History Teacher Nerd

Rage Fails to Read on PS3

2011-10-13T17:39:00.000-07:00

Frustratingly, Rage for the PS3 fails to work on my console. I put about three hours in my first session, and when I tried to play again, the disc icon failed to show up under games. It was there under recently played, but not with the start option. I ejected, turned off and on, and couldn't get it to work. I tried DVDs and BluRays and other games, and they all worked. I was afraid my laser wasn't working on dual layer discs, but found later that I had an error message: "80010514" which apparently is a faulty install due to bad sectors on the hard disk. I tried deleting and reinstalling, and that worked once. It failed to read on reboot after that, and when I tried it again, I consistently get the same error message. I was planning on playing, beating, and reselling it, but I suppose I'll have to jump to step three.

Catching Fire

2011-10-01T23:44:00.000-07:00

+I love the fleshing out of the world of Panem. It was one element hinted at in The Hunger Games I was glad to see more of.

+Katniss' commentary on Districts 11 vs. 12 may be a commentary on blacks vs. poor whites. Maybe an acknowledgment that police brutality of blacks is worse than of poor whites?

+In re-reading, I noticed more hints of PTSD. They make Katniss' eventual disintegration as a narrator more realistic.

+Katniss is a consistent reluctant hero. Her insistence that someone else has to take up the burden, or is better suited, is downright Jesus-like.

+The move from a struggle for survival towards a struggle for revolution comes largely through Katniss' empathy and recognition of the need for solidarity.

+The idea that governments' repressive cyclicalness is ripped right from history. The Capitol's strictness leads to dissent, which causes more crackdowns.

+In re-reading it, I couldn't help but notice the overlap with Tunisia and its inspired revolutions. Katniss starts a fire that, even if nearby areas aren't fully aware, still causes the fire to spread.

+It's not until after the Capitol shuts down transportation that we realize how interdependent the districts are. It reminds me of the colonial mercantilism Europe employed. By crippling the colonies, it made them easier to control, and less likely to fight back.

+Lastly, the Capitol's use of information and disinformation is well-established. We'll see this concept further developed in Mockingjay by District 13.

Person of Interest

2011-09-30T18:42:00.000-07:00

+Jim Caviezel's narrating reminds me of how badass he was in Count of Monte Cristo.

+Subway Caviezel is like homeless Jason Bourne.

+The idea of being off the grid (only needing a name if you're in trouble) seems like a concept that will be explored in a surveillance-themed show. And reminds me quite a bit of John Conner in Terminator 3.

+Ben, from Lost, has just the right balance of sincerity and desperation.

+The idea of predicting murders was perhaps ripped from Minority Report? But with more science and less metaphysics. Problem is, are they going to explain what data the computer uses to extrapolate?

+I like the idea that Ben is frustrated with having knowledge and lacking the ability to do something. And that Jim has the ability, but lacks PURPOSE.

+Jim was lied to by the government, but the real problem, I think, is that he lost a loved on. The Postman dealt with the idea that sacrificing one's loved ones for a great cause just leaves us empty, and hollow, and this seems to agree.

+Budget-closed libraries are a nice touch, although a bit obvious.

-Wow. The DA is prosecuting a black drug dealer. That was a shocker.

-Uh, yeah. DAs don't go into cells with unrestrained defendants.

-A white guy in a sports coat outside a NYC public school. That's not odd. Did special forces not teach him to blend in?

+Jim's attitude and ability to simply dismantle the white punks amused me. And all with non-lethal shots.

-Shooting a gas grenade into a moving car is a great way to kill everyone inside, including the person you're trying to rescue.

-/+Crooked cops are a such a lazy enemy, although I guess it's good to get them out of the way. And it ties into the theme of needing vigilantism.

+Ben's switch from capitalist to patriot sums up the post-9/11 world. And the emphasis on individuals instead of governments seems suitably post-24.

+Ah! And the lack of details is explained by limited information to reduce risk of exposure. Nice.

-/+The rationalization that stealing is okay because big business steals more is ripped from the headlines, and only slight less lazy than crooked cops.

Bioshock: Rapture

2011-09-29T17:52:00.000-07:00

+Ryan seems to have come from Russia and changed his name to a non-Russian sounding one, just like Ayn Rand. In fact, I just realized, their names sound similar.

+I like the reference to strikes being Soviet infiltration, and then the use of Pinkertons as strikebreakers.

+It's interesting to think of Rapture as a reaction to the threat of Mutually Assured Destruction. Bioshock 1 made it seem like more a response to increase government intervention post-WWII, but the Cold War explanation makes equal sense.

-Thus far (15% of the way in or so), the story seems to be unfolding pretty much identically to the video game, which removes much of the suspense.

+The characters, however, are well-realized, including ones like Andrew Ryan (directly from the game) as well as new, original characters.

+This book just gets better and better. The interplay between both characters and ideologies feels natural, and is explored profoundly.

+I especially like the inherent contradictions of Rapture (a word with strong Christian connotations). Ryan wants a free market paradise, but he voluntarily spent huge amounts of money to create a paradise for others in an act of altruism. Somehow he imagined everyone would become rich, when the reality is that those who came were already at opposite ends of the political spectrum. He assumed that he would be able to find people of all necessary professions who believed in Objectivism, and he assumed incorrectly.

+I love the twist with Fontaine being a grifter who assumed Fontaine's identity. The idea of him having an even longer con that first implied is a nice twist. And the efforts he spent entering Rapture make his part in Bioshock 1 even more profound.

+Sofia Lamb's part is the newest to me of the game characters. I played through Bioshock 2 quickly on a Gamefly rental, and don't recall the plot very closely. Although her ideals seem communist-like, it's unclear how much overlap there is between them. I'll need to replay. Her emphasis seems to be on emotional and social communalism rather than economic equality.

-It's unclear what Fontaine's endgame was. Certainly he could increase his power in Rapture, but he had to realize (as he was more opportunistic and less philosophically obsessed like Ryan) that Rapture would either physically or socially fall apart. And then he'd end up king of a wasteland, as he did.

-Lamb seems to disappear in the last 1/3. I understand that's because she was consolidating power and didn't appear in Bioshock 1, but it made her role even less clear.

+I did, however, appreciate how the tensions between Fontaine/Atlas and Ryan seemed to be their own little version of MAD.

+I don't want to give away the ending, but it really touched me. I almost started crying, and that's saying a lot.

+The monologue/audio diaries were outstanding. I don't recall which of them are simply transcripts from the game and which are original, but they still stood out to me.

+This novelization reminded me of the fan-novel of Planescape: Torment, only better because it had original content. After reading it, I have a desire to replay both Bioshock 1 and 2.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution

2011-09-28T20:53:00.000-07:00

-This game is REALLY talky. I've been surfing the Internet for about ten minutes or so since starting the game, and haven't gotten a chance to do anything except walk to a lady and press square to talk.

+The dialog is fairly well written, and decently voice acted, although Jensen's voice sounds overly mumbly and seems to substitute raspiness for talent.

+What I've read about the themes seem interesting. The idea of transhuman augmentation does raise some good questions. Hopefully they deal with them in a more meaningful way than simple Luddite opposition. The graphic novel (and to some extent film) Surrogates did a good job at this.

-I may have to adjust the R-stick sensitivity. I'm having a hard time even pressing buttons.

+The conversation system has gotten praise, and well-deservedly. The brief summaries eliminate ambiguity in LA Noire, although I'm curious to see how much variance there is in switching hostile and ignoring responses.

-I retract my kind words, as I found out the conversations are randomized. Two options may make sense based upon the character's dialogue and augment description, but there's no way to know which of the two is right.

-The gold color scheme is consistent, but ugly.

-There's no mistaking the game is massive. For my tastes, it's overwhelmingly massive.

+/-The upgrade system seems well implemented, although I'm already concerned about making an ineffective character. The need to buy upgrades to either explore or even complete early side quests concerns me.

-For no logical reasons, side missions can easily become unavailable. I pursued story missions in Detroit assuming I could go back to side missions. And then found they were permanently locked out. I suppose it makes sense from a story standpoint, but it is annoying nonetheless.

+I like the touch of a superficially revitalized Detroit.

+The plot was interesting enough, with characters I either liked or disliked. It reminded of Bioshock, in that the characters were largely stand-ins for different philosophical viewpoints.

-The "plot twists", and I use that term loosely, were marginally interesting, only not really. Adam's DNA gave birth to augments? The character is really an AI? I have to choose which faction wins? None of this was remarkable.

+I appreciate the fact that I can get all 4 endings without having to replay the whole game.

-I do recognize that it really cheapens the legitimacy and buy-in for the ending.

-I'm bummed out that the endings don't really show what happens after.

+I did love the montages for the endings, and I'm trying desperately to figure out a way to integrate them into my classes.

+Altogether, though, I'd rather replay this right after just beating it, rather than continue Dead Space 2. And I'd rather continue Dead Space 2 than continue Two Worlds 2.

The Lion King

2011-09-25T23:24:00.000-07:00

-$28.50 for two people is absurd. I'm not tempted to illegally download the film simply to get back at ... someone.

-Seeing a kids' film in the theater is a bad idea, as there are many kids in the theater.

+The 3D was quite well done. I know recent films that had 3D added after the fact were pretty lackluster, so I'm impressed they were able to get it done so well.

+The central theme seems to be accepting responsibility rather than living a carefree life, and by extension having adult responsibilities rather than the hedonism of youth.

+I hadn't realized until rewatching it exactly how brotastic Timon and Pumba are.

+Or, after hearing from someone at a wedding, how flamboyant Scar is.

-They never really explain a) how all the other lionesses play into the love relationship between Mufasa and Serabi; or b) what happens now that Simba is king, and Serabi is still part of the harem; or c) why there's only one male [really, the rest of the lions are very, very unsatisfied].

-I'm not a big fan of hereditary monarchies, and this is no exception. "King of the Jungle" is fine and all, but really the supposed teamwork between predators and prey is overly simplistic.

-How exactly does Scar's allowing hyenas in cause a drought? And Simba returning end the drought? And why exactly are hyenas bad?

-/+The film got complaints for having Whoopi Goldberg (black) and Cheech Marin (Latino) as the two hyenas. They're not only evil, but sidekicks to the British villain. In that vein, the inconsistent accents drove me nutsy. Maus, by contrast, was consistent. James Earl Jones, however, reminded me of how awesome a voice actor he was.

-Hakuna Matata literally means "no worries" but not colloquially. Instead, it means "enjoy life". That's quite a difference between a life guided by running from responsibility and appreciating one's surroundings. It reminds me of Bobby McFerin's Don't Worry Be Happy being stolen by the Republicans. Really, the film's perversion of a Swahili greeting gets pretty far from its purpose.

Crysis 2

2011-09-21T17:44:00.000-07:00

+The graphics are quite nice, although not as obviously impressive as Crysis 1. I'm playing it on Xbox 360, so that might be why.

+The simplification of the nanosuit is mostly positive. Switching between armor, stealth, and neither is a lot less distracting than between the five suits in Crysis 1, especially because I didn't use the other ones.

-The plot is absolutely nonsensical. Crysis 1's story was pretty meaningless, and this one is worse. The jumping around in time, between characters, etc. made an uninteresting story difficult to understand.

-The characters, even though there were really only five or so, were underdeveloped and unrelatable.

-Another PMC? They're the new Nazis, but in a thoughtless and meaningless way. I want a game to show PMCs as bad for the reasons they're actually bad: exploiting public funds to violate the rules of war.

+The arsenal has a good feel to it. Although most of the game is the same four or so weapons, the attachments make a nice addition.

+The nanosuit upgrades are nice, although a lot of them are largely worthless. I was glad to find out that, due in part to large amounts of currency at the end of the game, I was able to fully upgrade my suit.

Contagion

2011-09-19T22:44:00.000-07:00

+Overall an enjoyable movie with a great cast. It's a tad grim, but it deals with grim subject matter.

+Laurence Fishburne is a standout, and I appreciate the casting of a black guy as a major player in the CDC, as I do with the female doctor ultimately developing the vaccine. John Hawkes as the white janitor rounds out the great casting against stereotype.

+The film, in my mind, does a great job posing a case as to why government bureaucracies are necessary. The whiny local politicians, profiteering bloggers, etc. are very unsympathetic compared to the doctors and health policy experts who dedicate their lives to saving others.

+The film earns bonus points for correctly describing the 1918 Spanish flu.

+The film also apparently does a good job explaining the science of epidemiology, at least according to wikipedia.

+Social media gets big mentions, not only with Jude Law's douchebag blogging, but also with the role Facebook played in revealing Fishburne's notification of his fiancee.

-I was disappointed to see that his fiancee couldn't keep a secret, and her friend posted it on Facebook. Because not only be women talking, they be posting too.

+Bonus points for using SF landmarks I actually recognize (like the bandshell in GG Park) as opposed to cliched things like the Transamerica Tower.

+I liked the consideration that the outbreak was related to terrorism, as realistically any and all biological threats are.

-I realize the film probably didn't want to be too heavy-handed, but I think it missed the chance to make a few relevant points more strongly. The factory farming of meat creates perfect conditions to develop super-diseases like bat/pig flu. Also, the mining company that Gwenyth Paltrow worked for knocked over the tree that dislodged the bat that dropped its banana in the pig facility, etc. In other words, human actions directly caused the spread of disease.

+I mostly liked the portrayal of China. Yes, the government is concerned about embarrassing itself and losing tourism revenue, but so were politicians in the states. The Chinese epidemiologist (the accountant in Dark Knight!) was sympathetic in his kidnapping of Marion Cotillard, who perhaps because of Stockholm Syndrome (and perhaps because she realized innocent kids shouldn't die because their government is shitty) chose to run back and tell them they had gotten a placebo.

Super

2011-09-16T22:30:00.000-07:00

+I've been looking to this always, especially moreso when I saw the panel at Wondercon.

+The cast is terrific. Rainn Wilson and Ellen Page are the main draws, but Nathan Fillion, Kevin Bacon, Linda Cardinelli, Bubbles (from Oz), the sheriff from Firefly's The Train Job, and Michael Rooker are spectacular, unexpected surprises.

-WTF with the tentacle?!?!? Twice?!?!?

+Rainn gives a refreshingly un-Dwight-like performance.

+I like how they set up Frank as a plausible character. He's lonely and directionless enough to think that this is a good idea.

-Batman does NOT use pipe bombs.

+The pipe wrench as a weapon is suitably realistic, as are the problematic use by amateurs of grappling hooks and smoke bombs.

-With the exception of the line cutter, the use of the pipe wrench is overly cartoony, and detracts from the otherwise realistic-ness.

+I'm not much of a fan of acoustic guitar, but I like the soundtrack.

+Frank has a really nice place for a short order cook.

+The Crimson Bolt vs. Bolty contrast plays with the brutality and extremeness in a clever way.

-The multiple rape scenes at the end really threw me off.

Call of Juarez: The Cartel

2011-09-05T11:33:00.000-07:00

-I never played the earlier games, except some of Bound in Blood, which I found unimpressive.
I know this is supposed to be edgy and ripped from the headlines, but it's morally problematic to have a game centered around an ongoing drug war, which is devastating Mexico, created and played by the same first world nation whose drug addiction is fueling said drug war.

-There's no option to install, and I've typed all this during the first loading screen. Not a good sign.

-This game is hideous, with gratuitious swearing instead of actual interstingness or maturity.

-The beginning driving sequence has me spinning around shotgun in a car, only to have my character start flopping all over the place. I assumed it was a glitch, and then a cutscene started. WTF.

-Invading Mexico because a cartel blows up an LAPD station. Why would a cartel blow up the LAPD? Running illegal black ops is better than an invasion?

-I'm glad for the option to skip the cutscenes, but the "O skip movie" over the lady's head is distracting.

+They get points for diversity, but it's forced and doesn't mitigate the offensiveness of the plot.

-This isn't a Western, no matter how much it wants to be.

-There's a reason why no one does 1st person driving, at least not unless there are other options.

-The audio keeps cutting out, which isn't terrible because the sound is AWFUL.

+The gameplay does get better. In particular, different collectibles, with the added nuance of avoiding teammates' detection, is a nice twist.

-Unfortunately, this doesn't add to replay value because I'm barely making it through a single playthrough.

-This game is incredibly unpolished. Consider the subtitles, for example. They either don't match the spoken dialog and/or drop prepositions.

-The AI chatter is annoying. Guerra alternating between "You don't have to do this all yourself" and "you'd be dead if we weren't watching your back" bothers me to no end, especially because the're largely useless. Except when I'm trying to get hand to hand knockouts for trophies, in which case they're quite effective.

+/-I have to amend my comments on the insensitivity of the plot. The plot is to disjointed and illogical to be offensive.

-OMG, ANOTHER PMC.

-The loading times are really quite awful for such an ugly game.

+The ending wasn't bad, I was glad to have the choice to kill my teammates or not. I chose to, not for any narrative reasons, but because I was pissed as hell at them and wanted them to all DIE.

+/-I was temporarily considering replaying, to see the other characters' secret agendas and endings, and to get to level 21 and unlock all the weapons. Then I realized how broken the gameplay was, with awful AI, poor scripting, uneven difficulty, broken achievements (like the helicopter one), and random freezing.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

2011-08-28T22:52:00.000-07:00

+This is one of my favorite series of all time. The tone was inconsistent, but the gameplay was tightly executed, and the Prince had more of an arc than most.

+A Persian hero and Indian heroine are rare, and they're likeable enough.

-I had forgotten how annoying the British accents are, especially considering the supposed character nationalities and setting.

+Farrah in particular is a model of a strong female character.

+Hipster Prince did parkour-esque gameplay before it was mainstream.

-The combat is super repetitive, which is something later games fix.

+The difficulty is pretty punishing, if you're going for the rewind time less than 20 times trophy. Then again, it was designed with rewinding time in mind, so I don't see that as a problem.

+This is great case of unity of vision. The dagger of time is essential both to gameplay and story, and is executed well in both.

+The other great benefit are the visions of the upcoming section. It avoids the frustration of meaningless, directionless exploration.

+Both of these factors were replaced by Elika in the cel-shaded, much maligned 2008 version, which I personally loved. They don't make the game easier, per se, but they treat my time with respect, so I don't have mindlessly wander, dying and restarting checkpoints as I do so.

-Farrah's usefulness, besides her archery, is because she's skinny and can fit into small spaces ... really ...

-The constant, unskippable cutscenes of The Prince putting away his weapons are annoying. It's only a second or two at a time, but they're non-stop.

+The super short loading screens are great.

+Farrah's death was moving, and far more than Aerith's in FFVII.

+The voice over narration is a great technique to explain his immortality (even w/o the dagger).

+The complete circle with the opening narration tying in with the end, coupled with restarting the romance (or possibility thereof) are AWESOME.

-The end boss of #1 is a bit anti-climactic, although I guess that's to be expected with no other real boss battles.

+The level design is simply outstanding. The environments are a bit repetitive, but the placement of obstacles, pillars, crossbeams, etc. are unparalleled. It's why the Assassin's Creed 2 tomb missions were my favorites, because they reminded me of these.

+The ending is touching, and a nice conclusion to one of the better-written love stories in a video game.

Dungeon Raid

2011-08-28T13:30:00.000-07:00

Dungeon Raid is an impossibly addictive mobile game that combines the best elements of match 3 gameplay with light RPG elements.

There's surprising depth with a mixture of skills that isn't obvious at first.

There are also 10 different classes, which start out with a specific race attached, which can then be later customized.

Unfortunately the customization doesn't work too well on my iPhone, because there's a 1/4 inch strip at the bottom of the touch screen that doesn't work.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

2011-08-24T16:11:00.000-07:00

+Overall an enjoyable sci-fi film, although I vaguely recall the original Planet of the Apes and none of the others. Trying to reconcile the timelines may make it less enjoyable.

+The characters are fairly compelling, although it's odd to see John Lithgow as the Alzheimer's patient.

+The casting is good, especially with a black CEO and an Indian veterinarian.

+Andy Serkis, as usual, steals the show. I'm not sure how much is him and how much is special effects, but DAMN Caesar is compelling.

+I'm curious if it was intentional to have Draco Malfoy use a water hose on the black chimp.

+The switch from global thermonuclear war to supervirus as the cause of the human extinction makes sense to me, not only because of the fall of the USSR, but now the apes and the extinction of mankind happen because of the same causal incident.

Mass Effect: Revelation

2011-08-22T15:52:00.000-07:00

+Mass Effect: Revelation does most of the things it promises to: give a solid lead-up to the events of the first game, fill in the backstory between Anderson and Saren, and explore the world of Mass Effect even more.

-The characters aren't really well-developed. Anderson and Saren are sort of generic optimal human and Turian respectively. Besides them, there's a new female character, and then none others to speak of. The closest thing to an arch-villain isn't really fleshed out.

+The plot moves along well, with good pacing between action and world-building. It's curious that these elements are so strong with such under-developed characters.

-I really wish we had more time to see other races. And that we could see some exceptions to racial stereotypes. We had one Krogan, who was very Krogan-y, Saren, who was very Turan-y, etc. Why is it that sci-fi/fantasy have to rely so heavily on homogenous populations?

+A lot of the themes that come out in Mass Effect 1 (resentment of humans, AI research, organized crime, etc.) have some solid backstory here.

Robopocalypse

2011-08-21T13:42:00.000-07:00

-The only downside to this book, as you can see from the above link, is the cover art brought to you from the uncanny valley, with a brief stopover in my nightmares.

+Every other aspect of this novel is outstanding. I compare it to World War Z, another post-apocalyptic false oral history of a global war against robots rather than zombies.

+Robopocalypse gets a thumbs up for having a diverse cast, although there's more US focus than I'd like. They get somewhat of a pass from me since it makes sense for the characters to be Americans, as so many of them are related.

+I burned through it in about 24 hours, at the expense of sleep. This is a testimony not only to superb overall writing, but specifically the foreshadowing and tiny hints dropped about how the stories tie together.

+The narrative is much more focused than in World War Z, which is mostly a good thing. We get to see more of character arcs and bond with individuals, though this comes at the expense of what happens in countries besides the US, UK, Afghanistan, and Japan.

+An idea for a sequel: what happens to developing countries. They have less robots, so they'd possibly fare better, but then again they have less technical know-how (generally).

-The AI's motivation in allowing humans to survive wasn't entirely clear to me. I had to re-read those sections a few times, and I'm still not entirely sure I grasp it.

+Overall, though, I can't recommend this enough.

Crazy, Stupid, Love

2011-08-20T22:48:00.000-07:00

+An outstanding, intelligence romantic comedy drama with a winning cast and a clever script.

-The title seems grammatically incorrect. If it's saying that love is crazy and stupid, which seems to be the case, then the title should read "Crazy, Stupid Love" without the second comma.

+Steve Carell is terrific as always, as is Emma Stone. Ryan Gosling has come a long way since the skinny hick from Remember the Titans, in both acting and physique. Julianne Moore has solid comedy skills, as shown previously on 30 Rock. Marisa Tomei and Kevin Bacon are underused, but so underadvertised that I was still surprised to even see them in it.

+I saw this shortly before seeing The Change-Up, and this film is better in every respect. Both deal with the dichotomy between family man and ladies man, but while Crazy, Stupid, Love has thoughtful, moving things to say, The Change-Up has nothing to contribute, not even in the realm of stupid comedy.

+The major plot twists involving Marisa Tomei's character and Ryan Gosling's changed relationship with Steve Carell were well done.

-The only kvetch I have is with "Nana". That's typically a nickname for a grandmother, so for them to use it another way seemed unnatural and awkward.

+The near-end scene with the unresolved conflicts boiling over with physical comedy violence was masterfully done.

-The babysitter's crush was a little uncomfortable, but her giving nude pictures to the 13 year old was over the top. She's still 17, making the pictures legally kiddie porn. And she's over the lesser-known 16 age of consent, so she's committing a sex offense against an under-16 minor.

+Kudos to casting Ivy from The Dollhouse as Emma Stone's best friend.

-Too bad there are no characters of color except for the random women who get scammed on by Gosling and Carell. There's the principal, a strong black woman, who counts for something, but otherwise the people of color are scenery.

+The "Miyagi-ing" was also cleverly executed. It seemed as though Gosling was just using Carell as a prop in his womanizing, rather than teaching through doing.

+The idea that men, even womanizing ones, want stability and emotional connection, is a rare and mature stance for a film to take.

+Not just in its plot (a young man pursuing the daughter of the older man he's work/social superior), but in style, I found this film similar to In Good Company, but more on the comedy side than that one.

+Note that Emma Stone also starred in Easy A, which also dealt with The Scarlet Letter.

Xbox Live Arcade Triple Pack

2011-08-19T11:20:00.000-07:00

+Solid value, as I was able to trade the disc after I was done, which I would not be able to with the downloadable versions.

+Trials is really engaging in the beginning, and there's a gentle learning curve to start.

-It quickly becomes impossibly difficult to get anything higher than a bronze in later levels.

-Limbo was the biggest disappointment to me. It seemed promising, and was the next indie darling in the line of Braid, supposedly. The mechanics were unimpressive, and while the art style was striking, the lack of direction gradually wore on me.

+Splosion Man was the breakout hit for me. I was expecting basically nothing, and ended up with a platformer that was much more fun than either of the above. The most impressive part was the clever introduction of brand new mechanics.

Brink

2011-08-17T22:37:00.000-07:00

-Brink is every bit as bad as every review said.

-Multiplayer is very limited, as the masses have moved onto better games. This is problematic because the bot AI is among the stupidest ever. These two factors led me to give up after perhaps four hours.

-The art style makes it impossible to tell what class a character is, and really characters don't play differently enough.

-Class skills aren't really available until tons of grinding. The medic, for example, has one lame revive ability, and that's it to start. To unlock pre-death healing, I'd have to play hours with the moron bots.

-The narrative is fundamentally weak. The premise of playing freedom fighters or security fighters is promising, but falls flat. The cutscenes, voice acting, lack of characters or personalities, married to the sub-par gameplay, make Brink hard to recommend.

Socom 4

2011-08-17T16:14:00.000-07:00

+/-It's much more shootery than I was expecting, although I thought earlier ones weren't shootery enough, so I guess that's a good thing.

-Yet another brown-haired American male soldier? At least he's not in space.

+I'm glad for the chance to play as an Asian (not Asian-American) woman. Her initial insistence on following the mission fits with culturally Korean deference to authority.

+It's nice to have Southeast Asian terrorist/pirate group instead of an Arab/African one. It's unclear what country I'm in or what language the bad guys are speaking. I suppose that's a different route than making up a country.

+I ultimately have sympathy for Razad. Sure, some merchandise and first world cargo ships get destroyed. Meanwhile, his developing nation starts an economic boom.

-Waitaminute, ANOTHER evil PMC?

-The backstory seems very convoluted. There's something about generic military guy and some mission before where someone gets assassinated. It needs to be better explained if they're going to link it to earlier Socoms.

+I appreciate the international military focus. True, it's largely the surviving American unit, but they're joined by Koreans and an Irish/Scottish? support person.

-The last few missions have crazy higher difficulty, with poorer than earlier missions' checkpoint locations.

+/-The option to kill Gorman isn't implemented very well. It's the only quick-time event type element in the whole game. Plotwise, though, I like the option 45 has to arrest Gorman for war crimes, or enact vengeance.

The Walking Dead

2011-08-16T21:15:00.000-07:00

+Terrific re-imagining of an awesome comic book series.

+This is a credit not only to the cast and crew, but also to a 6-episode series. Obviously I wish there was more, but the fact that all of the resources (time) especially, poured into a 25%-30% long season definitely helped.

+The new characters are a hit. Michael Rooker as Dixon is amusing and hate-able as hell. Morgan's wife, who has no dialogue, is still a wonderful addition. The only flaw I see is that there are somehow unnamed extras in the group. Why?

+The plot differences are great as well. If it was a direct adaptation, it would lose a lot of suspense, as I've read and re-read the entire series. If it was totally different, I'd still know what to expect since it would not be like the comics. But since some of it is the same, and some is different, the audience is left with a sense of delightful ambiguity.

+I met Kirkman at Wondercon 2011, and thanked him for Glenn: an Asian-American strategic bad-ass who hot-wires cars and marries a white woman. He retorted that Glenn's actually good at math, but that happens off panel. I'm glad for the Latino guy (is he even named, though?) as a regular family guy, as well as T-Dog as a not-particularly-stereotypical character. The entire episode Vatos, however, totally mindfucks with TV stereotypes.

+Shane and Lori's relationship is different and in a good way. In the comics, Lori and Shane only have sex once, and when Rick comes back Lori pretty much shuts Shane out totally. In the TV series, they seem to continually have sex, and Lori interacts with Shane to blame him for telling her Rick was dead. One of the biggest surprises (beyond the CDC) was the fact that Karl didn't kill Shane like he did in the comics. Spoiler alert, btw.

+The choice of Fort Benning vs. CDC demonstrates a well-developed world. My initial thought was to check Google maps or Facebook, etc. More importantly, Shane's desire to kill and Rick's desire to protect, plays itself out through their choices.

Sherlock Holmes

2011-08-15T07:31:00.000-07:00

-The film follows a number of character traits directly from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's works. Holmes has an opium problem, and Watson has a drinking problem.

-The film follows some movie conventions that stray from the novels and short stories. At the same time, the choices are in keeping with the spirit of the written stories. The film's need for a romantic love interest is Irene Adler, at least, rather than a random newly created woman. The action sequences might seem out of place, but Holmes intellectual form of fighting is at least inspired by the novels and short stories.

-Holmes' social ineptness is also in keeping with the written stories. It's unclear whether his social incompetence led to his staggering genius or vice versa. Both directions of causality make sense.

-I doubted Robert Downey Jr.'s acting and accent abilities, but he does a great job. Perhaps his substance abuse problems helped him in the roles of Tony Stark and Sherlock Holmes.

-I never really understood the desire to mash up Holmes with the supernatural. I was happy to see that, at the end, Holmes explains the seemingly supernatural with cold, pure logic.

-The subtle references to political elitism, imperialism, and WWI's chemical weapons are all nice touches.

Alphas

2011-08-12T22:11:00.000-07:00

-This show reminds be quite a bit of Heroes, as I'm guessing the creators expected.

-I like the diverse cast. Well, really the fact that there's an Afghani actress.

-I also like the way powers seem to reflect their personalities/histories. Although the strong black guy is a big cliched.

-Also, the young lady's enhanced senses are NOT synesthesia, which is combined senses, like seeing sound and tasting color. Hm ... but later they do show her seeing smell. I guess it counts as enhanced?

-Come to think of it, the entire cast comes from somewhere else. Admittedly, there's a limit to superpowers, but still.

Strong black guy: Luke Cage
Attractive mind control lady: Emma Frost, Poison Ivy
Autistic tech genius: Drummer from Planetary
Super sense lady: Bionic Woman-ish and Synesthesia from Top 10
Bullet-Curving Super Sniper: Wesley Gibson from Wanted?

-I thought they were a government task force, based on the DoD files, but it seems unclear. I had hoped this would pick up where some of Heroes' possible futures left off.

-The hints dropped about evil alphas involved in criminal enterprises is tantalizing. They'd better explore the hell out of that.

-Super-strength vs. perfect balance makes for a surprisingly entertaining fight.

-Adrenaline guy only having his powers for a short time is a realistic limitation. I approve.

-The banter between the characters seems organic, and that's a good thing. The team has nothing in common except different powers. With everything else drastically different, it makes sense that they wouldn't really get along.

-The Ghost is OCD? They'd better do something clever with that.

-The idea that people wouldn't realize their abilities reminds me of Unbreakable with Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson.

-I hope they explore the team's backstories. I'd love to find out what they were doing before they were recruited, and how they discovered them.

-Balance guy is fun to watch. Everything is better with parkour. And Guile's Theme.

-I'm surprised no one considered the possibility that the jumper wasn't really The Ghost. That was the first thing that occurred to me.

-Ah! And the OCD overlaps with planning. Damnit, I actually had the idea for an anti-hero team of people with mental disorders who committed crimes to raise funds for mental hospitals. My team had an insomniac as the planner, but OCD works too.

-The idea that Hicks suffered from stress-related performance anxiety, but pulled through to save the day is a little cheesy. I think that if he and Synesthesia had bonded more it would have given him a better episode arc.

Harry Potter

2011-08-12T08:11:00.000-07:00

-I just saw HP 7 part 2 in the theaters, and that inspired me to reread the HP series. I just finished HP1, and am partway through HP2.

-Rowling deserves a lot of credit for creating a detailed, fantastical world.

-One of her greatest skills is dropping hints at mysteries, and then actually explaining them. Some are blatant like why Hagrid got expelled. Others are more subtle, like Harry's invisibility cloak. The first one, we're actively curious about. The latter, we have no idea we're supposed to be curious until our curiosity is sated.

-Malfoy's immediate race superiority seems like him just being a dick, but goes on to become a major theme in the later books. There's a clear parallel to racial eugenics theory not only in Nazi Germany, but in the US as well. The power of derogatory language (like "mudbloods") becomes apparent without reinforcing or exposing kids to real derogatory terms.

-Dobby the house elf is an annoying git, but later becomes much more sympathetic, so much so that I cried when Harry buried him. The house elves seem to be a clear reference to chattel slavery. I always dismissed Hermione's concerns until I read an essay that had a strong thesis: the fact that most house elves are content with their slavery does not justify slavery; instead, it shows how deeply oppressed the house elves are.

-Rowling seems to have a love hate relationship with schooling. Some teachers are mean. Others are boring. Others are overly strict. Yet others are dangerously irresponsible. One is a Death Eater in disguise. Very few teachers come across completely well, like Lupin.

-She also seems to take divergent views of history in particular. Binns is one of the teachers who is consistently portrayed as boring with a meaningless subject. At the same time, most of the crucial exposition on past events comes from the equivalent of oral histories. But then again, Rita Skeeter's works are portrayed negatively.

-Rich people aren't portrayed very well. The Malfoys are one. The Dursleys are another (at least their spending habits are rich). The poor and middle class are presented well. Harry's technically rich, but culturally he's from a lower socio-economic class.

The Hunger Games

2011-08-11T23:33:00.000-07:00

+Within the first ten pages, I suggested to my girlfriend that we start a Hunger Games drinking game: every time something unfair happens, take a shot. Your likelihood of surviving is about the same as a typical tribute's.

+Collins does a terrific job of foreshadowing and introducing elements that become critical later on. Hunger Games is oftentimes compared to Harry Potter in that it's intelligent young adult genre fiction with lots of content to analyze. It's 3 books rather than 7, but I think Collins does an equally good job tying up loose ends, with the exception of how she dealt with Gale.

+It seems like the capital is at NORAD. It's stated at the Rocky Mountains, and it's sensible that the government would use that as its seat.

+The characters are remarkably well fleshed-out, with clear motivations. One particular strength is that their physical descriptions are relatively sparse, allowing me to cast them differently than the film.

+The novels are rife with examples of oppression and resistance, whether it's the economic injustice of the tesserae, or Katniss' refusal to accept the District's boundaries.

+In particular, I like Gale's rant on how the Games are designed to pit people against each other. The Capitol pits people against each other within Districts, and pits Districts against each other.

+The novel's narrated by Katniss, but does an outstanding job of showing other characters' life experiences. Madge, for example, is a well-meaning but privileged girl who doesn't fully grasp why Gale hates her. Later, she understands what drove Haymitch to alcoholism.

+The novel also balances Katniss' normalness with her exceptionalness. She lacks self-confidence about her looks, and is indistinguishable in many ways with her Seam-mates. But her father's hunting training and mother's herbal knowledge allow her to survive.

+Theft is punishable by death, guaranteeing property rights. It's not a crime for thousands to starve, but it's a capital crime for the starving to eat.

+District 13, despite its poverty, has universal free education. Why? To better indoctrinate and monitor the young.

+Some elements seem intentionally feminist, like the anti-make-up, anti-plastic surgery elements. Also, the identical gender treatment (and ability) in The Games.

+There's also a strong anti-media element. The Capitol uses propaganda (and uses Katniss and Peeta) as a way to better control (or at least try to) the districts. The personalities involved in creating TV, with the exception of Cinna, are not presented in a positive light.

+The sheer ignorance of the Capitol-dwellers, and the outrage that Katniss feels, seems a clear parallel to the 1st and 3rd world. Regardless of individual intent, the systemic economic disparity creates such different life experiences that neither understand the other in the slightest.

+One element that makes the love triangle better in THG is better writing. Additionally, Collins gives minimal physical descriptions. Rather than all being "perfect", we get nothing more than hair and eye color. The rest of the attraction is based on personality, action, and choices.

+The apocalypse that led to the Dark Times is unclear. Both THG and The Road have unspecified environmental disasters that led to bleak futures.

+There are 13 Districts, just like there were 13 original colonies. And it's set in North America.

+The name of the country, Panem, is Latin for bread, as in bread and circuses. The Romans were known for giving free bread and circuses to the proletariat, giving them minimal food and entertainment to keep them apathetic. The Games, in addition to punishing the Districts, also serves to distract its residents.

Bad Teacher

2011-08-11T21:29:00.000-07:00

+I had forgotten how funny Cameron Diaz is.

+This film was either made with input from teachers, or by teachers. The rich, entitled, privileged white lady who's slumming it for a year is ripped straight from reality. Ditto with the cliches, and there are many of them.

+I love the cutting faculty meetings, and showing a movie on the first day of school. And her selection! Stand and Deliver and Lean on Me!

+Justin Timberlake is still watchable, so it seems Social Network was not a fluke.

+The ease of manipulating administrators and lack of accountability are eerily (and amusingly) familiar.

+/-The obsession with breast size seems ... oddly crude in an otherwise relatively thoughtful movie.

-There's no real critique of standardized testing, not like I was expecting one. In fact, standardized testing seems to be a great thing, because it motivates an awful teacher to be good.

+The stars on the forehead and the dodgeballs to the head are the kinds of inducements I can only dream of.

+Jason Segel is wryly amusing as always, but still underused.

+The angry grading is as funny as Will Schuster's drunken grading on Glee.

-The diversion into Perfect Score territory was uninspired, unfortunately.

+Phyllis from The Office is underused, but the real surprise to me was Jeff Rosso from Freaks and Geeks.

-The love triangle is resolved out of nowhere, and the film manages to end both predictably and abruptly. Her as a guidance counselor is a nice touch (CA requires specific credentialing, but perhaps Illinois doesn't). The things is less than 90 minutes, and while I normally say every movie could be made shorter, this one could use another five minutes or so somewhere in the last ten.