Entertainment media ahoy.
Ocean's Eleven is fucking brilliant. Spy Game is... not. I think that's all that has to be said about that.
Meanwhile, Harry Potter, in both its movie and book forms, is way, way overrated. How anyone can continue to espouse the virtues of J. K. Rowling's pet series as anything more than entertaining youth novels (which they are; if I were 12 I'd be eating this stuff up) in the face of something like The Lord of the Rings is mind-boggling.
For kids, though, they really are good books. Just don't forget The Hobbit while you're at it.
Grand Theft Auto 3 is God's gift to gaming, folks. If you own a Playstation 2 and not this game, it's classifiable in most God-fearing nations as a legitimate crime against humanity. In fact, it's worth buying a PS2 just for this game.
See, what makes this game so revolutionary is that it's almost not a game in the traditional sense. Usually, a game has a sort of defined goal, and the world is built around that goal. Mario: jump on platforms, save the princess. Doom: shoot aliens. Parcheesi: get your pieces to the end of the board.
GTA3, on the other hand, makes the world and then lets the goals expose themselves. What you have is a NYC-class metropolis called Liberty City, filled with literally four million people, walking and or driving around, going about their business. Time passes regularly, with fantastic sunrises and sunsets. More han 40 different makes of vehicles cruise the streets. Completely randomly, with no tangible effect on the "game" at all, you'll happen upon a stoplight fender bender, or maybe witness a purse-snatching in a bad section of town. The myriad of things you can do to an actual end - follow the epic gangster storyline involving all the big hitters and dozens of missions that are similar and yet strangely unique, perform missions for smaller street gangs, participate in street races, find and perform unique jumps and stunts, or just carjack a taxi cab, police car, ambulance or fire truck and run around picking up fares, arresting criminals, rushing people to the hospital or putting out fires, respectively - seem unimpressive in comparison.
Meanwhile, even Hideo Kojima's assassin hype squad death PR machine can't protect the much-anticipated Metal Gear Solid 2 from its one crippling fault: the game is more exposition than actual game. True, the actual game parts are probably the most fun simulation of action movie-type infiltration I've ever seen, the graphics are absolutely incredible, and the attention to minute detail (wet footprints after coming in from the rain, melting ice cubes, a bottle shattering physics engine (!) and a main character that sneezes when a nearby flour bag is shot) borders on the ridiculous.
But even a game with all these virtues can't compete with a flaw like MGS2's: without fail, the number one most repeated line out of my mouth while playing was shut the hell up and let me play the goddamn game. Talk about ruining the mood.
On a completely unrelated note, my band is supposed to record a new album over Christmas vacation. We have, oh, four songs ready. Pray.
Meanwhile, Harry Potter, in both its movie and book forms, is way, way overrated. How anyone can continue to espouse the virtues of J. K. Rowling's pet series as anything more than entertaining youth novels (which they are; if I were 12 I'd be eating this stuff up) in the face of something like The Lord of the Rings is mind-boggling.
For kids, though, they really are good books. Just don't forget The Hobbit while you're at it.
Grand Theft Auto 3 is God's gift to gaming, folks. If you own a Playstation 2 and not this game, it's classifiable in most God-fearing nations as a legitimate crime against humanity. In fact, it's worth buying a PS2 just for this game.
See, what makes this game so revolutionary is that it's almost not a game in the traditional sense. Usually, a game has a sort of defined goal, and the world is built around that goal. Mario: jump on platforms, save the princess. Doom: shoot aliens. Parcheesi: get your pieces to the end of the board.
GTA3, on the other hand, makes the world and then lets the goals expose themselves. What you have is a NYC-class metropolis called Liberty City, filled with literally four million people, walking and or driving around, going about their business. Time passes regularly, with fantastic sunrises and sunsets. More han 40 different makes of vehicles cruise the streets. Completely randomly, with no tangible effect on the "game" at all, you'll happen upon a stoplight fender bender, or maybe witness a purse-snatching in a bad section of town. The myriad of things you can do to an actual end - follow the epic gangster storyline involving all the big hitters and dozens of missions that are similar and yet strangely unique, perform missions for smaller street gangs, participate in street races, find and perform unique jumps and stunts, or just carjack a taxi cab, police car, ambulance or fire truck and run around picking up fares, arresting criminals, rushing people to the hospital or putting out fires, respectively - seem unimpressive in comparison.
Meanwhile, even Hideo Kojima's assassin hype squad death PR machine can't protect the much-anticipated Metal Gear Solid 2 from its one crippling fault: the game is more exposition than actual game. True, the actual game parts are probably the most fun simulation of action movie-type infiltration I've ever seen, the graphics are absolutely incredible, and the attention to minute detail (wet footprints after coming in from the rain, melting ice cubes, a bottle shattering physics engine (!) and a main character that sneezes when a nearby flour bag is shot) borders on the ridiculous.
But even a game with all these virtues can't compete with a flaw like MGS2's: without fail, the number one most repeated line out of my mouth while playing was shut the hell up and let me play the goddamn game. Talk about ruining the mood.
On a completely unrelated note, my band is supposed to record a new album over Christmas vacation. We have, oh, four songs ready. Pray.