Burn The Orphanage

Wow, looking at that title, I really hope nobody's taking anything I name these articles as calls to action.

I was a big fan of side-scrolling beat-em-ups for ages on video games.  Probably the game I go back to the most to play when I just want to kill time is the Streets of Rage series.  Considering how much I require most games I play these days to have a coherent story, it's rather interesting that one of my favorites will frequently have me playing as a boxing kangaroo punching out a rampaging bulldozer.

There aren't a lot of things in today's culture that take any cues from that genre of game, aside from some films like The Raid: Redemption.  I felt that Dredd was a fair approximation, since it essentially was just a few people fighting their way from one location to another with various small "boss battles" in between.

But there are not many comics that truly embrace the old style of video games, which is why I was so excited to discover Burn the Orphanage, a comic that is definitely not for kids, but so much fun to read if you had the kind of childhood that involved the aforementioned styles of games.

Let's Talk: Roleplaying

If you came here looking for tips on how to make life in the bedroom spicier, I'm sorry to disappoint you.

Recently I tried (admittedly poorly) to explain to someone that I spend my Sundays with a group of my friends playing games.  It just happens that these friends of mine are currently scattered across the country so we have to use a website that everybody logs in to in order to play the games together.  Also, the games are roleplaying games, known to many as "those games played by nerds involving funny dice."  Maybe you saw it on old episodes of Freaks and Geeks (yes, that is James Franco) or multiple episodes of The Big Bang Theory (yes, that is the cast of The Big Bang Theory).  Personally, I loved the episodes of Community that dealt with roleplaying, but that's just my preference.

But how do you explain to someone who has no idea what you're talking about what you do without sounding insane?  "We sit around and play make-believe" really doesn't sound that much better than "we roll dice to try to defeat monsters."

Key and Peele

I'm not a big fan of "raunchy" comedy.  Gross-out humor for the sake of grossing people out just isn't my thing, and it's why I walked out of the first Scary Movie film feeling like I should ask for money back.  Unfortunately I saw it for free, so I was just out the time it took to view it, but the feeling stood.

Comedy is hard.  If your humor is too broad, you risk having no real lasting impact with your message.  If you're too afraid of ruffling feathers, your humor isn't memorable (outside of a few exceptions).  If you're too far over the line, you get hit with a backlash and are accused of either being hateful, ignorant, or just crass.

There are few comedians I feel walk that line perfectly, and two of them are Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele, easily two of the comedians in my top five "of all time as of this writing" list.

What's Up, Doc?

Several years ago I had the pleasure of watching the movie Bringing Up Baby, one of the best screwball comedies I've ever seen.  Starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant, it's the story of a paleontologist (played by Grant) who gets caught up in the world of a free-spirited young lady (Hepburn) who needs his help dealing with a tame leopard, a missing dinosaur bone, and her growing fancy of him.  He just wants to finish building his brontosaurus, secure funding for his museum, and marry his secretary (all in one day!).

I'm seriously underplaying the story, but it's a madcap romp (and how often do you get to say that these days?) that builds and builds through the entire film until you're laughing throughout the ending of it.  It has great improvisations, sharp humor, and wonderful slapstick sensibilities with two extremely classy actors leading the way.  Cinecollage.net describes a screwball comedy as "sophisticates gone silly," and that truly is what that movie represents.

In 1972, a spiritual successor came out starring Barbara Streisand, Ryan O'Neal, and Madeline Kahn called What's Up, Doc?  I watched it over the holidays, and while I found it to be a great successor to Bringing Up Baby, I think it slipped a few times while trying to reach such lofty goals.

Review: The Artist

I caught this movie several weeks ago on a bus ride from Boston to Portland.  It was on a small television, and the sound and music were 3/4 of a second out of sync.  I was exhausted after a long flight, clinging to my carry-on bag despite having plenty of room around me, and pretty much ready to fall asleep, but instead I watched a silent movie that just happened to win an Academy Award.

I can see why this movie won, even with all the technical issues, it was still amazing to watch.

Review: The Martian (the movie)

Back in October I talked about a book I absolutely loved.  You might have heard of it.  They made a movie from it starring Matt Damon.

I'm here to talk about it.

...that might be the easiest introduction I ever wrote.

The Star Wars Video Game (Not The Fun Ones)

As people might recall, growing up my primary source of video game entertainment was on the original Nintendo Game Boy.  I have a lot of fun memories of that system, and there's a reason why it still has a permanent place on my shelf.  There are still games that are fun to dust off and play, as I've said before.

However, digging down through some of the video game history I have in my cartridge bag, I discovered one I haven't played in a very long time.  Which is surprising, since I've talked about before how much I love the source material.

So what's the problem with Star Wars for the Nintendo Game Boy?

It's absolutely insane, is the problem.