Michael Jackson, RIP

June 26, 2009
Beat it, Jacky...that looks a lot meaner than in my head.

Beat it, Jacky...that looks a lot meaner than in my head.

I was a huge Michael Jackson fan growing up. Thriller is still my all time favourite song. In fact, MJ dominates maybe half of my all time top-10. His musical talents were astronomical and nobody else was close.

Fame got to him in the most peculiar way – he became a white man obsessed with being whiter. It was…strange, but damnit it was Michael Jackson. As long as he continued churning out the chart toppers, nobody really minded. Bought a giant mansion and naming it Neverland? Sure, why the hell not. He’s rich so he’ll be forgiven some eccentricities.

But then he slowly grew out of relevance, with little to show other a couple of molestation charges. I still don’t know how to feel about those. On the one hand I’m pretty sure he’s never had sex before (you know why his children are white) so the kids were ultimately safe, but on the other he still diddled a couple of kids.

But you know you’re beloved when the populace forgives you for child molestation not once, but twice.

MJ, you’ll be missed by most people over 20. Hopefully heaven teaches you being white is all that great.


5 beloved gaming icons that should be hated!

June 22, 2009
Oh know! It's old man Kirby comin' to git ya!

Oh no! It's old man Kirby comin' to git ya!

5. Kirby (of being pink fame)

I’m as big a fan of the Kirby series as any red-blooded gamer, but just take a step back and think about what you’re loving.

Kirby is, for lack of a nicer term to come to mind at this very instance, a God damned monster. A cute as a button spawn of Satan. He’s an adorable pink blob that spends much of his life devouring all those who dare stand up against him or happened to just be randomly walking by. Did they have children? Were they sons or daughters? Married? Did they have a disabled parent they were caring for? A puppy trapped at home, doomed to slowly starve away, waiting with love for its owner to return, never realizing they never will?

We’ll never know in the wake of Kirby.

Not only does he blatantly commit murder of the most vile kind, he sucks the very souls of the poor bastards he eats and becomes them. Mocking the memory of dead. He’s the type of creature you should tell your children of so they’d stop touching themselves at night, lest Kirby comes and devours your willy. I know I’d be a hell of a lot less blind.

Related: Jigglypuff. I mean, it’s just a gay Kirby that sings that annoyingly catchy song over, and over, and over again. And over again. And then draws shit on your face when you fall asleep! Err…I didn’t know that. I’ve never seen the series. Never.

If Cloud had longer hair, she'd be hot.

If Cloud had longer hair, she'd be hot.

4. Cloud Strife (of spiky haired fame. And Final Fantasy VII)

I’ll probably be called blasphemous for mentioning Cloud here. Despite already being the realm of being ironically liked, there are still a good number of purists out there who would literally contemplate murdering me for besmirching the great Cloud Strife. And I’m not being comical about that. They would actually track me down and shank me and all of my loved ones.

But guess what psychos? Cloud Strife is a huge, raging, douchebag. This guy is an ass. And not the “hey man, you’re fucking annoying” ass, but rather the “I’m a creepy sociopath who’s also fucking annoying” ass. The worst kind of ass! First he deludes himself into taking up another man’s life, doesn’t bother reviving Aeris (fuck “Aerith”) despite having 99 Phoenix Downs, and is generally a dick to everyone who cared about him. And according to Advent Children, he never even bothered to tap Tifa.

Dude, Tifa is the perfect woman – she’s hot and knows Matrix karate. Which is much better than stupid real life karate by at least a factor of three.

Cloud Strife is only popular because he encapsulates the anime/RPG fanboy’s wet dream – a vehement anti-social who still saves the world and gets any girl he wants. He can also wield giant swords without having any muscle mass to speak of, which is instantly appealing to the average enfeebled geek.

Also Considered: Squall Leonheart. He was only saved saved by the fact that he did, in fact, tap the girl.

29 Eevees were killed during the time it took to write this article.

29 Eevees were killed during the time it took to write this article.

3. Pokemon in general (of Michael Vicks approval fame)

Get two dogs. Starve them by isolating them in confined cages. When the time comes, unleash them upon each other, clawing and tearing at the other’s throats. Do this while a crowd cheers on. This would be, for the majority of the west, an inhumane, barbaric, and illegal act.

In Pokemon? It’s a celebrated activity, made all the more disturbing by the fact that children, and adults, are buying the games by the millions. It’s made selling like hotcakes, “selling like Pokemon.”

And I’m not trying to get all PETA-like here (I kind of despise animals in general), but just pointing out the innate craziness of the Pokemon concept in general. You’re essentially enslaving animals against their will (note the immense struggle they emit once you chuck a metal Poke-ball at their skulls) and then pitting them in gruelling cock fights.

And not just any ol’ cock fight, but one with lightning and magma and fucking psychic powers. Thinking about it, why the hell aren’t the Pokemon rising up and throwing off the shackles of their oppressors? With all the fire power at their disposal, why isn’t it them using us as the cocks? Why isn’t Pikachu locking Ash up at night, letting him piss and shit in a corner of the cage and forcing him to breed with Misty to “evolve” a superior human? Pull up your bootstraps Pokemons (would this be the proper plural? Pokemen? Pokemii?) and get your due rights.

Until then, just know that the adorable Piplup you send out to “battle” is getting viciously mauled and that by healing it, all you’re doing is snatching it away from the peaceful embrace of death and patching it up for another beating, creating a cycle of abuse that will reverberate through generations of Piplups for games to come.

Food for thought: The Pink Dragon Millipede is one animal I wouldn’t mind seeing extinct. Google it and you’ll know why, too.

Bringing bondage to the mainstream, babe.

Bringing bondage to the mainstream, babe.

2. Alucard (of being the digital Robert Pattinson fame)

Let’s get this out of the way – Symphony of the Night is one of the greatest video games ever created and a curse upon you and your family if you don’t agree. If you’ve never played it before, then too bad, you’re cursed by default. That’s the rules so don’t complain to me about it when the Lamia drags you to hell.

But let’s face it, during the interim between his greatest showing and now, we’ve gotten a goth trend, gotten to hating the goth trend, gotten the emo trend, gotten to hating the emo trend, and have most recently arrived at the vampire trend via Twilight AKA a preteen visual vibrator. From my experiences, the backlash is starting and I’m jumping on the bandwagon early because I’d like to think myself a trend setter, or at least a diligent follower.

With the inevitable hatred of all things slender and vampiric, I’m afraid Alucard will be taking the brunt of the videogame vitriol. He’s got the great feminine looks, form fitting clothing and fabulous hair.

He’s gotta go.

Even Konami has noticed, and the latest iteration, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, has a manly man wearing manly armour wielding a manly cross shaped bludgeon. To hypothetically bludgeon manly monsters to manly death, of manly course.

So take heed current lovers of Alucard, you’re not supposed to like him anymore. Mindless media trends dictate it!

Look at all that armour. There's nothing compensatory about it at all!

Look at all that armour. There's nothing compensatory about it at all!

To jump on the next bandwagon, we must now all like Brock Lesnar, the most undeserved champion contender in any sport, ever.

Unrelated Note: Zombies have always been better than vampires. That is a fact. But werewolves trump all. I mean, they’re wolf and man? That’s like kicking ass twice.

It's-a-me, your lazy-a contractor. That-a will be $5,000 dollars. Hoo-hoo!

It's-a-me, your lazy-a contractor. That-a will be $5,000 dollars. Hoo-hoo!

1. Mario (of plumbing and porn fame)

He’s a fucking plumber. He’s a fucking plumber who doesn’t plumb. So not only does he have a very undesirable job, he kind of sucks at it, too. Plus, he’s our very own 40 year old virgin, forever unable to tap Princess Peach despite a two decades long courtship. I’m pretty sure she already shacked up with Donkey Kong a few times over the years.

I’m sure even Toad scored with a koopa troopa or two.

Mario, the very most pathetic character in existence and also gamings greatest icon. Whatever that says about our society at large, I’ll let you figure it out.

And seriously, he looks like the type of guy you don’t want living across from the school your kid goes to.


Surveillance movie review

June 22, 2009
Not the greatest title, seeing it has little to do with it

Not the greatest title, seeing it has little to do with it

After hearing a little bit of buzz about this flick from a couple of film snob knowledgeable friends who thought I’d like an ultra violent and well made thriller, I decided to find myself a copy and see what the fuss (if you can call a couple of nerdy dorks masturbating on each other about it “fuss”) was all about? Did it live up to the hype? Yes, and maybe no. Maybe?

This is a good, solid, serial killer thriller (didn’t mean to rhyme) but one that hinges on its mystery and whodunnit nature. Unfortunately, the movie makes it blatantly obvious who’s to blame for what a good 20 or 30 minutes before we’re supposed to know. Because of this, it’s less suspenseful, and more an exercise of “great, now I’m just sitting here waiting for the rest of the characters to catch up.” It’s a bit irritating and the movie would have felt a bit less insulting if they never held up the charade to begin with.

I’m not at all being condescending about the movie’s intelligence. I never went in looking for clues to figure it all out to see how smart I am. It’s just really, really bad about clue placement. Hell, it’s one giant clue. If you watch the movie, you’ll know exactly the point I’m talking about when it occurs. I guess it was supposed to be subtle, but really, it was like being hit with a car. Then backed up over and mildly molested.

Once that realization occurs the movie effectively runs out of steam. Which is unfortunate, because up until this it was rather enjoyable for what it was – a grotesque little mystery. When there wasn’t a mystery anymore, you realize it really wasn’t all that grotesque either.

It doesn’t help that nobody in the movie is the least bit likeable. I understand the intent of Ms. Lynch (oh yeah, this was made by David Lynch’s daughter) to show human nature in the worst light, but c’mon. Throw me a bone here. When the most human character is a drugged out crackwhore who’s kind of a bitch, you know you have paper thin and repugnant characters. I don’t count the little girl because I make it a point to hate most child actors.

But enough of my mundane analysis, the question anyone considering watching this is how fucking crazy is the violence? Well, unfortunately the movie isn’t really that stomach churning. I was excited to see an ultra violent serial killer story, but aside from one instance of blood spraying (which I admit was pretty damn cool) the rest of the movie deals almost exclusively with gunshots and gunshots going through juicy bits of people. Only that the juicy bits aren’t very juicy.

Still, you get to see Bill Pullman let loose and after the initial shock of seeing ID4‘s President of the United States be all weird, it’s a really welcome performance. He should play these kinds of roles more often. He can only be the older mentor/father type for so long before you wanna move out.

If I have to rate this amongst the serial killer movie pantheon, it’d be somewhere right between the awful Bone Collector and the underated Wolf Creek. If you have an hour and a half and feel up for a nice bit of ultra violence (minus the ultra) you can do far worse with your time.

This is a good, solid, serial killer thriller (didn’t mean to rhyme)
but one that hinges on its mystery and whodunnit nature. Unfortunately,
the movie makes it blatantly obvious who’s to blame for what a good 20
or 30 minutes before we’re supposed to know. Because of this, it’s less
suspenseful, and more an exercise of “great, now I’m just sitting here
waiting for the rest of the characters to catch up.”

I’m not at all being condescending to the movie’s intelligence. I never went in looking for clues to figure it all out to see how smart I am. If you watch the movie, you’ll know exactly the point I’m talking about when it occurs. I guess it was supposed to be subtle, but really, it was
like being hit with a car. Once that realization occurs the movie
effectively runs out of steam. Which is unfortunate, because up until
this it was rather enjoyable for what it was – a grotesque little
mystery.

Once there wasn’t a mystery anymore, you realize it really wasn’t all
that grotesque either.


Why George Lucas suck in one image:

June 15, 2009

Evolution of Lucas

Someone forwarded this to me and I didn’t even need to read the message. I knew exactly the meaning. By moving away from the practical, Lucas lost his soul as a film maker. The mighty green screen let Lucas “really” let loose, and apparently the only thing he needed to unleash was diarrhea.

Not sure what the source is, but god bless ya.


I can’t explain…

June 12, 2009

…how fucking awesome this link is.

Just click it and enjoy some bizarre, but ridiculously cool, Japanese…stuff. Is it a virus? No, but I’m willing to bet it’ll soon be viral.


Just caught the first 10 minutes of Paris Hiltons BFF show…

June 11, 2009
We are all dumber for this

We are all dumber for this

…and I’m more retarded for it. The human race is more retarded for it. How this show exists and why people watch it boggles my mind. I’m also to believe this is the second season of Paris Hilton’s My New BFF which only depresses me even more.

Is it because Paris is hot? Because she’s one ugly person, both physically and mentally. I mean I get more turned on looking at fungus growing on a tree than I do Paris Hilton. Is it because she lives a glamorous lifestyle? Because all I see is a drug and alcohol filled stupor and venereal disease.

I get celebutantes and our fascination for them. Here are famous people that most others have nothing better to do than live vicariously through. Hell, I do that with George Clooney all the time. But I think there needs to be a differentiation between someone who is interesting, smart and glamorous and someone who is, well, Paris fucking Hilton. Kristen Stewart, despite her constantly greased up appearance and stoner eyes, at least worked her way to her position through quality acting and dedication. Hell, even Lindsey Lohan had to work for what she eventually pissed away. Paris Hilton was born with a silver spoon up her vagina and has a penchant for videotaped sex. She is a drunk, skanky, addict and really has very few redeeming qualities as a human being.

And yet millions of people watch her show weekly, and not just for ironic purposes (like I attempted and failed at doing) but because they legitimately adore Paris Hilton! Because they strive to be her! Because Paris Hilton is a role model. No wonder there are so many bitchy 16 year olds wanting Super Sweet 16s.

I really don’t blame the people. People are easily manipulated into wanting anything. Hell, I swerved on a street after seeing a billboard for Bud Light Lime so I can get to the Beer Store, and it sucked. But honestly, is there some kind of subliminal message being distributed around all the gossip rags and TMZs and Perez Hiltons forcing people to pay attention to Paris fucking Hilton? Because unlike a Bud Light Lime, Paris Hilton is an affront to human kind and all things decent.

As for the show – what..the..fuck? Paris Hilton picks friends on a reality show? There are actually people willing to humiliate themselves to be Paris Hilton’s fake best friend for a year? And I mean really want it? Because from what I can tell there isn’t a cash incentive for the lunacy, just a real desire to be close to their idol. It’s like watching an emotional snuff film.

I firmly believe this show has put humanity, and especially women, back a good century of advancement.


Before they were famous

June 7, 2009

Over at Perez Hilton (yeah, I read it, wanna fight about it?) there’s a fun little feature with a bunch of photos of stars before they made it. I found it fun playing with a few friends, hand covering the area with the name, guessing who each star was. I’m glad to say I won by a landslide…Which for some reason doesn’t exactly fill me with unearthly pride, either.

So, who do you think this is? Click the picture for the full gallery.

Who?

Let's just say that she sure is "ugly"


Conan see’s a ratings drop, as expected.

June 3, 2009
Hang in there, buddy.

Hang in there, buddy.

Like I predicted, Conan suffers a 30% drop off in viewership, from a 7.1 down to a 5.0. That’s from 8.5 million viewers to about 6 million viewers for those that prefer that metric. The show is still handily beating Letterman (which had a 3.0 rating, 3.6 million viewers), but we’ll see tonight if the dip will be a continuing trend.

On the bright side, the 5.0 rating is still quite a bit higher than what Leno was averaging during his waning months (a 3.9 or roughly 4.7 million). Keep in mind that a late night show simply can’t support primetime-like ratings. It’s on after most primetime viewers are fast asleep, after all. The only real threat are the baby boomers and older demographic deciding Conan’s weird hijinks are a little much and opt to either sleep or to move on over to Letterman, where although not as innocuous as Leno, he’s still not as crazy and weird as Conan.

As for last night’s episode I still think Conan is relying on remotes too much. Though I loved them on Late Night, it was because they were such a treat when they happened. Having two or three every night kind of takes away from that feeling. Introduce some new features or bring back some old favourites. Talking mouth Governator would be pretty awesome to see, especially if you can somehow get the real one to show up, too. Tom Hanks was lively and Green Day was okay. They still need to give Andy a more significant role in the proceedings, though.


Nintendo and Sony press conference reactions

June 2, 2009
Hello stilted and unentertaining female Reggie.

Hello stilted and unentertaining female Reggie.

I love E3 conferences. More so than the show floor, it’s where the major announcements are made and the lasting impacts are achieved. If you don’t roll out with a kickass conference, your E3 showing is considered a bust even if your demos rocked.

You have to love the cut throat mindset of rabid gamers.

Today had back to back conferences with Nintendo and Sony laying their cards out to bare. One I had no expectations for, the other I had pinned as possibly stealing the show if it played it’s cards right. How did the two manage? Let’s start off with the easier of the two – Nintendo.

Read the rest of this entry »


EGM is alive!

May 30, 2009

Electronic Gaming Monthly is my all time favourite magazine. I always picked it up at the newstand every month and it became my official toilet read for the next month. Ahhh the memories. But then when I finally hunkered down and subscribed, the bitch got cancelled two issues in and I was never issued a fucking refund. I was both saddened at the end of my favourit shit read but also pissed, so it was doubly angering.

Well, 1up announces the magazine’s coming back, which is extremely heartening news in a time where print media is waning (though I don’t exactly see a dirth in the newstands). I’ll never, ever, subscribe again but I do look forward to my month shit read coming back, hopefully with its integrity and most of its fired staff in tow.


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