IN WHICH the creative output of WFMU is celebrated, and a return trip to Rapture is planned.
Briana's pick: The Best of LCD
WFPK and the stations of Louisville Public Media are near and dear to my heart, it’s true. But I occasionally sneak in a web-streamin’ listen to other national public stations (and yes, I am also a contributing member). The station you will find in my browser right now is WFMU.org. Broadcasting out of Jersey City, New Jersey just across the Hudson from Manhattan on 91.1FM (and also in Mt. Hope, New York at 90.1FM), WFMU is a noncommercial, free-form paradise of listening, doods. WFMU broadcasts some of the bestest (and the weirdest) stuff out there.
From 1986 to 1998, WFMU also produced a companion program guide called LCD (Lowest Common Denominator) which I was never privy to until now. “The Best of LCD: The Art and Writing of WFMU” is a visual counterpart to the airwaves consisting of incredible artwork, opinion pieces, random musings, and absurd satire from listeners, volunteers, and staff members. You don’t need to know the programs of WFMU to appreciate the book. It is packed full of lunatic creativity. Just the way I like it.
James' pick: Bioshock 2
I've been a gamer all my life, but always on the frugal side – games are expensive, so I usually wait a year or two to buy them when they're a lot cheaper (public radio salary, you know). But for the first time, I bought a game on the day it came out – Bioshock 2, which came out last Tuesday.
The original Bioshock was one of my favorite gaming experiences ever. So smart! So immersive! So bloody terrifying! As the game opens, you're in an airplane over the mid-Atlantic in 1960. The plane crashes into the ocean, and your only safe harbor is a giant entrance to an underground city called Rapture. As you enter, audio recordings tell you of the man who built this once-great utopia, Andrew Ryan – a pun/anagram/play on Ayn Rand, whose Objectivism is the inspiration for the game. You see, Ryan believes that great men and women should have a place where they are entitled to the "sweat of their brow," away from the governments and religions that want to take it away from them.
But it all went wrong, and Rapture is now an Art Deco ruin, populated by "splicers," once-human creatures that have gone drug-mad; by Little Sisters, brain-wrecked little girls that troll the streets of Rapture looking for the drug ADAM; and the monstrous Big Daddies, giant robots with drills for hands that protect the Little Sisters.
Here's the opening sequence from the first game:
Heady stuff, and sooooo exciting. The visuals, the music, everything – it was a one-of-a-kind experience.
So far, Bioshock 2 is just as great, perhaps even better, more polished. This time it is ten years later, and you the player find yourself inside the suit of a Big Daddy. Rapture has been taken over by the sinister Doctor Lamb, whose philosophies are a 180-turn away from those of Ryan.
The game is pretty emotional, too, as your job is to locate your Little Sister, Eleanor, who appears to you from time to time in dream-like sequences, begging you to "please find me, daddy, please find me!" Yikes. You'll also find a number of really deep, intelligent storylines, told through audio cassette journals you'll find laying around Rapture.
Decidedly adult, not just because of the violence but also because of the level of writing and ambition, this is video gaming at its finest. And to celebrate, I've done perhaps the nerdiest thing of my entire life – I made an unboxing video of the Special Edition. Watch it if you dare.
[podcast]http://archive.wfpk.org/Podcasts/20100212-nerdy.mp3[/podcast]