November 30, 2003 4:31 PM

Another day another list,… to make fun of.

This time it’s a music list. Rolling Stone Magazine’s top 500 albums of all time. Now for you young folks who don’t know what an album is, it’s the whole CD. Time was there was an artistry to that. Now the emphasis has shifted to the single, the one song you hear on the radio from the artist, twice or three times a day. I won’t bother listing all of the horrible horrible mistakes that this list makes. Hey, let’s see you compile a list of 500 albums, call them “The Greatest of All Time” and not have it piss anyone off. Can’t be done. But I will list some of my observations:

I only owned or borrowed and listened to in their entirety 43 of the 500.

There were more than a couple “greatest hits” albums on the list, which is a no-no. The artistry of creating an album lies in the artist’s ability to create all of the songs on the album in relatively short space of time. The songs are written to be heard after and before the songs that come after or before them. The order is important. I don’t care if the artist sat down with a producer and thought about the order on their greatest hits album, it isn’t the same thing and therefore not up for consideration when one is critiquing albums.

With 3 Eminem albums on the list, I can’t help but accuse Rolling Stone of sucking up to this teen generation, unstoppable consumer juggernauts as they are. This alone isn’t really that bad but they also didn’t suck up enough to my generation, or perhaps that’s what those 3 Radiohead albums where up there for.

Props to the RS crew for putting a Pogues album on the list, not the one I would have chosen but nonetheless, good show.

Here is a list of albums that I own and find to be quite good, that were absent from RS’s list:

• Fiona Apple, “Tidal”
• Beastie Boys, “Check Your Head”
• Beck, “Mutations”
• Belle and Sebastian, “If You’re Feeling Sinister”
• Cibo Matto, “Viva La Woman”
• Dead Kennedys, “Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables”
• Elastica, “Elastica”
• Flaming Lips, “Clouds Taste Metallic”
• Flaming Lips, “Transmissions from the Satellite”
• Kool Keith & Dan the Automator, “Dr. Octagon”
• Man or Astro-Man, “Experiment Zero”
• Mos Def, “Black on Both Sides”
• The Pogues, “If I Should Fall from Grace with God”
• The Roots, “Do You Want More”
• The Roots, “Things Fall Apart”
• Skankin’ Pickle, “Sing along with Skankin’ Pickle”
• The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, “Orange”

b-ruce

November 24, 2003 10:00 AM

Greg Kasavin seeks M. Night Shyamalan to do games.

Well, maybe not exactly. GK does have a point, I couldn’t get past a particularly frustrating part in Eternal Darkness but I did play a great deal of it and I can tell you that I do remember the instances that Kasavin reports quite vividly. I don’t know if I feel I need to be shocked in order to have those kinds of memorable experiences, but I will agree that the mark of a good game is to provide us with these memorable experiences.

I’ve been trying to allocate time for both Final Fantasy’s 11 and 10-2 but to be quite honest the day’s not long enough. I’m having a great deal of fun with both games. And even though they are of the same franchise and separated by half of a number, they completely different in mood, pace and voice.

b-ruce

November 22, 2003 12:03 PM

A great put down

North Korea burned Donald Rumsfeld today by calling him worse than Hitler. I for one would like to congratulate the horribly twisted regime for its witty come back. Perhaps this will introduce a new phrase into popular culture (i.e. “Man that Mexican omelet was worse than Hitler. Or perhaps: “Aw mom! I don’t wanna mow the lawn, it’s worse than Hitler!”).

Also check out this hilarious portrait of their leader Kim Jong-Il

b-ruce

November 21, 2003 11:05 AM

A plethora of Final Fantasy info/news.

IGN has a few stories on FF 12 and FF11’s success. Gamespot also had a write up on this week’s press conference. Both sites have a Q&A with some of the developers. A great read, all. What’s even better is that we get to play FF 10-2 and FF 11 while reading about FF 12.

I’m 4+ hours into FF 10-2 and while I must say that it’s not the greatest game I’ve played. I’m certainly more than motivated to continue playing it.

Pros: 2nd best opening of the series. Solid voice acting doing genuinely funny dialog. Lighthearted nature allows the sweet characters to shine.

Cons: No opening tutorial after the CGI movie brings you from the penthouse to the outhouse, throwing you into a bunch of battles that are very confusing. The battle camera seems to move of its own free will, often settling in awkward places. Lighthearted nature and nonlinear, mission based game structure makes for a less compelling story.

Don’t think for a moment that I’m not liking the game just because I’ve listed more Cons than Pros. Even as a less polished sequel it’s still a high quality work to be sure.

b-ruce

November 20, 2003 10:59 AM

That’s some good TV

Now that I’ve been able to acquire more free time I have been trying to catch up on my Television shows. I, like many young men aged 18-25, have spurned most TV in favor of videogames. However I am watching Wednesday’s “Smallville” and “Angel” and while Smallville still has yet to reach the heights it has the potential to reach, Angel has been spot on this season. With “Firefly” off the air, Angel has become the funniest show on TV. i.e.:

NUMBER 5 (V.O.) What you are failing to see, my friend,
is that we had to be ever-vigilant, ready for action at a moment's
notice. Cut to:
11b INT. MEXICAN BAR - NIGHT Resume the bar scene. The
telephone rings, and Number 5 answers it.
NUMBER 5 Si. Si. !Hermanos!(the brothers stop
in their tracks and look at Number 5) The devil has built a
robot!
ALL BROTHERS (stand, make fists) !Andale!
(exit)
Cut to:
NUMBER 5 Surely you have heard about our great victory
over the devil's robot?
ANGEL (shrugs) Sorry.
NUMBER 5 Nobody remembers the good stuff.(stands,
walks away)

I don’t care who you are, that’s funny. And in the context of the show, it’s damn hilarious. Wedon’s genius is apparent, combining an homage to B movie franchise El Santo with the Mexican Day of the Dead as a set up to explore Angel’s feelings of disconnection to his work.

At this point I’m willing to say that I’m enjoying this season of Angel as much as some of the lesser Buffy seasons and we’ve not even reached the halfway point.

b-ruce

November 19, 2003 2:45 PM

Information beginning, indeed

The official Final Fantasy 12 website has been updated with some more information on the game. IGN also covered the press conference SE had to announce it to the public.

Rumors confirmed: The FF Tactics guy is spearheading the whole initiative. The world is going to be more futuristic than the last couple FF games.

Apparently Matsuno-san really likes his games to take place in Ivalice as FF 12 will be the 3rd game of his to take place there. Also there’s word of a caste system and an examination on human rights to be one of the main themes.

Rumors circulate: There will be strategy battles (FF Tactics, FF Tactics Advance, Ogre Battle). Moogles will be badass. Many of the other races in FFTA will be present.

While I was hoping for a little more information, I am very happy with what I’ve seen so far on this. I do hope there will be more info on the other characters soon and that said characters will have slick black leather outfits.

b-ruce

November 9, 2003 12:05 PM

Finally

So Jalen Rose was benched before the Bulls played the Hornets yesterday. This was a great idea. I’ve long felt that Rose was a ball-hogging cancer to the Bulls and not the person you want to lead a team of rookies. Now let’s hope Rose’s team high in points, due to his team high in attempts, doesn’t change the mind of Bill Cartwright. Keep Rose coming off the bench and start Donyell Marshall along with Tyson Chandler with Kendall Gill (to be replaced by Scottie Pippen when he’s healthy) and Jamal Crawford in the backcourt. Maybe by keeping Rose’s minutes and subsequently his attempts down, the Bulls can not only give the younger players a chance to get their hands on the ball, but also perhaps win 35 games this season.

b-ruce

November 8, 2003 3:36 PM

Whoa!

IGN has posted a six page review of Final Fantasy X-2! This is, of course, very unexpected due to the fact that the game isn’t due to be released for another 10 days. Way to scoop the competition guys. However I didn’t read the whole review for fear of spoiling the experience. I did see that they liked it to a great extent and that they awarded it a 9.5, which is high, even for them.

b-ruce