A longer pause here writing anything. Many reasons for this, a major project at work being one. It has revealed to me again personal challenges of reaching any sort of peak performance and how it partly boils down to the ever present saboteur, the self-critic.
So I’ve amassed again a bunch of literature dealing with low self-esteem. Still trying to do something about it!
Alternative world activities
Otherwise, the past month’s top time sink has been video gaming, once again.
I finished Final Fantasy XVI a few weeks ago and maybe I’ll post a separate entry about it, as it did raise some thoughts, being so different from all the previous entries I’ve played in the franchise. Spoiler: it didn’t become my favourite game of the series.
Presentation such as costume designs in Final Fantasy XVI were absolutely top notch.
After that I played Jusant, a relaxing non-violent climbing game, though quite short (around ten hours) and hardly challenging. Still, very refreshing after a very long Final Fantasy campaign.
Wall climbing in Jusant. Lots of Moebius vibes in this one.
Now I’ve been playing a lot of Pacific Drive, which is a New Weird survival game where your best friend is a worn down, yet weirdly equipped car in a sealed off disaster area in the Pacific Northwest.
Figuring out the surroundings safely inside my car in Pacific Drive.
After initial struggles with the game mechanics, lack of proper guidance and hostile environment on the road, I’m now enjoying the (tense) drives in the wastelands, scrapping up resources as fast as I can and fine-tuning my car leisurely back at the safe garage. The story itself seems interesting too with good voice acting.
Lots of time spent just fixing and improving your best friend on the road.
Fistful of movies
Any movies lately? I did go watch Hundreds of Beavers out of curiosity, as it seemed to have some cult following and the screening I saw was the 20th re-screening in the WHS Union Theatre. It was a constant run of slapstick humour with a surprisingly coherent plotline. Maybe it didn’t make me laugh my stomach sore, but certainly it was a type of comedy I haven’t seen in ages.
On Mubi I watched a bunch of films too, with La Antena maybe being the most interesting with its creativity and homage to silent films.
Oh, and from the local library I picked up and watched Tár on bluray. This was a good movie about a (fictional) successful classical music composer’s life and her abusive power over others in the elitist profession. Kate Blanchett was great in this one.
Another vinyl for the collection
Finally, I received my pre-ordered vinyl copy of Ela Minus’ latest release, DÍA. This artist would probably have gone unnoticed if I didn’t happen to see her perform as a warm-up years ago for another band in Helsinki and thought she had something different to offer in the electronic music scene (she was better than the main act, I don’t even remember the name of the band anymore).
At first listening it felt a bit distant to me, but after blasting it through my headphones several times while working (via Apple Music), I’ve grown to like it more. A bit uneven, but credit that she aims to find her own style instead of following trends and overall is a clear improvement from her debut album.
The sound of the pressing on the vinyl itself is perfect. Nice to see the material of the vinyl is also a bit more resource friendly.