Toy Story 2

Y'all had to know this was coming sooner than later. Instead of doing homework tonight, I sat down and watched this ninety-minute movie. (On Blu-ray!) As with its predecessor, I'm sure there's not much I can really reflect about here; I've seen the movie three times now, and I doubt anyone out there has yet to see it. Firstly, if you are in fact someone who has not seen it, see it. It's a worthy sequel to a historic and classic film. In comparing the two films, I have to say, there's a lot to like about Toy Story 2. Andy's toys are working as a united team in this installment instead of bickering with each other for the entire movie, and I thought that was pretty cool. It also dealt with some slightly more mature themes than the first flick. The toys' own mortalities are sensed for the first time as we witness kids growing up - and disinterested in childhood playthings - from new perspectives. I suppose when all is said and done, the first Toy Story is more memorable and historically relevant, and thus could be considered the better movie. Still, this isn't just a cheap money-grabbing sequel; it's a very decent movie in its own right and it expands upon the concept of a "toy universe" that was only briefly laid out in the first one. I still have plenty of anticipation for Toy Story 3 this summer, and if it's as good as the first two I'll be totally satisfied with it.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians

I would like to start this post with an apology to myself. I read the first two books of this series and decided that instead of posting them I would simply keep reading. This isn't to say that the books were so enthralling that I couldn't put them down. It was more a case of not knowing how I felt about them. Had I read the first book and immediately posted about it I feel I would have a completely different outlook on it. That being said I took the route that will inevitably make this post one of the most difficult I have attempted. I will now attempt to write about the individual books and then the series as a whole. Any attempts made by me to compare this series to Harry Potter or any other Fantasy fiction series of books is simply my attempt at anchoring my own opinions of the series to something that is a little more sturdy. In other words I am still not sure how I feel about this 5 part series. That being said... here goes!

Book One: Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief

As the first book in the series The lightning Thief spends a lot of time introducing characters and introducing the plot that will make up not only this first installment but also the plot that will inevitably span the entire series. The main character, Percy Jackson, finds out that he is not a regular kid but he is in fact a son of the Greek god Poseidon. He is only half god because his mother is a mortal. He learns that as a demi-god he has some of the same water powers that his father has. He also quickly realizes that with his new found powers comes responsibility as he realizes his own power so do mythical monsters who are drawn to his scent. As well as monsters Percy has to deal with the rising threat of the return of the Titans (Kronos and crew), who are the parents of the Olympians that are looking for revenge and ultimately the overthrow of Olympus, which I have up to now failed to mention is currently located direction above the Empire State Building. Because the seat of power is now the United States it is therefore the location that the gods choose as their home, similarly the underworld is located below California (hahah stupid Californians). The main character finds himself in the middle of an epic quest revolving around the theft of Zeus' master lightning bolt (thus the title of this novel). Along the way the Percy runs into a couple familiar characters like Medusa and the three fates for example. There are also several clever literary twists and turns along the way. Friends are made, as well as enemies and in the end everything ends up kinda okay.

This first book entertained me. It made me feel that reading the next page or chapter wouldn't upset me. It didn't grab my attention and make me wish that it would never end but it was a suitable choice for entertainment. At times I was irritated by the terrible modern cultural references which will inevitably date the series and keep it from attaining the never ending glory that series like LOTR and Harry Potter have and will. At other times I was slightly impressed by how the Author wrote the book from a relatively accurate 12 year old's perspective. The jokes and thoughts were sometimes cheesy and silly but hey that's how sixth graders are. When I had finished the book I liked it enough to pick up the second one so that must either mean I hate myself or the book wasn't terrible.



Book Two: The Sea of Monsters

The second book of the series, The Sea of Monsters, started off almost exactly where the last one left off. I always appreciate when an author doesn't start a book like ten years later and try to explain a massive amount of stuff that has happened since the last book. This book starts off like two months later and the amount of catch up material is minimal. Like in real life the characters have grown a little bit, both height wise but also in maturity. This book focused more on specific Greek Myths than the first one did. Some of the notable stories that he stumbles into are the Sirens, Circe, and we are finally introduced to Percy's brother who is in fact a fucking cyclops.

The plot of this book revolves around Percy's best friend the Satyr Grover (he's kinda like a goat boy of sorts). Grover sets out to find that great spirit god Pan and in the process gets himself into a whole heap of trouble. Luckily Percy and the third member of their little trio, Annabeth, set out to rescue him and their beloved hero camp Half-blood Hill. In the end the monster that has taken Grover Captive in "The Sea of Monsters", which just turns out to be the Bermuda Triangle, is also the same monster that is in possession of a golden fleece that has magical powers that include increased crop bounty and healing. In the end Percy fights off the monster the same way that Hercules had fought him. Not a very clever plot line, but hey, it works.

These first two books in the Percy series are good books in themselves, short and with their own individualized plot lines. The books could probably stand outside the series and still be a half way decent read. There is evidence of a larger series plot building in these books but it is by no means the dominant plot line.

The bad guy from the end of the first book, Luke Castellan, continues to grow in power as he has allied himself with the evil Titan lord Kronos. The end of this book seems like a "too good to be true" ending. Everything is pretty much back to normal and not very much impending doom has been set up for the next book.


Book Three: The Titans Curse

This third book in the series is where the series really starts to pick up (much like in the Harry Potter Series) and it is also where the books take on their slightly darker side especially when you meet Hades Children.

This book starts out with the characters on their way to perform a mission. The reader learns the details of the mission slowly and the plot unfolds. The goal is to help the Satyr Grover locate two halflings that are in danger of being killed by monsters. These halflings turn out to be the children of Hades, who are not typically welcomed as Heroes.

More characters that are included in this story include The hunters lead by the goddess Artemis. It is when Annabeth and Artemis go missing that the usual group must go after and try to find her. The trio of Annabeth, Grover and Percy is jumbled when Annabeth goes with the Hunters so she is replaced in the usual group by Bianca Di Angelo ( Daughter of Hades). As usual the group only has like a week to complete their mission or else the entire western civilization will collapse.

In the end Percy is forced to take on the titans curse to save Annabeth from it. The titans curse in this story is the weight of the sky and the titan that he has to take it from is Atlas. The weight of carrying this burden even for a short time leaves both Annabeth and Percy with white streaks in their hair (can someone say Rogue from X-men?).

In the end Atlas is forced back in to taking his burden but Percy and the Crew witness the Titan Lord Kronos as he gains in power, much as Voldemort had been doing during the first several Harry Potter Books.


Book Four: The Battle of the Labyrinth (by far my favorite book)

Much like Harry Potter four this book includes a Labyrinth or maze that the characters must traverse in order to meet an end. The end in this book however is not the tri-wizarding cup but rather Daedalus the inventor of the Labyrinth. This is of course the same labyrinth that can be found under King Midas' palace. Except it had continued to grow and in some ways has taken on a mind of its own. It is so large and confusing that it can cause insanity in those who fall to its will.

Why do the main characters end up in a labyrinth? Because the now mostly risen lord Kronos has decided that he will use this underground passage way to avoid the enchanted protected borders of the hero camp Half-blood. This they are able to do because there are many exits and entrances to the Labyrinth and they are all over the place, one of which is in the woods of Camp Halfblood. Much in the same way that the Death Eaters use the vanishing cabinets to avoid the boundaries of Hogwarts in Harry Potter.

Percy also meets an interesting young girl named Rachel Elizabeth Dare. She is exceptional because she is not a child of a god/ goddess yet, unlike most mortals, she is able to see all the crazy magical stuff that the heroes can. Most mortals see strange situations that are fogged by a mist and explained by things they can understand, for example a monster destroying a building would be a gas leak and an explosion to most mortals but Rachel can see the truth. She also meets Percy when she assaults Kronos with a blue plastic hairbrush.

In the end the Labyrinth is destroyed as Daedalus sacrifices his own life, which is tied to the maze, in order to save western civilization. Thus delaying the end of western civilization as we know it.

Book Five: The Last Olympian.

In this book the Evil Titan lord Kronos is fully risen in the body of the once friend of Percy and Annabeth, Luke Castellan. A large portion of this book is spent discovering the past of Luke, much like much of the last two harry potter books are spent discovering the past of Tom Riddle. Percy is convinced that Luke is gone forever and that he is completely evil but Annabeth believes that there is still good in him.

The book builds to the eventual confrontation between good and evil between the Titans and the Olympians. The battle for western civilization finally comes to New york City, In a remake of the first war between the Olympians and the Titans."Many fight for Olympus, including Hunters of Artemis, Dryads, Satyrs, naiads and tree nymphs, Chiron's centaur cousins the party ponies, and the hellhound Mrs. O'leary. They must defend Mt. Olympus from Kronos' huge army consisting of rogue half-bloods, Dracaenae, Hyperboreans, Laestrygonians, drakon, hyperion, telekhines, typhoon, and hellhounds." (I got lazy and stole this directly from Wikipedia.)

The battle starts in the city and eventually the Olympians are pushed to the top of the empire state building, the new home of Mt. Olympus. The two groups fight and in a final stand, and in the halls of Olympus the battle ends. I wont say how and I wont say why but the final couple of twists are good by youth literature standards. Compared to the epic fight scenes of the lord of the rings I would say this book was crap but would I love to sit and watch a Hollywood re-enactment of this final stand? Hell yea. I think that this fight scene could be both emotionally and visually stimulating if done by the right person.

The real twist at the end of this story is the romance angle. Two girls vie for the love of Percy Jackson in this series Annabeth and Rachel Elizabeth Dare. At times in this story it seemed like it could go either way but in the end, when it most looks like he is going to end up with Rachel she decides to become the next oracle which means she must not have a love life and Percy ends up with Annabeth.

Did I like this series? In hindsight, I would say the books were entertaining. I definitely would not recommend them to someone who doesn't enjoy children's literature as much as I do. The books were written at a low level and the plot was thin and trite but it did make me consider reading the Illiad and the Oddessey to see how much this book actually resembles those early Myths. This might also help me to understand how much artistic License that Riordan took.

I would like to end this post with a second apology. I started writing this post almost a month ago and I decided I wanted to see how it was like to live like Keith. Therefore this post took me almost three full weeks to complete. I would like to apologize everyone except Keith. Also I was sparked to finish this post by Sween when he sent me a text ultimatum letting me know that I wasn't allowed to come over to his house to watch Lost tonight until I had posted. So once again, Nuff Said.

Prison Break: Season 3

I won't bullshit you - I payed five, maybe ten percent attention to the thirteen episodes of Prison Break that I "watched" yesterday and today while getting some homework done. But I'm fine with that for two reasons. One, I've already seen this season of Prison Break in full. Two, it was a terrible season. For those of you unaware of Prison Break, it's a show about a group of people who break out of a prison. The first season was very surprising; FOX seems to have a way of making their shows look absolutely terrible in previews, and I wanted no part of House, Prison Break, or Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, three decent shows, when they first aired. Seriously, the first season of Prison Break is worth watching. And then the second one is kind of the direct aftermath of the first season and is also worth looking into. By the third season, all bets are off. The guys who aren't dead are either back in prison or trying to help those guys break out of prison. For about ten episodes, nothing happens, and then suddenly just as everything comes together and things are looking decent, the writers' strike happens and we're left with an awesome cliffhanger as an unintentional finale. This season wasn't terrible, but it's a far cry from the second, which itself has nothing on the first; in general, Season 3 is entirely worth forgetting when reminiscing over Prison Break as a series. Of course, Season 4 brought in Michael Rapaport (the kiss of death for any dramatic series) and sunk to whole new levels. But more on that another time.

Viewtiful Joe

Because of my own resolution - beat more games every month than I purchase - this month came down to the wire for me. Viewtiful Joe was two things: fun and frustrating. Let's start with the fun. The gameplay isn't unique and the plot is nothing to write home about, but this is definitely a game you would enjoy picking up and playing. It's a beat-em-up at heart, but there are plenty of small "puzzles" and goal-oriented tidbits. Certainly the "thinkingest" beat-em-up I've seen, but a beat-em-up nonetheless. The unique twist that Viewtiful Joe offers - the twist that makes it a fun game - is the use of "VFX" powers. These abilities, acquired very early on in the game, allow you to change the flow of time. My favorite (and easily the most useful) was "slow," in which everything begins to happen in super-slow motion. This allows you to kick speeding bullets away and get a dozen punches or so off while jumping in the air. Another VFX ability was mach speed, which allows Joe to run fast and pulverize opponents and objects with a bevy of rapid punches and kicks. The final VFX ability was just the ability to "zoom in," which gave Joe some extra attacking power and also gave you a few new attacks to use. So, yeah. For five of the seven levels, the game was very fun as I used these abilities to just punch and kick my way through hordes of enemies and five bosses. But then the game got hard. Real hard. And due to my own time crunch - "must finish Viewtiful Joe before March ends!" - I was barely able to tolerate the frustration. Even on "kids" mode (yes, the easier difficulty setting mocks you by implying that it is meant for children), the final stages of this game were very, very hard. Of course, in a platformer, when something is very hard, all you do is keep on trying it. So while the game could easily be beaten in five hours by someone who knows what they're doing, I'd guess I took twice that long easily - five hours of actual gameplay and five hours of me dying on exceedingly difficult boss fights. Honestly, it kind of ruined the game for me. Through three levels or so, I remember thinking that I was glad I already owned (and could soon log) Viewtiful Joe 2, but if that game is much harder than this one was, I just don't know if I'll enjoy the time I spend beating it. In the end then, Viewtiful Joe is a treat to play but a hassle to beat. In that respect, it's a very typical platformer and nothing you need to check out.

Resident Evil Archives: Resident Evil

Ignore the shitty title from the department of redundancy department, this is really just a port of the original Resident Evil. RE1 came out for the first Playstation over a decade ago, and the game was given a big update (better graphics, new areas and puzzles) when it was ported to the Gamecube. A second port was made for the Wii, which I ended up purchasing, but unfortunately it's the exact same game as the Gamecube version- no motion controls or fancy updates. I probably could have saved some money by going for the Gamecube port. I'll be honest, this game was one of the hardest I've ever played. I played it on the easiest setting, with the easiest character, using a walkthrough, and it was still pretty tough- I can only imagine how hard it must be to get through on the impossible modes. First off, my character: I went with Jill Valentine over Chris Redfield because she has two extra inventory slots and a bit more health, while Chris does more damage to enemies. Inventory management is crucial in the game- Jill had 8 slots, which you can use to carry health items, a limited supply of ink rolls (used to save at the few typewriters located throughout the game), guns and ammo, and any other key-like items to progress through the game. Needless to say, inventory spaces fill up fast so you need to plan ahead. Most of the game involves searching around through a zombie-infested mansion and the surrounding area. It's loaded with puzzles, most of which were pretty difficult and required walkthrough assistance. Zombies were tough to kill and would rarely stay dead- if not properly disposed of, within an hour or so they would be revived but stronger and faster than before. Properly disposing of zombies means either beheading them (only by a lucky shot) or lighting them on fire (with an extremely limited supply of fuel (seriously I think I was able to light 6 or 7 total zombies up) and a lighter, which means taking up two separate inventory slots). Thus I found the best strategy wasn't to actually kill zombies, but mostly just try to avoid them as much as possible- hard to do in a game full of them. Alright, I've been whining for a while about the hardcore difficulty of the game, but I really shouldn't be. After all, I kind of liked that Resident Evil Archives didn't wuss out on me. Capcom made the game tough, sure, but that's fair. What wasn't fair was the horrible camera choice used throughout. Resident Evil Archives: Resident Evil is a third person shooter, but the camera doesn't follow behind you- it's completely static and placed at random spots on walls! Seriously, you walk into a room and all of the sudden you're looking at yourself from a window on the other side. Turning a corner was a nightmare, and I often found myself walking right into a zombie's grasp. That's just terrible. This criticism brings me to the main thing I was thinking while playing Archives: it's been remade twice now, but why has no one remade the original Resident Evil correctly? If the camera worked differently, I think I'd be raving about the game. Instead I found it frustrating and wouldn't recommend playing. Oh well. At least it's finally out of my backlog, so I can move on... to its sequel. Damn. At least Resident Evil 2 was critically acclaimed- Game Informer recently placed it 41st in its list of the top 200 games of all time. Well, we'll find out if that ranking was justified soon enough. Oh yeah, a closing thought- I had kind of been trying to work through most of the game with just a crappy handgun, positive that I'd need to save my magnum and grenade launcher ammo for the last few bosses. I managed to make it to the final boss barely touching either of those reserves, and went after him with about 20 bullets for each gun. I then proceeded to kill him with a single magnum bullet. Kind of funny for such a ball-bustingly difficult game to end so abruptly, and it goes to show that I could have had an easier time by using the guns when they were first available to me. What a shame.

Breaking Bad: Season 2

Now this is a great television series. If you aren't watching it yet, you're really missing out. AMC has come from nowhere and struck gold with both Breaking Bad and Mad Men recently, but in my opinion Breaking Bad is the superior show. Bryan Cranston (the dad form Malcolm in the Middle, which I still can't get over) stars as a working class father with terminal lung cancer. Given a few months to live, he decides to go for broke and begins cooking meth to make enough money to provide for his family when he's dead and gone. In a way, the premise isn't unlike that of Weeds, although comparing the two isn't even worth the time it'd take to go over every way in which Breaking Bad is superior. I'll say nothing more about the plot, because honestly, you really need to be watching this show. It's a tad slow-paced, but damn does that pace fit the show flawlessly. In short, it's nearly a perfect show, and Season 2 was better than the strike-shortened Season 1. Sadly, whoever was in charge of the DVD release made an all-too-common mistake and set the release date just days before Season 3's premiere. I never understood that - if you're looking for new viewers, get the DVDs out in time for them to watch and digest the older episodes. Mad Men, for example, doesn't resume until this summer, but its last season has already come out on DVD. I own it, I will watch, and when summer comes I will be more than ready for Season 4. Season 3 of Breaking Bad, however, is already two episodes underway. I'll find them online and catch up very quickly, but why was it necessary to rush me like this? Anyway, it doesn't matter; Breaking Bad is worth both the wait and the rush. And it's certainly worth your time.

God of War III

And with this game, I have completed the trilogy in less than a month. While my experience might have benefited from me waiting some time between playing each game (as the formula became a tiny bit tired after 30 straight hours), it was very satisfying just the same. The story here begins right where number 2 left off, with Kratos riding the back of Gaia as they ascend Mount Olympus in pursuit of Zeus. But if Kratos is to have any chance at killing Zeus, he must acquire the Flame of Olympus. As such, this journey takes a detour and sends Kratos into confrontations with the likes of Apollo, Poseidon, Aphrodite, Hermes, Hades and many more. I'll try not to spoil the results of these confrontations, but none disappoint. The culmination of this game (and the series) is just as epic and rewarding as I have come to expect. I want to give it some time to simmer, but I tend to think that this is the strongest entry in the series.

Compared to 1 and 2, there are both fewer puzzle sections and fewer hordes of enemies. Still, the puzzles and hordes are more challenging than ever. The story is a mixed bag as the first two thirds represent the weakest of the series, whereas the last third is probably the strongest story telling of any of the three games. The new weapons are the most useful of all secondary weapons. Instead of useless weapons like hammers and spears, now Kratos has three new weapons that are all variations on the the blades on chains formula (spikes on chains, gauntlets on chains, etc). Still, they drastically alter the way Kratos plays, and as such, are a welcomed addition in my eyes. The spells are just as awesome (the spartan army spell is great despite the fact that it was ripped from 300). Also, the graphics in this game are unreal. These are easily the best graphics of any game I have ever played, MGS4 and Uncharted 2 included. With that being said, the coolest part of this game is how fucking graphically violent it is. Within 10 minutes of playing, I had gutted a centaur (intestines visible). Point is, all of the God of War games are amazingly fun, and this game is the most fun as it has fixed all the minor nitpicks I had with the previous 2.

Buzz Master Quiz

This represents the 4th game I beat over spring break. Because it is on the PSP, this game focuses more heavily on single player modes than it's PS2 and PS3 counterparts. This is not necessarily a good thing, however, as part of the allure of this series is competing against your friends. Still, if you enjoy trivia, you'll enjoy this game. The single player campaign (for lack of a better term) consists of about 12 types of quizzes, each getting progressively harder as you go along. The goal of each quiz is to reach a predetermined score in a limited amount of time to achieve a gold medal. Some quizzes reveal a section of a picture for each question you answer correctly, only awarding points when you finally can buzz in and identify the picture, whereas other quizzes are just races against the clock, forcing you to answer as many questions as you can as fast as you can. Although not very innovative, this game is pretty fun, especially considering it is on a handheld. I could see anyone losing hours to this game on a long road trip/plane flight. With that being said, I would not be upset if I never played this game again.

Year One

Here's a movie that got the shit panned out of it. But in spite of all the negative press, it remained one I definitely wanted to see. Ten bucks might have been a bit much to pay for it earlier tonight at Target, but sometimes you've got to live a little. Let's get down to brass tacks; this movie deserves the massive criticism it got. The direction was pretty terrible. Scenes just kind of happened, rather than flowing into one another with any sort of cohesion. It was everything, in short, that screamed "B-rate comedy." But I don't regret buying or watching it. In fact, I even - lightly - recommend it. It's funny. Not all the time, of course, but there are some really funny jokes and moments amid the chaotic disarray. Plenty are crass and lowbrow, but there's nothing wrong with dick and shit jokes. The movie's also got a pretty stellar cast. Black and Cera aside, you've got David Cross and Paul Rudd as Cain and Abel, Hank Azaria and McLovin from Superbad as Abraham and Isaac, and Olivia Wilde as a smokin' hot princess of some sort. Oh, and one more thing I think I need to point out - the alternate ending was far superior to the theatrical one, in my opinion. It seemed more fitting and less typical and cheesy. The bottom line is that this flick will definitely provide you with both crude belly laughs and plot-related groans. You could do a lot worse with ten bucks at Target.

Lumines

This game is another puzzle game that seems to be inspired, at least in part, by Tetris. You have squares made of four blocks each that are incessantly falling towards the ground. These four block sets are comprised of two different colors (sometimes 3 are orange and 1 is white, sometimes 2 are orange and 2 are white, etc). To eliminate the blocks, you must arrange them in such a way to create a square of four of the same colored blocks. This sounds simple at first, but this game has multiple modes. The one mode that I found interesting was the mode in which you were forced to create shapes with your blocks. I made dogs, giraffes, alligators, letters, numbers and pretty much anything else you could imagine. I considered this game beaten when the only challenges left were creating 2 giraffes (instead of one). This game was addicting, but got much less so when it started repeating challenges. That's when I knew it was time to move on to Buzz Master Quiz.

Death in Venice

A few days ago during an awkwardly "long but not long enough" hiatus between classes, I ventured into the campus bookstore. I had no intentions of buying anything, but at the same time, if I found the right book for the right price I'd certainly consider it. And I found this 62-page classic for just two dollars. I went into it with no expectations and for the first half of it I was kind of disappointed. It may be a pretty short book, but it was also a slow one. And nothing was happening. The first half of the book can be summarized as follows: a famous author decides he needs to take a vacation in Venice, and thus, he goes to Venice. Fortunately, the book picked up a little in the latter half. An internal conflict was established and so was a changing atmosphere. I won't spoil what happens, but I mean, yeah, there's a death in Venice. Overall, I'd say I was moderately entertained. This is nothing you need to read, and the back cover's praise - "one of the most famous literary works of the twentieth century" - seems to be a complete overstatement. But it was still a quick and decent read. Allegedly, its much better in its original language (German). I guess Thomas Mann took great care to use every word and phrase to convey exactly what he wanted to, and naturally, not every meaningful bit of wordplay and linguistic art can survive the translation to another language. Several English translations of Death in Venice exist, and no two are even mostly alike. Whatever. The gist was there, and since I just don't think I'll ever be fluent in German, I suppose I'll never truly be able to appreciate Mann's original work. But I can live with that.

Moulin Rouge

Since I started dating Steve, some of his habits have rubbed off on me and I now have the tendency to purchase movies merely die to their good prices. The difference between him and me is that I don't watch them. I would always prefer to catch half a movie on TV rather than commit a couple of hours to watch one on DVD. Despite being my favorite musical ever, Moulin Rouge was no exception. It sat unwatched until I finally forced Steve to watch it with me.

"Spectacular, Spectacular, No words in the vernacular!"

Let me just say, this move is great. As with Romeo and Juliet, Baz Luhrmann did a fabulous job. It is a great mix of plot and thoroughly entertaining songs. Unlike most musicals, I really like the majority of the songs, and even the ones I don't love aren't that bad. They are catchy and singable. They also include a lot of recent songs like "Like a Virgin" or "Roxanne." Also, Nicole Kidman is actually likeable in this movie. She and Ewan McGregor have great chemistry and sing well.

I love it! And I highly recommend it. (I only speak the truth!)

Toy Story

That's right. You're seeing things correctly. This is a Blu-ray disc. I guess they're called BDs. BD - that's so weird. This isn't a DVD. It's a BD. (Well, it actually includes both a DVD and a BD. But I watched the BD.) Folks, I own almost 500 DVDs, but this was my very first BD. But enough about the format. Let's talk about the movie. The movie is Toy Story. You have seen Toy Story. I am sure of this. You have probably seen it multiple times. I have just finished it for the fifth time. Great flick. The first ever 3D animated one. There's not a ton more to say. Are you guys excited for Toy Story 3 this summer? I am. Oh, that reminds me - this BD came with eight dollars towards a Toy Story 3 ticket. The irony? The movie itself put me back just $7.99! In fact, I bought this movie the other day in the first place merely because of that very deal. I don't even have a Blu-ray player! Fortunately, roommate and fellow Back-Blogged member Keith has a PS3. And he also bought the very same BD/DVD/ticket combo, so I'm sure he'll be posting about completing his copy quite soon. I think he's halfway done with his already. I'll stop now and let him elaborate on the movie when it's his posting time. He's already halfway done with his. And then we've both got Toy Story 2 to talk about. So yeah. I'm done here. But today was a big day for me. I'm loggin' Blu-rays now, baby.

A Wind in the Door

Oh boy. Where do I begin? A Wind in the Door is probably nothing you've heard of, but it happens to be the sequel to the much more popular A Wrinkle in Time. That book happened to be a Newbery winner, but it's one I respect. Both books (and presumably the next two in the series, which I've also got backlogged) are science fiction in the truest sense of the word; L'Engle has an extremely imaginative mind rivaling that of any drug-taking creative artist, but uses it to modify existing facets of science. Some of the concepts and creatures in this book are original and bizarre enough to warrant praise. But overall, I'm not sure if the book is. It's kind of a mess from start to finish. Want to see for yourself? Since I'm positive no one reading this gives a shit about the plot, I'm about to retell the whole thing, doing my honest best not to misrepresent L'Engle or her book in any way. Meg and her brother Charles have very intelligent scientists for parents. Their mother has discovered tiny things called "farandola" in human mitochondria and their father is researching why certain stretches of stars have suddenly disappeared from the sky. Charles is very sick and it has something to do with his farandolae failing. One day Meg and Charles find a giant creature in their yard that has hundreds of wings and a myriad of varied eyes. I can only assume it's the thing on the book cover. It's L'Engle's idea of a "cherub," apparently. The cherub tells Meg they need to go on a journey together. A journey of learning. To save the world. Or maybe the universe. But also, just to save Charles. Meg is informed of the existence of the "Echthroi," an evil race of beings who seek only to destroy the universe and various things in it. This is why Meg's dad has observed stars vanishing and also why Charles is losing his farandolae. (The Echthroi are operating on all kinds of scales, from the galactic to the microscopic.) Anyway, some sort of transition occurs and suddenly Meg finds herself and the cherub standing in front of her wicked principal and two replicas of him. The replicas are a pair of Echthroi who have become duplicates. (Maybe they need to become his duplicates before they can destroy him? I don't really know. I'm sorry. Please understand my confusion here.) The cherub tells Meg that this is the first of three tests. She must identify the real principal and save him. For the sake of the universe, or something. She does so, but not before learning to communicate with the cherub - who is invisible when he wants to be, apparently. Also, she needs to have a strong and emotional memory about her boyfriend in order to identify the real principal and telepathically communicate it to the giant, winged, oft-invisible eyeball-monster. She's passed her test. Suddenly she and the cherub are in an imagined world. Her boyfriend and her principal are along for the ride now. There, they meet a farandola. (Yep. They're sentient beings.) The farandola looks like a mouse with shrimp-like antennae and legs. (I couldn't even begin to picture this. My image was something like Plankton from SpongeBob SquarePants.) He's a cocky youngster and his home happens to be one of Charles' mitochondria. It's being destroyed by Echthroi. The gang arrives on the scene at once. Now microscopic to the point where a mitochondria is the size of a planet, the gang must square off against the Echthroi. Now it's time for Meg's second trial. She must convince the farandola they are with to "come of age" and root himself into the mitochondria. Upon doing so, he will undergo some kind of metamorphosis and become more like a tree than a shrimp-rat. He will remain stationary and rooted for the rest of his days. But the Echthroi have arrived, and they're trying to tell him not to do it. And he's listening to them. But eventually he listens to Meg and her cherub and boyfriend and principal. They might all be communicating telepathically at this point. A struggle ensues. The principal gets cloned some more and the cherub needs to sacrifice itself for everyone else to live, but they do exactly that. And suddenly everyone is normal-sized again, and on Earth, and Charles is no longer sick. And then the book ends. Meg never undergoes her third trial - in fact, the trials are never even referenced after the second one begins. Oh, and somewhere along the way there is a talking black garden snake. It's very unclear, at least to me, whether or not they've thwarted the Echthroi once and for all, or if they've only saved Meg's little brother. Will stars continue to be destroyed? I don't know. L'Engle doesn't say. The book just kind of ends once it clears the 200-page mark even though another 50 to 100 pages of story seemed not only possible but necessary. So where do I stand on this book? It's tough to say. There were plenty of mature themes and imaginative concepts, so it's not just another kid's fantasy book. But the story was chaotic, strange, and ultimately unsatisfying. While I wanted it to be "deep" - at least, as much as a middle school read can be - sometimes it just felt like an awkward combination of Men in Black and The Magic School Bus. I guess I enjoyed the book more than, say, The Chronicles of Narnia, but I fear that the next two books in this series will prove just as monotonous to read as that very series. We'll see.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

I loved The Great Gatsby. It gave me a lot of respect for F. Scott Fitzgerald. But then I saw the recent movie version of this book of his, and I fucking abhorred it. I had to know what was responsible for the enormous discrepancy in my appreciation for Fitzgerald tales - was the story of Benjamin Button really terrible to begin with, or did Brad Pitt and company just destroy it on the big screen? I'm happy to say that the case was the latter one. This short story, or novella, or whatever you want to call a 52-page book, was phenomenal. As you probably know, it's a tale about a man who ages backwards. He exits the womb an old man and dies seventy years later looking just like a newborn. Fortunately, Fitzgerald's story has nothing else - literally, not even a plot point - in common with the three-hour movie it inspired. Book Benjamin lives from 1860-1930 in Baltimore with his parents. Movie Benjamin lives from 1918-2000 or so in Louisiana with a foster family. The book is a clever satire on aging and the way it affects social norms. The movie was an awkward attempt at a biopic-romance fusion in which every character is selfish and unlikeable. Seriously, the contrast couldn't be greater. I don't have much else to say here, but do yourself a favor and read this short story. Not only is the book better than the movie in this case, but it actually takes less time to finish as well. If you really want the best of both worlds, just read Benjamin Button and then watch Forrest Gump.

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz

Here's a Wii game I've had as long as the Wii itself. For those of you not in the know, the Super Monkey Ball franchise is one that consists entirely of navigating a ball-enclosed monkey through a series of, for lack of a better phrase, obstacle courses. Many are fun and many are tedious, but all can be completed in a minute or two. This game consisted of 64 levels (eight each in eight different worlds) and, for the first time ever, boss battles. I feel the same way about boss battles in Monkey Ball as I did about boss battles in Mario Party DS - no real issues with it, but what's the point? I own two Super Monkey Ball games on the GameCube and one on the DS. The DS one is terrible. It has a woeful stylus-based control scheme that has you apply spin to the ball on the lower screen while navigating the top screen. The two Cube games are, naturally, controller-based. I have to say, I think the Wii remote made for a fantastic control scheme here. Simply using it like an angled joystick allowed for very precise and tight mechanics. This surprised me, as plenty of Wii games are shitty merely because of the Wii remote. It was nice to see a game that took advantage of the "Wii-mote" the right way. The camera, sadly, could have used much more work. It does its "best" to remain behind you in an over the shoulder manner, but naturally, as a ball begins to spin and roll, behind becomes a relative term. I suppose I don't have an idea that would have worked better than the one implemented in the game, but suffice it to say there were numerous times (on certain levels, in particular) where I was doing my damnedest to move my globular primate in one direction, but no matter how much I twisted and convulsed my wrist, it would only get sent the other way. The Monkey Ball series is certainly a niche one, and I'm not about to recommend this game to everybody out there, but you can't really go wrong with it either. If you're looking for something different, it's definitely at least worth considering. But then, so are so many other games. And if you're not careful, you could end up with 59 unfinished games on your shelves. At least now I'm back below 60. Fifty or bust!

Hydro Thunder

Although I beat the PSone version of this game on my PSP on the plane, the overwhelming majority of playtime for me on this game took place on the Dreamcast over 10 years ago. March 13, 2000 represents my favorite of all of my brother Ryan's birthdays as it represents the day he obtained a Dreamcast. It also represents a day in which my dad was feeling exceptionally generous as he not only bought my brother a Dreamcast and 2 games, but also allowed my other brother Andrew and I to pick out a game to share. While Ryan went with Sonic Adventure and Trickstyle, Andrew and I decided to go with a game we had played in the arcade before and loved Hydro Thunder. My life was never the same. Although I have spent hours driving Tidal Blade and Miss Behave atop the waters of Lost Island or Castle Von Dandy, I hope to spend hundreds of hours more. In fact, I plan to one day own the Hydro Thunder arcade game (totally worth 2 grand). However, despite my love and admiration for a game that is easily my favorite racing titel of all time, it was not until a few days ago that I finally managed to complete the game (no one said I was good at video games). To move on in the game, you have to complete the three tracks of a given difficulty level, which in turn unlocks the next three tracks for the next difficulty level. There are only 9 regular tracks (3 for easy, 3 for medium, 3 for hard) and you complete a track by placing first (well easy only required top 3 and medium requires top 2). Way back in 2000, I unlocked the hard tracks without too much trouble. However, I was never able to beat the three hard tracks. First place in New York Disaster, Venice Canals and Ship Graveyard never seemed attainable until I busted it out and played it on my PSP. Although it took about 50 straight attempts on each track, I finally captured first on each race and now consider this game beaten.

The key to this game really lies in knowing when to use your booster, what jumps to take and what shortcuts to take (as some are pretty long cuts). If you see a waterfall, chances are you can drive right through it and end up better off on the other side. If you see a hole in a mountain, chances are you should jump through it (yup, you can jump by holding brake and then hitting turbo). On hard, you need to be perfect to take first place. You have to get all the boosts while taking all the necessary shortcuts. You can't win just by handling your boat well. The competition also does not play to your level like on Mario Kart. Although it can be frustrating at times, it makes first place so much more rewarding.

I love this game. My biggest complaint is that there was no sequel. I wish someone else was into this game so we could compete on times. Try to touch my Lost Island time. Try.

South Park: Season 13

Every time I buy a season of South Park on DVD, two things happen. One, I watch the entire season (14 twenty-two minute episodes) in a matter of a day or two. And two, I do so while listening to Trey Parker and Matt Stone's commentary tracks. I don't just think South Park is a funny show; I think Trey and Matt are really clever and totally cool guys. A recurring theme in their commentary tracks is that they piss and moan about being required to make them at all. In fact, each commentary track lasts just four minutes, typically, and they say only what they feel is relevant or humorous. Mostly, I listen to these tracks to gain some insight as to how and why they go about making the episodes they choose to make. As anyone who has seen a lot of South Park should know, the turn around time on every episode is ridiculous. During a season, Matt and Trey (and their entire staff) will literally create every episode in less than a week. The show airs on Wednesdays, and they're often putting the finishing touches on episodes at noon or so on the same day. And then on Thursday morning they'll start brainstorming, from scratch, the episode which will have to completed - written, altered, animated, voiced, and all - by the following Wednesday. That's ridiculous. That's absurd. As I type this, it's after midnight and technically a new episode of South Park will air tonight. And I can promise you that it has not yet been finished and sent off to Comedy Central. What a system. Of course, Matt and Trey often have "shelved" ideas - simple, non-topical concepts for episodes - that they'll turn to after particularly hellish or non-newsworthy weeks. But even these episodes are rarely more than half-written by Friday night. At least, that's what the commentary tracks are telling me. Anyway, I should stop talking about the show's process in general and discuss Season 13. Honestly, this was a fantastic season overall. It's probably my favorite in years, like, since Seasons 6-9 or so. That was South Park's peak (well, plateau, I guess) for me, but 13 was certainly just as good as ever. And that's an encouraging sign. I'm always one of the first people to be calling for a show's cancellation once I think its run its course, but I very much think that South Park could thrive for another ten years with ease. And the good news is that it should. As long as Matt and Trey want to keep it going, there's literally no reason for Comedy Central to pull it. And I heard somewhere that last week's Season 14 premiere was the highest rated episode since Season 3's premiere. That's an eleven-year high. Awesome.

Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter

So although this game is a PSone title, I played it on my PSP. I beat it on the plane headed to LAX (where I hopped off the plane). This game consisted of two things for me: the x button and the y button. As Wolverine, I mashed those two buttons for about an hour completing Berserker Barrage X after Berserker Barrage X on my road to taking down Apocalypse and Cyber Akuma. This game is a poor man's Marvel vs. Capcom 2.

The Chosen

Here's another book that plenty of high school peers had to read for English class. For the most part, they hated it. I don't blame them; it's much more of a "thinking" book than a "happening" book, and furthermore, no fourteen-year-old could appreciate some of the subtle tones about college boys becoming men. This book is also totally Jewish, something I was fine with (and even interested in), but certainly something I could see a bunch of high school kids finding unappealing. The novel is really about nothing more than two boys (one Hasidic Jewish, one Orthodox Jewish - a huge point of conflict, believe it or not) and their relationships with each other, their fathers, and one another's fathers. In fact, there are really only four characters of any relevance: the boys and their fathers. These relationships develop and change over the course of about eight years as the boys go through both high school and college. In the background, World War II comes to a close, the horrors of the Holocaust come to light, and a Jewish State (Israel) is hotly debated and ultimately formed. There was certainly a fair amount of history to take away from the book, both from the 1940s and from the Jews in Europe for the past 500 years or so. The story is also one about fathers and sons and the difficult relationships they have, especially in one case the consequences of practicing Hasidic Judaism (earlocks and all) in somewhat contemporary America. I'd be exaggerating if I called this book amazing or eye-opening, but it was a pleasantly surprising read. Coming in at just under 300 pages, it was also a short one. I think the biggest problem with having high school freshmen read it is that they're not quite ready to identify with some of the family-versus-self concepts that accompany it, no matter how hard a bunch of teachers try to make them "read between the lines" and look for symbolism that serves no purpose. Stick to Catcher in the Rye, ninth grade.

The Dark Tower I - The Gunslinger

Hello again!

I am watching basketball games in LA waiting for an 11:55 flight and probably looking forward to a sleepless night and decided now would be the perfect time to blog again! Hoorah!

So I wasn't sure how much I would be able to read this break, and I ended up not reading much and zoning out to music the majority of time to rest my brain. However, I have been working on the Gunslinger and finally finished it.

Let me start off and say that I am not usually a huge Stephen King fan. Besides The Shining, I have not enjoyed his books. Cell was just horrid, and The Green Mile was slow and I couldn't finish it. Oh wow, Steve just reminded me about The Stand. I am a super fast reader so I like to invest in books with length so I bought the extended issue of The Stand which was a whopping 1141 pages. It was long. It was slightly interesting. And most importantly, boy, was the majority of it boring. However, on a recommendation from Sweeney, I figured I would give King another chance with his Dark Tower Series.

This book started very slow for me. I like to read before bed and fell asleep after 10 or so pages every night. I had made it around 25% into the book before going on a cruise. The book centers around a Gunslinger. I did not understand some of the background information until reading up on Wikipedia because though the Gunslinger seemed like a old western dude there would be memories of trains or Hey Jude. Apparently it takes place in an alternate universe.

The Gunslinger is traveling through the desert trying to find the "man in black" who will hopefully help him find...dun dun dun... the dark tower. Like I said, the book started slow, but once I found out the Gunslingers back story and met a little boy Jake the pace quickened and I found myself wondering what was going to happen next.

I'm excited to continue on to the next chapter of the Dark Tower series. I hope the book continues to pique my interest. I have high hopes. Should I, Sweeney?

Aeschylus II

Rapid-fire posting! I expected to be the only one to post today, but Marissa has already written a blog post as well, with the promise of more to come. After finishing up Cat's Cradle today, I jumped straight into the second Aeschylus collection. For those who don't know, Aeschylus is most famous for his Oresteia Trilogy, which details the homecoming of Agamemnon from the Trojan war. I read through that collection (Aeschylus I) back in college, but never got around to Aeschylus II until now. The collection contains four unrelated plays, all of which are thought to be part of their own separate trilogies. Unfortunately the other plays have been lost, meaning that aside from a commentary from the translator, I have little to go on in terms of context. At least there were a few characters I knew somewhat, and the plays were short enough that it was never a big inconvenience to read. The first play is The Suppliant Maidens, probably the most interesting of the four, which seems to be a transition between two plays- a group of women have fled from Libya to Greece in order to avoid having to marry their cousins, leading the local king to struggle with a moral dilemma- take the women in, as the gods would expect, or send them on their way and not have to worry about being attacked by said cousins. The second play, The Persians, features Paolo from Lost (I mean Xerxes) returning to Persia to talk with his mother and dead father after a particularly heartbreaking defeat. Seven Against Thebes was nearly as boring- Eteocles, son of Oedipus (yeah that Oedipus) and six of his friends defend their city from his brother and a group of attackers. Too bad all of the action took place off-stage. The fourth play at least let the collection end on a strong note- Prometheus Bound sees mankind-saver Prometheus, chained to a cliff, plotting with the titans to bring down Zeus and all of the gods who have wronged him. Prometheus had some pretty awesome monologues, and I would have liked to see where the trilogy went from there. Oh well. This series of four tragedies was hit-or-miss, but overall I think I enjoyed some of my least favorite comedic plays more than the best ones here. I wouldn't recommend tackling this one, even if you were interested in ancient literature. Just go reread one of the heavy hitters instead, you'll have a much better time.

Gossip Girl Season 2

Dear Fellow Back-Bloggers,

I'm sorry for my hiatus from blogging; engineering sucks. I am doing my best to slowly work my way through my library. As of two weeks ago, I was working on Gossip Girl Season 2, The Gunslinger, and Candy Factory. I finished Gossip Girl Season 2 before Spring Break but unfortunately was not able to write about it. So here we go folks!

In case none of you have ever seen Gossip Girl, it is an Upper East Side centric version of the OC written by the same person, Josh Schwartz. It is slightly more ridiculous. The kids are rich, entitled, and allowed to drink martinis in bars. Honestly, I don't want to describe the plot because it is so ridiculous. Let me describe one plot line: Blaire Waldorf and Nate Archibald are ex-lovers. Blair is now dating a dude who lied about his identity but is actually a prince. Nate is pretending to date Serena while actually having an affair with a married woman. The married woman turns out to be the "Dutchess" the prince's mother. Then the Dutchess and the Prince (her stepson) have sex. Yea.

Anywho, it was a good season. I don't watch this show for the quality. I bought Season 1 for $20 two winter breaks ago for something to do. I enjoyed it, and I bought Season 2 on Black Friday this past year. It is an amusing show which gives my brain a rest and lets me enjoy the absurdities of these kids' lives. Plus, it's fun to explain it all to Steve if he ever catches me watching an episode because the relationships are one big messed up spider web.

I look forward to continuing to watch Season 3. Expect an entry on The Gunslinger soon. Good day!

Cat's Cradle

With a few books to start the month and then only one more post since, it has hardly been a stellar month of logging for me. But whatever, I've been busy, hopefully I can finish a few things rapid-fire to end the month and make up for my absence. Today after watching St. Mary's embarrass Villanova, I finished off one of Vonnegut's earlier novels, the highly-praised Cat's Cradle. In his later novel Palm Sunday Vonnegut gave this book an A-plus, so I had high expectations, and they were achieved. I'd rank it just behind Slaughterhouse Five and Bluebeard as one of my favorites. Cat's Cradle is an excellent satire of the arms race after the creation of the nuclear bomb- it tells the story of an author attempting to do some research on Felix Hoenniker- a fictional "father of the bomb," and is subsequently whisked away to a tropical island to find out about Hoenniker's most important discovery of all. I won't go into too many details, but I don't feel like it would spoil much to say that the book ends with the apocalypse. Cat's Cradle is loaded with thought-provoking moments and humor that are typical of all Vonnegut novels, so you know what you're going to get here. If you like Kurt Vonnegut, do yourself a favor and read Cat's Cradle.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

This is a book that several peers of mine had to read at some point in high school. It's also been made into a very acclaimed movie that I have not yet seen. I've had a copy lying around for some time, and as such, it's been backlogged. Until now. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a story about a psychiatric ward. It's full of memorable characters - characters, really, in the truest sense of the word - and its central conflict is one between a bureaucratic dictator figure ("Big Nurse" Ratched) and the oppressed masses (patients). I don't want to give much away, but I do need to say that Nurse Ratched is truly one of the most evil characters I've ever come across in literature or film. She's passive-aggressive and capable of brainwashing the patients into doing her bidding. And she seems to act with no motive whatsoever aside from a sheer lust for power. The archetype exists, and she's not necessarily a unique spin on anything. (Think "manipulative bitch" and little more.) But the sly and cunning methods she uses to break her patients' spirits are just plain sinister. At one point, for instance, she berates and blames one patient until he commits suicide and then blames his death on another patient's actions, bringing that patient to a breaking point as well. McMurphy (the guy Jack Nicholson plays in the movie) becomes a knight in shining armor for the ward; he shows up one day and decides to challenge Ratched's authority, at first simply for kicks, but eventually for a much more noble cause: the mental stability of his new friends at the ward. He's supposed to be the "good" figure in the story, but really, his only praiseworthy actions are his power struggles with the evil nurse, and even those were mostly for his own amusement; I'm not buying McMurphy as a good-natured hero of any sort, really. In fact, I think any words of praise for this book that include the phrase "good vs. evil" are totally overblown and misguided. The book was more about a collection of tortured souls who (mostly) learn how to live again. The book was probably laden with symbolism the way high school English class reading books tend to be, but none of that was overt enough to warrant mentioning here. I definitely have a good deal of interest in the movie now, having read the book, but this story doesn't crack any lists that include my all time favorites. I reserve the right to change my judgment of this book at a later date, as it's one that feels like it could sit and marinate in the juices of my mind for some time, but for now I won't call it anything you need to seek out and read.

Galileo's Finger

Hola amigos. Here in the midst of my spring break, I am on a cruise heading up and down the Pacific Coast of Mexico. But though I may be taking a vacation from school and everyday life, there are no vacations from logging. Fortunately, I managed to muscle my way through this scientific book little by little on a plane, a boat, and a Mexican beach. Galileo's Finger was one of three books given to me by my uncle this past Christmas. It is, as its subtitle suggests, a general overview of what the author, Peter Atkins, considers to be the ten greatest ideas in science. These ideas are evolution, genetics, energy, entropy, atoms, symmetry, quanta, cosmology, spacetime, and arithmetic. Atkins has intentionally ordered the chapters not according to each theory's relevance, but from the most concrete to the most abstract in nature. It was an interesting read. At times it was mundane and review-filled, as I'm well aware, as an electrical engineer and biology minor, of much of the information presented in the text. But not all of it was review, especially toward the end of the book. Atkins seemed to have a way to make the obscure very graspable; his explanation of four spatial dimensions (in "spacetime") was almost one I could picture, for example, and his discourse on symmetry was more effective than anything else I have ever read at showing me what the different types of quarks are and how they're all related. Indeed, the book in general started out a bit dull, became interesting quickly, and ultimately ended up confusing and tough to fully care about. Still, I highly recommend it to anyone with a thirst for some scientific insight, especially regarding all or any of the ten topics I've named. Very little previous knowledge is required, I assure you, and you just might end up with a better understanding of the world around you. And in this age where intellectualism is both trendy and admirable, why not hone your scientific knowledge a bit? Of course, I'll be the first to admit that this isn't really the type of book I'd seek out myself, and I fully understand that nobody out there reading this is going to rush out to buy it (or even ask me to borrow it). My book backlog dwindles with the completion of this book, but still remains a smorgasbord of genres. Twenty-four books remain, but these include five thick "science" books like this one, four Newbery winners, six "young adult" books that belong to two separate series, eight novels of various levels of fame (all recognizable by title or at least author), and a piece of Civil War historical fiction. (Or maybe fact - tough to tell.) Yep, all in all, it's a crapshoot what I'll read next at any given moment - isn't that exciting?

Silent Hill 2

Feeling guilty after such a long hiatus of not posting, I sat my butt down last night and cranked through Silent Hill 2. I heard that the second installment to the Silent Hill series was suppose to be the best and a must for any horror game fan. I’ve got to say, after plowing through this I’m a little unsure how to rate my experience. On one hand, the game does a great job at enveloping you in this dark, mystifying world; on the other, it adheres to one of the most asinine plots I’ve ever come across (top ranked is still Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty - an ending that continues to hurt my head today). Let me just get through my praise of the game before I explain its complete and utter downfalls.

For this being an early release on the PS2, Silent Hill 2 does breakdown a few walls in terms of establishing such a captivating ambiance. No matter where you are, it’s always dark and foggy - and at times claustrophobic. Maybe it’s just because the games of previous consoles just couldn’t provide the graphics and sound necessary for these attributes, but SH2 truly established the main archetype in a scary video game.

... and honestly, that was really my only enjoyment out of the game.

Just about everything else (controls, riddles, story) made no sense and didn’t work. Lets start with the controls. They’re clunky and confusing at best causing your character to stumble around into walls like a moron. If you ever play this game, it’s essential you change your control type to 2D-mode rather than the default, 3D-mode. These titles don’t really stand as good descriptions of what each control mode offers. All you need to know is that 2D is much more user friendly. And while your perusing the options menu, you might as well check the auto-run feature - why walk when zombie-demon-monsters are nipping at your heels? Combine these issues with a camera that’s constricting, always seeming to want to look in the opposite direction of your enemies, and you’ve got a frustrating platform here.

The game's main focus, aside from trying to survive demon attacks, is to solve seemingly ridiculous riddles in order to progress further in the story. A typical ploy in any game, and fun... when done right. What makes it right? When it makes fucking sense. Most parts of game just involve you finding keys for certain locked doors. Sometimes, though, you'll have to collect and assemble the strangest set of items. A wax doll, bent needle, and a human hair (one that was precious enough to be locked away in a treasure chest?) are meant to be combined to pick out something from a shower drain. No sense. I'm just glad I had a walkthrough for part of this.

Now as for the story, it starts off well then goes south from there. After receiving a letter from your dead wife, you - Jams Sunderland - return to your old make-out spot in Silent Hill in hopes of finding your beloved deceased wife, Mary. When roaming through the town, which essentially resembles ground-zero at Hiroshima, you bump into four other characters which help carry along the plot - in a sense.

The first is Angela who’s a woman you meet in a cemetery looking for her mother. She’s like you - a foreigner to the town - but seems to pretty much stay out of your hair as she struggles through her own problems. In the end you find out she murdered her father who molested her as a child, then ascends a burning staircase to kill herself. It doesn’t have anything to do with your story. I guess the game was just showing how this place forces everyone to face their demons.

The next character is Eddie - another poor bastard facing down his demons. He’s fat. He’s scared. He’s a moron. And he eventually goes crazy - blabbering about murdering a dog or something - which leads you into a gun fight with him. You eventually kill him, thank God.

At one point, you come across a little girl in the game named Laura who seems to be good friends with Mary. She keeps alluding to the fact that your wife might still be alive, which, of course, causing you to chase her. The weirdest problem with this character is that she’s completely oblivious to world around her. It’s like she doesn't even recognize that there are monsters lurking around every corner... let alone the mystery of how she’s never hurt even when running around unguarded.

The final character in Maria. I’m a little confused at how to describe her. She’s suppose to be the spitting image of Mary, which causes a lot of confusion for both you and James. What’s more is that she dies in at least three different occasions. By the final sequence, I think they made her out to be the devil or something. I don’t know. Maybe she’s the town’s method of forcing James to face his past? - his dark past turns out that he killed his wife after she was suffering from some terminal illness.

After looking online for some clarification on what the story was all about I found out that there were a total of 5 different endings. The main one, LEAVE (the one I earned), involves James having one last heartfelt talk with Mary who forgives him for killing her. James ends up walking out of Silent Hill with Laura by his side. It’s a really boring ending. I checked out the rest of the endings online. IN WATER has James driving his car into the lake killing himself, and REBIRTH has James taking Mary’s dead body in a boat out onto the lake.

The last two endings are “joke” endings - apparently a running gag planted in every Silent Hill game. I’m not even going to explain these endings. I’ll just end this blog allowing you to watch them for yourself: DOG and UFO.

Why couldn't these be the main endings?

Blue Chips

There is a story behind my acquisition of this movie. My friends back home go to a bar every Thursday night to compete in a weekly trivia contest. They've probably gone to twenty-five of these events or so, but I've only been around to three of them. (We won all three I went to, and I'm told they rarely win. Coincidence? No. I am pretty good at trivia.) Anyway, the third time we won, a prize was bestowed upon us: four very, very random DVDs that the trivia host had clearly found in a bargain bin somewhere. I already forget the other three flicks, but as team MVP I felt I had earned the rights to sole possession of at least one of the four DVDs even though we were a seven-man team. I immediately went for the one with a "$2.99" Newbury Comics sticker on it. It happened to be Blue Chips. I tried to get trivia teammates to watch this one with me, but no one was biting. So now, a month later, I've decided to make it my final viewing before a weeklong spring break vacation. So yeah. Nick Nolte. Shaq. Penny Hardaway. Hell, even Larry Bird, Dick Vitale, and Bob Knight make appearances. Besides, what better time to watch a movie about college basketball than March? The summary, in a nutshell: Nolte coaches a team that, to put it gently, ain't as good as it once was. Several higher-ups at the school convince him to do some illegal recruiting to land several top prospects with cash payments and gifts. People start to suspect him and after a huge win he confesses everything in a press conference. The end. All in all, the movie was exactly what I expected it to be - not "good" by any means, but certainly not an epic failure. In general, very average and forgettable. Hey, I'll take it. In fact, I already did. Here's wondering if any of the other three DVDs we (I, dammit) won that night will even get watched.

Rapala Tournament Fishing

Ugh. In an attempt to mix it up a bit, I've decided to start attacking some of the shittier parts of my enormous video game backlog. Thus, today I started (and finished) playing this crappy little fishing simulation. My sisters and I bought it for my dad for his birthday three years ago, and I think we did so half in jest. At least then the Wii was new and the idea of being able to use a controller to simulate a fishing rod was interesting. Here in 2010, nothing about this game appealed to me at all. Let me recap. The game has no story line to speak of, and that's fine, but it leaves "beating" a game in the eye of the gamer. There are several challenges in the game, but I wasn't looking to do them all. Merely beating one was more than enough for me. Fellow logger Sweeney even said that I could probably consider the game beaten once I caught a fish I liked. And I'm doing exactly that. You pilot a boat around some body of water in any given level and all the while this guy (your assistant?) is telling you to slow down or you'll scare all the fish away. Once you find a spot where you'd like to fish (and the game in no way indicates what such "good spots" are), you can leave boat mode and enter fishing mode. This consists of casting off with the Wii remote and then reeling back in with the nunchuck. The problem is that the game is all too much like real fishing, and bites are few and far between. Why make a game like this? Seriously, in what way does casting repeatedly and reeling back in appeal to anyone? In real fishing, at least you can enjoy the fine day, the weather, and the friendly conversation while waiting for bites. But starting at a hook on your TV screen for minutes on end is damn near infuriating. Also annoying was the lack of pace with which you could reel your lure back in. Casts varied between thirty and eighty feet, but it took two or three shakes of my left hand for every foot I wanted to reel the rod in. Now, on the rare occasions that you actually do catch a fish, things get a little exciting. A line tension meter pops up and you have to be careful not to reel in too fast (as if that were possible) at the risk of breaking the line. You'll also be told by your helper guy to turn the rod left or right on occasion. Finally, when the fish is next to the boat, you're suddenly placed in the midst of a "landing" minigame in which you must line up the Wii remote with a moving fish icon then press a combination of buttons. This caught me totally off guard the first time it happened and my fish got away. The second time, I pressed the buttons all at the same time since there was really no indication of what to do, and that fish got away too. But the third time was the charm, and finally, fifteen minutes into the game, I caught my first fish. I played around a little more after that, piloting the boat around aimlessly while my assistant yelled at me to slow down, fishing with different lures, and using different amounts of drag. Ultimately though, there was nothing more to the game than that which I had already experienced. What wasn't boring was frustrating, and nothing was enjoyable; this easily may have been the worst game I've ever played on a console. I feel like we owe my dad another birthday present.

Shadow Complex

I've been a bad, bad man as of late, having purchased four (four!) video games over the course of the weekend. Shadow Complex was one of them. My roommate and backlogging buddy Keith recommended it, so we downloaded a demo. I didn't even wait for the demo to finish before opting to purchase the full game for $15. And what a pleasant surprise it was from start to finish. It seems like a few of my friends have at least heard of this Xbox Live Arcade game which came out last summer. I had not, and it really came out of nowhere and hit me in the face with greatness. I'll get right down to it: if you have an Xbox 360, you should definitely buy and play this game. It's a 2D adventure game with plenty of "puzzle" qualities. It's very Metroid-inspired, and this is apparent from the get go. Different weapons can open different doors and the whole complex is navigated and mapped out by the player in a grid overlay very similar to those found in Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion. You even acquire things like the double jump and health and missile upgrades. But it would be unfair to call this game a mere Super Metroid knockoff. Instead, consider it a spiritual successor (albeit on a different platform and made by different people). Truth be told, this was easily just as fun as the Metroid games I've played. It's also got a similar length to it. I finished my first (and probably only) playthrough in about six and a half hours and managed to find most of the items and upgrades. The game's climactic "battle" is absolutely awesome and though the story is nothing to write home about its also perfectly adequate. Really, Shadow Complex felt like so much more than a simple arcade game. I think it easily could have been sold, as is, for $50 on its own disc. It's that good. My biggest gripe was the aiming. You're limited to movement in two dimensions, but enemies can move in and out of the background. In order to shoot enemies at different depths than you, you must use the right analog stick to aim accordingly. But it can be very hard to line up the finicky laser sight. After all, think of this: you can aim the stick in 360 different degrees of direction, but ideally you want full two-dimensional coverage instead of the roughly circular shape you get. And you can't manually aim at the foreground at all, which is too bad, since enemies frequently appear there too. Still, aiming aside, this was a fantastic game. For fifteen bucks and five to seven hours of your time, it's a really enjoyable experience from start to finish. I beat it in just three sittings and the only times I stopped were when I had something else I needed to do. I give this game two thumbs up.