Space Monkey
Jan. 21st, 2007 11:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nano_mooseIT IS TIME FOR RECS!
Fandom: Ico
Legion
Although it's such a simple, short game, I like Ico quite a lot. The ending is truly beautiful (and one of the main reasons I've resolved to incorporate the stately collapse of some ancient stone edifice into one of my stories), but the part that stands out in my mind is the discovery of the origin of the Shadow-Beasts. This fic expands upon the idea, and replicates the feeling; melancholy, with a shrinking sort of horror, and also happens to be wonderful. The mood is perfectly bleak; the Queen her proudly cold self; and the story fits into Ico's world with nary a seam. Highly recommended.
This is the simple truth: Once there was a boy, and he was born with horns, and because of this he died. The rest is all details.
Fandom: Spider-Man 2
Falling Feels Like Flying
This fic surprises the hell out of me because it takes the hideously clichéd idea of "a resurrected Ock takes a girl hostage and warms to her" and makes it work. Also, there are subplots, and the running theme of how easy it is to be ruthless, and the doctor is so sad and likable. Escher, the girl, is so very clearly a self-insert, but she's also flawed and adorable and quirky and I love her. Everyone, from MJ to Peter to Harry, is wildly in character, the OCs encountered are believable, and the author's writing style is often genuinely hilarious, touching and suspenseful. The fight-scenes are friggin' awesome. It even includes slightly dodgy comic-book science!
The only problems are that the author falls prey to some common fanauthor errors, and made some changes to the final chapter that I find to be less than improvements, but it's up to you to decide your opinion on that. Still excellent.
'That's my bag! Over there by the crate. Can I have it, please?' Interpreting the following silence as uncertainty, she pressed on. 'Come on, it hasn’t got a phone in it or anything, I swear. Just some books and my lunch.'
'I know,' said Doctor Octavius. 'Not that you could make a call from anywhere around here in any case. Cellphones don't like these.' The arms twitched.
'Oh.' Escher regarded the nearest claw. 'I guess you've got some kind of weird, futuristicky x-ray thing in there, huh? So you can see right through the bag. Like in airports.'
'No, I just unzipped the top and looked.'
The same author wrote Rush Hour, which has some nice character interaction and a very interesting little idea. Also a one-shot; short and sweet.
Fandom: Firefly
A Quiet Game
Wash and Simon played chess, and it was good. Basically just a little scene we never saw in canon; has some brilliant River!Crazy, and is all around very cute. The author has put some effort into planning the game, which is good to see.
"No, no, I beg you," he proclaimed in a falsetto and making the black queen do a little panicked dance as both white and black pawns closed in around her, "I'll be a good citizen! I'll be bourgeoise! We shall all eat cake! I'll bake it!"
"To the guillotines!" one of the white pawns declared with Wash's snapping teeth and dire snarl. "We'll wash the paving stones with her blue blood!"
Fandom: Samurai Champloo
Steel Ribbon
You know one thing that they don't often seem to address in Champloo? Just how young they all are. Fuu's fifteen, Mugen nineteen, Jin only a year older, and here they are in the series getting sliced up and nearly killed. This fic, through some strange, stark language, addresses this oversight, and the result is rough and odd and colourful, much like the series. It also hurts. Kind of depressing and uplifting simultaneously.
He's a big baby, she realizes with a croaky laugh. Doesn't get his way and he goes on a rampage. Has a tantrum. (A bloody, careless, selfish tantrum.) It’s not like he's got anything higher in mind. Not like he gives a flying shit anyway, huh? He's a big, poofy-headed baby and she can't stand it.
And also a Music Post!
The theme: Kick Ass Ending Credits Music.
It's a trend; the credits music is usually exponentially more badass or more beautiful than the intro. It has a harder job. It needs to get across the tone of story, cap off the ending, and sometimes compress the entirety of the musical spectrum into just a few minutes. This post will consist of the themes I have and am usually particularly impressed by. If you have any to add, do so! The more the badass-y...er. Um.
Anyway.
A Series of Unfortunate Events - Drive Away
This music is hypnotic. It is also the accompaniment to the most amazing credits sequence I've beheld in a long time – it's worth the full price of the DVD. The music in the movie itself is actually quite awesome and slightly different in style, but both are great and worth checking out.
Cowboy Bebop - Blue
The question is, does anyone on my flist not have this? Oh, never mind. I have no idea what the hell the lyrics are about, but Yoko Kanno is a musical god and Blue was pretty much the icing on an already excellent ending. Beautiful and very sad, with some great vocals. I always, always sit through the credits and very nearly cry, and I challenge anyone to listen and not feel the same.
American McGee's Alice – Flying on the Wings of Steam (remix)
Also I challenge anyone to listen to this and not go OMG LARKLIGHT. In my head all this needs is an animated credits sequence panning around all the mechanisms of Larklight and zooming through rooms and weird machines and stuff. Of course, Alice's music is quite appropriate and cool on its own and I shouldn't discredit by stealing, but still. OMG LARKLIGHT.
Prince of Persia – Time Only Knows
I'd probably like this a bit more if I hadn't heard it so many times. In the credits it always plays twice through, and I've finished the game more times than I care to admit (or, er, remember), but it's still pretty good. Certainly beats the credits of Warrior Within. Blurgh, cockrock. DO NOT WANT
Serenity – End Credits
Dang it, I hate it when they don't have names, but I adore the Serenity theme more than pretty much any other movie music ever in the world. Buh buh-buh, buh buh, bu-buh buh! Buh buh-buh, buh buh buh bu-buh buh! You cannot imagine the joy inherent in this homely little tune, unless you ever happened to be a Firefly fan watching Serenity in theatre and not quite believing you were there until it kicked in. Also, I'd like to take this opportunity to say WHEDON, YOU BASTARD!
Invader Zim – Zim Credits
Hah hah, and now to change gears on you completely! Although they are both sci-fi series prematurely cancelled due to network dumbfuckery...I love the Evil Overlord feeling this music has, that twisted sort of orchestral electronica and whoo pretension. Basically it is badass and awesome and I hate Nick for doublespeeding it or getting rid of it completely so they can cram in more ads for their extraordinarily lame nighttime line-up. It's a wav file and I'm afraid the quality isn't spectacular, but it does the job.
Metal Gear Solid 3 – Way To Fall
Apparently this being in the ending credits at all is entirely due to a slight translation screw-up. I find that far too amusing, but it fits and made me weep like a child. All good!
Republic Commando – Clones
This is from a Star Wars game. Now try and fit it into your head at the same time as the John Williams score. Whoa, carefu- I said careful. You're gon- aw man. You can't get that out of the carpet. Just, stand over there, okay? I'll send you up some tape.
Anyway it's loud and angry and sort of hilarious. The game seems to be about stabbing aliens in the face, but the members of your squad actually have their own personalities and argue and tease and stuff. Yes, even though they're clones. I would like to recommend (in my long, arduous quest to prove that the Star Wars EU doesn't always suck) the companion novels by Karen Traviss, which are brilliant and full of exploding things.
Final Fantasy X – Suteki Da Ne
Insert paranoid pre-emptive defence for my love of the tenth unconnected installment of this series here. Anyway, this is Final Fantasy music. What more do you need to know?
...Man, I'm a html NINJA. I ninje away into the...daylight. But still. NINJA.
Fandom: Ico
Legion
Although it's such a simple, short game, I like Ico quite a lot. The ending is truly beautiful (and one of the main reasons I've resolved to incorporate the stately collapse of some ancient stone edifice into one of my stories), but the part that stands out in my mind is the discovery of the origin of the Shadow-Beasts. This fic expands upon the idea, and replicates the feeling; melancholy, with a shrinking sort of horror, and also happens to be wonderful. The mood is perfectly bleak; the Queen her proudly cold self; and the story fits into Ico's world with nary a seam. Highly recommended.
This is the simple truth: Once there was a boy, and he was born with horns, and because of this he died. The rest is all details.
Fandom: Spider-Man 2
Falling Feels Like Flying
This fic surprises the hell out of me because it takes the hideously clichéd idea of "a resurrected Ock takes a girl hostage and warms to her" and makes it work. Also, there are subplots, and the running theme of how easy it is to be ruthless, and the doctor is so sad and likable. Escher, the girl, is so very clearly a self-insert, but she's also flawed and adorable and quirky and I love her. Everyone, from MJ to Peter to Harry, is wildly in character, the OCs encountered are believable, and the author's writing style is often genuinely hilarious, touching and suspenseful. The fight-scenes are friggin' awesome. It even includes slightly dodgy comic-book science!
The only problems are that the author falls prey to some common fanauthor errors, and made some changes to the final chapter that I find to be less than improvements, but it's up to you to decide your opinion on that. Still excellent.
'That's my bag! Over there by the crate. Can I have it, please?' Interpreting the following silence as uncertainty, she pressed on. 'Come on, it hasn’t got a phone in it or anything, I swear. Just some books and my lunch.'
'I know,' said Doctor Octavius. 'Not that you could make a call from anywhere around here in any case. Cellphones don't like these.' The arms twitched.
'Oh.' Escher regarded the nearest claw. 'I guess you've got some kind of weird, futuristicky x-ray thing in there, huh? So you can see right through the bag. Like in airports.'
'No, I just unzipped the top and looked.'
The same author wrote Rush Hour, which has some nice character interaction and a very interesting little idea. Also a one-shot; short and sweet.
Fandom: Firefly
A Quiet Game
Wash and Simon played chess, and it was good. Basically just a little scene we never saw in canon; has some brilliant River!Crazy, and is all around very cute. The author has put some effort into planning the game, which is good to see.
"No, no, I beg you," he proclaimed in a falsetto and making the black queen do a little panicked dance as both white and black pawns closed in around her, "I'll be a good citizen! I'll be bourgeoise! We shall all eat cake! I'll bake it!"
"To the guillotines!" one of the white pawns declared with Wash's snapping teeth and dire snarl. "We'll wash the paving stones with her blue blood!"
Fandom: Samurai Champloo
Steel Ribbon
You know one thing that they don't often seem to address in Champloo? Just how young they all are. Fuu's fifteen, Mugen nineteen, Jin only a year older, and here they are in the series getting sliced up and nearly killed. This fic, through some strange, stark language, addresses this oversight, and the result is rough and odd and colourful, much like the series. It also hurts. Kind of depressing and uplifting simultaneously.
He's a big baby, she realizes with a croaky laugh. Doesn't get his way and he goes on a rampage. Has a tantrum. (A bloody, careless, selfish tantrum.) It’s not like he's got anything higher in mind. Not like he gives a flying shit anyway, huh? He's a big, poofy-headed baby and she can't stand it.
And also a Music Post!
The theme: Kick Ass Ending Credits Music.
It's a trend; the credits music is usually exponentially more badass or more beautiful than the intro. It has a harder job. It needs to get across the tone of story, cap off the ending, and sometimes compress the entirety of the musical spectrum into just a few minutes. This post will consist of the themes I have and am usually particularly impressed by. If you have any to add, do so! The more the badass-y...er. Um.
Anyway.
A Series of Unfortunate Events - Drive Away
This music is hypnotic. It is also the accompaniment to the most amazing credits sequence I've beheld in a long time – it's worth the full price of the DVD. The music in the movie itself is actually quite awesome and slightly different in style, but both are great and worth checking out.
Cowboy Bebop - Blue
The question is, does anyone on my flist not have this? Oh, never mind. I have no idea what the hell the lyrics are about, but Yoko Kanno is a musical god and Blue was pretty much the icing on an already excellent ending. Beautiful and very sad, with some great vocals. I always, always sit through the credits and very nearly cry, and I challenge anyone to listen and not feel the same.
American McGee's Alice – Flying on the Wings of Steam (remix)
Also I challenge anyone to listen to this and not go OMG LARKLIGHT. In my head all this needs is an animated credits sequence panning around all the mechanisms of Larklight and zooming through rooms and weird machines and stuff. Of course, Alice's music is quite appropriate and cool on its own and I shouldn't discredit by stealing, but still. OMG LARKLIGHT.
Prince of Persia – Time Only Knows
I'd probably like this a bit more if I hadn't heard it so many times. In the credits it always plays twice through, and I've finished the game more times than I care to admit (or, er, remember), but it's still pretty good. Certainly beats the credits of Warrior Within. Blurgh, cockrock. DO NOT WANT
Serenity – End Credits
Dang it, I hate it when they don't have names, but I adore the Serenity theme more than pretty much any other movie music ever in the world. Buh buh-buh, buh buh, bu-buh buh! Buh buh-buh, buh buh buh bu-buh buh! You cannot imagine the joy inherent in this homely little tune, unless you ever happened to be a Firefly fan watching Serenity in theatre and not quite believing you were there until it kicked in. Also, I'd like to take this opportunity to say WHEDON, YOU BASTARD!
Invader Zim – Zim Credits
Hah hah, and now to change gears on you completely! Although they are both sci-fi series prematurely cancelled due to network dumbfuckery...I love the Evil Overlord feeling this music has, that twisted sort of orchestral electronica and whoo pretension. Basically it is badass and awesome and I hate Nick for doublespeeding it or getting rid of it completely so they can cram in more ads for their extraordinarily lame nighttime line-up. It's a wav file and I'm afraid the quality isn't spectacular, but it does the job.
Metal Gear Solid 3 – Way To Fall
Apparently this being in the ending credits at all is entirely due to a slight translation screw-up. I find that far too amusing, but it fits and made me weep like a child. All good!
Republic Commando – Clones
This is from a Star Wars game. Now try and fit it into your head at the same time as the John Williams score. Whoa, carefu- I said careful. You're gon- aw man. You can't get that out of the carpet. Just, stand over there, okay? I'll send you up some tape.
Anyway it's loud and angry and sort of hilarious. The game seems to be about stabbing aliens in the face, but the members of your squad actually have their own personalities and argue and tease and stuff. Yes, even though they're clones. I would like to recommend (in my long, arduous quest to prove that the Star Wars EU doesn't always suck) the companion novels by Karen Traviss, which are brilliant and full of exploding things.
Final Fantasy X – Suteki Da Ne
Insert paranoid pre-emptive defence for my love of the tenth unconnected installment of this series here. Anyway, this is Final Fantasy music. What more do you need to know?
...Man, I'm a html NINJA. I ninje away into the...daylight. But still. NINJA.
