Terry Cavanagh has finished his first full-length indie game and it’s a doozy.

VVVVVV is a cross between a C64 platformer (like Dizzy, Manic Miner, or Mr. Blobby) and a Metroidvania. The core gameplay consists of flipping gravity back-and-forth as you traverse ridiculously unforgiving rooms. Fortunately, checkpoints are scattered every six seconds or so. The end result is the hardest five seconds of gameplay you’ve ever played … forever. Or at least for two hours.

On top of the core, forgivingly unforgiving gameplay, the chiptune soundtrack is balls-to-the-wall awesome, and the room names are the best real estate this side of Vagrant Story. VVVVVV is all-killer, no-filler, and a must play for anyone looking for some hardcore platforming nightmare action.

Try the demo at Kongregate, or buy the full game for $15 at http://thelettervsixtim.es/.

sometimes they rock and roll
sometimes they stay at home and it’s just fine
this sword’s on fire
this sword’s on fire
this sword’s on fire
this sword’s on fire

Coming soon: CRANCH

Martel was angry. He did not even adjust his blood away from anger.

Suggested reading: Scanners Live in Vain by Cordwainer Smith.

Goodness knows I’ve worked hard the past 26 years to make a name for myself. And it’s felt great coming to the aid of New Age spa owners, suburban party planners, and young couples looking to save money by making their own wedding invitations. But only now, by appearing in your movie, have I been given mainstream, high-level recognition as a serious typeface. And for that, I thank you.

An open letter to James Cameron from Papyrus.

I got four amazing cookbooks as Christmas gifts this year, but the one I’d recommend to anyone with a nearby Japanese grocery store is Japanese Hot Pots, a book full of amazing nabe recipes. These nabe recipes aren’t just delicious, they’re also easy and functional – a one-pot meal that’s amazing right from the pot, then makes wonderful leftovers for the next few days.

With the sensible Japanese shortcut of dashi packets instead of an hour of boiling seaweed and fish flakes (as much a “cheat” as using canned chicken broth instead of boiling bones), you can toss together a “slow-cooked” Japanese stew in under 30 minutes. Perfect for these cold winter months!

The muh-muh-muh-music of 2009:

Former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi:
A. Has amazing hair.
B. Is a kick-ass mahjong player.
C. Can pilot an F-15.
D. All of the above.

Here’s an unranked list of three comics I read this year. All have my strongest recommendation.

Asterios Polyp by David Mazzuchelli

A comics masterpiece that people will still be talking about in 20 years. The book reads like a fusion of Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics and Craig Thompson’s Blankets – the formalist mastery of the former, the emotional heft of the latter. Mazzuchelli is in absolute control of every page and panel, and te narrative builds to an emotional crescendo as surprising as it is powerful. The physical book itself deserves special attention; everything from the shape and texture of the binding and cover to the CYMK-focused color scheme of the art itself makes it an object of fetishistic beauty. When I finished the book, drained but happy, it was the endpapers that pushed me over the edge into tears. A must-read for anyone who likes words or pictures.

The Umbrella Academy: Dallas by Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba

I’m on-record as to what a pleasant surprise I found the Umbrella Academy, but I still wasn’t prepared for the assured statement and good comics that is Dallas. This is a Great American Comic, willing to wrangle with big issues and bigger themes than anything else out there. Dallas is about the American obsession with (and desensitization to) violence, the psychic scars of Vietnam, and the assassination of JFK as the focal point around which the American 20th Century Experience revolves. Don’t worry, the comic still has men grafted to Martian monkeys, phase-shifting kung-fu six-year-olds, and more daddy issues than Oedipus Rex, but Dallas ups the stakes with time travel (within time travel (within time travel…)), French surrealism, and serial killers in Cinnamaroll masks. The emotional baggage of the characters gets mixed up with the emotional baggage of America and the result is a punchy, heady stew of mainstream comics at their best: fun-as-hell to read in an afternoon, but packed with ideas that resonate for weeks.

Nijigahara Holograph by Inio Asano

I read it, and then I read it again. Immediately, which I never do. Then I read it again the next day. That weekend, I bought it from Book-Off and I read it a fourth time, in Japanese. This is a good book and it deserves your attention. The level of craft and storytelling chops on display here is every bit the equal of Alan Moore at his mid-80s best – but the unification of author and artist as a single person gives this work a white-hot power beyond even Watchmen or From Hell. The tone is a cross between Mulholland Drive and It; the creature who lurks in darkness and cannot be challenged, the intrusion of the nightmare into daylight, how the sins of children become the sins of adults, and how no amount of time can ever forgive or forget the sins of the past. Also, there are lots of butterflies. There are images in this book that cannot be forgotten, juxtapositions of text and line that will explode your brain into that third place where comics happen.

Nijigahara Holograph is currently only available in scanlation and has yet to be licensed for the U.S. Read it now (then read this thread) and read it again.) Read it again when (if?) it comes to the U.S. You are going to be reading this comic for the rest of your life, and the sooner you get started, the better.

I lost 50 pounds between May and September, also Rannie died.