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Solo Tabletop RPG Review & Actual Play – The Electric State Part One

The Electric State by Free League Press

Swedish painter Simon Stålenhag has become prominent in the last decade because of his evocative retro-science fiction artwork. Tales from the Loop was turned into an Amazon series set in an alternate reality where humanity made significant technological advances. Things From the Flood was an artbook about a world where the water rose and brought strange creatures into the lives of ordinary people. The Labyrinth focuses on an ash-covered world of ruins where the apocalypse ravaged Earth. Like Tales and Things, the Electric State has been turned into a tabletop roleplaying game by Free League Publishing. Included in the core book are solo rules. I haven’t dipped my toes into Free League’s Year Zero system yet, so I thought this one would be a good start.

Book Update – September/October 2024

Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky

I had this recommended when I asked for people’s science fiction novel recommendations on a social media platform. I can’t say I loved it as intensely as I’ve seen others, but it has some incredible ideas and moments that have stuck with me. The parts I liked appealed to some existential ideas I have been thinking about for years, particularly humans, disregarding that they are ultimately just a type of animal who benefited (or were cursed) by being taken down an intense path of evolution.

Movie Review – The Devils

The Devils (1971)
Written and directed by Ken Russell

They don’t make movies like this anymore, but I wish they did. The Devils was a Warner Brothers production based on the stage play of the same name, which in turn was based on the Aldous Huxley novel The Devils of Loudon. 1971 was a very fruitful year for director Ken Russell. This was released alongside The Music Lovers, a Tchaikovsky biopic, and The Boy Friend, a 1920s period musical starring Twiggy. These weren’t his first films, but they did come after his picture Women In Love garnered Russell Golden Globes and Oscars nods. In classic Ken Russell fashion, The Devils is not adhering closely to the tropes associated with the genre – in this instance, historical drama. It is a wild experience, visceral and hallucinatory, aided by the production design of the great Derek Jarman.

PopCult Podcast – Halloween Spooktacular 2024

Frankencows, J-Horror, Little Wednesday, and the Sanderson Sisters are all here to make this Halloween a scare of a good time.

Solo Tabletop RPG Actual Play – Solo Liminal Horror Part Four

You can purchase Liminal Horror here
You can purchase Jeansen’s Machines here
You can download the Liminal Horror Solo Starter here

Read the previous chapter here

Scene #9 – (Resolution 1/4)
Modified proposal: Cristian quickly leafs through the old book, looking for a solution – Cause confusion, doubt, and questions.
The GM asks you to: Describe the current location, what the character sees
Oracle: Wooden Love

The cabin has suddenly gone quiet. The rain is still coming down, but a little lighter. The scratching sounds under the floor have stopped. Albert asks Cristian what he thinks that thing is doing. His cousin is distracted by the book. Albert makes a passing mention of “grandad’s old hunting rifle” and that he’s going to see if it’s still in the cabinet in the living room. Cristian doesn’t even notice; the book has taken him in.

PopCult Podcast – Strange Darling/VHS Beyond

The story of a serial killer told out of sequence plays with our expectations. A collection of short science fiction-horror films presents a plethora of frights.

Movie Review – The Face of Another

The Face of Another (1966)
Written by Kōbō Abe
Directed by Hiroshi Teshigahara

Hiroshi Teshigahara found his cinematic muse in the writing of Kōbō Abe. He directed an adaptation of Abe’s novel Woman in the Dunes two years prior. He returned to the author’s work for his next film, The Face of Another. Teshigahara’s relationship with filmmaking was very tempestuous, though, making a film in 1972 and abandoning the medium for nearly a decade. He pursued other interests like calligraphy, ceramics, and ikebana (the art of flower arranging, of which his father was seen as the master). While he returned to film, Teshigahara never recaptured the height of this period when he and the work were perfect. Western critics dismissed his work at the time of release, but a new appreciation has grown in the following decades.

Movie Review – The Wailing

The Wailing (2016)
Written and directed by Na Hong-jin

I can’t say I fully understand the lore behind this film. I was also amazed by the tone, the tightrope between possession horror & Edgar Wright’s self-aware humor. It ends with a much heavier conclusion than a Wright film ever would, though. Scatterbrained is a good word to use when discussing this film, not as a pejorative but as an accurate descriptor. Filmmaker Na Hong-jin clearly has a lot to say about several topics, which is why the film clocks in at two and a half hours. Again, I can’t say I fully digested every piece of commentary, much of it because it’s clearly linked to Korean culture, and I do not have the background I should have on that.

Patron Pick – Saw 3

This special reward is available to Patreon patrons who pledge at the $10 or $20 monthly levels. Each month, those patrons will pick a film for me to review. If they choose, they also get to include some of their thoughts about the movie. This Pick comes from Matt Harris.

Saw 3 (2006)
Written by Leigh Whannell and James Wan
Directed by Darren Lynn Bousman

I have never seen a single film in the Saw franchise before this one. That made my viewing experience quite an incoherent one. If you asked me what I knew about this franchise, it would have been that Tobin Bell played the bad guy Jigsaw, and he made elaborate death traps. Asked about characters or plot beyond that I would simply have to shrug both before and after watching Saw 3. I have no idea. It became very clear within moments of the film starting that I was supposed to recognize several of these characters. The weird thing is that no new characters were introduced, so I understood them to be new. Thus, I kept wondering who the ongoing series characters were and who were the ones just being introduced to die.

Movie Review – Killer Klowns From Outer Space

Killer Klowns From Outer Space (1988)
Written and directed by the Chiodo Brothers

The Chiodo Brothers (Stephen, Charles, and Edward) had been absorbed by making movie special effects since they were kids. They had worked in the industry for a few years, selling their skills to productions like Critters, Faerie Tale Theater, and UHF. One of their most well-known works was the Large Marge effect in Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure. Puppets, stop motion, make-up, they loved it all. Ironically, in their first feature film, most of the special effects work was done by other artists they had befriended over the years. The Chiodos spent most of their time directing, producing, and playing some Killer Klowns. The result is that the film is less interested in the plot and more about the spectacle of the movies.