Tuesday, July 30, 2013

New Podcast episode: Video Games Live

Cyrus and Raven go see Video Games Live, a fusion of live music and cutting-edge visuals from some of the world’s most popular video games such as Pokemon, Super Smash Bros., Skyrim, Journey, Street Fighter II, Earthworm Jim, Donkey Kong Country, Chrono Cross and many more!

Listen to us chit-chat about the event!

Here's our address on iTunes; keep current with the show by subscribing:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/je-funhouse-we-are-what-you/id537067117

Monday, July 22, 2013

Updated offline co-op games list as of 7-22-2013

Made some updates to the co-op list.

Guacamelee
Tales of Graces F?
Little Big Planet 2
Portal 2
Killzone 3
Uncharted 3
Adventures of Tin Tin
Castlestorm 
Terraria
Far Cry 3
BattleBlock Theater
Lego Batman 2
Deathsmiles

Anomaly: Warzone Earth
Twisted Metal for PS3
Ugly Americans Apocalypsegeddon
 Lord of the Rings: War in the North
Ratchet and Clank: Full Frontal Assault

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Misleading movie trailers

The movie Cosmopolis successfully tricked me with a trailer that promised a movie that seemed  interesting. After an hour of hearing Robert Pattinson have robotic/philosophical conversations with a constantly changing cast of characters, I gave up and turned on The Avengers.

The trailer looked so cool. It presented lots of drama and action. Shame on you, David Cronenberg.

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

GameStop sales push!!

I meant to post this a few weeks ago when I picked up a copy of Dead Island. Here's an account of my most recent experience at GameStop:

"Is there anything I can help you with today? Is there anything you're looking for?"

No, thank you

"Are you here to preorder The Last of Us for PS3 if you have a PS3?"

No, thank you

"Would you like to preorder anything today?"

No, thank you

"Do you have our rewards card?"

No.

"Let me tell you about our rewards card- you get points..."

No, thank you.

"Well, it is free and has all these various perks..."

No, thank you.

"Can I see your ID?"

Sure (This isn't something to bash GameStop, but I was surprised that the young woman working there carded me for a game that I have to be 17 to play. I'm not elderly, but I'm nowhere near that young. I wonder if they have secret shoppers or something.)

"Would you like a $2 warranty for this game?"

No, thank you.  (Who buys the warranty from GameStop? Why would I want a warranty for a $20 game? I also find it hilarious that this is coming from the same company that sells games that aren't sealed as new. I can understand buying a warranty for a system because in the past I purchased consoles from GameStop and also purchased their warranty. I wonder how much money GameStop makes on a disc warranty...)

Saturday, July 6, 2013

A review of Chuck Palahniuk's Pygmy

I consider myself to be a decent Chuck Palahniuk fan. Generally, I have a hard time putting his books down, finishing them within a couple days. An hour ago, I decided to start Pygmy and I am already finished because the book is terrible and I cannot continue reading it.

Pygmy is written in the voice of the central character: a 13-year-old terrorist agent who plans to carry out some sort of attack while living in America with his host family. The whole book is written in broken English that doesn't make sense. The broken English doesn't make sense for a couple reasons. The first reason is that it is an intentional trick that Palahniuk uses to make the book more interesting, although it fails. You are forced to break down the language to figure out various normal things that are taking place (also some things that are not normal). Unwrapping a gift, going to Walmart, shaking hands, etc. are all elaborate tasks that are purposefully described in confusing ways. The second reason that it doesn't make sense is that the mastery of the vocabulary seems to be light years ahead of the sentence structure, which makes the book even more annoying to read. Great big SAT words are peppered throughout the language of someone with the cadence of a caveman. I don't mind putting in a little "work" when an author plays with voice and language. I loved A Clockwork Orange and Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, so I don't think the problem is a bias that I have. Anthony Burgess' story requires a glossary, yet it seemed like less work! I was hoping that the language would evolve throughout Pygmy, but as I skipped ahead, I realized the whole book is written this way.

The plot of the book is also something that is terrible and nothing new from C.P. I'm tired of hearing about Walmart. I'm tired of hearing about the flaws in the American way of life. I don't even consider myself to be the biggest patriot, but I was so disheartened when C.P. comes out swinging with these nickel-and-dime tactics where he pairs Pygmy with a stereotype of an American family.

There's an extremely graphic scene early on in the book that was a huge dealbreaker for me, and prompted me to just look up the synopsis of the remaining story as I was ready to give up. Is the scene supposed to be funny? I'm not sure. Upon reading the synopsis, I was happy that I quit reading when I did, as this graphic scene proves to be central to the ridiculous story.

How far into the book did I get? Just a few chapters was all that I could stand. This is definitely a book where you should read a few pages before you buy it.

I am a few books behind being current with C.P.'s work, and Pygmy has made me a little afraid of his recent offerings.