For reasons unbeknownst to me, I spent a good bit of time over the weekend watching Metroid videos. Some people like ASMR videos, apparently I like to watch videogame play throughs and long form critiques.
Through all that browsing I ran across this short film called Metroid: The Sky Calls, an actual live action version of the series with an abundance of special effects that feels very appropriate to the world of the game itself. In a shocking turn, I actually agree with the YouTube commenters on it:
Fantastically eerie atmosphere and ambience. Beautiful work on the models and animations and the geometry of the shots. From a purely sensational standpoint, it's perfect! Ace work!
But--BUT!!!--from a narrative perspective, I feel compelled to nag about the presentation of the character. Specifically, how apprehensive Samus appears to be. The nuances of her movements suggest she's unsure of every step she makes and action she takes, and each shot of the the actress' face shows an expression of fear.
It's maybe an unnecessary bit of feedback but I can't disagree. The actress does a good job but it's a bit off character from what you'd expect from a series about a space explorer that spends 100% of her time alone fighting monsters. It is Geek Insight in its purest form.
All that being said, it's still completely worth watching. I'm actually a bit shocked that Metroid's never been turned into a legitimate film. I find it hard to believe that Nintendo is still stinging after this disaster, given that it was 25 years ago.
There are a million designers working on making website buttons have better gradients and none working on the cord that changes how fast your ceiling fan is going. Literally no one knows what speed their fan is on or what will happen if they pull the cord again
Just heard dave matthews band crash on a wine commercial and immediately thought about their bus driver dumping pounds of human shit on the tourist river barge
Big news this week with the You Drive announcement. Hot on those heels is the release of the Atlanta Monster soundtrack from Makeup and Vanity Set himself; streamable here. I had no involvement in that second one but I still endorse it fully.
Speaking of endorsing, can you throw some upvotes over here? I woulda thought this would have caught on like hotcakes over there but, turns out, I don't really understand how Reddit works at all.
I'm grateful for the weekend. How about you?
Sad Baxter "Believe Me" - the above GIF is from this new Sad Baxter video. It's reminscent of the goofier videos the late 90's but actually sticks the landing.
GoPro: Les 3 Vallees - generally I have zero interest in snowboarding videos but the editing and pop culture references that pop up in this one is something else.
The Graphene Promise - generally I don't post 7 minute videos on actual interesting topics here bu I was fascinated with this little piece about Graphene, thought you might be too.
Nekrogoblikon - Dressed as Goblins - this past week I discovered that a band exists named Nekrogoblikon. Let that sink in. The music is exactly what I'd hoped for; vaguely unlistenable (to me) on a regular basis but perfectly executed for a Goblin band.
It's been a long time coming but I'm happy to finally announce that You Drive is officially a thing. What's a "You Drive"? Well, it's a full-length collaborative album between Makeup and Vanity Set and Jasmin Kaset that I'm putting out via yk Records (the 50th release!).
The first track, "New", just premiered over on the synthwave blog Vehlinggo, so you can hear it there now.
If you've ever heard "Hand in Hand" or "Homecoming" (and other songs) from MAVS featuring Jasmin, you know how well the two pair together. This is an entire album of such collaboration and I'm fairly sure if you like Beach House, Chromatics, Phantogram, Melody's Echo Chamber (et al), then you will enjoy this.
Today as I was walking home after my run I saw a large lemon rolling down the hill. It kept rolling for about a quarter mile. And now you can see it, too. https://t.co/dQoHi4RrXS
