Mid-September 2017 Links, Because Learning is Fun!

A Miserable Month

It is the middle of September, that month which doesn't usually quite feel like Summer but lacks the charm of Fall as well. Basically, September sucks. Let's try to make it more fun with some quality links!

Link-Time

Let's start with a cynical question that does not really have an answer. Namely, what was the point of Marvel's, "Secret Empire," besides being bad? We don't know.

The Hipster and Yuppie have made a cultural offspring. It is terrible.

Chrstopher Reeve was such a good actor he could be his own special effect.

I quite liked the Castlevania show on Netflix. Paste magazine had more mixed feelings I can understand them holding but don't quite agree with fully you can read here.

From the same site, Paste has a fascinating piece about the Comic industry and its ongoing struggle to achieve gender diversity

On the subject of Gender, there have always been female fandoms in culture, people have just tried to minimize it as Film School Rejects has written about.

In, "Divinity: Original Sin 2," the idea of an RPG character that literally wears the faces of people it kills to pretend to be them is disturbing...and a cool-sounding mechanic for gameplay. Also, that it is a great game makes me excited too.

This piece about the, "Types of Becky," should be required reading for all the Beckys out there.

Speaking of Beckys, I never liked Iggy Azalea and I was fascinated by this article about her, "Making and unmaking."

"Bioshock," as a game is now 10 years old. It was an amazing--if not perfect--title that had a huge impact comes to everything from gameplay, to tone, atmosphere, and philosophy in other games since.

I ought to see some of these, "14 Recent Sci-Fi Films That Didn't Need Big Budgets to Be Amazing."

It sounds really navel-gazing but this discussion by comic critics about how comic critics discuss (what else) comics, is a pretty interesting read at Loser City.

Fire Ants can apparently float, so damn, we are screwed.

I love rap, but as a musical form it has a complicated past and present with the subject of violence, as Vulture goes in-depth about.

I am a big fan of the,"Metal Gear Solid," series of games and I've seen a variety of opinions about how the 2nd game shocked everyone by having a main character named Raiden. Kotaku argues he was the best thing to ever happen to the series, and I kinda see what they're driving at.

Oh yeah, the Emmys were yesterday and I'll admit I didn't watch them as I just feel like I'm at a point in my life where dedicating 3-4 hours to an awards show sounds kind of dull--even if the talented Stephen Colbert apparently did a solid job hosting.

This video examines what makes the original, "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," by recently-departed Director Tobe Hooper a classic, discussing how it both established and subverted certain horror genre expectations.

Lastly, I remember back in the day how big a battle it was between Sega and Nintendo when it came to being the, "Cool," company, as is reminisced over at this link. In the end, I think Nintendo admittedly won.

Eager for October

As the above video with the sax-playing seal doing a cover of, "Wake me Up When September Ends," illustrates, I am ready for October. I hope everyone has a decent rest of this month!