Goodfellas

With my girlfriend's business trip in Seattle coming to an end today, last night I decided to have myself a good old-fashioned masculine night. I figured I'd come home, put on a suit just for the hell of it, enjoy a steak and some scotch, and watch Goodfellas. In actuality, I got into some gym shorts and flip-flops, had three hot dogs and two Bud Lights, and played Spirit Tracks on my DS. But I did still watch Goodfellas! I don't really have that much to say about it. I've never been one to enjoy gangster flicks as much as some people, but this was still a solid movie, for sure. Well-written, well-acted, and above all, well-directed. But hey, that's what I've come to expect from Scorsese. Maybe it's due to my lack of enthusiasm for the genre (or maybe it's what causes it), but it just seems as though if you've seen a few mob movies, you've seen most of them. A man pays his dues on his way up the ladder, catches some big breaks, does some unspeakable things, has all kinds of sex and does all kinds of drugs and eventually his wife leaves him and his associates don't trust him and it all comes crashing down when he ends up killed, incarcerated, or broke. I'm not saying that's the exact formula followed by Goodfellas, but I am saying it's a formula followed pretty closely, with maybe one or two key twists, by the majority of organized crime films. Even the most classic and beloved ones. If it sounds like I'm complaining, I apologize. This was a good movie and I'm not saying otherwise. I guess I just expected it to be a little more memorable or unique, rather than just a very well-made but very formulaic mobster movie.

Knight and Day

Gulp. I’m a little embarrassed I watched this. C'mon, I'm in Seattle. What else am I going to do? Bright spot in a so-so movie, the beginning was filmed in Boston! How fun! Tunnels and bridge, oh my. Mostly though, this movie just had Cameron Diaz falling in love with Tom Cruise, thinking he’s a good guy, thinking he’s a bad guy, thinking he’s a good guy, etc. etc. They ride motor bikes in the middle of the running of the bulls though. That’s fun right?

London Bridges

Flashback: Geoffrey Shafer? Is that you? You who ruined Alex Cross’ baby momma. And killed his partner. And escaped. I smell a grudge. (Surprise! You die!)

FBI Budget: Alex Cross consistently travels in helicopter to places such as France, Switzerland, Germany, London, Montana… That’s a lot of dolla dolla bills

WTF: We caught the wrong guy again?! This Wolf character is shady.

You Jerk: If you have seen the Wolf. You die. Nuff said.

L: Kidnapping Cross’ family just pisses him off. You’re in trouble now, Wolfy.

Don’t worry: Cross got him in the end guys!

Book 10/17…Lots of traveling! Lots of action! Recurring characters! 8/10

The Big Bad Wolf

Scene Change: I, Alex Cross, are now officially in the FBI.

Same Old Thang: I, Alex Cross, am still super famous and rub people the wrong way.

Highlight! 10 year old hacker outdoes the FBI and gets into closed “Wolf Den”

Awkward: You can buy people online. And do what you want with them. Like kill them.

Even more awkward: You caught the wrong guy. It was a trap!

The Wolfs still on the loose! And he’s angryyyyy.

Book 9/17…I liked you! 7/10

Four Blind Mice

Highlight! John Sampson falls in love. This big badass dude was tamed during this murder investigation

Lowlight: John Sampson was not able to save his best Vietnam buddy from Vietnam.

Lowlight Pt Deux: John Sampson almost dies. Seriously downer yo.

Awkward: Killlers are paid to frame army guys so that they will die on death row. Says wonders about the legal system.

Alex Cross is awesome: Don’t worry, he solves the case, and keeps up with former flame Jamilla.

Book of 8/17…I give you a 5/10

Violets are Blue

Ok, so I have done it again. I back-logged some stuff. Then I didn’t post it immediately. The monthly deadline is very important to me. The daily, clearly not so much. Also, I told Sweeney that this would be an exciting post for him way back earlier in the month. So here it goes, time to try to make Alex Cross exciting to others!

Bird People! Vampires! Bird People! Vampires! Which one will win out in the end? My vote: still vampires, but Sweeney on the other hand believes in the up and coming genre of bird people books. Let me tell you this though, way back in 2001, James Patterson knew vampires were gonna be big, so he wrote about them in his book. And guess what?! They are killers!

Our book starts with a disturbing scene. A couple jogging in San Francisco is attacked by a tiger. A trained tiger. WHAT?! Who can train a tiger?! Vampires can! There is a rag tag group of vampires biting, draining, and killing people around the globe, and our hero Alex Cross must solve the case. Not only does he have to deal with vampires, but he has to deal with (another) serial killer, named the Mastermind, who is tormenting his family. Spoiler alert: It’s one of his best buds in the FBI, Kyle Craig. And another surprise, Cross finds a budding love interest on this trip, tough girl detective Jamilla Hughes.

Well, the vampires turn out to be easy to catch (newbies), Kyle Craig not so much. Kyle Craig, seemingly always one step ahead, is going after Cross’ family and his best friends. Cross stabs him though, an all is well in Cross family land. Except Alex wants to retire.

Final Fantasy X-2

Oh boy. Where to begin? With Final Fantasy X, I suppose. I loved Final Fantasy X. I played it and beat it - beat the hell out of it, really - in the spring, summer, and fall of 2002. I was a huge fan of the in-battle gameplay, the "customizable but guided" nature of the sphere grid system, and the visually stunning world brought to me courtesy of the PS2's very capable graphics engine. The story wasn't my favorite in a Final Fantasy game, but was solid and compelling and expansive nonetheless. There was a solemn and sad tone that carried throughout most of the game, allowing for several memorable and meaningful cut scenes. And while some of the characters were more flamboyant and childish than in any previous game in the beloved franchise, they were all pretty fleshed out and interesting. All things considered, it was a great game, and until a few years ago when I rediscovered a ton of old games in college, I considered it one of my ten favorite games of all time. And I wasn't alone; Final Fantasy X was a huge commercial and critical success, and to this day probably remains the franchise's second-most mainstream title after Final Fantasy VII. So Squaresoft - actually, it was Square Enix by then - decided to make a direct sequel. And that is why we have Final Fantasy X-2, a game with a very different tone, feel, and style than its acclaimed predecessor. Fellow blogger Sweeney played and beat Final Fantasy X last fall, and said that his biggest beef with the game was the awkward relationship between the main characters Tidus and Yuna. He'll be sorry to hear - and hell, I'm sorry to have to say - that their relationship is what drives the story this time around. I'll keep this light spoiler vague, but Tidus "goes away" in a sense at the end of Final Fantasy X, after saving the world and all, leaving Yuna kind of sad. Then, to kick off Final Fantasy X-2, Yuna has a vision in which she sees Tidus again, and suddenly the main goal of the game is to find out whether or not Yuna can reunite with Tidus. I mean, there are plenty of other stories going on too, but still, the sequel just felt so much lighter and less meaningful than the original. And we haven't even discussed the tone, look, and feel of X-2 yet. Since you end up saving the world from an endless cycle of despair at the end of Final Fantasy X, the world is a much happier and cheerier place in Final Fantasy X-2. And maybe it's just that I'm American and not Japanese, but frankly, I wasn't amused by all of the comically goofy cut scenes and I didn't think it was cool or fun that Yuna and your two other party members - returning Rikku and newcomer Paine - are in a pop group together. I mean, it makes sense. I get it. The world was a sad and sorrowful place in Final Fantasy X, but now in Final Fantasy X-2 things are so much better off and everyone's just trying to have a little fun. So, it works, in that respect. It just doesn't carry the same weight and emotional investment that its predecessor did, and therefore, my interest waned pretty quickly. Gameplay revolves around a new mechanic called "dresspheres," in which Charlie's angels - I mean, Yuna and company - change their outfits mid-battle (or between battles) so as to change their abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. The idea of "job classes" is nothing new to Final Fantasy, and has in fact long been a staple of the series. But even though characters' appearances have always changed when their job classes have - a wizard looks a lot different than a knight, for example - Final Fantasy X-2 is the first time in the series where it seems like the different outfits are the reason to change job classes, and not just a side effect of the process. It's actually not quite as bad as it sounds; none of the outfits are scant or sexual enough to carry a "NSFW" label or anything, and aside from a class called "mascot" in which the girls change into big plush Moogle costumes, none of the different outfits reinforced the "perverted Japanese" stereotype. Nonetheless, this is the sequel to an acclaimed and beloved and epic RPG, and the battle system revolves around playing dress-up and the story revolves around pop concerts and love triangles. It just doesn't hold up. Final Fantasy X-2 is a slightly strange but decent game by its own right, for sure, but as a sequel to Final Fantasy X it just doesn't hold up so well. At least the optional nature of so many missions made it a pretty short game by Final Fantasy standards. Twenty hours or so got me through the story and about half of the sidequests. Actually, the amount of optional parts of the game that you complete before beating it will directly affect how the game ends for you. Are Yuna and Tidus reunited? Well, if you're like me, and you left half of the game unplayed, then no! (But who cares? Not you; you're like me!) But a quick perusal through some YouTube clips has satisfied what little desire I had to see those two hug it out again. Another clutch performance by the Internet! (Speaking of which, without the Internet, I'd never have been able to finish the game as quickly as I did. Gotta love those guys who spend days writing walkthroughs for no compensation. They deserve to get their own "real men of genius" Bud Light commercial or something.) And so concludes my time with Final Fantasy X-2. It was what it was, and that's just fine with me.

Super Stardust HD

This was one of the two free games I got from Sony's "Welcome Back" Program (a.k.a. the "We Fucked Up Big Time and We're Hoping You'll Appreciate the Two Free Games We're Giving You Enough to Continue to Trust Us With Your Privacy" Program). And I really enjoyed playing it. So, thanks, Sony. It's an arcade-style stage-based spaceship shooter in which you both avoid and destroy other spaceships and chunks of rock. In other words, it's an Asteroids clone, plain and simple. But there are a few notable differences, aside from the gorgeous HD/3D display and graphical upgrades. For starters, you have three types of weapons, a green "rock crusher," a red "gold melter," and a blue "ice blaster," each of which does significantly more damage to one of the three different types of asteroids on screen (you guessed it - rock, gold, and ice). Any weapon will damage any asteroid, but you'll rack up points faster by constantly switching weapon types to handle the different rock types. The control scheme is also much-improved over the "rotate, go straight" mechanic in Asteroids. Now, you use the left stick to move and the right stick to shoot. So you can head upwards while shooting downward and to the right. Two additional functions allow you to collect and use bombs (destroying everything in a very large radius) or use "hyper speed" to temporarily make you invincible as you dart off in one straight line for a short burst of time. Furthermore, while Asteroids took place on a toroidal plane in space, Super Stardust HD takes place on a spherical surface that surrounds a planet. Not a huge difference in terms of gameplay, but it more than doubles your "playing space relative to screen size" ratio. There are five different planets in the game (to protect form asteroids and spaceships and such) and each of them has five stages, the last of which is a boss fight. It took me many attempts to beat the first planet, thus unlocking the second one, and after I failed on the second planet's boss, I put the game away and decided I could consider it "beaten." I didn't put it away out of frustration, and I do hope to someday beat the remaining four planets (thus "completing" the game), but with sixty-plus games still in my backlog, I figure I've seen and played enough of this one to offer an insightful paragraph of text about it. (Have I done so? You be the judge.) There's a co-op feature that I'd love to try sometime (any interest, anyone?) and I'm sure I'll be launching this game form the PS3 menu several times after finishing a DVD or something, since I use my PS3 to watch those. So, yeah. Even though I'm posting about this game, I'm by no means done with it. It's very much a "pick up and play" game - arcade games usually are - and I was enjoying the hour and a half I spent on it last night enough to merit several more sessions. I probably wouldn't have bought this game - or ever even heard of it - had Sony not offered it to me for free, but I'm glad to call it part of my collection.

The Time Machine

Continuing my list of classics I decided I would read The Time Machine. Actually I didn't really decide anything, my buddy thrust it in my chest and said "read this." I wanted to love this book, actually I did love this book for the first 60 or 70 pages and then I really started to become indifferent towards it. I read the bulk of it in one sitting and by the end of that sitting it started to become boring so I put it down expecting that I was just suffering from plot overload and that I would come back and finish it in another sitting (since it is only like 95 pages). This, however, was not the case, I came back time and time again trying to beast the rest of it out and found myself unable. The plot, like a good gravy thickened over time but like a sea of good gravy I found myself unable to wade through it. Bad similes aside the book became damn unreadable near the end. Right when you were expecting it to get good again it wrapped up with damn near no conflict which answers my questions when I watch movies and read books of "why didn't so and so just do this or just do that it would have made life easier. The time traveler did things the easy way and it worked out, huzzah, without being interesting at all. Also this book is damn boring. The man invents a time machine and finds a way to find, what must be, the most boring period in Earth's history.

The Wire: Season 4

Alright. I'm sold. The Wire is fucking amazing. The degree to which I've enjoyed the past two seasons makes me wonder what the hell I was missing in the first two, and I'm dying to go back and watch those early seasons all over again, preferably with a Wire virgin like my girlfriend or several of my friends. Many people have not only called The Wire the greatest show ever, but have specifically pinpointed Season 4 as the single greatest TV season ever. I'm not entirely sure I'd cosign on that, but I would absolutely put it in my top five without even stopping to wonder what else is in that top five. The Wire as a whole has also absolutely crept up toward the top of my own personal list of greatest shows ever - and this is after being moderately unimpressed by the first two seasons as little as two months ago. The main characters this season included four teenage boys who we'd never seen in previous seasons, a politician who had only been introduced the year prior, a teacher who had been a background character earlier on in the show's history (and not a very likable one until now), and a drug kingpin and some dealers who were also absent in the show's earlier years. I'm being vague to avoid spoilers, but suffice it to say that the majority of main characters from Seasons 1 and 2 have been killed off, locked up, or just written into the background of the show. That The Wire gets it done this year largely on new talent and formerly minor or unlikable characters speaks volumes about the strength of its writing and storytelling. I'm absolutely jumping right into Season 5 as soon as possible, and as I've already said, I hope to soon re-watch the whole series. And given my commitment and focus on my backlog, that is a rare thing indeed. Watch The Wire. Its fans aren't lying. I was a skeptic, and look at me now.