The Adventure Game (1980-86)

The Adventure Game (1980-86)

22 episodes (split over 4 series), approx 26-45 mins each.

I've probably said on more than one occasion during my time on Blogger that it's been 20-30 years since I last saw [whatever the respective post is about] and didn't know if my memories of it were accurate, but never more so has that been applicable than with The Adventure Game.

I hadn't seen it since it originally aired, which is 37+ years ago, at time of writing (i.e., 2023).

In fact, the only parts of it that I could recall prior to watching it recently were a grumbling aspidistra plant on a tall stand, some odd plastic currency, a salamander, and — the part that I remembered most, like it was burned into my brain — the triangle grid pattern that's used to illustrate this post, known as the Vortex.

Mayhem: De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas (1994)

Mayhem: De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas (1994)

Some folks hail Mayhem's first full-length album as the best thing since sliced bread, whereas others say it's a pile of overrated shit. I won't try to change any minds. I'll say only that you're in a better position to appreciate the array of quality riffs on offer once you get past tittering at the unintentionally comical vocals.

Hellhammer's impassioned drumming is a fervent heartbeat that slows and races but always keeps the momentum; how his arms didn't fly clean off his shoulders is a mystery.

Vikernes' bass is often too low in the mix for my liking, and Euronymous' guitar too high, but it can be cited as evidence that when the two men weren't plotting to kill each other they were capable of producing truly ground-breaking work.

Eastern Promises (2007)

Eastern Promises (2007)

Dir. David Cronenberg

Ordinarily, I prefer it when an actor is of the same nationality as the character they're playing onscreen; e.g., if a protagonist is supposed to be Scottish, then hire an actual Scot. It's especially beneficial in biopics, or when the character isn't a native English speaker in an English language setting.

Casting someone who understands on a fundamental level the culture that they're portraying allows an actor to tap into the unconscious influence that thinking in one's native language brings. If successful, it can permeate the performance and even accentuate or enrich any traits, nuances, etc, that can be consciously observed in specific nationalities. It's basic common sense.

But sometimes an actor can be so good in a role that such concerns are almost forgotten about when viewing. Viggo as a fictional Russian mobster in Cronenberg's Eastern Promises is on that list. It's his second collaboration with the director and it tops their first in every way.

Ghost in the Shell (1995)

Ghost in the Shell (1995)

Dir. Mamoru Oshii

Like many people outside of Asia my introduction to non-TV anime was Akira (1988); in my case, specifically, a UK VHS edition by Manga in 1991. There was an occasional good title in the slew of OVA crap thereafter, but Ghost in the Shell (1995) was a monumental leap forward in quality.

American-born author William Gibson had popularised cyberspace a decade before in his novel Neuromancer, but the mass appeal of movies over books meant that director Mamoru Oshii's adaptation of author Masamune Shirow's manga reached a wider audience in the same genre, making it kick mainstream ass in the process. The first GitS film was a landmark release that the world of sci-fi anime fandom collectively applauded.