In a splurge of nerdiness I haven't experienced in some time, I not only watched an episode of Dexter today, but also finished watching the original Star Wars trilogy with the little lady. We had watched A New Hope some time ago, and she enjoyed it. We tried to make The Empire Strikes Back a family movie night, but our elder foster daughter checked out pretty early, and the rest of our viewing was therefore disjointed. Also, I think the little one had trouble sticking with that one - it's a much more interesting movie when you are an adult, even if it is one of the greatest movies ever made.
Our viewing of Return of the Jedi marks a return to the atmosphere we had for A New Hope - one in which the little lady was completely interested. I know she's interested when she is making way too many damn comments and asking way too many damn questions. I don't resent her doing this - she is nine, and is more interested in things than her brain has capacity to fully comprehend - but man, does it get exhausting. I just get into the movie, and bam, I'm answering twenty questions just as the lightsabers come out.
This movie has always been the one I remember the least. About ten years ago, I bought all three of the original films when they came out on DVD for the first time. I barely remembered what happened in Return of the Jedi - the other two films were much clearer in my mind and far more memorable. I did, however, watch it and enjoy it thoroughly. Some parts were moving, others clever, and overall, I felt it was a fitting conclusion, more fitting than I remember it being, which wasn't hard - as I already stated, I didn't remember much.
I have watched it probably three times since then, and each time, I think it gets worse and worse.
Don't get me wrong - I enjoy the movie. As far as movies go, it isn't bad, but it also isn't really all that good. In terms of movie-making, it doesn't have as much fun with the characters as the previous films did, relying more on spectacle than anything else. The characters feel different, and so many of them take unexpected turns in their development. The goofiness factor rises considerably and things don't seem timed very well. Overall, there are some distracting flaws.
But let's not get ahead of myself - here's the play-by-play.
The movie begins, as I always forget, with Darth Vader arriving at the new Death Star and stating that the emperor himself will soon be joining them. The emperor has appeared before - one scene in The Empire Strikes Back, if I recall correctly - but the little lady doesn't remember this. I take this time to tell our foster daughter that the emperor will show up soon. She nods and understands. I hope I have eliminated some questions for later.
We then get to spend what is always a surprising amount of time at Jabba the Hutt's palace. I have for a long time touted this whole opening sequence as among the very best (I will no longer be doing this). It's an exciting, tangled web of a plan that seems to have been concocted over some long period of time. So long, in fact, that Luke has somehow become a verifiable Jedi Knight with abilities we never saw him acquire with Yoda. It's been so long, in fact, that Lando has wormed his way into the place as a guard, right underneath Jabba the Hutt's nose.
Wait, it's been this long? Have they really been spending this much time trying to free Han Solo? Aren't they fighting the Empire? Han Solo must be pretty freaking important to the Rebellion if they are going to spend this long trying to get him free.
About a third of the movie is over before this entire sequence ends, moving on to what is effectively another movie. Han Solo is no longer blind, Boba Fett dies in a silly way (the first over-the-top goofiness of the movie, and unfortunately not the last), Luke shows that he can hack and slash his way through any crowd, and we all get to stare at Leia in her golden bikini. All this opening sequence seems to do is reintroduce us to the characters and remind us that hey, the gang is back together again and still trying to worm their way out of tight spots. The only difference now is that Luke seems to be a tad pigheaded. Overall, the first third of the movie turns out to be more or less a waste of time.
Luke goes back to Yoda to finish his training ... the training that it seems he has continued since the end of the last movie. Wait, he hasn't gone back to Yoda, and he can use Jedi mind tricks and jump around like crazy? This is where the movie first becomes problematic in terms of time. I am not ignorant enough to ignore the time problems in The Empire Strikes Back, but as a friend of mine stated to me not long ago, the movie is so good that no one really cares. Here, the movie is not nearly as good, so we care, damn it. Sloppy movie-making makes me so angry sometimes.
We then find out that Leia is Luke's sister, and moments later, when something else is going on, we realize that Leia kissed him full-on, on the mouth, in the previous movie. I have no idea what was happening in the movie at this time - I was probably thinking only kind of seriously about vomiting. I just know that this news was sprung on us so quickly, without any lead-up and barely any hints. It kind of hints at it in the previous film, when Luke is able to communicate to Leia where he is located, dangling among the clouds, but that isn't necessarily a bond - it could be Luke using his mind powers that Yoda didn't teach him. But really, that's it - they just throw it at us, and Luke happens to guess it after just thinking really hard.
This is the first time in this movie that anyone with the Force seems telepathic, or able to see things they ought not to see. Sensing other Jedi's presences seems fair - if you are sensitive to the Force, it seems natural to sense a reservoir of it coming at you from some direction, I guess. But being able to glean thoughts, or see things for which there has been zero evidence? Come on - that's just lazy storytelling. How do we get Luke to realize he has a sister? How do we get Darth Vader to realize he has more offspring? Let's just make them figure it out by reading minds or something - they have the Force, after all!
At some point, they all get captured by Ewoks. A freaking JEDI KNIGHT gets captured by Ewoks and needs to make C-3PO look like he has magic powers to escape? And up to this point, the movie makes Luke look like a freaking pro. Well, except for when he continues to whine about "not being able to do it alone." Those moments bug me, but at least that's consistent with how he has acted ALL OF THE TIME up until this movie. Here's one of the biggest cases of the lack of continuity for the characters in this film - Luke is just no the person we expect him to be. Maybe it kind of works in the case of just this movie, but when your movie exists in a series of films, you need to be more careful. More sloppiness, guys.
It's about this point, after the Ewoks accept them into their tribe and Luke heads off to be an emo mess with his emo mess dad, that I start wondering what there is to care about in this movie. The drama seems to be centered around Luke and his relationship with his sister, a relationship that we do not care about in the slightest. It seems to have been introduced as a way to get more jealousy from Han, only to have an easy way to erase that jealousy at the end of the film. Why has this relationship been introduced? Just because it was alluded to in the previous film? And will it actually be important in the end, as Yoda seems to indicate in The Empire Strikes Back? Nothing pans out here - it ends up being all about Luke and Vader working out their severely messed-up relationship in which they keep trying to kill each other for no good reason.
The next twenty minutes of the movie shifts between the Ewoks doing more than they seem capable of doing, the emperor trying to make Luke angry and Luke refusing to be angry, and Rebel ships getting devoured by the Empire. It is not interesting.
The movie does have some surprises up its sleeve, though, as a few rather poignant moments follow. The first is when Luke seems to be hiding from Vader, only to have Vader threaten to turn Leia to the Dark Side, forcing Luke to get so angry he pops out and goes completely bonkers on Vader. The music works perfectly here, and they choreographed this brief bit of fighting perfectly, watching Vader look completely outmatched for the first time ever. It's jarring when Vader loses his arm, and even more so when Luke glances down at Vader's mechanical arm and then back to his, somehow overcoming his anger as he reminds himself that he is about to kill his own father. It's a phenomenal series of events in a movie plagued by spectacle and "hey, you know these guys, so let's just be goofy" dialogue.
This all gets ruined, though, if you are watching this on Blu-Ray, because when Darth Vader saves Luke from the emperor, he shouts "Nooooooo!" as he throws the emperor down what I affectionately call the electronic pit (don't ask). God, that just ruins the scene. Come on, Lucas, really? Was this entirely necessary? No, not at all - it just sucked the humanity out of the scene, a scene that works because we don't really see it coming.
At least, I don't think I ever saw it coming when I first saw the movie. Darth Vader, up until that point, shows no sign of "having a good side," as Luke puts it. As a matter of fact, why does he do this? We are given no reason, really, and I have gone back and forth on whether I like this or not many times. I am on the opposing side right now - Darth Vader is a ruthless killing machine throughout the first two films, so this sudden shift seems like a sentimental writer wanted a happy ending. More lack of continuity from the characters, I guess.
I think that's what gets me more than anything else - these characters don't bounce off of the screen like they do before. Luke is too confident and it sucks the drama from his story. Han is too good and respectable, even if he still bumbles through surprising storm troopers. Leia acts awesome but gets none of tough-girl dialogue we have come to appreciate from the last two films. Chewbacca makes a freaking Tarzan-yell when he swings on to the Imperial walker, finally crossing the line from just goofy enough to way too goofy. The story is decent and could have been carried by the characters, but it just doesn't happen here, making Return of the Jedi more disappointing than anything else.
Anyway, the Ewoks take down the Empire despite all of the odds being against them, a space battle takes place that we care little about because the Ewoks are so damn cute and the Luke-Vader story is way more interesting, and we get the happy ending we were hoping for. There is one more poignant moment in which Luke burns Darth Vader's body, another moment I will credit to John Williams more than anyone else. He manages to churn out amazing scores for all six movies, no matter how good or bad the actual movie turns out. Kudos to you, sir. Beyond that moment, however, we don't get much. The ending is nice, and as opposed to most people, I kind of like putting Hayden Christensen in at the end of the movie, mostly because it's the best acting the man has ever done. Seriously, he smiles in a more genuine way than he ever did in episodes 2 and 3, and since he never opens his mouth, he doesn't have that acting barrier with which to contend. We still get too many Ewoks, though, which made the little lady happy, but makes me want to die a little bit.
So, why write about this now? Well, it's because of how strong this feeling gets with each repeated viewing of this movie. Sure, it has never been my favorite - The Empire Strikes Back is too good for that to ever have been the case - but my disdain for it seems to grow considerably each time I end up watching it. Do other people feel this way? Do we give this movie a free pass because of how bad the prequel trilogy was? If you can answer those, post it in the comments below, because based on what I hear from other Star Wars fans, I feel kind of alone in how critical I am of this film.
Speaking of the prequel trilogy, that's what we get to show the little lady next, so that we can take her to The Force Awakens in December. Wish us luck as we watch Anakin and Padmé make stupid conversation in Attack of the Clones and watch intense fights get interrupted by terrible dialogue in Revenge of the Sith. Thanks for the memories, Lucas. You horrible, horrible man.
Saturday, August 29, 2015
My Separation Anxiety from Nerdiness
This August has been, without a doubt, the craziest August I have ever experienced, as well as one of the craziest months I have ever experienced. Whether I was preparing for the school year (which is now in full-swing), taking care of kids (which has only gotten more exhausting, if possible, as the school year has begun), or driving the family out to Chicago for vacation (I think I came back more tired than when I left), I have been incredibly busy. I have had fun, no doubt, because I am continually thankful that I am surrounded by truly wonderful people. I have found so much of these experiences rewarding, watching the girls continue to grow and being able to share in their happiness and new experiences. I am felt pride at all of the hard work I have been putting in to so many things. There's been positive and negative, of course, but overall, it's been worth it.
I just haven't been able to be a nerd.
Despite the general positivity of my life, I still wish I had time for my video games, my movies, my TV shows and my books. I find myself looking longingly at the abandoned video game consoles that surround my TV which, of course, tends to already be in use when I walk in the room. I stare at my DVD collection, with Dexter staring back, wishing that I had more than 20 minutes to myself at any given time. I read nerdy news at io9 and Kotaku and realize they are discussing movies and shows that I said ages ago I would watch and experience but have been unable to do so. I brought a book with me on vacation - The More Than Complete Hitchhiker's Guide - and read none of it while I was away. None of it.
I had a conversation with a colleague today about the new Star Wars movie. He asked me if I had been reading any of the news coming out about it. Nope.
I looked at movie times at theaters while on vacation and found somewhere Ant-Man was still playing. I thought, "Hey, maybe my wife and I will have some time to go and see it!" Nope.
I got some major inspiration for one of the stories I had been writing, one that involves warring superheroes in an urban environment. I was driving some mindless stretch of highway between Maine and Illinois when I finally figured out where to take the story next. I thought I might have some time to work on it. Nope.
My students asked me if I had spent any time on Twitch this summer, broadcasting my video game prowess for the world to admire. Nope.
I appear to have opened up the flood gates - the bitterness has poured forth for my mass of readers (and by mass, I mean three or four, of course) to consume and bathe in. The space inside me reserved for my nerdy endeavors has been emptied of all that once filled it, cleared of all of the wonderful characters and creatures that help sustain me through many of life's difficulties. Mario's voice feels foreign, the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. haven't led me along the periphery of the Marvel Universe in months, and my hands, my glorious gaming hands, haven't felt the gentle touch of a controller for some inhuman, horrible amount of time. "How can he live?" many of you might ask. And I might respond, "I know not how I continue along my path, how I sustain myself without the love of that most tempting of mistresses, the universe of nerdiness."
I am, of course, being just a tad melodramatic. I know exactly how I have sustained myself - I have the love of my beautiful, supportive and talented wife. I have two foster daughters depending on me to help get them through what is easily going to be the hardest part of their lives. I have wonderful family and friends whose company I enjoy quite regularly. I have a job that, despite my frustrations with it at times, feels rewarding in the end. I have a lot of things going for me, and I let them keep me going. I don't "need" my nerdy interests to live - I've got the things in life that I've always wanted.
That doesn't mean I am going to tolerate a complete absence of my nerdy interests - we all need our hobbies to sustain us when other things are stressful or difficult. For that reason, I actually managed to watch an episode of Dexter this evening. Yeah, you heard that right - I watched something! I was quite pleased that I could continue on my quest to rate every episode of Dexter (although being just a little over halfway through season 2 is disheartening). So, there is hope that I can still be a nerd, even if it isn't quite to the same extent as before.
So, as I go to bed (I might be able to read a chapter before sleeping - success!), I am going to do what I have been doing to get through the busiest time in my life - I am going to think about the people and things in my life that make me happy, thank some higher power in which I do not actually believe for all of these wonderful people and things in my life, and spend some of my thoughts on the things I plan on doing when I find myself with time to burn. Those things are one of two things: either I will spend some time with my wife (always a priority), or I'll delve into my long mental list of nerdy things that help me unearth a part of me I find very valuable and reassuring. And yes, even if I am screaming at Super Mario 3D World, or grumbling about a ridiculous side story in Dexter, or trying to figure out how much it bothers me that The More Than Complete Hitchhiker's Guide doesn't really have a consistent plot-thread, I still find myself reassured that I am doing something that brings my mind back to a good place.
I just haven't been able to be a nerd.
Despite the general positivity of my life, I still wish I had time for my video games, my movies, my TV shows and my books. I find myself looking longingly at the abandoned video game consoles that surround my TV which, of course, tends to already be in use when I walk in the room. I stare at my DVD collection, with Dexter staring back, wishing that I had more than 20 minutes to myself at any given time. I read nerdy news at io9 and Kotaku and realize they are discussing movies and shows that I said ages ago I would watch and experience but have been unable to do so. I brought a book with me on vacation - The More Than Complete Hitchhiker's Guide - and read none of it while I was away. None of it.
I had a conversation with a colleague today about the new Star Wars movie. He asked me if I had been reading any of the news coming out about it. Nope.
I looked at movie times at theaters while on vacation and found somewhere Ant-Man was still playing. I thought, "Hey, maybe my wife and I will have some time to go and see it!" Nope.
I got some major inspiration for one of the stories I had been writing, one that involves warring superheroes in an urban environment. I was driving some mindless stretch of highway between Maine and Illinois when I finally figured out where to take the story next. I thought I might have some time to work on it. Nope.
My students asked me if I had spent any time on Twitch this summer, broadcasting my video game prowess for the world to admire. Nope.
I appear to have opened up the flood gates - the bitterness has poured forth for my mass of readers (and by mass, I mean three or four, of course) to consume and bathe in. The space inside me reserved for my nerdy endeavors has been emptied of all that once filled it, cleared of all of the wonderful characters and creatures that help sustain me through many of life's difficulties. Mario's voice feels foreign, the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. haven't led me along the periphery of the Marvel Universe in months, and my hands, my glorious gaming hands, haven't felt the gentle touch of a controller for some inhuman, horrible amount of time. "How can he live?" many of you might ask. And I might respond, "I know not how I continue along my path, how I sustain myself without the love of that most tempting of mistresses, the universe of nerdiness."
I am, of course, being just a tad melodramatic. I know exactly how I have sustained myself - I have the love of my beautiful, supportive and talented wife. I have two foster daughters depending on me to help get them through what is easily going to be the hardest part of their lives. I have wonderful family and friends whose company I enjoy quite regularly. I have a job that, despite my frustrations with it at times, feels rewarding in the end. I have a lot of things going for me, and I let them keep me going. I don't "need" my nerdy interests to live - I've got the things in life that I've always wanted.
That doesn't mean I am going to tolerate a complete absence of my nerdy interests - we all need our hobbies to sustain us when other things are stressful or difficult. For that reason, I actually managed to watch an episode of Dexter this evening. Yeah, you heard that right - I watched something! I was quite pleased that I could continue on my quest to rate every episode of Dexter (although being just a little over halfway through season 2 is disheartening). So, there is hope that I can still be a nerd, even if it isn't quite to the same extent as before.
So, as I go to bed (I might be able to read a chapter before sleeping - success!), I am going to do what I have been doing to get through the busiest time in my life - I am going to think about the people and things in my life that make me happy, thank some higher power in which I do not actually believe for all of these wonderful people and things in my life, and spend some of my thoughts on the things I plan on doing when I find myself with time to burn. Those things are one of two things: either I will spend some time with my wife (always a priority), or I'll delve into my long mental list of nerdy things that help me unearth a part of me I find very valuable and reassuring. And yes, even if I am screaming at Super Mario 3D World, or grumbling about a ridiculous side story in Dexter, or trying to figure out how much it bothers me that The More Than Complete Hitchhiker's Guide doesn't really have a consistent plot-thread, I still find myself reassured that I am doing something that brings my mind back to a good place.
Saturday, August 8, 2015
My Collection of Unfinished Video Games, Vol. 1
Does anyone else start games, go through huge amounts of time when you cannot play said games, and then, when you finally have time to play games, you want to play something else? I am pretty sure I am not alone here, and combined with my need to complete 100% in any game that I play (not that it happens all that often), this extensive list is something that nags at my mind quite often.
Here's a bit from My Collection of Unfinished Games:
Pikmin 2
Approximate % Complete: Probably 95%
Willingness to Return to It: Low
Trials and Tribulations: The game is a solid one, a definite upgrade over the original in terms of the amount of content. I still think the first one is the more solid game - the structure and pacing is amazing, as well as the replay factor - but this one offers a deeper experience (pun intended).
The deeper, of course, refers to the caves. The caves, man. Those things take so damn long to complete, particularly later in the game, and if you miss something near the bottom, you need to do the whole thing over again. Lucky for me, I am obsessive and over-prepared, so I always go in ready for the worst. I am a very conservative Pikmin player, doing everything in my power to avoid losing any of those little guys. Seriously, the noises they make are so sad and pathetic - I feel a twinge of sadness every time I lose one. As a result, the caves aren't usually difficult so much as they are just kind of annoying.
Thankfully, the main story is one part of the game I did complete. I got everything in it, rescuing Louie from the crazy cave monster and finding every single possible treasure out there, as well as filling up my entire creature log. "Huzzah!" I thought, when I gathered everything. "Whaaaa?" I thought, when I explored the menus and found the challenges.
Do you remember me referencing that one guy at Nintendo who has cruel and unusual ideas? That guy that simply must exist, given the existence of the final level of Super Mario 3D World and the Grandmaster Galaxy in Super Mario Galaxy 2? Yeah, some of these challenges are certainly this person's creation. Most of the challenges are innocent enough, simply giving you a bunch of Pikmin and asking you to collect everything. When you get deep into these challenges, though, you run into levels full of water in which you have no blue Pikmin, or fiery levels with no red Pikmin. Moreover, you only get the best rank if you don't let a single Pikmin die. Yes, you read that correctly - they all must live if you want 100%. It should be clear, therefore, why I do not yet have 100% in this game. It is, quite simply, stupid.
Will I ever revisit it? I find it unlikely. The game, while solid, simply gets to the point where I find myself more frustrated than appropriately challenged. If I ever find myself with endless amounts of time (oh man, that's a funny idea), I might consider it, if only because I really don't have many missions left (something like 7 or so).
Fun fact: some guy on Twitch once tried to tell me he beat the whole game, and then I asked about the challenges, and he brushed them off, saying he didn't do them and then moving on to another topic quickly. That guy has not beaten Pikmin 2. Not by a long shot.
Super Mario Sunshine
Approximate % Complete: Maybe 70%?
Willingness to Return to It: High
Trials and Tribulations: I think I've probably restarted this game about 4 times, each time with the intention of finally getting all 120 Shine Sprites. Well, that has not happened. Not yet, at least.
I like the game enough - it's a solid Mario adventure (even if my brother thinks it is a good game, but not a good Mario game) and has its fair number of challenges. It is more difficult than the previous entry in the Mario series (Super Mario 64) but not so tough that I want to throw my controller at the TV. There's variety to the challenges presented, a remarkable amount of depth, and just when you think you've discovered almost everything, it throws a bit more at you (like making you go through those FLUDD-less stages with FLUDD and collect red coins).
It's that final piece that has, perhaps, made me stop playing for large amounts of time. There is so much to discover in this game, including 30 blue coins in every level. I refuse to look up how to do things, or where things are located - I want to find it all myself. So, that makes the blue coin adventure kind of tedious. I desperately want to find them all, and on a good day, I might have the patience to find them. After I haven't had the time to revisit the game for long periods of time, though, I often find myself saying, "Hey, it's time to play something else for a while."
I'll probably get back to this game at some point in the future, when I finish something else (that's funny - me finishing something), but until then, I'll simply keep telling myself that I'l get back to it someday and finally get all of those damn blue coins. It's really a great game, so it would be worth it to get through it all just for some sort of ending screen that is different from the original ending screen.
Okay, so yes, sometimes I look things up.
Fun fact: I watch this game on Twitch fairly regularly, only to be grumpy throughout it because speed runners skip all of the fun things. I just can't be happy.
Mario Kart Wii
Approximate % Complete: Maybe 80%? Maybe 90%? Tough to call
Willingness to Return to It: Very Low
Trials and Tribulations: It seems silly to put a Mario Kart game on this list given how relatively easy it is to achieve everything in most of them. Back in the day of Mario Kart 64, it was simply enough to get gold trophies in each cup on each cc (and unlock those ghosts from the time trials, I suppose) to get 100%. Mario Kart Wii, however, has some additional criteria.
Instead of simply saying, "Hey, you won, here's a gold trophy, it doesn't really matter how you got here," Mario Kart Wii decides to give you a rank as well. Yes, I know - this is not the first Mario Kart game to do that, but it's the first Mario Kart game where I actually thought, "Hey, let's try to do this." I tried in vain for quite some time before throwing in the towel, and oddly enough, it took quite some time before I gave up on this one, even though successfully getting a rank of three stars on each grand prix is closer to impossible than completing either of the other games on this list. You see, in order to get three stars, you need to use virtually no items, avoid nearly every wall, and come in first on every race. This might work if the other racers didn't use items, but to win without using any items, particularly when you work through the higher cc's, is a nearly impossible feat. Screw Nintendo for making it essentially impossible for me to get 100% in this game.
Thankfully, in Mario Kart 8, the star system, while still annoyingly present, works out much more fairly. If you get first on all four races, you get three stars, so maybe I can get 100% on that game. Unfortunately, in games with an online portion, I don't really know what I ought to consider as 100% complete. That's for a later blog post.
Fun fact: I still do battle mode on Mario Kart Wii as opposed to Mario Kart 8 because Nintendo dropped the ball big-time and didn't create battle maps for this game. For those that haven't had the pleasure, you battle on regular racing courses in Mario Kart 8, making it impossible for me to truly put Mario Kart Wii away, despite my annoyance with it.
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That's it for today's piece of My Collection of Unfinished Video Games. In the future, we'll move into some older consoles, like the Game Boy!
Here's a bit from My Collection of Unfinished Games:
Pikmin 2
Approximate % Complete: Probably 95%
Willingness to Return to It: Low
Trials and Tribulations: The game is a solid one, a definite upgrade over the original in terms of the amount of content. I still think the first one is the more solid game - the structure and pacing is amazing, as well as the replay factor - but this one offers a deeper experience (pun intended).
The deeper, of course, refers to the caves. The caves, man. Those things take so damn long to complete, particularly later in the game, and if you miss something near the bottom, you need to do the whole thing over again. Lucky for me, I am obsessive and over-prepared, so I always go in ready for the worst. I am a very conservative Pikmin player, doing everything in my power to avoid losing any of those little guys. Seriously, the noises they make are so sad and pathetic - I feel a twinge of sadness every time I lose one. As a result, the caves aren't usually difficult so much as they are just kind of annoying.
Thankfully, the main story is one part of the game I did complete. I got everything in it, rescuing Louie from the crazy cave monster and finding every single possible treasure out there, as well as filling up my entire creature log. "Huzzah!" I thought, when I gathered everything. "Whaaaa?" I thought, when I explored the menus and found the challenges.
Do you remember me referencing that one guy at Nintendo who has cruel and unusual ideas? That guy that simply must exist, given the existence of the final level of Super Mario 3D World and the Grandmaster Galaxy in Super Mario Galaxy 2? Yeah, some of these challenges are certainly this person's creation. Most of the challenges are innocent enough, simply giving you a bunch of Pikmin and asking you to collect everything. When you get deep into these challenges, though, you run into levels full of water in which you have no blue Pikmin, or fiery levels with no red Pikmin. Moreover, you only get the best rank if you don't let a single Pikmin die. Yes, you read that correctly - they all must live if you want 100%. It should be clear, therefore, why I do not yet have 100% in this game. It is, quite simply, stupid.
Will I ever revisit it? I find it unlikely. The game, while solid, simply gets to the point where I find myself more frustrated than appropriately challenged. If I ever find myself with endless amounts of time (oh man, that's a funny idea), I might consider it, if only because I really don't have many missions left (something like 7 or so).
Fun fact: some guy on Twitch once tried to tell me he beat the whole game, and then I asked about the challenges, and he brushed them off, saying he didn't do them and then moving on to another topic quickly. That guy has not beaten Pikmin 2. Not by a long shot.
Super Mario Sunshine
Approximate % Complete: Maybe 70%?
Willingness to Return to It: High
Trials and Tribulations: I think I've probably restarted this game about 4 times, each time with the intention of finally getting all 120 Shine Sprites. Well, that has not happened. Not yet, at least.
I like the game enough - it's a solid Mario adventure (even if my brother thinks it is a good game, but not a good Mario game) and has its fair number of challenges. It is more difficult than the previous entry in the Mario series (Super Mario 64) but not so tough that I want to throw my controller at the TV. There's variety to the challenges presented, a remarkable amount of depth, and just when you think you've discovered almost everything, it throws a bit more at you (like making you go through those FLUDD-less stages with FLUDD and collect red coins).
It's that final piece that has, perhaps, made me stop playing for large amounts of time. There is so much to discover in this game, including 30 blue coins in every level. I refuse to look up how to do things, or where things are located - I want to find it all myself. So, that makes the blue coin adventure kind of tedious. I desperately want to find them all, and on a good day, I might have the patience to find them. After I haven't had the time to revisit the game for long periods of time, though, I often find myself saying, "Hey, it's time to play something else for a while."
I'll probably get back to this game at some point in the future, when I finish something else (that's funny - me finishing something), but until then, I'll simply keep telling myself that I'l get back to it someday and finally get all of those damn blue coins. It's really a great game, so it would be worth it to get through it all just for some sort of ending screen that is different from the original ending screen.
Okay, so yes, sometimes I look things up.
Fun fact: I watch this game on Twitch fairly regularly, only to be grumpy throughout it because speed runners skip all of the fun things. I just can't be happy.
Mario Kart Wii
Approximate % Complete: Maybe 80%? Maybe 90%? Tough to call
Willingness to Return to It: Very Low
Trials and Tribulations: It seems silly to put a Mario Kart game on this list given how relatively easy it is to achieve everything in most of them. Back in the day of Mario Kart 64, it was simply enough to get gold trophies in each cup on each cc (and unlock those ghosts from the time trials, I suppose) to get 100%. Mario Kart Wii, however, has some additional criteria.
Instead of simply saying, "Hey, you won, here's a gold trophy, it doesn't really matter how you got here," Mario Kart Wii decides to give you a rank as well. Yes, I know - this is not the first Mario Kart game to do that, but it's the first Mario Kart game where I actually thought, "Hey, let's try to do this." I tried in vain for quite some time before throwing in the towel, and oddly enough, it took quite some time before I gave up on this one, even though successfully getting a rank of three stars on each grand prix is closer to impossible than completing either of the other games on this list. You see, in order to get three stars, you need to use virtually no items, avoid nearly every wall, and come in first on every race. This might work if the other racers didn't use items, but to win without using any items, particularly when you work through the higher cc's, is a nearly impossible feat. Screw Nintendo for making it essentially impossible for me to get 100% in this game.
Thankfully, in Mario Kart 8, the star system, while still annoyingly present, works out much more fairly. If you get first on all four races, you get three stars, so maybe I can get 100% on that game. Unfortunately, in games with an online portion, I don't really know what I ought to consider as 100% complete. That's for a later blog post.
Fun fact: I still do battle mode on Mario Kart Wii as opposed to Mario Kart 8 because Nintendo dropped the ball big-time and didn't create battle maps for this game. For those that haven't had the pleasure, you battle on regular racing courses in Mario Kart 8, making it impossible for me to truly put Mario Kart Wii away, despite my annoyance with it.
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That's it for today's piece of My Collection of Unfinished Video Games. In the future, we'll move into some older consoles, like the Game Boy!
Thursday, August 6, 2015
How Online Gaming Ruined Gaming
Online gaming, in theory, is a great idea. I like that people from all over the world can compete and see who will reign supreme. I like the idea of a ladder system for those that are serious about the game. I also love the idea of being able to play with my friends that are sometimes hundreds of miles away. Umberto MacJay and I used to play games for hours in college, but now that our adult lives have pulled us apart (what a cruel, cruel world), we need online gaming to continue to be nerds together. Overall, I think online gaming isn't inherently a bad thing, so the title of this post is, perhaps, a bit melodramatic.
It would be an understatement to say that online gaming has changed the gaming landscape. Much like improved visuals in a game have changed the general gaming audience since we got much more realistic visuals in the late 90's, online gaming has brought in a wide variety of gamers from different backgrounds, some of whom might not have been interested in gaming back in the 80's or early 90's. Several gamers I have spoken to aren't crazy about the classic Mario games, which are exactly the games that sucked me into gaming, never to let me escape again (although really, saying Super Mario World, the first game that really sucked me in, is "classic Mario" is probably heresy to some gamers). There is something about this ability to play against real people that draws gamers in, the chance to up the challenge as long as there is another experienced player out there with whom to compete. I don't blame people for wanting that opportunity - I have known plenty of gamers for whom the computer players in a video game are much too easy to defeat. Some people need that extra challenge, that extra kick.
But not everyone, which brings me to my beef with online gaming.
I am a gamer, but don't exactly have tons of time at my disposal that I can devote to gaming. As a result, I end up playing a single game maybe 5 or 6 hours out of a month, an amount of time that does not lend itself to becoming particularly skilled at that game. Take Starcraft 2, for example, the game that Umberto and I play together online when we get the chance (which is maybe once a week). I am serviceable against the computer players in the campaign mode ... on normal difficulty. I can beat the computer in a custom game if they are at hard difficulty, but not reliably. Because of this, I would probably get destroyed playing online - at least, when the original Starcraft came out, that's what happened. Even playing with someone that the game determines is right on level with me (because yes, in an effort to rope in people like me, most games have at least made an attempt to make sure people of similar skill level get matched up to play each other) is not often reliable - I do not have the time to devote to a game in order to gain the type of skill needed to adapt to the behaviors of human players.
So B. T. (you might say), why do you care about playing online? Why not just play offline and not worry about anything else? I can do that, as I do regularly, but the truth is that the gaming market is no longer made for people like me. It isn't designed to serve people that are simply looking for a fun game, a fun challenge, to play in my spare time. Most popular games, as I see it lately, are geared towards one of two audiences: the online audience (League of Legends, World of Warcraft, Starcraft 2, etc.) and those that are looking for realistic visuals and/or a story (the Uncharted series, the more recent Final Fantasy installments, The Last of Us). Sure, those two things overlap sometimes (such as in Halo games, Destiny), but overall, that is what gets people going. Me? Give me a game that gives me a fun experience, whether that experience is alone or with my friends.
When I mention gaming with my friends, mind you, I mean gaming with my friends in the same room. You know, so that I can actually see them and hear them and interact with them. The fact that I am in an increasingly shrinking minority on how I enjoy games with my friends continues to amaze and appall me. So many of my greatest memories of gaming with friends centers around all of us hanging out in my living room (or in my friend's basement, way back in the day) playing games together. Whether we were all experienced gamers or not, we had a blast, which, as far as I am concerned, is what gaming is all about. That doesn't mean I am not interested in games with good stories, or the occasional realistic-looking game, or even those games that have some significant online portions (I am pretty good at Mario Kart 8 when playing online, perhaps the only game ever where that has occurred). There are so many games that are more than just fun that I consider excellent games (most Legend of Zelda games come to mind, as well as the Metroid Prime series), but overall, when I think of what makes a game memorable, it is the fun-factor, and my ability to play it with the people I love.
And this, more than anything, brings me to why I think the popularity of online gaming has ruined much of what makes gaming so enjoyable. I could probably write a post (and still might, at some point) about why this need for ultra-realistic graphics has ruined gaming so much, but it hasn't done nearly the damage the need for online gaming has done. Now that online gaming is so popular, unless a game has a significant amount of online content, too few people want it, and we get fewer and fewer games that don't rely on some sort of online aspect. I think that's the primary reason that Nintendo is not doing as well as it once was - it caters to people like me that enjoy unique, interactive gaming experiences. I love Nintendo games, and I cannot think of a truly bad title that they have made in recent memory without thinking really hard about it. All I get are wonderful memories of Super Smash Bros., Mario Golf, Mario Party, Wii Party, Mario Kart and Perfect Dark, all played with my friends for hours and hours on end. I feel like gaming was once a party-thing, even as recently as a few years ago when the last Rock Band came out. Now, however, that people who sit and play games alone in a room are the core of the gaming market, fewer and fewer companies are making the types of games that were once the reason people would get together and hang out.
Now I sound like I am whining, and I probably am. You can rest assured, however, that I am not about to go on about the "good-old days" and talk about how everything was better in the past - most things were not better in the past. Civil rights in our country has come a long way, as has medical technology and procedures and a number of other important things, so never will I talk about how much better it was to live back when I was young. I will, however, talk about how gaming was once something more than what it is slowly turning into. As games become more artful, they are becoming less imaginative. As games are embracing the technology of this century, they are becoming less and less a way of bringing people together, in the same place, to enjoy each other's company. I am happy that Nintendo doesn't place much importance on online gaming - they are concerned, first and foremost, with the quality and fun-factor of the game. I like that - it makes me feel like someone, somewhere, actually cares about my busy lifestyle and the type of gaming that I get to enjoy in my limited time.
As I have pointed out in previous posts, I know I am in the minority here. I know that my voice alone is not going to change the trend here, that Nintendo is probably, within the next few decades, going to stop making video game consoles (although they will probably dominate the handheld market for years to come). I know that the market has spoken and online gaming is far more popular than what I find entertaining. I will, despite all of this, continue to complain in the vain hope that someone out there will agree, at least partially, with what this need for online gaming has done to the gaming market. I just hope that someone (probably Nintendo) will keep making games that I can enjoy casually on my own and with my friends, so I can continue to get from a game what you should always get from a game: pure enjoyment.
It would be an understatement to say that online gaming has changed the gaming landscape. Much like improved visuals in a game have changed the general gaming audience since we got much more realistic visuals in the late 90's, online gaming has brought in a wide variety of gamers from different backgrounds, some of whom might not have been interested in gaming back in the 80's or early 90's. Several gamers I have spoken to aren't crazy about the classic Mario games, which are exactly the games that sucked me into gaming, never to let me escape again (although really, saying Super Mario World, the first game that really sucked me in, is "classic Mario" is probably heresy to some gamers). There is something about this ability to play against real people that draws gamers in, the chance to up the challenge as long as there is another experienced player out there with whom to compete. I don't blame people for wanting that opportunity - I have known plenty of gamers for whom the computer players in a video game are much too easy to defeat. Some people need that extra challenge, that extra kick.
But not everyone, which brings me to my beef with online gaming.
I am a gamer, but don't exactly have tons of time at my disposal that I can devote to gaming. As a result, I end up playing a single game maybe 5 or 6 hours out of a month, an amount of time that does not lend itself to becoming particularly skilled at that game. Take Starcraft 2, for example, the game that Umberto and I play together online when we get the chance (which is maybe once a week). I am serviceable against the computer players in the campaign mode ... on normal difficulty. I can beat the computer in a custom game if they are at hard difficulty, but not reliably. Because of this, I would probably get destroyed playing online - at least, when the original Starcraft came out, that's what happened. Even playing with someone that the game determines is right on level with me (because yes, in an effort to rope in people like me, most games have at least made an attempt to make sure people of similar skill level get matched up to play each other) is not often reliable - I do not have the time to devote to a game in order to gain the type of skill needed to adapt to the behaviors of human players.
So B. T. (you might say), why do you care about playing online? Why not just play offline and not worry about anything else? I can do that, as I do regularly, but the truth is that the gaming market is no longer made for people like me. It isn't designed to serve people that are simply looking for a fun game, a fun challenge, to play in my spare time. Most popular games, as I see it lately, are geared towards one of two audiences: the online audience (League of Legends, World of Warcraft, Starcraft 2, etc.) and those that are looking for realistic visuals and/or a story (the Uncharted series, the more recent Final Fantasy installments, The Last of Us). Sure, those two things overlap sometimes (such as in Halo games, Destiny), but overall, that is what gets people going. Me? Give me a game that gives me a fun experience, whether that experience is alone or with my friends.
When I mention gaming with my friends, mind you, I mean gaming with my friends in the same room. You know, so that I can actually see them and hear them and interact with them. The fact that I am in an increasingly shrinking minority on how I enjoy games with my friends continues to amaze and appall me. So many of my greatest memories of gaming with friends centers around all of us hanging out in my living room (or in my friend's basement, way back in the day) playing games together. Whether we were all experienced gamers or not, we had a blast, which, as far as I am concerned, is what gaming is all about. That doesn't mean I am not interested in games with good stories, or the occasional realistic-looking game, or even those games that have some significant online portions (I am pretty good at Mario Kart 8 when playing online, perhaps the only game ever where that has occurred). There are so many games that are more than just fun that I consider excellent games (most Legend of Zelda games come to mind, as well as the Metroid Prime series), but overall, when I think of what makes a game memorable, it is the fun-factor, and my ability to play it with the people I love.
And this, more than anything, brings me to why I think the popularity of online gaming has ruined much of what makes gaming so enjoyable. I could probably write a post (and still might, at some point) about why this need for ultra-realistic graphics has ruined gaming so much, but it hasn't done nearly the damage the need for online gaming has done. Now that online gaming is so popular, unless a game has a significant amount of online content, too few people want it, and we get fewer and fewer games that don't rely on some sort of online aspect. I think that's the primary reason that Nintendo is not doing as well as it once was - it caters to people like me that enjoy unique, interactive gaming experiences. I love Nintendo games, and I cannot think of a truly bad title that they have made in recent memory without thinking really hard about it. All I get are wonderful memories of Super Smash Bros., Mario Golf, Mario Party, Wii Party, Mario Kart and Perfect Dark, all played with my friends for hours and hours on end. I feel like gaming was once a party-thing, even as recently as a few years ago when the last Rock Band came out. Now, however, that people who sit and play games alone in a room are the core of the gaming market, fewer and fewer companies are making the types of games that were once the reason people would get together and hang out.
Now I sound like I am whining, and I probably am. You can rest assured, however, that I am not about to go on about the "good-old days" and talk about how everything was better in the past - most things were not better in the past. Civil rights in our country has come a long way, as has medical technology and procedures and a number of other important things, so never will I talk about how much better it was to live back when I was young. I will, however, talk about how gaming was once something more than what it is slowly turning into. As games become more artful, they are becoming less imaginative. As games are embracing the technology of this century, they are becoming less and less a way of bringing people together, in the same place, to enjoy each other's company. I am happy that Nintendo doesn't place much importance on online gaming - they are concerned, first and foremost, with the quality and fun-factor of the game. I like that - it makes me feel like someone, somewhere, actually cares about my busy lifestyle and the type of gaming that I get to enjoy in my limited time.
As I have pointed out in previous posts, I know I am in the minority here. I know that my voice alone is not going to change the trend here, that Nintendo is probably, within the next few decades, going to stop making video game consoles (although they will probably dominate the handheld market for years to come). I know that the market has spoken and online gaming is far more popular than what I find entertaining. I will, despite all of this, continue to complain in the vain hope that someone out there will agree, at least partially, with what this need for online gaming has done to the gaming market. I just hope that someone (probably Nintendo) will keep making games that I can enjoy casually on my own and with my friends, so I can continue to get from a game what you should always get from a game: pure enjoyment.
Sunday, August 2, 2015
7 Reasons to Visit North of the Wall National Park RIGHT NOW
1.
It's Actually Three Parks.
Sure, there's Haunted Forest
National Park, but don't forget Frostfang and Always Winter
National Parks! Everyone loves picnicking, canoeing, and camping in The Haunted
Forest, but, for the more adventurous, the Frostfangs offer hiking,
mountain-climbing, and alpine skiing. Or you can get away from it all in The
Lands of Always Winter, the perfect place to chill out for a little "me time."
2.
The Oldest Forest Service in Westeros
 |
| Stop having so much fun you guys! Go patrol that forest. |
They've been doing this for
8000 years, and you can bet they're good at it! Friendly, knowledgeable park
rangers are always around to point you in the right direction. Remember to
check in at Castle Black to pick up maps and brochures, as well as a
complimentary dragonglass spearhead. The Watch offers other services at its
premier facility, including raven rentals,
guided tours, stargazing instructions, and archery lessons with Ser
Alliser Thorne (a real knight!).
3.
About that Wall...
It may have been built to
keep out wildlings, but now it just keeps in all the fun! Plus, you can ride to the top by winch-elevator, and gaze out over a primordial
wilderness, letting the cold and the terror creep into
your bones as you feel the weight of your mortality. Hah - We're just joshing
you! Take a family-friendly donkey ride over to Queensgate, or simply enjoy the
view from the top of the world. It's up to you, and that's what North of the
Wall National Park is all about.
4.
Good Places, Good People
 |
| "Rattleshirt," everyone's favorite method actor and tour guide! |
North of the Wall isn't
just for hikers, campers, and outdoor fun-lovers. It's also a world-class resort
featuring five star accommodations at Hardhome and Craster's Keep. Every
location is staffed by professional reenactors to keep guests comfortable and
entertained. Not a bad place to be snowed in with a special someone, or to yuk
it up with a band of "wildlings." Or if it's a party you're after,
head down to Mole's Town, the "Las Vegas of the North."
5.
Foodies and Chowhounds Welcome
If you think it's all barley
stew and boiled mutton, think again! The stewards at Castle Black run a high
class establishment, complete with crab and lobster from the Bay of Seals, and
fresh game-meat nightly. The cooks have fed clientele, lowborn and highborn,
from all over the seven kingdoms. They've even catered to Kings. Just ask
Stannis Baratheon how they hosted him and three thousand of his closest
friends!
6.
A Pristine Wildlife Habitat
It's more than grumpkins
and snarks, folks. The farther you get from the wall, the richer the fauna.
Safari tours start daily from Castle Black. Just hop on a horse, and you'll see
everything from hoary rams to majestic shadowcats. Plus, your inner squatcher
can keep an eye out for the children of the forest.
 |
| You know nothing of fun...if you haven't been North of the Wall! |
7.
Winter Is Coming...
...But it's not here yet!
North of the Wall National Park closes annually for the winter, just in case the
forces of darkness creep south to cast the world into endless shadow (lol).
But seriously, there's no place like Eastwatch-by-the-sea to cool off during a
hot summer. Escape that Dornish sun and bring the whole family up North for
the wilderness-adventure of a lifetime!
This
featured article has been brought to you by OTHERS LLC.
Saturday, August 1, 2015
Nerdy Month in Review: July 2015
On the first of every month, I will recap my nerdy endeavors over the course of the previous month.
July was a hectic month from a non-nerdy standpoint, helping our little lady get through having her tonsils out and adjusting to another foster child in the house. We've also had some pesky visitors in the form of lice and mice, so I have been busy and will continue to be busy. Here is what I did manage to get in, though:
TV
The Little Lady and I have been working through Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. As of today, we have gotten about 10 episodes into season 2. We've witnessed the Avengers tackle Loki and his invasion of Asgard, the Kree, and right now, the Skrull invasion. The cartoon is epic, far more than the movies ever will be, so for anyone that wants to get into the Marvel universe, this is an excellent place to start (others might suggest the comics, naturally, but if you are like me and comics aren't your thing, then check out the cartoon). I wish they worked harder to get more female superheroes into the mix - we've recently been introduced to Ms. Marvel, a strong female superhero, and Wasp has been there since the beginning, but she fits too many ditzy female stereotypes to really count as a solid female superhero. The comic relief is consistently good, and the series does a good job of recalling intertwining storylines that began at the beginning of the series. Despite the complexity of the storylines, The Little Lady has had no problems getting what's going on until recently, when she got thoroughly confused on who was a Skrull and who was not.
In other TV nerdiness, Umberto MacJay and I are attempting to watch every season of Dexter and rank each and every episode. We spent one glorious afternoon discussing our rating mechanisms and how we are going to rank each episode and present it to all of you wonderful readers. The entire list will probably be available on this blog sometime in the Fall, but don't hold us too closely to that - this is a significant undertaking, and I myself am only about halfway through season 2. I have seen every season except for the final season, which fans were not crazy about, but I am going to withhold judgement until I see it for myself.
Video Games
Where to begin here? I have been playing a wide variety of games over the course of the month, mainly because whenever I finally get time to sit down and play one, it's been so long since I have actually played anything. As a result, I've done mostly gaming without any semblance of a story - Super Mario 3D World, Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. I already wrote at length about Super Mario 3D World and will spare you anymore details here (no, I have not yet beaten that STUPID OBNOXIOUS RIDICULOUS final level). Mario Kart 8 continues to be a challenge with the addition of 200cc, a ridiculously fast romp through the levels that forces you to change your entire racing strategy. It's like playing a brand new game after being so accustomed to 150cc and the Mirror tracks. I am still missing a 3-star, gold trophy on one of the Mirror tracks, and got 2 stars on one of them (I HATE not getting 3 stars - I usually quit as soon as I don't get first in a race as a result). But, I have enjoyed trying 200cc and silently cursing Nintendo for forcing me to change the strategy that I used over the course of an entire 8-game series.
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U is out and about again in my house because I purchased all of the DLC. Ryu has been a fun addition, and I have enjoyed whipping out all of my old Street Fighter moves when I use him (although really, I usually fall back on using the B button to use all of the special moves to ensure my victory). I wish they had added more locations in the new DLC - I miss the stages in Brawl and Melee so much, the newer versions haven't quite lived up to those - but overall, the game is still a blast to play in a living room full of people.
I spent a lot of the beginning of the month playing The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds. It's easily one of the strongest entries in the Zelda franchise, and perhaps, at the moment at least, is my favorite of the overhead, 2D Zelda titles (not that it is really 2D, with its gorgeous 3D visuals). I am super glad they ditched the requirement of using the touch screen to control Link. I never finished Phantom Hourglass as a result - my hand would get cramped up eventually, and I always ended up doing things I didn't want to do eventually, because of the odd controls. A Link Between Worlds, while I am not even halfway through, has proven to be a phenomenally deep game. I just hope I have more time over the next month to play it.
The Little Lady has taken over LEGO Marvel Superheroes, although I got pretty far before she decided she was going to play it all of the time. Again, I wrote at length about this earlier, so I will spare the details now, but the depth of the game continues to amaze me. I could wander around LEGO New York City for HOURS and still not find everything, and that's a good thing. The Little Lady has also taken over Animal Crossing: New Leaf, and thankfully, she is no longer leaving all of her stuff lying around town. As the mayor of Koholint, my town in Animal Crossing, I want my village looking immaculately clean. She probably wouldn't have cleaned up the town except I pointed out that, if you go to the Mayor's Office, my secretary points out how absolutely annoyed all of the villagers are about it. Thanks, Nintendo, for making a game that encourages me to obsessively organize things - that almost makes up for changing my Mario Kart strategy.
Movies
Nothing much going on here. We have been having The Little Lady watch the original Star Wars trilogy, and yes, we'll probably show her the prequel trilogy because it is, after all, canon. Then we can take her to see the new one, whether she's still living with us or not. I continue to love how interested she is in virtually everything - it was so easy to get her into Star Wars and keep her interested. She still asks me sometimes why Obi-Wan didn't tell Luke the truth about Darth Vader. She seems very annoyed about that.
We went and saw Inside-Out and both my wife and I bawled while the girls were simply non-plussed by (spoiler alert) the realization that yes, some important memories can be sad and our emotions get more complicated as we enter our teenage years. Pixar's slogan should be "let us entertain your kids while you bawl your eyes out." That damn Lava short-movie didn't help - I honestly thought they would give us a sad ending to that volcano's tale for a few seconds, and thought, "Geez, Pixar, I thought you wouldn't stoop this low after the first ten minutes of Up." Don't worry, guys - it's Pixar, it ends happily, although you still might cry.
Books
After finishing Stephen King's It, I read the not-so-nerdy Faithful, the story about the 2004 Boston Red Sox in which Stephen King was a co-writer. The Red Sox are my one truly non-nerdy interest, although I needed to read Faithful to remind myself that I am still a Red Sox fan after such a horrible season up until now.
It is a good book if you think about it like a short story collection, but overall, it's a mess of missed opportunities and silly storytelling shortcuts, all in an effort to force out some sort of epic story even though there really isn't any need for it. Characters like Henry Bowers (a truly amazing King villain) and Beverly's father (King knows exactly how to take abusive, horrible people and make them somehow more disgusting) are far more terrifying than It, and the backstories and the little vignettes King tells are often far more fascinating than the main story. I want to like this book, but it's such a mess that I have to consider it one of the worst King outings I've read, probably the first one I have read that disappointed me (I haven't even come close to reading them all, and if it matters, my favorites so far are The Stand, The Shining and The Dead Zone).
I am now reading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, something I am told I should have read long ago. As a nerd, it's probably criminal that I haven't read it yet, and so far, I am pretty impressed. Some of the comedy within it feels twinged with arrogance on the part of the author, a sort of "oh wow, look at how clever I am" sort of feeling, but enough of it is quite entertaining that I am continuing to read it each night before going to sleep. It's part of an anthology with three other books by Adams, so I'll probably read those too.
Coming Up in August...
My wife and I will see Ant-Man at some point, and I am sure I will just throw all of my wonderful feelings about the Marvel cinematic universe down in a blog entry at some point afterwards. I will continue to read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as well, hopefully getting through it by the end of the month, and I want desperately to work harder on The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, in the hopes that I can write a Game Profile about it. More Dexter is on tap as well, perhaps allowing me to write an entry about how well it humanizes such a dark character, and adds darkness to characters that are otherwise good. I have also been thinking a lot about online gaming and what it has done to the social aspect of gaming. I have an opinion that is probably in the minority of opinions on online gaming, but hey, I'm going to throw it out there anyway.
July was a hectic month from a non-nerdy standpoint, helping our little lady get through having her tonsils out and adjusting to another foster child in the house. We've also had some pesky visitors in the form of lice and mice, so I have been busy and will continue to be busy. Here is what I did manage to get in, though:
TV
The Little Lady and I have been working through Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. As of today, we have gotten about 10 episodes into season 2. We've witnessed the Avengers tackle Loki and his invasion of Asgard, the Kree, and right now, the Skrull invasion. The cartoon is epic, far more than the movies ever will be, so for anyone that wants to get into the Marvel universe, this is an excellent place to start (others might suggest the comics, naturally, but if you are like me and comics aren't your thing, then check out the cartoon). I wish they worked harder to get more female superheroes into the mix - we've recently been introduced to Ms. Marvel, a strong female superhero, and Wasp has been there since the beginning, but she fits too many ditzy female stereotypes to really count as a solid female superhero. The comic relief is consistently good, and the series does a good job of recalling intertwining storylines that began at the beginning of the series. Despite the complexity of the storylines, The Little Lady has had no problems getting what's going on until recently, when she got thoroughly confused on who was a Skrull and who was not.
In other TV nerdiness, Umberto MacJay and I are attempting to watch every season of Dexter and rank each and every episode. We spent one glorious afternoon discussing our rating mechanisms and how we are going to rank each episode and present it to all of you wonderful readers. The entire list will probably be available on this blog sometime in the Fall, but don't hold us too closely to that - this is a significant undertaking, and I myself am only about halfway through season 2. I have seen every season except for the final season, which fans were not crazy about, but I am going to withhold judgement until I see it for myself.
Video Games
Where to begin here? I have been playing a wide variety of games over the course of the month, mainly because whenever I finally get time to sit down and play one, it's been so long since I have actually played anything. As a result, I've done mostly gaming without any semblance of a story - Super Mario 3D World, Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. I already wrote at length about Super Mario 3D World and will spare you anymore details here (no, I have not yet beaten that STUPID OBNOXIOUS RIDICULOUS final level). Mario Kart 8 continues to be a challenge with the addition of 200cc, a ridiculously fast romp through the levels that forces you to change your entire racing strategy. It's like playing a brand new game after being so accustomed to 150cc and the Mirror tracks. I am still missing a 3-star, gold trophy on one of the Mirror tracks, and got 2 stars on one of them (I HATE not getting 3 stars - I usually quit as soon as I don't get first in a race as a result). But, I have enjoyed trying 200cc and silently cursing Nintendo for forcing me to change the strategy that I used over the course of an entire 8-game series.
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U is out and about again in my house because I purchased all of the DLC. Ryu has been a fun addition, and I have enjoyed whipping out all of my old Street Fighter moves when I use him (although really, I usually fall back on using the B button to use all of the special moves to ensure my victory). I wish they had added more locations in the new DLC - I miss the stages in Brawl and Melee so much, the newer versions haven't quite lived up to those - but overall, the game is still a blast to play in a living room full of people.
I spent a lot of the beginning of the month playing The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds. It's easily one of the strongest entries in the Zelda franchise, and perhaps, at the moment at least, is my favorite of the overhead, 2D Zelda titles (not that it is really 2D, with its gorgeous 3D visuals). I am super glad they ditched the requirement of using the touch screen to control Link. I never finished Phantom Hourglass as a result - my hand would get cramped up eventually, and I always ended up doing things I didn't want to do eventually, because of the odd controls. A Link Between Worlds, while I am not even halfway through, has proven to be a phenomenally deep game. I just hope I have more time over the next month to play it.
The Little Lady has taken over LEGO Marvel Superheroes, although I got pretty far before she decided she was going to play it all of the time. Again, I wrote at length about this earlier, so I will spare the details now, but the depth of the game continues to amaze me. I could wander around LEGO New York City for HOURS and still not find everything, and that's a good thing. The Little Lady has also taken over Animal Crossing: New Leaf, and thankfully, she is no longer leaving all of her stuff lying around town. As the mayor of Koholint, my town in Animal Crossing, I want my village looking immaculately clean. She probably wouldn't have cleaned up the town except I pointed out that, if you go to the Mayor's Office, my secretary points out how absolutely annoyed all of the villagers are about it. Thanks, Nintendo, for making a game that encourages me to obsessively organize things - that almost makes up for changing my Mario Kart strategy.
Movies
Nothing much going on here. We have been having The Little Lady watch the original Star Wars trilogy, and yes, we'll probably show her the prequel trilogy because it is, after all, canon. Then we can take her to see the new one, whether she's still living with us or not. I continue to love how interested she is in virtually everything - it was so easy to get her into Star Wars and keep her interested. She still asks me sometimes why Obi-Wan didn't tell Luke the truth about Darth Vader. She seems very annoyed about that.
We went and saw Inside-Out and both my wife and I bawled while the girls were simply non-plussed by (spoiler alert) the realization that yes, some important memories can be sad and our emotions get more complicated as we enter our teenage years. Pixar's slogan should be "let us entertain your kids while you bawl your eyes out." That damn Lava short-movie didn't help - I honestly thought they would give us a sad ending to that volcano's tale for a few seconds, and thought, "Geez, Pixar, I thought you wouldn't stoop this low after the first ten minutes of Up." Don't worry, guys - it's Pixar, it ends happily, although you still might cry.
Books
After finishing Stephen King's It, I read the not-so-nerdy Faithful, the story about the 2004 Boston Red Sox in which Stephen King was a co-writer. The Red Sox are my one truly non-nerdy interest, although I needed to read Faithful to remind myself that I am still a Red Sox fan after such a horrible season up until now.
It is a good book if you think about it like a short story collection, but overall, it's a mess of missed opportunities and silly storytelling shortcuts, all in an effort to force out some sort of epic story even though there really isn't any need for it. Characters like Henry Bowers (a truly amazing King villain) and Beverly's father (King knows exactly how to take abusive, horrible people and make them somehow more disgusting) are far more terrifying than It, and the backstories and the little vignettes King tells are often far more fascinating than the main story. I want to like this book, but it's such a mess that I have to consider it one of the worst King outings I've read, probably the first one I have read that disappointed me (I haven't even come close to reading them all, and if it matters, my favorites so far are The Stand, The Shining and The Dead Zone).
I am now reading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, something I am told I should have read long ago. As a nerd, it's probably criminal that I haven't read it yet, and so far, I am pretty impressed. Some of the comedy within it feels twinged with arrogance on the part of the author, a sort of "oh wow, look at how clever I am" sort of feeling, but enough of it is quite entertaining that I am continuing to read it each night before going to sleep. It's part of an anthology with three other books by Adams, so I'll probably read those too.
Coming Up in August...
My wife and I will see Ant-Man at some point, and I am sure I will just throw all of my wonderful feelings about the Marvel cinematic universe down in a blog entry at some point afterwards. I will continue to read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as well, hopefully getting through it by the end of the month, and I want desperately to work harder on The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, in the hopes that I can write a Game Profile about it. More Dexter is on tap as well, perhaps allowing me to write an entry about how well it humanizes such a dark character, and adds darkness to characters that are otherwise good. I have also been thinking a lot about online gaming and what it has done to the social aspect of gaming. I have an opinion that is probably in the minority of opinions on online gaming, but hey, I'm going to throw it out there anyway.
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