Ahh illness, the bane of everyone's enjoyment. To avoid confusion, this week's recommendation is being done by Max (yours truly) and Dasha. Who are those fools? It doesn't matter really, but all you need to know is that this is being done as Chris and Darren have fallen victims to illness. Rest in peace my sweet cherubs. Now, illness is quite a common theme in the things that we entertain ourselves with. It can be a simple plot device that drives a story forward, or something that everything in said plot is based around. Either way (in terms of home entertainment, illness in real life is fucking awful), it can create something pretty darn interesting and enjoyable, just like in the three things that myself and Dasha are recommending to you this week. Take note fools, this shit is good.
Little Miss Sunshine- Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris (Film) - Author: Dasha
You may be thinking to yourself “Little Miss Sunshine doesn’t sound like a film about any type of sickness. It sounds wonderful!” And to that I reply “shut up and stop jumping to conclusions.” This film certainly isn’t anything to do with sunshine and rainbows as the title may suggest. While it could be argued that this film doesn’t have too much to do with physical sickness, it has a lot to do with mental sickness and family dysfunctions. While this all sounds pretty depressing (and it kind of is), the film is still hilarious, with it being a black comedy and all, and even after all the chaotic events that occur throughout, you still feel pretty happy inside after it’s over. The film is based around a little girl named Olive who wants to be the next “Little Miss Sunshine” in a beauty contest that is taking place in California, but due to economic problems and her family being, well, slightly insane, it looks like her chances of her entering the contest are pretty slim. However, eventually the family decide that they should go, and they all cram into an old VW van and set out on a long, stressful road trip to California. Olive’s Dad, Richard, the asshole of the film, is a major control freak who constantly tries to keep the family in check, and always fails. Grandad Edwin (hands down the best character) is an aggressive, cocaine-addicted mess who was kicked out of his retirement home due to bad behaviour and general tom foolery. Brother Dwayne, refuses to speak and insists that he hates everyone. Uncle Frank is recovering from a suicidal attempt after being heartbroken and abandoned by his partner. Well, I think the rest of the film is pretty self-explanatory, a bunch of crazy family members on a painfully long road trip in a van that hardly works. Yeah, shit hits the fan. Pretty hard too. Its witty humour mixed with its dark and touchy themes makes an absolutely fantastic black comedy that I would recommend to all. All that are above 15 anyway. That’s the certificate I’m afraid.
Back To Black- Amy Winehouse (Music) - Author: Dasha
There must be a reason why this album reached number 20 on the Rolling Stone list of “Top 100 songs from the 2000’s”, and that reason is because this album is absolutely phenomenal. It’s a beautiful jazz and soul influenced album about the singer’s struggle with drugs, drinking, and intense heartbreak. Having listened to this album after her tragic death back in 2011 due to a drug overdose, lyrics such as “I don’t ever want to drink again, I just need a friend” seem really haunting because you can really sense the overwhelming desperation that she felt, and it shows how badly that she was affected because of her drinking problem and drug use. Even the fact that the first song on the album is called “Rehab” and the last is called “Addiction” really shows that Amy Winehouse had some serious issues, and you can really tell that her raw emotions were poured into this album. Even with all of the underlying darkness and depression that this album has, you can’t help but dance along to it, because it’s just so damn jazzy. I’m pretty sure everyone has probably heard “Rehab”, since it’s been overplayed to death, but you can’t help but be interested by how upbeat it is and how sharply it contrasts with her desperate cries for help in the lyrics, and even though a lot of artists write about this kind of struggle, you have to admire how extremely open she is about her problems. If you haven’t already, go and listen to this album, you won’t be disappointed. Unless you are, then I’m very sorry. (Not really).
The Last of Us – Naughty Dog (Game) - Author: Max
When we hear about illness in games, it is mostly related to an infection or virus that turns people into zombies. Now, The Last of Us is a game about a fungal infection that turns its hosts into cannibalistic monsters, but it is its focus on the characters that makes this game so good. I won't say too much about the story, but you play as a smuggler named Joel as you trek across a post apocalyptic US with a girl named Ellie and do everything you can to stay alive. That is the basic gist of it, but there is not only so much more to the in-game world as a whole, but there is so much more to the characters than any other game with a similar story. As the game progresses, you can see the relationship between Joel and Ellie evolve; their continuous contextual conversations (accidental alliteration... WHOOPS) drive the story along and change how you feel about each of the two characters. The simple fact that this game is set 20 years after the outbreak just makes it stand out further. You can truly see how humanity has disintegrated over the years and you are constantly reminded of the lack of hope of the people. Also, the graphics are stunning. Naughty Dog really took the PS3 and scraped out all of its potential until there was nothing left. While you are journeying through desolate settings, murdering the infected and scraping through intense and heart pounding situations while simultaneously being massively depressed by the situation as a whole, you will always stop to just look at how beautiful the scenery is, admiring Naughty Dog for how much effort they put into this masterpiece. Now, I can only write so much about this (as Chris will shout at me for writing too much), but The Last of Us is a work of genius, and there is so much good shit that I haven't covered. From just looking back at each of their games, it is clear that Naughty Dog has just vastly improved as developers. It is their constant innovation and production of fantastic stories in their games that makes them one of my favourite game developers of all time (seriously, Jak II has one of my most favourite story lines in a video game ever). I never actually finished The Last of Us, but I can't wait to smash through the remastered version once I get my PS4 for Christmas, SONNNNNNN.
So there you have it. Illness. What a harsh mistress it is. Now hopefully Chris and Darren will have recovered by next week so they can PULL THEMSELVES TOGETHER AND WRITE ON THEIR FUCKING BLOG. But yeah, myself and Dasha thank you for reading all of this sick and nasty fun (assuming you did, which you better have) and bid you farewell, the recommendations should be back to normal next Sunday. Oh and also don't get ill....
Don't.
I'm watching you.
BYE!
HUUUAAAARRGGHH!
Little Miss Sunshine- Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris (Film) - Author: Dasha
You may be thinking to yourself “Little Miss Sunshine doesn’t sound like a film about any type of sickness. It sounds wonderful!” And to that I reply “shut up and stop jumping to conclusions.” This film certainly isn’t anything to do with sunshine and rainbows as the title may suggest. While it could be argued that this film doesn’t have too much to do with physical sickness, it has a lot to do with mental sickness and family dysfunctions. While this all sounds pretty depressing (and it kind of is), the film is still hilarious, with it being a black comedy and all, and even after all the chaotic events that occur throughout, you still feel pretty happy inside after it’s over. The film is based around a little girl named Olive who wants to be the next “Little Miss Sunshine” in a beauty contest that is taking place in California, but due to economic problems and her family being, well, slightly insane, it looks like her chances of her entering the contest are pretty slim. However, eventually the family decide that they should go, and they all cram into an old VW van and set out on a long, stressful road trip to California. Olive’s Dad, Richard, the asshole of the film, is a major control freak who constantly tries to keep the family in check, and always fails. Grandad Edwin (hands down the best character) is an aggressive, cocaine-addicted mess who was kicked out of his retirement home due to bad behaviour and general tom foolery. Brother Dwayne, refuses to speak and insists that he hates everyone. Uncle Frank is recovering from a suicidal attempt after being heartbroken and abandoned by his partner. Well, I think the rest of the film is pretty self-explanatory, a bunch of crazy family members on a painfully long road trip in a van that hardly works. Yeah, shit hits the fan. Pretty hard too. Its witty humour mixed with its dark and touchy themes makes an absolutely fantastic black comedy that I would recommend to all. All that are above 15 anyway. That’s the certificate I’m afraid.
Back To Black- Amy Winehouse (Music) - Author: Dasha
There must be a reason why this album reached number 20 on the Rolling Stone list of “Top 100 songs from the 2000’s”, and that reason is because this album is absolutely phenomenal. It’s a beautiful jazz and soul influenced album about the singer’s struggle with drugs, drinking, and intense heartbreak. Having listened to this album after her tragic death back in 2011 due to a drug overdose, lyrics such as “I don’t ever want to drink again, I just need a friend” seem really haunting because you can really sense the overwhelming desperation that she felt, and it shows how badly that she was affected because of her drinking problem and drug use. Even the fact that the first song on the album is called “Rehab” and the last is called “Addiction” really shows that Amy Winehouse had some serious issues, and you can really tell that her raw emotions were poured into this album. Even with all of the underlying darkness and depression that this album has, you can’t help but dance along to it, because it’s just so damn jazzy. I’m pretty sure everyone has probably heard “Rehab”, since it’s been overplayed to death, but you can’t help but be interested by how upbeat it is and how sharply it contrasts with her desperate cries for help in the lyrics, and even though a lot of artists write about this kind of struggle, you have to admire how extremely open she is about her problems. If you haven’t already, go and listen to this album, you won’t be disappointed. Unless you are, then I’m very sorry. (Not really).
The Last of Us – Naughty Dog (Game) - Author: Max
When we hear about illness in games, it is mostly related to an infection or virus that turns people into zombies. Now, The Last of Us is a game about a fungal infection that turns its hosts into cannibalistic monsters, but it is its focus on the characters that makes this game so good. I won't say too much about the story, but you play as a smuggler named Joel as you trek across a post apocalyptic US with a girl named Ellie and do everything you can to stay alive. That is the basic gist of it, but there is not only so much more to the in-game world as a whole, but there is so much more to the characters than any other game with a similar story. As the game progresses, you can see the relationship between Joel and Ellie evolve; their continuous contextual conversations (accidental alliteration... WHOOPS) drive the story along and change how you feel about each of the two characters. The simple fact that this game is set 20 years after the outbreak just makes it stand out further. You can truly see how humanity has disintegrated over the years and you are constantly reminded of the lack of hope of the people. Also, the graphics are stunning. Naughty Dog really took the PS3 and scraped out all of its potential until there was nothing left. While you are journeying through desolate settings, murdering the infected and scraping through intense and heart pounding situations while simultaneously being massively depressed by the situation as a whole, you will always stop to just look at how beautiful the scenery is, admiring Naughty Dog for how much effort they put into this masterpiece. Now, I can only write so much about this (as Chris will shout at me for writing too much), but The Last of Us is a work of genius, and there is so much good shit that I haven't covered. From just looking back at each of their games, it is clear that Naughty Dog has just vastly improved as developers. It is their constant innovation and production of fantastic stories in their games that makes them one of my favourite game developers of all time (seriously, Jak II has one of my most favourite story lines in a video game ever). I never actually finished The Last of Us, but I can't wait to smash through the remastered version once I get my PS4 for Christmas, SONNNNNNN.
So there you have it. Illness. What a harsh mistress it is. Now hopefully Chris and Darren will have recovered by next week so they can PULL THEMSELVES TOGETHER AND WRITE ON THEIR FUCKING BLOG. But yeah, myself and Dasha thank you for reading all of this sick and nasty fun (assuming you did, which you better have) and bid you farewell, the recommendations should be back to normal next Sunday. Oh and also don't get ill....
Don't.
I'm watching you.
BYE!
HUUUAAAARRGGHH!
This is a cool theme. I really like all these reccomendations
ReplyDeleteThey say you don't know what you have until it's gone (or something along those lines). I missed the blog last weekend. For real.
ReplyDeleteI thought this weeks theme was pretty nifty, cool link there. The music review particularly struck a nerve with me, and not just because of the emotive writing.
Well done Max and Dasha. Nice save.