Archer - Season 1

Archer comes from some of the same people who worked on Sealab 2021 and Frisky Dingo (the latter more apparent through the character designs). Archer has the typical style of humor that Dingo established and its concept actually reminds me of The Venture Bros in that it's that kind of show where most of the stories revolve around the bureaucracy of adventurers as opposed to the actual adventures. The difference is that Archer trades out the Johnny Quest-like world for a James Bond-like one. Sterling Archer is a James Bond-ish spy, but mostly he's a jerk, a liar, and a sociopath with extreme mommy issues. The recurring cast of characters includes his mother, who runs the spy agency (played wonderfully by Jessica Walters), and his ex-girlfriend, the sexy black-ops agent Lana Kane, along with other members of the agency.

Archer manages to be a pretty good character-driven comedy that's able to mesh well with some genuinely interesting plotlines. The quality of the writing jumps about from time to time. Sometimes there's the string of intelligent dialogue and show effortlessly combines tight story-writing with the improvisational rhythm that most of the voice cast (Jon Benjamin in particular) are known for. But other times the writing can drop to "worst episodes of Family Guy" levels of crassness for crassness' sake. They manage to get things back on track often enough though and there was enough clever material and a few moments where I really have to give these guys some credit. The show could be better, but I'll be waiting to see where the show goes next season.

Magical Meow Meow Taruto

Yeah...a friend of mine has lent me a rather large load of anime and manga to sample, so I've been powering through them in an effort to get them back to him quicker. If there's one thing my friend has a fondness for it's cute anime girls - specifically cute cat anime girls. The oddly titled Magical Meow Meow Taruto is nothing more than cute anime about cat girls that's only purpose is to be cute...and to my surprise it actually is pretty entertaining. I'll give the show this much credit: at least the cat girls here are as much cat as girl. In fact they're even cat-sized and, for the most part, treated as cats. It's a welcome change from the well-known cliche of girls who just happen to have cat ears for no reason other than to appease people with a cat fetish. The story takes place in a seaside town where nothing much ever happens and all but the most minor unpleasantness are omitted: the show makes its stories out of the most agreeable experiences of everyday life.

The "magical" part of the show comes from the show's prologue which tells us of a race of cat people called the Kinka, who lived in another world, and fought a losing war against a similar tribe called the Byoh. Legend has it that the lost princess of the Kinka escaped to our world. From there we meet Taruto, who may or may not be the lost Kinka princess. She apparently has some sort of magical power, but isn't able to control it properly. The results of her spells are more or less random and she spends most the first half of the series just going about helping people. It's all cute and fun to watch. After a while the show finally gets around to addressing that cat war from the prologue and the show starts to take on a slightly more serious tone. At first I thought there was a strange disconnect between it and the light, innocent material that came before it. But by the series end everything had tied together surprisingly well. Everything from the story came together, all the characters introduced along the way get some sort of pay off, and there's even some good action scenes here and there. Overall, it's just a fun simple children's anime. It's easy to watch, has fun characters, and I have no problem recommending it to people who enjoy this type of thing.

Missy Elliott - This Is Not A Test!

Missy Elliott, for the last decade or so, appears to be the one of the only female rappers of any prominence. I've always enjoyed her singles as they're released, but This Is Not A Test is the only one of her albums that I actually own. It's on this album that Missy showcases her ability to rap about black society on both the intro and the outro (especially the outro). On the brilliant "Wake Up," Missy shouts out to a nation of blacks over a simple drum and bell backbeat. Jay-Z adds a second punch to the song, but in a shocking move, he's actually outrapped by Missy.

Timberland sure does get around a lot, working his magic for a lot of hip-hop/R&B albums. This time around Timbaland has mastered the effective use of the turntable for "This is Not A Test." The irresistible "Let It Bump" is an alternative percussion killer that has Timberland's fingerprints all over it. "I'm Really Hot," lets Missy play back and forth with a turntable during its chorus, and "Pump It Up," gives Missy a chance to break back and forth with a turntable and Nelly. The major mis-step for the album is that Missy relies a little too much on ballads "Dats What I'm Talking About," "I'm Not Perfect," and "It's Real" are all soppy ballads that just take up space that better tracks could have filled. "Toyz," however, is a beautiful funk masterpiece and probably the first ode to the Mega Blaster, while "Is This Our Last Time" is a serviceable update to a classic song. So I guess two good ballads out of five is better than none. This Is Not A Test is certainly a creative effort, and I'll have to check out more of Missy's work.

Chibi Vampire: The Novel 3

So, I finally got around to borrowing the other Chibi Vampire novels to enjoy. This time, Karin and Kenta are working at the Julian Family Restaurant when Kira Matsumiya, a rich junior high girl, and her butler Shougo Tachikake, come in so Kira can make take an emergency bathroom break. While there, Kira shows an odd attraction to Karin. Kira then offers her and Kenta a job, to spend the weekend with Kira on her family's private island as a maid and as Kira's playmate. There are two other girls who have been hired as maids-Mayumi Oosaki, a young woman who Karin bit the night before leaving, who is quite a flirt and takes an interest in Kenta Usui, and Shouko Seki, another girl just a few years older than Karin. At the island things seem fine at first,until sweet Kira starts displaying a dark personality from time to time and soon Mayumi ends up missing. Soon Karin begins to wonder if Tachikake or Kira has Mayumi locked up, or had her murdered. This actually has to be my favorite of the novels I've read so far. The mystery angle is played off very well and although there isn't a moment in the story that matches the intensity of the climax of the first novel, the suspense is still pretty gripping. This is also the funniest storyline yet with all of the characters introduced here having some funny quirk about them, most notably Kira's breast obsession. Other than that everything I like about the series is intact here and I can't wait to dig into more.

Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back

Like the first game, Crash 2 has also been taking up space on my PS3 hard drive since January. The only reason I shelled out some cash for more Naughty Dog garbage after being tortured by the first Crash game is because a lot of people informed me that the second game is a huge improvement over the first. I kinda have to agree, Crash 2 is the typical sequel that tries to fix any issues that plagued its original outing and...well...at least it's better than the first one. Crash 2 sets the standard in terms of how most of the latter non-Naughty Dog produced sequels would play out. They fixed the saving problem that destroyed the first game and kinda improved the level design, so I was actually able to finish this one. Crash can now slide, giving him a lower attack than the spin, and he can also pull off a belly flop. The world map has been replaced with a warp room, featuring five levels and a lift to the boss (or next floor if the boss is defeated). The bosses can't be fought again, but since they're barely challenging and not very good, it's no big lost.

There's more emphasis on collecting gems, whether by breaking all the crates in a stage, following a secret path or completing the Death Route, which are naturally full of nitro, TNT, pits, spikes and all kinds of devious hazards. I didn't do any of this. Like the first game, there are plenty of cheap deaths and stupid game play concepts. The god awful warthog riding stages have been replaced with baby polar bear riding stages that are only a tad less awful, and there are stages where Crash can ride motorised surfboards and jetpacks, which also suffer from poor controls. I think the problem with some of this may have to do with the fact that game doesn't use the analog stick, it uses the D-pad. Sure, the levels aren't fully 3D in the sense that you can't go that far to the left or right, but I think the controls might feel a little more responsive and less clunky if used the stick. This game is at least somewhat enjoyable, but I'm not going to look into the third game anytime soon as I'm convinced that Naughty Dog doesn't have much talent for platformers.

Crash Bandicoot

I lived in a Nintendo household growing up and didn't acquire a non-Nintendo system until 2004, when I got my PS2. There was a huge backlog of PS1 titles that I missed and with the PS3's downloadable service, I'm able to check out what I've been missing. Crash Bandicoot was the Playstation's Mario equivalent, back when it was pretty much required for all systems to have one. It was made by Naughty Dog, the same people who would go on to make the those tolerable Jak and Daxter games. The Crash series went on without them and people have been complaining that the series was better in their care, but taking on their initial outing with the Bandicoot, I found a game that wasn't even worth completing! This game has been taking up space on my PS3's hard drive since early January, and while I normally won't talk about something on this blog without completing it (or in the case of stuff I already owned - replaying it), This game is just too unplayable to warrant even that.

Crash Bandicoot is a like a 3D Super Mario World or Donkey Kong Country. In fact, it's kinda what Mario 64 would have been like it had just took Mario World and put it in 3D. The gameplay is simplistic and kinda enjoyable, barely complicated at all. However the level designs are just pure shit and feature tons of cheap deaths and this is greatly elevated by the fact that it's in 3D and the camera is low. The controls are stiff and feature some of the clunkiest jumping I've seen in a platformer and combining this with poor level design and low camera turns stage progression into a nightmarish game of trail and error. Even when the game shows presents the action from a 2D perspective, the ledges are rarely more than one block wide, so if you happen to accidentally move up or down, you're likely dead. Then there are the stages where Crash rides a Warthog and dies when the damn thing runs into the tiniest little pebble on the ground...and the shit controls don't make that any better.

But you know, even with all that the game wouldn't be too much trouble to muscle through if it wasn't for the game's truly fatal flaw. The greatest problem in a game filled with annoyances is that it simply won't let you save. To save your progress or get a password, you can either complete a Tawna bonus stage and you can only do a bonus area once per level, so if you want to save again you'll actually need to find another level with a bonus area and of course the game doesn't inform you of what stages have them and if they've been completed. The other method of saving is to get a gem. That option is ruined by the fact that you must destroy all boxes in a stage without dying to get a gem and I've already covered how horrendous the levels are. It's a shame, if I was simply allowed to save when I wanted, I would have at least been able to persist to the game's end, but now it just left me wondering how this series ever got off the ground.

Freaknik: The Musical

There isn't much in the way of quality animated material starring a black cast. Bebe's Kids was a largely forgettable movie. The Proud Family and The Boondocks are the only television shows that come to mind, with the Boondocks being the only one that's legitimately good. Freaknik is an animated special on Adult Swim that pretty much continues that tradition. Seriously, This thing aired on television about three days ago and I'm still hard pressed to remember what went on during all of this. The special is apparently based on an actual party that used to take place in the south until it was shut down. In the special, the spirit of the party is manifested as the ghost of Freaknik...who barely does anything, which is a shame because T-Pain's performance as the character is great and things would have been much better if they'd focused on his antics instead of the unrelated rap group that serve as the focus of the plot.

From what I remember they were on their way to preform in some rap contest hosted by Freaknik and along the way they run into a bunch of characters that don't really help or hinder them. Meanwhile there's a secret society of prominent African Americans (I only recognized Oprah, Bill Cosby and Al Sharpton) that try to kill Freaknik but don't really do anything interesting until the end. The plot's very scatterbrained (like most Adult Swim shows) and the jokes aren't very good, with about half of them being directed at Al Sharpton. Despite being labeled a musical, there isn't much in the way of songs here. I can only recall like 4 songs and most of them were used in the first 15-20 mins of the hour-long show. It also didn't help that outside the main theme, none of the songs are that memorable, which is disappointing because the special features a huge gathering of hip-hop and R&B artists and its apparent that they didn't utilize their resources to their full potential. Oh well, Freaknik really could have been done better. I wasn't really expecting to be blown away by this, but I did get a few chuckles of it.

Ratatouille

I've set myself with a goal to see all Pixar movies before the year's end. In the last couple of years I've completely ignored the studio's films despite their critical success. Out of the the 11 Pixar films (counting the upcoming Toy Story 3) I've only seen 5 of them. Ratatoullie was Pixar's 2007 release. It's the story of Remy, a rat who dreams of becoming a famous French chef though his large family doesn't share such a sentiment. Remy's life takes a detour and leads him to the bright lights of Paris where his idol, Auguste Gusteau's restaurant has fallen on hard times, but with the help of a clumsy young man named Alfredo, Remy's culinary experience might just save the restaurant.

Saying that a Pixar movie looks good is pretty much a given. The movie is packed with beautiful images of Paris, drawn to look quaint and retro. There are imaginative camera angles and movement, and a stunning attention to detail. The characters move and emote with fluidity, not stiffly, the most animated films now-a-days do it. As usual with Pixar films, there is a simple plot that somehow manages to hold a lot more weigh and complexity than I would've guessed. Most notably, I was impressed with how the movie juggles the multiple relationships and plots all at once. There's Remy's connection to his dad and brother, his conflicting desire to be a gourmet chef, Linguini's crush on a fellow cook, The head chef's paranoia that there's a rat living in the kitchen. The rightful ownership of the Gusteau brand name comes into play, and somehow, a picky critic figures into the whole thing as well.

Another thing that struck me was that while most Pixar films strike a happy balance of subject matter that both kids and adults can enjoy, this one seemed to be aimed more for the adults; not in a suggestive sense but in a sophisticated sense. There's little in the way of pure slapstick and most of the humor comes from what's being said than what's happening on screen. Sure kids will enjoy this but I think older people would appreciate it more. I certainly enjoyed this and I can't wait to see what other Pixar films I've let slip past my radar.

God Of War

I can't tell if my opinion was affected by the tons of praise this got. It's definitely a good game. But at the time this came out, I really can't see how it earned the title of PS2 Game of the Year over Shadow of the Colossus or Resident Evil 4. And more recently, I'm completely baffled at this game being awarded best PS2 game ever over games like Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and or the Ratchet and Clank series. Anyway, God of War is a very fun game. A lot of people say that the combat is what makes this game so great, but it isn't why I like it though. Yeah, the fighting looks cool, but anyone can pull off a sweet looking combo. Just because the animations look nicer doesn't make your combat deeper than a normal button masher. I will admit that the fighting is very fluid and rewarding and as you progress you become more powerful as the game goes on. There's fairly good enemy variety, with things like centaurs and sirens and plenty of undead soldiers, although most of them come off as annoying little shits that do nothing but swarm around you and piss you off .

The story was more interesting than I expected, accomplishing its goal of helping us understand Kratos a bit more, but what I really liked were the game's set pieces, although even that was a bit uneven at times. The Temple of Pandora section of the game was brilliantly designed, really pulling off the feel of an epic, hazardous dungeon. In complete contrast to that, right before the temple section, the game figures the most entertaining thing you could do to enter the temple is to force you to slowly plod around a huge empty desert searching for sirens that you can you barely hear. I really want to slap the game designer that came up with that. But that somewhat short nightmare is nothing compared the last act of the game, starting in Hades. They were just lazy and braindead here, instead of making what could have been a really cool area, they just threw a bunch of enemies and idiotic spinning spike hazards at you, and it really isn't fun or interesting. After that you enter the final fight against Ares, and the whole showdown with him is no good. After the excitement of the first two boss fights, Ares is just a cheap twat who blocks all of your attacks and the final phase of the fight is more about luck than actual skill. So, God of War is a fun game. It's certainly one of the better PS2 games out there, but its far from the best.

The Producers

I don't watch a lot of non-Disney, non-animated musicals. I don't know why, I've just never had the desire to see one. The Producers somehow managed to catch my eye and I found it to be an incredible outing. The movie is an adaption of a Broadway show that was, in turn, an adaption of 60's movie, which also in turn, this movie also acts as remake of. For those unfamiliar with the story, Max Bialystock is a low-budget musical producer, who funds his failures with checks collected by romancing old ladies. His schemes grow grander when he meets accountant Leo Bloom, who pays a visit to check out Bialystock's books on behalf of his firm. Noting that a bad play doesn't have to pay out on investments, Bloom gives the producer the idea to collect a large amount to put on an awful musical that will close instantaneously, leaving him with a large profit.

The movie feels like a throwback to an older generation of studio musicals as opposed to the bits and pieces I've seen of the Rent and Moulin Rouge movies. The movie's shot in a very straightforward manner that works with the story to achieve a very specific sense of time and place. The casting is also solid with Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick making the jump from the Broadway show to the film in the lead roles of Max and Leo. The chemistry and interactions between them feel strong and real, mostly coming from the years they've spent playing the characters. Most of the supporting cast from the stage show also reprise their roles here. I didn't know who Gary Beach and Roger Bart were, but now I think I might need to search out some more of their films as they're hilarious as the gay duo of Roger De Bris and Carmen. From what I've been told (and its kinda of apparent) the only two characters who have new actors in their roles are Ulla and Franz Liebkind, who are now played by Uma Thurman and Will Ferrell. Its clearly just a case of wanting to have big name stars attached to this movie, but it works out just fine. Both Uma and Will seemed to have a lot of fun with parts and to surprise but of them cloud sing pretty well.

The musical numbers are a treat, making most of the scenes funnier and just more enjoyable. The songs are catchy and the cast preforms them with great skill and their personalities really help make the songs memorable. I have would have to say that my favorite songs were the ridiculous "Keep it Gay", mainly just for the "interesting" costumes used during that one, Ulla's "When You've Got It, Flaunt It" which has great lyrics and showcased Uma Thurman's singing abilities, and "Springtime for Hitler" which is just completely absurd and hilarious. This movie was a nice surprise to me. It's funny, has great casting and music and should be be seen by anyone who enjoys good comedy and music.

Songs I Like - Vol 11 "Rebel Yell" (Billy Idol)

Going a little old school today, I've had some Billy Idol songs in my head for while now so I thought I'd share my second favorite Billy Idol song "Rebel Yell"

Rebel Yell Lyrics

Last night a little dancer came dancin' to my door
Last night a little angel Came pumpin cross my floor
She said "Come on baby I got a licence for love
And if it expires pray help from above"

In the midnight hour she cried- "more, more, more"
With a rebel yell she cried- "more, more, more"
In the midniight hour babe- "more, more, more"
With a rebel yell- "more, more, more"
More, more, more.

She don't like slavery, she won't sit and beg
But when I'm tired and lonely she sees me to bed
What set you free and brought you to be me babe
What set you free I need you hear by me
Because

In the midnight hour she cried- "more, more, more"
With a rebel yell she cried- "more, more, more"
In the midniight hour babe- "more, more, more"
With a rebel yell- "more, more, more"

He lives in his own heaven
Collects it to go from the seven eleven
Well he's out all night to collect a fare
Just so long, just so long it don't mess up his hair.

I walked the ward with you, babe
A thousand miles with you
I dried your tears of pain, babe
A million times for you

I'd sell my soul for you babe
For money to burn with you
I'd give you all, and have none, babe
Just, just, justa, justa to have you here by me
Because

In the midnight hour she cried- "more, more, more"
With a rebel yell she cried- "more, more, more"
In the midniight hour babe- "more, more, more"
With a rebel yell she cried "more, more, more"
More, more, more.

Oh yeah little baby
she want more
More, more, more, more, more.

Oh yeah little baby
she want more
More, more, more, more.