176. As 'n malle

I.

I’m playing the remake of Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag, in which you play the captain of a pirate ship. As I steer my ship through stormy oceans and sometimes over gigantic waves, my crew sings one shanty after another. The classic Drunken Sailor is my favourite, along with Running Down to Cuba.

O, I got a sister, she’s nine feet tall, Weigh, me boys, to Cuba! Sleeps in the kitchen with her feet in the hall. Running down to Cuba.

My adventures in Black Flag gave me the urge to rewatch the original Pirates of the Caribbean. Brace yourself: that film is 23 years old. Johnny Depp still looks young and healthy, and he brings the story to life with his comedic (over)acting.

But it’s really the sets and decor where you notice the film is nearly a quarter century old. I haven’t seen the newest Pirates films, but I imagine that if another instalment were made now, a lot of it would come straight out of a computer. In Curse of the Black Pearl we see real ships, real caves and real stunts with real swords. It’s obviously CGI when the pirates turn into undead skeletons in the moonlight, but those effects still hold up surprisingly well.

That authenticity is what still makes the film so convincing. Almost everything you see has weight. A ship actually pounding through the waves, sending water crashing over the actors, makes the viewing experience so much better than a lot of the adventure films being made today. With an overload of CGI, there’s instantly less at stake, emotionally.

At that point it feels more like playing a game. Which is exactly what Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag Resynced is — I can easily recommend it to anyone who wants to sail the blue seas and sneak around tropical islands themselves. Don’t let yourself get too distracted by anything other than the main story and you’ve got yourself a solid pirate game. “What will we do with a drunken sailor / Early in the morning?”

II.

On Saturday I was at De Nijverheid in Utrecht for a new edition of Pro Wrestling Holland (PWH). I already wrote about pro wrestling last year and mentioned PWH back then too. A few months after writing that post, I attended a wrestling night for the first time. I had the time of my life.

This time was no different. At these shows, the crowd goes wild within minutes. The Dutch wrestlers might not be on the level of The Rock or John Cena, but it’s great to see that some characters have already become genuine crowd favourites.

Lorenzo Lina, for instance. He’s from Assen, and you can hear it the moment he enters the ring, from his entrance music: Høksons with As ‘n Malle. Lina carries a metre-long beer tube on his shoulder, takes a sip, then sprays the drink into the air like a fountain. The crowd goes nuts. Whenever Lina gets knocked down during a match, people in the crowd immediately hand him beers. What spinach is to Popeye, an ice-cold beer is to Lorenzo Lina.

Afterwards I got talking to Tengkwa, the man who founded PWH twenty years ago. He still wrestles himself (“I’m an old man now”) and wears a mask both inside and outside the ring. Despite that air of mystery, he’s just as approachable as the other wrestlers, who act tough in the ring but happily pose for photos with everyone once they’re outside it. Years ago, Tengkwa’s wrestling shows drew only a handful of people, but lately they’ve been taking off and selling out. “We’re going for pure entertainment,” he says. “People don’t need to be wrestling fans, as long as they become PWH fans.”

It seems to be working. The merchandise stand is constantly busy. The wrestlers won’t be getting rich off it just yet, though. Afterwards I see one of them cycling towards the station on a Lime bike with a sports bag. Back in his regular clothes, nobody on the train will have any idea that this guy just tore through the ring like a wild animal in front of hundreds of people.

PS.

Wrestlers lend themselves well to good over the top stories. That kind of character also works in comic form. I read Wrestle Heist, about former wrestlers getting revenge on an evil show director. A lovely short comic series, made by Kyle Starks, who also worked on the Rick and Morty comics.

Our own Dutch comic hero Aimée de Jongh won an Eisner Award for her graphic adaptation of Lord of the Flies. The extremely prestigious prize is well deserved. De Jongh makes the most beautiful graphic novels in the country (and therefore beyond). Definitely read Dagen van Zand too!

Bon Iver played a full set of Bob Dylan songs at the Eaux Claires Festival. I watched a few recordings on YouTube and now I’m hoping ‘Bon Dylan’ goes on a world tour.

Director Zach Cregger (Weapons and Barbarian) is making a Resident Evil film adaptation. In Cregger’s hands, that’s bound to turn into something special.

The criminally underrated Grace Cummings is releasing a new album next month (and she’s playing Ekko on 19 November!) and I’m mesmerised by this song and its accompanying music video.

A good piece from The New York Times about how Google once fought for an open internet… and how the company is now working hard to fence it in.

Researchers had AI models govern a simulated society, Fortune reports. Claude turned out to be the safest, while Grok committed 180 crimes and let the whole society go extinct within four days.

You just read blog №176, written in the week of 20 to 26 July 2026. Subscribe to my newsletter and you’ll receive it in your inbox every Sunday, free of charge.