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Wondering about the legal intricacies of Obamacare and the Supreme Court ruling? Wonder no more.
You’ve seen Shaun of the Dead? It’s time for Juan de los muertos (Juan of the Dead). Guys…this looks awesome. Man do I love me some Cuban accents. Thanks for hooking me up with the trailer, Dave
Ever wondered what it was like to be the Pyro? What the Pyro sees and thinks? You may never sleep again…
Man, Valve is so awesome…
How have I never talked about Spelunky before? One of my favorite free, roguelike action games has been in the process of XBLA-ifying itself for the past two years. Looks like it’s finally due to come out next week!
No More Heroes is good for some easy cosplay. Travis Touchdown is pretty awesome (Photo by Elliot Trinidad)
Last week felt super long! Thank god it’s all over. At least I enjoyed myself plenty. Week two of the swimming experiment continued as well, reminding me of how woefully out of shape I am. Glad to have seen Kai again too. It’s a bummer that she no longer has work/business in Baltimore.
Movies
Prometheus – I went to see this with Ian last Monday. Despite what some critics might tell you, it’s not aggressively terrible. I think that my lack of prior Alien knowledge is what allows me to enjoy the movie so much. I came in with zero preconceptions and zero expectation and I left having seen the coolest surgical procedure ever and a pretty sweet squid vs. Engineer fight. This is not an A+, high-caliber piece of cinema, but it’s a fun summer film. Oh, before I forget, Michael Fassbender as David was INCREDIBLE.
Rampart – Woody Harrelson plays a dirty cop who is all kinds of damaged. The movie kind of starts in the middle and ends in the middle, but it was interesting, if not fragmented. I think most of you guys wouldn’t really dig it.
TV
Futurama – I’ll admit that the fat robot in the Mars University episode was pretty funny. I’m enjoying pushing through this show a few episodes at a time. I hope to get some more in this week.
The Thick of It – Watched the entire first series (I mean, it’s only three episodes. British television, everybody!). The first episode wasn’t particularly funny at all. It was just a lot of meanness and snarkiness, although it’s situationally hilarious in retrospect. In fact, it’s making me smile quite broadly. This show, in case you didn’t know, was Armando Iannucci’s show about English politics that precedes Veep (although it seems that they’re making a new series for 2012). It’s biting and it’s downright mean most of the time (meaner than Veep), but it’s still quite funny, especially past the first episode.
Music
You can get “Black Sheep” by Metric off of the Scott Pilgrim soundtrack, but if you want the Brie Larson version I recommend searching for it on last.fm where they have a downloadable 128 kbps one you can get. Great song.
Here’s another good Metric song:
Books
1Q84 – I’m in so hard for this book. It has gotten so good. I finally know how Tengo and Aomame relate to each other, but I’m not even 1/3 of the way done with this epic. So far the Little People are the scariest thing I’ve ever heard of. I think Aomame is gonna end up infiltrating Sakigake and maybe Tengo is gonna have to save her and Fuka-Eri. We’ll see.
Video Games
Diablo III – Inferno…yay? As you might expect I’m more interested in playing new or unfinished games so I haven’t logged into D3 in a while. I’ll get more time in this week during Marlins games (unless I end up reading between innings instead).
Civilization V – The Gods and Kings expansion pack came out and I’m really enjoying it. The new Faith system is neat and I enjoyed founding Buddhism, but I have yet to see how it will impact the whole game so far. Haven’t put too much time into it (sometimes I try and rest my arms when I get home since being on the computer all day makes my shoulders hurt), but I expect to win as the Siam empire!
No More Heroes: Heroes Paradise – There’s so much going on in this game that it’s hard to pick out just one thing. It seems that Suda51 is intentionally satirizing the video game fan and his pathetic existence in Travis. He has a lust for blood, is an otaku (he is mocked for this), and he endlessly and pathetically lusts over women. Most of the other assassins are similarly psychopaths and the game pretty heavily breaks the fourth wall. For what you’d think would be a mindless game, this has some hidden depth that I’m thoroughly enjoying.
Ever wondered about the history of Uranus’ name? Wonder no more!
Yeah…the full title is TOO LONG. This looks mad intriguing. I’ll be picking it up on the 25th.
Alpha looks seriously creepy there. Wow. (Photo courtesy ComicVine)
In a weekend full of grief over some terrible Marlins losses thanks to anemic offenses I finally got around to finishing Dollhouse…
Indie Game: The Movie – Steam’s first movie! I didn’t kickstart it, but I was more than happy to support it post-release. It’s not super informative if you don’t already know a bunch about indie video games, but it’s entertaining to see three artists at three stages of their careers and the minds and personalities that go with each. It makes me really crave postmortem analysis of Fez as well.
Dollhouse – I think it’s safe to say that this is Joss Whedon’s weakest show (although I haven’t seen Angel yet…). Most of the complaints were with Eliza Dushku not being up to the part, but I think she eventually grew into the part. The second season was full of a lot of melodrama and, as Min noted, felt very rushed, but I think that Joss had enough time to put a perfect little bow on the series and wrap up all the loose plot threads rather nicely. I’d much rather recommend that people watch The Wire, but if you’re looking for something second tier to enjoy and you’ve already seen Firefly, you could do worse.
Patton Oswalt: No Reason to Complain – Comedy pairs perfectly with Diablo or another similarly mindless game. This isn’t Oswalt’s funniest work, but I enjoyed it alright.
Louis C.K.: Hilarious – Man, Louis C.K. is funny! I don’t know why I’ve never seen his standup before, but you should catch this before it leaves Instant on 1 July. I loved the bits about how unappreciative Americans are. Good stuff.
Futurama – I’ve only seen like six episodes of this show. Everyone seems to love it. I’m checking out the first season. Saw the garbage ball one and the one where Bender gets hooked on electricity. Had some funny moments, but not hilarious ones. I liked the musical bits in hell and seeing the Beastie Boys was bittersweet.
Guys…the video to Girls’ Generation’s new single, “Paparazzi” came out. The stealth conversion of the site to a K-Pop repository continues.
1Q84 – How long has it been since I last read this book? Holy cow! Got a bunch of chapters in. One of the characters has realized that something might be up, but I don’t know how Aomame is gonna tie in with Tengo’s story. I’m intrigued, but I’m frustrated by my usual pet peeve of men writing women like they feel like women think. I mean, I can’t confirm that Murakami is being inaccurate with his portrayal of Aomame’s thoughts, but it doesn’t quite feel right to me. Then again, what the heck do I know about how women think/act?
Diablo III – I’m in Inferno! Now I’ve just gotta beat Diablo again. Lost another Hardcore Min. Rest in peace Min the Demon Hunter. Your deeds will be forever remembered.
The Binding of Isaac – Great time killer. Gotta make more progress, but these challenges are tougher than I realized they’d be.
Poker Night at the Inventory – Trying desperately to get the four-of-a-kind or straight flush achievements, the odds of which are 72,192.33 : 1 and 4,164 : 1, respectively. Got a lot of poker ahead of me…at least Texas Hold ’em has softer odds.
No More Heroes: Paradise – The recent release of Lollipop Chainsaw reminded me that I’ve got a Suda51 backlog that needs clearing. Lotta character and personality to this game. I like Travis Touchdown and I like the fighting for now, but I don’t love the busywork nature of it all. I’ll survive the part time jobs and assassination missions mostly by thinking about the statements that Suda is trying to make, but I have a much harder time dealing with the temperamental motorcycle and overlarge overworld.
Man, the place they’re filming/podcasting from looks so sketchy…
Some plush versions of Isaac, Brother Bobby, and Sister Maggie (Photo courtesy Danielleorama)
That Wrath of the Lamb DLC is awesome stuff. It’s still a super challenging game to get through, but I’m absolutely enjoying it. I almost want to play it more than Diablo 3. Speaking of which, I’m getting close to 60…Just three more levels.
Haywire – Our aborted attempt to watch this movie probably saved us all a lot of time and earned us a free movie ticket. Gina Carano is great in her action scenes, but a lot less great in her dialogue scenes. It’s just tough when she’s surrounded by so many other talented actors. Makes me want to watch some Jackie Chan movies.
Girls – Pretty neat episode centered around Adam. I thought that Chris O’Dowd barely held in his Irish accent and his scary, entitled attitude was funny, but it wasn’t my favorite episode of the show.
Veep – I liked all the pressure on the staffers who were going to be fired. Selina is an interesting character and I’ve been digging the show so far, but I haven’t figured out where it’s going yet (or if that’s the point). Still, it’s been a fantastic show and I’m really happy that the show got renewed for another season. It’s great to have a sharp political satire on TV.
The Bachelorette – Two shows this week are testaments to how much I love spending time with my girlfriend. See if you can guess which two they are.
Fashion Police – Joan Rivers sure likes to make jokes about her vagina, doesn’t she?
Mad Men – Season finale! Really beautiful episode. This show is art every week and I’m sad to see it go for the season. It ended on an interesting note regarding the future of the Draper marriage and it was great to see Pete confront his own unhappiness. I thought Alexis Bledel did a fine job too. I really hope we don’t lose Peggy screentime next year because she’s at that other firm. Please bring her back next year as a regular!
Regina Spektor – “What We Saw from the Cheap Seats” just came out two weeks ago and I’ve been listening to it more and more. Spektor’s playful style doesn’t get in the way of making great music. Listen to it first to make sure you appreciate her quirkiness, but definitely buy it.
Moe Berg: Athlete, Scholar, Spy – Didn’t make a whole lot of progress on this, but it’s still interesting.
Diablo III – I’m tantalizingly close to level 60 and Inferno mode. Definitely gonna have to grind a bunch once I get there because…wow…things are already getting super tough for me and I’m only in Act II.
The Binding of Isaac – The new items seem to be overpowered, but I’m also not dominating the game every time I boot it up, so I guess it’s still The Binding of Isaac. You probably missed the super cheap price in May, but it’s still somewhere around $5, I think. No reason not to buy it, I’d say.
