August feels uneventful, but I suppose that’s not true. I went on vacation, finished the first draft of a script I’ve been grinding out over two years, and watched the extended editions of The Lord of the Rings movies for the first time. So month seized I guess.

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This month’s playlist:

The Green Knight

I have already written about this film, but this month has been The Green Knight’s as I’ve been thinking about it regularly along with the rest of the internet. Love this mysterious art fantasy film. More please.

Maybe read J.R.R. Tolkien’s translation of the medieval poem?

Creaks

Amanita Design is one of my all-time favorite game developers. Absolutely smitten by their debut point-and-click puzzle adventure game Samorost and later, Machinarium. Their visuals are some of the most inventive and beautiful I’ve ever seen. Just a delight to play. They also introduced me to one of my favorite musicians, Tomáš Dvořák aka Floex.

Creaks is a deceptively simple puzzle game wrapped in one of their fantastically imaginative worlds. The puzzle-solving is a relaxing affair with a gentle climb in difficulty with no repetition, introducing new mechanics at an appropriate clip. But the real treat is exploring this quirky, supposedly subterranean world. Most of the storytelling is environmental, and, typical for Amanita, cutscenes have no dialogue. It’s a short, to the point, and charming experience.

The Fifth Season

I judged this book by its cover. The uninventive design did not pique my interest at all, so I assumed whatever fantasy it offered would be trite. It proved to be the opposite. I found the world set up in The Fifth Season to be refreshingly original. I’ve already put a hold on the sequel at my library.

OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes

I’ve been working through this cartoon while cooking in the kitchen. It’s an easy watch with endearing characters that you can tell the creators’ put their heart into. This isn’t made-for-kids pulp. OK K.O. is woven with genuine fun and sincere love for its characters and the medium of animation. It may also be responsible for the best series finale ever committed to screen?

Sound & Fury

I hadn’t listened to a single song by Sturgill Simpson, but when I heard a country artist was going to release an album as an anime film I had to investigate. I guess you could say it was my album of the year because I ended up listening to it a lot. The film is a visual feast and the soundtrack is just as delicious. I have a very short stack of albums I revisit. Sound & Fury is one of them.

I’m a fan of Sturgill as a creative person in general and am following his growing list of acting credits with great interest.

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I also wrote about color symbolism in The Green Knight this month.