Put this in Your Eye - September 2024 Reading/Watching

(Hey Friends, I'm trying some tradblog stuff, where I just make some curated recommendations of media and content I'm enjoying or finding value in. This is a preface in structured language because after this it gets kinda weird. I hope you enjoy this departure from our usual bullshit, and maybe discover something cool!)

Over the years, I've heard a lot of people offer ratios of how much art you should consume versus how much art you make. I've remembered none of these ratios because I already push myself hard enough without policing the way I enjoy my crafts and hobbies, and because I think consuming is important. We've all got wells inside of us, and sometimes you gotta refill it with something cool someone else made.

Plus, it's kinda like education, and as someone who loves making informed decisions, I love getting me some more. Learning things? It's the best. Better yet though, you can learn from anyone, good or bad, from their successes and their failures. All of that's valuable.

But why am I dragging you over here? Because while trying to learn things, I found some cool stuff that I felt compelled to share. To the best of my knowledge, the folks I'm about to say nice stuff about are ones I've been learning from, and enjoying the work of. This has been a long-winded way to say "here are some recs, bone-a-petit."

 

DEATHZAP

What if you took a passion for accessibility in wargaming, but didn't compromise on the cool? Enter Deathzap, a place where Christopher Michael Collins kitbashes dimestore toy soldiers into bizarre combatants, and then scrawls rules for them in the margins. This might be my favorite blog this year, with all its zany ideas being pursued in so playfully in plastic, and its been the well I've gone back to all week. Its keeping my heart light, and my head abuzz, so I bequeath unto you knowledge of the DEATHZAP.

Starting points:

My favorite post is currently Templars Vs Sauracens, which I am told is a pretty good pun by people who know more about the Crusades than I do (its not hard to surpass the bar I've set on the matter.) There's just something really charming about dinosaur knights vs boring knights, and a real "you'll figure it out" attitude when it comes to balancing.

Some runners up are likely Scary Games, which is a quick little ramble about horror and where its place is in wargaming, and When Pegs Fly where Chris explores a new scale for one of his settings. Both pieces demonstrate not only the author's thoughtfulness in how to best explore and express heightened concepts within the medium, but also readers can see the way that thoughtfulness seeps into the blog's community. I think its really cool that the readership rises to the occcasion, and that they're ready to help at the drop of a hat. That's a community you can't buy, but instead its one you earn, and Deathzap in my mind has done that in spades.

LIBRARY MACABRE

I'm thinking about my relationship with nostalgia, and something that hits me hard in the sense-memory is that distinctive middle-grade/YA horror books from the 80's and 90's. Cameron Chaney has an extensive collection of just those, and watching his videos is akin to pawing through a library bookswap, and getting mesmerized every five minutes by a garish cover or a deviant tagline. Occasionally these tours come with some historical context, either examining comparative chronology or publishing fun-facts, and often there are personal stories that are relatable or aspirational. 

Where to Start:

As an author of middle grade/teen horror, I'm always partial to videos that cover that territory. These particular videos cover books that your local library may have gotten to encourage further reading after your local Goosebumps conniseur finished the original series. I would recommend the duology of middle grade horror and more middle grade horror, where the changing face of this genre becomes apparent. While it's not always laid out for the plainly for the viewer, these videos cover the industry's experimentation of form, fluctuation in intensity, and the attempts to ride the waves of phenomenon. On that last note, I'd also recommend Goosebump knockoffs, as nothing is more charming than a bootleg that knows its a bootleg.

Since Chaney is also an author, here's a link to his first book Autumncrow. Its not my favorite, but I think it has potential, and is unintentionally an interesting meditation on the overexposure to nostalgia. I'll likely be following this book series as it develops.

FOMO TOYS

Speaking of nostalgia, growing up in the 90's (no choice, had to) I got to see some of the really cool toys my older neighbors and cousins had access to. Lots of these were TMNT action figures, but some of them were Madballz and Monsters In My Pocket, which felt more sculptural and visceral in a completely different way. Youtuber L.S. Terry is an archivist of these toys, and documents them, their function, and their psychology in insightful and comprehensive fashion. I'm a sucker for iterative design, and this particular channel explores the evolution of packaging and physicality for a number of the subjects, and even the history of production, leaving me drooling for more. Also, between this and Deathzap, I really want to do more toys-to-soldiers projects in the future.

Watch this First:

This video has a baby in it. More importantly, it talks about the psychology behind Gross-Out humor and culture in a bite-size format, and leads into a larger series that examines the movement (and more subtly, the arms race between toy companies to out-gross eachother.)

These three have been this month's big-fixations, but in quickfire fashion, here are some honorable mentions I think are worth peeping.

Nergling - Youtuber - How to Collect an Army 

This channel is exhaustive and fascinating. To the best of my knowledge, Nergling is one guy who really likes oldhammer, and has one of the best documented army-building processes ever put to internet. This video isn't that, but instead its a 30ish minute long ramble about Stillmania. His other videos are also amazing, and watching his Slaves to Darkness army come together was a thing to behold but it may not be everyone's cup of tea simply due to presentation style.

Hazel - Youtuber - Creepypasta Retrospective 

I love painting to this channel. Hazel mostly does is deep diving on lost, cursed, or controversial anime, and the cultures surrounding it, but this collaboration is an interesting departure that coincidentally hooks onto one of my other interests: creepypasta. This collaboration video is an uncanny recollection of creepypastas in the first decade or so of the genre, and the community that fostered them. If you're a fan of creepypasta, I'd give it a go, and if not, then probably watch one of her other videos, like the flatwood monster's appearance in videogames. Its cozy, and you deserve to be cozy every now and then.

Conjured Craft - #proxypalooza

Proxypalooza has been an inq28 community project where people make proxies of magic the gathering cards, and its been amazing to watch. So many talented creators coming together to make really original iterations of some classic cardboard icons. That being said, it can sometimes feel hard to join in if you're intimidated by the talent on display. Luckily, Terran takes the time to invite you in, and demystify the process by which their cards are made, which I think is a tremendous community service. Although I've only grown familiar with their work since the Palooza began, I've just subbed to their Patreon because I'm really impressed and curious about the work they're doing now. 

One of Terran's commissioned pieces from Insta

OH! Hold the phone! This video is also good, and important! If you're reading this in realtime, this video served as the announcement of Fiver's new skirmish game SNAK28 (a game about candy cannibalism.) If you have time and inclination, check it out because it looks rad, and there's also a little competition going on at the moment to design the wackiest confectionary beast.

So those are things I've put in my eyes. Did you try them on for size? How'd they fit? How'd they do? Did they resonate with you? 

Ok, that rhyme was terrible, but now the post is over. Am I sorry? well, just for that, but hopefully you enjoyed these oddball recommendations! Take care, and see you in the next one!