1360 -Blood, Sweat, and Pixels: The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made (2017 Book by Jason Schreier)

Developing video games—hero’s journey or fool’s errand? The creative and technical logistics that go into building today’s hottest games can be more harrowing and complex than the games themselves, often seeming like an endless maze or a bottomless abyss. In Blood, Sweat, and Pixels, Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) takes readers on a fascinating odyssey behind the scenes of video game development, where the creator may be a team of 600 overworked underdogs or a solitary geek genius. Exploring the artistic challenges, technical impossibilities, marketplace demands, and Donkey Kong-sized monkey wrenches thrown into the works by corporate, Blood, Sweat, and Pixels reveals how bringing any game to completion is more than Sisyphean—it’s nothing short of miraculous.

Taking some of the most popular, bestselling recent games, Schreier immerses readers in the hellfire of the development process, whether it’s RPG studio Bioware‘s challenge to beat an impossible schedule and overcome countless technical nightmares to build Dragon Age: Inquisition; indie developer Eric Barone‘s single-handed efforts to grow country-life RPG Stardew Valley from one man’s vision into a multi-million-dollar franchise; or Bungie spinning out from their corporate overlords at Microsoft to create Destiny, a brand new universe that they hoped would become as iconic as Star Wars and Lord of the Rings—even as it nearly ripped their studio apart.

Documenting the round-the-clock crunches, buggy-eyed burnout, and last-minute saves, Blood, Sweat, and Pixels is a journey through development hell—and ultimately a tribute to the dedicated diehards and unsung heroes who scale mountains of obstacles in their quests to create the best games imaginable. (goodreads)

1358 – The Fighting Preacher (2019)

timespace coordinates: Palmyra, New York 1915 – 1939

The Fighting Preacher is a 2019 drama film written and directed by T. C. Christensen. The film focuses on Willard Bean (David McConnell) and his wife, Rebecca (Cassidy Hubert), who are in involved in a 25-year missionary service in Palmyra, New York. The story of a boxer who became a Mormon preacher. He is posted to a town in New York, which had previously driven out the last Mormon preacher 80 years ago. (wiki)

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1357 – Batman: Gotham by Gaslight (2018)

timespace coordinates: Victorian era Gotham City

Batman: Gotham by Gaslight is a 2018 American animated steampunk superhero film produced by Warner Bros. Animation and distributed by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, featuring an alternate version of the DC Comics character Batman. It is the thirtieth film in the DC Universe Animated Original Movies series. It is directed and produced by Sam Liu and written by James Krieg, loosely based on the one-shot graphic novel of the same name by Brian Augustyn and Mike Mignola. (wiki)

Batman: Gotham by Gaslight, originally published in 1989, is considered to be DC Comics’ first Elseworlds story. “In ELSEWORLDS, heroes are taken from their usual settings and put into strange times and places–some that have existed, and others that can’t, couldn’t or shouldn’t exist.” – DC editorial copy.

Influences   /   imdb

1351 – In Fabric (2018)

… coordinates: “kaleidoscopic montage of ‘70s department store imagery, set to synths in the warm, ethereal vein of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop” b

In Fabric is a 2018 British horror comedy film, written and directed by Peter Strickland. It stars Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Hayley Squires, Leo Bill, and Gwendoline Christie. (wiki)

In Fabric‘s gauzy giallo allure weaves a surreal spell, blending stylish horror and dark comedy to offer audiences a captivating treat. (rottentomatoes)

“In this oneiric oddity, consumerism is everything, ultimately devouring even the consumer – while the real horror is the exploitative means of production, carefully kept underground beyond the sight of bourgeois shoppers above.” Anton Bitel

“In Fabric is a haunting ghost story set against the backdrop of a busy winter sales period in a department store and follows the life of a cursed dress as it passes from person to person, with devastating consequences..” (imdb)

1349 – Aniara (2018)

timespace coordinates: 2038 (+) Aniara, a luxurious spaceship carrying settlers from Earth to Mars

Aniara is a 2018 Swedish-Danish co-production co-directed by Pella Kagerman and Hugo Lilja. The film is an adaptation of the 1956 Swedish epic poem of the same name by Harry Martinson.

The film is set in a dystopian future where climate change has left Earth ravaged, forcing people to resettle from Earth to Mars. When such a routine trip veers off course the passengers struggle to cope with their new lives. (wiki)

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Director Pella Kagerman & Hugo Lilja on the end of the world in Aniara

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1348 – Sweetheart (2019)

Sweetheart is a 2019 American survival horror/ creature feature directed by J.D. Dillard, written by Dillard, Alex Theurer and Alex Hyner, and starring Kiersey Clemons, Emory Cohen, Hanna Mangan-Lawrence and Andrew Crawford. (wiki)

Jenn has washed ashore a small tropical island and it doesn’t take her long to realize she’s completely alone. She must spend her days not only surviving the elements, but must also fend off the malevolent force that comes out each night. (rottentomatoes)

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1343 – A Ghost Story (2017)

timespace coordinates: small house in Dallas, Texas. (1990’s (?) > 2010’s (?) > 1840’s)

A Ghost Story is a 2017 American supernatural drama film written and directed by David Lowery. It stars Casey Affleck, Rooney Mara, Will Oldham, Sonia Acevedo, Rob Zabrecky, and Liz Franke. Affleck plays a man who becomes a ghost and remains in the house he shares with his wife (Mara). (wiki)

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