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Back from Seattle!
One long, but very fun jetlag-filled week has come to an end and it’s time to summarize my pop culture consumption (hint: it’s not that much).
Movies
Negative.
TV
The Newsroom – There was a moment in this week’s episode where Olivia Munn’s character was led to an office by the wrist by a man that I thought they were going to let pass without comment. It was still gross and terrible, but at least they said something. Also the Jim on the Romney bus storyline is just the worst, guys. Seriously. This show is really self-righteous and not very good at all.
Music
I listened to pop all weekend. Just nonstop. I guess we can all listen to “Get Lucky” by Daft Punk here.
Books
The Extra 2%: How Wall Street Strategies Took a Major League Baseabll Team From Worst to First – the funniest thing about the last chapter is how wrong Jonah Keri was about the Red Sox in 2010 and 2011 despite acquiring Crawford and Gonzalez. Not a bad read, but the real issue I had with it is that it has almost zero substance to it. Sure, it says a lot of things about how the team did this and that, but I guess I was expecting something a little more research paper-y where it would, you know, show exactly what changed and how with qualitative proof. Still not too bad.
Video Games
SMT IV – One of the better JRPGs I’ve played in recent years. Still brutally hard and still fun.
Animal Crossing: New Leaf – New resident: Dierdre. I guessed that she would be a deer and I was right.
Evoland – A long joke/gimmick so far. I’m still somewhat digging it, but it’s not as deep as it could be (or I’d like it to be).
Thomas Was Alone – The most charming game about geometric shapes you’ll ever play. Clever, but ultimately not all that challenging.
The Limited Edition (read: first printing) comes with so much cool stuff! (Photo by SwatWolf)
SMT IV is pretty good, you guys. It’s hard as hell, but it’s funny about it.
Not this week.
The Bridge – I’m really tired of the “woman with mental disorder” (or man) trope in tv right now. I’d be more interested in Sonya if she wasn’t on the spectrum. Marco is way more interesting to me.
The Newsroom – Nope. Aaron Sorkin is still not for me. Between all the mansplaining and the self-righteous lectures I can only tolerate this show, even thought it has sharp, sometimes funny writing in lots of places.
Sherlock – Watched “A Study in Pink” with Katie. So much fun. I think she was really into it too since she didn’t fall asleep like she thought she would.
Archer – Watched the train episode again. It’s funny, but I still think “Skytanic” is way better.
How about “Adios” by Natalia Clavier
Not this week, but probably next.
Animal Crossing: New Leaf – Beau beat me in the bug-off. WTF! Also added a second floor to my house. No big deal, guys. Took a bath on turnips this week too…
Donkey Kong ’94 – Still loads of fun.
Shin Megami Tensei IV – I wish I had more time to play this (probably this week), but it’s just as hard as you’ve heard. I was getting dominated in the first dungeon until I realized that I could flee the dungeon and heal as I level grind. Tough, but awesome.
Giant mechs and giant monsters. I’m all in. (Photo courtesy Domenico)
You know how the saying goes, right? When the cat’s away, go see a kaiju homage movie. It was silly stupid fun and it was awesome.
Tokyo Godfathers – Min and I were looking for something to watch during dinner and I finally convinced him to check out Satoshi Kon’s fairy tale/holiday story. I love how happy this movie is and ends. Very few mind games for a Satoshi Kon flick too.
Pacific Rim – Giant robots, somewhat hammy acting, and great special effects make Dan a happy man. Go into it with your expectations properly in place and you’ll dig it too.
Mad Men – Peggy’s phone conversation with the pastor is pretty awesome/hilarious. Really the only episode of the latest season I’ve seen was the premiere, but it was fantastic and I’m excited for the rest of the season that’s just hanging out on my dvr. Just gotta find the time.
I don’t really have anything for you today. Maybe next week?
Donkey Kong ’94 – The Game Boy remake/sequel to the arcade game is so awesome I knew I had to get it from Club Nintendo. Seriously one of the best games I’ve ever played and I’m loving getting through it again.
Animal Crossing: New Leaf – I bought so many turnips…I hope I get a good price.
Professional Baseball Spirits 2013 – My Hiroshima Carp are having a surprisingly solid April. The bottom third of the lineup is an out magnet, but I’ll hopefully be able to shore it up with free agents or a trade.
The Last of Us – I thought I was in the last section of the game, but it appears that another few hours are left. Almost there…
I recently had an argument with someone about water draining from a tub/toilet. The scale’s too small. Enjoy the video and the learning that comes with it.
It’s my first time experiencing a Shakespearian comedy (Picture courtesy Pinay New Yorker)
Sure, it’s not like watching live theater for real or anything, but this was my first tie experiencing one of Shakespeare’s comedies (not counting liberal adaptations like 10 Things I Hate About You) and I absolutely loved it. More below.
This is the End – I wish I could say that I had more fun watching this movie, but it just wasn’t all that funny. Then there’s the fact that I’ll be forever embarrassed by jumping and shouting “AH!” during a jump scare.
Much Ado About Nothing – The proto-romantic comedy. I was almost deceived by how similar to modern rom-coms this adaptation was. Whedon filmed a straight dialogue adaptation of the play and I was shocked by how funny and sharp it was. Not being familiar with Shakespearian comedies also upped the tension for me since I didn’t know what was going to happen once the conflict between Claudio and Hero was introduced.
Homeland – Pretty much watched the entire second season with Katie as she caught up on the exciteent and tension of one of the dumbest, but more entertaining shows on tv. Good times, but less fun the second time around.
Paul Dateh’s violin cover of Kanye West’s “New Slaves” is pretty baller.
The Extra 2%: How Wall Street Strategies Took a Major League Baseball Team from Worst to First – It was fun to learn the history of Tampa Bay’s many attempts to get a baseball team in the area. Too bad they don’t hit the ballpark with as much fervor
The Last of Us – Nearly done. There’s a gameplay twist that I don’t want to spoil that made things a lot harder. It’s an interesting way to circumvent the increasing power issue of Naughty Dog games without adding blue guys.
Animal Crossing: New Leaf – I mostly play every day to get Nintendo gear, but this game still captures my interest. I just wish I had more free time on a given day.
This has nothing to do with what I did this past couple of weeks, but I love this tea. Actually, I did drink a lot of it over the past few weeks…
Whoa, whoops! I forgot to get this up on time! I forgot to even post this yesterday! Been too busy, but we’re back now!
Brick – I’ve seen the movie before, but I figured I’d watch it as I fell asleep last Saturday. Made it through about half while conscious, but drifted off soon after. It definitely feels like a freshman effort. Hard to believe that Looper is only Rian Johnson’s third film.
Pitch Perfect – Love this movie. It’s so ridiculous, but I dig the music. It was on to fall asleep this past Saturday, but I couldn’t stop watching it to snooze.
Psych – Katie and I were looking for something to just watch one night and we ended up catching the Clue homage and the radio murder one. The show’s a little silly and not very good, but it’s enjoyable enough tv.
Veep – The show’s not as biting or funny to me in its sophomore year, but we’re also not quite done with it. We’ll see how everything manages to come together in the end.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer – Finally managed to push through the Incan mummy episode. It was…not good. Now I can finally move on!
Two songs. The first is a summer jam: “Collard Greens” by Schoolboy Q feat. Kendrick Lamar. Good times.
Numero dos is “Man” by Neko Case. Another great track.
The Extra 2%: How Wall Street Strategies Took a Major League Baseball Team from Worst to First – Jonah Keri’s profile on the Tampa Bay Rays has been interesting so far, but I’ve still got a ways to go. It was weird how the forward was written by Mark Cuban, considering that he’s, you know, a billionaire and his team is run with plenty of cash.
Animal Crossing: New Leaf – My town is doing rather well. We’ve got two new bridges and a new nightclub. Tons of fun!
The Last of Us – Pretty much down to the home stretch of sorts for this game. It’s been brutal and sometimes not very fun, but I’ve really been enjoying how well it tells a story.
Rayman Legends – The challenges remain fun, but I’m ready for the full game to finally come out
Mega Man X – Picked it up on VC because of Nintendo credit Eric gave me. It’s still a solid game, but I end up missing the maneuverability of Zero in his GBA games.
Professional Yakyu Spirits 2013 – Finally got my Carp season underway. I’m doing really well, but the AI is still adjusting to my skill. Can’t wait to get more games in. This version has way better animations than 2012. There was this one diving play at short that had a sweet semi-shovel to second. Very cool stuff.
Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box – Game…COMPLETE! Finished off the story. Pretty silly and somewhat dumb, but enjoyable enough.
