Death Stranding: A Reminder that the Verity of Life Lies Within Death

It has been almost four weeks since I first started playing Death Stranding, the long-awaited game by the legendary video game developer, Hideo Kojima. I beat the game a few days ago after spending 86 hours and 47 minutes on it. Since then, something has been itching the nooks of my soul, heart, and mind. It was—still is, since I am now trying to complete the side missions of the game—a remarkable experience that reshaped my entire mindset and drastically altered the way I perceive life and death.

The game's setting is a post-apocalyptic, dismantled America in the faraway future where people are rarely seen outdoors due to severe climatic changes that brought "Timefall," an acid-like precipitation of rain and snow that accelerates aging and ruins everything it touches, including inanimate objects. To make things worse, there are also invisible ghostly figures known as BTs—an abbreviation that stands for Beached Things—who accompany that deadly precipitation and kill human beings on sight. Amidst this futuristic horror, there is a man called Sam Porter Bridges (played by the actor Norman Reedus) who is destined to be the one who reconnects the severed joints—or the loose "knots", as they are literally called in the game—of the broken world.

The "unsung hero," Sam, has a pod—which is a virtual or artificial womb—that contains a fully grown—also artificial—fetus called BB. The fetus has the gift of being able to see BTs and even detect them from afar. Sam is connected to the pod via a man-made umbilical cord, which makes him possess the same preternatural abilities BB has. The relationship between Sam and his BB evolves dramatically and we get to witness an exceptional, intimate, fatherly bond manifesting unapologetically. Some details, like having to soothe BB when he cries or hearing him laugh at something funny, definitely add a breathtaking, surreal dimension.

To rebuild the dilapidated world, Sam has to deliver necessary cargo to secluded areas and get them all connected into one online web, known as the "Chiral Network," that makes living a lot easier.

The game addresses several themes. The most essential ones are probably fatherhood, the ineluctability of death, loneliness, and social solidarity. The last two are brilliantly presented by the game's online mechanism that allows players share the equipment they make. Let's say, for instance, that I used a climbing anchor to traverse a mountainous area. I can leave it behind so other players would use it and I would collect points as rewards. This applies to all items players produce: ladders, ropes, electricity generators, shelters, watchtowers, bikes, trucks, paved roads...etc. However, you will never come across any other player; you merely see their vestiges and in return they see yours—a way to be reminded that you're alone in this world, but not entirely!

I remember in one of the earlier episodes of the game that I was using a motorcycle to get to my destination. The bike's electrical engine was dying, and I thought I would have to ditch the bike eventually and proceed on foot. However, just when I was about to lose hope, I found an online generator built by another player and placed in a perfect spot where most porters would be in need of electricity. I used the generator to charge my bike and I was ready to travel hundreds of extra miles. That incident urged me to pay it forward. I suddenly found myself building things I didn't really need, but I simply anticipated they would be needed by others.

The original score of the game is marvelous and incredibly captures the essence of the entire journey. Kojima's musical taste has always been phenomenal, so the beauty of the in-game music was unsurprising at all.

At the beginnings of the game, Sam is required to dispose of the dead body of someone to whom he was closely related. His mission was to deliver the cadaver to the incinerator. In the final chapter of the story, he goes to the incinerator again to deliver another dead body of another person to whom he was closely related. The cycle was complete, and so was the revelation he sorely needed.

This game offers a virtual reality that is teeming with virtues the real life lacks so desperately. The desolate landscape in that fictional world seems a lot brighter and more hopeful than our real world, where loneliness is felt the most when we are amidst hordes of people; the reason is simply because we are a dismantled nation of stupid fucking homo sapiens.

Now, if you please excuse me, I have deliveries to make and roads to build and pave for fellow human I have never met. Fuck this world and have a nice day!

"Glass" Movie Review — the rawest taste of humanity

Image by Andre Spengler

A couple of weeks ago, I finally got the long-awaited chance to watch the movie "Glass," the third installment in the brilliant trilogy written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. "Glass," released earlier in 2019, is a thoroughly thought of sequel to "Unbreakable" and "Split" released in 2000 and 2018 respectively. Both were great pictures with captivating moments thanks to the intriguing stories and outstanding acting by Bruce Willis and Samuel L Jackson in the first installment and James McAvoy in the second. The three actors are finally brought together by Shyamalan—who, by the way, was the genius behind The Sixth Sense, a memorable masterpiece in the history of cinematic arts and one of my personal all-time favorites—to orchestrate the anticipated finale.

If you haven't figured this out yet, then I'll say it explicitly: You must watch the first two movies before you watch this one.

In "Glass," we witness the predictable, yet intense, convergence of the paths of three enigmatic individuals: Kevin Crumb, a man with multiple dissociate personality states; David Dunn, a security guard who quite later in his life discovers that he possesses superstrength and the ability to see informative visions; and Elijah Price, a genius thinker who suffers from a severe condition of osteoporosis and refers to himself as "Mr. Glass."

James McAvoy, who plays the role of Keven Crumbs—and nineteen other characters—did a phenomenal job. His memorable performance in "Split" was snubbed outrageously last year when he didn't receive a nomination for an Academy Award or Golden Globe, but I am certain this will not be the case this year. Hedwig, the 9-year-old boy; Patricia, the classy and domineering lady; and Dennis, the mastermind are the most three personalities I liked out of the twenty ones McAvoy portrayed so painstakingly.

The writing stood out for me, as a writer, and I surly enjoyed the subtle wittiness of it. The amount of quotable lines is truly impressive, but I will not share any to keep this a spoiler-free review.

The most thing I loved about "Glass," however, was how the simplicity, triviality, and mundaneness of certain elements were transformed into something godlike that signifies fear of poetic justice and virtuous vendetta. No flashy suits with tens of features, no colorful capes with distinctive logos, no preternatural projectiles, and no exaggerated multiverse tales. David's rain poncho, Elijah's wheelchair, and Kevin's shirtlessness were the only symbols of heroism and villainy in this movie.

The majority of movie critics bashed the movie. They can, of course, toss themselves onto an uncharted zone in hell where they can fuck themselves sideways. Man, I fucking appreciated the artistry of this film!



 

Selective Empathy by "Pro-Resistance" Palestinians

Photo by Elena Gatti

Back in 2011 and 2012, at the peak of my political awareness and avidity for activism for the sake of my country, I used to receive plenty of invitations to participate in sit-ins or demonstrations against the Zionist entity and its ongoing heinous crimes committed against my fellow Palestinians. My response, most of the time, would be the following: "No, thanks! I wish you all the best, though. Long live Palestine, and down with the Zionists!"

The reason was simply the filthy backgrounds of the organizers of such events. More than 90% of "pro-resistance" Palestinians in Jordan—and this percentage is merely based on my own experience—are people who support dictators and oppressive regimes around the world. North Korea, Iran, and Syria all have increasing fan bases comprising thousands of Palestinians. How the fuck are you supposed to be a freedom advocate when you're openly backing countries that perfectly embody a dictatorship, a theocracy, and an oligarchy respectively?

There is a cafe in Amman where Jordanian and Palestinian communists meet regularly. And by the way, I have absolutely nothing against communism. I know its virtual lifespan is relatively short, I mean...*cough* *cough* the Soviet Union *cough*...it's all fun and shit until you collapse and fall into a bottomless abyss; but as an ideology, I believe it should be completely fine to be believed in—or even religiously adopted—by others. So, anyway, I went there in 2012 and met with some people. They struck me as highly intellectual individuals...until we started talking about the Syrian regime. It turned out that the Assad family was deified by ALL of them—and "them" here refers to all the 5 people I met that night. The fact that the same family has been ruling the country for more than 45 years with utter despotism, denying political pluralism and depriving the people of their basic democratic rights, is completely meaningless to them. Mentioning the thousands of political prisoners and the horrendous torture methods taking place in solitary confinement also had no impact on those five young activists at all; they would either deny it or justify it—and the latter was outrageous to say the least. And by the way, that meeting took place prior to the emergence of ISIL, NF, or any other terrorist militias.

Furthermore, atrocities happening elsewhere in the region are often overlooked by the ilks of the aforementioned people. Take Egypt, for instance, where the military coup was and is supported by numerous "liberal" Palestinians. I have a friend on Facebook who used to publish daily posts, bashing Mohamed Morsi and everything he stood for. That friend, unsurprisingly, was so delighted when Sisi first took over simply because that imbecilic military general was not an Islamist unlike Morsi. But now, after tens of crimes committed by the Egyptian regime headed by that tyrant, that friend of mine is oblivious to what is going on in Egypt. He still posts about Palestine and the tens of crimes committed by the Israelis, though. Of course, I read those posts with unprecedented disgust.

I personally never supported Morsi; I supported the will of the people that brought Morsi via the first ever democratic elections in the history of the country. I couldn't careless about his party, and that's the point those people are missing.

So, I am afraid you and I cannot march side-to-side against one murderous entity when you are a fan of a similar—if not more murderous—one.

There is a song I like by Garbage; no, it's a good song, but the band goes by the name "Garbage." There is a part in that song I like very much and maybe it harmonizes quite well with what I am trying to say:

"We are not your kind of people
Speak a different language
We see through your lies
We are not your kind of people
Won't be cast as demons
Creatures you despise"

Memoirs of a Veteran Gamer Who Just Started Playing Again

A still from a video of me playing Tekken Tag Tournament
on PS2 — the shitty quality of the image is intentional to
harmonize with the content of this piece.

I was first introduced to the world of video games circa 1993. It was a Nintendo console, but I cannot remember which one it was. I was markedly fascinated by the idea of being part—or rather an integral part—of an alternative world and being in complete control of various characters to achieve different goals. Little by little, my fascination grew. The ultimate pinnacle was in 1998 when my dad bought me Sony's revolutionary console, PlayStation (PS1). I spent thousands of hours playing PS1 games back in the days. While that huge amount of time was a direct result of my immeasurable affinity for gaming, I cannot deny that another factor was being away from my country, Jordan, due to family circumstances that forced me to live in Oman from 1998 to 2000. I was lucky enough during that two-year stay to own my first PS1 (I bought another one later) which helped me immensely kill both the time and fictional enemies.

And then, PlayStation 2 (PS2) came out, granting me a new experience of incomparable joy. I beat all of my favorite games, most of which were sequels of PS1 games. Upon graduation, which was in 2007, I quit video games to focus on two things: finding a job, and finding the writer within. So, PlayStation 3 (PS3) and PlayStation 4 (PS4) both came out while I was in a state of self-imposed oblivion. For ten years, I had not played a single PS3 or PS4 game; and the only rationale was not to get distracted—for considerably long hours—and neglect my life objectives.

After I got married, back in 2017, I started replaying some of my PS1 and PS2 games. Although those gaming sessions were quite few and far between and would take place primarily when I was home alone, they were enough to rekindle the gamer I once was and prompted me to buy a PS4 last December.

After almost a month of this new personal era of gaming I am living, there are three main observations I would like to share: first, it turned out that there was no reason for me to feel sorry for not keeping up with the newer generation of video games because there was no fucking way I could afford those insanely costly games back when I was still a jobless college student. $50 dollar for a game? That's literally 50 pirated PS2 games. Yeah, sue me. Second, the graphics have improved dramatically and I wouldn't be surprised if next year's games have graphics that are indistinguishable from real life. And third, which is also associated with the first observation, there is now something called downloadable content (DLC), which is basically additional components of the game (more characters, episodes, equipment...etc.) you get only if you pay for them. Are you shitting me? This stuff is something that was called "unlockable content" you would get upon beating the game or completing certain side missions or challenges. Sadly, the gaming industry has become greedily commercial.

I am still coping with some major differences between my ancient history as a gamer and what I am experiencing now. For instance, online gaming is a newfangled realm I haven't explored before. However, I'll most likely never play online because I mainly play single-player games that cannot be played online anyway.

Overall, I am having a hell of a nice time adapting to this highly rich gaming environment. I have missed a lot (two complete generations of video games, to be precise) but I will be steadily, patiently, and joyfully making it up for myself this year.