Things I Listened To: A Million Miles Away by マクロスMACROSS 82-99

For a while I thought this was an actual factual soundtrack to one of the many, many, many Macross spin-offs. Turns out it's not, which means its composer Macross 82-99 is doing a very convincing job of being not only retro-inspired, but also an inspired choice for anybody looking for a bit of the old vaporwave.

The music? Well it's future funk. It's the type of thing I could imagine listening to while coasting down the highway of my dreams neck deep in tropical breeze. It's also the type of thing you might imagine playing in some far flung bar on the other side of the galaxy light years from home. It was described by one YouTuber as 'catchy beats with some romance thrown in'.

Either way it's mid-morning and I'm too tired to think of my own description. It's just cool. 

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Things I Played: Cibele – A Game About a Girl With Pink Hair, MMOs, and Macross.

In years to come I wonder if Cibele will be remembered as the game with the promo shots where a girl with bright pink hair lies on her bed half naked. No ,don’t go imagining any of those weird Japanese games just yet. It’s not like that. It’s quite tasteful really given that it expresses the sexual desire of the game's main character.

Another, perhaps better, way of summing up Cibele is that it's an autobiographical game. It was designed by Nina Freeman (now of Fullbright) who plays herself in a digitalised memoir of a period in her life when she fell deeply, madly, truly in love with a boy she met on the net. The game is essentially the cathartic result of those months. It’s about her and Blake: a duo of nerdy teenagers who find solace in one each other through a fictitious MMORPG.

I won't spoil the story but it leaves a bittersweet message about indecision, angst and growing up. This means that Cibele is very much like watching somebody else's personal experience. As such we're expected to observe it rather than interact with it. It's a tad twee but it does well at representing the fragility of the teenage ego.

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Things I Read: Flow By Tears, The Policeman Said - Mass Hysteria and Mind-Bending Drugs

It seems to me like the influence of Philip K. Dick has been showing itself a lot lately. First there was the TV adaptation of his novel The Man in the High Castle. Then a new series of Black Mirror, and after that Mr. Robot, which, while too involved in contemporary hacking scandals to mirror anything specific to Dick, features similarities about individuals getting caught up in technological-induced social nightmares.

I guess this might suggest there’s a creative cabal somewhere promoting a big Dick revival, but it probably has more to do with the fact that his unique way of philosophising about technology is just really relevant right now. This sets things up nicely for mentioning that I recently read his 1974 novel Flow My Tears, The Policeman: a book I couldn’t help notice felt far more contemporary than it probably ought to have.

The book is set in an alternate version of the USA; one unfortunately being governed by an authoritarian regime. The story revolves around Jason Taverner, a celebrity whose glittering career, millions of fans, and great wealth are thrown into chaos when he inexplicably loses his identity. He quickly sets off to retrieve it, finding himself in a world where nobody can be trusted and where nothing is quite how it seems.

On the one hand, the book is a surprisingly easy-to-read thriller, on the other,  a cautious take on living a world where your identity can be used against you. I find that quite relevant given how public figures are routinely attacked on social media these days. I also find it scarily relevant given that places like China exist.

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Things I Listened To: Celeste's OST

I've been streaming Celeste recently for some nerds I know on the Internets. It's a great game, one the best I've played this year, and I've totally fallen in love with its soundtrack.

Have a listen if you're into ambient orchestral sounds crossed with snappy synth electronica.

And if you're not then get away from this blog. Shoo!

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Things I Played: Chrono Trigger – A riproaring ride through time and space

You’ll have to excuse the lateness of this post. I actually finished Chrono Trigger something like two months ago but I’ve been impressively busy of late. You might have noticed my last post was in January, which is probably the last point I had any free time in truth.

For those that don't already know, Chrono Trigger is an RPG first released for the SNES. This is a system I neither had nor wanted as I was very content with my Megadrive at the time. This turned out to be great fortune really because the damn game never released in Europe. It wasn’t until 2009 that it finally saw the light of day here, this time on the Nintendo DS.

The story begins in a world not dissimilar to Earth where a character named Chrono (yes he of title game) is enjoying the festivities of the Millennial Fair. Things soon go awry when a  demonstration of a teleportation machine sends another of the game's characters 400 years into the past. To save the day, our feisty blue-haired hero emerges, setting events in motion for a time-travelling bonanza across several epochs to save the world from an extra-terrestrial parasitic lifeform known affectionately as Lavos.

All joking aside, Chrono Trigger is a neat adventure. For me it's like the videogame equivalent of a Saturday morning cartoon. Its light, breezy and uses all of its charming cast of characters to good effect. It also boasts a very impressive soundtrack - I’m currently listening to this rather lovely orchestral composition of its main score and I think you should too.

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