The previous blog, as you might have noticed, was a rare occasion in which I got all SERIOUS BUSINESS. I don't wanna dwell on that any longer than I have to (plus, it's always kind of a downer to see that sort of post as your most recent one in the blog roll), so I'm going to spend this one doing a bunch of bullet points on random stuff. Game stuff. Movie stuff. Other stuff that comes to my mind. Stuff I probably shouldn't be thinking of because I should be in bed right now. You know. Stuff.
 
Let's get started.
 

• Toy Story 3 is a pretty fantastic movie. Thankfully I didn't read Ebert's review ahead of time because bloody hell does he spoil the ever living daylights out of it, but I really liked it. It was really funny and emotional in all the right places and the short you see before the movie is great. You can tell Lasseter had a hand in-it due to the style, but I'll leave it to you to see what I mean.
• Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne is an interesting game. I think that people looking into trying the SMT series probably shouldn't start with this one now that a whole lot of other, more accessible and explanatory games in the series have come in English, but for what it is, I like it. It still holds up, even if it's a less refined entry these days.
• The only thing I know about the World Cup is that there are more vuvuzelas in it than actual spectators.
• Publish This Book by Stephen Markley is a really humorous and interesting memoir. The concept is super meta in that it's a book about him trying to get that very book published and his execution of that formula makes for a fantastic read. Go pick it up if you ever see it at your Border's. He goes on a lot of hilarious tangents that make it worthwhile.
• My copy of the Karate Kid should be coming in the mail this afternoon. Did I tell you I bought that instead of seeing the remake? Yeah. I did. Tonight should be great.
• I'm also a sucker for good photo books. The same day I bought Publish This Book, I also bought Inside North Korea by Mark Edward Harris, which is more or less what it says it is. Good, humanistic photos coupled with well-written essays help really shine a light on that country's situation in a new light that isn't just entirely about politics.
• I also bought Brutal Legend about two weeks ago. I wish that Erik Wolpaw had been retained to write it, since the game's dialog isn't quite as sharp as Psychonauts', but the story is still entertaining. Oh, but did I tell you how much I hate the RTS portions? I absolutely loathe them. I won't say they're completely broken, but they shouldn't have been included in the game. Not fun.
• I also tried to restart MGS3 because I wanted to understand certain elements of 4's plot better, even if I had a passing familiarity with most of them. I'm so glad the new camera control in Subsistence is experimental because, man, you can still tell that game wasn't originally designed for it based on how Snake controlled. That was the main reason I stopped in the first place.
• I need to go do a little grocery shopping soon. Lettuce, cheese, tomato sauce. (I love my pasta.) Any other ideas, Giant Bomb?
• The results for my financial aid next school year also came in. From what I can tell, it'll be another year where grants pay for the actual tuition and the loans get used for apartment rent. I'm relieved, but I still need to focus on saving for my next lengthy study abroad trip/move to Japan.
• Did I mention Totoro was in Toy Story 3? I had a pretty giddy nerdgasm when I spotted him in there. It's nice to see the Pixar-Ghibli relationship actually be made apparent on screen.
• Now's as good a time as any, but I still don't like Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. I get what it was going for, but dude... you can't take somebody raised purely on Picard at that point and expect them to like DSN.
• Gabe Newell's appearance at the Sony press conference was interesting, as many people have already pointed out. Money probably changed hands, but knowing the politics behind Microsoft's game update policies, it's not hard to see why he eventually changed tune. His pride sure seemed hurt, though. It doesn't look like it was his first choice, by any means.
• Last year's Summer of Arcade games on XBLA are on sale, so I finally got around to buying 'Splosion Man for 400 points. I now love that game very, very dearly. It does so much with such deliberately limited controls, letting the variety come from the level design instead of abilities. It's a gamble that works well. I may write a review, but no guarantees.
• Man, how about that 3DS? For once, the immediate third party support for a Nintendo console doesn't seem so paltry. Knowing that the technology works as well as it does, too, is making me very seriously consider preordering one once that's possible. Here's hoping.
• Speaking of preorders, why can I still not do that for Valkyria Chronicles 2 on Amazon yet? It's been up on Gamestop's site, but I have a $10 credit on Amazon and wanted to apply it then. I thought it would show up during E3 since it had a small presence there, but apparently not. Ah well.
• I also just remembered I need to buy milk at the grocery story. I love milk. Do you? What's your take on milk?
• I also have a bunch of unopened chips of different varieties sitting around. Colorado summers tend to kill my appetite, though, so things will probably stay that way for a while.
• I got a pretty snazzy custom Persona 4 poster, too, a while back. It's an enlargened version of this cover, minus the text.