what if assassin's creed 3's focus on connor's naivete, his foolish hope in the colonists and his dwindling faith in america was all a big meta-narrative of the player's own crushed hope and increasing pain as they continue through the game alongside him

connor leaves the animus as we shift focus to ourselves, the players, as we die alongside him, denied catharsis as we are served up the wackest fucking ending i have ever played five games to earn

FIVE GAMES, UBISOFT

I FEEL LIKE I JUST ROLEPLAYED THE TRAIL OF TEARS

@McGhee made a great kpop top ten post, and since I recently made my own list I'll post it with commentary and lots of links. I only listen to girl groups. No interest in boy bands. Sue me.

Thanks for the list, McGhee! I like your picks! Here are mine. I've included some links to music videos (MVs) or at least the audio for those who want even more real-ass kpop. Bad songs have gone unlinked.

1. miss A - Touch

2. Orange Caramel - Lipstick

3. After School - Flashback

4. f(x) - Electric Shock

5. Girl's Day - Don't Forget Me

6. Secret - Twinkle Twinkle

7. 2NE1 - I Love You

8. After School - Eyeline

9. 4minute - Volume Up

10. KARA - Pandora

Notes on the list:

Touch is an absolute crusher, which is what it takes to dethrone Orange Caramel from my top spot in any year. I made this list based purely on the quality of the songs, but holy shit, what a video! Amazing set and effects etc. All of these songs have videos that are good to varying degrees, aside from Eyeline which has no video at all. I kind of like the opening music of the Pandora video, before the real song starts, better than the real song itself.

God, it was hard to cut T-ara - Lovey Dovey, but it had to be done. It wasn't good enough. I didn't like Day by Day or Sexy Love. Damn I hated Sexy Love.

I almost, ALMOST had Orange Caramel on there twice with Yasashii Akuma, but it was not meant to be. That was #10 until I remembered Girl's Day.

Twinkle Twinkle is a Japanese song, but it's by an established Korean group for a Japanese promotion. I wish it was called something different, because Girl's Day - Twinkle Twinkle is one of my favorite kpop songs and has the best kpop MV of all time. Anyways, Secret is great, listen to Shy Boy

I fucking hate 2NE1, but I Love You is such a dope track that it has to be on the board. I love Bom's weird singing cadence. Must be all the plastic.

A few thoughts on kpop 2012:

1. Thank you Nichkhun for not allowing 2012 to pass by without a male idol killing or nearly killing an innocent person with a vehicle. Fuck all manpop. This is rule #1 and it is law. Boy bands know this and it's why they get drunk and take out their frustrations on innocent motorists year after year.

2. Fuck Gangnam Style. That song was good for about a week after it came out. Yes, I am wearing my hipster glasses, thanks.

3. That's too bad about T-ara, huh? I don't know what actually happened, I'm sure not everything was totally kosher, but they were one of my personal favorites. Lots of top-notch songs out of them! Why Are You Being Like This, Bo Peep Bo Peep, Apple is A, Roly Poly, Yayaya, and more! Those are all total crushers that I would listen to any time. It sucked to see them get tarred and feathered like that, and now Hwayoung is probably fucked for a music career. Not that anyone gave a shit about her aside from that time we saw her nipple. I can't believe how poorly Kim Kwang Soo and CCM handled that. KKS is the biggest, dumbest jagoff in kpop, it's amazing T-ara has lasted so long in light of it. The dude adds a 14 year old to the band now, which is bad enough but he makes her the rapper and she can't even speak Korean? Christ almighty. Wae ireoni, KKS?

4. Jihae left Girl's Day. Fuck! Not one member of Girl's Day is bad and they went and axed one. Or she left, whatever. She's gone and Girl's Day didn't even chart significantly, but G-Dragon is still alive and released like 18 fucking singles or something this year. Fuck the world. Girl's Day released their first bad song in Oh My God!, which had an equally bad music video, but Don't Forget Me is a great comeback.

5. IU. Hahahaha. Hey, on the bright side, hopefully no one will ever call her "the nation's little sister" again. Jesus, that title is creepy as hell.

6. miss A - I Don't Need A Man is a terrible song and all, but... okay, if the video is about female empowerment and the title of the damn thing says that they don't need a man, why does the video open with a shot of a stack of cash with their CEO's face on it? Holy loly. Way to keep them underheel, JYP. Part of me thinks he's fully aware of the irony.

I miss E/N sites. I know blogs rendered them obsolete but shit man, those were the days. At least I still have SA and i-mockery.

For the quest.