Two subscriber articles this week, and a surprisingly successful trip to the archive.
This week on exp.
It’s always surprising how little you actually know the classics, despite feeling like you’re always submerged in references to them.
This post has some urgency, as Wheels of Aurelia will be delisted on iOS on the 25th, so rather than make this the regular weekly post I thought I’d make it a bonus post so it can be unlocked a day before it’s delisted (though you can pay just $1 to support and read it now.) I suppose unless Apple decide to not delist it (they won’t) and if you don’t want to pay anything, you can just download the game now for free, skip reading my thoughts on it and just get stuck in. That’s valid!
Although I posted this with the western cover, I regret not sharing it with the Japanese cover so… there it is! Gaze upon the chibi-adjacent Inoki!
Thanks to a wee repost from Sasha’s Retrobytes, this one got some traction on Bluesky, with lots of people sharing their own bitter disappointment in Fable III. Including someone saying their brother almost “puked from rage” at the ending, which is like… steady on!
exp. Du Cinéma
Detour (1945)
A beautiful example of what you can do if all you've got is a couple of sets, a rear-projection screen, a fog machine, and Ann Savage. Admittedly that last one is really important.
Feels like it ends too early, but there's also something really funny about our down-on-his-luck shmoe main character going "alright, I'm beat" and walking out of the movie.
I wrote this short, quippy review of Detour (1945) on Letterboxd this week because I went to see it as part of the “Important Cinema Club Classics” series at the Fox Theatre in Toronto, and that gives me the opportunity to recommend listening to the Important Cinema Club, the best cinema podcast you can listen to, hosted by my friend Justin Decloux, and Will Sloan, who is also a person I know.
Other Zines
“greetings i have made another zine, this is about how i got my hands on a knife at age ~9”
“The thirteen titles chosen for our project are periodicals with multiple authors. Most can be loosely classified as self-published, small print-run fanzines or zines within the science fiction/fantasy/speculative fiction genres ... published in Canada featuring predominantly Canadian authors.”
“The Ipoh International Zine Festival takes place in #poh, Malaysia from 25 - 27 July, 2025. Location: Aras B, Pasar Besar Ipoh, time: 12 pm - 6 pm. Includes: Zine bazaar, Workshops, Zine launches, DIY craft tables, Panel discussions, Exhibitions.”
And Finally…
Obviously normally I want to end the newsletter on something funny or cute, but I think it’s important to, at least briefly, discuss the recent controversy over Modretro releasing Wayforward’s licensed Sabrina game for GameBoy Color. I’ve been posting a thread over on Bluesky about it, where I note–accurately–that Modretro is arms-dealing zionist Palmer Luckey’s gamewashing arm. Wayforward first openly publicised the release, then deleted everything because it was bad PR, and then had to make a statement to Time Extension probably because they got told off by ModRetro. But it’s clear now that they were deeply and happily involved in this whether or not they see any money from it, so fuck Wayforward. Do better.
Next week on exp.: The sixth game in a franchise you've never heard of.
