Skip to main content

Picks: May

Hello everyone! It's May now, which means like April and March, I am still reading the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. My themes for the last two months have been Nature and War based on the last two books in the series, the theme for this month is Gods and Kings.

Book: Lord of the Rings: Return of the King

Author: J.R.R Tolkien

Why I chose this theme: Alright since obviously I was going to read this book since it is the third book in the trilogy, let's talk about the theme itself. Obviously "Kings" makes sense since the book is literally titled "Return of the King", but why Gods? Well there are Gods in Lord of the Rings, and the game I wanted to play this month is about a God so I pulled some strings to be able to play it. Plus, "Gods and Kings" isn't a stretch, they do fit well together as a package deal.

Album: In the Court of the Crimson King

Artist: King Crimson


Why I chose this album: One of the most influential Prog-Rock albums of all time. It has Jazz and Classical influences, and carries along with it a title that relates it to the theme. (Especially considering its original title was "An Observation by the Crimson King"). It seems like a great pick theme-wise and will allow me to listen to another super famous, super influential album.

Film: The King's Speech

Director: Tim Hooper


Why I chose this Film: This is sort of the black sheep among my choices for this month. It doesn't exude the aesthetic that a lot of the other choices do, but what it lacks in aesthetic it makes up for in themeing. What it means to be a great leader is something that all of the choices seem to explore to some extent or another, and is something this film will likely explore to a greater extent than any of my other picks. As well this is a super popular and famous film that I have yet to check off my list of movies to watch.

Game: Okami

Studio: Capcom


Why I chose this game: I have been trying to play this game for sooooo long. I originally got the game for the Wii in 2014 but was not a big fan of the motion controls at the time. I then got a PS2 copy in 2015 that vanished before my eyes. I doubt anyone would have taken it from me, but then I am not sure of any other way it could disappear from my collection entirely. Now that it has been released for the Switch and I have been given a physical copy of it for Christmas, It seems like it's finally time to play this game. I was going to play it in March, but decided on playing Yoshi's Island instead to diversify the types of games I chose up until that point. Now it seems like it's fair enough to return to Action RPG genre, and what better month to play it than one where the theme is "Gods and Kings" (Not that I partially shaped the theme around this game or anything...) I have heard this game takes anywhere from 30 to 60 hours to complete, so you may not hear from me much this month until I have completed it.

...

And those are my picks for May! Join me next time where I will be sharing my thoughts on the metal album Neurosis, until then!

- Malachi Allen

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Picks: June

Hello everyone! We are well into June which means it is time to divulge into my picks for June. The Lord of the Rings season is over which means everything is back to normal and the themes are no longer going to be centered around any series in general. The theme I have chosen for this month is  Space , let's get into the picks! Album: The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust Why I chose this Album: An incredibly famous album, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust is what launched David Bowie into stardom. I have never listened to any David Bowie album in its entirety before, and as he is one of the most culturally relevant figures in modern society it is a stain on my back to say the least. Therefore, I wanted to listen to one of David Bowie's albums this year and the theme of space was the perfect month to do so. Many of David Bowie's albums could have worked fine as his central character Ziggy Stardust acts as a messenger for extraterrestrials - but I chose this one ...

Review/Critique: The Picture of Dorian Gray

The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde "If it were I who was to be always young, and the picture that was to grow old! For that - for that - I would give everything!" - Dorian Gray Expectations: I had already read the first two chapters before choosing this book for the month of February. I liked what I had read a lot and my girlfriend Allie gives this book praises for days so I expected to really like this book. Needless to say, I absolutely adored "The Picture of Dorian Gray ". It fully lived up to my expectations of it, and has become a book that after more pondering could easily end up a 6/6 for me. If you want to go into this book without any knowledge (something I do recommend) then hopefully that is enough of a blurb to convince you to check this novel out, but if you need more convincing let me attempt to do so below. Review/Critique: To summarize a book like "The Picture of Dorian Gray " is not an easy task I am findin...

Review: The Revenant

The Revenant Alejandro González Iñárritu Review: I absolutely adore Leonardo DiCaprio. Inception, Django Unchained and The Wolf of Wall Street are among some of my favorite movies and Leo's performance in all of them, in my opinion, is top notch. This movie though, this movie right here is the one that won Leo an Oscar. I've been dying to see it for a while now, but a lack of funds kept me from seeing it in theaters, and a dwindling interest in film as a whole kept me from getting around to it entirely. Now that I've seen it though, I feel safe in saying that this is Leonardo DiCaprio's best performance to date.          Does that mean it's my favorite movie I've seen with Leonardo DiCaprio in it? No, not really. In fact I would say that I like it less than all of the movies I listed above, but of stand alone performances, this is Leo's best. Don't get me wrong, this is a quality film, but it wasn't totally up my alley. The Revenant i...