January 2025 recap
AGDQ 2025
I'm a huge speedrun fan, even if I don't get to see as much outside of GDQs / SpeeDons / ESAs nowadays, it's always such a joy to watch a bunch of nerds (affectionate) break games for charity.
I'll list a bunch of my fave runs from this event in two categories, the funny ones and the "tech" ones, for a lack of a better word.
On the funny side:
- Dick Tracy Any% by MadMegaX381: really fun run, you'll see
- Pizza Possum Co-op Triple Crown by GrayGooGlitch & Alara: chaotic coop game with our favorite trash animals. (Talking just about the game I was kind of mesmerized by the seamless transition to dual screens, it's such a clean way to do it)
- Rex Ronan: Experimental Surgeon Any% by giygasblues: just watch it, you'll either love or hate the couch
- Who Shot Johnny Rock ? Ace Difficulty by sharif: it's a DVD game, those are always a good time
And on the tech side:
- Elden Ring DLC Lockout Bingo by adef & CaptainDomo: incredible bingo race that ended up being pretty neck and neck!
- Elden Ring Saxophone-Controlled Boss Showcase by Dr. Doot: do I need to say more
- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time No Logic Randomizer by ZFG: ZFG pretty much has an encyclopedic knowledge of OoT, and randomizers are a great way to show off some tech you wouldn't see on "normal" runs. If there is one long run to watch from this event, it's this one for me!
- F-Zero GX All Tracks Max Speed by FifanGX: F-Zero games in GDQs are a staple for me so on the list it goes (Nintendo please make a new one pls pls pls)
There were a lot of other great runs but these were my absolute favorites. Oh, and shoutout to the horror block! Always a pleasure to watch those, especially as a European, as this block is a nice chill way to start my day.
Also!!! SpeeDons is a french speedrun charity event going from February 27th to March 2nd 2025 on MisterMV's twitch channel but you'll be able to watch in english via games done quick! It'll be available in german and japanese as well. Love seeing more restreams of these events!
Movie
The Lighthouse (2019)
This movie made me remember a bit of the time when I used to go watch plays in high school. The composition of the shots, the work on the light and dark areas and the limited cast just screamed play to me as soon as Pattinson and Dafoe approached the lighthouse. I did get a bit bored towards the end, but it's the kind of movie where the journey is the main point, not the destination. Overall, it was a pretty interesting movie, even though I don't know really what I trully think about it? I think sometimes it's best to let that be that way with art anyway.
Eraserhead (1977)
Following David Lynch's death (which I was genuinely sad about, even though I haven't watched that much from him, basically Mulholland Drive and some of his videos. I've been meaning to watch Twin Peaks for more than a decade but never got around to do it (I need to, I know)), I though about that bit of interview with him saying Eraserhead was his most spiritual film but refusing to elaborate on it and decided to watch it. And I really enjoyed it!
I loved how the visuals and sounds often felt hostile to human life, which went hand to hand with the main character's uneasiness with his peers and wife. The way the baby's sickness was portrayed was kind of horrifying, I'm not someone who sympathize (not really the word I'm looking for but it'll do) a lot with kids in movies but that one somehow got to me quite a bit.
(I did find the baby kinda cute tho)
Host (2020)
Fuck Jemma, all my homies hate Jemma
Pretty okay movie! I liked it alright.
The idea of setting a Zoom call for a séance and playing around the webcams system of each participants was interesting, and I think it worked pretty well. The characters felt pretty real in their interactions through the vidcall, which was definitely nice to see (speaking as someone who watched E3's announcements with their fake ass trailers where people are supposed to play together in the most infuriating way) and the movie takes a few nice features of these zoom meetings to serve its plot. I'm not gonna say more on that because spoiler but I thoroughly enjoyed the free plan aspect of this.
Also small detail but I loved how the credits rolled.
Music
Still on that 1001 album ride, here are my faves for this month; without much commentary except for the fact that I somehow got five eponymous album (almost eight with three album titles referring to their band). It wasn't a particularly interesting month, sadly.
- Who's Next by The Who
- k.d. lang's Shadowland
- Bert Jansch's eponymous album
- Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers' eponymous album
- Rage Against The Machine's eponymous album