I Bring Nothing to the Table » Dan

Scott Pilgrim is an Asshole [Bookmark This]

Dan — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 16:00:07 +0000

There are spoilers in this post!

Seriously…SPOILERS!

At the tender age of 24, I’m pretty sure I’ve still got a bit of the asshole that all kids have in their late teens/early twenties still left in me. That’s just a consequence of what it means to be young, I guess. We think we know better than the world and we’re tremendously selfish about what we want for ourselves, but it’s really our (Scott Pilgrim and myself) actions toward women that define us as assholes.

I’ve heard many readers complain that they can’t get through Scott Pilgrim because they find his relationship with Knives Chau to be so appalling. Here’s a quick summary: Scott meets and begins dating 17-year-old Knives Chau (he is 23), a high school student and the first girl he’s dated since breaking up with his capital ‘E’ ex one year ago. Their relationship is pretty mild, considering that Scott is Knives’ first boyfriend and Scott is not actively trying to be a dirtbag, but it’s still a little on the creepy side when you consider the age difference.

Not long after they begin dating, Scott meets “the girl of his dreams”, Ramona Flowers, who has literally been traveling through his dreams as a shortcut through Toronto. He quickly becomes infatuated with her and begins pursuing a relationship with her without breaking up with Knives first. In fact, he goes on a date with Ramona, makes out with her, sleeps with her (no sex, but still) and begins to date her all before he actually break up with Knives.

For a lot of people this is unforgivable. For me this just brings back uncomfortable memories that I’d rather forget.

Unlike Scott Pilgrim, I was a lot younger when I was that stupid. When I was 16 I was dating this girl from high school. About two months into the (short) relationship, I cheated on her with another girl. It was a one night thing, but it was still a thing. I didn’t break up with my girlfriend for another two months and I never told her. Ever.

Scott and I also have a few other particularly bad decisions in our histories like poor handling of girlfriends we moved away from or womanizing. We have been bad guys.

The climactic moment for Scott Pilgrim that allows him to finally defeat Gideon comes when he realizes these things about himself. The Power of Understanding allows him to self-reflect and grow and become something I fear I’ve yet to become: a good guy.

April Smith And The Great Picture Show in DC [Feedback]

Dan — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 13:50:18 +0000

At the age of 24 I fear that I’m approaching an age too old for going to the shows of bands I love. With that in mind, I’ve resolved to catch as many as I can over the next year or so before I become the creepy old guy in the back who can actually drink.

Last night I went to see April Smith And The Great Picture Show, a fantastic band with a sharp 1920s and 1930s sound that I heard about on All Songs Considered on NPR. The moment I heard April’s powerful voice singing in the podcast I knew that I had to see her live. She did not disappoint.

The band has one CD out right now, Songs For A Sinking Ship, so their set was pretty much an album show, but played out of order. It was very reminiscent of the NPR show I’ve embedded below. April’s voice was just as impressive as always and her wit and humor was well-received by the packed bar crowd at DC9, a cozy little bar off of 9th and U in the District.

Would I see April Smith again? In a heartbeat. The voice she’s got hidden behind that petite frame is just miles and miles beyond what I’m used to hearing on the radio and I love the attitude and charm April and the Great Picture Show just exude. April, herself, plays guitar on some songs along with the tambourine and her band consists of a bassist (double bass, not a bass guitar), drummer, keyboardist, and a guy who alternates between accordion, ukulele, and guitar. They showed up last night all decked out in 1920s gear, complete with skinny ties, suspenders, and newsies hats and they rocked the socks off of everyone there, even my date who had never heard of April Smith before that night.

Go and buy Songs For A Sinking Ship now. You won’t regret it.

Dancing in the Movies [ER/FB]

Dan — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 11:14:17 +0000

This should put a smile on your face.

Team Fortress x Monty Python [ER/GO]

Dan — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 04:15:15 +0000

Only because the animation really impresses me. Otherwise, eh.

Mega Man Universe [Embedded Reporter]

Dan — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 04:00:33 +0000

How is this a trailer for a Korean MMO? Wouldn’t this be a kick-ass Rockman anime?

Lo-Tech Anamanaguchi in Toronto Courtesy La Blogotheque [ER/F]

Dan — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 04:00:22 +0000

Anamanaguchi | A Take Away Show | Airbrushed from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

I love these guys so much.

A Chance to Reconnect [Game Overview]

Dan — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 04:00:28 +0000

I have a few friends who will typically opt out of buying a new game until the hype and price drops to save themselves some considerable money. It’s a great strategy, that’s for sure, but it misses out on one of the best reasons to pick up a multiplayer game upon release: the shared conversation and the most active period for the community.

Everyone's playing StarCraft 2 right now. EVERYONE

Since I installed StarCraft 2 a few weeks ago I have played games and reconnected with at least seven or eight friends I haven’t talked to in years. These are guys who I’d otherwise never get a chance to see, talk to, or play games with because we’re all too busy doing our own thing. The Gamers With Jobs folks like to mention “being a part of the conversation” as the motivation behind buying certain games. It’s not the best reasoning to buy a game, but it’s not the worst either.

I fully understand budget concerns when buying new games, but I also think that there’s nothing like being there for the beginning with everyone else in the world.

The Heroes of Final Fantasy Week 3 [GO]

Dan — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 13:05:33 +0000

The Heroes of Final Fantasy Week 3

One of the first major features on this blog was a Villains of Final Fantasy series that ran for 13 weeks covering the main enemies of every numbered Final Fantasy game from I to XII including X-2. With Final Fantasy XIII launching in the states in just over a month, I figured it’s high time to give some recognition to the teams who are actually responsible for bringing those villains to justice and saving the world. I bring you the Heroes of Final Fantasy.

Week 1 – Final Fantasy
Week 2 – Final Fantasy II

Kinda chubby

The Onion Knights are actually a band of cipher protagonists with no real personalities or backstories. Later remakes of the game attempted to revise this and shoehorn in some identities and personalities to the characters, but the fact remains that the protagonists of FF III are nobodies in the same way that the cast of FF I are nobodies, only this time they have so many different class combinations that it would be prohibitively difficult (i.e., I don’t want to do it) for me to list and describe them all.

Coolness

Who are these four mysterious warriors and why do they fight? No one knows. Would I invite them over to my house to hang out? No way. Too boring.

1/10

Hero Quotient:

Killing Chaos or an inter-dimensional, trans-existential beings bent on destroying existence is kind of impressive, I guess, but that’s what everyone does in an FF game. Mastering a bunch of jobs and skills seems pretty hard, so I’ll give them a small boost for that.

4/10

Ok, these guys look kind of cool. Reminds me of Amano

Scott Pilgrim [Bookmark This/Filmmakers Bleed/Game Overview]

Dan — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 16:05:10 +0000

Scott Pilgrim mania hit its peak two weeks ago with the release of the PSN game and the movie coming just a few weeks after the sixth book made its way to stores. The book is in a really strange position for mainstream acceptance. Most people see it and think “hipster”, which isn’t at all accurate. It’s more gamer than hipster, but its protagonists are young, twenty-somethings who are trying to get their act together and get started in life.

An image O'Malley created as a joke to describe his comic.

Funny thing about indie comics and Brian Lee O’Malley in general, this series has been in the works since 2005 slowly working up to its recently released finale in 2010. That’s five years for six books, but it’s not a race, fellows. In fact, the added time probably did the book some good since it allowed O’Malley time to think about what he wanted to do and totally flesh out his stuff.

The books start out rougher than the finale, but they do steadily increase in quality and should definitely be read at some point if you like comics and video games at all.

Not too Cera-y. Worth watching

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, the movie adaptation, has seen seriously sub par box office numbers since its release two weeks ago. Grossing only $20 million, the movie, despite its strong ad campaign, seems to have been missed by nearly all of its intended audience. The video game nerds don’t properly know that it’s so heavy in references, everyone thinks it’s about annoying hipsters, and the hyper-kinetic film style seems to be putting off the mainstream and the critics. Shame, too, because it’s actually a fun movie with a neat visual style that captures the spirit of the books insanely well.

The world is like Captain Falcon in this analogy.

Another part of the problem is that the target audience is doing a lot of internet viewing (AKA pirating) of the film and not hitting the box office. I feel really bad for O’Malley and Edgar Wright (director of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz) who put together a great movie that no one is seeing.

One final point about the movie: I actually enjoyed Michael Cera in it. He wasn’t bad and he wasn’t Cera-ing it up too much. He was more Scott Pilgrim than Cera, which is what he’s supposed to do and that’s a welcome respite.

Screenshot!

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game is another great part of the media empire that Min and I have sunk countless hours into playing. More loyal to the books than the movies, the game is a beat-em-up in the style of River City Ransom, the classic NES Kunio-kun game that started the franchise. It’s been a lot of fun and I can’t wait to finally beat it this weekend when Min comes over again.

Real t-shirt for fictional Scott Pilgrim's fictional band

Kristen Bell in a Bizarre Yeasayer Video [Feedback/ER]

Dan — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 00:09:30 +0000

What’s going on in this video? Who can tell.

I just know that it’s strangely hilarious and awesome and the song’s not bad either.