Knytt

You need Knytt.

What I really need is an internet connection at home, hence the distinct lack of updates over the past few months, but that's neither here nor there.

As I was saying - you need Knytt.

For one thing, it's entirely free. And as we all know, being free greatly heightens the need quotient of any item.

But even ignoring this, Knytt is an entirely necessary part of your life. It is - in the words of its author - a "platform game for Windows featuring exploration and atmosphere".

There's an important aside I must make here, before you continue reading. I hate platformers. They just don't do anything for me. And yet I adore Knytt, down to the very last pixel. Why is this? The answer's in the author's statement: exploration and atmosphere.

You see the image adorning this article? That's an in-game shot. Looks basic, doesn't it.

What it fails to convey is just how much detail is pushed into every screen of the game - plenty of incidental activity in the backdrops, lovingly crafted areas to navigate and sparse but effective use of music and ambient sound all combine to make a wonderfully evocative game.

The tale is simple enough - you are The Knytt, you are abducted by an alien, the alien crash-lands and you have to collect together the missing parts of its UFO in order to return home. All of this is explained via a text-free opening - indeed the game conspicuously contains no in-game text at all, aside from its title.

The controls are equally simple - you can jump, climb up walls and move left or right. And nothing more. There is some aggressive wildlife in the game, but your only way of dealing with it is to avoid it - the game is nothing if not non-aggressive.

Using these simple controls you explore a pleasingly large world, working your way around trying to find the missing parts of the UFO - a task made less daunting by a handy beam of light which points you in the direction of the nearest part, a design-decision ripped wholly, and wisely, from Playstation 2 adventure Shadow of the Colossus.

Indeed, the atmosphere of the game, as you travel the world encountering various incidental areas - from villages in the clouds to subterranean ruins - is not dissimilar to that evoked in Shadow of the Colossus and its older brother, Ico - titles which the author openly admits to having been major influences. While this game lacks the moving tales underpinning those two titles, it manages to impress upon the gamer the same sense of scale and place, and this has to be its most impressive feat.

The game itself is short - an hour of gameplay is likely to see you to the end of the game - and is rarely frustrating. Only when collecting the final (furthest from the start) part of the UFO are you likely to encounter any real difficulty in navigating the map, and this is alleviated by a generous smattering of save-points in the area: generally no more than ten-seconds walk apart, and with the game so designed that saving is an entirely painless affair - simply pressing a single button as you pass over a save-point saves the game instantly and without fuss.

The game offers a short, but beautiful glimpse of a captivating world, and an hour's relaxing gaming. An ideal chill-out title, one might wish for it to be a little longer, but any lengthening would risk breaking its simple perfection. And then, there are secrets to find...

You need Knytt.

Get it here.

Black Man's Pinch

There are plenty of reasons that you need Black Man's Pinch.

For one thing, they're a talented bunch, in terms of both writing and performance.

For another, they're explosive live, and really know how to push an audience's buttons.

But mostly, you need Black Man's Pinch because they're refreshingly honest. But not in the way you might expect. They avoid, for example, that one form of 'honesty' - the self-pitying songwriting-as-confessional popular with a great many bands.

No, Black Man's Pinch are honest on an altogether more base level: they are honest about their music.

They are acutely aware that the genre of music they play - hard rock - is little more than masturbation veiled with music. They understand that there's a reason people often refer to guitar solos as 'wanky'. And so, instead of singing random macho lyrics about nothing, rather than trying to make their music sound respectable, they launch cheerfully into songs about nothing more complicated than simple, unadulterated sex.

How, where, and with who or what forms the twist in each song, but the theme is always the same - and the music benefits greatly from it. Instead of simply fellating their guitars on stage, Black Man's Pinch engage in an entire orgy of aural pleasure, taking the whole crowd on an exhilerating ride.

Energetic? Yes.

Funny? Always.

Entertaining? Definitely.

Crude? Of course! But so are many of the greatest things in life.

Sadly their music isn't yet available to purchase online, but you have a listen to some of their music at their MySpace page.

Yes, they really are good enough that it's worth going to MySpace for.

Enjoy.

Alec

Alec? Alec? Who the **** is Alec?

Apologies for the bad pun (those of you who don't get the reference, just be glad you missed the amazing European pop music of the 90's), but I imagine most of you won't have had an idea what I mean when I talk about Alec. Well, ignoring those of you clever enough to move your eyes a few degrees to the right and note that I appear to be recommending a book titled "Alec - The King Canute Crowd". Which I am. That and the other books in the Alec series (I show The King Canute Crowd because that's really where you should start).

But why? What's it about? What's the hook, where's the twist? Well, that's just it. There isn't one. Because while Alec has something to tell, it's not a story in a traditional sense. Hell, if you go into The King Canute Crowd and try to read it as a single tale you'll just wind up confused. What Alec offers is a slice-of-life, semi-autobiographical series of mini-tales, told without ever giving reference to time or 'progress' besides the filling-out of the characters as they go through life.

And as a slice-of-life work, there's no moral to the stories, no greater purpose to anything other than simple, beautiful, anecdotal storytelling that shows life in all its grim beauty. And as for the art... oh, wait, sorry, did I not say? The Alec books - they're comics. As in, tales told through a combination of images and words. I know. This mortifies you. Comics are childish, after all. I mean, who else would enjoy stories told with a combination of imagery and verbiage? Aside from those weirdos who watch films, of course.

Oh.

But most comics are for kids, right? To be honest, in the English language especially, that's probably right. Well, assuming you count teenagers within that bracket. And, to be frank, most comics are mediocre, nothing more than pulp fiction. But then, so are most books and films. You just have to learn to ignore the fodder and go right to the cream of the crop - and this is most definitely amongst la crème de la crème. So don't let your preconceptions guide you with this one - you'll find no spandex here. Just give it a go, and see what can be done through the medium of sequential art.

Anyway, where was I? Of course, the art. Well, it's rough. As Eddie Campbell admits in the introduction, the quality of the art varies wildly according to his level of commitment at the time of drawing, but this just adds a more personal touch to a book that succeeds entirely because of how close you feel to the author. Each scratch of ink has its own character, and the rough approach to illustration makes for a beautiful piece of work.

And I'm not the only fan. I feel like I should just copy one of the many excellent reviews about the books, but that would be cheating. If you need more convincing than I can give, there's a short one at artbomb.net which should show you exactly why you need Alec.

So git already!

Banlieue 13

Banlieue 13, aka District 13 for us Brits, or District B13 for the inhabitants of the US, is an action film.

That may be enough to put you off it. It's normally be enough to put me off a film, that's for sure. But fortunately, having heard an impressive amount of praise directed its way, I thought I'd give it a chance.

And boy was it worth it. Written by Luc Besson, the film stars David Belle in a role that highlights his position as co-inventor of parkour, similar to freerunning. Playing an inhabitant of the titular 13th Banlieue (District) of Paris, an area so rough that it has (in the fictional near-future setting of the film) been walled off from the rest of France. The storyline itself is hardly oscar-worthy, a basic tale of revenge and heroism, but it's easy to forgive when the film gets the action so very, very right.

From start to finish the film is packed with intense action-scenes, the best of which use Belle's parkour skills to the full, with him leaping from building to building, up stairwells, over walls and even, in a scene reminiscent of the AT-AT felling in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, over and around an otherwise unassailable man. With the vast majority of the scenes filmed without wires or CG, it leads to an incredibly raw and exciting experience.

And that's all you need ask of it. The film doesn't take any real risks (apart from the physical type), but as an unchallenging piece of entertainment it's absolutely successful. It's one of the most 'fun' films I've had the pleasure of watching, even though it was filmed in a much more serious vein than most action-adventure films, with relatively few gags. The fun comes simply from the sheer exuberence of the action scenes, and at a brisk 85 minutes the film never risks outstaying its welcome.

Great to chill out in front of, either alone or with friends, it's an excellent film. And, luckily for the non-Francophones, it's due out on DVD in the UK this October.

Check it out!

Uplink

Apologies to some of you, as you'll no doubt be aware that this recommendation is a tad out-of-date. Around five years out-of-date, in fact. But there is a reason for me mentioning this beauty of a game anyway, and I don't mean the simple fact that far too few people have played it.

No, I'm bringing it up because you can currently get it free if you purchase Darwinia from Steam. And you'll want to, because Darwinia is another excellent game - and is itself only $19.95 (around £12 in real money).

But what if you already have Darwinia, or can't afford even $19.95? Well, be still your beating hearts, because Uplink is available alone for the stonking price of $9.95 (about £6).

And it is a brilliant price, because for your money you're getting an incredibly immersive game. Putting you in the shoes of an 'elite hacker', the game tasks you with using techniques that wouldn't seem out of place in a Hollywood movie in order to break through various secure systems and undertake fun jobs, such as data theft or sabotage. Through these jobs you earn money, and money buys you new hardware and software, which in turn allows you to take on more varied and difficult jobs.

The game is a tense affair, thanks in part to the constant imposition of time-limits (most systems have will start trying to trace you as soon as you hack in), affected by your software and the path you take to your target - the more computers you've bounced your connection off, the better. As if this wasn't enough, as you tackle more well-defended systems (such as banks or government computers) you'll have to be much more careful about deleting all traces of your meddling, going through the logs of the computers you've bounced off and editing them to make yourself seem perfectly innocent. Fail too much and you'll face punishment, eventually leading to your hacking days being curtailed, and necessesitating the creation of a new account.

The tension is further augmented by the insistance of the game on convincing you that you really are a hacker. The opening menu is given as the portal you use to connect to a remote computer, with which you prowl the networks, and at no point does it openly announce the fact that it's a game. The simple graphics actually help with this, obviously designed based on the sort of imagery we're used to seeing in Hollywood movies. The music too is well used, bringing a subtle air of menace to the game.

In fact, the game itself is a relatively simple one, mechanics-wise, but it is far more than just the sum of its parts thanks to its success in creating a convincing atmosphere: you feel as though you're hacking into government files, and reading things that you really shouldn't be. Throw into this a surprisingly engaging (and initially hidden) plot, and you've got a great experience.

So go on, grab a copy.

Well, you wouldn't want somebody to hack into your computer now, would you?

Less Drinking

And by 'you', I do very much mean 'me'.

Over 24 hours since my four-hour drinkathon, and I'm still feeling worse for the wear. No hangover (don't get them, thankfully), but my stomach is still rebelling against me.

Unpleasant.

Remember kids: drinking vast quantities of alcohol in short periods of time is not cool, it's not clever, and it certainly doesn't seem like such a good idea the day after.

Drink less. Sleep more.

Broken Social Scene

I know, I know, you're tired of all this electronic music I'm pushing your way. You appreciate that my tastes are faultless, but you'd like something different to listen to.

So rejoice! Today I offer you something new; something different; something indie.

Broken Social Scene (referred to as BSS from now on, because, to be frank, my poor fingers will get tired from writing their full name repeatedly) are a Canadian collective, who vary in size wildly from album to album, presenting the listener with all kinds of pleasant music. Lyrically and stylistically diverse, BSS are a band that are difficult to grow tired of.

With songs ranging from the gentle, repetitive and above-all super-distorted-girly-pop-voiced Anthems For A Seventeen Year-Old Girl to the harsh, injured epic It's All Gonna Break, BSS do their best to span a range of moods and styles, all centred around an indie-rock base. And they do so with aplomb. Thanks to their status as a collective, they enjoy a wide variation in instruments and vocalists amongst their songs, and part of the joy of listening to their music is the knowledge that you never know what's going to come next.

But enough hyperbole. If you have even a passing interest in indie, pop or rock music, you have to listen to Broken Social Scene. Hell, even if you don't have an interest at all, give them a go.

And by 'a go', I don't mean one song. I mean a collection of their songs. As stated, each of their songs is distinct from the next, so they deserve that you listen to a number of them.

Find out more about them here.

You need them more than you imagine.

Go now.

General Fuzz

Ooh, I'm really spoiling you this week: two doses of goodness in the form of electronic music. But while most of you will have heard of Daft Punk before, you're less likely to have had the pleasure of this particular man's music. And it really is a pleasure to listen to, believe you me.

Y'see, General Fuzz just so happens to be somebody who creates music for pure love of the form, and then releases it to the public for free. Gratis. Without charge. No strings. Every album he has released is available download on his website. Complete. They even come with album art to print out, should you so wish.

You'd be forgiven for thinking then, that his music can't be that good: forgiven, but very much mistaken. General Fuzz makes excellent music. Emotive, even thought-provoking. And it's a rare piece of non-vocal music that can make me think. His music spans a broad scope of downtempo electronic music - as he puts it "It's not so much dance music as music to zone out to. It's fairly hard to classify. I've tagged it as 'a lush down-tempo melodic approach to instrumental electronica'". Now if that sounds dull to you, take heart in the knowledge that once again you are very, very wrong.

His albums vary considerably in style, with the first (General Fuzz) being the most conciously electronic, and the latest (Messy's Place) flirting heavily with instrumental music and styles (observe, for example, the unsurprisingly jazzy track "Liquid Jazz"). But this information means nothing: you can't convey music in type (well, unless it's being converted into MIDI, but that's besides the point).

You need to experience music to understand it.

You need General Fuzz.

Get his music here.

Armadillo Run

And what exactly is Armadillo Run? Fun, that's what!

A game that requires a basic grasp of physics, Armadillo Run challenges the player to successfully get the armadillo of the title to the exit point of each stage. However, rather than controlling the armadillo itself, the player is tasked with constructing the route for it to take, through the placement of materials (such as steel girders, rope, rubber and, er, rockets).

This is not a case of simply creating a line from the start of the level to the exit: the armadillo is essentially a ball with no movement capability at all, and so will simply roll according to the forces exerted upon him (such as gravity). Instead, the player must take his materials and routes and contraptions that can move the armadillo, from simple concepts as bridges and slopes, to more complicated designs such as pulley systems and swings.

Things can get challenging as the levels progress; however, the challenge only contributes to the immense sense of achievement you get from completing the harder levels - managing to lift your armadillo using a pulley of your own creation, or thrown into the exit through a deviously designed system of swings; counterweights and trolleys - is an experience you'll not want to miss.

You can get the game from here, where you'll find the fully featured demo, and of course the full game (which is priced at a very reasonable £9.99).

If you think your brain could do with a bit of a work out, or you just like the idea of messing around and making things, then you want Armadillo Run.

Actually, scratch that.

You need Armadillo Run.

Get it now.

How To Get Ahead in Advertising

After debuting with the classic Withnail and I, Bruce Robinson wrote and directed the lesser-known comedy How To Get Ahead in Advertising. Again starring Richard E. Grant, the film is a sublime satire of the consumerist Britain of the 80's. While it can come across as a little preachy at times, the story carries itself well on its absurd premise: Richard E. Grant plays Denis Dimbleby Bagley, a veteran advertising executive, who has met his match in trying to sell a new brand of boil cream.

As he struggles with creating a successful pitch, Bagley becomes obsessed with boils, to the point where one grows from his neck. Only, this boil isn't any ordinary boil. It can talk, for one thing, though only Bagley seems to realise this. Bagley and the boil take opposite sides on the matter of consumerism: Bagley 'seeing the light' and railing against it, while the boil revels in anything and everything related to it. Things come to a head quite literally when the boil grows and takes control over Bagley's body, desperate to do its best for the world of advertising.

What that synopsis can't show is just how well executed the film is, with brilliant acting from Richard E. Grant (his first episodes of madness have to be seen to be believed) and an excellent sense of the absurd throughout. Extremely funny, often thought-provoking, and generally an excellent film. Unfortunately it can be a little hard to get this side of the pond (though some may have been lucky enough to pick it up when it was given away with a certain newspaper), but it's well worth hunting down.

If you're after a bit of comedy, then you can't go wrong with How To Get Ahead in Advertising.

So go on, get it!

Daft Punk

You do. You might not think so... but you do.

Forget One More Time, they're much more than that. Picking any one song would fail to do them justice. Just put on Homework or Discovery - hell, even Human After All - and enjoy. Groove along in your own way. Let the beat and rythm flow through you.

That's all you need to do.

Simple, beautiful.

Daft Punk.