They’re making a Castlevania movie. I hope it’s awesome and spawns enough sequels to get up to a Curse of Darkness story…
You know what else pleases me to no end? Mario Hoops 3-on-3. I don’t care at all for basketball, but the fact that Square-Enix is developing it just makes me giggle. Also, it looks rather pretty too.
And last for today, check this out. Neat marketing scheme, no?
I finally got around to checking out last week’s Potoshop Phriday, and I nearly burst laughing at this particular submission…
Yeah, I know. I’m a huge nerd.
So last week I watched Hostel. Frankly, I was quite disappointed. To be fair, I guess I was just expecting too much. I mean, there was plenty of gore and flinchy moments, but to tell the truth, it was rather boring. The whole first half of the movie was establishing plot and whatnot, and by the time it got to the good stuff, I had already picked up my DS and was halfway immersed in New Super Mario Bros. Like I said, I was expecting a lot, and it just couldn’t live up to the magnificent movie I had imagined. I don’t want to completely badmouth it though, because it was pretty fucking depraved and bloody, and I was quite pleased with that much. The characters were pretty flimsy for how much time they tried to spend building them up, and as such you really don’t care who dies or not. That, I think, was what really ruined it for me, because I like having someone to root for. On the upside, a bunch of kids beat a man’s skull in with a rock at one point, and that was pretty cool. I also watched The Hills Have Eyes, and that was an awesome movie in all respects. More on that one some other day though.
Tuh-tuh-tuh-transformers teaser trailer! Get out your Depends before you click
Yeah, that’s all. But it should be more than enough.
Two notes for today. Firstly, I changed my main banner. Those of you who already got it probably have a little more respect for me, for those of you who don’t get it, I saw The Boondock Saints yesterday. It was a fricking awesome movie. The banner won’t be permanent, but it needed to be changed up a little. I think this one gets it all across: truth, justice, and humour.
The second note is for those who read the Mate1 article. In the end, I did end up getting some feedback from someone who read my profile and Googled TE. I’m sure more is yet to come, but right now, I’m simply ecstatic that my plan worked. Take THAT, Mate1. Ryan = win.
Lastly, anyone who’s come here because you read my Mate1 profile, my e-mail address is on the bottom of the sidebar. I assume that’s what you’re here for. Just keep in mind this one thing: no fat chicks.
So I’m watching Firewall (Which, by the way, was so-so. I liked Hostage better) last night, and around 1AM my brother decides to go out for a walk with his girlfriend. These kids are fourteen, mind you. My parents object, but fail to do anything that actually stops him, so he’s gone. The movie ends, it’s about quarter after two, and my mom is unhappy that he’s not returned. My dad tells me to go and track him down to see what’s going on. Always eager to pretend I’m a ninja, I accept, slip on my sneakers, and leave.
I walk down the street a bit and hear voices, so I jump in the bush. I peer out, seeing that it’s only people chattering on their front step. But then there are voices behind me. I’m only covered from the front and sides, my back exposed. Surely they’ve seen me. I crouch down and hope for the best. The voices pass, I am safe. I peer up and see that it’s my quarry that unwittingly got the drop on me. Had this been a real game of cat and mouse, they would regret their poor attention to their surroundings.
I let them go and dodge behind the nearby senior complex. Unfortunately, it has a fenced-off yard, and hoping to avoid any unwanted attention, I have to travel the rocky shore of the lake behind said senoir complex. Letting my focus slip for a split second, I misstep and get a shoe full of water. I haven’t accomplished my mission yet, so I keep on truckin’. The shoreline is unfortunately littered with small birds, and they raise a bit of a racket, but I’m still in the clear. I get out from behind the complex and slowly make my way through the paved field of parked cars, not knowing if my targets are ahead of or behind me. I slowly creep out, and see that they had made excellent time. They must have run at some point, as there’s no way they could have gotten as far as they did as fast as they did at a normal walking pace.
As they amble through a parking lot, I quietly sneak along a fence, keeping just enough distance to make an easy getway should they turn an notice me. My poor luck came into play, as the brightly lit parking lot offered little cover or darkness for me to keep a low profile in. I had also neglected to dress appropriately in my haste, so shadows would not have likely helped too much anyway. I continued my hunt anyway, and was able to find shelter behind a garden shed and some bricks. They stopped just under a streetlight, and proceeded to… fondle… each other. It was mildly disgusting, but I had to keep watch to see what was up. My intuition was telling me that they would simply stop here to say goodbye and then part ways for the night.
Ten minutes later, they were still… at it… and I was ready to pack it in and cut my losses. Then, from behind me, I heard voices approaching. A couple of no-goodniks were walking down the sidewalk, and when they spotted me, they figured it would be funny to blow my cover. They never stopped moving though, so I was able to escape before my brother caught on as soon as they passed by the shed. I quickly fled the scene, using the sparsely placed trees and tall grass as cover, hoping that he hadn’t noticed my presence.
As soon as I reached a rather dark shadow, I crouched down and assessed the situation. My brother was slowly on his way back, but I had plenty of time and room to make my way back unnoticed. But it wasn’t over. Since my return would be easy, I took the sidewalk, and that turned out to be a foolish move. I noticed three figures coming down the street towards me. They seemed to be all dressed in white. I immediately assumed the worst and that I was done for. I knew they had seen me, and trying to hide would only make me a more interesting target, so I continued walking. As they drew closer, however, I noticed that they were not in fact dressed all in white. They were not dressed at all! The naked figures continued their march right past me, and I turned my head so as not to get an eyeful of anything I didn’t want to see (knowing all well that I could have gotten an eyeful of exactly what I did want to see. Which is boobs). As they passed, I quickly picked up my pace, hoping that quickness would help me avoid any other oddities the night might want to throw at me.
I got home unscathed and my brother followed shortly, blissfully unaware that I had been following him.
After my little adventure, I’ve come to a simple conclusion: If you have kids, or when you do, don’t fucking let them go out after a certain time. Midnight or so should about do it. You know all those stories your mom told you about how all the freaks come out at night? Well they’re true. It doesn’t matter how safe you think your neighbourhood is. After nightfall, anything could be lurking around outside. So do your kids a favour, and no matter how much they pretend to hate you, just keep them inside at night. You may very well be saving their lives, or at least saving their eyes a good washing. That’s your article for next week, by the way.
…
j/k. Relax, guy. It should be up on Sunday this time, assuming nothing distracts me too much over the weekend.
You know what’s really weird? When I play air guitar, I play left-handed, but when I play on a guitar or use any object as a mock guitar, I play right-handed. Odd, no?
I think that’s pretty much it. Would you think less of me if I told you that the trailer for “The Devil Wears Prada” got my attention? Cause I’m feeling pretty bad about it.
you know, while I’m here I should probably get the ol’ Band of the Month post out of the way. Better sooner than later, ya know? This month’s band is a rather small-time group out of San Francisco called Drist. They seem to be on their way up, what with being featured in both Guitar Hero games, and just generally increasing interest from the public. I myself only know a handful of their songs, but I’m very eager to hear more. Oddly, my favourite song is a cover of Depeche Mode’s “Stripped,” which is far more energetic and face-melting than its source material. Not necessarily better, as the original is quite charming in its own way, but downright awesome all the same. Their submisison for Guitar Hero – “Decontrol” – is also incredibly awsome. Anyway, they’ve built themselves some notoriety in punk/metal circles, and you’re probably more likely to have heard of them than most obscure bands I blog about. Definitely worth looking up if you like your music hard, fast, and loud. Good luck with that though. Their MySpace page would be a good place to start if you are interested.
Well, I really shouldn’t have to explain this again since it’s basically the same article I ran two weeks ago, but I do it every time for Chat Radio. What a sucker I am…
*Ahem* To get back to the point, this is simply a bunch of short reviews of various goodies I bought/obtained during the past week. I add “obtained” in there because in all honesty, there’s one item here that I didn’t pay a cent for. You’ll understand just why that’s such a good thing once you get that far. So that’s the summary done, I guess we’d better get to the real task at hand then.
If the world was more like Metal Gear Solid, my entire family would have had funny little question marks floating over their heads when they learned that I bought this. I’m willing to bet everyone else on the face of the earth would too. Fact is, I often wonder how well people think they know me. I’m not an overly complex guy, but certainly if even my family – people who interact with me every single day – couldn’t forsee me buying this CD, they obviously don’t know me too well, and I doubt anyone else does then. Oh well. Not that I’m complaining about it. I like having an air of mystery.
That said, the CD rocks. I’d review it myself, but I’d basically just be saying exactly what this review says. And I’m not one to plagiarize outside of homework.
That review does end with a question though, and I have an answer for it: Matthew good. Score: A+
A while back (presumably around the time the show started airing), the Mask started posting clips from a show called Wonder Showzen. Based on the name, at first I assumed it was some quirky Japanese show, but no. Turns out it’s an MTV spoof of Sesame Street. Or something like that anyway.
In any case, I really enjoy the show. It’s not top-tier stuff like Robot Chicken, but the two shows do have their similarities, such as being completely random and often quite offensive. The “main” skits are usually pretty funny and off-the-wall, and all the crap in the middle is great, like “Beat Kids” which has a kid dressed up as a reported asking people about dumb stuff (EX: asking “how was it?” as people leave a park restroom). The biggest problem I have with it is that the Clarence bits are funny, but tend to drag on and get annoying. Oh well. Also, the show can be… erm… insensitive towards those who are… weak of stomach. It’s nothing you won’t be able to handle if you’ve seen the dreaded “Tubgirl” image and lived though. Nowhere near that level of gross. Score: B+
As I was paying for my junk at HMV, the girl at the checkout suggested that I pick up one of these little things. She said it was for getting the shrink-wrap off CDs and DVDs and whatnot, and since it was only $1.50 and I hate shrink-wrap and she was cute, I decided to pick it up. I think I used the word “and” waaaay too much in that last sentence there.
I put the thing to work right away, opening my new wares. However, being the dumbass I am, I couldn’t get this overly simple contraption to work. Nope. Took me a good five minutes to figure the thing out. I really shouldn’t have told you that, but I really don’t have much else to say to fill this space. I guess mentioning that the thing works wonders is good way to do it though. Score: A+
I am many things. Slow, thick-headed, dense, witless, etc etc. I’m also a penny-pincher and a pushover, and both traits play a large role in this acquisition. You see, the checkout girl at HMV I mentioned just a little earlier also offered me this “sampler CD.” I knew damn well that it was a trap and likely filled with horrible music, but when put on the spot like that, and being the floor-mat I am, I also knew damn well that I was screwed. Luckily, she quickly added that it was free. Breathing a sigh of relief, I agreed to take one, and all was good.
The CD is pretty much garbage. I’ve only heard of one of the bands (Pilate, who are featured on the front), and I can’t say I’m going to worry too much about learning more about any of them. None of the songs are really bad per se, but almost all entirely forgettable, with the exception of Donovan Frankenreiter’s “Move By Yourself” which is way too funky not to like. Pilate isn’t too bad either, but at best, they’re a less boring version of U2. Score: C-
I don’t know if you’ve been keeping score at all, but I’ve been listening to all sorts of music outside my normal range as of the last few months, and hawksley Workman is one of the artists that I’ve really gotten into. He’s a Canadian indie rocker, and though I may have come off as critical of indie music in that last little CD review up there, this guy is really awesome.
I don’t usually buy music DVDs, even shows. In the past, there are only two that I’ve made exceptions for: Queen – Live at Wembley, because that’s like the greatest show ever performed, and HIM – Love Metal Archives Volume 1, because HIM rules. Now I’ve got a third, kind of a spontaneous purchase, but a good one nonetheless. I haven’t seen many live shows in my time, but I’ve listened to many live CDs and seen a lot of shows on TV, so I have a good appreciation of the general rule that bands either suck or rock onstage. At least I’ve never seen anyone do a middle-of-the-road performance. Anyway, Hawksley live is good stuff. He seems to have a little trouble getting all the words out, but I’ve seen many that have the same problem. He still puts on a good show, and I’d recommend this DVD to any fan. Score: B+
Recently, I was able to restore my personal computer to working order. It was quite a process, as that thing was seemingly screwed up beyond repair. Now that it’s in a better way – and beefed up with a new video card to boot – I’ve been putting it to good use as a gaming PC. Not that I play many PC games, but I need to use the damn thing for something.
Sadly, most of the games I play put a pretty strong emphasis on having a scroll wheel on your mouse, and my old mouse just couldn’t afford me that luxury. So I went out and picked up a cheap optical mouse. It’s pretty darn neat for a mouse too, as it’s all mini-sized and intended for a laptop. The scollball thing doesn’t work nearly as well as a real scroll wheel though. It seems to have something against scrolling down, but applying a little force gets it back in line (just like women!). That little bug aside, it works well, and I really like the tiny size. Also, my simple mind is totally amazed by the little dongle it comes with so you can plug it into a normal mouse port instead of USB. Good thing too, because my USB ports are always full… Score: A-
I’ll give it to you straight: If you liked any Super Mario Bros game before this, chances are that this is worth buying a DS for (this and all those other awesome DS games). But seriously, I haven’t played a video game this good since Super Mario World (because I like Yoshi’s Island and Mario 64 a little better), and I think that says a lot, because I play a hell of a lot of video games. It’s got all the charms of an old Mario game, and does so much awesome new stuff that I couldn’t even begin to describe its greatness in three paragraphs.
First of all, it’s clearly an homage to the games of yore, and a much better homage than simply porting those games. If you give it a shot, New Super Mario Bros will immediately win your heart. From the total lack of story (the princess is captured, Mario must save her) to the unnerving difficulty of some levels and obstacles, this game just oozes Super Mario. The 2D/3D look of the game is incredible, and makes use of some great effects, like morphing entire landscapes under your feet and growing Mario and enemies to gigantic size or shrinking them down to a size similar to that of one Edward Elric.
As you may have heard, there is a bit of an overabundance of extra lives. The game is tough, so you’ll be putting them to good use, but I doubt anyone with even a little skill will ever run out. The other small issue is that it opts to use that damned Bowser Jr over and over where the Koopa Kids would clearly fit very nicely. Dammit Nintendo, you need to listen to the fans more carefully! Do you know how happy we were when they showed up in Superstar Saga?
Anyway, Score: A++
That’s it for this week. I’m sorry I cooped out and did another mass review so soon after the last, but I’d just bought so much stuff that it would have been a waste not to do it. You know what? This apology is really more suited for the ol’ blog. Yeah. I’ll just wrap it up here then.
You know what? I’m not even going to bring it up past this short paragraph. It’s not going to happen. It’s just a name. It’s not worth shitting my pants over. (CONTEXT: The name “Wii” was just unveiled)
Now I’ve got a little dilemma. I seem to have forgotten to tell you about the Silent Hill movie, but I also promised I’d share my opinions on Brain Age today. I don’t want to do both, (why waste a good blog post?) so I’ll just have to push Brain Age to tomorrow. Again.
Okay, so Silent Hill. I love the games very dearly, and if you keep up with this blog, you knew that. So obviously I was very psyched about this movie. It also filled me with fear and sadness because as a rule, video game-based movies blow. Silent Hill did not blow, despite what Scott and Tycho may be telling you. I’m going to go on record and say that it’s the best video game movie ever made. In fact, I loved it. There were so many great things about it that I don’t know where to start. I guess the first thing to hit me was that at least half the music in the movie was ripped straight from the first game, or was at least so similar that I can’t tell the difference. Next, the camera work was brilliant, and very reminiscent of the game. Lastly, the “crazy world” parts were very well executed, and made me a very happy Ryan. The base of the story remained mostly the same, and there were some huge changes that kind of irked me, but I won’t spoil anything like that.
The things I didn’t like about it are as follows: 1) I miss Harry Mason. 2) The fact that it was based on the first game, yet featured Pyramid Head (along with his gigantic knife) from SH2 was a little dumb. 3) They totally trivialized the Lisa character. She could have just as well been cut altogether. 4) You know, that’s about it.
One last thing that doesn’t really need mentioning is something that would have scored huge points with me: if they had used the joke ending from the game. Everybody who hadn’t played the game however many times you need to get that ending would be stupified and angry, but I would have loved it. I’m pretty sure anyone else who has earned that ending would agree with me. Here’s hoping they use the SH2 joke ending in the likely sequel. All hail the Dog!
By now, everyone on the internet has seen that crazy Christmas light display that I linked to a while back. Well, thanks to the Sneeze, we now have a link to the fine details. Because I know some people were wondering.
Secondly for today, is the latest Penny-Arcade comic. I don’t think I’ll be able to take X-Men 3 seriously either now. I’ll never be able to see Kelsey Grammar as anyone but Fraiser, or at least Sideshow Bob. To tell the truth, I haven’t even seen X2 yet. But oh well. The last thing on my list of X-Men related junk is that during a trip to the IMDb, I discovered that a different actress plays Shadowcat in each film. Kooky.
The Special dEaD – Sometimes Heroes Ride the Short Bus
And if that’s not enough to satiate you, here’s the Stubbs the Zombie soundtrack. If you want a review before you download, there’s a short review in my Last.fm journal. Had to use the thing for something.
