Britney Spears: Woman in Me- Book Review (and some thoughts)

LINK- Why I No Longer Talk To White People About Race- Book Review

Babel- Book Review

November 26, 2023

I'm an avid reader and keep my ear to the ground when it comes to recommendations. I'd heard the buzz surrounding R. F. Kuang’s Babel for a while, hearing that it was an amazing work that would win prizes and plaudits. I ordered a copy from my local library but found that there was a huge waiting list for it (of 13 people) so I would not be able to renew it. With this fire under me, I consumed the book within a few days and boy, is it an intriguing read, a cross between Harry Potter and His Dark Materials fused with a steampunk alternate timeline. The story itself is very intriguing:

In the midst of a cholera epidemic that is sweeping across China in the early 1800s, a young boy is saved and sent to train in Latin and Greek in England. Upon growing up, the lad, Robin Swift, attends Oxford University where he becomes a ‘Babler’ at the University Institute of Translation known as Babel.
Here, he learns about the silverwork process that helps power the British emperial empire. As a son of Canton, Robin has a decision to make as to whether to continue living his life of luxury or whether to align with an insurgency to stop the insatiable growth of the British empire. What will he choose?

As the West struggles with an identity crisis as the metanarratives about democracy, human rights and values it has projected are falling apart, the themes of this books seem prescient. Kuang looks at how history has been shaped by the victors, often at the expense of ‘the truth’. Of course, with industrialisation and imperial aspirations, magic wasn't needed by the British to create the biggest empire the world had ever known by the 19th century. This story is a fantasy work but that is a thin allegory of what it is truly talking about- imperialism and the power of language.

As a old student of anthropology, the examination of etymology, colonialism, geopolitics, socio-politics and languages appealed to me greatly. As a teacher with over 19 years in the profession so far, the British education system has only recently started a critical self examination of the consequences of empire. The education system has obfuscated the truth and, even now, with changes to cover more black history in light of #BLM, it still has some ways to go but that is progress from nothing at all in my childhood.

This is not a rewriting of history, as some may claim, but a recontextualising based on evidence from then that gives a voice to those that have been voiceless or suppressed. In the novel, Professors Playfair and Lovell are the civil seeming voices of reason, talking eloquently about the benefit of colonialism and 'free trade' but the book is critical of these. As we know, 'free trade' was the euphemism for the East India Company to bring the British rule of India and damage the Chinese people with opium.

With colonialism there is a process: exploration, expropriation, appropriation, exploitation, and justification. However, the power imbalance, reduced worker rights, rise in corporate profits, increase in corporate power over states and then the decline in late state capitalism leads to people fighting for their respected sides. People know the system is broken but not what to do next. We are in a situation of stasis as many are trying to figure where we go from here. The book has a clear message: the politicians might be pulling the strings and making the ultimate decisions but we, the public, are complicit in this unless we stand up against injustices, even if it is inconvenient to us and our way of life. The final couple of hundred pages slows the excitement down as the slow wheels of bureaucracy take hold within the story. The 'Condition of England' question, where the Industrial Revolution created massive inequalities in British society and led to huge wealth disparity, is looked at here critically.

As a British Pakistani, my parents always warned me that the life of peoples of colour was conditional in this country and it was only through growing up and seeing the peaks and troughs of attacks against whatever bogeyman (namely foreign people) by much of the media etc that I saw that this was true.

Kuang is careful and meticulous in showing how change is slow to occur and often is fought against until, quite inevitably, a shock is delivered that brings about true change. The book is not angry, nor is it a polemic but it does portray the geopolitics that has shaped our world and still has lasting consequences very well.

There is a loaded gun deus ex machina introduced about a third of the way through and I predicted the ending but it is no less thrilling and worthwhile a read for it. Babel ends on an intriguing note and I look forward to seeing whether there is a sequel, prequel or side story as the world building has been done.

LINK- ‘Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire’

LINK- On and On and Colston (or, 'How We Learned To Talk About The Legacy Of Colonialism In GB')

Playing with Reality: Gaming in a Pandemic- Book Review

September 23, 2023

Covid swept across the world nearly 3 years ago and created a ‘new normal’. In the lockdowns, people adapted and gaming came to the fore like never before, connecting people in virtual worlds.

It was a unique time and I’m glad that there is a new book looking back at this unprecedented time. Playing With Reality: Gaming in a Pandemic by Alex Humphreys is a fascinating book and there are mini essays which are broken down into chapters about how the videogame industry was affected, both positively and negatively, during the pandemic. The writing style is conversational, easy and very British with mentions of Greggs and the Lurpak commercial with Douglas the buttery trombone player.

The book is broken down into 6 chapters looking at key themes. The inside covers contain a montage of photos that are relevant and referred to in the articles, providing visual context.

Chapter 1: Stay Home, Play Games
- The Videogames industry wanted to help during Covid but we're wary of WHO, who had classified Gaming Addiction as a mental health issue in 2018, but they worked with influencers to spread the message using gaming imagery and music to support the various governments.
- Videogames made record profits in the West as people engaged with gaming in their isolation to escape from reality, connect with friends or just to pass the time. In Asia, many gaming cafes (where most PC gaming occurs) closed and haven't opened up whilst sales of mobile games and the Switch rose greatly in these territories.
- eSports and real world sports merged during this period with lots of professionals playing games of their sports to keep their skills sharp and fans engaged. It brought a kind of legitimacy to the eSports world for some. Codemasters hit gold with F1 and Dirt 2.0 recruiting new fans into the fold whilst shifting record number of units.
- Canned fan chanting and cheering from EA was used to make football matches behind closed doors in England less weird. There was some cognitive dissonance between seeing the empty stands and hearing belated cheers after a goal went in but it kind of worked. Also, Football Manager promoted men's mental health charities as they knew many in their fanbase would be struggling with issues.
- Zynga had to make the difficult decision to move to remote working and had to figure out how to support staff with their mental and physical health whilst still maintaining a high work ethic.
- King, creators of Candy Crush and other games, states that the mainstream medias dialogue around gaming changed and society generally has a better opinion of gaming as a social activity rather than the stereotypical loners choice.
- Blizzard discuss their Shadowlands update and how hybrid working helped to create this expansion.
- EA recorded the Star Wars Squadrons soundtrack using an orchestra but each person played their instrument apart together.
- Rare discuss how Sea of Theives connected many people, including those who struggled with socialising, and found it's groove a couple of years after it had been released, reaching new heights in the pandemic.
- Mental health took a battering during the pandemic but the free games offered to some key workers allowed many to destress and connect with others in the online community.
- Jamming the Curve was a game jam where the focus was to help spread a positive message about the vaccine and combat misinformation.

Chapter 2: We Are Gathered Here Today
- Revd Simon Archer, the Vacarious BIG, gained a following by streaming games and talking about god. By being his authentic self, he found a growing community who could ask him questions about god as well as his gaming skills.
- Twitch and Discord saw record numbers of people using their tools to join their community. Watching people playing games was a huge past time and long form content could not be supplied quickly enough.
- Over the lockdown, gaming offered solace for many and Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Amoung Us, Rocket League were the big winners during this time.
- Girls Make Games moved to a digital camp during the pandemic and saw a huge rise in international collaboration.
- Melbourne, Australia was one of the most locked down cities in the world which lead to challenges for neurodivergent pupils. A server was created for these pupils to interact and the friendships formed were deep and menaingful: mode of communication not as important as the quality of interactions.
- Some games, including Minecraft, Second Life and Roblox, were used in education as a contextual hub for learning as well as for virtual tourism.
- The NHS has a Centre for Gaming Disorders but the word 'addiction' is bandied around a lot by people when actually the number of addicts is actually a lot lower. The horrible mass trauma of lockdown exacerbated other underlying issues for many and gaming was an outlet rather than the cause.

Chapter 3: Lockdown 2.0
- FMV games boomed during the pandemic as many had exhausted their streaming catalogue and wanted some interactivity. Some people think this may stop the brain drain in more rural or deprived areas as hybrid or Work From Home becomes more viable.
- Psychonauts 2 was a challenge to create during lockdown but the themes of mental health, isolation and empathy really found an audience.
- Asynchronous communication was challenging when creating a game but using other tools such as Zoom, Notes, Discord etc. helped to bridge the gap for Inflexion Games and showed the potential for remote working.

Chapter 4: Retrograde
- Tim Schafer liked to surround himself in stuff that made him happy in his home office as he spent an awful lot of lockdown there. His philosophy was surround yourself with stuff that makes you happyand you can obsess about for a bit- whatever it takes to get you through.
- Milgemilge used The Sims 4 to create buildings from her youth including her Grandma's house as well as the Ukrainian city of Lviv. It's was a comfort to her and helped her think of better times.
- The Corrupted Blood in World of Warcraft game from over a decade before offered epidemiologists an insight into human behaviour during a pandemic. Disease modelling uses a similar dataset to project how they think people will react but people are unpredictable *ahem, toilet rolls anyone?*
- Gaming offered many a chance to reconnect with old friends through online play. The game wasn't the important thing but the interaction and camaraderie.

Chapter 5: Parallel Lines
- Build the Earth was a project kickstarted by PippenFTS to create a 1:1 representation of the Earth, including it's estimated 4 billion buildings.
- A Welsh bronze age site was recreated in Minecraft to teaxh audiences about the period and give them the opportunity to carry out virtual archaeological digs (see Brny Celli Ddu in Minecraft).
- Whilst mnay used gaming to escape from the pandemic realities others noticed the pandemic overtones in many games released over that time including, Spiderman (pathagen released me at citizens wearing masks), Assassin's Creed Odyssey (plague) and The Last of Us 2 (pandemic). Some embraced it whilst others struggled to play these games during these unprededented times.
- A philosophy professor found solace in Red Dead Redemption 2 as it looks at the end of the Wild West and the rise of a different world. He felt it mirrored life in that there was a pre and post pandemic world.
- An Asian American discusses how Animal Crossing helped her to socialise when there was a spate of anti-Asian attacks in the USA. She states that it is a reminder for many people that 'the freedom to exist as you are is conditional' and post-Brexit, I can see that as a British Asian.
- Animal Crossing features heavily in pandemic games played by people and became a pop culture phenomenon, being on the front page of the Financial Times when they discussed turnip prices on the stock market.
- The National Videogame Museum in England created an Animal Crossing Diaries exhibition to capture peoples' experiences of the game--they felt it was important to capture a moment in time before it is lost to the ether.
- Tim Schafer discusses Zoom fatigue but says that the pandemic has fast forwarded the transition to online and hybrid working by several years.
- The metaverse is a thing but no one is quite sure what it is or what shape it is going to take when it happens.
- The metaverse(s?) might exist but grifts like NFTs and Web 3.0 and dubious moneymen make it difficult to see how this will occur in a sustainable and equitable way.

Chapter 6: The (Final) Next Level
- Gaming trends and wider digital trends accelerated.
- Videogames were seen in a mostly positive light and even the mainstream media seemed very pro game.
- It helped many with mental health (especially in the UK) by in other places many still suffered, mostly due to lack of exercise and social interactions.
- However, there are many issues such as toxicity especially around gaming communities as well as the political and social fracturing through online discourse.
- The lines between the physical and digital world have blurred and there is a danger that the online mysogyny, racism and other -isms may bleed into the real world.

I very much enjoyed the book as it covers a lot of ground within the gaming industry. The sheer variety of people Humphreys speaks to ensures that you get a good overview of opinions and insight. However, she speaks often to CEOs, Production Executives and the like from companies such as Blizzard, Riot and Ubisoft so what we get is insight of their pandemic processes but done through the lens of corporate speak. They mention all the right things about supporting their staff, maintaining good mental health and work life balance but these companies have since been accused of horrific abuses as well as hiring excessively during Covid but now firing the same staff as they now seek to consolidate and maximise the profit for the elite few higher ups.

The accounts of the main chalk face people on the ground are not often discussed in this book but that may be because this is not Humphreys' aim; she is looking at the industry wide pivot in light of Covid restrictions and in this context, this book is a triumph of capturing a unique moment in time.
However, I would now like to see an 'all sides' account of what occured during the pandemic and the repercussions, beyond the corporate speil. I get that every business's wants to put it's best face forward but I do think a critical look at what occured post-Covid with mandated return to office, huge worker culls amid consokidation/ mergers/ acquisitions closures of many Games As A Service titles as well as the loss of hard fought rights, such as insurance etc which have been rolled back. Now, that would be an interesting but depressing book to read. Maybe a Jason Schreier type author would create a book that is a critical look at the industry. We'll wait and see as I'm sure it's incoming from somewhere.

LINK- Let’s All Create A ‘New Normal’

LINK- Straight Outta Quarantine: 14 Days in Blighty

LINK- Flying Home From Coronavirus

LINK- One Month on From Social Distancing in Saudi

LINK- Life in Coronavirus Lockdown Saudi

LINK- Life in the Times of the Coronavirus

Storyland: A New Mythology of Britain by Amy Jeffs- Book Review

September 7, 2023

I have a real interest in myths and legends from around the world. One of the reasons I studied anthropology in university was to find out more about the commonalities between ancient cultures and how they influence the world today through belief systems, structural hierarchies and etymology.

I knew a little about British folktales but probably not much more than the average person on the street- Joseph of Aramathea visiting Glastonbury, King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table and the Loch Ness monster. You know, typical stuff that you pick up from living on these sceptred isles. When I heard about Storyland by Amy Jeffs I picked it up as I thought it would be a good way to plug my knowledge gap.

The stories are told, one per chapter, with all the lineages of the families and details about the geography. It adds a real academic element to these fantastical stories but I often found that stories are clearly told but lacked the lyrical flourishes of Neil Gaiman's Norse Gods or Stephen Fry's Troy or Mythos series of Greek myths. What we have are a smorgasbord of myths and legends from creation to about the 1200s but with none of the personality of these stronger writers.

Jeffs is obviously passionate about the subject and her stories are meticulously researched. Her critical commentary after each tale provides an informative breakdown of the symbolism and the provenance adds an element of academia to it but it lacks the lyricism of prose to make it an engaging read. In places, it felt stuffy and dry which is difficult to achieve considering these are tales of daring-do, mighty battles and magic. Having said that, this is a handsome tome with the linocut artwork adding a unique artistic style to proceedings.

Overall, this is a useful book to have for research purposes or to have access to a wide range of tales in one handy volume, but it is not a great read.

LINK- How to be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question by Mike Schur- Book Review

LINK- The Good Place and Philosophy- Book Review

LINK- On And On And Colston ( Or, How We Kinda Sort of Learned to Talk About the Legacy of Colonialism and the British Empire)

LINK- Pure Invention- Book Review

LINK- The Transportive Nature of Objects (And the Power of Mini Consoles)

Hammer Glamour- Book Review

August 30, 2023

I have been a film aficionado for a long time. My father brought me up on classics like David Lean's adaptations of Oliver Twist and Great Expectations, the various black and white classic comedies of Charlie Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy as well as the Dynamation works of Ray Harryhausen.

My love for old horror films started in my formative teen years. The BBC would show cult horror films late on Friday and Saturday nights in the early to mid-90s and, when we got Sky, late 90s/ early 2000s Bravo Channel. Some were the more salacious films of 60s and 70s European cinema, often in the horror genre but not always- some were experimental pieces which had a deeply ethereal feel and long moments of quiet where the gorgeous scenery and silence would wash over you. It was here I first saw The Witchfinder General, Circus of Horrors, Vampiros Lesbos and Twins of Evil and many, many more.

I became even more interested in cult TV series and films whilst attending university. Our campus was media-centered and as a result it had a huge catalogue of VHS tapes to rent, free of charge. I ploughed through many often taking the maximum 8 out at a time and consumed them voraciously.

Hammer was a name that stood out to me as you were guaranteed a strong performance from a lead actor, often Christopher Lee or Peter Cushing, and lashings of blood and glamour. It was here that I came across many actresses who I knew from other works like Caroline Munro (Sinbad), Nastassja Kinski (Paris, Texas) and Madeline Smith (Live and Let Die). It seemed like horror was the genre many a young lady had cut their teeth on and specifically Hammer.

Cushing and Lee get all the credit but the leading and supporting ladies added so much to the productions and needed to be spotlit. The women were often glamourous and their acting skills overlooked by many, including the film makers themselves, for mere tittilation but the coffeebook Hammer Glamour looks behind the scenes and presents black and white and colour photographs from the Hammer archives of these actresses.

Usually, each of the 50 actresses gets at least 3 pages as well as biographies including candid interviews from the surviving actresses or archival quotes from past interviews for those who are no longer with us. These are no mere puff pieces but actually quite critical of the treatment many of these women received from an often mysogynistic and sexist British film industry of the time. Many were told that the nude scenes or candid photos they reluctantly took part in would only be for 'foreign markets' only to find the scenes shown in the home UK market. The author, Marcus Hearn does not shy away from this and, whilst having a clear love of the studio and it's works, he is aware of these issues and has shared them here. It isn't all doom and gloom though as many actresses had an amazing time and were well treated, however, many left the industry jaded, dependent on drugs or alcohol, whilst a few even committed suicide.

The book is a handsome tome with good quality paper stock and crystal clear photographs. The layout of the pages is consistent with large photographs of the actresses in their film roles as well as promotional shoots. This book is a respectful look at the first ladies of horror and is highly recommended by me.

LINK- Into The Unknown Exhibition Review

LINK- Kolchak: The Night Stalker- Cult Movie Review

LINK: Kolchak: The Night Stalker- Cult TV Series Review

LINK- Children of the Stones: Cult TV Series Review

LINK- Dead of Night: Cult TV Review

LINK: Gamesmaster: The Oral History- Book Review

Ask Iwata- Book Review

May 7, 2023

Satoru Iwata was the president of Nintendo, formerly president of HAL and beloved coder and innovator who oversaw the success of the Wii and DS. Upon his early death from cancer in 2015, the outpouring of respect and love for the man was immense. Many loved his human approach to leadership, exemplified by his taking a paycut himself to save staff when the Wii U underperformed, as well as his willingness to participate in fun promotional work, such as the memorable muppet show in the 2015 E3.

Ask Iwata is a collection of his thoughts and ideas about his approach to business and people; It not an autobiography with photos but rather is similar Nintendo of America’s Reggie Fils-Aime's book on business practices. This book has a more human touch and is thus more approachable for the layman not looking at business jargon and theories. What comes across is that Iwata was a humble man who worked his way through the ranks through sheer diligence and hard work - sprinkled with a little luck.

Here are some of the thoughts that really stuck with me:

As human beings, unless we have someone to compliment our work and enjoy what we've created, we're not apt to go out on a limb. Which is why meeting this friend in high school had such a positive effect on the course of my life.

... Decision-making means gathering and analysing information and managing priorities, and that as you discover your priorities, you should see where they take you as you work though your decisions.

... I never want to work under a leader who fails to understand that people can evolve... pays attention and acknowledges my growth.

.. Management depends on an ability to minimise your personal agenda...

The books end with thoughts from colleague and close friend Shigeru Miyamoto (creator of Mario and Zelda) and Shigesato Itoi (Earthbound) and these are tales of Iwata, the man, away from business. It is clear that he was a much loved and gentle man. The book is an interesting read and we get an insight into the great man who made sure that Nintendo continued to march to the beat of its jaunty own Wii Music drum.

LINK: Heaven’s Vault- Book Review

LINK: Elden Ring- Videogames As Art

LINK- The Transportive Nature of Objects (And the Power of Mini Consoles)

LINK: Japan- My Journey to the East

LINK- On And On And Colston ( Or, How We Kinda Sort of Learned to Talk About the Legacy of Colonialism and the British Empire)

LINK- An English Geek in Saudi

LINK- Streets of Rage 2 on Vinyl Review

Heaven's Vault - Book Review

April 27, 2023

“Stories don’t have tidy beginnings, the past is always present.”

With this, Heaven's Vault the videogame had truly sunk its claws into me. I had played through to the end and loved the experience.

Often I've seen historical based games reduced to simply killing the next bad guy and trashing the ancient ruins, which is fine in a power fantasy I suppose, but as an armchair anthropologist (with a degree in the subject) who has a love of archeology, linguistics and ethnography, a game where you felt like a real archaeologist had me excited. Luckily, Heaven’s Vault did not disappoint; the deep dive into archeology with a vast open-world to explore, underscored with excellent narrative beats held me captive for the 20 or so hours until completion.

When I heard that there were two novels based off the videogame by Inkle's narrative director Jon Ingold, I bought both and consumed them voraciously over the course of a couple of weeks.

For the uninitiated, Heaven's Vault has the protagonist Aliya Elasra, a space archaeologist, tasked with finding the missing University faculty roboticist, Janniqi Renba. Along the way, Aliya and her robot companion Six, discover clues to the ancient past of the Nebula that may impact the current political situation where the Protectorate of Iox may not be as benevolent as it presents itself. Throw in Aliya's contradictory theory about the cyclical nature of the Nebula for good measure and what you have is an intriguing narrative.

There are two books in the Heaven’s Vault series and they contain the complete story.

The central conceit is an interesting one as it builds upon the narrative of the videogame but takes it further. The books are very much about how history is largely written and shaped by the ‘victors’. Aliya is a threat to all this as, by using the artefacts from the past, she is able to reinterpret what actually occurred and challenge the circumambient narrative that is prevalent in the cosmos and challenges the systems that perpetuate it.

I liked how Ingold shows how archeology is not just about the collection of artifacts or visiting dead sites but more a discipline dedicated to helping us understand our collective past and what it means for our future. Archaeology has the power to shape the future as by looking into the past, we can look forward and challenge the accepted norms; controlling access to the past controls people in the present by affecting thought and behaviour. Misappropriation and manipulation of the past is a real issue even now and so it is in this story where the status quo is challenged.

The two books were enthralling and I fell in love with the characterisation and world.

LINK: Elden Ring- Videogames As Art

LINK- The Good Place and Philosophy- Book Review

LINK- Humankind: A Hopeful History- Book Review

LINK- On And On And Colston ( Or, How We Kinda Sort of Learned to Talk About the Legacy of Colonialism and the British Empire)

LINK- ‘Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire’ LINK: Elden Ring- Videogames As Art

LINK- The Transportive Nature of Objects (And the Power of Mini Consoles)

LINK: Japan- My Journey to the East

LINK- An English Geek in Saudi

LINK- Streets of Rage 2 on Vinyl Review

Spare (Prince Harry Autobiography)- Book Review

February 26, 2023

There's been a lot written about Prince Harry's autobiography over the past few months, some of it good but a lot of it bad. Accused of bragging about his kill record in Afghanistan, oversharing about his Elizabeth Arden face-creamed appendage and whatnot. I think I said in a post I wrote a couple of months ago that I'd been reading lots about 'celebrities' and well known personalities to get to know people better so I thought I'd dive in to this one and what comes across is someone who seems to have gone through a lot of talk therapy and is opening up about his journey. These are the key points I gleaned from the book:

He was obviously devastated when he heard that his mum had died in a car crash but he believed that she had faked it to get a bit of peace quiet away from the constant media coverage. He expected her to return, even after 4 years.

He wasn't very academically able as he was dealing with his mental health issues brought about from his mum's death and the whole Royal thing of not showing emotions.

William ignored him in school, like most older brothers would their siblings, but he didn't take it well.

He enjoyed physical sports like rugby as this was his outlet.

Even when the media tried to make him seem like an angry, thick rebel, he was actually trying to be a regular guy who was mourning his mum.

For his gap years he went to work on a farm in Australia and Lesotho, an AIDs hit country in Southern Africa to build schools, homes etc.

He was driven through the tunnel in Paris where his mum had died and said the thing was short and unremarkable. He believes that the paps may have contributed to his mother's death by blinding the driver... but it's all guesswork.

His spirit animal is a red fox as he saw one late at night and many years later, once it was reported in the media where Harry was serving his tour in the Helmand province, it was the codename the Taliban gave him as they sought to assassinate him.

He talks about unconscious bias as he called one of his compatriots of South Asian descent a 'Paki'. He owns his error as says he had heard it a lot and didn't know it was a racial slur, likening it to 'Aussie'. He realised his mistake and apologised to the individual who took it in good grace. His Nazi costume gaff was a poor choice and he has regretted it ever since.

He had a frost-nipped penis (which was circumcised at birth, apparently for class rather than religious reasons) from his walk in the Arctic Circle. To help it heal, he put Elizabeth Arden face cream, the scent of which reminded him of his mum.

He thought of the Invictus Games after seeing how sports helped to focus and ease the pain of wounded soldiers in America but he wanted a bigger event to raise the profile.

To help his mental health he took up psychedelic drugs like ayahuasca and magic mushrooms but also meditation.

He really likes Botswana and it is his happy place.

William was jealous that Harry was allowed to keep his beard for the wedding and was allowed to wear his preferred military uniform.

William and Kate and Charles and Camilla seemed to be vying for the limelight, but whereas they will put up with fake news and libelous claims, Harry would not tolerate that and broke royal protocol to protect Megan. As a result, he upset the palace and the media.

Charles and Camilla needed to keep their 'brand' at the front so when the row about the bridesmaid dresses and Kate making Megan cry was told to them, someone from their comms team informed the media ensuring a feeding frenzy around the young couples. This led to a worsening of relations between the House of Cambridge and Sussex.

The security detail was completely removed for Harry and his family, this meant that he and his family would not get any security at all even though they were at a high a risk as the Queen was from attack. The security cost around £6 million a year.

Charles cut off Harry's funding, leaving him as a man in his 30s with very few marketable skills and heavily infantalised. Considering Charles' Duchy of Cornwall earned millions, Harry felt this was a huge insult.

He decided to do the Oprah interview as he didn't want to do things on the sly. He asserts his father and Camilla had spoken to the authors to create their curated biographies whilst denying being participants, but Harry wanted to be upfront and chose an interview who he considered beyond reproach.

So these are the main points I got from the autobiography. I've read a lot biographies and autobiographies over the past 12 months, and I mean a lot! Yes, these were often of celebrities who wanted to show their best self and were not your typical lay person but it has been interesting to see how candid they were and actually critical of their own actions or inactions. I read the autobiographies of Oliver Stone, Cassandra Peterson (Elvira), Tegan and Sara, Mel B, Louis Theroux, Reggie Fils-Aime, Simon Reeve, and Seth Rogan as well as the biographies of Peter Falk (Columbo), William Blake and Robin Williams. As well as this I listened to a lot of audiobooks on people including the excellent Dermot O’Leary podcast People, Just People and the perennial favourite Desert Island Discs. I learned a lot from these and, even though many of these people lived vastly different lives to mine, I found many shared the same worries, concerns and dreams as I and, I assume, many other people have.

With autobiographies, the danger is that what you get is a highly polished and lacquered version of the truth; the rough edges sanded out leaving a gleaming yet lifeless end product. What we have here is different though, it is painfully honest but, as with all autobiographies, version of events from a singular viewpoint. This is my truth isn't the same thing as this IS the truth; it can't be as there are so many perspectives and viewpoints to consider that that wouldn't be possible. A life lived isn't empirical but messy and nuanced and so what we have is Harry's version of events. Whether things occurred as he portrays them, I can't know, but the points he raises against the media and their portrayal of Megan I have seen. I've seen the playing off of Megan vs. Kate, the rancid tabloid articles about avocados, Megan's staff leaving etc. It does reek of snobbery and racism and I agree with him on that. As for the rest, I don't know and to be honest it's not my concern. I wish them well and hope that they find the peace and happiness they seek, preferably away from the media spotlight.

LINK- William Blake vs the World- Book Review

LINK- The KLF: Chaos, Magic and the Band who Burned a Million Pounds- Book Review

LINK- The Future Starts Here: An Optimistic Guide to What Comes Next- Book Review

LINK- Utopia for Realists- Book Review

LINK- Natives: Race and Class in the Ruin of Empire- Book Review

LINK- On And On And Colston ( Or, How We Kinda Sort of Learned to Talk About the Legacy of Colonialism and the British Empire)

Gamesmaster: The Oral History- Book Review

November 27, 2022

Gamesmaster turns 30 this year and, to mark this occasion, a new book has been released about the making and evolution of the show.

Gamesmaster: The Oral History- Book Review — The book is well made and has good paper stock, giving it a premium feel.

For the uninitiated, Gamesmaster was a challenges based show where gamers would compete with each other and challenges to earn the coveted 'Golden Joystick'. I watched the show religiously as a kid as it was the only gaming show available and was typically zeitgeisty. The show was very 'extreme' 90s, with all the positives and negatives of that era including lads, ladettes, booze, innuendo and casual sexism. Now, a lot of the stuff wouldn't fly today but it was of its time and so, reading about it whilst watching the show on YouTube has been a fascinating look back at this moment in time.

The book covers the heady highs, cratering lows and the redemptive arc of the show and main host, Dominik Diamond. The fact that they were able to get all the core people involved, including the Producers, Executives as well as Diamond, Dexter Fletcher and Dave Perry is amazing as there were quite a few egos on the show that caused friction but also gave the show its anarchic dangerous feel.

I also enjoyed reading about the process of deciding what theme each season would be, often a tiny budget meant the economy of design led to the set designer doing magic with very little. The Atlantis set for season 6 was the real standout and Dominik agrees in this book too.

The inclusion of photos, production sketches and other material really brings the stories to life and the anecdotes are amazing. The hedonism of the main players, young men who found success early and didn't always know how to cope with the attention and money, shows the pitfalls of fame and Dominik is very honest about his chemical demons.

The whole book was a fascinating read, but there were several sections in the book that really struck me, such as how much Dominik hated the red coat in season 2 and how it led to his decision to leave. Also, when he was brought back in season 4 after ailing ratings in season 3 when Dexter Fletcher took over, how he doubled his pay after they killed his character off at the start of season 3. I was fascinated to learn about season 7, which was commissioned after the memo saying the show was over was never read or sent. They had a grand send off in season 6 and had then scattered to the wind, only to be reunited once again for one last blowout.

It's a redemptive story of a plucky underdog of a show that could, a host who came from very little, found success unexpectedly then worked extremely hard to make the show better and, towards the end, all parties decided to have more fun and be less serious about it all.

I loved the book and consumed it within a few days. As a fan of Gamesmaster, it was insightful and often hilarious. The honesty and candidness of all involved makes this a fascinating and essential read.

LINK- The Transportive Nature of Objects (And the Power of Mini Consoles)

LINK: Japan- My Journey to the East

LINK- My One True Gaming Constant in Life- Nintendo

LINK- On, and On and Conston (Or, ‘How We Learned to Talk About the Legacy of Colonialism in GB’)

LINK- ‘Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire’

LINK- Tom’s Midnight Garden: Cult TV Review

The Prophet by Khalil Gibran- Book Review

June 9, 2022

Whilst browsing through Audible I saw that the book ‘The Prophet’ by Khalil Gibran was available. The title intrigued me and reading the blurb my interest was piqued further. Add in the fact that it was read by Riz Ahmed, an actor and activist I really admire, and it was a no-brainer. I plumped for it, listening to it in one go which is no big deal as it clocked in at just under 2 hours.

The book is made up of 26 prose poems, delivered as sermons by a wise man called Al Mustapha. He is about to set sail for his homeland after 12 years in exile on a fictional island when the people of the island ask him to share his wisdom on the big questions of life: love, family, work and death. And so, in the course of the runtime, we get earnest and heartfelt universal truths about the human condition. The book speaks to people at different stages of their lives. It has this magical quality in the more you read it the more you come to understand the words and relate them to yourself and your own experiences.

I very much enjoyed the book as it wasn't as trite as ‘The Alchemist ‘or as psycho-babblish as many other books that try to achieve that ‘spiritual’ vibe without being too cheesy. In fact, the author I found it most similar to was Sandor Marai, whose work ‘Embers’ remains one of the most beautifully written works I’ve ever had the pleasure to read.

I loved the fact that Gibran's work is not filled with any mainstream faith dogma but is open to everyone, irrespective of their background; the writing is not moralistic but rather universally spiritual. It can help us consider our own view of the world and for those who choose to interpret it as such, it reaches for the light of truth and God.

This book is an immersive and engaging read and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a philosophical read.

William Blake vs. the World- Book Review

February 12, 2022

I am a bit of a fan of John Higgs, having read two of his previous books The KLF: Chaos, Magic and the Band Who Burned One Million Pounds and The Future Starts Here: An Optimistic Guide to What Comes Next.

I loved reading these books as his works often takes many turns that often bamboozle me but always had me interested in the topics he was covering. I find that Higgs seems to be a Humanist at heart and he gets to the heart of the matter and the core questions we all ask; what is our purpose and how does this affect the narrative we tell ourselves? In the case of the KLF biography, Higgs took us on the journey through the framing device of the burning of the £1 million. It was a strange and magical journey through philosophical ideas that influenced band mates Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty including quantum physics, religion, conspiracy theories, art, magic and Doctor Who.

With The Future Starts Here, Higgs looked at how dystopian futures are now the norm in science fiction and actually many 'real-world' stories now read like the Walking Dead, with self interest at the heart of a lot of what we do. The optimism of the 60s and early 70s, shown in Star Trek, Space 1999 and The Jetsons gave way to Blade Runner, Back to the Future 2 and Terminator. The default position is that the world is doomed and we are going to hell in a handcart merrily. He believed that we created a circumambient (self-fulfilling) narrative that we are all doomed but we can also change the narrative and by changing it, alter our destiny.

Using this same multi-disciplinary, tangential yet weirdly enjoyable rambling approach- looking at science, religion, history, philosophy and culture- Higgs sets about explaining the works and beliefs of poet, artist and general renaissance man, William Blake. Now, I didn’t know much about Blake except for the fact that he wrote the Prom’s flag-flapping fan-favourite Jerusalem and drew a couple of paintings I knew that were kinda creepy and unsettling (Newton and Neduchadnezzar). However, after reading this book I feel like I know Blake pretty well… well, as well as you can know a genius ahead of his time who had visions of angels in his childhood that affected him for the rest of his life!

Part-biography and part-philosophical/historical jazzy noodling, William Blake vs. the World is a fascinating look into a singular artist whose work still resonates with the country the creator so loved. Higg’s examines Blake’s Reality Tunnel; the idea that his perceptions of the world effected the narrative he told himself, and how this led him to be considered an eccentric in the 18th and 19th century. Higg’s also discusses how this reality tunnel had a profound and long-lasting effects on his work, including placing God at the centre of the world but also a periphery filled with different characters (including Albion) which have entered into our national mythology and identity. The main thrust of the book is in consideration of how his works may have had deeper and hidden meanings which have been misinterpreted or misunderstood by many over the years.

Higgs takes the multidisciplinary approach to show us how to interpret and appreciate the works of Blake, and unlike conspiracy theorists or pseudo-scientists, who manipulate information and cherry pick information to fit their Machiavellian narrative, Higgs seems to be on the side of good trying to help us view askew and gain a deeper understanding of something complex; appreciating an artist who was not appreciated in their time. It’s all very life affirming and positive and doesn’t gaze into the abyss at all but rather reaches for the light and grace of God.

This book is an immersive and engaging read and I would highly recommend it to anyone with even the slightest interest in Blake or Higgs.

LINK- The Future Starts Here: An Optimistic Guide to What Comes Next- Book Review

LINK- Utopia for Realists- Book Review

LINK- Natives: Race and Class in the Ruin of Empire- Book Review

LINK- On And On And Colston ( Or, How We Kinda Sort of Learned to Talk About the Legacy of Colonialism and the British Empire)

LINK- Why I No Longer Talk To White People About Race

LINK- Blood, Sweat and Pixels- Book Review

The Far Shore- Book Review

January 2, 2022

I started this website in 2013 for a couple of reason, to show my passion for video games and share my thought but also to move the conversation forward on gaming culture. I found that often there was a culture of insularity among many gaming sites, often only covering the big titles. I wanted to cover the weird, quirky, strange and fringe games from the view of an educationalist, a teacher, as I think some games can be a contextual hub for learning. In that vein, I've read (and reviewed) several books about videogames and the creative process and they've given me great insight into the medium.

The book clocks in at under 200 pages but is wonderfully informative and candid.

The Far Shore intrigued me as it is written by an author, Adam Hammond, who is a lecturer, in his day job and doesn't really play videogames much but was interested in Swords and Sworcery. By looking at videogames from an outsiders perspective, Hammond offers keen insight into what motivates Superbrothers (Craig D. Adams) into making games and it isn't hipster like coolness but rather a fight against the 'bloated cross-media confections' which make many AAA games clogged down with awkward cutscenes, cringey dialogue, obtuse menus and systems and patronising tutorials. Hammond discusses how videogames are similar to operas in that they are both a combination of different media merging to make something new.

He discusses how this high minded conversation had Adams consider how art can change the world and it was this belief that led to the creation of Superbrothers and the pixel art form that pervaded advertising and music videos. He got a taste of the ephemeral pop culture ether and sought to change it.

What follows is a great biography about Superbrothers, the creative process and the self-doubt that follows after making such a wildly popular, avant-garde multi-million selling game. As well as the financial and commercial freedom gained from the success of the game and game garnered near universal praise however, there was a small backlash from some calling it too hipster and cool. Adams found he had something of the imposter syndrome but I believe (as did many reviewers and fans) that it was an earnest game with a veneer of cool but the central heroes journey theme is universal. Adams seemed to take this to heart and so his next game would be the polar opposite of Swords; no pixels, no hipster language and a more conventional game. It would be a sci-fi game that would provide otherworldly escapism and hopeful optimism for the future.

Adams' love for Star Trek is obvious as he discusses how back in the day we had visions filled with undimmed optimism; we dreamt of gleaming glass spires, flying cars, natty silver or velour one pieces, world peace, robot maids named Rosie and off-world travel. Now all we see represented of the future in mainstream media is a dystopian misery as Terminator robots take over the planet, zombie hoards proliferate as small bands of humans eke out a living in a resource diminished Earth and humans vie for glory via violent games after cataclysmic climate collapse. Bleak times indeed supported by the popular circumambient (prevailing or common) narrative- It's difficult to dream of a bright optimistic future as the current common story is antithetical to this. He wanted to create a game that showed an optimistic view of the world and had heart and was earnest and true.

Hammond also discusses the indie boom (2007 to 2012) and Indie-pocalypse 2013-18) that occurred when Steam opened the floodgates to asset flips whilst also democratising gaming through resources like Unity, Twine and Game Maker etc. He also discusses #Gamergate and the terrible after-effects of this reckoning of the medium where many 'gamers' in their 'safe space' didn't like the disparate voices now being heard in their power fantasies. Adams discusses his views on this and states that he had a singular vision and, even though he knew Jett would be a boutique-y experience that wouldn't appeal to all or even the mainstream, he wants the punk Riot Grrrl freedom to create what he wanted to create. However, with funds running low and expertise needed a console exclusivity deal with Sony in 2019 shored up funds and ensured that the game would get over the finish line. With the rise of the Epic Store, Google Stadia, Apple Arcade and console exclusivity at an all time high, Jett was optimistically released when AAA games and indies were happily sitting side by side as part of the online store ecosystem. This was the second indie boom and Jett benefitted.

I read the entire book within a day- perfect for when the weather was terrible over Christmas.

The book ends with Hammond offering a truthful and honest evaluation of a game; a game that reaches for the stars but doesn't quite reach there. It is a modernist allegory that tackles themes such as climate catastrophe and colonialism but its gameplay can be clunky and the exposition heavy. This is reflected in the reviews which are mixed with a Metacritic score of 68% and a user score of 70% (as of 2nd Jan 2022).

Overall, this is a fascinating and illuminating book that looks at the creative process of making videogames, the problems that can arise but also the aspiration of creating something that says something. I haven't played the game yet but will do later this week as I have just finished a game in my ‘pile of shame’. I like the discourse and long-form writing around videogames as they offer insight into this relatively new medium and this book has been a great primer to explain the highs and lows of making games.

LINK- Uncharted 4- Video Games As Art

LINK- Natives: Race and Class in the Ruin of Empire- Book Review

LINK- On And On And Colston ( Or, How We Kinda Sort of Learned to Talk About the Legacy of Colonialism and the British Empire)

LINK- Utopia for Realists- Book Review

LINK- Natives: Race and Class in the Ruin of Empire- Book Review

Lost in a Good Game: Why We Play Video Games and What They Can Do for Us- Book Review

September 12, 2021

'Lost in a Good Game’, by gamer and psychologist Pete Etchells, takes us on a journey through the most pertinent questions facing the video game medium in this part memoir, part exploration of video game psychology, and, surprisingly, part research primer. The book looks behind the various demonising headlines which are often in the tabloids about how video games are leading to the degradation of society (re: violence, addiction etc) and considers if these are true. He also looks at how the research is carried out in these area as well as the broader sciences and identifies the limitations and failures of current research methodologies whilst providing solutions to improve all future research. That’s quite the remit but does Etchells achieve what he sets out to do?

Well, firstly I going to say that it’s a bit of a novelty that the author is British as most books and podcast I’ve read and heard/listen to are primarily American so there are some significant events that I cannot relate to. The Video Game Crash of 1984 was a huge deal in America but here in Britain, and Europe as a whole, the microcomputer revolution was chugging along just dandy (dandily?), so it's great to get another angle. Etchells is earnest and honest with his stories and this lends the whole book a feeling of relatability and self-reflection. His personal stories about how video games have played important roles in different parts of his life, gives the book an emotional weight. The places and events he mentions from his own childhood were familiar to me and relatable and so I found myself able to empathise with him. However, irrespective of the background of the author the 13 different chapters covered in the book are universal themes that cover the medium across the globe.

Chapter 1, Dungeons and Demons, looks at Warcraft and how there are many ways to play this MMORPG- there are pacifists, mages, warlocks as well as the usual warriors and fighting classes. WOW is more to do with the sense of community and collegiate responsibility than just loners, sitting in their basements. Etchells discusses why WOW was so important for him as it helped him process the death of his father. He says that through video games we live many lives and through death in video games we learn about our own mortality, to take risks and learn.

Chapter 2, A Brief History of Video Games, sees Etchells briefly talk about the evolution of early computers and video games. He discusses the Power Out Video Game Exhibition (which is found in the Science Museum in South Kensington), The National Video Game Arcade (which is found in Sheffield), and the non-linear evolution of video games. It's useful stuff for those who want a quick potted history of the medium.

Etchells talks about how the sounds of the arcade reminds him of his childhood and the holidays he had. He's not wrong, playing Final Fight and R-type always reminds me of Heathrow Airport as it was there I first played these games whilst waiting for my uncles and aunties to arrive from Pakistan in the 80s.

Chapter 3, Why Do We Play Video Games? looks at the different reasons people play games. For the author, it enabled him to parse the fact that his father was seriously ill. For others it's based on Richard Bartle's anecdotal data that helped him create his work on the 4 archetypes of players: Achievers, Explorers, Socialisers and Killers. Etchells looks at the robustness of the research carried out and argues that there has not been enough good quality research done on the subject and that the scientific process has been left wanting, often with studies already assuming that the player will fill one of these archetypes or a derivative of one. However, Etchells argues, successfully in my opinion, that there are many different reasons why people play games and even within the same individual the reasons they play may change.

I wrote a little about how video games have helped many during the Coronavirus pandemic and me personally to process the new normal (link here). I have had Skyrim for many years and only during Covid did I pour over 200 hours in as I was seeking escape and an openness that was missing in my life. Beforehand, I'd found the game too vast and unknowable, during Covid.... No problem. Now, after Covid, I play it to enjoy the peace and calm afforded by the landscape.

Chapter 4, Control and Imagination, looks at how games are an emergent phenomenon which many moral guardians do not understand and so are vilified. Etchells discusses how Minecraft was a cultural touchstone, enabling unrivalled creativity but how many saw it as being a danger to youth as it was addictive etc. Etchells also discusses how many who look down on the medium have very little to do with it-cherry picking examples of violence to say that this is what games are but obviously there are different genres so it's a very simplistic argument.

Chapter 5, A Brief Interlude, looks at the research which is being done on video games and its influence on society and individuals psychology. Etchells discusses the problem with how scientific studied that are exciting and cutting edge are often brought to the fore and heavily advertised yet replication (repeating the experiment to see that the results track and are accurate) are not, thus you have ludicrous situations such as an experiment claiming psychic abilities exist. The test was fair and carried out well but wasn't possible to replicate but in the wide community there existed the thought that psychic abilities exist. The fact that research is funded and often the outcome will result in further funding and job opportunities means that much of Social Psychology has been found to be based on questionable research and selective data tampering, these are generally called Questionable Research Practices (QRPs). It's this that has affected many of the Sciences and led to a general weariness of headline discoveries. Etchells says that when replication experiments were carried out on hundreds of published papers nearly 3/4 were not replicable. That's means that the data and science that exists in social sciences is based on false data and the whole house of cards topples.

This chapter was particularly illuminating and paints a damning picture of the sciences, especially the social sciences where the replication procedures have shown that most of the claims made and approved in scientific papers were wrong.

Chapter 6, Are Violent Video Games Bad For Us? has Etchells looks at the issue and how scientific methodology to answer this question have not been stringent. Etchells discusses the various studies and explains how they are flawed but mentions that generally, the research shown does not link correlation with causation.

Chapter 7, Moral Panics, talks about how there are periods of time where 'folk devils' are created. This is where a narrative is pushed that an individual, group or idea is deviant and is to blame for societies ills. This occurred with the printing press, women in theatre, books, comics, rock music, Dungeons and Dragons ,
and now video games and the Internet. Etchells says that often moral panics are, more often than not, based on anecdotal data and that the scientists who pursue new media as a 'folk devil' do so because they feel like they want to better society and often have a halcyon view of their morality, childhood as a whole and their childhood. Generally, those who had more experience and interactions with youth and video games were more positive than those who didn't.

Chapter 8, Are Video Games Addictive? looks at how the usual way to measure addiction is by creating a facsimile of alcohol and drug addiction. However, whereas there is plenty of evidence about substance related harm there is very little evidence as regards harm and gaming addiction. Etchells discusses the issues raised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) categorising Gaming Addiction alongside these other addiction- primarily that there is no clear evidence to support this fact. The fact that there are Bootcamps to overcome this 'addiction' is worrying, especially when news of ‘correctional camps’ in China with some suicides comes into play *cough* Uyghur *cough*

Etchells does discuss the worrying trend of loot boxes, gambling mechanics and freemium models entering the gaming space and how, in the long run, this could cause societal problems for those with addictive personalities or neurodivergent. He wrote the book in 2018 and so the recent House of Commons discussion regarding gambling mechanics hasn't been covered but he was very prescient.

Chapter 9, Screen Time, looks at the concerns surrounding screen time. Much like in chapter 8, Etchells argues that the headline grabbing hot-takes dominate the mainstream news media but actually they somewhat misrepresent the data as it is not as clear cut as they are presented. Many of the concerns are based on anecdotal rather than empirical data and this raises concerns as the conversation is affecting policies without careful thought. Etchells isn't saying that there isn't an issue with screen time or addiction but rather than the quality of research and discourse needs to be better.

Chapter 10, Immersion and Virtual Reality, has Etchells looking at the way people see virtual reality- either Matrix style subjugation by the machines, of people plugging in and dropping out of society like in Ready Player One or of a way to play games to deal with real world issues like PTSD. Etchells worries that companies will create exploitative VR worlds that maximises profit rather than build worlds that would be for the embetterment of society. We shall see but I don't disagree with him.

Chapter 11, Wayfaring and Wayfinding, looks at how video games can be used to collect data, not for nefarious means, but for scientific endeavours. Etchells talks about how the data gained from Sea Hero Quest provided lots of data for scientists researching dementia. The findings were fascinating and shows how video games can be a force for good.

I've spoken about how crowdsourcing work has helped solve problems that would have taken many years to resolve. This collective effort to solve problems could have huge real world problem solving implications.

Chapter 12, Digital Spectator Sports, looks at the rise and dominance of esports. Etchells looks at the nascent beginnings in South Korea to worldwide viewing figures surpassing the NFL viewership. He also discusses how schools and organisations are using esports to develop communication and teamworking skills. Etchells discusses how, rather than being a leveller, the leagues often have huge majority of male players, even if there are excellent female players. He cites the exclusion of an outstanding South Korean Overwatch player who wasn't picked up by any team and the lame excuses they gave.

I don't always get esports but then I rarely watch sports except the World Cup and Olympics. However, I can see the attraction of esports as it has heroes and villains in its cast and I don't mean the online avatars. I just wish the homophobic, xenophobic and mysogyny wasn't a huge part of the game. In light of the #MeToo and #BLM movement esports should be a great equaliser but it rarely is.

Chapter 13, Loss, looks at the precarious situation regarding video games. Because they are part of a planned obsolescence many studios don't keep the code or materials and as a result much is lost to time. Where games have been stored they slowly deteriorate, for example many cassettes, carts and cds don't work anymore. Rather than dwell on this Etchells believes that we should be preserving the stories surrounding the games as their cultural relevance and impact lies in this, not just the tangible objects slowly deteriorating behind perspex. I'm reminded of a small local library exhibition I used to often take my pupils to, it shared the story of 5 immigrants into England. Behind the glass were shabby suitcases, old passports and paperwork and faded fuzzy photos but what stuck with me were the phones where you could listen to the people who these items belonged to. It brought the items to life and rathe than just see these things as artifacts they became something more-that dirty old teddy with the eye missing was the most precious thing to this old lady on the phone when she was 5, escaping Austria and the Nazis. Context is everything and so, letting the artifacts die is sad but inevitable with gaming but its the larger story we should be preserving.

I like this attitude as with recent retro games prices it makes the most sense. With YouTube this is happening as some fans have started to create portfolios including Jeremy Parish with his Gameboy series and Frank Cifaldi with the Video Game History Foundation. I've kind of spoken about my personal journey with video games through my ‘Nintendo- My One True Constant’, 'What Video Games Can Teach Us’ and ‘Did Videogames Just Save the World?’

Videogames are an artform whose primary form is agency but, more than that, they offer an escape and some hold up truths within. In some story-based video games, we get to understand people and gain a deeper level of understanding of humanity and ourselves. Etchells’ book looks at a myriad of different issues and eloquently discusses them. I loved the book and would highly recommend it for anyone looking at a deep dive into the medium.

LINK- The Last Guardian- Video Games As Art

LINK- The Stone Tapes (BBC)- Cult TV Review

LINK- The Rise of Retro Gaming During Covid

LINK- Blood, Sweat and Pixels- Book Review

LINK- An English Geek in Saudi

LINK- ‘Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire’

LINK- On And On And Colston ( Or, How We Kinda Sort of Learned to Talk About the Legacy of Colonialism and the British Empire)

LINK- Japan: My Journey to the East

Pure Invention: How Japan's Pop Culture Conquered the World- Book Review (and Personal Reflections)

November 19, 2020

As an anime and manga fan in the late 80s, 90s and early 00s I was a Japanophile and thought the country a fascinating place, full of the coolest games, best technology and innovations. However, programmes about Japan in the 80s and 90s made the country seem strange, kooky and this was sometimes mixed with a bit of exotic 'otherness' with a smidge of racist undertones. Even recently, a *groan* content creator with multi-million YouTube subscribers went into the country and made fun of Japan, even sharing video footage of a dead suicide victim in a forest known for people ending their life and making fun near a corpse. So I am really pleased that ‘Pure Invention: How Japan's Pop Culture Conquered the World’ by Matt Alt treats the country and culture with respect and examines the land with a more anthropological lens but via the medium of its technological innovations.

I visited Japan in 2013 and visited Tokyo and Kyoto. I fulfilled one of my dream!

Where its economy and technology gained Japan prominence and financial muscle in the 1950, 60 and 70s, much to this chagrin of many Boomers who railed against a Japan that they saw as either producing inferior products or producing good at a much cheaper price due to lower labour costs, it was arguably the video games, anime, manga, fashion and fantasy delivery devices that made it culturally change the world and perhaps has a larger global impact in the 1980s, 90s and 00s,

In an interesting gambit as Alt looks at how each of these fantasy delivery devices saw Japan emerge from its insular nature to take over the world through pop culture rather than just through purely economic or financial means with companies like Toyota or Honda etc. The Gameboy, Sony Walkman and video games were all inessential, inescapable and influential and this meant that they changed the way we saw the world rather than being refined products of what went before.

It also asserts that the late state capitalism, which the Japanese society has been experiencing since the bubble crash in 1989, has been prescient for much that is occurring in the West; adults consuming 'childish' media, digital pets, a love of kawaii (cute things) and hakikomori, where people stay at home as ‘shut-ins’ and avoid society Japan did it first and we are now feeling that wave in the West with 'adulting' meaning playing at 'growing up', shut-ins, a love of geek culture becoming the norm rather than the unique. Heady and profound stuff indeed!

The book's prologue starts with a discussion of how Final Fantasy 7 represented a confident Japan looking outward after the economic bubble burst in 1989 which led to years of political and financial instability.

I like how Alt discusses that even before the devastation wrought by the bombs of WW2, Japan always had a sense of playfulness and fun with a heavy emphasis on toys. In fact Japan was one of the primary supplier of the world's toys, alongside Germany and Britain. It prided itself on artisanal pieces and after the war it used scrap materials to create new toys, starting with Jeep models created from scraps of tin. Alt tackles the misconception that Japan only became playful post-war due to the influence of American military rule. In fact Japan had for many centuries had a child-centric culture where wrapping, boxes and gorgeous presentation were considered as important as the gift itself.

Part I is entitled 'The Fall 1945' and Alt starts with the tin toy market that exploded post war, as toy creator Kosuge et al. recycled used tin cans and metal waste from military compounds to create new tin toys which they sold in Japan and in America.

The next big event was the release of the Osamu Tezuka classic, Mighty Atom or Astro Boy as he's known in the West. This was a landmark affair and forever changed the manga/ comic scene. However, during the 60s there rose a more gritty and violent manga art style - Gekiga- and this was not one beholden to the restrictions of the Comic Code that limited its American counterparts.

The late 60s is where student riots and protest took place as the youth felt disenfranchised and disempowered from an establishment that was complicit in the bombing of Vietnam. After the government tried to pass a law prohibiting large protests, a large protest took place to protest against this. It was a time of financial stagnation for many in the country as too many graduates and not enough jobs affected the prospects of the youth.

The 1970s saw the popularisation of karaoke machines. The idea of karaoke singalongs were not invented by the Japanese but rather had existed in many forms, including singalong Fleischer cartoons where viewers sang along to the bouncing red ball, juke boxes and various 8 track contraptions. What Japan did was popularise the concept by making it easy, portable and intuitive to use by simply adding a microphone to a 8-track player and speaker. It was crude and simple but had appeal for the salaryman (a portmanteau of 'salaried office worker') as these workers had the unenviable task of building Japan back up after the war. They often worked crushing hours in dull offices with no chance for their personality to come through but karaoke was their chance to shine and experience a kind of freedom and camaraderie. Karaoke machines were initially found in 'Love Hotels' but spread across the country as it offered the fantasy of being a singer, primarily in bars and watering holes and then from the privacy of your own home.

The chapter on Hello Kitty is amazing as she is one of the most licenced products in the world and earns revenues of over half a billion dollars, more than the NFL! It started innocently enough with cute and small pocket purses and now extends to kawaii (cute) stationary, toiletries and even onto the notepad of a feared rebel Jihadist leader. You gotta admit, this feline’s got reach! We learn that the minimalist design was created to shift everyday kitchen and homewares but then moved onto more frivolous items such as packs of tissues, erasers and pretty much anything as the young girls from the 70s became independent, financially responsible adults with cash to spare, much like the 00s and 10s fad in the West to repackage nostalgia from the 90s at a premium (remember all those 'Top 100 cartoons/ TV programmes/ 90’s moments etc programmes). This economy of design was influential in Japan as it led to similar economy of design moments across media, such as with the creation of Pacman, Digdug or Mario, which were also hampered with technical limitations that necessitated creativity, the mother of invention.

I particularly enjoyed the chapter on the rise of Sony and its portable electronic goods. It was a fascinating listen as it showed that rather than being inferior, as many in the West claimed out of jealousy and worry, the portable Sony radio used the most innovative technology of the time, including transistors, to create a fantasy device that was coveted by all around the world. In fact, Frank Sinatra was given one alongside a Walkman as he was the first real Sony brand ambassador. Fascinating stuff!

We then get a quick insight into arcade and pachinko machines and specifically how Space Invaders took arcade games to the world, being the first Japanese fantasy device to sweep the world.

It was after riding this wave for so long that we get the Lost Decades, the era when Japan's economy was in freefall after the bubble burst in 1989. I remember this from my childhood as the image of a Japanese banking guy crying and asking for forgiveness was shared across news channels. As a kid I didn't quite get what was going on but seeing an adult crying in the news was seared into my memory. This is a very interesting topic for Alt and he covers this dark time in Japan.

He shares how the film 'Battle Royale' captured the mood of the nation as it showed the youth rebelling against authority and the dystopia consequences. The film isn't obviously based on a real life situation but captured the mood of the country well. As companies went bankrupt and suicide rates spiked the youth looked for an outlet, which led to heightened personalised fashion, a rise in cosplay and fandom in public spaces (esp. Harajuku), a growth in video games but also hakikomori, a process of shut-ins who subsisted with the barest minimum but managed by being plugged into their interests at home.

However, from this darkness rose schoolgirls and young women who helped pick up the pieces of their shattered country. Chapter 6, Empire of the Schoolgirls, looks at how they it was this demographic embraced a chance to be a more active part of economic society and became taste makers in things thought juvenile, Hello Kitty, highly kitsch cheap fashion, cute (kawaii) fashion and expensive but playful jewellery. It was they who embraced new technologies better and more voraciously than anyone else, for example when the iPhone launched it was a huge success across the world, except in Japan where girls didn't like it as it didn't have emojis. Apple learned their lesson and made sure they included emojis from there on out... Lessons about the buying power of this market were learned. Also fashion brands learned from Hello Kitty about ‘Communication Cosmetics’, providing practical or fancy goods with a logo or icon that brought about a collegiate or group atmosphere. I experience this sometimes when I wear my video game themed tops, which have a subtle detail harkening back to video games of my youth and I occasionally have someone chat to me. My clothing is like an affiliation or a collective memory of a tribe.

Chapter 7, The New Anime Century, is all about manga and anime. As an Evangelion fan, the chapter on the release of the much hyped 'End of Evangelion' was interesting as it showed how an emotionally scarred and impotent main character, Shinji Ikari, chimed with many of the youths of 1995. With the economy still in tatters and the prospects looking gloomy, Ikari embodied the emasculation that many in the patriarchal society felt. In fact, when I travelled to Japan in 2013 Evangelion adverts still proliferated, shilling new perfumes. The show has had a looong tail and when it was brought over to Netflix earlier this year after years of legal wrangling about various rights issues it was considered a huge coup. Evangelion stood on the shoulders of giants as a giant robot existential series, Gundam. Gundam came out in the early 80s and was a phenomenon. Similar to Star Wars in style but more akin to Star Trek with its long syndication and iterative series, the original Gundam aired for 39 episodes out of a projected 52 and was considered a failure as it failed to shift toys, the measure of anime success. However, protests, marches and gatherings led to new movies, syndication and the rise of ‘Otaku’, obsessive fans. As usual wider society condemned this and there was plenty of youth bashing but what was not realised was that Gundam has created a new way to celebrate fandom as cosplay became the norm and the ephemera of comics, novelisation, models and other collectables based on an intellectual property became the norm. This was new.

We then get a short discussion about how Akira brought 'mature' animation to the art houses of America and Europe, garnering much respect and awe for its music, attention to detail and creativity. What interested audiences was that the art style Was one many recognised from shows in their youth like

This led to many Western countries buying, editing and dubbing old anime and bringing it to their audiences, we had the likes of Star Blazer (Battleship Yamato), Robotech (Macross) and many others. Being American centric, this chapter misses out on the fact that DIC produced many French-Japanese co-produced shows like Mysterious Cities of Gold, Ulysses 31 and the like and so in Europe the anime art style was a huge part of my and many childhoods. The ascent to Akira wasn't so out of left field as we had been brought up on the art form, even if we didn't necessarily know it. My uncle gave me Akira and Devilman on VHS as an 12 year old and it blew my mind. Alt does have a discussion about VHS and how copies of anime and manga shows were shared and grew from cult to mainstream so he is on point there.

This culminated in the Oscar success of Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away which brought anime into the mainstream and Western public consciousness. This was quickly seen in the Animatrix, the Wachowski's sideward tip of the hat at the Matrix's anime and manga forebears. Anime influence also crept into Kill Bill and in series such as Avatar: The Last Airbender the animated series (forget the godawful Shyamalan movie).

Chapter 8 entitled 'Gaming the World' looks at how Nintendo rose to prominence but with the usual American-centric 'Video Game Crash'. It's a compelling if oft told tale which didn't affect Europe which was thriving with its microcomputer scene but in this telling Mario saved the day. As well as the usual retread of the console wars of the 90s with Sega vs. Nintendo duking it out, we get an interesting section on the rise of Pokemon as the unlikely Gameboy system seller in 1998 (a decade after its first release), as well as a look at this multi-media success story which still successfully earns billions every year.

Chapter 9, ‘The Antisocial Network’, looks at the Internet and how it brought different tribes together. 2chan was originally an otaku site where people could share stories, anime and manga but morphed into a more chaotic force, embracing all that is good and the bad. This reached a crescendo with #Gamergate which under the guise of ethics in video game journalism was more like a misogynistic screed against women in the industry. I remember at the time being embarrassed to be a gamer as this became world news as many in the industry were threatened with real world violence whilst also enduring horrific online abuse. This hate hidden under the pretense for 'Freedom of Speech' was tapped into by Steve Bannon, Brietbart and the alt-Right and led to a huge wave of Republican support. However, much good has come out of this forum including Anonymous and its support for Occupy Wall Street, the Arab Spring and support for Hong Kongers against draconian Chinese extradition laws. To be sure 2chan was the progenitor of these online chat spaces and forums but it has had a long tail and its effects are reverberating worldwide.

The Epilogue ends with a look at Haruki Murakami's magical realism and how he taps into the confusing and often surreal situations that exist in the world; there is universality in his works about the human condition that appeals and speaks truth about our existential angst.

Alt says that the world has been led by an attention economy, clicking tapping and swiping away on our phones, but that Covid has created a a state of worldwide hakikomori, but in this case enforced ahut-ins and people have consumed video games, streamed shows via Netflix or Amazon Prime, read and listened to music but more than that, it has led to a spike in creativity.

He ends on a note of optimism that while Japan no longer is at the cutting edge of pop culture and technology, due in part to globalisation and the rise of China and South Korea, there is still much to learn from the country as many conditions in the West were first felt in Japan 2 decades ago, it was the true pioneer. However the success of Animal Crossing during the pandemic, Pokemon Go and hologram concerts (which originated in Japan with Hatsune Miku over a decade ago) shows Japan is still a potent cultural force.

Alt’s book is essential reading for anyone with an interest in Japan and the look at the subcultures is fascinating stuff. A worthwhile read and highly recommended by me!

LINK: Preserving the Spirit of Media Past

LINK- Why I Collect

LINK- The Golden Voyage of Sinbad- Cult Movie Review

LINK- The Transportive Nature of Objects (And the Power of Mini Consoles)

LINK- My One True Gaming Constant in Life- Nintendo

Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture- Book Review

November 10, 2020

I'm not one for biographies really as I find them either too broad, often lacking detail, like a poor Wikipedia page, or I find them sensationalist with exaggerated detail, like a Wikipedia page. However having heard amazing things about Masters of Doom by David Kushner, I thought I'd give it a whirl and downloaded the audiobook read by Wil Wheaton on Audible.

The biography is focused on the creation of the iconic game Doom through exploring the history and unique working dynamic between its creators John Romero and John Carmack, or the 'Two Johns' as they are known.

The book starts off with Romero's tough upbringing at the hands of his military step-dad and cowed mother, his escape being the arcades and Dungeons and Dragons. We also hear about Carmack struggling with mainstream education as it was too boring and uninteresting for his analytical mind. We learn how both fell in love with coding and programming, how they created their own games for video game magazine covers and then the American Dream is realized as they recognise a kindred spirit in the other. With their coding prowess and outsider status granting them a certain amount of creative freedom, they decided to create their own video game company.

Initially this meant borrowing equipment from the company they were both working at but, once rumbled, they forged their own path creating Id Software and releasing games such as Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Quake 1, 2 and 3- all revolutionary games that created and then iterated on the FPS formula they helped create.

However, like all tales of fast success there is the downfall which is brought about by a heady cocktail of arrogance, hubris and jealousy. The 'Two Johns' find their personalities and visions for the future are different and as such they split, with Romero leaving the company to create his own studio Ion Software, creators of Deus Ex (yay) and Daikatana (Boo) whilst Carmack iterated with Doom 2 and 3 and Quake 2 and 3. The book end with the 'Two Johns' kind of reconciliating and moving on with their lives.

Masters of Doom is a fascinating read about the heady days of programming and the crazy crunch that the team put themselves through to realize their vision. Their pioneering method of releasing Doom as shareware shook the established publishing world and offered a glimpse of a halcyon future where creators and audiences could connect whilst avoiding the middle men of publishing. By interviewing and meticulously researching video game magazines and resources from the time, Kushner offers us a real insight into a period of seismic gaming shift where video games had 'matured' and took over the world.

This book is a great and compelling read for anyone interested in this rock n roll period of game development when anything seemed possible. Alongside Leigh Alexander's 'Breathing Machine', where the author creates a memoir of sorts about 'Growing up internet', the book is a great reflective read of this unique time when video games were no longer just for kids but took over the world and brought the gaming community through LAN parties. A highly recommended read!

LINK: Blood, Sweat and Pixels- Book Review

LINK- Uncharted 4- Video Games As Art

LINK: Breathing Machine- Book Review

Lost Girls: The Invention of the Flapper- Book Review

July 9, 2020

Ever since watching the silent movies of the 1920s and 30s during my university years in the 90s and 00s, I've been fascinated with the image of the flapper. I was enthralled by Louise Brooks in the seminal 'Pandora's Box' as she played carefree Lulu, moving through high society until it all comes tumbling down.

The image of the confident, fast talking young women draped in stylish dresses, who wore their hair short and bobbed and danced with abandon, surrounded by art deco glory fascinated me.

This book by Linda Simon looks at the evolution as well as the cultural and social history of the flapper and their impact on fashion, media, politics, LGBTQ+ and feminist rights. It is a meticulously researched journey through the chronological evolution of the flapper. After the stuffiness of the pre-war era, how do this massive cultural shift occur and why? It is all covered here in this fascinating book.

The book is a fascinating look at the mergence of the flapper.

I had always thought that the flapper came about after the first World War, as the lack of men and rights afforded to women through suffrage created confident young women. However, this books reveals that the term flapper was used as far back as London in the 1890s to describe thin, adolescent girls with long legs who were said to be 'flapping their butterfly wings.'

With time, this morphed into the flapper we associate with many Hollywood films of the time from the Roaring 20’s and Fitzgerald. Clara Bow, Colleen Moore and, of course, Louise Brooks all played silent movie sirens, flappers of dubious character who rebelled against the societal 'norms' and partook in hedonistic individualism and rampant consumerism. However, what we uncover is that flapper-dom was much more complex that this reductionist retelling.

It was a combination of Peter Pan (no, really), the Suffragettes, the freedom afforded by lack of men due to the tragedy of the Great War and the rise of dance halls mixed with the popularity of strong female leads in books that moulded the flapper as we see her today. The rise of fashion houses and makeup added to the sense of liberation and freedom these young women were seeking, against a backdrop of organised staid life and expectations set by society that didn’t provide them with agency.

Reading through the book I was taken by how familiar the struggles and concerns sound after more than 100 years. Simon discusses the concerns that swept through the society such as the fear of declining morals, and the erosion of the family, the worry that the 'degenerates' were reproducing at a faster rate and would lead to white 'race suicide', how by providing rights to other people you would somehow dilute or erode democracy. All these concerns have been around for a long time. And be around for a long time to come.

The book is fascinating as it looks at how the flappers won a hard fought battle for some semblance of equality and agency and how they were initially derided, then accepted and finally aspired towards.

LINK- Dead of Night: Cult TV Review

LINK- Children of the Stones: Cult TV Series Review

LINK- Tom’s Midnight Garden: Cult TV Review

Blood, Sweat and Pixels- Book Review

July 2, 2020

Whilst flicking through Audible, I came across ‘Blood, Sweat and Pixel’, a book looking at the process of video game creation. The topic obviously appealed to me but what really sold me was that it looked at many games I had played. So, alongside looking at Naughty Dog, creators of blockbusters like the Uncharted series and CD Projeck Red, who created the Witcher series, you had solo developers or smaller teams who created Shovel Knight and Stardew Valley.

I purchased the Audible version of the book and enjoyed my time with it.

I knew the author, Jason Schreier, from his long form investigative games journalist work from sites like Kotaku and magazine like Edge. He is a video game fan but was also not afraid to research where there were problems or issues in the industry. He was the writer who uncovered the unhealthy attitude to crunch at Naughty Dog, the mismanagement at Bioware with Anthem and the inappropriate behaviour of management of several high ups in big gaming companies. Using my backlog of Audible credits I bought the audio books and dived in.

Each chapter of the book focussed on the story of a particular game and they were all engaging, entertaining, emotional and enlightening in equal measure as we hear of teams and solo developers overcoming (for the most part) some extreme adversity.

It kicks off with Obsidian's last ditch effort to save itself when it pitched Pillars of Eternity pitch on crowd funding site Kickstarter. This story was inspirational as it showed how to adapt, play to your strengths and use your moxie to forge your own path.

The Uncharted 4 chapter deals with the issue of expectations and what happens when a project becomes unwieldy, struggling to find a way forward. In the case of Naughty Dog's highly anticipated Uncharted finale, it required firm hands at the tiller and thousands of hours of crunch to achieve. Unfortunately this took a huge mental, emotional and physical toll on many of the people behind the games creation... because, making games is hard.

In Stardew Valley we learn how the game was made by sole creator Eric Barone and how the internet has democratised publishing and creation of video game creation. This democratisation of creativity was last seen in the micro computer era of the 80s where lone bedroom coders could create a game and become legends. This gentle simulator game, where you play a desk jockey who gives up the rat race to become a farmer, took 5 years to complete but was a labour of love.

The Diablo 3 chapter is a look at how a much lauded series can carry a heavy weight as expectations are high. When a day 1 network issue rendered this game unplayable for most players due to an overloaded online server, it looked like the writing was on the wall as this was not a good way to endear yourselves to fans. When this was followed by days of players not being able to play the game they had paid for the situation seemed to escalate, and once they were on the grindy gameplay and online auction further compounded issues against the game. However, in a mea culpa the game underwent a transformation and with patches aplenty arose to become a much loved addition to the series.

The Halo Wars chapter looks at how Ensemble Studio, the creators of RTS Age of Empire, turned a classic PC genre stalwart into a console RTS, something thought impossible at the time. It's a heartening tale of trial and error and years of research and development.

The chapter on Dragon Age: Inquisition looks at how Bethesda created a redemptive game after the flawed Dragon Age 2 received a critical battering from reviewers and fans alike. The creative process was chaotic but by being focussed and inventive the game came out to much fanfare, gently massaging the poor profile of its parent company EA, who had won 'Worst Company in the US' 2 years in a row.

The Shovel Knight section is the tale of 3 creators leaving job security to build a passion project based on the nostalgia of 8bit NES games. Their story of risks and the rewards they reaped are heartening to hear.

In the Destiny chapter we learn how Bungie broke free of their Microsoft overlords and were able to stretch their creativity away from Halo to create a... FPS! But, they do say be careful of what what you wish for. They planned the game to run for 10 years. And to be made independently of all other big conglomerate company interference. This looks at what worked and what went wrong.

The Witcher 3 chapter looks at how a Polish company worked closely together with the author of the books and across the team to create an inspired RPG that is seen by many as the highlight of this gaming generation, even though it was released way back in 2015.

Schreier shows that all these games went through a baptism of fire to get made. It wasn't easy but the games were released. However, he ends with a cancelled game to show how fraught the game creating process can be. With Star Wars 1313, he looks at how Lucas Arts, underwent a tailspin burning through 4 Presidents within 10 years, which resulted in confusion and lack of vision from a studio that had built a reputation of excellence. When momentum finally built with Star Wars 1313, Disney purchased the studio and shuttered it after a short time.

Over the course of the 10 games we see tales of crunch, iterations, scrapping hundreds of hours of work and burnout because making games is hard, the creative process is hard. This peek behind the curtain is a great look at the video games industry as a whole and is an excellent and compelling read. Schreier writes with passion and a clear knowledge of the subject matter and it is refreshing to see an honest insight into the creative process of the biggest entertainment industry in the world.

LINK- Uncharted 4- Video Games As Art

LINK- Grenade Genie Purchase Page

Grenade Genie- Book Review

June 27, 2020

*Full disclosure- I am good friends with the author of the book, however I purchased the book myself and the review of this poetry collection is based on my real thoughts and opinions*

I'm not one for poetry. There, I've said it! It feels like such a relief getting it our there. I can't deny it. I love the flights of fancy and evocative use of language but I don't always 'get' poetry. I find that it often doesn't speak to me, typically being florid flights of fancy or obscure verbose language that I don't always understand. I suppose the last time I really looked at poetry was in secondary school and the intense study and dissecting of poetry for essay writing killed any enthusiasm I once might have had for it.

My favorite poets are Michael Rosen, Benjamin Zephenaiah and Spike Milligan because they write with such joie de vivre and a love of the absurd. I've never had to look at the deep and meaningful purpose behind 'Ning Nang Nong', 'Talking Turkey' or 'Chocolate Cake' and I suppose the rose-tinted nostalgia attached to these from my childhood plays a part too.

There's no profundity or deepness to these, but in my maturity I've started to develop a deeper appreciation of the arts; I like ballet (very occasionally, about once every 10 years is great, as it lasts a loooong time), opera (the music at least as the performances last longer than the extended 'Lord of the Rings' cuts), classical music (my favorite at the moment being Vaughn Williams 'Fantasia on a theme for John Tallis' and Arvo Part’s 'Spiegel I'm Spiegel') and pop philosophy (I like Kant- I am going to avoid the low hanging fruit there).

Having said all that, when Tom told me that he was publishing a new poetry collection I was enthused as he often writes about themes that I can relate to; the ennui of kebab joints, girls in headscarves and life in urban spaces. However, when I read the blurb of his latest collection, 'Grenade Genie' I was hooked; a series of political poems broken down into 4 segments- cursed, coerced, combative and corrupted? Yes please! This appealed to me in these challenging and uncertain times as the themes covered seemed prescient of the current unstable situation the world finds itself in. During this time of introspection and reflection, these poems really get to the heart of the matter and are vital.

The 25 poems vary in tone but all are different shades of dark. I read them all but a few very much resonated with me and left a lingering after-taste that I cannot shake, much like after watching a David Lynch film where you know you've experienced something strange yet beautiful that says much about the hidden facade of the world.

The poem named after the book, ‘Grenade Genie’, talks about the creation process, of making something and letting it fly into the wild:

Pull out the pin to release the genie
And therefore be
On the receiving end of the huge explosion

And I believe that this gets to the crux of this collection; putting a mirror up to the world through the lens of poetry and seeing the reaction you get.

‘Security Pass’ considers the way that we are all cogs in a machine with our security passes that gain us access to a small part of a whole capitalist industrial complex:

The system recognises-
That the thin row of binary
Will always trump any last shred of humanity

‘Jackpot’, meanwhile, is a great look at the pointlessness of capitalism and consumer culture. Considering the unedifying scenes of queues around the block of Nike Town, Primark and Marks & Spencer's after lockdown easing a few days ago, I found this verse interesting:

What else can we do at this stop
When we've all been programmed since birth
To have nothing else but shopping in the brain?

That's what the finest poetry can do, offer us an insight into the human condition. It lets us peer deep into the soul and look at the wonders and the darkness and the futility and the hope of it all and dream of what could be.

I'm not being a shill here but this collection of poetry is timely and essential at what is a pretty interesting time to be alive. It is challenging, uncomfortable in place but mostly it is true. What a time to be alive! During this time of reflection and introspection you cant do better than looking at this book as a manifesto of the 'state of the nation'.

LINK- Comics in the Classroom (article)

LINK- What Comics Have Taught Me

Why I No Longer Talk To White People About Race- Book Review

June 20, 2020

With all that is going on in the world with the Black Lives Matter movement, I thought I'd continue to educate myself about race, racism, colonialism and its legacy and the idea that many current systems perpetuate the status quo.

The movement has been triggered in large part due to the death of George Floyd at the hand of a white policeman in America, but this is only part of the larger problem of police brutality and race relations across much of the world. I'd already read Akala's book ‘Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire’ and found it candid and informative but when a friend recommended I read 'Why I No Longer Talk To White People About Race' by Reni Eddo- Lodge I thought I'd give it a whirl.

The book is short but essential reading.

The author starts by sharing the blog post that the she wrote several years ago which started the whole process, whereby she discusses that white people are often not aware or do not see the injustice, suffering and discrimination that black people often face.

The book is part autobiographical with personal events that have informed Eddo-Lodge about racism she has suffered alongside key historical facts and data to provide context. This was a key motivation behind the writing of this book Eddo- Lodge says, rather than just a polemic she sought to create a call to arms for everyone to get knowledgeable about key issues that the black community face.

Eddo- Lodge believes that due to the fact that white people come to discussions about race and legacies of colonialism from an unequal place they are unaware of many of the issues and discrimination that black people face daily in all walks of life. Many people are unaware of their history, and not simply the jingoistic idyll of the British Empire but the pains caused and the legacy of empire, there cannot be an open discussion of racism which still affects black people today through systemic and structural racism. These are all pretty valid points I think and are respectfully shared.

Eddo- Lodge asserts that the American Civil Rights Movement brought race and race-relations to the fore, but in the UK this has not happened and the only coverage and discussions we’ve had are based on the race riots, injustice, and activist movements which have not been given coverage or have been disingenuous covered or spun.

Of particular interest to me was feminism and specifically how black women are portrayed within this lens. Eddo- Lodge discusses how, even within this movement there are hierarchies. When she aired these views on ‘Women’s Hour’ she faced a backlash and was attacked on social media and faced an onslaught from people to say she was ‘playing the race card’ or ‘being the victim’.

I found the book to be very interesting as I'm of Pakistani heritage but was born in Barking, England in 1981 to second generation parents who came over in the 1970s. I cannot always comprehend what it would be like to live through segregation, race riots and various police investigations. I have been picked on on occasion, especially in my youth, but rarely have I felt as ostracised and demonized as Eddo- Lodge mentions. However, that's the whole point of this book. There are hierarchies of racism and unfortunately, historically black people have been at the nadir of this pyramid, no matter how much Home Secretary Priti Patel tries to gaslight it.

The book is incisive in its scrutiny of the history and evolution of racism and is essential reading for all who want to be armed with facts. I’ve read certain reviews where some people have criticised Eddo- Lodge of not being critical of the actions (or inactions) of the black community but I believe she discussed the structural and institutional inequalities that made it difficult for many black people and people of colour to move through life as simply as many of their white counterparts quite clearly and fairly. Many may disagree and that is their wont but this will open your eyes to many things we have become ‘normalised’ to. I do wish that the title was different though as I can see that it comes across as quite antagonistic and provocative, enough to get the back up of the audience you are purportedly trying to reach.

That said, Eddo- Lodge delivers a searing indictment of the state of play and I hope that by having this book gain prominence during this turbulent but interesting time, we can finally start to move the race conversation forward and see real change happen for the betterment of everyone, irrespective of race, colour or creed.

LINK- On And On And Colston ( Or, How We Kinda Sort of Learned to Talk About the Legacy of Colonialism and the British Empire)

LINK- ‘Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire’