Ghost-Trick

Even the Pittsburgh Pirates played video games this year. Knock on wood, you guys, but I managed to get through 2012 without having all my video games stolen from my house while I was sleeping [EDITOR’S NOTE: It’s 2013 now, you dummy. You don’t need to knock on wood]. Should that even be an achievement? 2012 seems to be a shift in the status quo. Perhaps it’s because the new console generation hasn’t yet kicked off, but I feel like fewer and fewer AAA, big budget titles have been grabbing my attention lately. Of the 56 games on this list I feel like very few (about 12) were big, huge landmark games. Maybe that’s not all that different, but it feels different… ...

[caption id="" align=“aligncenter” width=“346” caption=“Seann William Scott is so innocently dumb in this movie, but it’s actually quite good. (Picture courtesy nxusco)”] [/caption] Guys, Goon was really good. More later, but you should check it out. This week was a real scattershot weekend as I tried to play a bunch of games I didn’t give much time to before. Movies Martha Marcy May Marlene - The cult in the movie is an interesting contrast to the fundamentalist Christian society in Higher Ground and the hippie commune of Wanderlust. This movie really ratchets up the tension of not knowing what’s real and what’s not. Ideally they would have made Patrick a scarier presence, but the movie is still on pretty solid ground with what it accomplishes. Congrats on the fantastic part, Elizabeth Olsen. Keep it up! ...

[caption id="" align=“aligncenter” width=“300” caption=“They are a group of six friends evenly split among men and women. Haven’t seen this formula before! (Photo courtesy Screened.com)”] [/caption] I’ll get into it more later, but despite it being pretty standard fare for a sitcom, Happy Endings is actually hilarious and kind of awesome. I blew through season 1 this weekend (half on Netflix, then I bought the entire season on DVD). Just catching any TV is impressive considering that I haven’t watched a second of it since Mass Effect 3 came out. Now that I’ve beaten that I had a chance to catch up on all the TV I’d missed. ...

[caption id="" align=“aligncenter” width=“500” caption=“Floating holo displays are awesome. (Photo courtesy gamesweasel)”] [/caption] Smoke alarms! They notify us about fires, but they also incessantly beep when their batteries are low. It’s tough to sleep when that happens and you don’t have 9V batteries laying around. Oh, yeah, also Mass Effect 3 came out this week and obliterated my TV watching. Movies Wanderlust - Sharing a lot of the DNA from Wet Hot American Summer, Wanderlust was appropriately strange, but also pretty darn funny. I’d put it at 3.5 or 4 stars of five. ...

I don’t think it’s possible for you all to understand how pumped I am for baseball to come back this year. It’s been a long, hard offseason, but spring training is off the ground and I’m super pumped. Movies Higher Ground - Vera Farmiga (and her sister Taissa) stars in this intelligent movie about a woman constantly seeking religion, but unable to arrive at the faith and two-way relationship she so desperately craves. It’s beautiful and slow and it’s fantastic work by Farmiga. ...

[caption id="" align=“aligncenter” width=“500” caption=“Man, nothing else on television is close to as good as this show is right now. (Photo courtesy flipittyjupe2)”] [/caption] It was a hectic, busy weekend that resulted in me becoming an uncle. So glad that the delivery was ok, but now I’m crossing my fingers for everyone to get healthy soon. Movies Almost watched one this week! Didn’t though. TV Justified - The stuff with the organ thieves was awesome. Also the scenes with Limehouse have been stellar. Tensions are running super high in Harlan County and I can’t wait to see what happens. Definitely the best action drama on air right now. ...

[caption id="" align=“aligncenter” width=“409” caption=“The journey is over. (Photo courtesy Sold Out Activist)”] [/caption] Big TV week for me. A lot of huge episodes and great acting made me a very happy viewer. Movies I was supposed to watch Hanna this weekend, but I never got around to it. TV Samurai Champloo - Turned out to be a show about transition and the end of things. About an age where Japan was forced to move forward and accept the great wave washing over it. Combining that with hip hop was a great idea. Mugen’s final battle was annoyingly unsatisfying. With Jin and Fuu at least the fight had something to do with the plot. The guys Mugen fought were not plot-relevant at all to anything that happened in the series. Also, everyone took ridiculous amounts of abuse and damage and then just lived to tell the tale? ...

[caption id="" align=“aligncenter” width=“500” caption=“26! (Photo courtesy DJOtaku)”] [/caption] Everything’s all creaky and sore and old, but just because I’m 26 and old doesn’t mean you guys don’t get to find out what I’ve been doing. Movies Drive - Finally got around to catching this movie. Min was accurate in calling it more of an art movie than an action movie. Ryan Gosling’s pure rage and “coolness” bordered on psychopathic and I actually sympathized with Albert Brooks’ villain character. This movie is not for the faint of stomach. Lots of brutal violence. Has an 80s ambiance too that’s reinforced by the synth-heavy (and awesome) chillwave soundtrack ...

[caption id="" align=“aligncenter” width=“500” caption=“Here’s a suggestion: If you’re playing Cave Story for the first time, don’t pick hard mode (Photo courtesy escaped.monkey)”] [/caption] Busy weekend with lots of media consumed. That kind of thing happens when I hang out with Min. Movies The Descendants - Shailene Woodley was a revelation as Alex in this movie. Excellent acting. George Clooney was also quite good. Pretty chill movie and worth seeing, even if the land ownership subplot is kind of tacked on and not as interesting. ...

[caption id="" align=“aligncenter” width=“300” caption=“This is a French video game for sure. (Picture courtesy Giant Bomb)”] [/caption] Movies Evangelion 1.11 - Min has never seen Evangelion all the way through, so I figured the movies would be the best/easiest way to watch them. Ip Man - I ran into this movie as a “Watch It Again” recommendation on Netflix, so I thought I’d show Min the aggressively pro-Chinese/anti-Japanese parts because I find it funny how blatantly nationalistic this movie is. Also the kung fu is pretty great to watch. ...