Sometimes I think that I need to grow out of being upset that I don’t get summer vacation any more. I mean, it’s been well over a decade since I finished high school. In the time that I’ve been out of school, kids have started and finished school. But you know what? Nuts to that. I miss having two months to do whatever I damn well pleased.
~ Game Over ~
Final Fantasy VII (PC) – I’m amazed at how much shorter this game is than I remembered. I mean, I suppose it’s in part from not having sought out all the ultimate weapons and other fancy doo-dads, but even with a few hours of grinding and breeding a gold chocobo, the final time clocked in at under 40 hours. Crazy! (The time investment for prepping to fight the Emerald and Ruby Weapons is a whole other story.)
BOXBOXBOY! (3DS) – When I finished BOXBOY!, the only thing in the world that I wanted was more BOXBOY!. And now I have it! And it’s sooooooooooo good! And the ending suggests that there could be up to three more sequels. Hooray!
It’s smack-dab in the middle of summer, which is scientifically proven to be the farthest point in the year from any holidays that are worth celebrating. Canada Day seems like a distant memory now, and Thanksgiving is basically a lifetime away.
So what better time to watch a movie all about holidays?
I noticed the film simply titled Holidays on Netflix after burning through the first half of the new season of BoJack Horseman the other night, and though I tend to shy away from horror movies a little more now that I live alone (I’m a big scaredy baby), I knew in my heart that I needed to watch this one. And not even in a “put it in the queue” sense. No, I played that sucker right then and there.
Holidays is a horror anthology, a genre that I had never really warmed to until very recently. It is composed of eight short films, each themed around a different holiday, and each by a different writer/director. It’s a lot like The ABCs of Death, but a little more substantial, because you’re not splitting the run time between 26 bite-size shorts. The eight stories here definitely vary in quality just about as much as the vignettes in The ABCs of Death, though. I’ll go through them in order of least to most enjoyable.
Mother’s Day – I thought this was the weakest story of the bunch, but that’s not the most damning criticism, because it’s not really bad. It could definitely be more interesting if fleshed out into a full story, but it just pales in comparison to the rest of the stories featured in Holidays. What bothered me the most is the, uh, “effect” at the end, which… is hard to describe without spoiling it. But I rewound it a couple of times just to check it out, and there’s just some weird spatial issues. It wouldn’t be worth most people’s time to pick at a half-second shot like this, but it bugged me because it was it was just so slightly off. If you’re really curious, but don’t want to watch the movie, the shot in question is like the second result if you type “holidays movie” into Google image search.
St Patrick’s Day – Again, not really a bad tale, but just totally friggin’ weird. Not really that horrifying, either? There’s a disturbing bathtub scene, but that’s the worst of it. Actually, it’s a lot like the Mother’s Day short, but with a slightly different bent. It’s also longer, and the ending is completely bonkers. They’re both stories about women who end up pregnant with non-human babies. Babies is the wrong word entirely for both scenarios, but I am not smart enough to know what the most fitting word would be. Anyway, this one’s got a little more characterization in both the mother and the folks around here, whereas Mother’s Day is more about the events than the people involved in them. I typically prefer stories that are more about the characters.
Halloween – This short was written and directed by Kevin Smith. Which means that I was very excited to see it, but was unsure about where it would land on the quality scale (EDITOR’S NOTE: Ryan, you still need to watch Tusk). This is the story of three camgirls and their abusive boss. When he won’t give them the night off for Halloween and then attempts to rape one of them, the girls knock him out and then get even. Or, I don’t know, maybe a little more than even. Depends on how many times he successfully violated these women. Anyway, it’s pretty gross, and I don’t think it even makes sense? Also, there’s a really cringe-inducingly awful monologue about halfway through that really takes the cake. Like, uuuuugh, I know you can write better than this, Kevin Smith. It’s probably the actual worst short of the bunch, but those other two were just so tepid that I had to rank them lower.
Valentine’s Day – This is the opening short of the collection, and it really only ranks low on my list because it’s totally predictable from the first minute. It is the story of a young girl who has a crush on her swimming coach and is bullied by her classmates. Can you guess what happens yet? Yeah. I do like the way that the main antagonist’s shield breaks down as the story comes to its climax, how it strips away her toughness and shows her vulnerability when there’s nobody around to posture for. Said climax is slow and brutal, and the conclusion wraps it up perfectly. Quite opposite of Mother’s Day, this story definitely works best as a short, and would really lose a lot if it was stretched out any longer.
Easter – You know when you’re a kid, and you start thinking about the holiday mascot stories that your parents tell, and start asking questions? That’s what this story is about. The first half is just a little girl pissing her mom off, asking too many questions about the Easter Bunny and Jesus and if Daddy is ever coming home. She’s unusually terrified by the thought of seeing the Easter Bunny, so of course, that’s what happens. Sort of. The second half is definitely surreal and feels a lot like the kind of thing that you’d see from Guillermo Del Toro. I enjoyed the creative twist they employed here, and the downer ending really stands out from the rest. Easter may only be halfway up the list here, but that’s only because the top four are almost all equally good. It’s all top-notch stuff from this point on.
Christmas – I’d just like to point out that the main character here is played by Seth Green. That’s already got my attention. In this short film, he plays a down-on-his-luck husband and father, who lost out on the year’s hottest toy on Christmas Eve when a shopkeeper sells the last unit to some smug douche. Said douche has a heart attack in the parking lot, and Seth Green proceeds to swipe the VR headset thingy and leave the man to die like a chump. It’s a very Twilight Zone kind of story, where the headset shows you content tailored personally for you, and of course Seth Green gets some very shocking visuals when he tries it out. Also, there are two twists! Both of them good! Great, even! The two shorts couldn’t be any more different, but I cannot for the life of me decide if I prefer Easter of Christmas. They’re both amazing, so let’s call it even.
New Year’s Eve – Scene: A schlubby apartment. A woman is bound and gagged in a chair. A clearly unwell man laments that their relationship is lacking, and has his gun jam on him twice before he successfully blasts her brains all over the wall. Cut to a young woman sitting in her apartment, bored and alone, browsing a dating website. She stumbles across the profile of the man we saw earlier, no way to know about his murderous tendencies. On New Year’s Eve, the two meet for dinner. This can not end well. But it kind of does? At its climax, the story folds in on itself and becomes darkly hilarious. The final shot is so entertaining, and makes for the perfect ending to this anthology. It is bittersweet, however, because I keep thinking about how much my ex-wife would love this short. Oh well.
Father’s Day – I said that the top four shorts were all pretty evenly matched, but that was sort of a lie. Father’s Day really goes above and beyond. It is amazing, and beautiful, and haunting, and I simply cannot stop thinking about it. Partly because it is amazing and beautiful and haunting, and partly because I don’t have the level of understanding necessary to really get what happened. Perhaps it is supposed to be ambiguous, though. All I know for sure is that it hit all the right buttons for me. It told a very affecting story with simplicity and elegance, with the kind of horror that makes you yearn to know more, though its brevity makes it all the more enchanting. I want to watch this short again and again and again. I want to read analyses of it from other enthusiasts. I want to have a service that can direct me to similar content. I loved it, and if a person could marry a short film, I’d be on my knee proposing to this one.
So there you have it. All of your questions about Holidays answered, and probably a lot of answers for questions that you didn’t have. Wait, no. I didn’t really go into the specifics of any of the segments, so you probably have a ton of unanswered questions. Welp, this is a dumb paragraph and we all know it, but that’s become somewhat of a tradition here, so I’m going to keep to it. Professionalism be damned! This is a hobbyist website, and I’ll write stupid conclusions if I damn well want to!
I’ve been trying real hard to focus on one game per system at a time over the last few months, but I’m failing at every turn. It seems like I’m constantly getting distracted by something else, be it new or half-complete. Anyway, May was a huge step in the right direction, with a greater number of finished games than “in progress” games for this first time since… maybe it’s just the first time ever? Of course, I had to throw some (admittedly hefty) demos in there to make the grade, so maybe it’s moot.
~ Game Over ~
Zelda: Twilight Princess HD (WiiU) – It feels wrong to say it for some reason, but I think Twilight Princess is one of my favourite Zeldas. I think the only thing that I truly dislike about it is the stupid canoe minigame. The forced-wolf sections in the first half of the game do feel a bit like unnecessary padding, but even those don’t really bother me all that much. I even like the “acres and acres of nothing” Hyrule Field.
Bravely Default (3DS) – I decided, now that the sequel is out, that I’ve been putting this off for too long. So I beat it. Then I wrote too many words about it. What I didn’t write there is that the final boss seemed rally cheap and annoying on my first try, but then once I knew his tricks, I stomped him into the ground with very little trouble.
Bravely Second: The Ballad of the Three Cavaliers (3DS) – Officially, it’s just the demo for Bravely Second, but it’s got a unique scenario and took me about seven hours to beat. I thought that I was burned out on Bravely, but this demo really hooked me and I just may splurge on Second in the near future.
The Park (PC) – I bought this immediately after someone suggested to me that it was a Five Night’s at Freddy’s clone. That is not the case at all. It’s a still a spooky game, but it is a walking simulator instead of a security guard simulator and there are zero killer animatronics. I was still pleased, because the story was pretty good. Unfortunately, my PC could just barely run it, so the choppiness kind of ruined the mood.
Resident Evil Revelations 2 – Episode 3 (PC) – Surprisingly, this game has one of the least terrible sewer levels ever. Well, design-wise. Technically, the water was too fancy, which made the computer so unhappy and slowed everything down to a crawl, and made the game very difficult to play. Otherwise, it had a cool factory explosion and a great boss fight.
Resident Evil Revelations 2 – Episode 4 (PC) – A surprisingly brief chapter for Claire and Moira, then the longest chapter in the game for Barry and Natalia. It was really great, though, and had a pretty decent final boss. I can tell you right now that I will be replaying this one many times.
Pocket Card Jockey Demo (3DS) – A game about horse racing, in which you race horses by playing a variation of solitaire that I am not familiar with. It’s a lot of fun, but truth be told, I don’t think I’m going to buy it. It’s deceptively deep, and that’s not really what I’m looking for.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade (360) – Decided to play it a bit because I have been jonesing for some old-school TMNT action for months now. I didn’t actually finish it, but I was at the second-last stage and I would have finished it if I’d had more time. But I did get the fix that I needed. Close enough.
~ Now Playing ~
Monster Hunter Explore (iOS) – Do you remember Monster Hunter: Dynamic Hunting? I thought it was a passable way to get a MonHun fix in a pinch, but Explore is so much better. Its plays much more like normal Monster Hunter, just pared down for the mobile audience. It’s still not completely fulfilling, but it’s certainly a good deal of fun.
Hyrule Warriors Legends (3DS) -I took a long break from this to finish off Bravely Default and the Bravely Second demo, and now I’m neck deep in Zelda Musou again. I’ve finally finished the Great Sea adventure map to 100% completion, at least.
Final Fantasy VII (PC) – Yep, this happened. For whatever reason, this time around I feel like I’m seeing a lot of things that remind me of Super Mario RPG. Also whenever anything silly or funny happens I think about how joyless the remake will be and it makes me sad.
Lost Reavers (WiiU) – A free, online loot-’em-up of sorts. It’s not especially good, but I’ve put in several hours because… well, I’m not sure why I kept it up. I guess it’s fairly fun, despite feeling like a C-tier game from a couple generations ago. Probably because it’s a multiplayer game that is 100% cooperative. That’s a big draw for me.
Dark Souls (360) – Yeah I’m playing this again. New Game+ is, well, hard. Which is the opposite of what I normally expect from NG+. Oh, Dark Souls. Played up to the point of defeating Quelaag, not sure how far I’m ultimately going to take this run.
I can’t believe that I did something noteworthy and forgot to mention it for… three days.
Last weekend, I got the chance to play with an HTC Vive for a few hours. My cousin’s husband had pre-ordered one, and it arrived on Friday so he invited me and my brother to come over and check it out.
Now, I have been pretty staunchly apathetic about VR gaming. Not because it doesn’t appeal to me for any particular reason, but simply because I don’t want to care about it. I really don’t need to get dragged down that rabbit hole. Alas, a man can only remain wilfully ignorant for so long, and it’s easy to break down when the Vive’s gaming experience is unbelievably cool
First off, you really have no idea what it’s like until you’re in there. It really is like being sucked into another world. A world where you’re bashing into non-existent walls and ceilings because you’re way too absorbed in the VR experience, but another world no less. If you plug in earbuds as well, you’re as good as dead to the real world. It is amazingly immersive, and I actually felt really odd every time I took off the headset and returned to Earth.
The problem, of course, lies in the fact that you need a huge amount of real-world space to use the thing properly. The sensors measure out your range of real-world movement, which creates an in-game box in which you can flail around freely. You can then move said box around the larger game world via a process called “blinking,” which is far too hard to describe concisely, so I won’t even try. We were playing in a fairly small corner of a basement, and while it was workable, I can’t help but feel that a larger field of movement would have enhanced my experience. The less blinking around, the better.
I started off in a simple tutorial (hosted by a not-Wheatley spheroid robot) that showed me where all the buttons were, and allowed me to shoot lasers, fire off confetti blasts, and inflate balloons to my heart’s content. It was simple and cute. Then I moved into the Wii Sports of VR, Valve’s The Lab. I only played three of the eight available mini-games, but each really spoke to me in a different way.
First was Robot Repair, which puts you in a cute little office where you start by playing around with a few drawers and switches to get used to moving around and interacting in virtual space. Then an overhead door opens and one of the multiplayer robots from Portal 2 stumbles out, ostensibly in need of repair. This is where the “reality” part of virtual reality really started to shine.
When you see a huge robot lumbering at you unsteadily, even when you know it’s a pretend thing, you get the heck out of the way. It is an involuntary reaction, because even though this is all just images being beamed into your eyes through a crazy expensive headset, your brain is being tricked into thinking that it’s real. Of course, it got much, much worse when I failed to repair the robot. It fell apart, and then the office fell apart, giving way to a massive factory. Then GLaDOS (who is massive and terrifying; I nearly fell over when she appeared) came out of nowhere to harangue me, seal me in a cube and then smash me into a fine paste.
Robot Repair is defintely the best way for anyone to experience VR for the first time. I’ve embedded a video of it below, but it loses a lot when you aren’t completely immersed.
I moved on to another mini-game called Slingshot, which was more or less Angry Birds, only viewed from the slingshot’s perspective. You load up these spheres, and then try to launch them to break as many boxes as possible. Red boxes explode, and blue boxes give you another sphere. Oh, and also, every sphere talks to you while you’re aiming, and they all have unique personalities. I found it very difficult to figure out where I was aiming, and generally had to launch one sphere as a baseline, and then adjust my shot with a second and possibly third sphere. I didn’t do great, but my brother absolutely killed it.
The last mini-game that I played in The Lab was Longbow. It is a simple tower defense game, where you’re standing on a castle wall, and you have only a bow and arrow to defend against adorable little silhouette invaders. I got really into this one, and by the second wave I was firing arrow after arrow like a madman (though I wasn’t a great shot). There are also little torches off to your sides so that you can shoot flaming arrows. I could see myself playing this one until I had achieved absolute mastery.
Next, I tried out a game called The Brookhaven Experiment. It is incredibly simple and incredibly familiar. You stand in the middle of a dark field, and then spin around and shoot zombies as they stumble towards you. It would be boring as all heck in any other situation, but actually being in the game made it all the more thrilling and intense. It took me a while to get used to aiming, because your gun swivels around realistically, instead of being aimed perfectly straight ahead like in every other game. So I had to learn to line up the sights to make accurate shots.
Once I figured that out though, it got really easy. Zombies go down from one good headshot, though big zombies take three or so. You also get a flashlight to help cut through the darkness, though it does have limited batteries. Like Longbow, I got really into this one, and learned to hold my flashlight under my gun, at once illuminating the area in front of me and steadying my shots. By the fourth wave, I had stopped bothering to use the flashlight at all.
It is a really easy and simple game, but the true thrill comes when you let zombies get too close. Again, even though it’s obviously fake, when you turn around to a zombie all up in your biz, your heart rate quickens and you do start to tense up. On more than one occasion I actually did fall backwards because my body was simply reacting to get me out of what it perceived as harm’s way.
The last game I played was The Gallery – Episode 1: Call of the Starseed. It has a terrible name, but it was a very cool game. The Gallery was very different from the other two games: it was a legitimate adventure games with all sorts of random junk to pick up and puzzles to solve. I wasted a lot of time just wandering around interacting with things to see what they could do (never very much), and mostly just enjoyed drinking in the atmosphere.
There isn’t a lot else to say about it, because it’s very short and there isn’t a lot that you can actually do, but it is a really cool glimpse into the future of VR. I’ll really be sold on this when they start making games where you can interact more deeply with the world and objects can do more than one scripted action. What I’m looking for is just a big virtual toybox, really.
Overall, I was incredibly impressed with the Vive. It delivers a truly unique, amazing experience. The biggest problem with it is that it’s got a massive barrier for entry. The price tag ($1,300, not including high-end gaming PC) is enough to make one queasy, and then there’s the need for an entire room devoted to the thing. It’s a very cool new technology, but it’s going to be a very difficult thing to introduce into the mainstream. The costs of getting and using the Vive could easily cause it to become an even shorter-lived success story than motion controls.
I really do look forward to seeing what people come up with when they start making really high quality games for VR, but as it is, there’s nothing that really makes it a must-have toy. Aside from bragging rights, I guess. Having experienced it first-hand, I’ve definitely been converted into a believer, but it’s going to be a while before I literally buy into virtual reality gaming.
Late March’s descent into Zeldamania continues. Mostly because I’ve been devoting roughly 95% of my gaming time to Hyrule Warriors again. Which is, you know, not really Zelda, but it looks the part.
This month also saw the release of the new Star Fox games. One of which is a very traditional Star Fox game which people hate because of the controls. And the other is a Star Fox game in name only which people are in love with because of the controls. Wacky!
~ Game Over ~
Hyrule Warriors Legends (3DS) – I completed the story, including all the optional stages. But the adventure maps… they just never end. I mean, I guess they do, but there is so much content smooshed into this game that it’s hard to imagine ever clearing it all.
Resident Evil Revelations (PC) – Guys, I’m gonna spoil it for you: the first revelation is that there are two identical boats. The second revelation is that there’s a third identical boat, which had sunk a year before the game’s events, and a man has been living in it the whole time. This game’s plot is bananas. And I love it that much more because of it.
Resident Evil Revelations 2 – Episode 1 (PC) – Been putting this one off for a while, despite hearing that it’s quite good. And I agree! Not totally on board with the flashlight mechanics, but everything else is just swell. I am frothing in anticipation of the rest of the game.
I’ve been intending to watch Basket Case for over two years now, and only last night did I finally get around to it. Of course, I didn’t exactly watch the movie as I did watch bits of it while waiting for gold to accumulate in Clicker Heroes. Also I sat there with it paused for about 20 minutes at one point while I mulled over whether to go out and get a pizza or not.
I’m really bad at watching movies, is what I’m getting at.
Basket Case was a lot of fun, though. An early 80’s monster movie, it really should have been more engaging for me, as that’s precisely the kind of thing I love. Or, used to, anyway. I haven’t watched such a film since… I don’t know, Pumpkinhead, two Halloweens ago? I used to watch cheesy horror films all the damn time. I don’t know what happened to me…
But that’s besides the point. The first thing you’ll notice about Basket Case is that the acting is all over the place. A lot of it is perfectly competent; not good, really, but not so bad that you’d ding the movie. But then, every once in a while, there is a line (occasionally an entire scene) that is delivered so poorly that you can’t help but chuckle to yourself.
I was on vacation last week, and as per my usual, it was more of a “don’t go to work for a week” kind of vacation, as opposed to other people who generally do things when they take time off. I mean, I did things, but from the comfort of my own home. A lot of those things, surprisingly, were movies. I credit the How Did This Get Made? podcast almost completely for that, as it has encouraged me to watch a lot of movies lately. Like, I’ve gone from one or two a month to several each week.
These are not necessarily “forgotten films” in the usual context of movies I own but haven’t watched, but they’re all movies that I’ve wanted to see at some point. And it’s just nice to have another collection of films to throw under that umbrella. Two entries does not a proper series make.
#1 – Birdemic: Shock and Terror
A film about birds who attack people, much like Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds. Only, Birdemic was made on a shoestring budget by an actual crazy person. The acting is mostly terrible, the plot makes zero sense, and the birds don’t even show up until a good 45 minutes in. Oh, and also the birds are 2D clip art and explode like kamikaze fighter planes.
While the film is sold on the killer bird action, it’s actually billed as a “romantic thriller,” which is a gross overstatement on both counts. I mean, technically, there’s romance, but the main character is such a poor actor that he seems more like a robot or an alien than a man. And the thrills? Yeah, there aren’t any, really. The stakes are so low, and the characters so stupid, that you simply can’t be bothered to care. You don’t watch Birdemic for its artistic merits. You watch Bridemic because it’s one of the most staggering train wrecks ever committed to film.
It’s really a must-watch for anyone who likes bad movies. If nothing else, listen to the Birdemic episode of How Did This Get Made?, which is fantastic. It features Weird Al as a special guest, and they also managed to bring in Whitney Moore, who plays the female lead in Birdemic. It’s really, really worth your time to give it a listen.
If February was defined by Pokémania, then March was defined by… also Pokémania (and to a lesser extent, Zelda mania). Eh, what can I say? I really love Pokémon, and there’s been a lot going on with the franchise these days.
~ Game Over ~
Pokémon Yellow Version (GB) – Playing through this one again was a very welcome blast of nostalgia, and also a little frustration at trying to remember how the mechanics used to work back in Gen 1. Running the game with a team of monsters I’d usually never use was a great way to make it feel fresh again. Hooray for Flareon!
Splatoon (WiiU) – Finally bothered to just hone my focus and complete the single-player mode. It was an absolute blast, and the final boss was something else entirely. I’m seriously hoping that they release another campaign some day, even if it’s just a little eShop title.
Jett Rocket II: The Wrath of Taikai (3DS) – Replayed the game in “mirror world” mode, which I guess is just the same levels you already played but reversed? While I may not be as hype for it as I was when it originally released, I still think it’s a solid little platformer.
Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters (GC) – I was testing out some Gamecube games to see which save files on my giant memory card had been corrupted, and popped in Mega Man Anniversary Collection. The save was still good, and somehow I ended up playing through this one. I mean, just one story path as Bass, but that’s still a cleared game, right?
New Super Mario Bros 2 (3DS) – I’ve been wanting to replay this for months now, but always had some other major 3DS game on the go. With Paper Jam and Pokémon Yellow done and dusted, there was no longer any reason not to jump into it. The twist is that this time I played about half the game in co-op mode, which is super fun.
Shovel Knight (3DS) – Do I really need to justify another Shovel Knight run to you? I think I’ve made it pretty clear already that it’s my favourite game.
I don’t know anymore, you know? I sort of force these intros to the monthend posts, but are they really necessary? I mean, mostly I just want something in there to break up the post title and “Game Over” heading. So I suppose that this silly rambling has done exactly what I needed it to.
~ Game Over ~
Xenoblade Chronicles X (WiiU) – Finally finished it, after 125 solid hours of wandering and cutting down wildlife (also, being cut down by said wildlife). The ending was a little… I dunno, bland, after the crazy ending to the previous Xenoblade. I didn’t think it was as mind-rendingly stupid as most do, but it certainly wasn’t anything to write about. Definitely gonna keep playing this one for a while.
Goosebumps (PC) – Played it again to rack up a few more cheevos. My first run took almost three hours, but as it turns out, you can finish it in well under 20 minutes if you know what to do. Neat!
Mega Man 9 (Wii) – You might be surprised to learn that I have never beaten this game before. It’s just so unrelentingly difficult! But I finally soldiered through, and I can now say that I’ve beaten all of the traditional Mega Man games. The Wily 2 and 3 bosses were utterly ridiculous, especially compared to how easy the Wily Machine is.
New Super Mario Bros Wii (WiiU) – Played through it again with a friend and her daughter. That was certainly not how I had expected to spend Valentine’s Day.
Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam (3DS) – I really like this game, and trying to 100% it would probably just make me hate it. So I took my acceptable completion rate and marched right into the final boss’ lair. That was an awesome fight. Not terribly original, but cool as heck.
Dr. Mario: Miracle Cure (3DS) – I sometimes with that Dr Mario didn’t end after 20 levels, but there’s really nowhere to go after the jar is filled completely with viruses. An hour well spent, at any rate.
The Legend of Dark Witch 2 (3DS) – I quite liked the first game, which was some godless amalgam of Mega Man, Gradius, and Anime. This is basically the same, but with more stages and the difficulty toned way down. Recommended, but not as heartily as the first.
I’d like to take a moment here to expand on just how into Five Night’s at Freddy’s I am. I only own the first two games, as I cannot actually bear to play them (though I did buy two versions of FNAF1), and I have read the novel. This much is the obvious stuff.
On the crazier side, I have watched all of the Game Theory videos about the plot and lore of the franchise, and I typically don’t really enjoy MatPat’s work. On top of all that, I actually sat through a nearly-two-hours stream of him and a bunch of other YouTube nuts discussing their theories and whatnot. I have embedded to recording of said stream below, so that you may get a first-hand glimpse at the madness into which I have descended.
A film about birds who attack people, much like Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds. Only, Birdemic was made on a shoestring budget by an actual crazy person. The acting is mostly terrible, the plot makes zero sense, and the birds don’t even show up until a good 45 minutes in. Oh, and also the birds are 2D clip art and explode like kamikaze fighter planes.