Today has the potential to be the perfect Sunday. No work. A long run. Several cups of tea, some reading, perhaps (read: definitely) a little Dragon Quest XI.
OH! And how could I forget…
Sunday Morning Stuff.
Let’s get into it.
Reading…
With Halloween out of the way and my classical gauntlet of picks in the bag, I’ve moved on to another genre not so far removed. There are a lot of sci-fi books out there that I’ve never made the move to read, and although I can’t stay in one genre too long before getting bored I am going to make a concerted effort to read a few stand-outs before the year is out. First up on the list is Kurt Vonnegut’s Sirens of Titan. Vonnegut’s sense of humour meshes with mine very well, so suffice to say that I am so far finding it to be funny, in that dry, slightly bleak manner that he does funny. I’m far from a Vonnegut aficionado, so far I’ve only read Cat’s Cradle and Slaughterhouse Five, but it has taken me no time at all to warm up to the pages of Sirens, and once it is done I’ve little doubt that I will want to expand my collection.
Playing…
I managed to get as far as downloading and installing Afterparty, the new game from the developer, Night School Studio, of one of generational favourites Oxenfree. In the aforementioned game you play as two college students who die, go to hell, and realise that they can escape by out drinking the devil. Conceptually it is right up my alley and it’s been a while since I’ve played a completely narrative focused game like it. But. I haven’t actually played it yet. The Outer Worlds and Dragon Quest XI are two absolute monsters and they are eating up my time with little forgiveness. Both seem to be getting better as I go on.
The Outer Worlds is drawing me deeper into it with it’s charming crew of ruffians who you can gather to work on-board your ship The Unreliable. Although the majority of the gameplay rightly draws comparison to the Fallout series, this aspect is more akin to Mass Effect, and to my mind that is really a rather Good Thing.
Dragon Quest XI on the other hand is simply surprising me with its enormity. One gloriously drawn area after another keeps popping up, one charming quest twist and character introduction keeps bringing me back in. As much as I love it, I have to wonder – did I make a mistake in playing it now when there are so many damn games out there? No, no, I’m being ungrateful. It is a pure delight and it will likely take me several weeks, several months maybe to see the end…and I don’t think that’s a bad thing. I’m in rush to get there.
Listening to…
Pumarosa are an electro post-punk band, but to try and pigeon hole them even in a vague way is pointless. Their first full length release The Witch was a genre-hopping wander and their upcoming sophomore effort Devastation (out November 15) promises to be the same, if the two latest singles Into the Woods and Adams Song are anything to go by. The former is grungy, loud, noisy, whilst the later is slicker, jazzier, funkier.
Both are tasty. I’m looking forward to hear how it all comes together on a single project.
Until then we’ve got the latest Michael Kiwanuka album, KIWANUKA. It’s an album which suggests the singer has found a certain comfort in his music. Although I enjoyed certain tracks from his 2016 album Love & Hate (Black Man in a White World is just tremendous) for me the whole thing didn’t come together as cohesively as I would have liked. His latest however, is far more unified, far more satisfying, and marked by an excellent centre-piece in the guttural and soulful Hero which calls to mind grand, but deserved, comparisons to Hendrix.
Watching…
I’ve not really watched much this week but…
The Witcher Netflix show got a new a trailer and it really Got Me pretty good.
Henry Cavill looks, and sounds, the part of Geralt of Rivia and the swordplay and action scenes that were shown in the well-cut trailer looked slick. Since I am a Witcher nerd I was looking forward to the show (with an aspect of trepidation, sure) regardless, but this trailer has really got me feeling positive about it, especially since the focus of the trailer is Geralt’s interesting moral relationship with the world of monsters and man – which to me is the defining aspect of the character, and that world, that will set it apart from existing fantasy TV fare (Game of Thrones) and it’s competitors (Amazon’s Lord of the Rings).
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a Sunday to laze about in, and some stuff to enjoy.
Not drugs, by the way. This stuff. Sunday Morning Stuff. You get it.
run into words 