Welcome again to We Have Always Lived in the Kraken, a pop culture blog transmitted directly to you from the belly of the beast. Here in the Notes we’ll show you this week’s posting schedule, but first, a little Seafood for Thought.
MASSIVE Game of Thrones SPOILERS, but this week my thoughts are this and only this forever and ever:
David Robertson
From the depths of the Kraken, here is what we are bringing you this week.
Monday: Nothing new today, as there has been a delicious Pop Rocks explosion, and we are still trying to eat our way to buried survivors.
Tuesday: This week’s Loaded Die features three games about progress toward mastery, whether that’s mastery over the self, the villains, or the train routes of modern-day Japan. Plus they’re all really fun!
Wednesday: Our resident Social Justice Cleric takes on Hollywood hiring practices behind the camera in Atomika vs. The Creative Gender Gap.
Thursday: Oh my, what’s that? Why, it’s David returning with The Anticipated! This time David brings his thoughts on Warcraft. Is this film the beginning of the video game movie renaissance or simply more of the same?
Friday: It’s time again for another edition of the Life in the Kraken Podcast: Westeros Edition. Join David, Kyu, and special guest Matt Morris as they discuss Game of Thrones Season 6, Episode 9, “Battle of the Bastards.”
Saturday: Baturdays closes out 1940 with the final story in Batman #4, where Batman proves once and for all that he is NOT Bruce Wayne. Yeah, you heard me.
Catch of the Week:
Each and every week the residents here in the Kraken will offer one recommendation for the week that we think you all would enjoy. It might be a movie. It might be a book. Who knows? This is your… Catch of the Week.
Keskel: This week I recommend the new Netflix/Dreamworks show Voltron: Legendary Defender, a perfect example of nostalgia and postmodern remixing done right. The new Voltron embraces and engages with all of the silly parts of the 80s original but is also taken seriously as a children’s show with depth by a generation of animators who have learned all the right lessons from Avatar: The Last Airbender and Legend of Korra.
Kyu: This week I recommend marveling at this insanity. FX’s excellent animated action workplace comedy show Archer did a complex scavenger hunt last year, but it was nothing compared to the puzzle hidden in the show’s most recent season. There’s a hidden website featuring actual complete video games under Krieger’s name (including a hilarious parody of the already parodic Desert Bus), extensive amounts of codebreaking and Photoshoppery, and even key clues hidden in the title sequence (which went unnoticed for an unexpectedly long time). In my opinion, hidden games like these are their own form of art, snuck lovingly into a host work in order to reward obsessive fandom as well as giving people a chance to work together to achieve something complex, fun, and educational. The sheer amount of effort that went into this, both by the creators and the fans, is not only impressive but I think also says something hopeful about our culture–that for all the negative situations and conversations pop culture can generate, it can also engage very strongly with our innocent sense of play. Now that the show has been renewed for another few seasons, I hope the people behind Archer take this opportunity to build an even crazier puzzle next year.
David: I’ll admit, I generally avoid making Marvel and DC comic based recommendations because they are very prevalent on their own, but Wally West is back in the DC Universe, and all is well in the world. He is set to be a big part of Titans, the comic that will once again acknowledge that the original Teen Titans existed and were awesome. Hopefully, this comic will be a major part of DC Rebirth. The first issue, which came out last week, was a good start, so jump in now before you fall too far behind.
That’s it for this week. All visitors should be advised that there is coffee and donuts in the cafeteria all week for free, provided you can answer three of the Interrogator’s most devious riddles.