Staff Picks of the Week – January 13th, 2017

Staff Picks of the Week – January 13th, 2017

Friday is here and it is time for the Staff Picks of the Week! If you don’t understand the rules of the game, it’s simple. Each week a select few of our staff share with you what has been keeping them entertained lately. But you know how things work! I always share a little bit of what has been going on here at Rogues Portal before the picks. A collective group of the Portal share our Most Anticipated Games of 2017.  You love comics and so do we! Check out reviews for Beowulf, The Tenth Doctor: Year Three #1, Sherlock: The Blind Banker #1, Motor Crush #2, God Country #1, and Love is Love just to name a few. And don’t forget about our own Sunny and Owl Girl! TV and movies are your thing? Check out articles for Beavis and Butt-Head: The Complete Collection, Did You Know: Stranger Things Edition and Broad City Season 3 DVD. And Amanda Conner is our feature writer/artist this week in Know Her Name. The latest episodes of our podcasts are up! Check out the newest Comicsbound, Scooby Dos or Scooby Don’ts and The Comics Agenda. We have much more for you to check out, so relax and hang out for awhile.  Now it is time for the Staff Picks of the Week!

Amelia’s Pick of the Week – My staff pick of the week is The Devil of Nanking (aka Tokyo) by Mo Hayder. I have been obsessed with this book since I was fifteen years old. Ten years later and it’s in a state of constant re-reading. I’ve got to be on at least ten re-reads and as I sit typing this, I’m considering picking it up, yet again, to real all over again tonight. The Devil of Nanking animates the dark corners of forgotten modern history with the Japanese invasion of Nanking in 1937, often cited as the forgotten holocaust of World War II. A solitary Englishwoman named Grey goes to Japan looking for a rare piece of footage that is said to document a particularly monstrous act that happened in the massacre. Why she wants to find this information isn’t something we’re privy to at first, just her desperate need to find it and prove something. Her quest takes her to a reclusive Chinese scholar, a wheelchair-bound Yakuza gangster who clings to life with the aid of a mysterious elixir, and a handsome American man whose interest in Grey is more sinister than romantic. Everything comes together into something truly spine-chilling, suspenseful, masterful in its historical detail, and otherworldly beautiful with Hayder’s prose.

Michael’s Pick of the Week – My pick this week is a Netflix series I’ve really been enjoying. 3% is set in a dystopian future where most of the population lives in squalor but when people turn 20 they’re given the chance to join the affluent “Offshore”. In order to do that they’re tested with the Process and only 3% of the candidates will succeed. It’s a very compelling series that does a lot on a seemingly small budget. The various tests the candidates are put through are low-budget but usually high concept and always fun. The series is a Brazilian production and the cast is fantastic, they’d rank among the best of similar attractive young CW-type casts. The cinematography is beautiful and inventive, using spaces that could come off as just storage units or hotel lobbies they expertly shoot it in the best way possible. The series is only 8 episodes, so it would be a quick binge, and they’ve already confirmed a second season.

Robert’s Pick of the Week – This week I want to recommend Tom Hardy and Ridley Scott’s wonderful collaboration, Taboo. I have been eagerly awaiting this since it was announced after 2015’s Revenant. I watched this week’s episode and I was absolutely blown away. I had to watch it twice because there was so much happening. The name of the show has a lot to do with the titular character, Tom Hardy, and his sort of atypical/cultural behavior after his return from Africa. The Victorian era of English history is typically known for its unbridled colonialism. For example, the pride of Queen Victoria’s colonial empire was India. Also, it was once said, ‘the sun never sets on the English empire’ because they had land in every time zone. Hand in hand with this colonialism was rampant and unbridled capitalism because of an influx of natural resources. Also, when we think of the Victorian era, there is this posh/stiff upper lip idea of the UK that flashes in your mind. Or an idea of Downton Abby. Taboo takes on and challenges all our typical ideas of posh elites and greed run amuck. He snubs the elites and thumbs his nose at the very powerful East India Company. He interacts with his servants in a very loving way after having been away for a decade. In an 80 minute first episode, there is a lot to talk about, but I really want everyone to watch this and I can’t talk about this show any further without spoiling so stop reading this and go watch it already!

Greg’s Pick of the Week –  My pick of the week is Inhumans vs. X-Men #2. Just two weeks after being disappointed in the end of the Civil War II event I find myself once again in the middle of a Marvel event. This time it is Inhumans vs X-Men, and unlike last time, this time I am all in. In issue one the X-Men went through and took out all the major players in the Inhumans camp, here they are attacking Medusa and the rest of the Inhumans in their home. The X-Men still trying to play the role of hero are not eliminating the Inhumans by injuring them, instead they are just taking them off the board to put it in a non-spoiler way. Lemire and Soule are telling a story in a way that keeps you on the edge of your seat. I’m excited to see how this continues and hoping to see the X-Men return to their prominent place in the Marvel Universe.

Billy’s Pick of the Week – My pick of the week is the Nintendo Switch Presentation. It just happened and it’s my favourite thing I’ve watched this week. That sounds crazy, but nothing else this week has given me as much satisfaction or sense of community with those I interact with online. Nintendo fans were all pretty hyped after seeing the concept trailer last year, but getting a full length Nintendo Switch Presentation has made me so much more excited for the next console I’m going to be playing nonstop for the next few years. And other than some cringe-worthy translation at times (translation is super-hard and I respect anyone who can do it at all, honestly) it was a really great show. Miyamoto standing behind Reggie just casually playing The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild in the background? Loved it. Loved everything about it. The playful side of Nintendo is still alive, well, and quirky as all get-out.

But let’s look at the actual console while I have you here. Launching for $300 on March 3rd, I may not actually get the Nintendo Switch right away. The Wii U release burned me pretty bad when I had a full year without any real games to play, but with The Legend of Zelda at launch, Splatoon 2 in the summer, followed by Super Mario Odyssey in Holiday 2017? There’s a fair chance that I might not have that problem for long. I mean, my wallet has a problem. I would like… the money to buy it. And the games. And the accessories. And the inevitable amiibos. And the signed pictures of Reggie. My body is ready.