Thoughts on the week: 2 movies, 3 books, 1 game jam docuseries

The Odyssey Round 2 (Christopher Nolan, 2026)
Less than 48 hours after my first viewing (and around 24 hours after posting my Hot Take), I stood against the back wall of the for three hours cuz there were no seats but there was one wheelchair spot at the bottom front that hadn't been taken so it was mine but obviously I was not going to be there I was gonna be at the back. 

Anyways: I stand by everything I said on round 1, but I liked the movie even more the second time around… which is often the case in heavily hyped movies – once they're a known entity, I can just enjoy what it is instead of what I think it might be – but is not often the case less than two days later. And is thus far never the case making me want to see something another two days later (though unfortunately I have to wait until this weekend for my next shot).

In any case, this thing is truly All Killer No Filler (25th anniversary remaster dropped on Friday btw), moving from scene to scene at rocket ship pace with barely enough time to even queue up the transition (“Do I have a wife?” BAM what's Penelope up to right this second) but it's impressive how well the ending works despite that. This is a benefit of hiring very talented performers, I guess – a trick used to great effect by The Backrooms – because from the time Odysseus sees his dog until the credits roll, I'm not just conveniently on board but emotionally on board and that's driven pretty much entirely by the performance… plus easily the best fight scene of Nolan’s career (suck it, Inception hallway fight (luv u tho)). 

All that said, I continue to be frustrated that they shot in an aspect ratio they clearly weren't shooting for: had The Odyssey were released in 4:3 everywhere – heck, if it was in the 1.9:1 Digital IMAX aspect ratio everywhere – there are many shots that I can say with 1000% certainty would be framed differently. 

C'est la vie!

Project S AKA Supercop 2 (Stanley Tong, 1993)
This is my third time seeing this lesser-known Michelle Yeoh vehicle – and my second time on the big screen. Project S aka Supercop 2 is a sequel to Police Story 3: Supercop, switching focus to the exploits of Yeoh’s Yang Jian Wa, with Jackie Chan only appearing in an utterly bizarre but certainly memorable cross-dressing sequence. 

And while it obviously doesn't reach the highs of its predecessor, which is widely considered among the best action movies of all time, it’s a very solid film in its own right. It really has all the things you want from a film of this era, and I was glad to see it again on the big screen (even if the print was in pretty rough shape). Watching Yeoh 👊👊🦵👊 is always such a treat. 

Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future of Blizzard (Jason Schreier, 2024)
I actually attended the New York book launch for this and asked Jason Schreier a question about whether it’s difficult to separate his role as Bloomberg Reporter from his role as Book Author (answer: not really)... and then proceeded to not actually read the book! 

Cuz here’s the thing… I’ve never really played a Blizzard game? I know about them, of course; they’re one of the most beloved and discussed studios in the entire medium, but outside of a single session of Diablo II at a friend’s house, I just never checked them out: I’m not really into the kind of game Diablo is, and basically everything else is multiplayer focused, and I just don’t have that many friends (and even fewer who play Blizzard games).

But I’m happy to say that this book is interesting regardless; Blizzard was not a typical studio and so their lessons are not universally applicable, but the kinds of corporate shenanigans that ultimately diminished the company’s name feel familiar for anyone who has followed the trajectory of basically any public company. In particular, the way eventual parent company Activision slowly worms its way into the culture is fascinating; former CEO Robert Kotick is infamous for his desire to e.g. turn Guitar Hero into a (literal) monthly franchise, and this book gives some insight into why he was successful in the first place as well as the likely-irreparable damage that he did in his position. 

What this book did not do is convince me that I should actually check out any of Blizzard's games. I'm happy people like them but yeah not for me. 

Double Fine’s Amnesia Fortnight 2014 Series (2 Player Productions)
Amnesia Fornight is an internal game jam that Double Fine hosts every few years, lasting two weeks and requiring everyone on staff to completely stop what they were doing for that time (hence the name). It has been the source of many of their actual releases, and the three AFs from 2012 to 2017 were captured and released by the folks at 2 Player Productions. This one was done daily, resulting in a 12-part series that I think is the best of them all specifically thanks to the addition of Adventure Time creator Pendleton Ward, who is given a special role as a project lead for a pitch he gave that turned out to be basically impossible (then; it might actually be comparatively easy now). 

What is so valuable about Ward’s presence is that he doesn’t actually know anything about game development, which is why he could propose an impossible thing. Everyone else at the studio has some understanding of what can be done in 2 weeks (and what can be done at all), but a guy who is used to having an idea, animating that idea, and then it being done just doesn’t have the context. And that context is precisely what projects like the Double Fine channel or Jason Shreier’s books (and now own channel!) are there to make. 

And that’s cool and more people should watch them.

Everything is Tuberculosis (John Green, 2025)
The last time I read a John Green book, it gave me an existential crisis that ultimately required me to travel across the pond to read a review to a group of people you, as a subscriber of this newsletter, may well have been in! It was a great time. A memory forever.

Everything Is Tuberculosis, Green’s non-fiction follow-up has not given me an existential crisis… but it should have given our society one. Living in the United States, I’m only vaguely aware of the disease long referred to as “consumption” and have never really had to think or learn about it. I genuinely didn’t know that the deadliest disease in history is still killing so many people every single year despite the fact that we have really effective treatments. 

And so the book ping-pongs from fascinating to infuriating enough to make your head spin when you try to comprehend the scale of this extremely solvable health crisis – one that has undoubtedly gotten worse since this book was published since the world's first trillionaire bathed his hands in the blood of the Global South as he slashed America's aid programs. 

And I know no one who would subscribe to this newsletter would disagree that Elon Musk is genuinely evil and the logical conclusion of a system that incentivizes evil, but fuck dude.

Reverse Centaur’s Guide to Life After AI (Cory Doctorow, 2026)
I think this might be the best book about AI… which isn't super shocking, because of course the guy who coined “enshittification” would be able to effectively pierce the veil of what it is happening in the industry. I actually talked about the Reverse Centaur concept in my piece on hating AI, because I'd seen Doctorow discuss it before, but it has maybe-inspired me to write a follow-up so for now I'll leave it there. If I have not fully committed to doing so by week's end, I will put deeper thoughts into next week's TWIRecap.