Seth Harris

PopCult Podcast – The Beasts/Anatomy of a Fall

Two new European films make up our double feature this week. In one a French transplant to northern Spain comes into conflict with the locals. In the second, a German woman living in France is accused of murdering her husband and must go through a harrowing courtroom trial, the only witness her blind son.

Solo Tabletop RPG Review & Actual Play – Dungeon World Solo Part Three

Read parts one and two first

During the last session of Dungeon World solo, two random elements came up that I immediately flagged as important parts of the story going forward. The first was the band of pirates along the Mondeo coast. It made sense to connect them to the Larcenists Society danger. They are the naval branch, and their leader, Captain Molly Rhys, feels like a decent bad-guy boss to face off with at the end of this series. The second was the magically infected orc living within The Sunken Tower. I had no idea he would be in there when I used the Perilous Wilds tables. One descriptor from my rolls stood out the most to me, and that was “primitive,” which made me think not of “unsophisticated” but “prehistoric.” What would a prehistoric orc be doing in this Tower? I had some ideas.

Comic Book Review – Spider-Man Epic Collection: The Goblin’s Last Stand

Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection: The Goblin’s Last Stand (2017)
Reprints Amazing Spider-Man #105-123
Written by Stan Lee & Jerry Conway
Art by John Romita, Gil Kane, Jim Starlin, and Paul Reinman

Throughout the 1960s, Stan Lee had his hand in every single Marvel comic being published. This was most often in the role of scripting, which ensured the comics all had a similar voice. He also garnered the ire of his artistic collaborators, Jack Kirby & Steve Ditko, being the most well-known. The fact that most people associate Marvel with Lee without knowing who these other people are indicates the sort of manipulator Lee was. By 1972, Lee stepped away from writing duties and assumed the role of publisher, overseeing Marvel’s growing media empire.

Movie Review – Varda by Agnes

Varda by Agnes (2019)
Written and directed by Agnes Varda

Few of us get to depart from life able to talk about what all those years meant. As a filmmaker, Agnes Varda seemed acutely aware of the sands running through the hourglass, and her last twenty years of filmmaking (ages 70-90) seemed to come out of that urgency. The stories she was telling always connected to her, whether flowing out into the lives of others or having their lives bring up long-forgotten memories from her past. This is why her documentaries during this period feel more communal than ever. Varda is a perfect contemporary example of the wise elder, the sage who imparts their experiences from a life spent in intense thought and conversation. In this final film, released just months after her passing, Varda focuses on three key concepts: inspiration, creation, and sharing.

Movie Review – Faces Places

Faces Places (2017)
Written by Agnes Varda
Directed by Agnes Varda & JR

French director Agnes Varda has never hidden her love of the French village. Her filmmaking career began with photographing the people who lived & worked in a working-class seaside town. Her first short film starred a couple who lived in such a place. While Varda’s narrative film work has varied in its subjects and interest, her documentary work has remained fixed on the working & the poor, people who do not get spotlighted much in media or society. That trend continues in her collaboration with street artist & photographer JR. They create giant portraits of people they meet, plastering them onto the facades of buildings and allowing so many “invisible” people to be seen. Along the way, the friendship between Varda and JR blossoms.

TV Review – My Brilliant Friend Season Three

My Brilliant Friend Season Three (HBO)
Written by Elena Ferrante, Francesco Piccolo, Laura Paolucci and Saverio Costanzo
Directed by Daniele Luchetti

I have been very impressed with how this show has made very young actresses appear to age into their late 20s/early 30s. It’s done through the talents of make-up artists, hair stylists, and wardrobe, along with the actresses’ physical and emotional performance. There are moments where the youth of Lenu might slip by all that, but for the most part, this season completely sold our two lead actors as maturing women, worn down by a society that looks all too similar to the one their mothers grew up in. That was the overarching theme of the season: Lenu’s realization that she was living a life as unexamined and pre-planned as her own mother, just with nicer furniture.

Movie Review – The Beaches of Agnes

The Beaches of Agnes (2008)
Written and directed by Agnes Varda

In her 2000 documentary The Gleaners and I, Agnes Varda shared how she had difficulty remembering even recent journeys she had been on. What helped her recall those rich details were the objects & souvenirs she returned with. In The Beaches of Agnes, the director surveys the entirety of her life up to this point, which is quite daunting to remember. To aid in that, she composes a bricolage of items. These trinkets are scattered on various beaches whose locations played a significant role in Varda’s life. The film was made to celebrate the artist’s 80th birthday, and she wonders aloud if this would be her final picture. It would not be, but at this point in her life, each subsequent movie surely felt like the last piece of art she would make.

PopCult Podcast – The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar/The Killer

Two new releases are the focus of the latest episode. In one, Wes Anderson adapts four short stories by the legendary author Roald Dahl. The second is the latest from the meticulous director David Fincher.

Solo Tabletop RPG Review & Actual Play – Dungeon World Solo Part Two

Make sure to read part one before this and part three next.

During my Dungeon World solo playthrough, I extensively used Perilous Wilds. While Parts Per Million’s Dungeon World Solo book is helpful, it only looks at Dungeon World. Here’s the thing about DW: it’s a fine game, but I have always felt it was underbaked. There’s very little about dungeon crawling in the core book, and some of the mechanics (Hirelings in particular) are confusing and not fun. Perilous Wilds feels like the missing portions of the game, providing revised rules for hirelings and tools to build dungeons as you play and even create monsters on the fly. These tools helped make this playthrough fun; I never knew what lay in store for me next.

Comic Book Review – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Ultimate Black & White Collection Volumes One & Two

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Ultimate Collection Volumes One & Two (2014)
Reprints (V1) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1-7 and Raphael One-Issue Micro-Series
(V2) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 8-11, Michelangelo One-Issue Micro-Series, Donatello One-Issue Micro-Series, and Leonardo One-Issue Micro-Series
Writing and Art by Kevin Eastman & Peter Laird

I won’t go over the backstory of how Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles came to be. That is a well-trod path you can find in various forms online. Instead, I want to share my first encounters with these characters in animation and comic books. Like almost every child in 1987, I watched television, unaware of what would be coming next. It was around Christmas, and our local Fox affiliate was showing a new episode of the opening mini-series each day of the week. I couldn’t remember the full name of the show, so I just called them “The Turtles” until I had it down. I was six years old at the time.