BrainHurtBoy...2

Was going to buy Tales of Xillia, but chickened out and ended up spending sixty bucks on a three-volume set of Gramsci's Prison Notebooks, instead. I regret my choice.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-07-31-fear-is-the-path-to-the-dark-side KotOR 2 is, to me, easily the high point of the IP, much more so than Star Wars or Empire. When I finally got Bao-Dur to put on the sick facepaint... One of the most memorable moments in gaming, for me. The KotOR 2 cast has to be my favorite from any game, ever. But God damn those last two hours. God damn them to hell!

Playing a lot of Shin Megami Tensei IV, but tomorrow I'll pick up Tales of Xillia and, at long last, Crusader Kings II. I'm considering grabbing Fire Emblem, as well, but am worried it might be too much to properly ration.

The opening scene to Chungking Express. There are many incredible scenes in this movie, but the tone set in this scene, compounded with the pillow shots of the muted, starless sky above the Mansions, along with the forced-Gestalt, pseudo-pointillist perspective realized through deliberately limiting the viewer's sense of continuity establish the moods of longing, ambition, quietly smothered emotion, and pathetic sadness that pervade the film. You owe it to yourselves to watch this movie.

I've played, like, a single hour of D4, though I own it. I have a shitton of free time, these days, and will continue to have free time for about a month longer, but for some reason I can't coalesce the energy to play any game other than Shin Megami Tensei IV, right now. I'll hopefully finish it before October 8th, though.

Anyone notice the weird, meritocratic, Randian "play-to-your-biological-strengths" thing in Monsters University? It was in the Incredibles, too. Is one of the Pixar writers a hardcore libertarian, or something?

Question. Spoilery. Followed by non-spoilery comments. The action wrote a check the plot couldn't cash. How was Man of Steel good when it lacked any sort of internal consistency? Look, I often like movies that are "just for fun" or "just for entertainment". I don't think Man of Steel was trying to be that sort of movie, but that's aside from my point. Can't movies have good or great action while actually making sense on their own terms? Iron Man did it. The Dark Knight and (sort of) Batman Begins did it. X-Men: First Class did it, I think. We can't excuse movies from internal incoherence by saying they're "just entertainment"? I think Star Trek had the same problem as Man of Steel, in this sense.

These sorts of tensions bear out relentlessly wherever there is enormous disparity of wealth. Brazil is a rising power, but Lula and Rousseff are treating a post-colonial country like a European one (just like India and South Africa are). Brazil's "rising power" status has been given to it by economists and academic analysts of various stripes; the BRICS countries are meant to represent the success of the "developing world", when really anybody with a shred of reason can recognize that the form of "development" seen in said countries is obviously not sustainable on a global scale. The objective conditions are here. "The historical crisis of mankind is reduced to the crisis of the revolutionary leadership." - Leon Trotsky P.S. Helloooooo, NSA.

Oh, God, Pacific Rim looks so good. I will be so disappointed if it doesn't work out. I ache for western kaiju.

30385 http://www.geoguessr.com?v=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 JESUS that took a long time.

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It's bizarre seeing the game gradually get less and less interesting. The first version at least looked interesting in its weirdness. This seems generic and boring, to me. Also seems a bit similar to some levels in Resistance 2.

Perhaps it's because I live in a largely secular city (read: not College Station), but that idea is completely foreign, to me. I live in a Western culture and never picked up on the notion. Localized, I suppose.

Kingdom Hearts 2. Okay, but really: SMT: Nocturne, FFX, half of Dragon Age: Origins, Final Fantasy VI, probably Bioshock, HL2, Xenogears, Dark Cloud 2. This topic makes me really wistful, for whatever reason. I powerfully associate games with their openings and endings.

I have no idea where you're getting the notion that Sunday is "family day" from. Is this something your local theater does? I've never heard of it, before. Anyway, Mud, starring Matthew McConaughey was very good. Classic kind of Southern bildungsroman with a very interesting sort of parallel development. Definitely see it if it's playing near you.

I didn't say I can't suspend disbelief. I just can't do it in the presence of constant mechanical holes. The world in Iron Man 3 has internal inconsistencies. I didn't think that to be the case when I viewed Iron Man 1 and 2, but it may be so. I thought Loki's motivation was understandable; I could even empathize. Rockwell's engineers had failed him in the past; Mickey Rourke had proved himself as able to build suits that could at least take Iron Man seriously to task. Neither of these plans are the work of psychopaths, and they are much more straightforward than the one in Iron Man 3. They are not comparable. It doesn't need to be dead simple, either. Middle ground fallacy, Dean. Holes:

My holes list was not meant to be comprehensive, which is why I didn't include the last part. I don't think any other one of the Marvel films had holes as obvious or gaping as this one. Holes, again: I don't think there were any holes this overt in Iron Man 1, Iron Man 2, or Thor. I think the dialogue in the Avengers was witty enough to mitigate some of the plot's absurdity, and the virtuosity of some of the setpieces offset other negative aspects of the film. I think Iron Man 3 is simply much less well-constructed than the other Marvel films. Though I would be lying if I said this movie didn't make me reconsider my opinion of Iron Man 1 and 2. I plan to rewatch them to see if I'm still able to suspend disbelief, or if they are as riddled with holes as IM3.

I resent the accusation that I went in wanting to hate it. I have enjoyed almost all the Marvel movies (save Captain America and half of The Avengers), and I've been a staunch defender of Iron Man 2, historically. I love the Iron Man movies, and wanted this to be great. Just because someone disagrees with you doesn't mean they're prejudiced against the film. Back to the holes. Look, I really did want to like it. I liked the last two quite a bit, I like RDJ, I absolutely love Shane Black, and I enjoy almost all the Marvel movies. You've only addressed two of the holes I brought up sufficiently. I don't appreciate the suggestion that I am biased against the film after I have written out a point-by-point summary of why I thought it was flawed.

Iron Man 3. All the parts that were exciting were ruined for me by gaping plot holes (I will give a list below) All the parts without plot holes were full of boring, poorly acted melodrama. Killian's whole conversation about how Pepper was a "trophy"? The nonsensical Werner Von Braun speech Rebecca Hall's character made, all the times Tony Stark came off (to me) as an unsympathetic ass. Look, weird deadpan rudeness can be humorous in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, but Iron Man... it's just tonally very different. Holes: How do people defend this movie?

Neutral Milk Hotel is doing their reunion tour, and have said that they're announcing more dates than the five they've currently announced, but I'm really tempted to just buy tickets for the Asheville, NC show on October 25th and drive down from Pittsburgh (where I don't live now, but where I'm moving later this year), which is, like, nine or ten hours, or something. I'm just afraid they'll announce they're touring the Northeast, later, and I'll have wasted money, effort, and time. I also worry, however, that the additional dates they're going to announce will be, like, Europe, or more of the South, or some shit like that, in which case I would miss them completely. I'm really considering just buying tickets to the NC show and then seeing them again if they go to the Northeast.

Each issue of Saga is called a "Chapter". Issue One is "Chapter One", etc. Saga has a very original world, but Vaughan's slangy, faux-witty dialogue pisses me off. I keep reading, regardless.

Opinions? I'm kind of pissed, even though I have no substantive nationalistic stake in these events.

It's about a disgraced royal executioner who is forced to become a ronin, and roams the countryside, angry, vengeful, pensive, and philosophical, accompanied by his three-year-old (though he gets older over the course of the manga) child. It conjures a time and place with overwhelming intricacy, care, and majesty. I was moved to tears at several points. It's unbelievably good. It's from the 70's. I'm a big fan of the art, and even if one doesn't enjoy the character designs (which are fairly conservative and straightforward), the visual art is evocative enough to be excused of most other faults. This is the sort of work it's hard to believe a couple of human beings were able to create. It's really something. I cannot recommend it highly enough.