Culture Consumption: March 2025

Books

Into the Forest and All the Way Through by Cynthia Pelayo is a collection of true crime poetry, honoring the multitude of missing, lost, and fallen women and girls. Each of the poems is a kind of haunting, bringing forth a memory of the lost so that they may not be forgotten. With clear, beautiful language, these poems present horror and heartbreak and the slimmest shiver of hope — with each one including the name, race, age, location, and the phone number for the investigating police department on the chance that the reader might have some information to help the investigation.

Reading these poems brings forth so much sorrow for these missing women and children, especially since these names represent only a small fraction of those who have faced terrible abuse and violence. This collection of poetry is a beautiful and tragic work — and an absolutely necessary read.

Galaga by Greg Kimball explores the history and cultural impact of the arcade game released in 1981. Written in short snippets, representing the stages of the gameplay, the book provides insight into gaming history, the various spinoffs and swag produced for the game, and various pop culture references, from song to film (such as Tony Stark pointing out that a S.H.I.E.L.D. member is playing the game during The Avengers). But what really makes this book special is the Kimball’s descriptions of how much the game meant to him. In the face of physical abuse as a child, the author turned to video games — particularly Galaga — as a form of escape.

“As a boy, I did not want to live the life I had and playing almost any game allowed me to leave it,” writes Kimball. “Video games were a new level of escape. Putting a quarter in any video game machine game me a new life for as long as I could stay alive.”

When I first started reading John Keel’s The Mothman Prophecies, I assumed it would primarily focus on the titular mothman, a creature I’ve known as a shadowy cryptid haunting the Point Pleasant area that acted as a kind of harbinger of disasters to come. However, the mothman actually plays the smallest of roles in the book, which is more a collection of modern-day folklore, presenting strange experiences in the West Virginia area — particularly UFO sightings. Keel collects and shares tales from witnesses and contactees, bringing together all of his knowledge from years of UFO research to present encounters of flying birdmen, strange lights, men in black, aliens among us, and other strange occurrences. His book, which become a bestseller, popularized the story of the mothman as well as other forms of high strangeness — making it worth a read for those interested paranormal storytelling. (CW: The book sometimes includes outdated descriptions for minorities and women.)

“17776, Or, What Football Will Look Like in the Future," written by Jon Bois and developed by Graham MacAree, is a multimedia experience, combining text with gifs, video, and other interactive elements to craft a wild, beautiful, hopeful media experience. Mostly told through the perspective of three space probes that have awoken to artificial intelligence, the story dives into the distant future, providing a vision of humanity that is at once very different and very similar to today. I don’t want to say much more than that, since it’s worth exploring this work on its own terms, but I’ll leave you with my favorite lines, “They are creatures of play. They will be creatures of play until the end of time.”

Books Finished This Month:

1. Chain Mail Bikini: An Anthology of Women Gamers, edited by Hazel Newlevant

2. 17776, Or, What Football Will Look Like in the Future, written by Jon Bois and developed Graham MacAree

3. The Mothman Prophecies: A True Story by John Keel

4. Galaga by Greg McKeown

5. Into the Forest and All the Way Through by Cynthia Pelayo

Total Books for the Year: 13

Still in Progress:

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver and Uncanny: The Origins of Fear by Junji Ito.

Short Stories & Poetry

A selection of works I recently read in journals and online publications, with a few lines from the text shared here.

“Nuliajuk and the Birds” by Shantell Powell (Strange Horizons) — 

“Rebirth of the Rain” by Vivian Chou (Penumbric) — 

Movies

Bohemian Rhapsody is an entertaining biopic about Queen, one of the greatest rock bands of all time. The film portrays how the band came together and rose to fame. Although there are certainly some struggles as they grew increasingly famous — particularly Freddie Mercury (played brilliantly by Rami Malek) — what I love about the band (at least, as they are portrayed here) is their sheer love for making music and the willingness to experiment with sound. Their work led to so many iconic songs (more than I even realized) and it was such a delight to see the development song’s and have it come on screen.

After watching the movie, we immediately turned on Queen’s live performance at Live Aid to see the real performance. We marveled at the charisma of the band, and were equally impressed with how closely Malek must have analyzed and studied Mercury’s gestures and movements in order to mimic them so closely.

New-to-Me Movies Watched Last Month:

1. The Mothman of Point Pleasant (2017)

2. The Bray Road Beast (2018)

3. Demon House (2018)

4. Shadows in the Desert: High Strangeness in the Borrego Triangle (2024)

5. Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)

Television

After stumbling into several clips of Sister Andrea being awesome in Evil, I started watching the show and completed the first two seasons. The show follows a team of assessors appointed by the Catholic Church to look into strange phenomena and determine whether it is supernatural or mundane in origin. The team includes David Acosta (Mike Colter), a soon-to-be priest and believer in god and the devil; Kristen Bouchard (Katja Herbers), a therapist who used to work for the district attorney’s office and who has rejected the Catholic Church; and Ben Shakir (Aasif Mandvi), an atheist who examines the technology and science behind the cases. I love each of these three characters and how they work together. Each of them has strong opinions about what they believe regarding the nature of the world, and they express those opinions openly. At the same time, they are respectful of each other and their knowledge and skillsets, which leads to some fascinating conversations.

The cases themselves are also interesting. They include demonic possessions or infestations (which need to be assessed to determine if an exorcism is required), miracles, angelic possession, reincarnation, among others. I love the way these cases are presented and then unfold (especially in the first season), with the group analyzing every aspect of the situation to determine the true source of the strange events.

But underlying all of these individual cases is a deeper threat with a clearly supernatural source, primarily embodied by the key villain Leland Townsend (Michael Emerson), a psychopath or demon (depending on the belief) orchestrating events and encouraging humans to violence in the name of a larger plan. Even when the cases themselves are proven to have mundane origins, they are nevertheless connected to this unfolding plan, which is hinted at leading to the end of the world.

I’m really enjoying this show, and I’m excited to see where all of this is leading.

I finally got around to watching season three of Ted Lasso, one of my favorite comfort shows. The first half of the season is somewhat frustrating to watch, as we see all our favorite characters struggling with being a bit lost. However, as expected with this series, the characters eventually figure out how to connect with each other, seek the support they need, and find their way to through redemption and forgiveness to become better people.

My one frustration with this season is Nate. While appreciate his growth in this season, figuring out what kind of man he wants to be outside of other people’s perception, I don’t really feel that he earned the redemption granted to him. Leaving one note with an apology to the kit boy doesn’t seem quite enough for the whole team seems to accept him back without question. By comparison, when Rebecca received forgiveness from Ted in season one, it was preceded by a full confession of her actions and a sincere, heartfelt apology. It was a deeply moving moment, and I wanted to see Nate perform a similar act — not just bursting in tears and apologizing (without clarifying why he’s apologizing) to Ted after already being accepted by the team, but a moment of clear repentance. And this didn’t quite satisfy in that regard — but I otherwise loved the season.

On another note, I’ve been on a paranormal documentary kick lately (both movies and shows). Encounters is a documentary series on Netflix, which explores a number of UFO encounters. Each event is involves numerous witnesses, with interviews from scientists, former government workers, and the witnesses/contactees themselves. One of the most interesting element of the series is that each encounter comes from a different location around the world — Central Texas, Zimbabwe, Wales, and Japan — highlighting different cultural perspectives on the alleged phenomenon.

Not so much paranormal, but definitely in the realm of the weird, is Secret Societies: In the Shadows. Each episode reflects on a different secret society — the Templars, the Illuminati, Skull & Bones, Le Cercle, the Fremasons, and the Hermetic order of the Golden Dawn. Actual historical evidence is presented, possible conspiracy theories are discussed and mostly debunked. It’s an interesting exploration of groups attempting achieve high levels of secrecy and control.

Games

Birth is a lovely point-and-click puzzle game created by Madison Karrh. Facing loneliness in the city, the main character decides to collect bones and organs to craft a companion to provide comfort. The player is then presented with the task of finding the bones and organs required to construct this companion. Moving through different spaces — stranger’s rooms, a market, a library, etc. — the player completes puzzles to find, uncover, and unlock the pieces.

Each puzzle is wonderfully crafted with intuitive solutions. None of them are particularly difficult, but they have a nice variety of puzzle types and layers of tasks that makes the gameplay feel satisfying. The only room in which I faced pure confusion was the art studio, which I returned to several times, thinking I missed something — but it was really just a chance to sketch and free play with the art supplies.

The game design is combined with whimsical artwork, full of bones, plants, and insects, revealing a world of people going about their lives finding their own loneliness and connection. The scenes, with their muted color palate, feel both grounded in the mundane activities of people living in a city, while also providing space for a sense of surreal and fantastical. The game takes about two hours to complete, and it’s a delight.

I completed Horizon: Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games) and this really is my comfort game. Playing it again (for the third time around), I found myself noticing and being moved by different elements of the story. I’ve always loved Aloy as a character and how she handles being an outcast, seeking the truth about where she comes from, delving into the past, and ultimately working to save the world through her strength and compassion. However, what grasped me the most this time around was the recorded histories of the ancient world, all the people who stood and fought for a future they would never be able to experience, working through impossible conditions, and all while knowing that in the end, the world as they knew it will be long gone by the time their efforts bear fruit. There’s a deep sorrow in their struggles and in the ways they find the the strength to move forward, even though the end of their world is inevitable.

Also, this game is just so gorgeous. As I was playing, I would periodically stop and just look at the beauty of this world in all of its various biomes, from its moonlit lakes to its stunning sunsets. While I am playing the remastered version (which ups the graphic quality), the reality is that this game was always beautifully designed.

The gameplay and combat are also just so wonderfully satisfying. While there are a few quality of life mechanics in the sequel that I miss here (namely, the ability to pulse the focus and highlight surroundings without having to slow down, being able to climb almost anything, and being able to glide from high locations), their absence doesn’t ultimately take away from the experience — and in some cases, I prefer the gameplay in the first game (such as the scroll bar for items being smaller, making it easier to find what you need).

As I played, I found my skills continually improving (thanks to my previous experience playing these games), and I was able to approach battles more strategically. I learned how to optimize my load out based on the enemy — not something I typically think deeply about as a known button masher. But I’m seeing how continued practice with a game I love is helping me to improve as a gamer. At some point in the future I plan to dive into New Game+ in Ultra Hard mode.

Animal Well (Shared Memory) has received high praise and with good reason. Taking the form of a little furry creature, the player awakens in a hauntingly beautiful underground world. The game provides no instructions; the player just has to explore the levels, which provide increasingly difficult challenges and enemies, along with puzzles. Figuring out how to progress involves a lot of bopping around and figuring things as you go, and then backtracking to areas you’ve already been based on new information.

The game uses environmental storytelling — presented in stunning jewel-toned pixel art— to evoke the feeling of a story, with this strange world full of animals. Some areas hint at temples in honor of some great animal god of spirit, and I’m fascinated to discover more about this eerie place.

Unfortunately, it remains to be seen as to whether I will actually be able to finish Animal Well. I have never been particularly good at platformers, and I’m definitely finding some of the sections of this game incredibly challenging. But I’m not willing to give up yet, and I’m hoping that I will be able to figure out how to work my way through it.

I always like the idea of tower defense games, so when I went looking for a new game to idly play on my phone, I decided to give Junkworld (Ironhide Games). Like most tower defense games, Junkworld allows the player to set up a limited amount of towers in anticipation of waves of enemies. The player is able to develop their own strategies by selecting from a deck of optional towers and tactics. The game features a comic book style with scrappy heroes facing facing off against cartoony villains. It’s a good time.

I shared in a previous post about exploring Habitica (HabitRPG, Inc.), a habit tracker and RPG, to help me develop some better habits in my daily life. In this regards, I’ve been enjoying it and have been seeing some benefits due to the color coding.

What I hadn’t engaged with until recently were the RPG elements of Habitica. At level ten, the player is able to select a class — warrior, mage, healer, or rogue — providing specific attributes to support the player. These mostly have to do with the rewards or punishments involved in completing or not completing tasks. For example, the warrior class allows for a good amount of defense (avoiding damage from not completing tasks) and offense (doing damage against bosses, while the mage class provides more experience points rewarded for completing tasks, allowing the player to level up more quickly.

In regards to quests and fighting bosses, there is no solo play. The player is required to join a party in order to participate. On behalf of the party, each player makes an attack against the boss and receives a hit in return based on the number to task not completed for that day. The damage accrued across all of the party members — which resulted in my character dying twice (due to the combined effect of the party damage and my own damage from not completing tasks). Dying knocks the player down a level and causes them to loose all their coins.

I almost considered turning off damage (an option for those having difficulties completing their tasks), but stuck with it — and the rewards were quite substantial making up for the previous losses. While this doesn’t necessarily provide a “fun” element for me personally, it does provide incentive to complete my tasks, since I don’t want my inactivity to impact other players. So, for the intended purpose of helping to form habits, it’s useful.

One of the downsides of requiring a party is that the narrative kind of gets jumbled. Each boss comes with a short story snippet, but because other party members suggest the quests and some are much more further along than others, it’s possible to have segments skilled (for example, The Gold Knight, Pt. 2 was my first boss fight). But since narrative is not my focus for this experience, I’m not too worried about it.

That's it for me! What are you reading? Watching? Loving right now?