Have you ever loved something, only to realize it’s a commercial flop or just obscure? What’s something that deserves more light than it got?
Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura, it was made by alumni of Interplay. The developers also made Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines, which probably is why it gets overshadowed.
Anyways gameplay is effected by build, equipment, and even race because of course it is this is a game made by Fallout 2 devs. If that sounds interesting but not convincing go watch Mandaloregaming, Warlockracy, or Ssethtzeentach for better reasons, though if you aren’t familiar with any or all of the YouTubers I mentioned I ordered it by least to most batshit.
Also if any Eastern Europeans try to say “Oh this was a big game when I was in school” yes I’m aware I know about how your bootleggers charged by the disk resulting in everyone having Fallout 1, 2, and Arcanum. Sadly the game didnt do nearly as well here in the US in my experience.
Tv series: MR ROBOT; Person of Interest.
Manwha: The Boxer
Book: not really obscure, but for me not enough known is the Walter Mosley’s Easy Rawlins series
Freddy Got Fingered.
It’s a practical joke disguised as a movie.
Though it has found a cult following since release, I don’t think it’s appreciated enough for how hilarious it is.
“I say Geneva, you hear Helsinki?!”
What a fun film.
FORTY MILLION FUCKING DEUTSCHEMARK BOB
“I only see one Lebaron, Freddy.”
Shashe? Japan Four.
Ah jeez, this movie is so artfully dumb, I really love it. Was never even a Tom Green fan either, don’t think I’ve watched really anything else he’s done. I’ve seen this movie an embarrassing number of times lol.
One thing working (strongly) against it, I do think it’s one of those movies that require a few watches to really “get” the humor. I’ve struggled with how to phrase that, because the movies I find that to be true with, don’t stand out for sophistication haha.
But it’s almost like ya gotta force yourself to chew through the surface level dumb, to appreciate the true deep well of dumb that lies just beneath the surface. Gotta let your guard down and let it in.
I also just have a soft spot for (barely) lovable irreparable weirdos as characters. Great movie.
“We can live like kings. WE CAN LIVE LIKE KIIIIINGS”
Some parts of the movie are not for everyone, to be clear 😐 Many parts, for lots of different reasons.
Yeah, it’s got its moments.
But they all still work toward its overall goal of being a big fuck you to the studio that paid him to make that film.
But the scenes that are funny are funny.
“GORD! GORDY!”
I didn’t realize the story, can’t be arsed to go look for a good read on it, but you should elaborate! Info is better from real humans lol. But yeah this makes a lot of sense hahaha.
There are many scenes that make me belly laugh, or did many years ago before I overdid it like a drug. That scene you referenced, 💀 “WAP!”
I’m gonna need to watch it again, been a long time.
FGF is the quintessential 2000s artistic expression film. It speaks to the unrepresented young middle class male psyche, the underachiever adrift in a sea of mediocrity, the futility and burden of male ego. It tells the viewer their own ordinary story in extraordinary words, speaking truth to those who so often refuse to listen. The point of the film is not to shock, disgust, or entertain, but to inquire of the audience, “I’m here. I exist. Do you?” And it refuses to relent until the answer is unequivocally “Yes!”
In this 73 page essay I will…
I’m just glad I didn’t pay anything to see it. I made it until he started working at the sausage factory, as I recall. Stopped and deleted it. I guess I didn’t get it.
How does it compare to “Windy City Heat”?
I’ve never seen Windy City Heat, but judging by the synopsis I’d say it’s useless to compare.
There’s almost no element of the real world or real human reactions in FGF. It’s just a demented little universe where insaneo shit happens.
The practical joke in FGF’s case is on the studio that produced it and the audience watching it.
WCH sounds fucking awesome in its own right though, definitely checking that out.
Daddy would you like some sausage?!
The Quest For Glory series from Sierra. They ended up making 5 and you could import your character from the previous game with some save disks. You could pick between a fighter, a thief, or a magic user and grow from there. In the later games you could grow and be a paladin, a sorcerer (with a staff), or the lead to a thieves guild depending on your choices. In the last game you got to become a king and pick a love interest that you met from previous games. The 4th game had a hot vampire babe, so normally tried to marry her.
I played the first game a lot when I was younger, the 16 color EGA version with a command line interface. I got pretty good at typing and spelling as a kid because of that game. The version I had was “Hero’s Quest”, it’s the same game, but a board game company sued them over the name, so later releases are called “Quest for Glory”.
AGDI did a remake of Quest for Glory II, which was pretty good when I played it. A pity the entire series wasn’t redone like that.
Chinese Lore Podcast, not a singular piece but worth a mention.
The translations aren’t bad, it’s incredible value for free audiobook/translations.
Goodnight Punpun
It’s a manga so if you are in the west it’s already going to be obscure. It’s also pretty messed up so it might not be for everyone, but if you are able to stomach it and read it, man is it amazing. It has very little anime bs that a lot of anime/manga suffer from; it’s not a shonen, it’s aimed at an older audience. It is very well written. The art is amazing. I could go on, but I think it’s best enjoyed blind.
It’s 13 volumes, but you can binge it in a day (not recommended). It has a lot of dialog so a lot more reading than most manga.
If you are not sure about the manga, read the first chapter. I think it sets the tone well for the rest of the series.
Like a lot of great things, I wish I could read the manga again for the first time.
It’s a manga so if you are in the west it’s already going to be obscure
What ?
“Manga” is the Japanese word for basically “comic”. In the English speaking communities it generally refers to Japanese comics where the primary difference is that the panels are generally read right to left whereas the text inside (if it’s been translated) is usually read in our typical left to right.
There’s more cultural differences largely stemming from how in the West (or at least my experience here in America) comics were often considered for kids or niche nerd communities, whereas in Japan it’s been more acceptable for a wider audience to read them for a longer time, but webcomics have been making the medium more accessible and thereby more acceptable for wider audiences so that stigma has been slowly being diminished.
I mean, mangas are practically the most mainstream thing in the west
Together with kpop
Anything but obscure
We’ll I can only speak to my experience, and my experience has been that manga is fairly popular among people around my age and younger, but still far from ubiquitous. I still regularly have to explain what manga is to people my age and especially those older than myself.
Regarding kpop, the fact that my phone’s keyboard doesn’t recognize the word and the fact that I’ve never heard a kpop song on the radio much less any sort of radio station dedicated to it I feel kinda demonstrates that it’s still pretty far from mainstream.
I really enjoyed Punpun but the ending pissed me off. The way Punpun found Aiko and what was in her mouth felt like the author just ran out of ideas and wanted to go for pure shock factor. Kinda felt like a slap in the face after reading the whole thing. Everything else was really good. It just felt like one of those instances where the author wrote himself into a corner he couldn’t get out of.
The visual depictions of Punpun in his extreme depressive state were exceptionally well done. I don’t think I’ve seen a better visual depiction of that before. Finding out about Kou’s mom made me tear up too. I have no idea if that’s an actually accurate depiction of schizophrenia but that kid was especially tortured.
Overall I’d say 8/10 and I’ll likely never read it again lol. Also Punpun and Berserk are the only 2 mangas in my local Barnes and Noble that are shrink wrapped lmao
Major punpun spoilers
Huh. I didn’t find that part odd when I read it. I just assumed it was a make shift gag. Honestly I wasn’t shocked by it much since I thought the story could only go in that direction from there. I was worried the author would give us the boring “everyone dies” ending but pleasantly surprised by what we got instead.
I personally really liked the ending.
Tap for spoiler
Her death isn’t the issue I have but the makeshift gag in her mouth. I’ve never heard of anyone gagging theirself before hanging theirself. Maybe I’m just uninformed by how people usually go about doing that. The rest of the ending I thought was fine. That whole part just felt out of place. If I was going to hang myself I wouldn’t even think of gagging myself let alone using my underwear to do so. Especially if I knew my boyfriend would immediately find me. Again I could just be uninformed.
Spoilers
I didn’t think about it that much when I read the manga originally, but in retrospect, I would guess she gagged herself so she doesnt wake up Punpun. Not because she didnt want him to find her but because she didnt want Punpun to rescue her.
Man, people can’t help but post stuff they like and is popular, not stuff that’s almost never talked about. Anyway…
The Irresponsible Captain Tyler is an old school anime most people slept on. It’s the sci-fi genera of “aliens are elves with big shoulder pads”, and Tyler is a bum, he decides he wants to join the military because it’s got free food and chicks dig guys in uniform, and then he accidentally starts an interstellar war with the aliens, accidentally becomes captain of a ship, and accidentally starts beating the crap out of the aliens without meaning to. The aliens think he’s a strategic genius, his bosses think he’s an idiot and are trying to get rid of him, and his crew can’t tell if he’s one or the other. The whole show has a lot of love put into it, each background character has it’s own name and voice actor, and the show is hilarious right off the bat till the end.
I also feel that Thief the Dark Project doesn’t get enough credit and attention. It was the first first person sneaker, has better stealth mechanics than even some modern games, and a great story and world building. I think maybe some sequels that weren’t as popular as the second one kinda made people drop the series but it was fantastic.
My favorite band of all time is Guided by Voices. Started out in the 80s recording on four track cassettes and pressing 500 copies of the record playing local dive bars. In the early 90s front man Robert Pollard was done after 7 albums and no success outside their hometown so he wrote their final album Propeller.
Of course that made a bit of splash and got them shows in NYC where they kind of took off (at least in 90s indie rock circles). After that success Pollard kept on going until 2004 with a rotating cast of characters when he disbanded GBV for good. I unfortunately only heard about them around this time and missed out on seeing them live.
Well when I say for good it only lasted until 2010 when the “classic lineup” reunited. They toured playing all the old hits for a yrar or two, then started releasing new music and haven’t stopped.
Bob is utterly prolific and has over 100 albums to his name across various solo and side projects. I don’t click as well with most of the newer stuff but I appreciate it non the less.
Pick any of the albums from 1990-96 for some lofi rock masterpieces, or 1997-2004 for some higher fidelity power pop. The lyrics and song titles are all fairly obsurd on any of them. Bee Thousand is their classic album but I’d recommend Under the Bushes, Under the Stars. Its a bit more polished than the cassette hiss of earlier stuff but still not a full studio sound.
Anyway thanks for coming to my TED talk.
Pretty much everything “Weird Al” Yankovic and his band have ever done.
They’ve gained more recognition in recent years, but most people done realize that his catalogue goes back to the mid-1970s. A lot of people are sleeping on his work, even today, because he’s categorized as a “novelty artist”.
The early stuff is rough, but from the mid-1980s on up is worth a listen even if you’re not a fan.
Also, UHF is a comedic masterpiece.
He was huge in 80s. Songs like Eat It and Like A Surgeon charted very well too.
I’ve come to appreciate that guy and how hard all of that actually is and should probably listen to more. He did a “Peter and the Wolf” back in ancient times that was seriously great, peerless listening for a kiddo I’d say.
Did you watch the silly biopic? Daniel Radcliffe? Can’t remember the name. I tried like 3 different times :( it was so over the top Weird Al that I couldn’t fault it for being flat out him AF, but I also just could not finish it lol.
My only other comment in this thread (so far) is singing the virtues of a movie called “Freddy Got Fingered”, so. Maybe it’s me lol.
I wish that album were still in print. You can easily “acquire” a digital copy, but it would be nice to own the physical record.
A great collab with Wendy Carlos.
It’s really fantastic and I’d buy a physical copy in whatever medium.
Thought I didn’t know Wendy Carlos, went and looked, nope I’m familiar! What a badass, and what a cool mind she must have. Of course this came from the two of them, thanks for adding an additional little gem to a treasure from my childhood :)
She’s a moog pioneer. And she collaborated with Al in '88.
A lot of people don’t know that Al was on a Brian Wilson track in the early 1990s, “Let’s Stick Together” (it later became “The Waltz”).
Yeah, I know her film score work (just by accident) a lot better than much else sadly. Looks like most of her library is unavailable on land, so to speak.
And I think I DID know that cuz I used to have a neighbor who was both a super fan and a trivia wiz, lol.
Definitely a supremely talented artist. The video of him conducting a Jr Orchestra is a lot of fun too, whatever he does, he really commits, which I’ve always admired.
I unabashedly love his first album. I Love Rocky Road, Another One Rides the Bus, Happy Birthday, Gotta Boogie: classics all!
Honestly, I sometimes even rock out to “Belvidere Crusin’” (1976).
Whuut? I had no idea that even existed. Wild! Thanks!
His stuff from the mid '70s is rough, but it’s still pretty funny.
certainly not an obscure videogame, but Prey (2017) is amazing, and for some reason it flopped. Also the DLC might be the best I’ve played, it’s a completely new kind of game
if you check the free epic games sometimes you might have it in your collection
Arkane studios make the best fucking games and they keep getting shafted and its not fair. At least they got their time in the sun with Dishonoured.
I came into this thread to mention Arx Fatalis but Prey is an even better game.
Different Arkane teams in different countries made Prey and Dishonored.
Prey was Arkane Austin, which was forced to make Redfall as a Live Service game to pump up the value of the companybefore being sold to Microsoft, leading over 70% of the Prey team to leave during the development.
Redfall flopped because Arkane Austin wasn’t a Live Service developer and they had zero interest in the game, and Microsoft closed the studio.
@Imhotep @Cantaloupe hmm. I have Prey in both Epic and Steam and never felt the urge to install it.
How does it actually play?
Think bioshock but less repetitive combat and more characters to engage with. Also the environment is so dynamic. I recommend turning off most of the UI hints.
It may be genuinely one of my favorite games of all time. Its one you pick up and don’t pit down till it’s done.
Prey is a fun game, I recommend you give it a go.
If you have played System Shock 2, it is along those lines.
Bryan Fuller’s TV opus, primarily Dead Like Me and Pushing Daisies, although the first two seasons of Hannibal are really excellent writing and storytelling. All his work deals with death, but each has something slightly different to say about it.
Came here to talk about his show Wonder Falls. It only aired 3 episodes on Fox, but the whole season was released on DVD later. I think I’m one of thr few people who watched the live broadcast, because I was recovering from 2 surgeries for like a month, and had nothing to do. Led me to discover the whole Fullerverse.
I watched the broadcast, but even those who remember that it existed at all is a small club. It’s one of my all time favorites. If you haven’t already, look up the plans that they had for the future seasons of the series. There were fantastic ideas to develop the storyline that sadly will never be written.
If I had a mouse for every time I’d seen Pushing Daisies mentioned on Lemmy, I’d probably have like hundreds of mice, because I’ve seen it mentioned twice and those things breed. It was absolutely excellent though and I was so gutted it never got another series. Maybe it was hit by a writers strike? Can’t remember how long ago it came out now.
Good news (from December):
“Absolutely,” [Bryan] Fuller told The Mary Sue recently about wanting to revisit Pushing Daisies. “We have a season three pitch, and the entire cast wants to come back, and we’re hoping we get to return to them. We just have to find somebody who wants to make it.”
If you’re post edu and wanting more solid structured yet casual learning, The Great Courses offer a fantastic selection of in-depth overviews. I’ve spent many hours in their world history, science, humanities and music courses.
I think The Good Place is one of the best things to ever happen to tv. I know it’s not some secret piece of tv that nobody knows about, but it hit the right notes in my soul that I don’t think people are singing its praises loud enough, even a decade on from its release.
CreamyJalapenoSauce figured it out? CreamyJalapenoSauce? This is a real low point. Yeah, this one hurts.
I just suddenly had this calm feeling, like the air inside my lungs was the same as the air outside my body. It was peaceful. You know the feeling when you think a jalapeño popper is gonna be too hot, but you bite into it anyway and it’s actually the perfect temperature?
Totally agreed. My favourite get-to-know-you question is this: “if you had the very specific super power that meant you could make everybody into the world love a piece of media in exactly the way you do, for exactly the reasons you do, what piece of media would you pick and why?”
My answer is The Good Place, with a bullet. It’s about trying to be better every day and treat people well, and it’s hilarious and good natured.
The able to make the entire world feel the same empathetic message of togetherness would be way too OP of a super power.
My wife and I go to watch it, open Prime, put it on. Watch for a bit, things seem odd, but I don’t question it. We’re having a tough time following exactly, but I’ve heard good things about the show so I’m letting it breathe.
We get like 20m in and I say okay what the fuck. I pause, it’s the season finale of season 1, prime just felt, when we start a new show, that it was best to start off on the most recent episode, despite not having seen the rest of them. Frustrating, to say the least.
Holy shit that must have been frustrating. I knew something was off but the main reveal was good the first watch.
It ended up happening one other time, on Hulu I want to say, but I caught it earlier, because fool me once and all that. And I’m the kind of person who likes to go into things blind, I enjoy watching the story unfold, so it really gets my goat.
Believe it or not, never happens on the things I host locally.
That’s a great show. At first I didn’t watch it because I thought it was gonna be some corny heaven show but it was really good. It ended on a very satisfying note and I hadn’t cried during shows for a while before that. Well besides Bojack horseman.
I found that Ted Danson’s new show, man on the inside, is also pretty good.
It’s warm and hilarious.
One of the rare “10/10, no notes” series from start to finish. Amazing finale too. Fantastic rewatch value.
I went into the show blind and it was definitely outside of the typical stuff that I watch, but I enjoyed it a lot!
There is a theory about the meaning of life in this show that I found profound.
I also greatly enjoyed this one and think it’s a really well-made show with great actors. It was also one of the few shows I could watch with my wife with us both really liking it (we have unfortunately very different taste regarding TV shows). We often laughed at very different moments that the other one didn’t find super funny but that didn’t matter at all. Definitely recommend!
It’s okay I thought, it belabors a lot of points. I mostly just liked the episodes where the plot moved fast
Hm. There is a pair of Star Trek adventure games, called 25th Anniversary and Judgment Rites. They are essentially an extra season of TOS, and are quite good.
If you are a metalhead and haven’t listened to Xoth, specifically their Exogalactic album, you gotta get on that.
Yo, 2 tracks in and this fucking rips. Feels like Space Black Dahlia Murder kinda, lol, fuck yeah.
Hope they keep that urge to do the “prog” type stuff at bay, tho. No one needs to hear all your cool scales bro 👀
[Edit: they did keep that damnable urge at bay. No one masturbated via guitar. Just sick track after sick track, 'tis a true banger, from space, with death. The closer itself is exactly what the record was due, they really nailed it.]
Like Cthulhu party metal.
