Thoughts @ilaughalone - Tumblr Blog

POINT BREAK *****

Went in expecting a cheesy 90's action thiller and got a masterpiece. The cinematography is dope, every time they are in the water its captured with beauty and respect that people like Bodie's group want to see it in. The foot chase and shydiving scene ae shot so vicerally that you are scared for the people making the movie's health.

Most importantly how the movie deconstructs masculine competitive thrillchasing exposing it for the vain rejection of fear it can be. The look on Patrick Swayze's face when one of his crew finally dies during his last bank robbery, one of being called on your bullshit. When he says earlier in the movie that he would be happy dying doing something that he loves and is now being confronted by someone doing that and getting killed because of him and in less than a second you seeing on Bodie's face his entire way of life crashing down under him. That's one of the dozens of moments that Katheryn Bigelow proves to me (a 20 year old idiot) that she had been one of Hollywood's best for decades.

Spider Man: Homecoming

With Great Power Comes ????

Peter Parker, a nerdy Queens, New York teen gets bit by a radioactive spider giving him the powers of the arachnid. After a conversation with his caretaker, Uncle Ben, who lectures him on great responsibility coming with great power, he lets a criminal pass him by not thinking it his responsibility to stop him. He later finds out that his uncle died at the hands of the very criminal he decided to let go, teaching him that his actions have consequences and that leaving him with a guilt that comes to defines his career as a crimefighter. None of this is in Homecoming deeming it well worn territory so instead it decides to replace it with a story of acceptance that is predictable and ultimately damaging to Peter as a character.

The motivation to forgo an origin story that has been presented twice before in the last 20 years in film plus countless other times in comics and cartoons is compelling. The purpose of film and storytelling is to move its characters forward, but the film make little attempt to explore Peter’s motivations beyond childhood wish fulfillment and acceptance from the Avengers and Tony Stark. There is nothing inherently wrong with this but neither motivation provides him with the proper amount of empathy for me to care about his struggle.

For a movie that seems to take inspiration from John Hughes, another filmmaker who explored the trails and tribulations pf adolescence, it seems to infantilize its main character and his friends more that it attempts to get us to relate to these people in a meaningful way. It almost acts as the opposite as a John Hughes movie where it seems to be more aimed at portrayed what 30 year olds remember about being in High School and present people as archetypes instead of making them seem more human and presenting their struggle as every much as legitimate as the adults. None of his quiz crew apart from his best friends seem to mean that much to Peter where at the point at the end where Peter decides to reject the Avengers and continue being a kid it just makes me wonder why when he doesn’t seem to have much waiting for him in his High School life except his best friend and Aunt May who both are aware of his Spider-Man life by the end off the film.

You could make the argument that this is a movie about a good kid just trying to do good things for his people and get some respect. There isn’t anything necessarily wrong with trying to make a low stakes action movie, especially in contrast with the ever more bloated epics that Marvel is consistently pumping out. But eventually we reach the best character in the film, The Vulture who gets done an injustice by the other characters in the movie.

Micheal Keaton delivers an excellent performance here of a man whose depiration is weaponized into menace due to the pressure of being just a normal man trying to maintain an empire built by desperiation to provide for the ones he loves. All things that we get by the way because he has an origin presented in the film to understand his motivations beyond just being a villain. He is much more sympathetic than Peter because he has a motivation that is presented in the film, changes who he is and can be related to in real life.

Vulture has two legitimate grievances in the film. One, that Stark’s privatization of the cleanup for his own disasters leave the people on the ground double screwed because they are either dead or displaced but also can’t make money on the legitimate business opportunity for a subsect of businesses owned by people trying to lead a normal life. Two, that Peter sees the world and black and white and denies to see the legitimate reason for why he has to do what he does. Both of these aren’t handled well in the film, Tony receives no form of comeuppance or even a confrontation on his role in making the Vulture who he is and Peter goes on to defeat him like any other bad guy without ever getting a chance to understand his plight. The movie tries to kill two birds in one stone by having Peter decide he wants to be a hero for the little people instead of joining the Avengers but he doesn’t confront Tony on the way he conducts business and due to the small amount of time between defeating the Vulture and Peter rejecting the opportunity it makes it seem like protecting the little people is a much secondary focus to him just getting to lead a semi normal childhood.

Peter goes through a very thin ark in the film, he wants to be treated like a superhero and an adult , tries to do his best and fails until the climax. The problem is that his last success isn’t due to a turn in the character and more about him learning who the Vulture is. We see Peter go through a struggle but we don’t see this struggle define him, he overcomes it through effort (which is not a part of his supposed ark because he is always trying his best) rather that personal growth.

Not to say that this movie is completely devoid of merit. I think it does a better job at establishing Marvel’s New York as a place with actual people who live there than any of its other movies or Netflix series does. Peter seeing what these weapons are doing to his neighborhood and deciding to take action is the best piece of his character building in the movie.

Spider-Man: Homecoming bent to the stresses of having to make a third Spider-Man franchise and decided to move past his origin story without finding a suitable replacement beyond the scripts and cast charm at presenting us this world.

(via https://open.spotify.com/user/1234109723/playlist/3BAh8OIIFfUEChvOnSC5vt)

Christopher Nolan and the Truth: Idiots guide to his filmography (self.blankies)

Christopher Nolan and the truth

*- Following: About how you can get so caught up in someone else’s life that it transforms you. Central lie: That the young man is just a passive observer and that Cobb is bad to everyone but him.

*- Memento: A man with amnesia is trying to find his wife’s killer only to be revealed that it was himself. Central lie: How he tricked himself into believing that someone else (A fine pair of Italian pants) killed his wife instead of accepting it was himself.

*- Insomnia: An LAPD detective loses his grip while working a murder case in Alaska, commits a crime himself, and is blackmailed into partnering with the murderer.Central lie: The detective is lying to the local police about his crime, and possibly lying to himself about whether what he did was an accident or not. It's revealed later that he's also lying to himself as a way of justifying corruption back at his LAPD job. And the murderer also seems to be lying about the true reasons and underlying desires that led him to commit murder. The film ends with all of the lies upheld or swept under the rug.

*- Batman Begins: About Bruce Wayne returning to Gotham after training rigorously to become a vigilante. Central lie: Multiple: One Bruce Wayne is Batman. Two Is he really up to cleaning out the streets or is he up for revenge.

*- The Prestige: Two magicians try to outdo each other with an impossible seeming trick. Central lie: Hugh Jackman is lying to himself about how much this trick drains from him and his guilt over what he is doing to his clones is destroying him. Bale is lying to everyone about how he performs his trick and the literal double life he is hiding.

*- The Dark Knight: Batman faces the Joker a man with no ideology beyond chaos and must decide what is the best way to stop him through vigilante work or through legal means aka Harvey Dent. Central lie: Tying into Batman Begins the lie is whether being Batman is what is actually best to stop crime in Gotham or if he is harming more than helping.

*- Inception: A group of thieves who enter dreams must perform the impossible task of implanting a memory rather than stealing one. Central lie: Again, there are multiple that connect with each other. First that Cobb is in control of his wife’s control of his psyche. Second that what we are watching is the top level outside of any dream. Which all crystalizes the central idea of how deep into a lie can you be before you forget what the truth is.

*- The Dark Knight Rises: A new threat from outside Gotham comes and Batman must leave retirement to stop it. Central lie: Weirdly where the last two films seem to suggest that Batman is actually a hindrance and a selfish manifestation of his desire to avenge his parents, this one seems to suggest that he actually is necessary even though the movie is about whether he was dying to comeback and risk it all or if it really is out of necessity it seems contradictory to the other two films.

*- Interstellar: A pilot and a crew of scientist go on an interstellar expedition to find a planet that could sustain the population of a dying Earth. Central lie: One that we never went to space that is told to children so they can focus on more “practical things” such as farming for the few available crops. Two that Caine tells McConaughey that there is a way to get people out of Earth. Both those lies exist in the movie to hammer the point that we seems to think that wide eyed optimism is bad and gets in the way of productivity but actually giving us something to strive for is what bring the best out of us and makes us great.

top 10 movies of 2017 part 1

Top 10 movies of 2017 so far

1. Get Out

2. Baby Driver

3. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2

4. John Wick 2

5. Wonder Woman

6. Logan

7. Fate of the Furious

8. Okja

9. Lego Batman

10. Split

Get Out

Not a big horror guy I’ll say that upfront. As a cold unfeeling robot its hard for myself to get caught up in the frights of a traditional horror film but Get Out scares you on so many levels that even through my thick layer of emotional detachment I managed to be shaken with what Jordan Peele presents in his debut feature.

From the incredible amount of visual symbolism that is hidden so deep that it takes up entire tumblrs to parse it all out to the most brilliant top to bottom casting jobs in modern movie history and a deft sense of the tensions that people of color feel around white people he managed to make a film that was empathetic but not coddling and illuminating without being preachy.

This was Jordan’s first mayor film and if this is what he starts with I can’t even imagine where he could go.

Baby Driver

In contrast with Get Out, Baby Driver is a movie comprised of all the things I love in cinema. Fast paced camera movement, a sense of rhythm no other director (except George Miller) can achieve and ultra charismatic cast members make a movie that is infinatley rewatchable if not slightly disappointed compared to Edgar Wright’s previous work.

It lacks the power of Simon Pegg’s Cornetto Trilogy scripts and Scott Pilgrim’s Source material due to a movie that is clearly an exercise in form over function but goddamn if there is any filmmaker that I’d be glad to take that route for at least one film its Edgar Wright. You should all watch Tony Zhio’s excellent episode of “Every Frame a Painting” about Wright to get the full breath of his power of visual comedic and engaging storytelling but suffice it to say that every director should take a look at what he’s doing to use film as a medium to engage and present elements in memorable ways.

Top 30 Songz of the Year So Far

Top 30 Songs of 2017 so far

Strangest Thing - The War On Drugs

Nobody knows how to slow build a song like The War On Drugs. What begins seeming like a slow contemplating Americana Folk jam takes the proper time over its almost seven minute run time to build into a majestic wall of sound composed by a group of melodies and guitar sounds that are as diverse as they are perfectly placed and harmonized.

In 2017 its hard to make guitar rock that sounds like nothing else before it. Of course there are similarities to Tom Petty (Who the recent 2010s made the patron saint of indie rock) and their previous works but this song makes me feel like nothing they ever made. It made me feel like the guitar was an instrument hand crafted by the heavens to make this one song because its perfect.

Nothing’s Wrong- HAIM

In their 2013 debut my favorite song of Haim’s was Honey and I, which was this perfect slower jam which there can be no other word to describe except beautiful. Nothing Wrong is not only in my mind the spiritual successor to Honey and I, it surpasses it.

HAIM main strength as a band comes from they’re playful melodies and just a technical excellence at their instrument of choice. However when they decide to use their greatest edge, that they are sisters, they are capable of producing these absolutely sublime melodies that I never find myself getting tired from.

Crew Goldlink

Prior to this year I had never heard of Goldlink but after the first time I heard this song I knew that this guy was a must listen. His first album “At What Cost” is just a vibe you can ride for its 48 minute runtime and Goldlink is a conductor with a level of smooth precision seen only comparable to the highest levels of Formula One racing. However, when “Crew” comes it’s on another level. It’s the only song I’ve ever heard that manages to bang yet still be smooth enough to maintain a vibe that doesn’t put you over the edge. You never feel like you are done listening to it but you don’t feel like anything is missing and I’m exited to see if he can ever pull it off again.

Saturn Barz- Gorillaz

After having thought that we would never enjoy the Gorillaz music ever again I’d be honest in saying that anything they could’ve put out would’ve made me very happy, yet I’m extremely elated that this is what they put. Damon Albarn could’ve gone back to the studio and made some facsimile of the music that they used to put out but he didn’t he produced 23 tracks of wildly different tracks, some for better some for worse, and nowhere was it better that in Saturn Barz.

Making a dancehall influence piece of pop music isn’t exactly a novel concept in the year 2017 but the way Saturn Barz reverberates through your skull and your soul when you hear it is an example of someone crafting a new path within well worn territory.

By the way Popcaan is the most underrated voice in modern pop music. He has been the featured player in a considerable amount of big projects in the last few years but the tracks he has appeared in could not be possible without his considerable talents and unique voice.

Deadz Migos

From the orchestral beginnings to the insanity of Takeoff’s verse towards the end, no other song makes me want to turn up the volume on my headphones and turn up generally. Migos have had a very good year in which they not only have broken through to the mainstream they are an inseperable part of the bleeding in of trap into more traditional pop music. Yet nothing they have featured on gone as crazy as Deadz a song that manages to fit all three on them in at they’re absolute peak low but manages to give 2Chainz an excellent feature spot on a song that sounds gigantic from an outfit that prides itself on fitting in.

Wrestling vs Anime: How wins and loses affect relatability?

Part 1

The way different pieces of entertainment make their characters win or lose affects how we identify with them and the stories that are told around them.

Yuri on Ice makes its main character start from the bottom and does a good job giving Yuri triumphant moments but no triumphant victories. The way that it makes its main characters overcoming psychological barriers as climactic moments to episodes rather than winning competitions is a master stroke in creating an empathetic episodic underdog story. Perfectly exemplified by the fact that actual victory is sometimes a hindrance to Yuri.

In wrestling the way that stories are told with the triumph of certain characters is often mishandled because they don’t model their journey to the top with the character that they are portraying. It has a rigid way that these stories are told which has harmed certain characters because they are not allowed to have their arc as characters’ match the story that is being told about them.

Triple H: Enjoys much success. Audience connects and understands his success because it is part of his character. Being respected and a champion was his character. He was power hungry, manipulative and ultimately married into the owner’s family for success. He was a heel for most of that period for good reason. We hate those who seem to have it all figured out and enjoy their downfall.

John Cena: Big match John draws the ire of many fans because he is just a squeaky clean babyface who rarely loses but he has been a part of good stories and can be still. Hustle, Loyalty and Respect are John Cena’s brand and his character. He is a good guy who’s rise to the top came through hard work. His feud with C.M. Punk worked and is so revered because there was a natural conflict between the two characters. CM Punk resented John Cena for being the big superman, getting all the breaks and having it all figured out, while he who had worked hard did not receive the same breaks to headline events that Cena did. And the ending to their five-star Money in the Bank match was a use of those two as characters with Punk persevering in a long match causing the people upstairs who existed to keep him down to try and cost him again. Cena interfered making sure that the match was decided in the ring between them; Hustle, Loyalty, Respect. Punk took advantage of the distraction and used it to beat Cena in a main event and leave with his title. Simple successful storytelling based on who these characters are and what would bring them down.

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#johmcena cmpunk wwe wrestling anime yurionice

Top 5 games Nintendo should include in an SNES Classic

This year Nintendo released the NES Classic, a plug and play retro console to a rabid response leaving the supply looking foolishly low compared to the thousands that were looking to cop a piece of their childhood in mini form. It contained what Nintendo (and probably license holders) deemed to be 30 classic Nintendo Entertainment system game. With its massive success, it leaves many of us wondering if or when Nintendo will follow it up with a with a shrunken version of the Super Nintendo, the follow-up to the NES released in 1990. Here are the top 10 games that Nintendo should release with the SNES classic.

10. Super Mario RPG

Let’s start off with a character and a genre that will receive much love in this list. Now despite that the name Mario and the power that carries with Nintendo and casual fans alike many would argue against the inclusion of Super Mario RPG on this list. The SNES is home to the greatest line up of classic Japanese role playing of all time (come at me PlayStation 1 fans) and including what some might deem as a “dumbed down” and simplified RPG over genre classic games like Chrono Trigger or Secret of Mana might seem like an insult to those games place in the history of the SNES and the genre but Mario RPG fits in better with the style of these “Classic” series of consoles.

That fact that it isn’t as complex and time consuming is a plus when considering it will be part of a plug and play nostalgia trip with 29 other games included. The SNES was a bastion for great JRPGs but if one were to put down all the classics it might leave people overwhelmed and unsatisfied with the time investment needed to enjoy many of the games in this instant nostalgia gratification machine. Plus. the familiar and fun character of the still running Mario world can bring in a younger generation into a genre that might seem unwieldy as first.

9. NBA Jam

There is a large portion of the gaming public for which their next gen console is their Madden, NBA 2K or FIFA machine. As someone who could mention the subtle differences between yearly 2K and FIFA releases I can tell you how time and focus consuming these games can be for a gamer. Nintendo included the original Techmo Bowl in the NES Classic and some may argue that its follow-up Super Techmo Bowl would be the obvious inclusion in this package but it isn’t NBA Jam is.

As far as impact no single sports game on the SNES is as big as NBA Jam is. With games across multiple platform and console generations. It sales were ON FIRE! back at the time of its release and still are on the iPhone and last generation console.

8. Super Street Fighter II

Fighting games may have come to prominence on the arcades, the console releases of mayor fighting games helped turn many mayor franchises into pop culture mainstays and helped create the competitive scene that still exist today. Street Fighter II is the prime example this phenomenon.

Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat II are the two biggest fighting games on the console but the SNES version of MKII is notorious for is toning down of the violence and personality that made the game a hit on the arcades and SEGA Genesis. So, releasing the uncontroversial Super Street Fighter II is a much better choice. Plus, with the sales problems facing Street Fighter V I’m sure Capcom would love to get the Street Fighter name in front of more people.

7. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island

Touch Fuzzy Get Dizzy is the best name for a level in a video game of all time and I dare you to find a better one. The follow-up to what some consider the best game on the console uses the same engine to carve its own unique style with its crayon inspired visual, childlike music and use of Yoshi (or Yoshis) as an interesting change of pace from standard Mario platforming.

The NES Classic included 3 Super Mario games and they were markers of the evolution of games in the lifecycle of the NES but they were primarily there because they were some of the best on the console and Nintendo loves to throw in Mario whenever they can so no reason to leave out this classic on the next console.

6. Final Fantasy VI

Remember all those things I said about how Nintendo shouldn’t include deep and time consuming RPGs so that they don’t overshadow some of the more concise experiences included, well you throw that out the window when you mention Final Fantasy.

With the game that some may consider the best in this long running franchise Nintendo and Square Enix would be foolish to not include this in their next micro console. The golden standard to which most RPGs are measured to even to this day, Final Fantasy VI is the defining games in one of the genres defined in this console generation. With memorable characters, villains and music plus the deep mechanics such as its class systems that make it the standard bearer for JRPGs.

5. Super Mario Kart

The friendship destroying, local multiplayer defining kart franchise made its debut on the console in 1991 and been one of Nintendo’s biggest sellers in every release since. Super Mario Kart is a bonafide classic which some still argue is the pinnacle of the series despite it being the first entries.

One of the memories we are all so nostalgic for is that of sitting around the TV with our friends competing and driving each other crazy. No series can bring you back to those times than Mario Kart. With its wacky items that can completely swing the flow of a race and antagonize your enemies few games have been as successful at bringing out the best and worst in us than Super Mario Kart.

4. Donkey Kong Country

Donkey Kong Country is one of the best examples of what late era SNES games were capable of with its early but still aesthetically coherent graphics and smooth motion that helped its minecart sequences feel fun and frantic. This game is a good change of pace from the other titles on this list and helps show the diverse range of gaming experiences available on the SNES.

3. Super Metroid

DUH

2. Super Mario World

DUH

1. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to The Past

DUH

#nintendo #nes #nes classic edition #snes #super mario #the legend of zelda #donkeykong #mario kart #nbajam #finalfantasy

Top 5 eSports Games for 2017

In 2016 we saw many new releases try to enter the world of eSport in search for an increase in interest form dedicated gaming communities and money from investors looking to get in on the next big thing to capture audiences who are traditionally falling away from traditional sport experiences.

However most of them fail due to either not being able to capture a consistent player base or not understanding how to support and cultivate interest around the spectating of their game. This leaves many of those companies racking their brains wondering how to break into this markets where few games find success but find it on a scale traditional games experiences can’t.

The companies that can break into this market are few and far between and companies who already have are trying their hardest to stay relevant in a world where the players and consumers of the sport can be fickle and move on to the next big thing.

With money invested in the scene at an all-time high and an increase in companies trying to break in the interest in the public for eSports has never been higher. So here are the top 5 eSports games that will thrive in 2017.

1. Overwatch

Active Players: 20 million

The recently released Blizzard shooters has seen the biggest instant eSport success for any game since DOTA 2. It’s not hard to see with all the factors working in its favor; the colorful cast of diverse characters, simple map and objective design and the name Blizzard on the box (or Battle.net login page). With its numbers in South Korea’s (the most important eSport region of the world) PC Bang list having moments of surpassing Legends of Legends for the number 1 spot at release, it’s hard to see how this game wouldn’t become the biggest eSports in a short amount of time.

With the StarCraft Pro-League dissolving in Korea, Blizzard, a company whose impact in the world of competitive gaming is immeasurable, needed a game to fill the void and Overwatch did that and more. With the Overwatch World Cup at Blizzcon and the recently announced Overwatch league which will host city and region based teams, this game more than any other is trying to bring the world of eSports closer and cooler to parity with the mayor traditional sports league in America and around the world.

Now the games still have not proven that it has the yearlong staying power that DOTA 2, League of Legends or CS: GO or that it can accomplish any of the things that it is setting out for with its competitive scene but if I had to bet on any game company to get these things done it would be Blizzard.

2. League of Legends

Active players: 100 million

The current biggest name in eSports has gone through some road bumps throughout 2016 with increased tension between team owners and Riot Games, decreased viewer ship for its pro games in North America and Europe and the looming shadow of the number 1 game on this list in Korea, the game’s number 1 competitive region.

However, it is still the most played game on this list and the raw numbers can not be argued with. With Riot announcing 100 million downloads for the highly successful PC game it would be foolish to underestimate the stability of a fan base in those numbers. Coupled with the increased investment by mayor traditional sports organizations in the League Championship series and its continued growth in the Chinese market, League of Legends is here to stay.

3. DOTA 2

Active players: 7.86 million

As we reach the top 3 we should start talking about the MOBA brother that have dominated eSports with DOTA 2. Dominating much of the coverage from mayor media outlets around eSports with its ever-increasing prize pool for The International, its biggest tournament of the year, with this year’s teams taking home 20+ million dollars in prizes. This keeps a healthy investment in the pro scene from the mainstream who are fascinated by the ever increasing prize pool and the active players who crowd fund these pools with the purchase of in game items (a tactic the next game on this list is trying to now imitate after years of complaints for not doing so).

With the introduction of mayors, the DOTA 2 scene has now been progressing towards yearlong relevance rather than minor tournaments with barely put together teams being strung along till the next International. These mayors and increasing prize pools seem to help the DOTA 2 scene healthier as the years go buy.

4. Counter Strike: Global Offensive

Active players: around 750,000

This is the game with the lowest total downloads on this list but in terms of investment from the community it is huge. With investment from mayor cable network TBS with ELEAGUE as one of the first mayor pushes for eSports as a consistent product on traditional televised broadcasts you can see a bright future for CS: GO as successful competitive game. Even despite some of its issues including a mayor controversy earlier in the year with the legality of gambling with in game purchased items and the streaming community capitalizing on this gray market that might have tainted this publics views on the community, Counter Strike still looks like a massive success for Valve and the teams who have bought in.

5. Street Fighter V

Roughly 1 million copies sold world wide

Let’s start off with one of the oldest eSports still going (the community has moved on from every release to the next so I am considering it an extension of previous Street Fighter games). The Fighting Games Community has been vocal with their problems with the game since launch. With server issues at launch, a small roster of characters that has omitted some fan favorites and lack of content apart from traditional battle modes it has been rough going for SFV. But, there are reasons to be exited for the game as next year roles by.

First, nowhere along the list of complaints is the fighting engine which has been universally praised by the pro players and casual fans alike so Capcom has a strong basis to build on for the future of the game. Second, due to the ever-evolving nature of the game which Capcom has stated that they will support until at least 2020 the inclusion of characters regarded as mayor omissions and the lack of stages and modes can be fixed without the usual version rereleasing that previous Street Fighter games went through. With the game now following the path of other mayor eSports, with one game being released and pro scene being defined by patches and updates rather than the new version that Capcom wants to force its player base to shift to, I can see a steady increase in the player count for the game as feature that they missed at launch are included rather that diminishing sales on new game versions.

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#esports #overwatch #league of legends #dota2 #street fighter #counter strike

OllI Olli 1 and 2: Skatesfaction

We play games for a variety of reason. Some play them to connect with their friends, others to be immersed and experience something different from the world they live in. I at times play games for both of these reasons, but other times there is just that simple unmatchable satifaction that they give us, like classic arcade games or more modern mobile experience and no other games recentlly have made me feel more satisfied by throwing hours away then the Olli Olli games.

Im eighteen years of age, the first gaming experiences of my life were played on the GameBoy Advanced where the first two games I ever recieved were Rocket Power ( a licenced game based on the Nick cartoon), and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3. Both of these games instilled an lets say “academic” apperication of Skateboarding..

I love skateboarding as a subject and a culture but I don’t actually physically skate myself. But I love skating video games and the X-Games. The physics of these incredible tricks, the music and artistic style has drawn me in at an early age. Video games are the closest I can come to being on the board in a any satisfying faction.

I must of played hundreds of hours of the Skate 3 demo on PS3( I couldn’t afford the actual game) just to mess around with the physics and land sweet tricks and find the coolest ways to combo tricks and land sick moves. Whilst some people found this way of controlling wierd and maybe to reminicent of actual skateboarding in contrast to the arcadey tightness of the Tony Hawk series on PS1 and PS2. But I absolutely loved it. The difficulty and physical manipulation of the skateboard as a seperate object is my favorite part of the sport.

So when I came to Olli Olli a game for which I had heard similar complaints to those thrown at Skate then I knew I had to check it out.

The first thing to hit you from Olli Olli is the style. You inmediatly get the impression that the folks at Roll7 are as big a fan of the subjects as you. The artstyles simplicity and tight lines makes it pleasing to the peepers but also facilitates the gameplay so everything is clear.

It isn’t perfect though as there are sometimes problems with being able to identify grindable surfaces from regular ground especially in the second game as the environment have a greater degree of variation and scope.

The music is good in that you don’t mind listening to it while you sink hours and hours into perfecting your runs but it isn’t particularly memorable in the way that those old Tony Hawk games were.

Oh but those runs. The simple elegance if nailing grinds to manuals, to nose manuals, to an occasional revert whilst hitting every spot and rails and score boost. Its euphoric to a style and elegance obssesed nut like myself and no other game I’ve played recently.

People could learn lessons about how to engage and satisfy player. From the quick restarts so you don’t waste your time on bad runs or the way that objective can be accompished in unfinished runs so that completing them can be satisfying and limit your frustration.

I love Olli Olli and I make no bones about it. This is one of those games that you feel was crafted by the gods especially for you and what you love in games. I could play a millions of these and never get tired.

#olliolli2 #olliolli gamereview

In Vain

Sat down, pupils centered

On a page more black the white.

Darting around looking for the keys

To the test that must be taken

And must passed.

Hours lost and emptiness felt

When the test is handed back

More white than Black.

She is there.

Standing alone.

Not a better chance to

Be had.

You come up,

Chat for a while.

Then she leaves

With another lad.

My Top 5 Games(Played in) of 2015

5. Binding of Issac: Afterbirth

I recently heard someone state that everybody has their rougelike. I found mine sometime ago and its name is The Binding of Issac. Its addictive gameplay loop and funny, disgusting yet charming visual kept me enratpured for hours on end as I used it as the most frustrating form of satisfaction that made me learn the rules and items in a way that seemed impossible at the start. Then Afterbirth thew a huge monkey wrench into that, making me feel like I knew nothing but instead of making me frustrated it made me relive an experience and refreshed one oof my favorite games in recent years.

4. League of Legends

Whilst obviously not released this year, this is the year I finally understood this and was able to get lost in an “esport”. Just the connection I was able to create with my friends and the thought put into making myslef better and learning the complexities of this game made me into one of those shut ins that your parents keep talking about, but I don’t seem to care 250 hours in.

3. NBA 2K16

I love these series of games. There is no other better series of experience I’ve had playing with my friends(baring some of my best and worst LOL moments). And as a simulations this is one of the better ones in recent time. The blocks from 14 are back and there seems to be an understable increasing in shooting dificulty even at lower difficulties and I love these changes.

2. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

I’ve never played a Metal Gear Solid game ever in my life. But, barring that I think that all the characters are awesomly unique and well designed(excluding Quiet’s design), I think that it is a cool world to learn and navigate and that the things they play with are interesting and complex. There are problems with the execution of some of the story and some of its dialogue being clunky and confusing. All that being said I think that all of that is mitigated by the fact that this might be the greatest designed games of all time up there with “Link to the Past” and “Symphony of the Night”. Its progression is satisfying, the way it introduces new mechanics at the right point so they are immediatly comprehensible and satisfying is superb, the way that the characters move and interact is excelent and it makes for one of the greatest video games of all time.

1. The Witcher III: The Wild Hunt

So I already wrote something about this game and why I love it so its hard to futher elaborate but here I go. I’ve never played any of these types of fantasy RPG’s before. Never played Skyrim or Dragon Age. Most I’ve done is messed around with Oblivion a little. Mass Effect 2 was actually probably the closest to a western RPG I’d ever played and I loved that game and the reasons I loved that game are the reasons I also love The Witcher being enraptured by a world thats interesting, populated by fantastical yet grounded characters and finding my place within it and this let me feel these things in a way I have never felt before.

Here’s to an equally excellent 2016

Narcissism and Confidence: Kanye West and Quentin Tarantino

Narcissism is defined as excessive or erotic interest in oneself and one’s physical appearance. The word is based on an old Greek tale about Narcissus, a young man who fell in love with his own image reflected in a pool of water and then commits suicide because he can never be with his object of desire. It teaches us that vanity and self-absorption can be destructive and misleading. But an aspect of the story that some neglect is that he was led and tricked toward the pond where he saw himself. It was because there were people who envied and admired him who’s love was not reciprocated. We usually see narcissism as a mayor character flaw. We curse those who seem to be obsessed with themselves and those who think they are the best or perfect. Yet, we also present confidence as a positive attribute within oneself and others. So what is this imaginary line that one could cross between narcissistic and confident, is there a line, is it arbitrary and given to those who we just seem to judge to be in or out of our favor. Two men who seem to exemplify this in modern celebrity. Rap/Pop superstar Kanye West and Academy Award Winning director/writer Quentin Tarantino.

Kanye West is a Chicago, Illinois rapper/producer who seems to be described using one of two words by the media, “genius” or “asshole”. It’s easy to see why on both fronts. He is one of the most influential rap artist/producers alive. He makes music unlike anybody else with sonically brilliant and original beats and lyricism about fame, fortune, family and life which brings us to the second word. All those topics have one thing in common and it is Kanye West. He is heavily criticized for constantly writing about himself and his struggles. Hell, if he was ever asked to appear on a new version of “We are the World” he’d probably start it off by proclaiming he “Was the World”. This makes him a polarizing subject. Some think that he is the genius that he proclaims to be, others that he should shut his mouth and find something else to write about, or a million other thoughts.

Some would think that he has been this way since the day he was born. He was raised in a middle class Chicago family. His father, who was a former Black Panther and one of the first black photojournalists in Atlanta and his mother was an English professor at Clark Atlanta University. You can see the influence of both of his parents in his music. He has long been critical about the treatment of black people in music, the media and in society (famously declaring that “George Bush doesn’t care about black people” in the middle of a charity appearance) and speaks about himself breaking barriers and being a black thought leader in the vain of Steve Jobs and Walt Disney. He also shown strong thoughts on college and its role in shaping people (mostly in a negative light). His parents have had profound effects on how he came up and who he is now in terms of the themes of his music. To say that he makes music about himself is to, ignore what made him and how those are presented in his actions and music. An article on mental health website shrinktank.com once said:

“If I had to summarize or paraphrase his general talking-point themes, it would be:

He’s“mentally” (at least) 10 yrs ahead of everyone else

He has so much god-given talent that he just might be a deity himself

Nobody else is like him; he’s an individual

He’s a meta post-modern cross-cultural pop-star genius

He’s dope

He’s an artistic genius and if you don’t understand or appreciate what he creates and says you must be ignorant or un-evolved

He’s often “offended”

He’s a genius”

Not to say that he is completely right and in “the clear” for some of the statements that he has made. It can be easy to see why he is painted in such a negative light due to his many declarations that he is the “only living rock star” a “genius” or “the Steve Jobs of Rap”. Those statements can seem uninformed, disparaging towards his peers or unearned, but they are not said in a vacuum. Kanye himself would be the first one to say that these statements are taken out of context and that the media has it against him but those are still things and some people perceived that have come back to bite him, while other appreciate his honesty.

A person who has also had to defend himself, his statements and his work from the media is director Quentin Tarantino. He has made many an iconic film in his career stretching 20 years from “Pulp Fiction”, “Kill Bill”, and “Inglorious Basterds”. He is probably one of the greatest American Filmmakers of all time, yet still isn’t held in reverence like Spielberg or Scorsese. Probably because while they have aged with grace, talked about the magic of cinema and the bright future ahead, Tarantino make films about death, violence and tells people to shut up.

His story is one that many a film fan would love they had. He worked at a video store, recommending red movies to people until one day he was compelled to write a screenplay and the rest is history. One thing people cannot deny is that Tarantino knows his films. It seems to be an obsession for him. Which leads to a disconnect between who he is and who he is perceived as. He is often one to say that his work is brilliant and speaks for itself. Some people perceived this as him running away from his critics but he sees it as artistic integrity.

Kanye and Tarantino can be perceived as victim of the media and societies scrutiny. They can be taken apart for exhibiting the confidence we say that we have to take normally. We are often jealous of those who seem to have it all figured out and are confident in their abilities and can be perceived to be better that us. Even though we seem to praise being the best you can be, we seem to try to take them down and apart to see that everybody is as bad and as flawed as the rest of us and condemn them for it. So, while society pretends to promote excellence they really damn those with talent to suffer the same scum dragging existence we do.

#kanye tarantino #tarantino

The Witcher 3 and Role Playing

The wandering stranger has always been a fascinating character archetype to me. The character, in the vain of Mad Max or The Man with No Name, who is disconnected from the surroundings he/she has entered, stirs things up, chooses a side to stand up for and them leaves never to be seen again by those people.

I love the mystery and the wonder of a person who does things or provides a sort of service no for the recognition or to reap the benefit of that which he or she had a hand in radically altering but to alleviate some need this person has that we do not know.

This really drew me to the character of Geralt within The Witcher: Wild Hunt. He checked all of those boxes in this game. Well, at least for me because of the choices I this game allowed me to make within the world and the character I was building with Geralt.

RPGs have always been an attractive method of engagement and entertainment in games for a long time. They can provide a wondrous method of escapism or allow us to see a world from a different perspective rather than our own as we are accustomed to.

Role playing is one of the classic and integral parts of escapism and fanaticizing. In video games, tabletop games and other aspects of life. It can be used as a tactic for understanding people’s points of view. Being someone else can be interesting and/or illuminating, that’s why games usually use their interactivity to leverage this unique ability they have to provide a service to the people who play them. The ability to be transported and transfixed away from your current point of view.

A great RPG can let you get as far into this as you want to. Whether that comes from a level of controlling your character’s statistics, or allowing you to control the appearance to make your character to look as much or as little like you as you might want them to, or what is for me the level at which I am the most intrigued which is to control the choices your character takes place within the narrative or narrative in the game.

You can take aspects of all three of those parts and start to make exactly the character you want as a player or journeyman into the wondrous world of escapism.

So as soon as I entered the world of The Witcher and I saw all the side quests I could take, the people I could help, that I could choose what to charge them for the services I have provided them, the characters I could romance or even when not to get involved. I knew then whom I wanted to be and what I how I wanted to interact with this world that was put forth in front of me.

I decided not to charge for my services when possible, adhere to what was right but attempt to stay unattached, stopped when the people of the street called for me for random side quests, rid hordes of bandits and monsters. After I was done with these behaviors I just went on my way, not coming back unless the story called for it.

The fascinating part is that the developer didn’t develop a game where all of this was intended. They didn’t have mysterious wanderer written on a character bible for Geralt because this is how they intended him to be. That means that is was on me for fanaticizing and building up the type of person Geralt of Rivia was and going down a path that I had set for myself.

But it was on the developers because they also made a choice as important as any as I made playing it, they chose not to limit my options as a player but to expand them by adding all the optional mechanics such as negotiating the price of side quests or contracts that you have fulfilled or random people running or screaming for help that turn into side quests that I could choose to complete or ignore on my part.

Being able to have agency, even if it is mostly within your own head, is an integral part of video games that I hope that we always make the time and effect to explore and with Bethesda’s new massive RPG Fallout 4 releasing soon we will all soon experience so we can be those whom we want.

SP@${�d��

#thinkpiece writing futuregamereviewer

Master of None and Half Hour Comedy

These days every movie seems to be about the destruction of the world or a major city by the way of some evil organization and every TV show seems to be about the moral decay of a human and the consequences of that. Don’t get me wrong I find a lot of that type of media very entertaining and even love some of it (shout out to Mr. Robot and Kingsman: Secret Service) but it can get exhausting when you have prepare yourself to face the potential destruction of the planet or the soul sucking downward spiral of humanity. That’s why comedy has become increasingly important to me. It can present fun scenarios and conflict on a lower scale with more relatable characters. Shows like Parks and Recreation, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt or Veep can make conflict and personal struggles connect with us by allowing us to laugh which in turn makes us care about the characters. Everybody likes a laugh. When we get together with our friends what do we usually do? We joke around, make fun of each other and the world around us. So, when its eventually time to have a serious conversation it strikes us that much harder because these are the people we are usually smiling and having our best times with. That is the same with our media comedies can make us ponder deeper personal modes of conflict by the way we try to joke around them and find the larger humor within them. It allows us to connect with our characters more. Of course there are many dramas and action movies that realize this and do allow for characters to have humorous interactions so we can connect. The Wire was a show which had a very large cast of characters and some very serious, soul sucking dramatic turn never lost me as a viewer because it allowed it’s characters to have funny moments between one another and create lasting and memorable relationships between its very large cast. But still, watching dramatic on hour long dramas can get exhausting, especially in this era of binge-watching, to watch night in, night out without getting completely emotionally drained. That’s why the half hour comedy has become one of the most interesting and popular methods of storytelling and no show is a better example of that than the new show on Netflix by popular stand-up comedian Aziz Ansari, Master of None.

The second episode of Master of None, titled “Parents” is just about that. Dev (Aziz Ansari’s surrogate character) and his friend Brian (played by Kelvin Yu) begin by each blowing off the requests of their parents to go do something more interesting to them than spend time with their parents. After leaving the movie they blew off the parents to go watch Dev and Brian contemplate their parents and the things that they had to do as immigrants coming from places far away to America and the hardships they faced. So they have a dinner where Brian and his father are finally able to talk about his life in Taiwan before coming to America and Dev learns how scared and sudden the experience was for his mother. Of course all the while Dev’s father (played by Aziz Ansari’s real life father) providing hilarious and adorable commentary on the food being served. After this meal they all feel more connected to each other and learned things about one another and improved their relationship permanently to the point where they are in a group chat together and feel compelled to give each other gifts, even though they might not appreciate it as much as they would like them to. In this half hour I felt more connected with these people than in hundreds of hours of many high end dramas. I felt what they were going through and the situation they had to deal with, even though it was something as seemingly low stakes as connecting with our parents, the people who risked it all and made sacrifices for us. It made me think about connecting with my parents. In just a half hour it made me think more about what I’ve been doing in my life. Throughout, the entire ten episode first season of “Master of None” it small situations like these, like with whom to go to a concert with, if one should have kids, getting involved with someone who is married, what to do on a first date, that allows us as an audience to connect and reflect with these situations because it’s things we all go through. Not all of it but we can all connect to at least one episode. The humorous interactions between Dev and his friends, his parents of the world around make us feel comfortable and situated in this world where life happens and makes us contemplate what we would or can do about these things around us in the real world we inhabit.

Half hour can seem like an eternity to some and a fraction of a second to others. The dramatic implications of this are interesting. To be honest until I had to pause once and had to casually check the run time I hadn’t even realized that this was a half hour show. The world, characters and situations it presented were so rich that I thought that it had been hours. I didn’t realize the run time till the fifth episode. All of this is helped by the beautiful cinematography which created a vivid painting of a modern urban landscape like no other. Of course, if this show was a painting it would be impressionist because it creates a picture of humanity and personal relationships so real that you would forget what was real and what is a hilarious comedy on Netflix. So next time you get your girl over to chill instead of putting on an exhausting drama of high stakes action queue over to “Master of None” or another cool half hour drama to have a good laugh and think about what’s going on.

nts. A��xxcy

#grantland masterofnone thinkpiece

Batman Arkham Knight

Batman: Arkham Knight By the time I blew up approximately 100th enemy drone tank I came up with the one word that described my feelings on the game: enough. In almost every aspect of the game(the combat, Batmobile, the world, side objectives) I either felt that just enough was being done to them was being done to justify its existence in this new entry or more likely, by halfway through the game I had enough of them. Arkham Knight is the third entry (sorry Arkham Origins) in Rocksteady’s Batman franchise and by the end you definitely get the feeling that both you and the developer are exhausted with this entire process. The Batmobile was supposed to be the key new ingredient to the Batman recipe but it ends up being like one of those recipes that any guy makes when he’s home alone. Of course a chocolate bacon mac and cheese sounds good but it actually ends up having a sore taste in your mouth. It feels more as if they were checking boxes on what people feel are an essential part of the Batman experience instead of making a careful and considered addition to the core gameplay experience. As a method of transportation it is a mostly enjoyable experience. It feels fast and tight like you would want it to feel (especially after you go into the settings and fix the controls). It gets you from point A to point B in pretty speedy order and can make chasing a bad guy though the destructible streets, buildings and sewers of Gotham quite exhilarating. But all of that is undermined by the fact that gliding is still the most fun and optimal way to travel through the world, especially when the game wants you to find all the side objectives hidden in the rooftops of the game it just makes sense to be gliding. In combat is where the Batmobile’s problems truly shine, in the form of repeated sections of slow and frustratingly pace-destroying tank-combat. This is the rare mechanic that feels slow, unnecessary and antithetical from the design of the entire game around it by the end of the introductory tank mission. Plus, through the repetition of it throughout the game it takes a continuously larger amount of enjoyment from the overall gameplay experience. Now this game obviously has its high notes. The games still have its incredible combat system and superbly designed predator missions. This game just by the virtue of being part of this series will always have the amazing world, stories and character of the Batman universe and they are fully realized in this game. The ornate gothic architecture and dark stormy nights of Gotham City have never been as beautifully realized as they are in this installment of the franchise. The story, while it does tend to lean on the same aspects of the Batman mythos as previous games in the series, is still very well told and brings enough new aspects characters and ideas to feel fresh and become an enjoyable way to push you through the game. All that being said, the way the main story ends where it just pushes you back into game is disappointing and deflating in the manner in which it expects you to complete many of the frustratingly repetitive side quests only which after it unlocks the “real” ending. Arkham Knight is a game that has a solid core which were built upon but everything on top of that feels tacked on and not well thought out.

#review batman hireme

Some of my Faves of 2013

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