Subject: As an emissary from the Tiny Fandom Co-Prosperity Hegemony
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Posted on: 2014-03-01 12:19:00 UTC
This is very much my jam.
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Skulduggery Pleasant
It's a pretty simple chosen girl narrative of the kind we here at the PPC often end up writing missions about. However, it's done with its tongue shoved firmly in its cheek: the stupid names are there because if someone has your given name, they have power over you; the magical powers are well thought-out and well developed (for instance, an Elementalist can create a fireball with a snap o' the fingers because it generates friction and heat, which blossoms into flame); the teenage female lead does not always need the good guy to rescue her; and the good guy is pale and thin and interesting on account of being a skeleton. It's planned to be a nine-book series, it's really bloody funny, check it out.
Hyperdrive
Often seen as a direct successor of the more famous Red Dwarf by people given to spectacularly missing the point, Hyperdrive does share some traits with that series but is very much its own thing. For one thing, it makes space travel seem normal and almost banal in places. For another, it relentlessly mocks that era of sci-fi where the sets were cheaper than Nollywood films made by people I will charitably describe as mental (Baby Police, anyone?). However, the real strength of the show lies in the central trio of Nick Frost, Kevin Eldon, and an early TV showing for Miranda Hart as the bridge crew of the HMS Camden Lock. Highlights include a glorious spoof of Kirk and Spock playing chess together... involving Ker-Plunk.
The Thick Of It
In the States, the archetypal political drama is The West Wing, which featured important, noble, upstanding people doing important, noble, upstanding things to bring a bright new future to the good ol' US of A. In the UK, it's a toss-up between House Of Cards (the original, not the Kevin Spacey one), State Of Play, and The Thick Of It, which is my personal favourite of the lot. Shot like a fly-on-the-wall documentary, it features incompetent, dishonest ministers in a dead-end job bickering with each other and doing nothing of worth. This probably says a lot about both our respective nations. The director, Armando Iannucci, has also made In The Loop and Veep on similar premises, so feel free to check them out if the idea of fascinatingly baroque swearing coming from the mouth of the 12th Doctor puts you off.
The Binding Of Isaac
I've talked about this game before - in fact, it was one of the first things I ever talked about on the Board - but The Binding of Isaac is one of the most fascinating games I've played from a story standpoint. Its use of mechanics as metaphor is deep and incredibly rich, and the central story is told entirely through the game with only minimal cutscenes bookending the experience. If you like hard-as-nails top-down rogue-lites with story chops and a very interesting take on childhood, check it out. Actually, check out the remake that comes out this year. It'll probably have more stuff to analyse to death in it.
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There's lots more I could talk about, but you're probably sick of this already. I'll take my leave. =]