James Whitbrook

I'm launching a newsletter! Observation Deck (real ones know) is home to my thoughts about all sorts of nerdy pop culture and entertainment journalism. My first blog is about the new Ghost in the Shell, and how its reverence for the original manga lets it play with some boundary-breaking ideas.

got my name reservations sorted for WoW Forever LET ME IN

The collective outpouring of what Mass Effect Universe could've been in the last few days feels like being Vigil on Ilos and watching the cryopods blink out one by one

Because I couldn't help myself, today's newsletter is about the moment the flavor of the Star Trek/Magic: The Gathering set finally sold me on the crossover, and its unlikely source: Lwaxana Troi.

bahahahahaha

And I shall miss you most of all, probably romanceable male quarian with the nice butt

Kind of love the mechanics for Year of Hell as a saga. Everyone gets something! But it also sucks to do so, repeatedly.

Little late on today's newsletter, but I marked the untimely closure of Bioware with a trip back through moments in my life that will forever be associated with their games—14 flashes of memory, from Baldur's Gate to Mass Effect: Universe. A damn good ride. The best, even.

WHAT I WANT TO SAY ABOUT ELECTRONIC ARTS WOULD GET ME ON SEVERAL GOVERNMENT WATCHLISTS

WE COULD HAVE HAD IT ALL

What I want to say about Electronic Arts would get me on several government watchlists

This week's episodes of VisionQuest were really good, and yet at the same time I'm kind of just waiting for the shoe to drop in that usual "back end of a Marvel TV show" way. Nice to see president roslin again, though.

Garrus Vakarian isn't even cold yet, you sick fucks

Oh dammit I got myself real good

Bioware was one of the most fundamental game studios of my life, from watching my brother play the original Baldur's Gate for hundreds of hours, to Knights of the Old Republic rewiring my brain, to Mass Effect letting me explore my queerness, to Dragon Age II being the best game ever. Fuck, man.

What The Fuck

wrote about the BBC selling off the last TARDIS set roundel by roundel, and the wider spread of official auctions as a sort of archival recklessness

Catching up on the Magic Trek previews and I just think that Her, She, and things of that nature

Today has been a long day, so naturally, I decided to write about it.

Congratulations to Korra and Asami on their first on screen kiss

Seven Havens continues to be great, although they have a baffling habit of showing off the clunkiest bits of its animation off as previews when the rest of the episodes look pretty good Kinda crazy we're already halfway through book one though, three episodes a week is too much

Today's newsletter is mostly an excuse to waffle on about the crossroads Warcraft currently finds itself in—an attempted return to the classic heyday of the series versus an embrace of its modern form, and all the baggage that entails—through the lens of two recent acts of narrative sacrifice.

Honestly kind of crazy there was a potential world where this might have been where Korra ended, and even if it was, she would still be the GOAT

Man, Lin motherfucking Beifong

Been rewatching Korra waiting for the next Seven Havens and it's kind of wild that the pro-bending tournament–one of the coolest world building ideas in S1–is wrapped up in the season's worst (the Mako/Korra/Bolin love triangle) and best (the start of the Equalist revolution in earnest) episodes

Not a single "shameful display" in the quote sheets, smh

For once, thank you, corporate politics