Pick of the Week: Slaves to the Tyranny of Beauty
Week of August 23rd, 2008
Television Show: Nip/Tuck
So I’m only in the second season of this show so far but I was hooked on the first episode. It’s a pretty strange show, to be honest, with the promise from some friends of mine that it just gets stranger, but I have loved every minute of it.
I think this show has some of the craziest character dynamics on any TV show, and while the main characters are always there, there are some characters that return often and others that don’t. This makes the show feel much more alive than any others I’ve seen, and it is highly enjoyable to the point where I can’t wait to watch the next episode. Never since 24 have I felt that strongly about continuing the story line of a TV show.
Of course, the best part of this show for me is Christian Troy, who is pretty unlikable in the first season until the storyline involving possibly becoming a father. At that point he becomes much more human and has really been the character that has grown and changed over the series the most (from what I’ve seen anyway). He’s played excellently by Julian McMahon, and I HATED him in Fantastic Four as he played a terrible ‘Dr. Doom’. But he has all but redeemed himself with this show and I don’t even think about that movie anymore.
Pick of the Week: Lashing At Him With Contempt
Week of August 16th, 2008
I’m a little late this week – my apologies. But it’s always worth the wait, right loyal readers? Right!
Video Game: Braid
This game is so ridiculously beautiful I can’t even describe it properly. Along with the amazing visuals is such great music that I actually found myself lost in the game for one of the first times in a long while. Not only that, but the gameplay is so awesome and part of my favorite genre (puzzle).
You play a character trying to rescue a princess from a castle. Not very interesting huh? It doesn’t matter. And there may be much more to the story than that, as I still have only played the first two worlds (with six total worlds to explore). Basically you go into each world and collect puzzle pieces (think jigsaw puzzles) using various platforming techniques, but at the same time you have the ability to rewind time and manipulate the flow of time. There are some objects immune to your time changing abilities, so it takes some creative thinking to get things working your way to collect all those puzzle pieces.
I’m looking forward to continuing this game as I’ve been told it just gets better and better and I’m sure I’ll be able to rant and rave about the game even more once I finish it. It’s currently only available on Xbox Live Arcade, for 1,200 points ($15) and it’s probably the best fifteen bucks I’ve spent on a game. I believe a PC version is coming out soon, so for those of you who don’t have Xbox, definitely consider checking this game out. It’s definitely worth it.
Pick of the Week: A Difficult Pancake
Week of August 9th, 2008
So here’s the deal: I’m going to try this pick of the week thing again, this time, I’m just picking one thing. So I’ll be able to talk about it a bit more and feel less pressure to find five things that fit a theme each week.
Book: The Third Policeman
I had decided to check this book out after reading about it in a LOST episode guide, which explained that it was featured on the show (which is notorious for having many literary references and influences) and that the creators stated if you read this book you’d have more ‘ammunition’ to theorize what was going on on the show. So I decided to check it out, and I owned it for a good four or five months before I started actually reading it proper.
What I was treated to was a strange and humorous story about a man lost in some strange world after certain events take place, and meeting strange characters while learning more about their world and what not. The whole book is fairly confusing as you go through it, but really interesting and really makes you want to reach the end so you can figure out what it’s all about. The ‘twist’ ending is pretty great, and I did not see it coming so I was pretty happy with it. And I definitely felt the impact the book had on LOST and I think I enjoyed it even more because I was a fan of the show.
Oh yeah, the one character constantly refers to things as ‘difficult pancakes’ and I thought it was the funniest thing in the world.
