Friday, April 20, 2012

Prognosis: The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)

I remember going to see this movie in theatres, cautiously optimistic. I figured, hey, this could be great. The original, made in 1951, was a great little movie that I thought had the potential to make a solid reboot, giving a modern reinterpretation of the actions that take place in the film. While the posters and trailers of the older movie advertised the robot-attack as the feature of the movie, most of the film was a commentary that discussed peculiarities of human society from the perspective of an alien, such as family dynamics, societal norms, and war. In the end, it left us with a hopeful message of global reform to encourage a unified planet. A reboot would be an excellent opportunity to reinforce this message while reiterating more relevant modern societal issues.

Oh, how wrong I was.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Concerning Star Wars Kinect

Honest, does this little shrimp look like you?
Now that exactly fifteen people have asked me if I've heard about the "disgrace" called  Star Wars Kinect since it came out, I'm going to put my full reaction here for the record.

I'll go ahead and say it; the fanbase response is patently ridiculous. Why should the fans even care? Is anyone forcing you to play this game? Is this game targeted at your demographic? Was this game somehow meant to expand canon? No, nope, and never respectively. Older, jaded Star Wars fans are just using this as another flimsy excuse to indulge in their favorite pastime - shitting on George Lucas. In all honestly, I find this reaction and the practice it stems from mortally embarrassing as a fan of the franchise.

Seriously. If you're over the age of 16, LucasArts gives exactly zero fucks about what you think of Star Wars Kinect. This is not your toy.

Monday, April 16, 2012

Off Topic: Oh no, not Miracle Whip again...

This post is a bit outside of the gaming purview of the blog, but it's something that's been bothering me. I thought I'd seen the end of this dumb marketing campaign ages ago. If you're in the states, I'm almost certain you know which ones I mean from the title -- a seductive female voice tells you about how cool and trendy Miracle Whip is for all you hip kids out there while attractive, smiling youths in fashionable clothes pose suggestively with jars of mayonnaise, all filmed with a shaky camera while abstract shapes float through the background. Classy stuff.

Needless to say, I was a bit disappointed when I opened The Onion today to find an edgy Miracle Whip graffiti splash sprawling over the top stories.