comedy, family drama, horror, science fiction, crime, action, period drama, epic, personal, all this and more. But more importantly, well characterised, well observed, well written, carefully plotted, and always intriguing you with new mysteries, even as others are solved when they've run their course. It's difficult to know just who to recommend 20th Century Boys to, except to say that this is a work of some skill and artistry, and you should definitely find out if it's for you.

Monday Movie: Evangelion 1.0

Half the world's population have been wiped out in a single cataclysm, and mysterious entities known as "Angels" are now trying to finish off the rest. Conventional weapons are useless against them, but an organisation called NERV has created a number of giant, armoured synthetic humans which can be piloted by a select few teenagers. Teenagers such as Shinji Ikari, who's already withdrawn and troubled before he's forced into violent confrontations with otherworldly monsters that leave him near death.

Conceived as a deconstruction of cartoon shows about kids saving the world in giant robots, Neon Genesis Evangelion acquired praise and cult status in the face of budget constraints and (at least according to legend) its creator turning on his fans. The first in this new series of four films, then, which aims to give Evangelion the visuals it deserves and a definitive version of its fragmented story, seemed like the perfect place for me to jump on the bandwagon.

Having said that, I can definitely see that this is a story perhaps better told in a more episodic format. This ninety minute film is dominated by a series of apocalyptic, edge-of-the-seat battles between Shinji and the angels, each one risking everything and bringing humanity to the brink. They're all extremely well done, but there's not that much space for a breather between them, and the human, deeply psychological story at the film's heart would definitely benefit from more low-key, everyday scenes to ground it.

Still, colour me impressed by what is deservedly a renowned classic of animation - an imaginative blend of biomechanical science fiction, pubescent angst and what looks set to be a Philip Pullman-style perversion of Christian mythology. Roll on Evangelion 2.0.

Look at Me

I'm playing Thief 2 on Windows Vista. IN YOUR FACE, Bill Gates.

(Got a little help from here.)

I've swapped the roles of these two characters back and forth a few times now.

I think I had it right to start with.

Monday Movie: The City of Lost Children

When a cult of one-eyed cyborgs decide to abduct the adopted little brother of circus strongman One and sell him to the evil genius Krank, they don't bet on One forming an unbeatable alliance with orphaned child thief Miette ("Crumb") and mounting a daring rescue. Then again, in their way stand not just the cyclops, but Krank's cloned brothers, Miette's criminal bosses (a pair of conjoined twins known as "The Octopus") and a number of highly-trained and deadly fleas...

Visually, La Cité des Enfants Perdu is breathtaking; conceptually it's bold and fearlessly quixotic; and even the most bizarre of its many characters and settings are easy to love. As an exercise in storytelling, it does fall short, cramming in too much too quickly, and allowing events to tumble forward with little sense of cause and effect. But if you're looking to be drawn into a vivid and fantastic alternate reality, this is quite the rabbit hole to get sucked into.

So much for Welsh wizardry...

Not Over Yet

I'm willing to bet everyone in the UK had election burnout even before the polls opened, and it's not over yet. The Liberal Democrat's share of the vote increased slightly over the last general election, but because their support is spread over the whole country they actually lost a few seats in parliament. And yet, they're also the only party to emerge from the election with any power - not the power to rule, but the power to choose who does.

Given the huge gains made by the Conservatives, I think you could argue a Lib/Con coalition is 'the right thing' from a democratic perspective. Much as I hate David Cameron, I wouldn't hold it against the Lib Dems to take a piece of his government. What I would worry about is the longer term effect of the only truly progressive mainstream party getting in bed with the party of toffs and Daily Mail readers. In the next general election, might people then feel like the Lib Dems had nothing to offer anyone?

On a happier note, although I've stated before why I won't vote for the Greens myself, I think more left wing minority parties in parliament can only be a good thing, and I'm glad to see Caroline Lucas become the Green Party's first ever member of Parliament.

POTILICKS

The polls close for the UK general election in a couple of hours. It should be no surprise who I voted for, but whatever the results, I'd be happy just to keep David Cameron out of Number 10.

I don't trust him with my rights. I don't trust him with healthcare, education or public transport. I know not to trust him with the nation's most vulnerable - who he's already attacked for knee-jerk votes. And I generally think he's a bigoted traditionalist who's succeeded at making other bigoted traditionalists feel like they're progressive and accepting.

Meanwhile, across the Channel, someone in my blogroll has something to say about what's happening in Athens.

Thursday Comic

20th Century Boys, vol. 1 - Naoki Urasawa

I picked this up based on its universal acclaim. There's a lot going on here, but the first volume seems to barely scratch the surface - and yet it's all so nicely handled that I'm really eager to see the rest of the iceberg.

I'm not going to say much about the series at this point, except that I'm definitely going to be picking up the next few volumes.

Yay Luther

Yesterday, if you asked me to name something starring Idris Elba that I was excited about, I'd have said Legacy. I don't really watch that much TV, and with the exception of the truly superlative (The Wire, The Shield, the new Battlestar Galactica - all shows that have ended, by the way) or the competently silly (Ugly Betty, Primeval) there's not really much on that I even like that much. So: the Beeb's new crime drama Luther. I watch it for Elba, and I'm already planning out in my head a negative review about how I wanted to like it, but...

So first of all, I see a lot of TV shows that try really hard to be cinematic and flashy and good looking. And pretty much all of them fail, and look all the worse for even trying. Except Luther, which, while it did occasionally manhandle me with the odd jump cut, is consistently beautiful, with wonderfully evocative photography of London streets.

Right, score one for Luther. Pretty. That's a plus. But none too bright, maybe? Well, maybe a bit. The plotting isn't as drum-tight as in, say, The Shield, but it works, and it does at least feed into its real strength: its characterisation, and its acting - especially Elba as the unstable, violent, brilliant, vulnerable and eponymous lead. In places where I wanted to doubt the show, Elba damn-well made me suspend my disbelief with his strong performance.

And when I wasn't doubting it, Luther felt fresh and dynamic. I was worried that this was going to be a formulaic detective show, firmly retreading old ground, a safe vehicle for its star, but it's actually more of a twisted take on the inverted detective story (as the writer explains here), where catching the criminal and solving the crime are less important than seeing the suspect enter a battle of wits with Luther.

Will episode 2 smooth the edges and maintain its stride? Well, I really bloody hope so. I'm always waiting and hoping for a British TV show to sweep me off my feet, and if I wanted to like Luther before, I really, really want to like it now.

"I want to fight you!"

Things start to get a bit strange for the fighter pilots of Cougar squadron, mercenaries fighting in a war between rival corporations, when their latest recruits turn out to be a group of eerie children. But it's only when two of these new pilots are shot down and killed that things become truly weird.

A spin-off from the Mamoru Oshii film that I've been dying to see for two years now, but which is only seeing a UK DVD release at the end of May, Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces is an action-packed game of aerial combat that values thrills and excitement over simulation. Flying retro-futuristic propeller planes, there are no guided missiles, but instead a meter that fills as you fly close to an enemy, allowing you to trigger flashy manoeuvres that will put you on your target's tail. This is not only cool to watch, but also nicely places you in the role of a superlative ace.

The player's character is faceless, voiceless and defined only as male. As I wrote recently, this is par for the course in a lot of games that feel this is some sort of short cut to getting the player to identify with their role, but the silent protagonist of Innocent Aces is actually quite strongly characterised. His silence and his absence from the cut scenes mark him out as somewhat distant from the other members of his squadron. His mission objectives define him as an efficient, almost cold-blooded killer (although there is the option in one mission to show mercy to a fleeing, terrified enemy). And this is all intentional, as becomes clear once this character's role in the wider story is made obvious.

Missions are interspersed with traditionally animated cut scenes, which fit in nicely with the chatter during missions and seem right at home in the game. An example of how well these are handled is the way the first one doesn't crop up until after you've played the first short mission - something I wish every other game with cut scenes would do. Although these scenes occasionally display low production values, on the whole they're quite lovely, showing the gentle everyday lives of the pilots on the ground between the frantic action of the gameplay, with an emphasis on low angles that place beautiful cloudscapes in the background.

The music is an unconventional soup of folk, metal, electronica and ambient that manages to be atmospheric, thrilling or unobtrusive as the situation demands.

Innocent Aces runs through 17 diverse missions, without drawing anything out or retreading old ground with slight variations. It progresses through a relatively focused story, albeit with a few detours, and then stops when that story has been told. Now, I like the odd 80 hour epic as much as the next person, but there's also plenty of room for games that are short and sweet, a description that fits this one to a tee. Although, anything this fun and smooth to play naturally has a good bit of replay value, enhanced by the chance to unlock new planes, upgrades and achievements (in the form of medals).

My one criticism of Innocent Aces is that it seems like there's a deeply moving personal story in here that doesn't quite get told. Evocative themes of the beauty of flight and the exhilaration of air combat are conveyed through the pathological feelings of admiration and murderous impulse that one of the strange new pilots develops for the player character, but this keeps getting sidelined by a broader war story that has far less to offer. When it gets its priorities straight, Innocent Aces manages to be quite touching - but even when it doesn't, the game's still a bundle of fun.

Thursday Book

Boneshaker - Cherie Priest

Sixteen years ago, in 1863, the mad inventor Leviticus Blue used his Incredible Bone-Shaking Drill Engine to breach a pocket of poisonous gas beneath the city of Seattle - a gas capable of turning those who breathe it into flesh-eating zombies. Now a whole section of the city is walled off to keep the gas - and the zombies - trapped safely inside.

Living on the outskirts of this wall, Blue's widow, Briar Wilkes, and his son Ezekiel, struggle to escape the shadow of his legacy. But when Zeke finds his way under the wall to try and exonerate his father, Briar is forced to follow after in the hopes of protecting him from the horrors within - not all of them undead.

Cherie Priest's Boneshaker is the kind of cohesive blend of imaginative concepts that always leaves me in awe. Airship pirates, steampunk contaptions, drugs distilled from zombifying gases, family secrets and a hidden underworld of survivors - all these things are linked naturally together in a world that, while certainly beyond fantastic, is also entirely consistent and convincing. I read this from cover to cover in a few days, but I suspect it will linger with me for far longer than that.

Stage 1 Complete!

Meanwhile

Meanwhile, in another time and another world...

The Box

The desert sun is low in the sky. She tilts back her head and its red rays stab past the brim of her cap. She squints. The two of them sit facing the distant cluster of rusting, dust-caked buildings that make up the town.

“Five dollars,” Raoul says. “The cork, without breaking the bottle.”

“Nah,” she says. “Not possible.”

He raises a six shooter, sights down the barrel, squeezes the trigger. Twenty paces away, on a haphazard stone wall, a green bottle loses its cork.

“Five bucks,” she says. “Green stuff, right? None of your funny robot money.”

“Green as a twelve day corpse.”

She takes the six shooter and draws back the hammer, takes careful aim at the next green bottle in the row.

“...can feel it on me...!”

She thumps the large wooden trunk she sits upon. “Shuddup in there!”

Back to sighting down the barrel. She pulls the trigger. A bottle explodes. “Shit.”

“...let me out...!”

He holds out a tanned, calloused hand. “Pay up.”

She presses the revolver into his palm. “I'm no good with six guns. I need way more bullets than that.”

He holsters the weapon with a twirl. “Money, not excuses.”

“Elias owes me. Get it from him.”

“Shit.”

“...on my face...!”

He reaches across and thumps on the trunk. “There's no scorpion in there. We lied. It's all in your head. So relax, amigo. It's almost sunset. Then we let you out.”

“...on my gods-damned face...!”

She stares straight ahead. “No scorpions in the scorpion box? Wow. That's pretty clever. I guess.”

He looks at her with eagle-sharp eyes. “You should know, you put him in- Oh Fiona, no, you didn't!”

She bites her lip. “What? I didn't what? Put scorpions in the scorpion box? I mean, it's only called 'the scorpion box', obviously I'd know not to be put scorpions in there!”

“Scorpions! More than one! Get off the poor bastardo!”

She stands up while Raoul rummages in his pockets for the key, wipes her nose on her sleeve. “He's gone awful quiet, don't you think?”

He slowly lifts the lid of the trunk.

They both stare inside.

She puts her hands on her hips. “Huh. I thought the ones with small pincers were supposed to be harmless.”

He lets the lid fall closed and sighs. “No, they have deadly stings, hermana, that's why they don't need big pincers.”

“Yeah, actually, that makes sense. I shoulda asked you before.”

“I'd have told you we don't want scorpions in there however big the pincers are!”

She pulls down her cap. “You know, maybe that's what Mute was on about. Maybe I should pay more attention when he's waving his hands around. Anyhow, we gotta bury this sucker before he finds out.”

Raoul takes a step backwards. “We? I like that. That's cute. I never seen you act naïve before.”

She kicks open the trunk. A lone scorpion scuttles out, scanning its surroundings with tiny microwave dishes. “So two of the old posse are there when a petty criminal dies in a grotesque execution. And one of 'em's like, Hey Mute, it weren't me, she twisted my arm!”

“It's always something with you, isn't it?” he snarls, before switching to a perfect mimicry of her harsh drawl: “'My new turret has a mind of its own!' 'Elias stole my soap!' 'Gertrude stopped speaking to me!' 'I don't know how I got that bounty on my head!'”

“Shuddup and find a spade.”

He jabs a finger at his broad chest. “You dig. I keep look out.”

*

The desert sun touches the horizon, an orange halo around her bobbing head as she steadily descends into the barren soil. He squats nearby, watching.

“Raoul, there's scorpions in my grave. If they sting me, you gotta suck the poison out.”

“Five dollars,” he says. “Your hat, without blowing out your brains”

"And they're trying to kill us. Isn't life dandy..."

I haven't played the original Dead Space, but from what I've heard it pretty faithfully replicated most of the gameplay mechanics of Resident Evil 4. Perhaps it should be no surprise then, that its creators decided to make a Wii rail shooter spin-off in the vein of the two Resident Evil Chronicles.

As I mentioned in my post on RE: The Darkside Chronicles, Dead Space: Extraction gave me issues with motion sickness. It's to the game's credit that I would consistently play two chapters, think, “I really want to play the next chapter, but if I do I'll start to feel ill...” Then play the next chapter and feel ill. But it was also this pattern that made me put the game down for some time. I finally managed to finish the game off recently, though, in part thanks to noticing the option to reduce the amount of camera shake. So what did I think?

The basic gameplay on offer is pretty addictive. The simple act of zapping undead monsters with a slo-mo gun and then dismembering them never really seemed to get tired for me. But I think I actually enjoyed the game even more as a piece of world-building - an action-packed POV tour through grimy and convincingly lived-in science fiction locations.

The typical mould for games of this type is to begin after the disaster has occurred, going around listening to recordings of people describing what happened and then being eaten. What I like about Extraction is that, although the original Dead Space fit this mould, this spin-off is actually set in the period that you might expect the recordings to cover - starting with ordinary people going about their jobs and encountering suspicious activity, passing through carnage and the collapse of law and order, and ending in a desperate scramble to escape.

The game relies on its characters in no small part, featuring a diverse cast of largely British voices. It's great to see a game of this type that's happy to take a little time to develop minor characters before inevitably killing them off - and the interplay between the four main characters, mysteriously immune to the infectious delirium around them, does a good job of making no individual seem either too likeable or too obviously untrustworthy. Special kudos to Ramon Tikaram, who pretty much steals the show as the face and voice of the misanthropic and caustic (but ultimately honourable) Sgt. Weller.

When I finally finished Extraction, I immediately went back and replayed it. Partly because I put it down for so long in the middle, but also because I found it pretty rewarding to see how certain subtle aspects of the game suddenly made a new kind of sense given revelations in the last few chapters. In general I'd say that I find the chapters in Extraction to be more replayable than those in Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles - largely because I thought Umbrella Chronicles was full of great chapters that ended in protracted and tedious boss fights - but not as replayable as the chapters in Darkside Chronicles, which, as I noted at the time, seem to be carefully structured to be as succinct and flowing as possible.

In short, if you like a bit of Wii rail-shooting, or a bit of science fiction horror, then if you don't already own Dead Space: Extraction, you can probably find it at a reasonable price. At the very least, the penultimate chapter features probably the most memorably macabre action you'll perform with a Wii remote.