Remember when this blog first started and all I did on it was post Metal Gear trailers and talk about how good Metal Gear was?

That time seems to be coming back…

This trailer looks…amazing. It’s also far better to play as Big Boss than Solid Snake. Could be an interesting game.

PS: I also dig the Garbage song that plays throughout.

It really should be a snow day today, but circumstances conspire against me… (Photo by Hobbes vs Boyle)

It’s cold and snowy and I hate it, but this should (hopefully) be winter’s last hurrah before spring and baseball season.

Movies

Silver Linings Playbook – You know? I actually enjoyed this movie a lot more on second viewing. The acting is all quite good. Definitely one you should see if you have yet to catch it.

TV

The Americans – Mole spotting and infidelity ahoy these past two episodes. Still rather intriguing. Definitely not the best show on tv, but definitely fun and worth watching.

Archer – Haven’t managed to watch the most recent episode yet, but the tower one and the coyote one were both superb. Just super funny stuff.

Girls – This year’s finale was messy and kind of rushed feeling. I like that they’re all back where they were (under different circumstances) from last year, but I also didn’t love how much it felt like a happy ending when, based on what we know about these people, it really shouldn’t be.

The Amazing Race – The Vietnam leg was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen. That pro-Socialism song is something I want in my music library, seriously. The Botswana leg was cool too. I have no idea why anyone would opt to do a task where you have to make fire with sticks. Too. Hard.

Happy Endings – Watched the kickball episode to prep Katie for kickball last week. Still super funny. Yippie Ki Yay Mother Failure!

Community – Really not enjoying the new show. :sigh:. This is like the eighth time that Jeff and Pierce have a moment. Also the show is way sappier this year.

New Girl – Do not like the Jess and Nick storyline at all. I was really hoping that she wouldn’t date any of her roommates. It’d be better if they weren’t stretching it out so much too. Oh well…

Glee – Slowly pushing through my backlog. Boring ballads between Jake and Marley are boring. Really…At least the show has a few good numbers tucked in there.

Music

PHOX – Fairly typical indie rock stuff, but that’s not all that bad.

Books

One Hundred Years of Solitude – There are these details in this book that are so random, but so perfect in conveying the magical tone of this work. It’s just absolutely brilliant and I love it. Feels like an epic tale.

Video Games

Mass Effect 2 – Cruised through my corrected Paragon playthrough to prepare for ME3 and the Citadel DLC. That game…still not as good as the others. I don’t know if it’s the way that it tries too hard to be “cool” and “mature” or something, but it gets on my nerves.

Spelunky – Played some multiplayer with Min. Good times. Look forward to the episode next week.

New Super Mario Bros. U – Min and I pushed through another world. Things are getting complicated, but we’re making our way to Bowser without playing too poorly.

Professional Baseball Spirits 2013 – The new edition is here! Can’t wait to get all the translation stuff in order and get my Carp season underway

Mass Effect 3 – Got to where you can save and exit, but really excited to get this paragon game in. I do wish my paragon Shepard was female because Hale is so much better than anything else, but I’ll make do.

The goofiest secret handshake ever (Photo courtesy: machu picchu)

I did it, guys. I finally went and watched my netflix movie. It was…decidedly less awesome than I thought it would be.

Movies

Sound of My Voice – It’s not that Sound of My Voice is a bad movie. That’s not it at all…it’s more that I was expecting something a little creepier and a little headier than what I got in this. At least it was quick.

TV

The Amazing Race – It’s a rare thing to see a leg run as poorly as John and Jessica just did. First team ever to be eliminated while holding an express pass. Just…wow. So funny.

Archer – The coyote episode was great. “Coyote” is also Spanish for coyote. I found the next episode with the hotel a little less funny mostly because the Pam sex with a sandwich joke went on a touch too long.

Community – Still not doing it for me. Not really digging the new direction.

Parks and Recreation – Man do I love how cheekily Parks is able to mock real life politics. It’s not exactly subtle, but it’s still awesome.

Justified – Kind of an off season this year, no? Definitely digging the return of Limehouse.

Glee – Finally watched the episode where they stole Jonathan Coulton’s arrangement of “Baby Got Back”. Not only did they steal it: they sucked at it too. Was way more into the “Tell Him” number, although I would have preferred it with less aggressive choreography.

The Americans – Not sure if beating the hell out of your handler is ok. What was up with the creeper hitchhiking C plot?

Music

Lotta music this week.

First off: Hiatus Kaiyote “Nakamarra”

Who doesn’t love a little blue-eyed soul? These guys seem cool, but I haven’t listened to the rest of their album.

Mashing up Chrono Trigger and Jay-Z is a great idea. 2 Mello’s effort does not disappoint:

aivi & surrashu’s piano mixed with video game music is delightful:

You may remember Eirik Suhrke from his work on Spelunky. His Ridiculous Fishing soundtrack pulls from the same influences, but has a slightly different feel. Good stuff

Books

One Hundred Years of Solitude – I still feel like I’m missing something fundamental about this book with the whole translation thing, but I’m really enjoying this. It’s a beautiful piece of literature.

Video Games

SimCity – My time with it was shorter this week, but just long enough to be swamped with criminals from David’s friends towns.

Mass Effect 2 – Trying to bring my paragon up to ME3 so that I can play the new DLC with him too. I’m recruiting the second wave of guys and doing loyalty missions now.

Spelunky – I got to the City of Gold last week when I wasn’t recording. This week I’m gonna do it on camera.

It only took a day to raise the $2M required, which is incredible/insane, but the Veronica Mars movie kickstarter has been fully funded. I loved this show. Gonna be so great!

PS: The embedded pitch video is pretty funny, you guys.

An old logo, but only the year’s changed, really. (Photo by loquat73)

The World Baseball Classic has been tremendous fun to watch. I love international play and some of the teams have been pretty passionate (like the Mexico/Canada brawl)

Movies

None! Sorry again!

TV

Archer – Season 3 just got put on to Netflix, so that’s great! I’ve been doing a lot of catching up with Katie

The Office – Caught a couple of episodees while just hanging out. Late season stuff just after Steve Carell left. Not terribly great, but still somewhat funny.

The Americans – Some of the spywork and decisions are clearly suspect, but this show is way better than it has any right to be. It’s been lots of fun watching it.

Music

Been on a real Hairspray kick of late. Here’s “Good Morning Baltimore”

Books

Tokyo Vice – Finished the book. Pretty amazing the way that Jake Adelstein was able to take down some huge yakuza types. Pretty sad the way some of it turned out. Fascinating read.

Video Games

Tomb Raider – Started a LP for this and I gotta say I’ve been enjoying it somewhat. Not too shabby, but not any better than Uncharted.

SimCity – Server and login issues aside, this game is way fun. I really enjoy how interconnected all the cities of a region are. It feels much more like the way a real city would operate.

Jetpack Joyride – Great for short bursts. If my missions didn’t get reset every time I changed a windows install it’d be even better.

Yeah, guys. I got a piñata. (Photo by DJOtaku)

Whoa, this is a little late. Whoops. Sorry guys.

Movies

Not this week.

TV

Archer – Both watching new episodes and catching up with Katie. I liked the weird homage to The Natural

Community – Really not the same show. It’s missing its soul and that kind of stinks. Hopefully they find their stride because I do like watching these actors at the very least.

New Girl – I was initially skeptical about how they’d handle Nick/Jess, but it’s made a surprisingly large amount of sense. Didn’t love the “Tinfinity” episode though.

The Amazing Race – I love this show for some perverse reason. It’s just got everything that makes reality tv awesome without a lot of the stupidity.

Music

Such a catchy song.

Books

Tokyo Vice – Things have gotten pretty real in the book. It’s no longer just fun and games.

Video Games

Fire Emblem – Min got his hands on this too and we’ve both been playing it. He’s been a lot more hardcore with his acceptance of death, but it’s been lots of fun.

Jetpack Joyride – Supper addictive. Microtransactioned to hell too, but not in such a way that makes me feel dirty for playing.