Media Consumption
Here are some colourful reviews!
The new Star Trek film: This was pretty good, but not amazing. Maybe a B or B+? It could have been better if they didn't feel the need to try to squeeze cheesy and largely unnecessary action sequences in (such as the CGI monster chase sequence on the ice planet and Scotty's ordeal in the water pipes) and focused a wee bit more on the drama between the characters. There was drama between the characters and a definite sense of character development, and that was the film's greatest strength, but I would have liked to have seen more of that and less of the filler.
The Nine Inch Nails concert: Well, what can I say? I couldn't have asked for a better setlist (lots of amazing stuff from TDS and a good selection from the rest of NIN's body of work). I kinda felt like I wasn't really there for a lot of it? I probably should have had earplugs to help me hear things a bit more clearly. A lively enough crowd. Had a muscle cramp in my leg during Wish. It hurt to walk the next day.
Street Sweeper Social Club: This is the band social club that opened for NIN. My sardonic one-sentence review would be: "What happened to the guy with the dreadlocks?" Basically, this is RATM with less anger and more melody. At least two separate songs began with Tom Morello playing a masturbatory intro that didn't really relate to the song whatsoever. The guy is definitely talented and it's cool to see him perform, but from a musical standpoint I don't really see why it's necessary to have him wailing away for half a minute before the song actually starts. They did their best to put on a good show but what they do isn't really my thing.
Jane's Addiction: Seen performing after NIN. Perry Farrel was a corseted beam of sunshine whose infectious sense of cheer and enjoyment was the highlight of their performance. Again, however, JA's style isn't really to my taste: their tendency for extended jam-like solo sections just doesn't do it for me. Mr. Navarro can certainly play, and their drummer is no slouch either; I have no complaints with their chops, it's just that solo after solo after solo gets pretty tiresome after a while. I did quite genuinely enjoy a few of their tunes, though. Their bassist seemed a bit out of place: compared to the relatively wild antics of Mr. Farrel and Mr. Navarro and the sense of energy behind the drums, the group's bassist seemed downright plain. He could certainly play, he just didn't command much stage presence, and with that group of people on stage it was really noticeable. The crowd became particularly obnoxious during the latter part of Jane's set, though, at least from my vantage point. A group of four people pushed their way past me, presumably for a better view since I was fairly close to the front of the crowd. I was fine with that - perhaps they were bigger fans than I. Then they pulled out their cellphones to take pictures of themselves and started chatting with each other about so-and-so's sailboat and so-and-so's barbecue. I actually told them to shut the fuck up and make their barbecue plans after the show, which was met with a little indignation, a little embarrassment, and, most importantly, silence through the rest of the show.
Battlestar Galactica: As per the recommendations of a number of acquaintances, I decided to download BSG and check it out. A lot of it was really interesting, but in the end it was too much of a TV show to really capture my heart. I don't care about being surprised or shocked by unforeseen plot twists, I want solid writing, intriguing ideas, and a connection to the characters. Again, the show did do some genuinely interesting things, but I felt that most of the time the characters felt like caricatures of themselves rather than fully fleshed-out individuals, in part since there were too many character developments to deal with in depth at once, and in part because all too often a character would have to sacrifice his or her integrity in order to allow for the aforementioned 'surprise plot twists'. It's one of those situations where you can sit back and rationalize to yourself that "this character makes an obvious blunder because their emotions are clouded with factors A, B, and C," but it never really feels as natural as it should. When Dexter screwed things up on the Showtime drama bearing his name you had a genuine sense of what the character was going through since the show spent most of its time focusing on that character's head, but that never felt true for BSG's inflated cast of characters. Maybe I'd be more used to this if I had ever watched Lost?
Mega Man X, X2, and X3 for the SNES: These are still pretty sweet games. These games follow the standard Mega Man formula of choosing which of several colourful and varied stages you want to attempt next, but with the added twist of allowing you to re-visit levels you've already completed in order to find hidden upgrades to boost your power. However, all too often this mechanic devolves into a situation where you just go through and beat all of the standard levels normally and then come back to uncover the hidden upgrades after everything is done for use during the final few end-boss stages. X is most likely the best of the three. It's the simplest of the three, but it succeeds quite well at what it attempts, and probably suffers least from the "it's impossible to get all of the upgrades until you have beaten all of the stages" factor. The final encounter with Sigma is also possibly the most satisfying in the series. X3 is next in line: while X3's basic enemy design and bosses were top-notch, it tried to add too much to the "find your upgrades" system and many of said upgrades felt fairly unimportant by the time you had cleared most of the levels. The overcomplicated and under-used unlockable ride-armor system is particularly guilty of this. X2 is the worst of the three, primarily for its noticeably short levels and for a few boss fights that are simply too long and tedious (Magna Centipede and Wheel Gator are both quite guilty of this).
The new Star Trek film: This was pretty good, but not amazing. Maybe a B or B+? It could have been better if they didn't feel the need to try to squeeze cheesy and largely unnecessary action sequences in (such as the CGI monster chase sequence on the ice planet and Scotty's ordeal in the water pipes) and focused a wee bit more on the drama between the characters. There was drama between the characters and a definite sense of character development, and that was the film's greatest strength, but I would have liked to have seen more of that and less of the filler.
The Nine Inch Nails concert: Well, what can I say? I couldn't have asked for a better setlist (lots of amazing stuff from TDS and a good selection from the rest of NIN's body of work). I kinda felt like I wasn't really there for a lot of it? I probably should have had earplugs to help me hear things a bit more clearly. A lively enough crowd. Had a muscle cramp in my leg during Wish. It hurt to walk the next day.
Street Sweeper Social Club: This is the band social club that opened for NIN. My sardonic one-sentence review would be: "What happened to the guy with the dreadlocks?" Basically, this is RATM with less anger and more melody. At least two separate songs began with Tom Morello playing a masturbatory intro that didn't really relate to the song whatsoever. The guy is definitely talented and it's cool to see him perform, but from a musical standpoint I don't really see why it's necessary to have him wailing away for half a minute before the song actually starts. They did their best to put on a good show but what they do isn't really my thing.
Jane's Addiction: Seen performing after NIN. Perry Farrel was a corseted beam of sunshine whose infectious sense of cheer and enjoyment was the highlight of their performance. Again, however, JA's style isn't really to my taste: their tendency for extended jam-like solo sections just doesn't do it for me. Mr. Navarro can certainly play, and their drummer is no slouch either; I have no complaints with their chops, it's just that solo after solo after solo gets pretty tiresome after a while. I did quite genuinely enjoy a few of their tunes, though. Their bassist seemed a bit out of place: compared to the relatively wild antics of Mr. Farrel and Mr. Navarro and the sense of energy behind the drums, the group's bassist seemed downright plain. He could certainly play, he just didn't command much stage presence, and with that group of people on stage it was really noticeable. The crowd became particularly obnoxious during the latter part of Jane's set, though, at least from my vantage point. A group of four people pushed their way past me, presumably for a better view since I was fairly close to the front of the crowd. I was fine with that - perhaps they were bigger fans than I. Then they pulled out their cellphones to take pictures of themselves and started chatting with each other about so-and-so's sailboat and so-and-so's barbecue. I actually told them to shut the fuck up and make their barbecue plans after the show, which was met with a little indignation, a little embarrassment, and, most importantly, silence through the rest of the show.
Battlestar Galactica: As per the recommendations of a number of acquaintances, I decided to download BSG and check it out. A lot of it was really interesting, but in the end it was too much of a TV show to really capture my heart. I don't care about being surprised or shocked by unforeseen plot twists, I want solid writing, intriguing ideas, and a connection to the characters. Again, the show did do some genuinely interesting things, but I felt that most of the time the characters felt like caricatures of themselves rather than fully fleshed-out individuals, in part since there were too many character developments to deal with in depth at once, and in part because all too often a character would have to sacrifice his or her integrity in order to allow for the aforementioned 'surprise plot twists'. It's one of those situations where you can sit back and rationalize to yourself that "this character makes an obvious blunder because their emotions are clouded with factors A, B, and C," but it never really feels as natural as it should. When Dexter screwed things up on the Showtime drama bearing his name you had a genuine sense of what the character was going through since the show spent most of its time focusing on that character's head, but that never felt true for BSG's inflated cast of characters. Maybe I'd be more used to this if I had ever watched Lost?
Mega Man X, X2, and X3 for the SNES: These are still pretty sweet games. These games follow the standard Mega Man formula of choosing which of several colourful and varied stages you want to attempt next, but with the added twist of allowing you to re-visit levels you've already completed in order to find hidden upgrades to boost your power. However, all too often this mechanic devolves into a situation where you just go through and beat all of the standard levels normally and then come back to uncover the hidden upgrades after everything is done for use during the final few end-boss stages. X is most likely the best of the three. It's the simplest of the three, but it succeeds quite well at what it attempts, and probably suffers least from the "it's impossible to get all of the upgrades until you have beaten all of the stages" factor. The final encounter with Sigma is also possibly the most satisfying in the series. X3 is next in line: while X3's basic enemy design and bosses were top-notch, it tried to add too much to the "find your upgrades" system and many of said upgrades felt fairly unimportant by the time you had cleared most of the levels. The overcomplicated and under-used unlockable ride-armor system is particularly guilty of this. X2 is the worst of the three, primarily for its noticeably short levels and for a few boss fights that are simply too long and tedious (Magna Centipede and Wheel Gator are both quite guilty of this).