rinnia: (assassin)
This is awesome. My biggest problem at the moment is deciding what game I should play: Bioshock, No More Heroes: Heroes' Paradise, or Brutal Legend. I could also go for more endings on Catherine, or do a fourth playthrough of Persona 4. Or a sixth playthrough of FFVIII. Or a... fifteenth playthrough of Symphony of the Night. Decisions, decisions.

I'm focusing on the games because after Thanksgiving my best friend from high school is coming to town and I'm both nervous and excited. Honestly, I'm equal parts horrified for her to see who I am now and psyched that I get to see her again. Video games are so much easier to think about.

Unless they're Killer7. That game is bananas.
rinnia: (assassin)
This is awesome. My biggest problem at the moment is deciding what game I should play: Bioshock, No More Heroes: Heroes' Paradise, or Brutal Legend. I could also go for more endings on Catherine, or do a fourth playthrough of Persona 4. Or a sixth playthrough of FFVIII. Or a... fifteenth playthrough of Symphony of the Night. Decisions, decisions.

I'm focusing on the games because after Thanksgiving my best friend from high school is coming to town and I'm both nervous and excited. Honestly, I'm equal parts horrified for her to see who I am now and psyched that I get to see her again. Video games are so much easier to think about.

Unless they're Killer7. That game is bananas.
rinnia: (this is my badass hat)
Is it bad that, instead of finishing my overdue and 75% finished [livejournal.com profile] kurt_disney fic or working on my [livejournal.com profile] originalbigbang, I want to start a Puck/Kurt fic that's mostly about them playing video games?
rinnia: (this is my badass hat)
Is it bad that, instead of finishing my overdue and 75% finished [livejournal.com profile] kurt_disney fic or working on my [livejournal.com profile] originalbigbang, I want to start a Puck/Kurt fic that's mostly about them playing video games?
rinnia: (omgYAY)
2010 Fandom Meme
Three favourite movies:
    - Moon - We watched it at the Alexican sleepover and I was spellbound.
    - Memento - After the disappointment of Inception (it was a great heist movie, but not what I was expecting), Jaime and I set out to watch all the mindfuck movies we could get our hands on. This is my personal favorite of them so far. As a side note, Black Swan was also excellent.
    - Jackass 3D - JACK. ASS. 3D. Need I say more?
Three favourite tv-shows:
    - Dexter - My god, we were addicted and watched four seasons in like a month.
    - Modern Family - This one's a recent discovery, but an astonishingly awesome one.
    - Mad Men - On the serious side, the interpersonal relationships are well done and really compelling, and the ads themselves are neat to see. On the shallow side, boozin' and smokin' and wimminin' with the boys!
... Why no video game category, [livejournal.com profile] memeseveriwhere? Let's just throw that in here.
Three favourite video games:
    - Final Fantasy XIII - I don't care what anyone says, it's incredibly fun and has a great cast.
    - Heavy Rain - It's unique and nail-biting and managed to keep me guessing.
    - Professor Layton - Loved Layton, loved Luke, loved the puzzles... except for the fucking princess block ones AUGH.
Three favourite characters:
    - my boy Kurt from Glee - Okay, so I'm more than a touch fond of him. He's pretty much the only reason I keep watching.
    - Hope from FFXIII - He's my PS3 theme - favorite character in battle and out.
    - Deb from Dexter - She's my swearspiration. I kind of want to be her.
Three favourite ships:
    - Kris/Adam from American Idol - My first RPF ship. I regret nothing; the fic is amazing.
    - Puck/Kurt from Glee - I just. Yes. Please.
    - Deb/Quinn from Dexter - I didn't like Quinn until this season, but I've always kind of wanted them to hook up. The pay off has been fantastic. I didn't expect real emotions out of them, but my god am I loving it.
Three favourite non-romantic pairs:
    - Lightning and Hope from FFXIII - I hear it's a popular ship, but I just can't see it that way. I do, however, love the odd Big Sis/Little Bro dynamic they develop and how they both help each other heal. It's sweet.
    - Kurt and Burt from Glee - Best dad ever. In a show full of cliches, their interactions come off as very real.
    - Dexter and Cody from Dexter - Dexter and Deb would be the most obvious choice, but that scene with Dexter telling Cody to stick by his sister (you know the one) broke. My. Heart. Not even joking; I cried.
Three favourite books:
Um, so I don't think I even read three books this year. I mostly consumed science literature and, in my free time, fanfic.
Three favourite album or song:
    - Panic Switch by Silversun Pickups - I think I described this before as being the inside of my brain. The pills have lessened that a bit, but it's still mostly true, and the song is still completely awesome.
    - For Your Entertainment by Adam Lambert - Sexy. Yus.
    - I'll Believe in Anything by Wolf Parade - The song that got me into what is now one of my favorite bands. It stands on its own pretty well, too.
Three favourite fanvids:
I'm not a big fanvid person. Um. Why don't I combine this with the book category from above and give three fanfic recs instead?
    - If It Kills Me by [livejournal.com profile] buffyx - Kris/Adam - It starts out mostly not AU, but then veers when SPOILER: there's a plane crash and the two have to survive on an island. It's harsh and kind of gutting at times, but it's worth it.
    - The Best Lines are Online by [livejournal.com profile] aggybird - Puck/Kurt - Porny chatlog fic, and yet it's IC. And good.
    - Or Be Drowned in Blissful Confusion at [livejournal.com profile] orbedrowned - Kris/Adam - As a rule, I avoid WIPs; also, I think we all know what sort of reputation high school AUs have. Somehow, though, this fic manages to be one of the greatest things I've ever read. It's the very definition of slow and sweet.
Three favourite lj communities:
    - [livejournal.com profile] gleestyle - I cannot begin to express how much they've fueled my desire for fashion.
    - [livejournal.com profile] puckurt - Feeding my newest pairing obsession. Yaaaaay.
    - [livejournal.com profile] geekcrafts - I'd been wishing for a place like this for months. Thanks for leading me to this one, LJ Spotlight!
First Fandom of the year:
    - Mmm, probably Dexter, unless we're counting the rollover love for Persona 4.
Your best new fandom discovery of the year:
    - Drama: Dexter, Comedy: Modern Family, Game: FFXIII, Fic: Glee
Your biggest fandom disappointment of the year:
    - Second season of Glee? Glee canon overall? It's gotta be Glee-related.
Your biggest squee moments of the year:
    - Quinn and Deb hooking up. Plus, Quinn became awesome. Wasn't expecting that.
    - Every thing about Jackass 3D. The mere existence of a third Jackass movie makes the world a better place.
    - Beating the Gigantuar in FFXIII. YYYYYEAH!
Fandom that you never expected to get into:
    - Glee. I'm still having issues believing I'm into it.
Last fandom of the year:
    - Modern Family, I suppose, though I'm not planning on getting into "the fandom" for it. I just love the show. Last one I got into that I'm following the fandom for is Glee.
Overall fandoms of the year:
    - Persona 4. Yes, still.
    - American Idol
    - Glee
... I think I need to find loldeeper fandoms next year.
Your main fandom of the year:
    - Hm... for the sheer volume of fanworks viewed, probably Persona 4.
The most missed of your old fandoms:
    - I wish HomestarRunner.com was more active. Those Strong Bad games were badass.
The fandom you haven't tried yet, but want to?:
    - Final Fantasy XIII, kiiiiind of. In theory, I'd be all about it, but Squenix fandoms have a history of letting me down, so I'm a bit scared to dip my toe in.
Complete seasons of tv-shows:
    - Oh god, all of Dexter. All of Glee. All of Modern Family. All of Mad Men. We have a tendency to marathon things. Plus, I kept up with Project Runway (until the last episode) and RuPaul's Drag Race.
Your biggest fan anticipations for the New Year?:
    - I've got my fingers crossed we'll get Catherine in the US and I'm pretty psyched about Mass Effect 2 for PS3. This is the year I'm going to master shooters, you guys. Bioshock and ME2, here I come.
rinnia: (omgYAY)
2010 Fandom Meme
Three favourite movies:
    - Moon - We watched it at the Alexican sleepover and I was spellbound.
    - Memento - After the disappointment of Inception (it was a great heist movie, but not what I was expecting), Jaime and I set out to watch all the mindfuck movies we could get our hands on. This is my personal favorite of them so far. As a side note, Black Swan was also excellent.
    - Jackass 3D - JACK. ASS. 3D. Need I say more?
Three favourite tv-shows:
    - Dexter - My god, we were addicted and watched four seasons in like a month.
    - Modern Family - This one's a recent discovery, but an astonishingly awesome one.
    - Mad Men - On the serious side, the interpersonal relationships are well done and really compelling, and the ads themselves are neat to see. On the shallow side, boozin' and smokin' and wimminin' with the boys!
... Why no video game category, [livejournal.com profile] memeseveriwhere? Let's just throw that in here.
Three favourite video games:
    - Final Fantasy XIII - I don't care what anyone says, it's incredibly fun and has a great cast.
    - Heavy Rain - It's unique and nail-biting and managed to keep me guessing.
    - Professor Layton - Loved Layton, loved Luke, loved the puzzles... except for the fucking princess block ones AUGH.
Three favourite characters:
    - my boy Kurt from Glee - Okay, so I'm more than a touch fond of him. He's pretty much the only reason I keep watching.
    - Hope from FFXIII - He's my PS3 theme - favorite character in battle and out.
    - Deb from Dexter - She's my swearspiration. I kind of want to be her.
Three favourite ships:
    - Kris/Adam from American Idol - My first RPF ship. I regret nothing; the fic is amazing.
    - Puck/Kurt from Glee - I just. Yes. Please.
    - Deb/Quinn from Dexter - I didn't like Quinn until this season, but I've always kind of wanted them to hook up. The pay off has been fantastic. I didn't expect real emotions out of them, but my god am I loving it.
Three favourite non-romantic pairs:
    - Lightning and Hope from FFXIII - I hear it's a popular ship, but I just can't see it that way. I do, however, love the odd Big Sis/Little Bro dynamic they develop and how they both help each other heal. It's sweet.
    - Kurt and Burt from Glee - Best dad ever. In a show full of cliches, their interactions come off as very real.
    - Dexter and Cody from Dexter - Dexter and Deb would be the most obvious choice, but that scene with Dexter telling Cody to stick by his sister (you know the one) broke. My. Heart. Not even joking; I cried.
Three favourite books:
Um, so I don't think I even read three books this year. I mostly consumed science literature and, in my free time, fanfic.
Three favourite album or song:
    - Panic Switch by Silversun Pickups - I think I described this before as being the inside of my brain. The pills have lessened that a bit, but it's still mostly true, and the song is still completely awesome.
    - For Your Entertainment by Adam Lambert - Sexy. Yus.
    - I'll Believe in Anything by Wolf Parade - The song that got me into what is now one of my favorite bands. It stands on its own pretty well, too.
Three favourite fanvids:
I'm not a big fanvid person. Um. Why don't I combine this with the book category from above and give three fanfic recs instead?
    - If It Kills Me by [livejournal.com profile] buffyx - Kris/Adam - It starts out mostly not AU, but then veers when SPOILER: there's a plane crash and the two have to survive on an island. It's harsh and kind of gutting at times, but it's worth it.
    - The Best Lines are Online by [livejournal.com profile] aggybird - Puck/Kurt - Porny chatlog fic, and yet it's IC. And good.
    - Or Be Drowned in Blissful Confusion at [livejournal.com profile] orbedrowned - Kris/Adam - As a rule, I avoid WIPs; also, I think we all know what sort of reputation high school AUs have. Somehow, though, this fic manages to be one of the greatest things I've ever read. It's the very definition of slow and sweet.
Three favourite lj communities:
    - [livejournal.com profile] gleestyle - I cannot begin to express how much they've fueled my desire for fashion.
    - [livejournal.com profile] puckurt - Feeding my newest pairing obsession. Yaaaaay.
    - [livejournal.com profile] geekcrafts - I'd been wishing for a place like this for months. Thanks for leading me to this one, LJ Spotlight!
First Fandom of the year:
    - Mmm, probably Dexter, unless we're counting the rollover love for Persona 4.
Your best new fandom discovery of the year:
    - Drama: Dexter, Comedy: Modern Family, Game: FFXIII, Fic: Glee
Your biggest fandom disappointment of the year:
    - Second season of Glee? Glee canon overall? It's gotta be Glee-related.
Your biggest squee moments of the year:
    - Quinn and Deb hooking up. Plus, Quinn became awesome. Wasn't expecting that.
    - Every thing about Jackass 3D. The mere existence of a third Jackass movie makes the world a better place.
    - Beating the Gigantuar in FFXIII. YYYYYEAH!
Fandom that you never expected to get into:
    - Glee. I'm still having issues believing I'm into it.
Last fandom of the year:
    - Modern Family, I suppose, though I'm not planning on getting into "the fandom" for it. I just love the show. Last one I got into that I'm following the fandom for is Glee.
Overall fandoms of the year:
    - Persona 4. Yes, still.
    - American Idol
    - Glee
... I think I need to find loldeeper fandoms next year.
Your main fandom of the year:
    - Hm... for the sheer volume of fanworks viewed, probably Persona 4.
The most missed of your old fandoms:
    - I wish HomestarRunner.com was more active. Those Strong Bad games were badass.
The fandom you haven't tried yet, but want to?:
    - Final Fantasy XIII, kiiiiind of. In theory, I'd be all about it, but Squenix fandoms have a history of letting me down, so I'm a bit scared to dip my toe in.
Complete seasons of tv-shows:
    - Oh god, all of Dexter. All of Glee. All of Modern Family. All of Mad Men. We have a tendency to marathon things. Plus, I kept up with Project Runway (until the last episode) and RuPaul's Drag Race.
Your biggest fan anticipations for the New Year?:
    - I've got my fingers crossed we'll get Catherine in the US and I'm pretty psyched about Mass Effect 2 for PS3. This is the year I'm going to master shooters, you guys. Bioshock and ME2, here I come.
rinnia: (brilliant)
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There have been quite a few good games this year - FFXIII (though that was 2009 in Japan), Heavy Rain, No More Heroes 2, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Kirby's Epic Yarn... but there's one game that stands triumphantly above the rest.



Boom. Done. No room for argument. Best game of the year.
rinnia: (brilliant)
[Error: unknown template qotd]
There have been quite a few good games this year - FFXIII (though that was 2009 in Japan), Heavy Rain, No More Heroes 2, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Kirby's Epic Yarn... but there's one game that stands triumphantly above the rest.



Boom. Done. No room for argument. Best game of the year.
rinnia: (darkness)
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I think it crosses the line when you start neglecting personal hygiene so you can keep playing. Oh, and... 18 hours. I know, I know.

By the way, for Christmas, Glee got me my favorite thing: disappointment!
rinnia: (darkness)
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I think it crosses the line when you start neglecting personal hygiene so you can keep playing. Oh, and... 18 hours. I know, I know.

By the way, for Christmas, Glee got me my favorite thing: disappointment!
rinnia: (gellin')
For Halloween trick-or-treating, [livejournal.com profile] anglepoiselamp gave me: "How about posting a picspam about all your favourite videogame critters? By which I mean anything non-human, I guess." About ten minutes into my list-making, I realized how difficult it was to find good pictures of some of these guys, so instead I hit up youtube for some fun footage. Hope a vidspam will suffice.

And here we go! )

That's all, folks! I'm sure as soon as I hit post I'll realize I forgot something, but for now, I'm just gonna go to bed and hope to sleep off the remnants of the virus I've been fighting for almost two weeks now. Blah.
rinnia: (gellin')
For Halloween trick-or-treating, [livejournal.com profile] anglepoiselamp gave me: "How about posting a picspam about all your favourite videogame critters? By which I mean anything non-human, I guess." About ten minutes into my list-making, I realized how difficult it was to find good pictures of some of these guys, so instead I hit up youtube for some fun footage. Hope a vidspam will suffice.

And here we go! )

That's all, folks! I'm sure as soon as I hit post I'll realize I forgot something, but for now, I'm just gonna go to bed and hope to sleep off the remnants of the virus I've been fighting for almost two weeks now. Blah.
rinnia: (twit)
I can't believe I haven't posted a link to this yet - go play this game. Right now. Best. Game. Ever.

... Closely followed by Plants Vs. Zombies. Yes.

I think I need this shirt. And this bag. And my old Lisa Frank jewelry. And my own personal rainbow.
rinnia: (twit)
I can't believe I haven't posted a link to this yet - go play this game. Right now. Best. Game. Ever.

... Closely followed by Plants Vs. Zombies. Yes.

I think I need this shirt. And this bag. And my old Lisa Frank jewelry. And my own personal rainbow.

Outrage!

Feb. 12th, 2010 11:10 am
rinnia: (glare)
Jaime's in limbo for scans, and we all know what that means. Time for me to ruminate on the latest installments of things I like and why they suck now!

... Okay, that's a bit harsh. Not all of them suck now.

Anyway, Smashing Pumpkins! This whole "reunion" is kind of bullshit no matter what, and Zeitgeist isn't anywhere near as good as the original stuff (this coming from a girl who thinks "Adore" is their best CD, no less). I have to say, though, that the American Gothic EP was a pleasant surprise. It's good. It's really good. The Rose March in particular is epic, but the whole thing is 17 packed minutes of great music. That combined with Song for a Son really got my hopes up. I was skeptical about this whole Teargarden idea, but... yeah... the first track is excellent. Like, on par with some of their older stuff for me. Then came Widow Wake My Mind.

Ugh. Back to Earth. It's not that it's a bad song, because it's not. It's just that it's... not... good. Specifically, the song structure is too repetitive, the vocals are just annoying, and the drumming, while proficient, is boring. Jimmy's gone, and even if I hadn't known that beforehand, I would've been able to tell. It's that dull. I'm sure the new kid is a fantastic drummer on his own, and he's no slouch within the Pumpkins (if you can even still call the band that when it's more like "Billy Corgan and the Ego Trips"), but there's no there there. It's like he's stymied by his own accomplishment - like being recruited into the band has robbed him of the balls to insert any personality into his drumming. He drums rhythms, and that's about it. Of course, this is only one song. It's highly possible that the next one will blow everything out of the water, and my faith will be restored. I'm not counting on it, but it's a possibility. We'll see.

On the plus side, Rock Band and SP forums lead to Jaime's and my discovery of Silversun Pickups a while ago, and I'm obsessed. Now that is some fantastic music. All of it's good, but I'd especially recommend the acoustic set that's floating around. Rusted Wheel acoustic is fucking amazing.

Mighty Boosh! It's hard to be my favorite show - there's a lot of love, but a lot of expectations. The Future Sailors tour did not live up. Much like with Widow Wake My Mind above, it's not that it's bad. I liked it a lot when I first saw it, actually. It's that it's so much less than it should be; it's so far below par that it's, well, not funny. Rewatching it, I noticed just how little of a story there is. Compare that to the first show, where there were plenty of humorous asides and fake theater mishaps, but they almost all occurred within the framework of the plot. Future Sailors, on the other hand, only has a plot for half of the second act. That's it. That's the best part of the show, actually. Vince is still too mean to Howard for my tastes, but at least it's funny. Before Sunflash shows up, it's downright hilarious. Sunflash is also pretty funny, for that matter. I can approve of his addition. What I'm more bothered by is how the first act pretty much consists of milking laughs from the audience based purely on character recognition.

I hate it when entertainment becomes self-aware. It's like when the Project Runway designers applauded Tim Gunn saying "Make it work!" at the start of... the fifth season, I think. Jaime and I winced. The charm is in observing characters you love doing the things they do, not in said characters feeding you what you want to see with a wink and a nudge. Yes, Tony Harrison always declared things an outrage, but it was never a non-sequitur exclamation. When he's saying it because he knows it'll make you laugh, it's not funny anymore. Bob Fossil teaching the audience dance moves was amusing, but was it amusing because he was teaching the audience or because we were watching him dance? How much funnier could it have been if there'd been a reason he was dancing outside of "because that's what Fossil does"? This is where creativity comes in. I know they're capable of crafting amusing plots - the series and the previous live show prove it. This iteration was just lazy, and frankly? I expected better. I'm a little concerned that, based on the lack of activity and the lack of creativity when active lately, the Boosh is dead. I hope I'm wrong. I don't think I am, but I hope.

No More Heroes! First off, NMH2 does not suck. It's not the incredible-improvement-in-virtually-every-aspect sequel that many media outlets seem to think it is, but it is a fantastic game. No lj-cut - I'm going to keep this mostly spoiler-free.

The first big difference you notice is the graphics. Stylistically, they're close to the previous game, but they're both more detailed and cleaner. The palette in this game is breath-taking - lots of deep, heavy tones without feeling too shadowy or muddy. The battle graphics in particular are just about perfect. When fighting, the enemies get thrown around and slashed with glowing streaks in alarmingly pleasant ways. It's a violent visual feast. No complaints there. The cast is pretty strong, too. A lot of familiar faces show up, including a couple that really caught me off guard and a couple others that are playable, and the new assassins as a whole are just as appealing and uniquely psychotic as their predecessors. My only real complaint about the cast is that I would've liked to have seen a couple of them reappear at multiple points in the game instead of the standalone instances they showed up. Not a big problem, really. Just a nitpick.

Nah, the big problem is actually the thing that all the reviewers seem to love - the lack of an overworld. Gone are the long sessions of biking or hoofing about town, trying to find just where your job/mission is while kicking dumpsters and collecting Lovikov balls on the way. Lots of people seem to consider the previous world map nothing more than a time-consuming nuisance and find the new system of simply selecting where you'd like to go and appearing there stream-lined to perfection. I don't. I think the new system is just not fun. Having to drive to a job every time you'd like to try it was annoying, true, but a big chunk of the first game's charm was tooling around on your ridiculous motorcycle and exploring Santa Destroy. We liked randomly hitting pedestrians and stumbling across new shirts. Was it necessary? Nah, but it was fun! I can't really complain about adding the ability to teleport straight to missions, but couldn't they have given the option to ride around town if you want to? It doesn't have to be a requirement, and in fact the game is probably better without it being one, but I maintain that having it as an option would've been nice.

And no matter how fun the new mini-games are, I will never forgive them for subjecting my perfectionist mind to the Strength Training. Talk about a challenge. I kept at it until I beat them all, and in retrospect, it really didn't take me too many tries, but in the moment? So frustrating! Fat Jeane is nothing but love, though. Kitty exercising! :D

Persona 4! Okay, so there's nothing new there. I just wish there was. In the spirit of P3P and all the new features they added to that, I'd like to present "What I want to see in a P4 remake":
- Picking the gender of the MC. Natch.
- Dating both genders. It's been too long since Tatsuya and Jun. That level of freedom needs to return.
- Matchmaking. I know plenty of people wanted to see Kanji and Naoto hook up, and I personally would like to nudge Chie and Yukiko towards a different sort of close relationship. Didn't you ever play matchmaker for your friends in high school? It just makes sense.
- Changeable battle outfits. Surely Yosuke could hide some stuff in a breakroom for you guys to grab before heading into the TV. I want maid costumes for the girls and the boys!
- More missions! Am I the only person who adores those things? They're just too few and far between.
- Variable main plot conversations. It would be great if there were little changes here and there to reflect your social link status with people. Think the random conversations in empty dungeon rooms, but scattered throughout main plot scenes.
- Hmmm... I'm blanking... well, if I think of more later, I'll throw 'em on.

Still twenty minutes until I can expect Jaime back, and then he has to start drinking contrast and we wait until his next scan at 2:30. Sigh. Distractions, distractions...

Dream at Tempo 119 is like the most bitchin' song ever. <3

Outrage!

Feb. 12th, 2010 11:10 am
rinnia: (glare)
Jaime's in limbo for scans, and we all know what that means. Time for me to ruminate on the latest installments of things I like and why they suck now!

... Okay, that's a bit harsh. Not all of them suck now.

Anyway, Smashing Pumpkins! This whole "reunion" is kind of bullshit no matter what, and Zeitgeist isn't anywhere near as good as the original stuff (this coming from a girl who thinks "Adore" is their best CD, no less). I have to say, though, that the American Gothic EP was a pleasant surprise. It's good. It's really good. The Rose March in particular is epic, but the whole thing is 17 packed minutes of great music. That combined with Song for a Son really got my hopes up. I was skeptical about this whole Teargarden idea, but... yeah... the first track is excellent. Like, on par with some of their older stuff for me. Then came Widow Wake My Mind.

Ugh. Back to Earth. It's not that it's a bad song, because it's not. It's just that it's... not... good. Specifically, the song structure is too repetitive, the vocals are just annoying, and the drumming, while proficient, is boring. Jimmy's gone, and even if I hadn't known that beforehand, I would've been able to tell. It's that dull. I'm sure the new kid is a fantastic drummer on his own, and he's no slouch within the Pumpkins (if you can even still call the band that when it's more like "Billy Corgan and the Ego Trips"), but there's no there there. It's like he's stymied by his own accomplishment - like being recruited into the band has robbed him of the balls to insert any personality into his drumming. He drums rhythms, and that's about it. Of course, this is only one song. It's highly possible that the next one will blow everything out of the water, and my faith will be restored. I'm not counting on it, but it's a possibility. We'll see.

On the plus side, Rock Band and SP forums lead to Jaime's and my discovery of Silversun Pickups a while ago, and I'm obsessed. Now that is some fantastic music. All of it's good, but I'd especially recommend the acoustic set that's floating around. Rusted Wheel acoustic is fucking amazing.

Mighty Boosh! It's hard to be my favorite show - there's a lot of love, but a lot of expectations. The Future Sailors tour did not live up. Much like with Widow Wake My Mind above, it's not that it's bad. I liked it a lot when I first saw it, actually. It's that it's so much less than it should be; it's so far below par that it's, well, not funny. Rewatching it, I noticed just how little of a story there is. Compare that to the first show, where there were plenty of humorous asides and fake theater mishaps, but they almost all occurred within the framework of the plot. Future Sailors, on the other hand, only has a plot for half of the second act. That's it. That's the best part of the show, actually. Vince is still too mean to Howard for my tastes, but at least it's funny. Before Sunflash shows up, it's downright hilarious. Sunflash is also pretty funny, for that matter. I can approve of his addition. What I'm more bothered by is how the first act pretty much consists of milking laughs from the audience based purely on character recognition.

I hate it when entertainment becomes self-aware. It's like when the Project Runway designers applauded Tim Gunn saying "Make it work!" at the start of... the fifth season, I think. Jaime and I winced. The charm is in observing characters you love doing the things they do, not in said characters feeding you what you want to see with a wink and a nudge. Yes, Tony Harrison always declared things an outrage, but it was never a non-sequitur exclamation. When he's saying it because he knows it'll make you laugh, it's not funny anymore. Bob Fossil teaching the audience dance moves was amusing, but was it amusing because he was teaching the audience or because we were watching him dance? How much funnier could it have been if there'd been a reason he was dancing outside of "because that's what Fossil does"? This is where creativity comes in. I know they're capable of crafting amusing plots - the series and the previous live show prove it. This iteration was just lazy, and frankly? I expected better. I'm a little concerned that, based on the lack of activity and the lack of creativity when active lately, the Boosh is dead. I hope I'm wrong. I don't think I am, but I hope.

No More Heroes! First off, NMH2 does not suck. It's not the incredible-improvement-in-virtually-every-aspect sequel that many media outlets seem to think it is, but it is a fantastic game. No lj-cut - I'm going to keep this mostly spoiler-free.

The first big difference you notice is the graphics. Stylistically, they're close to the previous game, but they're both more detailed and cleaner. The palette in this game is breath-taking - lots of deep, heavy tones without feeling too shadowy or muddy. The battle graphics in particular are just about perfect. When fighting, the enemies get thrown around and slashed with glowing streaks in alarmingly pleasant ways. It's a violent visual feast. No complaints there. The cast is pretty strong, too. A lot of familiar faces show up, including a couple that really caught me off guard and a couple others that are playable, and the new assassins as a whole are just as appealing and uniquely psychotic as their predecessors. My only real complaint about the cast is that I would've liked to have seen a couple of them reappear at multiple points in the game instead of the standalone instances they showed up. Not a big problem, really. Just a nitpick.

Nah, the big problem is actually the thing that all the reviewers seem to love - the lack of an overworld. Gone are the long sessions of biking or hoofing about town, trying to find just where your job/mission is while kicking dumpsters and collecting Lovikov balls on the way. Lots of people seem to consider the previous world map nothing more than a time-consuming nuisance and find the new system of simply selecting where you'd like to go and appearing there stream-lined to perfection. I don't. I think the new system is just not fun. Having to drive to a job every time you'd like to try it was annoying, true, but a big chunk of the first game's charm was tooling around on your ridiculous motorcycle and exploring Santa Destroy. We liked randomly hitting pedestrians and stumbling across new shirts. Was it necessary? Nah, but it was fun! I can't really complain about adding the ability to teleport straight to missions, but couldn't they have given the option to ride around town if you want to? It doesn't have to be a requirement, and in fact the game is probably better without it being one, but I maintain that having it as an option would've been nice.

And no matter how fun the new mini-games are, I will never forgive them for subjecting my perfectionist mind to the Strength Training. Talk about a challenge. I kept at it until I beat them all, and in retrospect, it really didn't take me too many tries, but in the moment? So frustrating! Fat Jeane is nothing but love, though. Kitty exercising! :D

Persona 4! Okay, so there's nothing new there. I just wish there was. In the spirit of P3P and all the new features they added to that, I'd like to present "What I want to see in a P4 remake":
- Picking the gender of the MC. Natch.
- Dating both genders. It's been too long since Tatsuya and Jun. That level of freedom needs to return.
- Matchmaking. I know plenty of people wanted to see Kanji and Naoto hook up, and I personally would like to nudge Chie and Yukiko towards a different sort of close relationship. Didn't you ever play matchmaker for your friends in high school? It just makes sense.
- Changeable battle outfits. Surely Yosuke could hide some stuff in a breakroom for you guys to grab before heading into the TV. I want maid costumes for the girls and the boys!
- More missions! Am I the only person who adores those things? They're just too few and far between.
- Variable main plot conversations. It would be great if there were little changes here and there to reflect your social link status with people. Think the random conversations in empty dungeon rooms, but scattered throughout main plot scenes.
- Hmmm... I'm blanking... well, if I think of more later, I'll throw 'em on.

Still twenty minutes until I can expect Jaime back, and then he has to start drinking contrast and we wait until his next scan at 2:30. Sigh. Distractions, distractions...

Dream at Tempo 119 is like the most bitchin' song ever. <3
rinnia: (geeky)
That's right, it's your Friday fix of fun, frivolous... frivolity. I lost it. Fuck... heeeeey, and it's back again! Fwhoo hoo!

To watch: Love him or hate him, Jimmy Fallon has one truly hilarious bit - Head Swap. The previous installments are all funny and worth a watch, but they really outdid themselves with the most recent one. Christian Bale's head on Sandra Bullock's body; what will that kooky bunch think up next?

To read: I sincerely doubt there's anyone reading this who needs Penny Arcade recced to them. Regardless, you may not have seen today's strip, and if so, well that's just too tragic for me to bear. My identification with Tycho grows ever stronger.

To play: Canabalt. One button. One level. No mistakes allowed. This is the sort of thing that you can waste hours on if you're not careful - it's easy to pick up and impossible to beat. My best score so far is 3480. Addictive.

And because I don't feel like making an entirely separate post for this, when I saw the losing dress on Project Runway this week (note: in case you couldn't tell, that link contains massive spoilers for last night's episode), I could only think of one thing...
rinnia: (geeky)
That's right, it's your Friday fix of fun, frivolous... frivolity. I lost it. Fuck... heeeeey, and it's back again! Fwhoo hoo!

To watch: Love him or hate him, Jimmy Fallon has one truly hilarious bit - Head Swap. The previous installments are all funny and worth a watch, but they really outdid themselves with the most recent one. Christian Bale's head on Sandra Bullock's body; what will that kooky bunch think up next?

To read: I sincerely doubt there's anyone reading this who needs Penny Arcade recced to them. Regardless, you may not have seen today's strip, and if so, well that's just too tragic for me to bear. My identification with Tycho grows ever stronger.

To play: Canabalt. One button. One level. No mistakes allowed. This is the sort of thing that you can waste hours on if you're not careful - it's easy to pick up and impossible to beat. My best score so far is 3480. Addictive.

And because I don't feel like making an entirely separate post for this, when I saw the losing dress on Project Runway this week (note: in case you couldn't tell, that link contains massive spoilers for last night's episode), I could only think of one thing...
rinnia: (whee)
It's official - Jaime and I are going back to school. :D Well, this is assuming that he stays in remission, of course, but both of us are really optimistic about that and are going with the assumption that everything will work out. Anyway, Jaime's entering the PhD program at UF in Electrical Engineering with a focus on radio frequencies and wireless... stuff... and I'm going for a PhD in Biomedical Engineering with a focus on optics. We both got fellowships, too, so we won't have to find any other work. I need to TA at some point for mine, but other than that, our only work will be towards our doctorates. I'm predicting that will be plenty enough.

In the spirit of this, I've been trying to plan out what all I'd like to get done before I'm plunged back into academia. More for me than anyone else, really. )

Speaking of gaming, Jaime made the mistake of popping New Super Mario Bros. into his DS again, so I've kind of picked that up once more. It's funny - when I first played it, World 8 gave me a fair amount of trouble, and now? I'm only missing 5 star coins in the whole game (one each in 4-A, 4's Boo House, 8-4, 8-8, and the final castle). Granted, those final five are pretty much destroying me (why, tiny Mario, why?!), but I'm still pleased with my improvement. Go go gaming reflexes!

And some quick bites of amusement: yesterday's QC and the AU version both cracked me up, as did this LJ post. Good times.
rinnia: (whee)
It's official - Jaime and I are going back to school. :D Well, this is assuming that he stays in remission, of course, but both of us are really optimistic about that and are going with the assumption that everything will work out. Anyway, Jaime's entering the PhD program at UF in Electrical Engineering with a focus on radio frequencies and wireless... stuff... and I'm going for a PhD in Biomedical Engineering with a focus on optics. We both got fellowships, too, so we won't have to find any other work. I need to TA at some point for mine, but other than that, our only work will be towards our doctorates. I'm predicting that will be plenty enough.

In the spirit of this, I've been trying to plan out what all I'd like to get done before I'm plunged back into academia. More for me than anyone else, really. )

Speaking of gaming, Jaime made the mistake of popping New Super Mario Bros. into his DS again, so I've kind of picked that up once more. It's funny - when I first played it, World 8 gave me a fair amount of trouble, and now? I'm only missing 5 star coins in the whole game (one each in 4-A, 4's Boo House, 8-4, 8-8, and the final castle). Granted, those final five are pretty much destroying me (why, tiny Mario, why?!), but I'm still pleased with my improvement. Go go gaming reflexes!

And some quick bites of amusement: yesterday's QC and the AU version both cracked me up, as did this LJ post. Good times.

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Alex Smith

Currently

In: Florida
Watching: Regular Show
Listening to: Mumford & Sons
Reading: This Book is Full of Spiders
Playing: Ghost Trick
Tasting: mango coconut water
Wanting: lots and lots of thread
Working on: [community profile] fandom_stocking fic and art
Loving: O Pee Chee cards

- Dear Yuletide Author
- Fic Bingo Cards

November 2012

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