The only good bug is a dead bug & other things

This is another 💦 Quickie with Angelo.

This edition was quite hard to write — I'm in that "no one cares about what I talk about" moment. But, after talking to some newsletter colleagues (newsletterers?), I decided to go through with it.

So, against myself (and all odds), this is another Quickie 💦 with Angelo. In this issue:

• Text and Time

• Twinsen's Odyssey

• 10% Starship, 90% Troopers

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Attention to all Portuguese speakers!

I will participate this weekend at O Texto & o Tempo, an event about newsletters. I'll do a workshop on newsletter technology (or: what's inside the sausage).

O Texto & O Tempo is a weekend event on November 5th and 6th, from 10h to 18h GMT-3. To know more, click here.

Let's join your fellow lusófonos and learn about the ✨magic✨ of the newsletter world.

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Only a few people know Little Big Adventure. The game, released in 1994 by Electronic Arts and Activision, tells the story of Twinsen, a quasi-human guy, and his comedy-of-errors-esque journey:

Twinsen gets home after escaping an asylum — in which he was wrongfully imprisoned after having prophetic dreams about the world's end. Then, his girlfriend Zoe is arrested after hiding him from the villain, the tyrant Dr. FunFrock, and his army of clones. Now Twinsen must save not only his girlfriend from the dictator's grasp — but the whole world after discovering the supernatural origin of his dreams.

Although the game's plot is a complete mess, it overflows with charm, with its quirky universe filled with anthropomorphic characters.

Enough people played the game, enabling the developers to build a sequel. Twinsen's Odyssey: Little Big Adventure 2 was released in 1997 by Adeline Software International, selling over 300 thousand copies worldwide.

The plot thickens.

After defeating FunFrock (spoilers!), Twinsen now has to save the world from children-kidnapping aliens, the Esmers, that look like... sausages. Twinsen heals his dragon Dino-Fly (yeah), rides his jeep through the desert, becomes a licensed wizard, and flies to the Esmers' home planet to investigate — and defeat — the eerie Dark Monk.

Again: a lot to take in.

Twinsen's Odyssey has one of the best video-game music ever composed. The French composer Philippe Vachey did a fantastic job of capturing the playfulness of Twinsen's world and, simultaneously, giving that feeling of "wait, there's something wrong going on." I used to put the game's CD on my radio, and the songs would play like a music disc. I played the game in my mind when I couldn't play it on my computer.

I'm saying all of this because there will be a remake. The original creator of Twinsen's Odyssey got people (and money) together, and they are whipping up a new game. I AM ABSOLUTELY HYPED.

Also: the hand-picked art director is Brazilian.

They are documenting this new version. Watch the first chapter:

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I finished Starship Troopers (the book) and watched, for maybe the 10th time, Starship Troopers (the movie). It was a great experience to see how Paul Verhoeven and Edward Neumeier — respectively, the director and the writer of the 1994 adaptation — did a fantastic job turning this piece of absurd militaristic propaganda into a political satire that makes fun of the same thing the book praises.

Starship Troopers, written by Robert A. Heinlein and published in 1959, is an ode to the military. In Heinlein's world, only citizens can vote, and only people who serve can become citizens. So, when Johnny Rico decides to join the Mobile Infantry and fight the Arachnids face-by-face, it's not money that drives him, but glory and patriotism. He wants to be a citizen and serve his country, acting as any "good person" should.

The book is 90% Troopers and 10% Starship. I followed Rico's training, graduation as a soldier, first battle, becoming a better soldier, and promotion to officer... with almost nothing out of the ordinary. If you pick the book, cut out all the sci-fi and read it... well, it doesn't change much. I expected some space pew pew pew but got regular machinegun ratatatatat.

Of course, it has value: the book was responsible for many future good sci-fi ideas. It introduced the power armor concept — which is heavily used in science fiction until today. 

It's also great that some bad things exist so that we can grow good things from them — it's not a coincidence that I have a dung beetle tattoed on my hand. I love when shit becomes gold, and the movie is shiny, bright, heavy gold.

Verhoeven and Neumeier's Starship Troopers is a perfect example of satire done right: its jokes are straightforward and open, but often, the critique is subtle and hidden. Of course, the movie makes fun of the honor-bound military discourse. Still, it also sends a message when it shows a TV show censoring the footage of an Arachnids killing a cow but never hides scenes full of dismembered human bodies after a battle.

The plot is better laid, and the characters are better developed. The sci-fi vibe checks, and there's even a romantic subplot. 

I recommend watching the movie and entirely skipping the book. Would you like to know more?

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This is the end of another issue of Quickie 💦 with Angelo. I hope you enjoyed it, and I would love to read and answer your comments below.