Everyone’s favorite, most important book.

Not a lot of new stuff going on this week. I kind of hung out, made LP footage, and hung out with Katie at ballgames. Good week.

Movies

For Richer or Poorer – Katie and Kara chose to watch this 1997 Tim Allen and Kirstie Alley. It’s as terrible as you’d think it is.

TV

Orange is the New Black – Finished the season. This show was super good. Well worth checking out on Netflix. Well realized, well acted. Very good show. Can’t wait for the next season.

The Bridge – Still don’t really care for the Sonya Cross character. Ah well. Still interesting.

Veep – Season 2 ended on a much higher note. Still funny. Wondering where it’s gonna go next year. Feels weird for such success in an Iannucci show.

Music

“Pobre Corazon” by Esteman! It’s a little ska-y, but good.

Books

World War Z – A classic. Not much more to say. Just a great read.

Video Games

Civilization V – The Mesa games are both progressing. I founded a Pantheon in one. Gotta keep the faith points growing so I can found a religion.

Spelunky – Had my best run ever end on a stupid mistake. So mad about that.

Counterstrike: Global Offensive – A seriously fun game. Had a lot of fun, but I haven’t had any of the new gun drops yet.

Rogue Legacy – First boss is dead and I’m enjoying pushing through the forest. Lots of fun and I like the magic spells a bunch.

SMT IV – Didn’t make a whole lot of progress here and I’m a little lost, but I’m still making good progress. Feels old school because of how not directed it is.

Sims 3 – Katie made a family and I kind of played/helped. Not much more than that.

I spend every day horrified at the knowledge that this book exists.

Whoa, whoops! I’m late again!

Movies

Nope!

TV

Breaking Bad – The cold war between Walter and Skyler is tough to watch. I haven’t had much time to really progress, but I’m intrigued by the way this season is gonna end.

Orange is the New Black – This show remains really awesome. Just excellent acting and stories. Worth checking out.

Music

“Young Fathers” by Typhoon. It’s pretty cool

Books

World War Z – Still pretty good.

Video Games

Civilization V – Our Civ games are moving along rather nicely. I wish Eric had Brave New World too because the game we’re playing with him doesn’t have the fun tourism stuff.

Spelunky – Daily Challenges have reinvigorated my love for this game. I live to beat Lee’s score each day.

Rogue Legacy – Still haven’t beaten the first boss, but I’ve unlocked a lot of neat classes. Gotta upgrade some more, I think.

Animal Crossing: New Leaf – Lost a lot of steam on this game when they stopped selling Nintendo items to sell fireworks.

Pikmin 3 – Found Louie. I really want to see where this game goes. It’s so much fun.

Shin Megami Tensei IV – I wish I had more time to just sit down and play JRPGs. Hopefully I can make some progress and start moving toward the Law, Chaos, or Neutral paths.

This picture is from an old Otakon, but the cosplayers were out in full force this weekend yet again.

With Katie away for the weekend I took full advantage of my video game availability. Like, super full advantage.

Movies

Elysium – Katie didn’t really want to see this one, so Min and I went to see it solo. Her impressions from the trailer were right (and I should have realized that good blockbusters don’t come out in August). It’s just overloaded with “purpose”, but without the requisite seriousness. The movie is just not good enough for the gravity it’s seeking to have. Not enough robot explosions either. Can’t win them all, I guess. Should have watched Pacific Rim again instead

TV

The Newsroom – A patronizingly simplistic episode about “Africa” (as if it were a country and not a continent) may mean I won’t have to watch this show any more. Phew…

Childrens Hospital – And just like that they handwave away the death of “Blake Downs”/”Cutter Spindell”. Hilariously done. I like that they’re in Japan now instead of Brazil, which is where their hospital definitely was.

NTSF:SD:SUV:: – Adding Karen Gillan to the show seems to have been an awesome choice. Other reviewers don’t agree with me, but her character’s hilarious sociopathy is…well…hilarious.

Breaking Bad – Just in time to miss the half-season premiere, I started watching the preceding half-season. Walt is terrifying, yo.

Futurama – Boy is this show’s brand of humor mild compared to modern animation. Good enough to fall asleep to, I guess.

Music

Not feeling it this week

Books

Didn’t happen this week

Video Games

Shin Megami Tensei IV – The Tokyo map is a little confusing to manage, but it’s also kind of par for the course for SMT games. The plot continues to deepen, but very slowly.

Animal Crossing: New Leaf – I missed another fireworks festival!

Pikmin 3 – Almost didn’t get this one, but I’m so glad I did. Everything about it is so charming and fun. The localized writing is top notch and the game mechanics are a real joy to experience.

Spelunky – Daily challenges, man. That mode is great. Now that Lee’s got the game too I have someone to score attack against as well. Loving it on PC.

The Last of Us – Beat it. Saw the controversial ending. In the end I think the writing was top notch. About on par with a B+ movie. The mechanics were a little repetitive and not as fun as they could have been. Plus, will someone please let me stop moving ladders and transporting Ellie on pallets?

Rogue Legacy – Controls floatier and less precise/tight than I would have guessed, but addictive and fun. Every time I lose a guy I want to just barrel right back in. I only hate it when I don’t have enough money to actually buy any upgrades.

Papers, Please – Exploring the mundanity of bureaucracy one day at a time. It’s actually a very neat game that’s worth checking out. Got one of the twelve endings. It wasn’t a good one.

Cart Life – Couldn’t get into it within like 15 mins because it started me at 4AM and I couldn’t remember where I was supposed to go for a permit.

Analogue: A Hate Story – Finished the *Hyun-ae ending. Another well-written Christine Love joint.

Donkey Kong 94 – Just a few levels here and there.

EDIT: FORGOT TO ADD…

Dead Space 3 – Dave and I finally beat this guy. Tune in like a year from now to see us complain about all the game’s failings during the ending credits, haha.

Civilization V – Started a multiplayer game with the brothers. Let’s see if we actually finish it.

The awesome cast of Orange is the New Black (Photo by missmegsblogcontent)

Lots of talk on the internets about how Orange is the New Black was a fantastic show not worth missing. After checking it out, I’ve got to say everyone’s really right.

Movies

Nope, but probably this week!

TV

The Bridge – Demian Bichir is doing fine, fine work on this show, but the serial killer stuff seems fairly fantastical and he’s almost omnipotent in his power.

Orange is the New Black – Netflix seems to have finally found its killer show. Extremely high quality and an intriguing watch. Definitely check it out.

Music

I’m not sure I actually like Regina Spektor’s new(ish) single (too much rock, not enough piano), but it’s worth hearing

Books

Not this week.

Video Games

Shin Megami Tensei IV – Got a bunch more time in this weekend while rendering episodes for my channel. Getting better. The battles are, without a doubt, rather tough, and the story’s gotten intriguing as I’ve left the first area. Not sure if it’ll continue to be awesome, but we’ll see.

EarthBound – Finally booted up Shigesato Itoi’s SNES epic to play the intro while Min watched this weekend and it still totally holds up. Just super sharp dialogue and an endearing level of charm.

Rayman Legends – Super quick challenge levels this week. Min and I need to unlock Awesomeness lvl 2.

Spelunky – Played the XBLA version one last time before I signed off forever thanks to the release of the PC version. Didn’t get past the jungle due to some dumb play. It’s really easy to fall out of practice with Spelunky.

Animal Crossing: New Leaf – I really thought I’d be able to bring fruit home with me from the dream suite. Kind of lame that you can’t.

The Last of Us – They try and pretend all the time that you can pick how you want to approach encounters. Stealth or fighting, etc. It sounds good in theory, but instead they have all these required confrontations. The latest one involved two bloaters, two clickers, and two runners and it was just a pain. Kind of disappointing…

Pikmin 3 – These games are so charming and SO fun. I love Pikmin games. Clever writing/localization and a fun combat mechanic makes for the first real reason to turn on my Wii U in a long time.