Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.
Join 4 other subscribers
French cinema, everyone! (Photo courtesy Screened.com)
Went on a date with an art student so I thought it would be most fitting to see a weird, French art flick. It…did not disappoint.
Movies
Holy Motors – There is no real way to summarize every weird thing that happens in this movie, but it’s about a man who gets in a limousine every day and shows up in makeup and costumes in various places, acts out a scene, and then leaves. You got a little bit of everything, but my favorite was the scene where he killed a man, started to make the man look like him, and then that dead man killed him and assumed his role. That’s the kind of movie this was. It was…odd.
TV
Breaking Bad – How great is this show’s table setting? Chekhov’s Ricin, check. Putting Mike out of commission, check. Setting up the Tio meetings, check. Ted Beneke and his trip-prone rug, check. I didn’t even notice until later that the pistol ended up pointing at the lily of the valley in the penultimate episode. Brilliant stuff. Now I need to watch the first half of season 5 somehow.
The Amazing Race – Definitely did not expect the Beekmans to win. So hooked on this show. Can’t wait for the next race in Jan/Feb or whenever it returns.
New Girl – I thought the cranberry in the ear bit was hilarious! Not sure that I’m digging the character that they’ve got Olivia Munn playing, but…it’s Olivia Munn. I can forgive it.
The Mindy Project – I love when Mindy gets people like Ellie Kemper to show up and really play against type. She was really funny in this episode.
Music
Let’s see…I listened to Channel Orange probably every night last week, but maybe you’re all getting sick of Frank Ocean (I don’t know how) so I’m gonna go with Kendrick Lamar’s “Bitch Don’t Kill My Vibe” off of good kid, m.A.A.d city
Man, I love that opening (also the chorus)
“I am a sinner who’s probably gonna sin again Lord forgive me, Lord forgive me Things I don’t understand Sometimes I need to be alone”
It’s also got a nice, old school type backing track.
Books
A Confederacy of Dunces – Ignatius’ treatise on the factory workers bordered on offensive, but I think that’s supposed to be the point. Still not quite sure where the book is going, but I’m also not that deep into it, I guess. It’s interesting.
The Revolution Was Televised – Pushed through the last few chapters until around 0200 on Saturday. Loved it. If you have any interest in tv and how it’s hit its golden age, this is a great, relatively breezy read.
Video Games
XCOM: Enemy Unknown – Still kind of sore about having to start a new game, but I always dig this game. Gotta record a bunch of episodes this week to cover Christmas.
FTL – Actually got fairly far with the Mantis ship. I’m rather proud of myself for that.
999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors – Has kind of a Saw/survival horror vibe to it. So far the mysteries are coming in fast and hard and I think I made a questionable decision in abandoning Akane/June, but I think that I need to keep an eye on Snake and Seven and I wanted to check out the Ninth Man (although they didn’t really let me). Very intriguing story, but this is a visual novel, folks, so if you want to try it be prepared to read and only occasionally solve puzzles.
Don’t blink. Blink and you’re dead. (Picture courtesy Rich Ford)
I got to share my favorite episode of Doctor Who with Min today. I’d forgotten how eerie and excellent that episode was. I mean, I literally shouted out loud in fear when one of the angels popped into view. Freaky stuff. Love that ep.
Not this week.
Breaking Bad – I don’t know why I had such a long gap before where I wasn’t watching this, but these past few episodes have been brilliant. Walter White is absolutely fascinating in his almost impotent villainy. I love how addicted he is to power and how much pride he has. Just brilliant stuff.
The Amazing Race – Up to the finale on the current season and that’s been pretty exciting. I’m glad the twins didn’t get eliminated as they’re the funniest. On the S1 DVDs things are getting interesting. Team Guido is hilariously evil. It’s awesome.
Parks and Recreation – Episodes revolving around Jerry are usually pretty awesome and this one did not disappoint. Tammy 2′s ridiculous brand of evil sluttiness was gross AND hilarious. Not an easy bar to hit.
The Mindy Project – It seems like every week I’m saying, “The net critics don’t like this, but I find it funny.” Copy-paste that here.
New Girl – Another one that all the internet hated, but I thought was hilarious. The bathtub crashing through the ceiling and the Remy three-way callbacks? Brilliant.
Doctor Who – Started Min off with “Blink”, but then I took him back to “Rose” to show a more typical episode. It’s still mostly introducing stuff, but I think his interest in piqued.
Happy Endings – Man did Rob Corddry get away with saying some filthy things on network tv. Also the Penny thing was fairly predictable from her. Alex continues to be hilarious as always.
Glee – A week where I didn’t want to just turn off the show for being aggressively stupid? Wow! That first Rachel number was stunningly good.
The League – Odd pacing and dropping of plot points make me think that there are big things afoot for the finale. Totally dug the lucha libre bit.
Childrens Hospital – Madonna episode: meh. Chief episode: better.
NTSF:SD:SUV:: – I don’t think they did enough with the found footage conceit, but Alphonse’s creepy Christmas song was amazing.
Saturday Night Live – I didn’t get past weekend update, but Jamie Foxx was doing his thing ok. He seemed less comfortable that I thought he’d be considering how good he is in other stuff. Maybe live isn’t his thing?
Just go listen to more Frank Ocean. Channel Orange is Awesome.
A Confederacy of Dunces – At around the 100 page mark. I feel like I’ve met all the principals and now it’s time to see where this farce is headed.
The Revolution was Televised – Finished the chapters on The Sopranos and The Wire and I’m working on Deadwood. This tv backstory stuff is fascinating and I’m really digging all the analysis.
Sleeping Dogs – I like Wei Shen and I like the undercover cop conceit. It remains to be seen how deep the story gets and if it’ll allow for character depth or go the GTA IV route where, regardless of how serious the main guy claims to be, every one else is a cartoon.
The Old Republic – Just got Vette, but we sadly haven’t had much interaction at all. Seems like a dropped ball so far, but, then again, my character has only just gotten license to head to Dromund Kaas.
XCOM: Enemy Unknown – A power issue (perhaps related to SLI-ing my cards) caused save file corruption on my main game. I might have to restart and that’s heartbreaking. We’ll see if the forums come through for me or not.
FTL – I’m getting much better at this game, but I still haven’t gotten the hang of Mantis B. Racking up wins with other ships though.
오빤 강남 스타일! (Photo courtesy Music Star22)
This week was ridiculous, guys. I mean, so much K-Pop and so much Jazz! It’s like highs and lows here. Add in some fantastic TV shows and ninjas and you’ve got my media week.
Sleepwalk With Me – Mike Birbiglia and Ira Glass’ first joint movie project was a resounding success. It’s pretty much an adaptation of his stage show, but, as Min pointed out, we’ve seen this performed two or three times and it still feels really fresh. An excellent freshman effort. Catch it if it hasn’t left your city.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang – Looking for something to watch that she hadn’t seen, we settled on this. Man, I’d forgotten how fun this movie is. Just brisk and exciting. Ends one time too many, but otherwise great.
The Incredibles – Had this on the tube and it caught Tiffany’s imagination. Pulled out the blu-ray and watched it for maybe the third time ever. Guys, this movie is pretty awesome, even if it has weird message issues. I mean, being special is good, right? I get that, but why make a villain out of the guy who has pulled himself up by his bootstraps to make something out of himself? Buddy is misunderstood (and evil).
Breaking Bad – HOLY COW! I’ve been forcing myself to slow down my consumption of these episodes because it’s just been SO GREAT. Season 3 really brought it together and taught me why everyone thinks this show is awesome. So masterful!
Kids on the Slope – What a charming, touching, musically amazing show that was. It’s only 12 episodes long, so it doesn’t overstay its welcome and it’s interesting the whole way through. You should check this anime out. It’s on CrunchyRoll right now for free.
The Daily Show – DNC time! The segments weren’t as biting (and the acceptance one was a remixed version of the RNC platform one), but they still had some good zingers for the DNC, such as the platform change vote.
NTSF:SD:SUV – Only my second episode of this madness, but the Time Angels stuff was hilarious. Sharp writing on this episode for the fake backdoor pilot.
Childrens Hospital – I love the “behind the scenes” episodes of this show. Too bad I missed the first half, but I’m sure I’ll catch it on reruns soon.
Pretty Little Liars – GUYS…this show is bonkers. It’s insane. Thank god I have Jacob Clifton’s recaps to read and laugh about. The show’s not bad, but man is it trashy and hilarious in all the right ways.
Fashion Police – Joan Rivers makes vagina jokes! No real complaints here. I can deal with this by now.
Cupcake Wars – So many strained Star Wars references. So many weird ingredients.
“Gangnam Style” is AMAZING. How did I miss this when it came out?!
Super catchy and super ridiculous/bizarre/awesome. Psy is incredible in this video.
Like I said above, I spent a lot of this week listening to Jazz too. Here’s the best segment from Kids on the Slope:
That medley is just fantastic. Such a brilliant scene.
I promise I’ll get back to reading soon!
Driver: San Francisco – Evading the cops sucks. Couldn’t get it quite right, but I dug some of the driving. I’ll have to give it a little more time.
Spelunky – Started trying to speedrun for the 8 minute achievement after I got the Casanova one. Made it to the caves once, but it’s hard to just blow through these levels.
Mark of the Ninja – The Giant Bomb guys talked this game up like it was awesome. It is lots of fun. I like how clear all the stealth stuff is, but I wish it were a little easier to stun/not kill some of the guards. I feel like some puzzles very early in the game require you to kill or set off an alarm and that’s a bummer.
So long former basement abode. Good riddance!
I’ve been officially Min’s roommate for a week+ and it’s been awesome so far. So glad to not be in that basement…
Margaret – This was a really challenging movie. The plot centers around a 17-year-old girl who inadvertently causes a bus accident that kills a pedestrian, throwing her life into chaos as she struggles to deal with her guilt among friends and family that she feels don’t get her. It’s a real hurricane of emotions and it vividly reminded me of the idealism and stupidity of my teenage years. I wouldn’t really recommend it to anyone looking for a light diversion, but it was still good.
Girls – FINALLY got around to watching the last two episodes of the season. It’s challenging in a completely different way as Hannah and her friends are almost aggressively unlikeable and behave in the most selfish ways at every opportunity. That’s what makes it great, really, but I can see why some might not like it.
Veep – Just biting and brutal and mean and so much fun to watch. I cackle every time I tune in. Can’t wait for season 2
Breaking Bad – That scene at the end of “Over” where Walter warns that guy to stay out of his territory…Chilling. Letting Jane die was straight up ice too. In fact, this show just gets more and more brutal and I love it. Walter is a force to be dealt with and his actions/decisions are fascinating. I feel really bad for Jesse who’s stuck in the middle of it.
The Daily Show – The election season is upon us! Thought I’d get back into TDS, see what it’s about nowadays. I picked an interesting time to tune in…All the Tampa bashing was a little much, but some of those segments were brilliant! The Samantha Bee abortion platform one was particularly brilliant.
Kids on the Slope – Finally set up my CrunchyRoll free trial on my PS3 so that I could watch this show. It’s very anime-y, but it’s also very awesome in an understated way. Really the best reason to watch this is for the fantastic soundtrack. So glad that Watanabe and Kanno teamed up again for this.
Written for Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, “Some Day My Prince Will Come” is, naturally, a Disney staple. Go to the park and I guarantee you’ll hear it. It’s never been a favorite of mine, but Kids on the Slope has convinced me of how well it can work. They use Bill Evans’ cover of it and it’s quite nice.
Trine 2 – Got some time in with Min. Not bad. I like the ninja rope person.
EDIT: Min has reminded me that I played this last week. Scratch this from the record!
Iron Brigade – Using the XBL/GFWL servers sucks. Took Lee, Min, and I somewhere around 30 mins to an hour to get a multiplayer match working smoothly, but once we did we had quite a bit of fun.
Spelunky – This was the crowning achievement of my weekend. I may not have beaten Hell, but Min and I made lots of progress, including beating it co-op with two members alive. Now the uphill battle to Hell…
The zombie apocalypse in Cuba (Picture courtesy Casa de América)
Busy week of prepping to move and moving, but that didn’t stop me from getting some media in…
Juan de los muertos – It’s not the greatest movie in the world, but it’s pretty damn awesome. I don’t get to see a lot of movies about Cuba or set in Cuba and this was a real pleasure. I mean, now that I don’t live in Miami, how often do I get to hear people speak Spanish the way I’m used to hearing it? I loved this movie and I’d recommend it to anyone who digs a zombie comedy.
Workaholics – I’d heard good things about this comedy somewhere, but I was left feeling a little lukewarm. It’s not bad, but I don’t enjoy it as much as, say, The League. I do dig the unlovable leads, at least.
30 for 30: Unguarded – ESPN’s documentary series is pretty awesome, guys. A ton of them are on Netflix now too. I mean, I really don’t like basketball, but this documentary about Chris Herren’s struggles with drugs was very interesting. The story’s not groundbreaking, but it’s heartfelt and done well.
Top Gear – Jeremy races the other two across Japan in a sports car while they take Japanese public transportation. Very funny competition. I love it when they do challenges on this show.
Community – My S3 box set came in this week so I watched the first episode. Man do I love these guys. Can’t wait for their S4 return!
Breaking Bad – Bob Odenkirk’s debut was perfectly timed and this show is really on a roll in S2. His line, “Right now you’re Fredo,” was amazing and pretty chilling. I’m way back in.
Pretty Little Liars – Gotta pay your dues. Saw the first ever episode with Tiffany (she hadn’t seen it either). Not as terrible as you might think, but still a show that’s clearly not for me.
B.O.B.’s dropped a new record recently. These two tracks (one with Andre 3000 and the other with Nicki Minaj) are pretty hot. I’m pretty sure they’ll end up on my tumblr in a few weeks, but enjoy them for now.
Another week where I let my brain rot.
Team Fortress 2 – It feels like ages ago since I first started playing Mann vs. Machine, but I love this mode. Can’t wait to get some more time in this week, but the move is gonna get in the way.
Iron Brigade – Only played a map or two, but Lee, Min, and I will save the world from the TV menace!
Orcs Must Die 2 – Decent tower defense game. Hope to play with Lee or Yin too since they seem to be pros.
The Last Story – Just started playing this and discussing it with David. Expect more in this space soon. Very interesting so far.
Persona 4 Arena – Finally starting to finish stories. Still one more big mystery to uncover.
Trine 2 – Finally started playing some with Min. I like the co-op and I really like the weirdness of the physics engine. Ninja rope for life!
Spelunky – Made it to Hell for the first time! I got a few levels in before I died too! Brutal, brutal stuff.
Big video game week for me while simultaneously being a terrible week for tv that I would normally watch. Since I did most of my watching at Tiffany’s…well…I think you can guess what kind of tv I was subjected to.
Jeff, Who Lives At Home – It’s my first Duplass brothers film and I kind of dug it. Not amazing by any stretch, but a breezy, fun way to spend about 77 minutes. It’s one of those coincidence/fate type of films, but it’s got such a pure heart about the whole thing that it just feels right. Like the Kevin basketball game stuff, I mean, that was just beautiful as Jason Segel and Evan Ross connected on a level that was beyond words. They were a team unit and they dominated that game, which made the betrayal that much more heartbreaking. Ed Helms did a fantastic job as an asshole, but I gotta admit that the Susan Sarandon parts fell flat for me. Just not that interesting at all.
Friends – Killed some time watching old Friends episodes. “How old?” you ask. We’re talking S1, Rachel meets that Italian guy who she dates for a while old. Pre-Ross and Rachel make out in the rain old. That old. The show still has its charm, but it’s weird to see them in a state where they don’t all know exactly who they are yet.
Fashion Police – Guys, straight talk express here. Ryan Lochte was on Fashion Police this week. That guy is the biggest idiot I’ve ever seen. I just wanted to laugh every time he opened his dumb mouth, but not because he was funny, no, because I was amazed that a person could come off so poorly on television.
Pretty Little Liars – This show is about some person who murders these girls’ friends? I don’t really understand what’s going on here. It’s like Veronica Mars a bit, but with a larger group of Veronicas who are all rich and impossibly good looking. They’re all in high school, I guess, but one of them lives with her boyfriend in an apartment? I dunno. I don’t really get it. It was ok, but I’m not about to break out the box set or anything.
Breaking Bad – The show got a little slow when they were unable to cook, but now that they’re moving product again and we’ve got the promise of having to introduce some muscle to the operation…I’m digging it, man. I love how cold and unconcerned Walter acts toward Jesse. Dude is a total asshole to him. Also loved how fucked up the meth heads who robbed Skinny Pete looked. Hey, guys, that’s the true face of meth. It’s not pretty.
Top Chef Masters – Felt proud of myself for properly guessing that Lorena was Venezuelan. Other than that…it’s just not as exciting to see professional chefs do their professions for charity. The stakes are too low.
Drop Dead Diva – This show is still pretty ridiculous with its take on the law, not to mention that I’m constantly distracted by how much not-Judy Greer looks like Judy Greer to me. Highlight of the episode HAS to be Chef Ben-Israel who was delightfully bizarre, per usual.
I guess I didn’t do much music listening this week, but…BUT I had Alex Cuba’s “En Armonia” stuck in my head all weekend. Here’s a performance at Stubb’s. The conversation is kind of annoying (and there is some clipping), but it’s still a fantastic song.
Does the color reprint of Scott Pilgrim count?
Persona 4 Arena – I do really like the way that the story mode works and is progressing, but I’m more annoyed with the way that they’re all “To be continued…” until you unlock certain stories. I’m almost there though, guys. Just a little longer and I’ll start clearing stories like crazy. The fighting game itself is pretty tough, but the story is great.
Spelunky – Not as much time this week as I should have played, but I’ve been rushing too much and not making it as far as I should. Still haven’t beaten it from the mines because I’m focusing on the City of Gold too much.
Metal Gear Solid 4 – Had a rather unfortunate mishap where I accidentally saved after getting an alert on my save file. It’s my fault for only having one save file. Now I’ve got plenty to revert to and I’m back to Act II in about the same position. I’ll keep pushing forward on this trophy mode for an hour or so each night.
The Old Republic – Mini-event that was kind of “meh”, but still net me a bowcaster. Just release HK already, guys.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive – The beta opened up to everyone who pre-ordered on Tuesday. Pretty solid game. Guess what, guys? It’s CS. The addition of the gun game mode is pretty nice, I dig that, but the meat and potatoes remains bomb planting/defusal and hostage taking/rescuing. Love it. Best pure shooter out there.
Team Fortress 2 – Most fun shooter probably goes to TF2 though. Mann vs. Machine…it’s tough, but it’s also really cool to have a completely different paradigm and completely new goals to work toward. If your team composition/teammates are kind of terrible, well this is gonna be a giant ball of aggravation and stress, but it’s otherwise lots of fun. I just want to play Scout all match though. Let me do that, please!
Driver: San Francisco – Only played like 20 mins of this. Not too bad, but man do those muscle cars have terrible understeer. Or is it oversteer? Guys, I don’t know anything about cars or driving.
Just a ridiculous movie… (Photo by nxusco)
It was a long week, but also a fun one. I got to see some dear friends of mine and their awesome new house, so I’d say it was a total win.
Casa de mi padre – I was expecting a telenovela parody and a silly comedy, but I wasn’t expecting Ferrell to translate his entire schtick to Spanish. It was pretty much exactly that. Best joke payoff was the silent cigarette rolling one going on in the background the entire time. It seemed like everyone had a great time making this too.
The League – I’m surprised at how many S2 episodes of this I missed. Really enjoy this show.
Burning Love – You know what? I think watching the Bachelor(ette) has actually been useful solely because it makes this parody that much funnier. It’s brilliant how well it captures the aesthetics of the genre. Just perfect.
Episode 4 features a favorite actor of mine, Kristen Bell. Naturally I think it’s fantastic and I just had to embed it:
Definitely watch these. They’re hilarious.
Breaking Bad – The cathartic fight between Jesse and Walt at the end of “Down” was just amazing. I’m starting to see why everyone thinks this is one of the greatest shows on TV.
Had some April Smith stuck in my head. Enjoy:
1Q84 – Finally finished the epic. Murakami is an absolute pro at surreal, weird imagery. I love how he touched on all kinds of weird themes from his old book too. Reading a lot by the same author helps you spot a lot about their personality…Anyway, if you like everything to be neat and tidy when you finish reading a book, no, this isn’t for you. If you want to go along for the ride…pick this up. I’d warn first-time Murakami readers to start with another one of his books instead. This is a bit daunting if you don’t know what to expect.
Max Payne 3 – Finished the main campaign. Gritty and rough and just violent and ugly. I ignored the execution stuff because I found it distasteful, but this is an ugly game, like all Rockstar joints. It’s just brutal and mean and vicious. I take that as the right thing to do since it deters glamorization, but I wonder if people still think of the stuff in this game as “cool”. The execution stuff doesn’t help that. That’s definitely glamorizing.
Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion – Big game with Min that I thought I was gonna lose for a while. Lots of fun.
Spelunky – Guys…I finally made it to the City of Gold. I’d never made it there before! So proud of myself. Of course I immediately died, but I’ll make it there before. Next stop: Hell!
SWEAR TO ME!
Smaller audience and better preparation allowed Min and I to finally see The Dark Knight Rises this weekend. Along the way we decided that we were going to become professional blackjack players*. Can’t wait to start my new career!
Man on the Moon – I pretty much associate this movie with Eric because I remember him renting it or going to see it in the theaters or something. Odd that this sticks out in my head, but it does. I haven’t seen enough footage of the real Andy Kaufman to know if Carrey does a good job emulating him, but it seemed not like Carrey and I dug that. Decent movie.
The Dark Knight Rises – It’s hard to live up to the best superhero movie ever, but TDKR makes a strong effort. It’s a different kind of movie, for sure, and its perhaps too sprawling for its own good, but it’s a good ending to the trilogy. Worth seeing, even if the Bane voice is just so stupid. Honestly, it’s dumber than Bale’s Batman voice.
The League – Turned this on to have something on in the background forgetting that I hadn’t seen the first two episodes of the second season. It’s a pretty dumb show, but it makes me laugh pretty consistently so I’d recommend it.
Breaking Bad – The polar opposite of The League. I definitely enjoy the show, but I’ve yet to see the true greatness that makes fans froth at the mouth for this show. Highlight of S2 so far has been Tuco’s uncle. Great old man character and the bell dings were chilling and kind of awesome. Great to see the affection for his insane nephew from the otherwise senile-seeming old man.
Go check out the Humble Music Bundle. Bunch of albums for like $8.
1Q84 – Was not expecting the Aomame pregnancy. This book is in full on mystery mode to me. I have no idea where anything is going.
Greed Corp – Played a game with Eric. Like the risk/reward that permeates the game, but don’t love most of the mechanics. Maybe I’d come to appreciate it with more rounds? Not sure.
Puzzle Agent – What a delightful little game! Had lots of fun just blowing through the puzzles and laughing at all the weird characters of this tiny town. Might pick up the sequel when I finish with a few more games.
Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion – Played a big, multi-star map with Min that went really well. I enjoy the deliberate pace of this game and I also love just sending huge fleets of doom to crush my enemies.
Spelunky – I came so close to making it to the City of Gold, guys. I promise it exists! I PROMISE! I’ll make it there some day…
Saints Row: The Third – Played a little of the alien movie xpack. Fun. Had a game-crashing bug keep me from finishing it, but I’ll get around to it.
The Old Republic – David started a free trial and I’ve been having a blast playing with him. It even inspired me to level up my Bounty Hunter some. I’m playing a totally cocky, darkside-leaning Jedi Knight and I think it’s very interesting to see how NPCs lightly chastise me. Hopefully they start to genuinely fear Cornell Threepwood by the end of his story. That’s an intimidating name, right?
May Payne 3 – Gritty. The shooting bits are tough too and the checkpointing can leave you in a bad way with no painkillers to help. I’m stuck in a particularly brutal firefight right now. I dig the weird presentation bits, but I need to give the game more time.
BIT.TRIP.RUNNER – I was having fun with this until I hit 1-14 and replayed that level for damn near an hour. Then the boss was annoying too. Not a terrible rhythm-ish game, but starting over from the beginning every time is a little brutal.
Sonic Generations – It’s pretty much the same thing with every modern Sonic game. You play the first level and you think, hey, this isn’t so bad! Then the Sonic Team starts introducing more terrible ideas in each subsequent level. By level three I realize that Sonic truly is a dead franchise.
*Not actually true
“Hey Dan, are you still gonna buy tickets in advance?”“Naw, that won’t be necessary” (Photo by Wonderful Malaysia & Veelzijdig Maleisie)
I was supposed to see The Dark Knight Rises with Min. We were pretty excited about it too, but I was a real dummy and I didn’t get tickets days in advance. Whoops. Maybe this week.
The Dark Knight Rises
Breaking Bad – This show came back this week, but I’m still in season 2. All of the praise being heaped upon it reminded me that I should be watching, so I’ve started pushing through again.
The Bachelorette – I…ugh…:sigh:…Listen, I love spending time with Tiffany, but sometimes it’s tough. Guys, guess what? Emily picked Jef. Yes, he spells his name with one ‘f’. If I write more words about this my brain might explode.
1Q84 – Things are starting to heat up. Oddly enough that’s with both of the principals kind of locked into their locations. I might finish this week, but we’ll see.
Usher’s “Climax” is a great song.
Penny Arcade Ep 3 – Got to the bank, but things got super tough. Took a break.
Tropico 4 – Steam sale started and I got my hands on this as soon as I could. I love island management and the soundtrack is pretty sweet.
Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion – Still the best 4X game I’ve ever played thanks to the time pressure of the RTS mechanics. Would love to play more multiplayer games with Min.
The Binding of Isaac – One more challenge left and it’s the hardest one. After that then it’s time to beat the game with all the characters again. Not looking forward to the ??? completion.
Spelunky – Keep getting frustratingly close to the City of Gold and then mucking it up. I’ll get it soon. Then I’ll make it to hell!
Seann William Scott is so innocently dumb in this movie, but it's actually quite good. (Picture courtesy nxusco)
Guys, Goon was really good. More later, but you should check it out. This week was a real scattershot weekend as I tried to play a bunch of games I didn’t give much time to before.
Martha Marcy May Marlene – The cult in the movie is an interesting contrast to the fundamentalist Christian society in Higher Ground and the hippie commune of Wanderlust. This movie really ratchets up the tension of not knowing what’s real and what’s not. Ideally they would have made Patrick a scarier presence, but the movie is still on pretty solid ground with what it accomplishes. Congrats on the fantastic part, Elizabeth Olsen. Keep it up!
Goon – This is a mostly sweet movie about a guy who had no place in life other than to fight on the ice. It’s done pretty well and it’s funny and it’ll definitely win you over. Alison Pill, who played Kim Pine in Scott Pilgrim, is great as a Canadian hockey girl and Seann William Scott is endearing. The violence of hockey and hockey fights is really the thing that might put you off the movie. It gets pretty brutal if you don’t like it.
Mad Men – Last week’s premiere was amazing and I totally loved it. Can’t wait to see yesterday’s episode tonight!
Breaking Bad – Finished the first season. The six episode arc they had to work with never went anywhere with any definitive statement, but I think they’re playing the long game for all the seasons. Doesn’t mean that it was bad, just that I’m used to a more dramatic season arc. The progression of Walter White from teacher to meth cooker has definitely been interesting as is the seething anger that lurks beneath hsi outside personality.
Happy Endings – A great tribute to all the sitcom tropes of old. Some really good jokes in there that helped keep it from being too hack-y (like it was when the episode started). Elisha Cuthbert’s Ellen was hilarious.
New Girl – I liked the episode, but I’m rather chilly on New Girl at the moment. It’s not bad, but it’s not amazing either.
Justified – Another table setter. The final two episodes of this season are going to be bananas. I’d like for Limehouse to continue to be a force in S4, but we’ll see if he survives the next two eps first.
Community – It’s entirely possible that this episode contained the first “boner” joke I’ve laughed at since I was 13. The Subway corpo-humanoid is the highlight of the ep. Also a highlight: “Put it in a letter, Jane Austen!”. Alison Brie is so awesome.
Up All Night – This show is kind of meh to me too. At least it’s enjoyable meh. I’d rather watch New Girl because Zooey Deschanel is cute, but this is the better show.
The Wire – Finally finished S1 and the commentary of S1. Can’t wait to get moving through S2 because S3 is amazing. I love the attention to detail in The Wire and the devastating verisimilitude of it all.
“Heaven” is one of the best tracks on the Persona 4 soundtrack, but it’s also pretty awesome to listen to any time. Don’t believe me?
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – I’ve got like 10 pages left. So tired of this book.
Ghost Trick – Weird ending to this game. Just plot twist upon plot twist. Still one of the better story games I’ve ever played and excellent practice for my Spanish.
Devil Survivor 2 – Still haven’t caught the entire breadth of this story, but I do dig it. Interested in seeing where it goes, but my major play time will probably come when Min and I go to Vegas (he’ll probably sleep through the flight)
Mass Effect 2 – Slowly tearing through this a few missions at a time. For some reason I can’t stomach playing it for long periods of time. I think it’s because ME3 is clearly better and they’re so similar.
Poker Night at the Inventory – Put in a few mins to get some achievements and just play some poker. Still fun.
Jamestown – Was feeling like finally putting some time into the weird quasi-historical/quasi-sci-fi version of the Jamestown settlement in Virginia. Fighting the Spanish conquistadors and the Martians is weird, but fun. I like all the different ship types.
Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness Episode 1 – I played and beat this many moons ago, but I wanted to play ep. 2 and that required playing this. Decent RPG and pretty funny still.
Sine Mora – Tried it out on XBL. I might pick it up when I finish a few other games. Seems interesting.
Pac-Man CE DX – Um…best game on my Xbox. Period. This game is so good I had to force msyelf to stop to play…
Galaga Legions DX – I was tired of only having like two achievements in this so I went and got to 11/12. Might not get the last one (more annoying than tough), but I’ll probably cave and just do it. Not as good as Pac-Man at all, but still fun.
Shadow Complex – Cave Story + made me think the same thing this game does: Why don’t game companies make more Metroidvania-style games? They’re really addictive and fun. Weird. Also weird: Nolan North in a half-tuck role that’s NOT NATHAN DRAKE! I think the shooting is a little awkward with the right stick because they added the whole 3D aspect to it, but otherwise fun.
