Pointless Venture's Games of the Year

Despite the continuation of the pandemic, 2021 was a great year for games. It was a perfect year to catch up on some great titles of the recent past (Red Dead Redemption 2; Shadow of the Tomb Raider; Hades) as well as enjoying a few excellent new releases (Forza Horizon 5; Resident Evil Village). Before I give my picks, I'm going to list every single title I played this year.

What I played (An asterisk signifies to completion)

Amid Evil*

Shadow of the Tomb Raider*

Resident Evil 3 Remake*

Doom Eternal Ancient Gods Part 2*

Red Dead Redemption 2*

Control*

Crysis Remastered*

Resident Evil Village*

Hades

Assassin's Creed Odyssey

Iron Fury

Quake Remastered

Deathloop*

Master Chief Collection

Halo 4*

Forza Horizon 5

Halo Infinite*

That's seventeen titles, and probably a record for me, with only six titles not played to completion. Of those six games I didn't beat, I spent almost twenty hours or more on each of them with the exceptions of Quake and Iron Fury, so it's not like I just launched them for fifteen minutes and then never played them again. So yeah, my 2021 was spent playing a lot of video games, for what it's worth. Anyway, here are my top titles.

Game of the Year: Red Dead Redemption 2

A gorgeous, ninety-hour epic Western, Red Dead 2 is unlike any game I've ever played. I'm glad that I waited until I had a decent enough system to play it in its full glory. Probably the best single player game I've ever played, as far as atmosphere and story go, as it dethroned the Witcher 3 in my personal ranking. Definitely give it a shot if you're into Westerns or simulated third-person action adventures.

Best shooter: Halo Infinite

Halo's campaign isn't the strongest in the series, but it's a return to form after Halo 4 (and 5, apparently, though I still haven't played it). 343 finally nailed the sandbox combat that forms Halo's gameplay loop, and the grappling hook and open world are excellent additions. However, the end of the game suffers from repeating Forerunner sections, as though 343 were referencing Halo CE. The multiplayer is the most fun I've had in years. An arena shooter with a diverse array of guns and gametypes (although fewer than previous Halos), there's nothing like dominating in a game of tactical Slayer. The only game on this list I'll undoubtedly still be playing next year.

Best Atmosphere: Resident Evil Village

An incredibly spooky tour de force of the genre's classic milieu, Resident Evil Village has a story that descends into incomprehensibility for anyone not heavily invested in the long running series. That didn't keep me from enjoying the hell out of its mishmash of high-brow artistry and low-brow horror schlock. Also worth mentioning that this is an amazing looking game that runs excellently.

Best Game I didn't Finish: Tie between Hades and Forza Horizon 5

I got to Hades himself, but by that time I had tired of the repetitive format of the rougelite genre. Still, I boot Hades up from time to time, still somewhat committed to finishing off the king of hell. As for Forza, I plan on returning to it after running through Halo Infinite on Legendary difficulty. It's such a huge game that I'll probably take a while.

So that's it for 2021. As for 2022, Elden Ring is the only thing on my radar at the moment, so we'll see that next year brings.

 

 

Halo Infinite Review

 

Infinite is a beautiful game. Unfortunately, that beauty comes at a cost.

Halo Infinite is this year's Doom Eternal. It's an unexpected revival of a great gaming series, and like last year's Doom, Master Chief is powered by a litany of specialized weapons and a grappling hook. Infinite's big idea is an open world Halo; thankfully, 343 didn't copy Ubisoft and litter the map with collectables and trivial fights. There are marines to rescue and bases to capture, but they're scattered amongst your main objectives. The main inspiration seems to be the Silent Cartographer level from Halo CE. You'll spend this game trudging through mountain forests and Forerunner Dungeons, although I can say the level design is better than CE, thankfully. Since I didn't play Halo 5, I'm only vaguely aware of the plot, but apparently a lot went on in-between games. Spoiler: Cortana is dead, and the Chief's new companion is called the Weapon, who's basically Cortana, but naive and optimistic. I did appreciate the new dynamic between Chief and the Weapon, which is more father-daughter than whatever the hell was going on in between him and Cortana in Halo 4. Anyway, new bad guys the Banished are basically just the Covenant. They are composed of the same grunts, jackals, elites, and brutes, and they're just as fun to fight as in previous games. New to the series are multiple boss fights, and although many of these guys are bullet sponges, I had a good time hunting them down in the open world. Master Chief's abilities are well-implemented, and I ended up using the grapple and shield wall frequently. The arsenal is pretty awesome; my favorites were the shock rifle, which stuns enemies and can arc electricity between nearby foes, and the Skewer, a brute version of the Spartan Laser that impales your foes. All told, the campaign is good fun, and one of the longer Halo games. My only complaint comes from the technical side of things. The engine that powers Infinite doesn't seem particularly scalable; on my 3700x and 5700 xt powered system, which happens to be the recommended rig, I frequently encountered stutters and frame drops, especially in the open world. Messing with settings, I was able to keep my framerate around 60 fps at 1440p by keeping most settings at High but dropping Geometry, Shadows, and Effects to Medium. Running the game on the  Series S, I noticed some pretty bad resolution scaling, as the game struggled to hit 60 at 1080p. Turning on resolution scaling is more noticeable on PC, in my opinion, so I'd recommend not playing with it on, especially since it's bugged and only works when you lock the frame rate to your refresh rate and use the in game vysnc. I can't play without Freesync; anything else just feels stuttery. So anyways, if you're a fan of FPS games, subscribe to Gamepass and give Infinite a try. It's my game of the year.

New Music: Sell Me A Dream

 

I wrote this song a couple of years back. It's a jaunty, almost swing-like piano piece with a crooning vocal, and it has always reminded me of a show-tune, but now that I've recorded it, I don't know what to make of it. Definitely not a typical TPM song, which is why it's special. As for the arrangement, it is composed of a drum loop, piano, mellow keys, and an upright bass, all done in Reason Essentials. Easily one of the best pieces of software I've ever purchased, and if I did more electronic music, I'd splurge for the full product.

Forza Horizon 5: Halo Infinite Multiplayer

I've never been a car guy. For a decade, I drove a PT Cruiser for chrissakes. However, that doesn't mean that I'm immune to that particularly American fantasy, that of wide open roads meant to be traveled by gleaming hot rods capable of blistering speed. Forza Horizon 5 brings that fantasy to life, albeit through an idealized recreation of Mexico. You'll amass cars by random chance (earn enough accolade points and you literally spin a wheel to win some dream machine nobody anywhere close to my income bracket could ever hope to drive), barn finds, and prizes earned by winning races. There's a whole mini-game featuring car tweaking which I haven't touched, not being a gear head, but the sim aspects are light enough that you can literally just drive and have a good time. The game looks phenomenal, other than a few low res textures, and it really is the best low-stress time you can have with a game pad. I don't have a whole lot to say about Forza Horizon 5 other than just play it and have a good time.

Halo Infinite's free to play multiplayer is the most fun I've had with a multiplayer game since, well, Halo 3. 343 have brought back the feeling of classic Bungie Halo, and I've had a hell of a time reacquainting myself with the Needler, Battle Rifle, and Ghost. There aren't a lot of maps yet, but they are well-designed, with Live Fire and Behemoth being my favorites so far. It also runs like a dream at 1440p and High settings. The whole Battlepass controversy doesn't matter much to me; I don't really care about customizing my Spartan beyond changing the color of my armor. That being said, the choice to launch without a way of picking your gametype is pretty lame. Oddball is fun every so often, but I want to play Slayer, damn it! Crazy to think way back in 1999 I could boot up Unreal Tournament or Quake and not only pick my gametype, but also chose my map and the server. This post-matchmaking world we live in isn't too friendly to gamer choice. All the same, I'm loving the multiplayer and can't wait for the campaign to drop this week.

My Ten Favorite Songs from the Grunge Era

 Just a bunch of cool dudes hanging out.

Here's the more positive companion to my least favorite songs of the grunge era piece. 

1) Aneurysm by Nirvana. Quite possibly the greatest encapsulation of what Nirvana was about. Aneurysm starts with a dissonant chromatic guitar run that culminates in a hard hitting monster riff before starting it all over again, Helter Skelter-style. The verse transitions to a typical hard-soft dynamic that so many other Nirvana tunes use; Kurt's deceptively simple lyrics, yelled with all the throat-shredding sarcasm he could muster, sound as though they were cribbed from a 50's rocker. Come on over and do the twist. Over do it, and have a fit. The chorus returns to the Sabbathesque riff, only now Cobain is shouting Beat me outta me while his bandmates add Beat it, Beat it! with such faux-machismo that it's hard not to take them seriously. I love this song. Every time Smells Like Teenspirit kicks on the radio, I wish that Aneurysm was playing instead.

2) Jesus Christ Pose by Soundgarden. An almost atonal mess of heavy riffing, Jesus Christ Pose is a dis of people who portray themselves as a persecuted deity, I dunno, maybe like your typical rock star. Regardless of its subject matter, it's an awesome song, with an almost helicopter-like intensity to its guitar riffs, and Cornell could sing the phone book and I'd probably listen to it. Badmotorfinger, the album from which this song was taken, is one of my all time favorites and a great play while you are pumping iron like a madman in your dilapidated basement dungeon.

3) Everlong by the Foo Fighters. One of the great characteristics of Grunge and Alt-rock of the nineties was the frequent mishmash of the dissonant with the melodic. Everlong starts with a major seven chord that transitions to two suspended chords, resulting in a perfect blend of the aforementioned harsh and sweet. Add in some chunky distortion, followed by Grohl's murmured, hushed lyrics, and you have a hypnotic recipe. The bridge and chorus are pure arena rock, erupting from the chugging verse in triumphant intensity. Just a great heavy rock song.

4) You Think I Ain't Worth A Dollar, But I Feel Like A Millionaire by Queens of the Stone Age. Yeah, I know this song was released in 2000, but it's a throwback in the best sense of the word. Similar to how Aneurysm displayed the best of Nirvana, Millionaire defines QOTSA's raison d'etre in its verse. Heavy metal, soft at the core. Sure, the core might be soft and sweet like a tootsie pop, but I'll be damned if this sucker doesn't punch you in the face. 

5) Yuri G by PJ Harvey. A primal cavewoman stomp with lyrics depicting a lovesick figure descending into madness, rape, or perhaps narcotics. Who knows? What I do know is this is what I ask from my rock'n'roll. Steve Albini's stark production gives this song a claustrophobic feel. He was the guy you went to in the nineties if you wanted your record to sound raw.

6) Basket Case by Green Day. Punk-pop in all its infectious glory. I like how Billie Joe sneaks in a reference to visiting a male hooker. Ooh, edgy, Billie boy! Green Day sure could write a great pop song.

7) Jane Says by Jane's Addiction. I can't fucking stand Perry Farrell, but this song is basically a nineties version of Led Zeppelin's Ramble On. Instead of singing about hobbitses, Perry tells a tale of a junkie girl friend that is both sad and stirring. She can hit, man, but she don't mean nothing.

8) I Wanna Be Adored By the Stone Roses. Here's some britpop for you. A wonderfully hypnotic song with a pulsing Merseybeat. I don't have to sell my soul, he's already in me. That's a pretty metal lyric for a band that drew influence from the Beatles and the Byrds. Perfect for a late night drive. (Editor: Okay, so this song actually as released in 1989, and was therefore too old to be consider Britpop.)

9) Closer by Nine Inch Nails. Certainly one of the greatest fucked-up music videos of all time, Closer is a sexy disco/synthpop tour de force. I hope Trent doesn't let his kids watch this one. "Daddy, why is Severus Snape being whipped while blindfold in a haunted house filled with pig's heads and sides of beef?" I would really love to hear the answer.

10) Santeria by Sublime. Just a great guitar song featuring one of my favorite guitar solos. The lyrics are full of violent machismo, but somehow it all feels good.

The Esteemed Critic Reviews Dune

 

Denis Villeneuve's Dune is a beautifully imagined film, full of stunning imagery and excellent special effects. Unfortunately, it's also boring, something the Critic can't say for the Dune novel, which he's in the middle of rereading. Somehow, Frank Herbert's magnum opus continues for hundreds of pages, often discussing the politics, philosophy, and religion of his world without losing the reader's attention. It's almost as though without the internal monologues of its characters such as the Baron Harkonnen or Liet Kynes, Dune is just another sci-fi messiah story. Villenueve certainly gives us the most book-accurate depiction of Dune yet (although the flying Baron seems to be a carryover from the it's-so-bad-it's-good David Lynch flick) but somehow, it's just not enough. The film suffers from a few miscastings and character deviations. Josh Brolin would seem to be a great pick for the warrior poet Gurney Halleck, yet despite a few verbatim quotations from the novel, he lacks the charm of the novel's character. This is a serious movie, overly grim and humorless. The Baron is changed from a gleeful, gluttonous monster to a straight-up mismash of two Marlon Brando characters (Kurtz from Apocalypse Now and Dr. Moreau from The Island of Dr. Moreau). Anyways, the main problem with Dune might be that it suffers from the Seinfeld is Unfunny trope. Would there be Star Wars without Dune? Lucas cribbed a desert planet (Tatooine is Arrakis), stillsuited warriors (Tusken raiders are Fremen), magical powers of compulsion (the Jedi mind trick is the Voice), and the overall story line (a boy hero gains supernatural power to overthrow an evil Empire). So yes, we finally have our big-budget, faithful adaptation of Dune in 2021, over fifty years after it was written. Is it too late? Can you build a new franchise out of something that has influenced science fiction for half a century? Or are the elements that make Dune special restricted to the literary format? The Critic doesn't have a clue, but he must admit that he was ready to leave the theater before the movie was over. 

Weightlifting: Modified 5/3/1

 

I just had the most successful training block I've experienced this year, so I thought I'd share what I did and why I think it works. For most of the year, I've lifted three to four days a week, concentrating on one main lift a day, which is a new approach for me. In the past, the only lift that's moved upward on a once a week schedule was the deadlift. Last Sunday I benched 265 for 4 reps, a five pound PR, as well as deadlifted 425 for 4 reps, a ten pound PR. Today I pressed 165 for 5, which was five pounds off of a PR, and had I known that at the time, I probably would've been able to grind out another rep. So what I've done for the last six weeks is basically 5/3/1 but with custom percentages for the different lifts. Instead of whipping out my calculator and punching in the numbers, I just picked weights that I thought would pyramid nicely. For my fives week on the Bench, I did 185 for 5, 205 for 5, and then 225 for nine, with 200 for 3 sets of 5 as my back off sets. For the threes week, I did 205 for 3, 230 for 3, and then 245 for seven, followed by 205 for three sets of five as my assistance. For the 5/3/1 week, I did 225 for 5, 240 for 3, and 260 for 4, concluding with 215 for 3 sets of five. Assuming a 290 training, those percentage are the following: 64%, 71%, 77%, and 69% for the fives week; 71%, 79%, 84%, and 70% for the threes; and 77%, 83%, 90%, and 74% for the 5/3/1 week. So yeah, those percentages aren't very far removed from regular 5/3/1. However, I went heavier on the press and a bit lighter on the squat and deadlift. Without figuring out every percentage, here are some observations that can hopefully serve as a guide.

Program heavier for the press: Unless you're pressing four-hundred pounds, your press is going to be your lightest lift. Therefore, it makes sense to keep your lifts pretty close together. If you're about a 200 lbs presser like I am, it makes no sense to do reps under 135 lbs. For my back off sets, I used 135 lbs and added five pounds every week, taking a step back after the third week, and ending with 150 for 3 sets of 5.

Go lighter for the deadlift: I'm not a great deadlifter, but I can deadlift over five-hundred pounds. Doing multiple sets of heavy deads makes you dead. For my heaviest back off sets, I did 355 lbs for three sets of five, which is around seventy to seventy-five percent of my training max.

Do assistance work but don't kill yourself. Maybe it's because I'm old, but I don't have the time or energy to do endless workouts any more. I limit myself to about an hour, and I squeeze my accessory work in between sets. I didn't do much besides pressdowns, curls, rows, and pullups.

Percentages are just ballparks. You should have an idea of what is doable. There are no magic formulae.

Shoot for 9/7/5 for the PR sets. Any higher, and you're not training heavy enough. Any heavier, then you won't progress very far.

 

Halo CE Versus Halo 4

 

Halo CE Remastered

I've been half-assing the Master Chief Collection in order to prepare for the release of Halo Infinite in December, so I thought I'd share some observations regarding the first and last games of that series (Halo 5 isn't included on pc, so we shall pretend it doesn't exist).

Halo: Combat Evolved was an enormously influential title. It was a launch game for the Xbox, and had it not been a massive hit, it's likely that Microsoft would've abandoned the console space. It helped popularize first person shooters with a console audience, and it featured spacious outdoor environments and a brightly colored art style that contrasted pleasantly with other shooters of the time. Playing the remastered version in 2021, Halo: CE still feels and looks good. The heavy sound of Master Chief's pistol, the tight controls of a Warthog, the way Elites dive out of the way of a grenade toss--all of it holds up well. Play a couple missions in, however, and the warts start to pop up. The level design is probably the worst offender. Several of the Forerunner-based levels feature copy-and pasted rooms, and figuring out which way you're going can be difficult. The lack of enemy variety is also a problem. There are basically only five enemy types--grunts, jackals, elites, hunters, and Flood zombies. On Heroic (Hard) difficulty, it can be pretty tough, since in addition to his recharging shield, the Master Chief has a health bar that doesn't regenerate. Still, it's fun, especially if you have the patience for the quirks of older shooters.

Halo 4 was the first non-Bungie Halo title. Graphically, it still looks great in many levels, especially when you consider that it was released for the Xbox 360. Artistically, it's a little different--the jackals and elites have a more reptilian appearance, and the lighting is darker and a tad more realistic. The shooting feels solid, and the first few missions are pretty good, if not particularly memorable. The new Promethean enemies are not as fun to fight as the Covenant, unfortunately. Knights resembles large robotic crabs that can teleport, and there are smaller, more agile enemies called Crawlers that explode rather easily. The Forerunner weapons are really just high-tech versions of the basic military guns Halo already had, e.g., there's a shotgun equivalent, a faster-firing assault rife, et cetera. All in all, it's an okay experience, but I'm not particularly compelled to finish it. Hopefully Halo Infinite will be a return to form (Halo 5 also had a mixed reception).

Writer's Block: Creeping Doom

 I think of every tree

every insect

every flower blowing in the wind

drying up

as the heat pours from a shrouded sun

while we drive

and fly

and spout our toxic fumes

high into the atmosphere

in pursuit of profit

comfort

and ease.

Fear of loss

is fear of death.

Dying is more managable

if there is something 

left

behind.

Who knows what the future

will bring?

Maybe there's hope

somewhere.

I want my children

to have what I had.

I want life

to prosper.

I want people

to live like people

and not commodified

instruments of production.

Fuck all the barons of wealth

The tech bros

The politicians.

In the next life

They'll be intestinal worms

or fungi growing on an apple.

There's no way to fix everything

I am but

one 

man.

Lay down the burden

Accept that 

All things must pass.

Thoughts on Deathloop, Halo Infinite Beta

 

Deathloop's art style is out of this world.

Deathloop and Halo Infinite were my big 2021 releases. The former is out now, whereas the latter has a multiplayer beta available. Let's cover Deathloop first since I've spent about 13 hours with it.

Arkane, the creators of Deathloop, are probably my favorite studio. They are the last triple-A studio putting out immersive sims, since the Bioshock series is on the shelf along with Deus Ex and Thief (System Shock is lost in vaporware hell). Both Prey and Dishonored are among my favorite games, so when Arkane releases a title, it's a must-by. Deathloop has a lot going for it, from the swinging sixties art style to the roguelike time loop that serves as its central gimmick. You play as Colt, a man trapped in a loop on a island run by a cult called the Eternalists. The only way for Colt to break the loop is to manage to kill eight Visionaries (the leaders of the Eternalists) in one day, which is harder than it sounds, since there are only four areas with four times of day. So the challenge is for Colt to manipulate events in order to get the Visionaries to cluster together. For example, you can ruin Egor's experiment, which causes him to attend Aleksis's party, where you can conveniently murder them both. As far as gameplay is concerned, Deathloop can basically be summed up as a shooter version of Dishonored. Blink has been renamed Shift, and Domino Nexus; unlike Dishonored, you can only equip two slabs (in game lingo for powers) at once. Colt has a beefy arsenal of weapons, special versions of which are randomly dropped by Visionaries. You can acquire a Fourpounder pistol that shoots poison clouds, or a unique Rapier that has explosive bullets. The shooting feels pretty solid; movement-wise, Colt feels very similar to Corvo from Dishonored 2. You have a hacking device appropriately-named the hackamajig which lets you turn off security cameras and switch movable turrets to your side. The levels are well-designed and full of alternate pathways which come in handy whenever someone invades your game. You see, Colt is hunted by a woman named Julianna, who desires to prevent him from breaking the loop. If you play online, a human controlled Julianna will occasionally invade your game. She's at a disadvantage, however; she has only one life to Colt's three. These encounters are tense and great fun. One of my most memorable happened during the morning in Updaam. I exited on the eastern side of the map to find Julianna sniping at me from the rooftops. I turned invisible using a slab called aether and snuck all the way to the other side of the map, searching for health. I witnessed Julianna shifting over the bridge to Visionary Charlie's live-action game, so I took a shot at her but missed. Slowly but surely, I crept cloaked across the bridge and hid behind a cardboard cutout in the middle. When Julianna ran by, I jumped out and stabbed her in the back with my machete. Good fun!

Unfortunately, Deathloop's AI-controlled enemies aren't much of a challenge. They're pretty brain-dead, and the only time you'll die from them is when about twenty of them have you cornered, since Colt doesn't have much health. The four areas are unique and rich with detail, but you'll soon tired of having to constantly return to them for little tidbits of information. Worst of all, Deathloop lacks any of Dishonored's nonlethal options. Your interactions with the NPCs will totally be of the violent sort. In many ways, Deathloop feels rushed. It doesn't do a whole lot with its time travel mechanic, since nothing is permanent after the day completes. Dishonored 2's a Crack in the Slab mission, which allowed you to travel in-between the past and present of a formerly glorious mansion, let the player manipulate the environment in real-time, and therefore did more with the time travel concept than Deathloop manages. Also worth noting is that enemies lack variety, and the Visionaries go down pretty easily. 

Still, despite my complaints, I'd recommend Deathloop for fans of novel first person shooters or immersive sims. If Prey and Dishonored 2 were 10 out 10s, Deathloop is a 7 or an 8, and it has a style and level of detail that few games can match. Some people have reported performance problems; I was able to run it at a locked 60 fps at 1440p and Very High Quality enabled, albeit with AMD's FSR turned on (my system has a 5700 xt GPU  and a Ryzen 7 3770x CPU, so solidly mid-range).

Halo 3 was my first console shooter and a hell of a time back in college. I have played Halo 1 through 3 as well as Reach, so Infinite, which seems heavily influence by those classic games, is high on my list of most anticipated titles. The beta is promising. The guns feel solid and sound great, and the game looks like classic Halo visually. I played about 45 minutes testing out the four maps with bots, and found them to be pretty good and reminiscent of Unreal Tournament's excellent botmatches. Performance-wise, my experience varied. At 1440p and High Quality, my system managed 60 fps on the smaller maps, yet Live Fire constantly ran in the mid-50s. Assuming there's still some optimization to be done, this isn't that concerning. However, 60 fps in Infinite doesn't feels like 60 fps in most games. I'm not really sure why. It's likely frame pacing, where some frames are not being repeated at the same rate. Hopefully these problems get cleared up by launch. I'm really looking forward to the singleplayer, but Halo is the last arena shooter standing, so it would be fun to get into a multiplayer game again.

Here are some Deathloop screenshots, mostly focused on the artwork, since that's why most people play video games.

 

Thoughts on Matt Bell's Appleseed

There's a certain attitude in the environmental movement that everything would be better, perhaps, if humanity would just disappear. This reaction is understandable, given the ecological damage we are witnessing: oceans clogged with plastic, forests on fire, species vanishing at an unprecedented rate. It is a conclusion, however, that I find incredibly shortsighted and sad. Despite all the devastation we've unleashed, we've also created a lot that has value, from music and art to empathy and philosophy. If the human race disappeared tomorrow, it would certainly be an extinction as terrible as that of any troubled ecosystem. And that is why, despite the beautiful writing and the rather engaging plot, I'm having trouble finishing Matt Bell's Appleseed. 

There are three concurrent stories in Appleseed: one follows a faun and his brother as they plant apple seedlings in the American Midwestern frontier during the 1800's; another tracks a group of eco-terrorists led by a former scientist named John as they plan to sabotage a powerful corporation called Earthtrust as it attempts to remake a climate-ravaged world; while the third tale tells of a cyborg creature struggling to traverse a planet covered in ice as he carries the world's last living tree growing from his body. This is creative stuff; Bell has a great imagination and eye for natural beauty, and his flowing descriptions of the idyllic American wilderness evoke a great deal of sympathy for all that has been lost in the settling of this continent. His bleak depiction of a future America that has become almost unlivable also garners heavy emotions. Here's the thing, though; this book doesn't exactly have a happy ending, unless you consider the extinction of the human race to be a good thing, over all. We have failed in our stewardship, is Bell's message, and perhaps it would be better if we stopped trying to control things and just let nature heal. The book's antagonist, Eury Mirov, wants to delay the rising planetary temperature by releasing self-replicating nanobots into the atmosphere to distribute sunlight-blocking aerosols. She gains this sort of power by essentially buying half of the United States and depriving former American citizens of their citizenship in exchange for refuge and employment at Earthtrust headquarters, a carefully controlled surveillance agro-state populated by genetically engineered plants and animals. Eury is definitely a megalomaniac corporate egoist, but her idea to save the planet isn't necessarily a bad one, despite the feelings of John and his fellow terrorists. A drastic technological solution to climate change will almost certainly be required, since the world shows no real signs of slowing its ravenous appetite for energy. Things are far bleaker in Appleseed than they are likely to be in the future, yet the book's speculation is plausible enough to be distressing. I actually don't know if I can finished the last twenty-five pages or so. I don't know what that says about the novel or myself. The apocalypse always seems to be on the horizon lately, given the state of the world. I say this despite the fact that is is far better to be a human being in 2021 than almost any other time in human history. Still, we know too much, and the last few years have shaken my faith in human progress. The Atlantic recently had a profile on Boris Johnson in which he states that progress isn't a straight line. I think he's right.

If you have the stomach for it, Appleseed is an excellent read. If you're bogged down by bad news, then perhaps you should stay away. What a glowing endorsement, eh?