A couple of business notes:
First off, the box office numbers for Friday didn't actually come out until 7 p.m. last night, at which point I was thoroughly enjoying Finding Neverland. Therefore, there will be no Friday Box Office Analysis this week. The time spent on the column just couldn't be justified, considering that we would have a weekend wrap-up within 18 hours.
On another column note, look for Book vs. Movie to make its return this week. I needed a little time away from movie books, and have also been busy with a slew of video games. After Mario Golf for the GameBoy (which was great fun in the beginning, but got tedious after awhile), I moved on to Katamari Damacy, which I am certain I have mentioned a few times in various places now. Whoever created the game is clearly on drugs, but that's okay. I love it like I love Monty Python. It's just a bit of silliness, as Finding Neverland's young Peter would say.
In addition to that, there was Fable, a fun but flawed game. It's definitely extremely entertaining to take your character in whatever direction, whether it be good or evil; however, since there are no actual consequences to your actions, it becomes somewhat less fun. Next up was Silent Hill 4: The Room, which has a story so great I'd love to see it made into a film (Roger Avary is in fact writing the screenplay for Silent Hill, but is using the first three games as the basis of the plot). The bad news for those playing Silent Hill 4 is that your protagonist is forced to drag an additional character around the adventure with him throughout the entire second half of the game. And it sucks bad. The A.I. is utterly stupid, and may or may not follow you as you desire. The game could have been seriously great had they just made her a character you run into at various points throughout the course of the game.
Speaking of dumb A.I., X-Men: Legends is the current game of choice. It's fun if you like smashing things repeatedly, but it does get repetitive. That said, the voice work is superlative and the story seems pretty decent (I don't really know much about the X-Men universe so it might actually suck).
And finally, I always have one game or another going on my GameBoy, and the current one is...don't laugh...Pokemon Leaf Green. Yup. There's a reason I love RPGs including this one. I really like creating a little group in my own image. That's probably why Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is my favorite of all. If I want an all-moogle team, I can have that. The nou-mous are kind of wussy anyway. Going back to Pokemon, the gameplay is really very solid. There's a reason kids like the game - it's cute as all get-out. For me, of course, it's all about the leveling up. I accept that it's totally uncool to love the game. I still do.
It would seem like I wouldn't have time for anything else but games, but in fact, I've been reading a fair amount. In the next couple of weeks, look for Book vs. Movie columns on Man on Fire, Friday Night Lights and Motorcycle Diaries. Additionally, as we move into November, there are a ton of films based on books, so I'll have to work hard to keep up. There was a nice, comfortable lull in September and October for the most part.
I've also determined that I'd like to try to read all of the National Book Award nominees for 2004. Now, there's not a chance in the world that I will have them all read by the time the winners are announced on November 17th, but I should be able to get through three or four, anyway. In fact, I read the first one in the course of a couple of hours, I liked it so much. Pete Hautman's Godless is one of the finalists in the Young People's Literature category. It's a little bit hard to describe the book, but it centers around a teenage boy who is questioning his own religious faith, and in the process creates his own religion. He and a small group of followers worship the town's water tower. It sounds ludicrous, perhaps, but it's really a pretty dark and funny little story. I wouldn't have minded if it had even gone a little darker, but then it might have been a little too heavy for the target audience. Next up will be Jennifer Gonnerman's Life on the Outside: The Prison Odyssey of Elaine Bartlett, an entrant in the Nonfiction category.
First off, the box office numbers for Friday didn't actually come out until 7 p.m. last night, at which point I was thoroughly enjoying Finding Neverland. Therefore, there will be no Friday Box Office Analysis this week. The time spent on the column just couldn't be justified, considering that we would have a weekend wrap-up within 18 hours.
On another column note, look for Book vs. Movie to make its return this week. I needed a little time away from movie books, and have also been busy with a slew of video games. After Mario Golf for the GameBoy (which was great fun in the beginning, but got tedious after awhile), I moved on to Katamari Damacy, which I am certain I have mentioned a few times in various places now. Whoever created the game is clearly on drugs, but that's okay. I love it like I love Monty Python. It's just a bit of silliness, as Finding Neverland's young Peter would say.
In addition to that, there was Fable, a fun but flawed game. It's definitely extremely entertaining to take your character in whatever direction, whether it be good or evil; however, since there are no actual consequences to your actions, it becomes somewhat less fun. Next up was Silent Hill 4: The Room, which has a story so great I'd love to see it made into a film (Roger Avary is in fact writing the screenplay for Silent Hill, but is using the first three games as the basis of the plot). The bad news for those playing Silent Hill 4 is that your protagonist is forced to drag an additional character around the adventure with him throughout the entire second half of the game. And it sucks bad. The A.I. is utterly stupid, and may or may not follow you as you desire. The game could have been seriously great had they just made her a character you run into at various points throughout the course of the game.
Speaking of dumb A.I., X-Men: Legends is the current game of choice. It's fun if you like smashing things repeatedly, but it does get repetitive. That said, the voice work is superlative and the story seems pretty decent (I don't really know much about the X-Men universe so it might actually suck).
And finally, I always have one game or another going on my GameBoy, and the current one is...don't laugh...Pokemon Leaf Green. Yup. There's a reason I love RPGs including this one. I really like creating a little group in my own image. That's probably why Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is my favorite of all. If I want an all-moogle team, I can have that. The nou-mous are kind of wussy anyway. Going back to Pokemon, the gameplay is really very solid. There's a reason kids like the game - it's cute as all get-out. For me, of course, it's all about the leveling up. I accept that it's totally uncool to love the game. I still do.
It would seem like I wouldn't have time for anything else but games, but in fact, I've been reading a fair amount. In the next couple of weeks, look for Book vs. Movie columns on Man on Fire, Friday Night Lights and Motorcycle Diaries. Additionally, as we move into November, there are a ton of films based on books, so I'll have to work hard to keep up. There was a nice, comfortable lull in September and October for the most part.
I've also determined that I'd like to try to read all of the National Book Award nominees for 2004. Now, there's not a chance in the world that I will have them all read by the time the winners are announced on November 17th, but I should be able to get through three or four, anyway. In fact, I read the first one in the course of a couple of hours, I liked it so much. Pete Hautman's Godless is one of the finalists in the Young People's Literature category. It's a little bit hard to describe the book, but it centers around a teenage boy who is questioning his own religious faith, and in the process creates his own religion. He and a small group of followers worship the town's water tower. It sounds ludicrous, perhaps, but it's really a pretty dark and funny little story. I wouldn't have minded if it had even gone a little darker, but then it might have been a little too heavy for the target audience. Next up will be Jennifer Gonnerman's Life on the Outside: The Prison Odyssey of Elaine Bartlett, an entrant in the Nonfiction category.
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