#June2011
Is This The New Justice League Line-Up From The DCnU?
Oh DC Reboot! Will you ever finish giving me excuses to update a blog in the middle of a leisurely Sunday? Why, in September you will! Until then! Some artwork has dropped, and people are speculating it’s the new JLA line-up. Commence conjecture.
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Christopher Meloni In Talks To Join ‘Man of Steel.’
Zack Snyder continues to challenge my desire to write off his movie before it is even filmed. He’s doing so through an utterly disgusting cast. In a sort of, Jesus Christ, this cast is amazing sort of disgusting. The latest actor rumored to be joining the nauseatingly great ensemble is Christopher Meloni.
Tree of Life Owes Everything to Bill Paxton
Terrence Malick’s long-awaited wank-a-thon Tree of Life has been in select theaters for a few weeks now and will be getting a nationwide boost on July 8. As I’m writing this it’s 86% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. I saw it last Sunday and while I thought it was a stunning visual orgy, it didn’t really do much else for me. Especially Sean Penn. He’s one of my favorite dudes ever but his bits in the movie were pointless and his whole beach scene near the end is by far the cheesiest scene of 2011.
I’m not here to knock the enigmatic Malick or his new movie though. You should go see it in the theater if you have the chance. You’ll never see another film like it, that’s a Malick guarantee! But the movie got me and my girl thinking about another film. A similar yet superior film from a decade ago: Frailty. Directed by Bill Goddamn Paxton and written by Brent Hanley (who wrote the “Family” episode of Masters of Horror), Frailty is a southern-fried gothic thriller in which a fanatic father (Paxton) has visions that drive him to seek and kill “demons,” bringing his two young sons along for the ride. I admit, comparing these two films is like trying to draw concrete comparisons between The Wire and Everybody Loves Raymond, but Malick and Paxton’s tales of the south have more in common than you think. I might even smell some plagiarism…
Face of a Franchise: Archetypal Wise Old Man!
[face of a franchise presents two individuals that’ve fulfilled the same role. your task — choose the better of the two and defend your choice in the rancor pit that is the comments section]
The wise old man may be my favorite archetype of all. This is the dude that lives on the outskirts and is ostracized by regular folk because his otherworldly knowledge frightens them. Fortunately, this geezer’s benevolence keeps him buoyant enough to guide a callow protagonist on his epic journey, imparting wisdom along the way.
Oh, he’s also been known to die mid-journey. But don’t worry, he’ll probably return from the grave. And if he does, the chief’s going to have plus-thirty Sick Powers.
Virgil. Pai Mei. Merlin. Odin. Henry. All wise old men. All bosses.
But there are two that stand shoulders above the rest, not only fulfilling the role of the helpful wizard but defining it for new generations. I’ll make a case for each and then let you hit up the comments section with your choice. Omega-Readers, short or tall, who is the dopest wizard of them all?
Ben Kenobi or Gandalf?
‘Batman: Gotham Knights’ Is Fan-Made Batman Fighter Done Street Fighter Homage.
The fan made game ‘Batman: Gotham Knights’ is a boner in motion. Using the MUGEN engine, it takes an absurd amount of DC characters and throws them into a fighting game that looks like some Street Fighter Alpha-type action. It isn’t out yet, but there’s a video after the jump to get your bits glazed.
William Gibson Says ‘Cyberspace’ Was Inspired By Old School Arcades.
I’m insane in my geeklust for William Gibson. Totally bananas. He is my God. Everyone knows by now that the dude created the term ‘cyberspace’ and that he imagined a distant future while writing Neuromancer on a friggin’ typewriter. Now we know where he got the inspiration for the word that’s come to worm itself into our Collective Unconscious. Arcades.
Rebecca Black’s ‘Friday’ Goes 8-Bit Adventure Game.
Everything is going 8-Bit. I don’t know if my generation is now hitting some sort of blank-life crisis (well, how long are we going to live? Given modern medicine, something like 400 awful, crusty, wheezing years), but we love turning everything into a muddy amount of colors and some chiptune Nintendo Entertainment System glory. Nostalgia! Oh sweet nostalgia.
Rebecca Black’s ‘Friday’ has done gone and received an 8-Bit adventure game treatment.
Abell 2744 Is The Rumble Pit Where Four Galaxies Centers Are Colliding.
Bungie Returns To Apple With ‘Bungie Mobile.’ Was Only Matter Of Time.
Bungie used to be total best friends forever with Apple. Then Microsoft made them a deal they couldn’t refuse, sending Steve Jobs into a frenzy. He hit women, ate children. Since then, Bungie created Halo, sat around as Microsoft’s pet, and then last year threw up the deuces and finally went multiplatform. It makes sense now that they’re free, they’ve returned to Apple. In some form.
Press Start!: Voice Commands Are For The Bedroom, Not Video Games.
I absolutely love Chez-Its. Nothing relaxes me more than popping down on the toilet mashing a handful of Chez-Its into my gullet while checking my Tumblr on my iPhone. One of the other things I absolutely love is the use of adverbs. Hemingway fucking hates me. On top of those two pure, unadulterated loves of mine is my unremitting love for video games.
That’s why I write this column. Press Start!, the post where I run down five things that happened in the world of video games this week. I’m covered in Chez-It crumbs and ready to vomit verbose into your eye-mind-mouths.
Let’s party, guys!
