[A Pleasurable Headache] Shadowrun; Le Carre; 2020 in movies and books
I hope you all had the best Christmas you possibly could, given the circumstances. 2020 continues to act like the antagonist of every slasher movie ever, returning to mete out more death and destruction time, after time, after time. Not a huge amount of links this time around as my article reading has taken a backseat during Christmas, as it always does.
This Week's Links
Shadowrun for the Sega Genesis Captures the Cyberpunk Spirit of the Tabletop Game
https://www.pastemagazine.com/games/shadowrun/shadowrun-review/
You may have heard of that other cyberpunk game that came out recently and all of the woes attached to said release. In the wake of that debacle (blame the execs not the devs btw), Paste went back and spoke about the excellent Sega Megadrive Shadowrun adaptation.
Along the same kind of lines, Fanbyte looked at other video game offerings in the Cyberpunk genre, including the awesome Umurangi Generation.
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John le Carré Told the Truth About Cold War Espionage When Few Others Would
https://jacobinmag.com/2020/12/john-le-carre-obituary-spy-novels/
With the passing of John Le Carre, Jacobin looked back over the author's career, particularly focusing on the omniscient systems present in his work.
"Le Carré depicted lonely protagonists maintaining their dedication to their ideals in the face of overwhelming systemic pressure to abandon them, against the plethora of characters who justified their own abandonment of those ideals. All of this took place in the political context of the Cold War, in which wrestling with that kind of moral ambiguity was treated as suspect, even potentially treasonous."
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How eBird Changed Birding Forever
https://www.outsideonline.com/2419209/ebird-online-platform-app-birding
I find this kind of thing fascinating. A piece of technology disrupts an already established field, throwing numerous new wrenches into the mix.
"Chasing rarities is certainly exciting—like an ephemeral, high-stakes treasure hunt where the pot of gold has wings—but the hobby can also turn into an obsession. I’ve heard stories of constant “twitching,” or compulsive bird chasing, nearly ending serious romantic relationships. For some, a reputation for finding rare birds becomes a noteworthy part of their identity. Last fall I met a birder at a popular migrant trap, a small patch of trees with a trickle of water, on the windswept plains of eastern New Mexico. He introduced himself to me by name, followed by, “You might recognize me from the Rare Bird Alert.”"
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How and why I stopped buying new laptops
https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2020/12/how-and-why-i-stopped-buying-new-laptops.html
Following on from last edition's link regarding website waste, is the above link regarding physical waste, in this case laptops. This is one of the many reasons I don't think I could buy an Apple laptop again. Their hardware has become increasingly difficult to upgrade and tinker with as the years have gone by. Like the author of the piece above I'm a Thinkpad convert, which by comparison are (relatively) easy to upgrade, allowing even screen panels to be swapped out for new ones, etc.
My current laptop (running Linux) is a Thinkpad E550 (around 5 years old now). Since I replaced the HD with an SSD and upgraded the memory and replaced the battery this thing still runs as good as (if not better) than the day I brought it. It's telling this rig will run Crusader Kings 3 whilst my brother's newer Macbook still has some trouble with it.
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Books
So here are five books I enjoyed this year (in no particular order). These are books that were released this year too. I enjoyed many other books with earlier release dates, but I have to draw the line somewhere.
The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones
A book very much about the stupid shit you did when you were young coming back to haunt you. Only, you know, this time it's in the form of an ancient entity that wants to kill you and your friends for your transgressions. Jones has a real gift for imbuing his characters with the detritus of a life lived and his protagonists here are no different. All of them have their regrets and wear them in vastly different ways. The book is a slow build to begin with but soon gathers momentum into a barnstormer of a climactic chase sequence.
The Jakarta Method: Washington's Anticommunist Crusade and the Mass Murder Program that Shaped Our World by Vincent Bevins
Non-fiction, but just as horrific as others on this list. Bevins' book described the U.S involvement in the killings of approximately one million civilians in Indonesia by the military. Bevins argues the U.S military-industrial complex then used this incident as a kind of template going forward, putting it to use in various other scenarios and countries across the globe during (and post) the Cold War.
The book acts as a 'hidden narrative' to the modern era, showing the lengths an imperialist and capitalist system will go to in the name of propagation and subjugation.
The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson
I spoke about this one in a recent edition of the newsletter.
"I’ve just finished up KSR’s Ministry of the Future, a thick tome that deals with efforts of the titular ministry to deal with climate change after a catastrophic heat wave sweeps India. Large sections of the book are almost ‘info-dump’ in their presentation, throwing concepts and theories at the reader thick and fast.
The book is obviously laced with doom and a feeling of a world teetering on the brink. But KSR also floats the possibility of hope, showing us that if we all pull together, if we can look beyond our usual selfishness (and smash capitalism in the process) there may yet be hope."
Better Than IRL: True Stories About Finding Your People On The Untamed Internet by Katie West (Editor) and Jasmine Elliot (Co-Editor)
This non-fiction collection gathers stories of better times, a much needed salve this year. The collection focuses on a time when the internet seemed ripe with possibility, before cynicism and hate flooded all. Each story here is one of hope, one of the internet offering a place where one can be comfortable in their own skin. It posits the internet as a place of discovery, of other worlds, communities, other cultures and even finding one's people amid the electronic chatter.
The collection has a tinge of nostalgia to it for anyone of a certain age but, like the KSR book above, the work is laced with the hope that one day it can be like this once again.
By Force Alone by Lavie Tidhar
Tidhar's book takes the glossy, romanticised version of the Arthurian legend and drags it through the mud. It comes out looking much better as a result. When reading the book I couldn't help but think of Brexit. During (and since) the referendum, the British public were sold numerous tales of a bygone Britain, clothed in nostalgia for an age that never really existed in the first place.
Tidhar uses the expectation around the King Arthur legend to constantly upend and toy with the reader's expectation. Here, Arthur is a loan shark and criminal, a man with the right amount of power and arrogance to take things forward. He is in the right place at the right time to take advantage of the tides of history.
Tidhar's work paints a picture of a fractured, messy Britain, a land where glory is the furthest thing from anyone's mind. It's a wonder to behold.
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I (shamefully) did not read a huge amount of comics this year, an embarrassment I will be looking to rectify in the very near future by digging into Fraction and Lieber's recent Jimmy Olsen run. Any other recs are welcome.
Movies
Again, these are all movies released this year. Also again, five I loved in no particular order.
His House (Directed by Remi Weekes)
I wrote about this one here. Everything I said still stands.
The Invisible Man (Directed by Leigh Whannell)
I am fully on team Upgrade (go watch it now that it's on Netflix), so seeing Whannell take on an existing IP with a bigger budget, was something I was looking forward to anyway. I feel most people have seen this by now due to it being one of the major releases this year that wasn't affected by Covid, at least initially anyway.
Whannell puts on a masterclass of tension in the opening sequence with minimal exposition. The audience is given all it needs to know and it's more than enough as Moss' Cecilia tries to escape the clinical looking clifftop mansion of her abusive partner. It's here Whannell establishes the ever looming threat of empty space in the frame. When the enemy is invisible every inch of unfilled space becomes an unknowable threat. I can't think of anything more perfectly 2020 than that.
Possessor (Directed by Brandon Cronenberg)
Not for everyone. If you're a fan of Papa Cronenberg's distinct flavour of body horror then you'll find something to like and latch onto here too I think. The film tells the tale of a corporate assassin who carries out her missions by using tech to possess the bodies of other people. Due to the nature of the job, and the tech itself, the protagonist has begun to question her own identity.
The film mostly succeeds through the performance of Andrea Riseborough. It's apt that an actress who disappears into her various roles is playing the protagonist here. She is ably supported by Christopher Abbott, who plays the man being possessed. The film's narrative follows a kind of tug of war between the pair as they wage intra-body psychic warfare over who gets ownership of the body. The battle is gore-soaked and bathed in the silvery blue hues of a NIN video as well as posing questions about gender and corporate surveillance.
Host by Rob Savage
Shot during the first lockdown here in the U.K, Host uses the format of a seance over a Zoom call to prop up its narrative of a spirit running amok amongst a group of friends. The restrictions on the format help rather than hinder here, with terrors lurking over shoulders before disappearing into the pixelated shadows of empty doorways.
Since the movie, Savage has signed a deal with Blumhouse and it's clear to see why. The film runs at a tight 56 minutes and doesn't waste a single bit of it. During this shortened running time each of the characters stand out as distinct and likeable, which only furthers the tension later when things go horribly awry. Hopefully the film's enduring legacy will be to teach people not to fuck with their Zoom backgrounds.
The Wolf of Snow Hollow (Directed by Jim Cummings)
This one is a recent watch so may have resulted in some bias. The film follows an outbreak of murders in a small town during the Christmas period. As paranoia grips the town many seem to believe the attacks are due to a werewolf, something Cummings' police officer is keen to dismiss. Cummings is on triple duty here, starring as the lead, directing the movie and writing it. His protagonist constantly hovers near burnout, attending AA meetings, dealing with crackpot theories, all whilst his Sheriff father refuses to retire.
Looking at other reviews of the movie, some found the switches between comedic and horrific jarring, but to me they work. Both genres are incredibly hard to pull off, so the fact Cummings juggles both tones so well is impressive. On its own Cummings' character and performance would be hard to stomach. But it's clear the movie is calling out male ego. Cummings' character shouts and harangues colleagues with abandon, all whilst ignoring his daughter and failing to see his own downfall coming up fast. The Sheriff refuses to see that his ever-increasing health problems suggest retirement. In a bit of poignancy the Sheriff here is played by Robert Forster in what I think was his last role.
In fact the entire narrative is peppered with male characters pretending to be something they're not and failing spectacularly often at the cost of others lives and livelihood. The only competent police officer in the whole debacle is Riki Lindholme's Julia. The film stands as a hilarious (and gory) ode to the dangers of male toxicity.
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And with that I am out for 2020. What a shitshow. See you in two for the sequel.