E3 2009 – The Top 5 Games That I’ve Just Got to Play in 2009
Last week, the Electronics Entertainment Expo (E3) showered gamers with an deluge of news and announcements highlighting the newest games in store for us this season and beyond. In addition, we saw a potential game-changing move with Microsoft’s unveiling of their self-aware Project Natal. One step closer to Judgment Day with that one.
Anyway, I covered the Microsoft and Nintendo conferences in two separate Blog posts, which is becoming an annual tradition now that I’ve done two of them. Those pieces were focused on my reactions to the news coming from the console manufacturers, not necessarily about the games themselves (although it would... Continue reading »
E3 2009 – What I Learned from the Nintendo Conference
These days Nintendo makes these pieces so easy for me. They shocked the world with the Wii several years ago and since then have decided to sit pretty in the Mushroom Kingdom and either churn out predictable sequels or offer up one-off gimmicks to further add clutter to our crowded rec rooms.
I may be a little harsh out of the gate and I don’t mean to poison this piece with venom and vitriol but I have been a diehard Nintendo fanboy for life and will remain one ‘til my dying day (when I’m buried standing up in a lime-green sewer pipe jutting from some random emerald hill.) And I think Nintendo picked itself up quite a bit from their crash-and-burn disaster of last year. But I can’t help but bristle at the... Continue reading »
E3 2009 – What I Learned From the Microsoft Conference
At the tail end of this week, I turn the page on 36 and look ahead to see what 37 has in store for me. At that point, it’s official. I’m in my late-30’s. And yet, it’s somewhat encouraging that this peek into the wild woods of Geriatric Park comes at the end of my favorite week of the year.
The 2009 E3 (the Electronic Entertainment Expo) launched in LA yesterday with the big Xbox 360 conference and the megaton charges that Microsoft lobbed were heard loud and clear (and streaming) a full coast away – making my day and more importantly, tightening my grasp on my youth.
No matter how old I get nor how many new responsibilities I draft into the fold, I always look forward to the next great video game experience.... Continue reading »
Aria at Four
“Daddy?”
“What, peach?”
“Are you thinking the same thing I’m thinking?”
“What’s that?”
“I love you!!!”
And that, my friends, is how Daddy’s Little Girls are made. My beautiful little girl, Aria Leigh, hit me with that probing line of inquiry a week ago and I wilted under the pressure. Forget waterboarding. You want a man to give up his secrets, you simply aim straight for the heart. And my little princess, with her blue eyes wide open in wonder, hoping her Daddy would return her serve with the same expertly crafted slice of sentimentality, knows exactly how to make me talk. In her sweetest little voice, with the most innocent of questions, she made my day.
Matters of the heart aside, Aria’s inquisitiveness also heralds another truth. My little... Continue reading »
The Top 10 Movies I’ve Just Got to See on the Big Screen in 2009
At what point did the Summer Movie Season begin in Spring and end by Memorial Day?
The studios blitzkrieg the multiplex with so much product in May that I half expect to waltz out of this weekend’s showing of Terminator Salvation to find leaves falling from the trees and a Thanksgiving dinner spread across the table. Once upon a time, we had movies as sole salvation to the long hot summer – with each coming weekend offering some brief respite from the humidity and the transporting promise that we were headed to some brave new world – for a couple of hours, at least. Summer movies began on Memorial Day and shuttered on Labor Day and it was during that magical spell that we may not have spied high art... Continue reading »
Netflix Notes – “Oscar Bait” Edition
With this latest batch, I’m all caught up again. Although, as I write this, I’ve got Valkyrie staring me down meaning the circle continues.
Here’s a helpful hint for any of you employing Netflix to feed your film habit. I’ve found that if you mail a movie out on Monday, you’ll almost aways receive that week’s new release by Wednesday. See, as long as you are close enough to a distribution facility, Netflix should get your return on Tuesday – the day new releases hit the market. And as long as you have a new release listed at the tippy-top of your pile, you’ll get it sent to you that day. If you are off by one day, get ready to join the “Very Long Wait” crowd.
So far it’s paid off wonderfully, which is how I go... Continue reading »
Netflix Notes – “When In Bruges…” Edition
Now that all of that nagging TV is done, I’m back to provide some frequent updates from the world of cinema. It seems my Netflix queue stays at a constant 100 – despite my best efforts to watch 2 – 3 flicks per week. Dammit – If only Hollywood would go on strike or something – I could finally get this list whittled down to a respectable number.
Anyway, as is par for the course, I plan on giving you the rundown on the latest flicks I’ve seen. I try not to structure these as traditional reviews but I will slap my Ebert head scale on them so you can eyeball the score and decide if you want to give the flick a chance or not. And if you have seen any of these, let us know what you thought in the Comments below.
Roll film.
1. In Bruges
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Lost – ‘The Incident Parts 1 & 2′ – 5.16 & 5.17
Screw Lost.
I want to talk about Fringe.
Here’s a show I derided all season. Kept starting and restarting more times than the Lohan/Ronson debacle. Was on again/off again more times than Ross and Rachel. (Who? What?) And then I settled down and started watching it again a few weeks back – largely buoyed by the Leonard Nimoy casting and bullied by our own Carlos. (I kid! I kid!!!)
And it all paid off beautifully in an epic season finale that drew the blueprint for how to close out a season strong. ‘There is More Than One of Everything’ answered some major questions that simply opened the portal to an entire alternate universe of unending possibilities. And then J.J. Abrams and his crack team of writers/strategists shuttered the night with one final, haunting image that... Continue reading »
Lost – ‘Follow the Leader’ – 5.15
After five seasons, I’ve cracked the formula to a Lost season-ender. We always get the finale in 3 acts. The penultimate episode always serves as Act 1 – using the hour to set the board and push all of the pieces in motion. Then, we get served a 2 hour opus that leaves us staggered by the end – sent off into the Summer wondering how five months could fly so swiftly and bemoaning the fact that the next eight would slow to a nice, Southern drawl.
So, that second-to-last episode is always bittersweet. I’m one of those types who enjoy the journey as much as the destination. I love being left hanging, so I crave these eps where we’re left to wonder what it all means – knowing full well that while some elements put in place will be answered in 7 days – other pieces will meld into the over... Continue reading »
Colin at Six
Colin can see Star Wars!!!
Yup, we’ve hit one of those pivotal milestone birthdays. Sure, he has some biggies ahead – those precious days where someone will toss him his first set of car keys, slide him a ballot or pour his first icy cold cerveza – but those are tales for a different day, hopefully one the looms deep in the distance – in a galaxy far, far away.
All that matters now is that Colin has hit that magic age where he can graduate from a strict diet of PIXAR and Noggin and move onto to more grown-up pursuits, starting with those beloved space-faring adventurers permanently ingrained in my noggin.
Six just seems to be the right age – both for Star Wars and for being a boy. For starters, it makes sentimental sense. I was six when I first saw Star Wars. Well, actually,... Continue reading »
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