Back from Chicago
My brother sent me some music and I got addicted to a video game. Also Godzilla.
Good morning. I’m trying to start writing first thing this morning rather than waste a good hour looking at my phone like I usually do. That likely means the writing will start sloppy and get better by the end as I wake up more.
You may have noticed I, yet again, missed a week last week. This would be, yet again, the fault of the now married, Josh Christianson. Last Friday I was in Chicago to celebrate Josh and Aja’s wedding, which was a fantastic time.
Someone at the wedding remarked that they’d never been at a wedding with so many Marxists. Not that there were a ton of Marxists, but there were more than your average Midwestern wedding. One of them was Dean Detloff, co-host of the Magnificast. I started listening to the Magnificast probably around the end of 2017 or beginning of 2018. It’s one of those shows that’s had a pretty massive impact on my political and religious development over the years, and it was really cool to meet Dean in person.
Overall, the wedding seemed to go incredibly smoothly. I’ve been in some chaotic weddings in the past, so it’s always nice to see a wedding just work. Congratulations to Josh and Aja; it was a lovely wedding to be a part of, and I really am excited to see how these two grow together.
On the Saturday after the wedding, Kelli and I went to the Art Institute of Chicago. It’s a great museum that I’ve been to probably three times now, but the last time I felt rushed, and the time before that I think I was fourteen (and dumb). They have a massive collection of impressionist paintings, one of my favorite art movements mostly just for how it looks. I’d be lying if I said I had some deeper aesthetic or philosophical reason for liking impressionism, but no—the paints are just real damn pretty.
After the museum, we spent roughly 2 hours look for parking in Chinatown (next time, we are taking the bus), another hour or so waiting for a table at a restaurant, and then finally ate some wonderful soup dumplings for dinner before driving back home. This little escapade lost us several hours before an already late drive, so we got back about 4:00am. I’ve been tired all week.
Anyway, this is the media round-up, a newsletter where I tell you about everything I’ve been producing, watching, listening to, and reading.
New from me
Two new Fruitless episodes from me, both on the free feed.
The first was the long long awaited Ramp Hollow episode. I’ve been writing about this book on the round ups for months now, so I won’t bore you too much with the details again. It’s a book about the history of class and land ownership in Appalachia. It kicked off a bunch of interests for me right now. At long last, we recorded the newest Fruitless Bookclub episode on it. The original file was about three and a half hours long. I was able to chisel it down to about two hours and forty minutes. It’s long, but it’s also one of my favorite episodes of the show we’ve done. (A lot of people said they listened to it in chunks. That’s probably the best route.)
Yesterday, I released another episode featuring Seattle-based filmmaker, Wes Klingele. He’s been a long time mutual of mine on both Twitter and Letterboxd. I’ve always appreciated his thoughts on film and was looking for an excuse to drag him onto Fruitless. Him releasing a short film for his capstone project in film school felt like an excuse. Somnium is currently in its festival run, although he will provide a screener link for you if you’re interested.
This was a really fun conversation about Wes’ artistic inspirations. We talked about dreams, coming of age, slow cinema vs. montage, and Catholic and Protestant spirituality. The film itself is a surreal, dreamy queer love story with notes of Tarkovsky and late-period Terrence Malick. I’m really excited for Wes to eventually release a feature. Aside from Somnium, he released an award winning short experimental film called Cortex, which is on Vimeo.
You can find the episode of Fruitless here. It’s a fun one.
Also, as I say at the beginning of the episode with Wes, I want to give a quick thank you to Phil Cozzi. My former co-host on Mammonburg, Phil graciously decided to mail me his old microphone set-up as a birthday present. It’s a real improvement, and I’m incredibly thankful (especially as I was getting nervous about my previous microphone getting more and more worn down).
Film
Speaking of film, I watched two feature length movies over the course of the last two weeks. I’m in a real dry spell for watching movies. I’m not sure why because I don’t feel any less in love with the medium; I think most of it has just been being busy, and also that Kelli has started playing Fallout 4 (she’d never played any of the Fallout games) and has been hogging the TV for several weeks. I really opened a can of worms by introducing her to that game. She’s already talking about her next play-through.
Two feature length films, though. I watched the first on Sunday after I got back from the wedding. Tired and just wanting a cool movie, I decided to finally watch the original Godzilla (1954). How have you never seen the original Godzilla?, you may ask. Because I’m bad at watching movies I’m “supposed” to watch. I also wasn’t a monster movie kid, although honestly I’m not sure why I wasn’t.
As I’ve gotten older, I wonder this frequently. There’s a lot of cult objects and franchises that I’ve begun watching as an adult and then wished I’d watched when I was at the right age. Godzilla movies are one of those. My only real exposure to Godzilla and the whole universe of monsters around him was the melee game, Godzilla Destroy All Monsters, which a friend owned when I was growing up. It was basically like any melee game except you were fighting another giant monster over a city and you could throw building at each other. This is how I’ve basically seen none of the original Godzillas, but still know Mothra, King Ghidorah, Rodan, etc.
I think that the media objects my family had around lead to me latching onto different stuff. A lot of my love for the look of the cheap and tacky really originates from me watching a lot of Doctor Who (both the reboot, and the original ones) as a kid, as well as Red Dwarf. I think I channeled this childhood love into that stuff instead of horror or kaiju.
Anyway, I plan on trying to watch through all the Godzilla movies eventually. And yes, I know that’s a lot of them, but it seems like a fun idea. I started with the original. There’s nothing I can really say about it that hasn’t already been said. What really struck me is that, in contrast to the general perception of Godzilla movies I’ve developed by osmosis, the film is actually pretty gritty and horrifying. It’s not shocking or anything, but it has a genuinely unnerving feel to it.
I knew going in, like most people, that the original Godzilla is pretty clearly an allegory for nuclear weapons—what I didn’t realize is how explicit that is in the text. I assumed this reading was the same as saying that Star Wars is about the Vietnam War. It’s kinda there, and we know George Lucas kinda intended that, but also its really sublimated to a point that most people now will say you’re “making it political” if you bring that up. This is not the case with Godzilla. They say all this is happening because of nuclear weapons. The sound of Godzilla’s footsteps sound like explosions. The initial scene of people being incinerated by his atomic breath looks exactly like a nuclear bomb has gone off: people staring in panic at a bright light outside of the window before dying immediately. But most notably—a huge chunk of the film is devoted to inner conflict of a scientist who has created a weapon that could end the world, but knowing that it could be used to stop Godzilla. How on the nose can you get?
All this to say, I loved it. I know real monster fans will be bored at me pointing out the obvious for the last few paragraphs, but it’s new for me. I see why it’s a classic. I’m also looking forward to watching as they become dumber and more fun.
Speaking of dumb and fun movies, the other film I watched this last week was One Million Years B.C. (1966). What a fun movie. I’ve been wanting to watch more movies about prehistoric hominids, although that impulse is me wanting films that try to actually use the archaeological data we have. There’s been a few, with varying levels of success (I’ll probably be watching them in the coming weeks), but this film is not one of those careful attempts at realism. Not at all. Humans are walking around at the same time as dinosaurs, which is awesome, because we get to see humans fight a stop motion dinosaur. Come on. You’ve always wanted to watch that. You know it.
It is dumb and fun, but also it forms its own reality enough that it becomes a bit of a fantasy film. If you can get rid of the pedant in your head and just accept that there is no resemblance between this film and reality, you can spend some time being awestruck at how cool the actual practical effects are. It’s a giant, awesome spectacle with some real apocalyptic imagery at times. It’s a blast; I love it. Definitely worth a watch if you haven’t seen it.
Music
This last week, my brother and I have been exchanging music. Basically, we take turns sending the other an album to listen to.
I talked about this on a Fruitless episode, but my brother, Caleb, has a cooler taste in music than me. It’s official. I’m the eldest, and many years ago I was the one with a cool taste in music and he was the little brother listening to stuff I showed him. That changed slowly over the course of our adulthood, and over the past few months I blinked and realized that he knew his shit better than me.
I’ve always identified as a punk musician; as a teenager, I would say my go-to genre was punk, and then mention emo and indie as a clarification. I think people who derive a lot of identity from music, like I have for most of my life, usually emphasize the thing that makes them different from the people around them. Being a white evangelical teen boy, the default genre around me was emo, post-hardcore, and the sorta default radio “hard rock” (I think we technically call it “post-grunge” now). You have to remember that I grew up during the tail end of the golden age of the youth group emo bands like Underoath, As Cities Burn, Emery, etc., as well as the time when people unironically loved Skillet.
All this to say, being a “punk” fan was a way to distinguish the part of my taste in music that diverged from those around me. Similarly, when I worked in a coffee shop where a lot of people listening to punk and indie, I emphasized being an emo musician. At other times, I’ve said indie. Obviously none of this really matters, but what I’m building to here is that Caleb is a much more proper punk fan.
I realize more and more that my taste in music tends to hang out in the 2000s around the punk, indie, and emo bands from that period. This isn’t a hard rule or anything, just a tendency. Caleb’s taste in music tends to hang out in the 1980s around the punk and post-punk bands from that time. This means, he find weird underground 80s goth bands to send to me, and I’m like “have you ever heard of Taking Back Sunday…?”
I’ve been dethroned. My brother’s taste in music is cooler than mine.
Of course, this is something I’m also just learning to accept. That, at least for a lot of people, the indie and emo stuff I like is “cringe.” And I’m okay with that. Well, I’m learning to be okay with that. I still have a fragile ego and want to be perceived as someone with good or interesting taste in art. I’m working to free myself of that.
So Caleb and I have been exchanging albums. Let’s do this back and forth for fun.
Caleb’s choice: We of Like Minds by This Cold Night
This is an album from 2014 with a heavy 80s goth feel. I hear a lot of Bauhaus and some Joy Division in there. It’s a cool record, but also a bit too goth for my taste at times. This is less a knock against it and more just a matter of preference.
My favorite tracks: Who Trust, Why Trust?, Time Bomb, and Cold Synth
My choice: Etiquette by Casiotones for the Painfully Alone
An album by a solo indie-artist that writes sad songs entirely on a shitty keyboard. Casiotones for the Painfully Alone (CFTPA) started as a lo-fi project by Owen Ashworth to make incredibly simple songs following a list of rules influenced by the Dogma 95 film movement. I actually didn’t know this until looking at Wikipedia right now, but it explains the vibe of his music. The goal was short songs, with electronically-produced beats, only played in the key of C, with very frank lyrics. There’s a lot of similarity between his work and the solo work of David Bazan.
Caleb liked it. His notes: Oooo New Years kiss [one of the first tracks] is like if David Bazaan was in the velvet underground or something. It’s pretty. I don’t listen to a lot of nice sounding music as much as I used to so this hits a spot. Hits the Julien Baker and Andy Hull part of my mind.
Caleb’s choice: Size by Size
The self-entitled album by an 80s Mexican punk band. This one has a cool use of organ in the opening track that I really dug. I enjoyed this one. Pretty standard 80s punk in a lot of ways, but I like 80s punk. Caleb described them as “if Devo was a little goth influenced” which seems apt.
My favorite tracks: Tonight, Strategy, La Cabellera de Berenice.
My choice: Drunk Like Bible Times by Dear and the Headlights
I love this album, and this band in general. It’s an indie rock record with this strange, poetic and funny lyrical style that has been somewhat influential on my own music writing.
Caleb liked it, although not as much as me. Funny enough, he prefers the second half of the album, while I prefer the first half. This likely means the second half is cooler. But whose to say.
Caleb’s choice: Ragin’, Full-On by fIREHOSE
This was a band formed by the members of the Minutemen after D. Boon’s death. It’s a solid record with a similar energy to Minutemen—this eclectic use of jazz and funk elements in a punk style. I really liked this one.
Favorite tracks: It Matters, Another Theory Shot to Shit, Perfect Pairs, Relatin’ Dudes to Jazz, and Things Could Turn Around.
My choice: Romance is Boring by Los Campesinos!
I won’t say too much about this since I’ve written about Los Campesinos! in the past. They were my top artist last year. I love this record. I was also interested to see how Caleb would react, as they’re one of those artists that gets lumped into that twee, indie, millennial aesthetic. However, I really think they have a grittier side than people act like, and it comes out especially in this record.
Caleb liked it way more than he was anticipating, which was fun to hear. His notes: They’re like if you took that 2010’s indie sound but made it a little heavy and not suck lol. I like it. … So far this my favorite album you’ve sent. It has a lot of energy which I like.
Caleb’s choice: The Sky’s Gone Out by Bauhaus
His logic for sending me this one is that he knew I was familiar with Bauhaus but also that I tend to be less into the super goth, slow stuff. This one is about as upbeat as you get Bauhaus, and, yeah, he made the right call. I loved this record.
Top tracks: Third uncle, In the Night, Swing the Heartache, Spirit (Single Version), and The Three Shadows Part 3.
My choice: All of Heaven’s Luck by Rejoice
I’ve also written about this album previously. This was a real roll of the dice. One of the big differences between Caleb and I’s musical taste is that, while he has a higher tolerance for a sort of 80s goth or punk abrasiveness than me, I have a way higher tolerance for hardcore and metal abrasiveness. This being a black metal album, I really had no clue how he’d react.
Verdict? He really liked it, to my surprise. His comments: Ngl I am really digging this black metal album. It’s hitting the goth and punk side of me but it’s pretty loud. Some of the riffs are goth influenced which id assume is true for death and black metal. This was a good choice. … The whining guitar in Dancing On Crosses reminds me of Bauhaus/Siouxsie and then also Christian Death which is a goth band I’m not super into.
Caleb’s choice: A playlist of Misfits songs
Breaking from what we’ve been doing up until this point, he decided to send me a playlist of about 18 songs by the Misfits that he guessed I hadn’t heard. I haven’t actively listened to the Misfits for a few years, so even if I had heard a lot of these, I barely remembered them. As I expected, I like the Misfits. They’re fun; I like their edginess even if it can be a bit annoying at times. Here’s the playlist he sent.
I sent my next pick, but since he hasn’t had a chance to listen to it yet, I’m going to leave it out of this review. Maybe I’ll talk about it next week.
Video games
Part of the reason I didn’t watch many movies this week is that my evenings have been preoccupied by Suzerain.
I bought the game during a Steam sale a few weeks ago because it looked up my alley. I like grand strategy games, and it looked like one of the many games that the aforementioned Josh disparagingly calls “maps and graphs games.” I love those games.
However, loading up Suzerain and expecting another Civilization or Europa Univeralis rip-off, I quickly realized I had completely misunderstood what this game is. It has some aspects of those “maps and graphs games,” but it’s actually more story-based. All the decisions you make are during dialogue scenes that are more adjacent to a game like Disco Elysium. And holy shit, it sucked me in. This whole week, Kelli has been glued to the TV playing Fallout 4, and I’ve been glued to my laptop playing Suzerain. Ahead is some mild spoilers for the game, so don’t read if you want the game to be completely fresh for you.
I did my first playthrough as president of the fictional nation of Sordland—a country that reads as somewhat like an Eastern European republic. I tried to be a reformist and do democratic socialism. I aligned with the game’s equivalent to the Eastern Bloc. In anger, all the oligarchs that owned businesses pulled out and crashed the economy, and then I got couped by the military under accusations of treason and secretly fealty to the communists. Such is the life of a virtuous reformer, I suppose.
This quick rundown doesn’t get into just how intense and emotional the game can be at times. The dialogue scenes are intense and make it harder to just do cold calculated decisions. For example, there was a scandal where my vice president had an affair with my secretary, who turned out to be a spy for a hostile neighboring superpower, and he told her a bunch of state secret. In a game like Europa Universalis, this would happen in a series of a couple of pop ups and I’d easily click the button that says “fire that motherfucker.” In Suzerain, the vice president has been my best friend since college and the act of firing him involved betraying him in front of parliament and a description of his shocked look at me throwing him under the bus, followed by another scene where I find out that his wife left him due to the news, and he committed suicide.
It’s a lot harder to make the “correct” political decisions in the game because it’s all more human. There’s also a real sense that you don’t want to say the wrong thing or you’ll get couped or assassinated or anger the wrong party. This is all stuff that’s more abstracted in a lot of the maps and graphs games I tend to play. Suzerain is more addictive because it gets me really invested in a story and playing a certain character.
I’ve been enjoying playing the role of virtuous reformer in a corrupt system, despite the game very much crushing anyone who tries to do this. There are also more morally dubious routes you can take with the game like attempting to establish yourself as a dictator. I may go back and try that, but I wanted to play the game as aligned to my own values as possible which made it really engaging.
I’ve started my next playthrough of the new DLC they released recently. This is a new nation with a new storyline. I’m now playing as a king of a semi-constitutional monarchy called Rizia. Again, I’m trying to play as a reformist— an enlightened monarch, a real Alexander II (I wonder how things ended for him…?)
Anyway. All this is to say, I highly recommend the game if you want to lose a lot of hours and spend a week staying up too late every night.
On that note, I think that about covers it for this week. See you all next week!
Caveman movie rec - Quest for Fire. It might be the obvious choice and I don't think the anthropology holds up but its very artistically bold. From the director of The Name of the Rose adaptation and Enemy at the Gate.
Also if you want a Godzilla fast track you know plenty of folks, including myself. My all-killer no filler list would include Ghidora the Three Headed Monster, Destroy All Monsters, Return, vs Biollante, Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, and the most recent two Shin Godzilla and Godzilla Minus One