my personal canon

brendan schlagel: an encapsulation, in list form, of those things that have most shaped you. A sort of annotated bibliography of influences.

books

The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier
- my idea of what death means.
Just Kids by Patti Smith
- intersection between love, art, and life.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
- it's important to be present and make things happen instead of letting life happen to me.

One Art by Elizabeth Bishop
- a poem on loss and grief. my mind treats this one like an instruction manual.

Coherence dir. James Ward Byrkit
- i love one-location films. restriction breeds creativity.
Grand Theft Hamlet dir. Sam Crane and Pinny Grylls
- art can and should be fun! video games are a medium. creating with others can be good and fun.

do I actually want it or do I want others to see that I have it? by hannahlee! 해나
- my life is for me and not for the perception of others.

Veronica Mars
- i think i basically watched this at the right, angsty-teen time of my life. i'm a little sad the kickstarter'd feature film didn't live up to my hype for the series, but i watched this during the heights of my delusion that i could someday become a detective.
Freaks and Geeks
- another short-lived tv series that i think i watched at the right time of my life. nothing deep, just a tv series i genuinely adore. may not "encapsulate" the person i am today, but it definitely shaped a bit of my teenage life.

Undertale by Toby Fox
- super interesting visually and gameplay-wise. never played anything like this in my life, and, though vastly different, reminds me of a game i used to play on my dad's pda called Kyle's Quest.
Astonishia Story by Sonnori
- the first game i ever finished on my psp. it's nothing innovative in terms of turn-based rpgs, but i enjoyed the story and its ensemble of characters. it's also the psp game i come back to the most.