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Old-School vs. New-School
I'm not a big fan of "new old school". That is people setting out to do something that follows an old-school ideal. I'm much more excited about people trying to do something new and exciting. Be it graphics-wise, story-wise or gameplay-wise. A game can have "old-school" graphics but be very much not old-school because the story isn't or the gameplay mechanics aren't (example. Dwarf Fortress. You can't get a whole lot more old-school than ASCII graphics but the gameplay is above nearly anything made today)
Of course taking old concepts and perfecting them isn't too bad and I'll probably enjoy something like that too. But it's a lot easier to like a bad game that has awesome ideas than a bad game that tries to perfect old mechanics.
Of course taking old concepts and perfecting them isn't too bad and I'll probably enjoy something like that too. But it's a lot easier to like a bad game that has awesome ideas than a bad game that tries to perfect old mechanics.
Top Ten Topic: Books! (Fiction)
Best books is always hard in my opinion. I find awesome books all the time and I forget them just as often. I will mention a couple of authors and their books (hopefully it'll make about ten) but I won't rank them or anything. It'll just be recommendations.
China Miéville
British author of a couple of books and some short stories (some of which you should be able to find online) His first novel King Rat is a retelling of the Pied Piper of Hamelin in modern London. His following novels have been set in a fantasy world that is really quite interesting and... well weird. It's a bit steampunky but with a fair amount of magic and strange "fantasy" races. All with the gritty realism you expect from punk.
I recommend. Even though it can be pretty heavy to read at times.
Jeff VanderMeer
His collection A City of Saints and Madmen made a really huge impression on me when I read it. A couple of stories all set in the same city but told in very different ways. All the stories have been published individually but together they create a whole that is very interesting as you notice how different things combine.
Shriek - An Afterword is another novel set in the same "world" and is basically an afterword. It is treated like a "found" manuscript and has scribbled notes on the side from another person who is commenting on the manuscript. Add to that that there's also a fictional editor who has chosen to put it together and who has an afterword with comments on what he edited from the manuscript.
You just don't know where the fiction ends and reality begins.
Cory Doctorow
I haven't read a whole lot from him. Only Someone comes to town, someone leaves town, but it's a wonderfully strange story that combines the hugely weird (the main character's mother is a washing machine and father is a mountain) with the apparently normal. It handles it pretty well and by the end of it you don't wonder at all about how the hell that washing machine could be a mother. It's just obvious.
He's also a big "free culture" proponent and occasionally reads his fiction on his podcast (craphound.com) or release them to read for free on the internet under Creative Commons licenses. (Try to find "When Sysadmins Ruled the World" a very interesting take on the apocalypse.)
Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman is old in the game and has written a bunch of really stellar novels. And comic books. And Screenplays. And nearly anything else that can be written. I don't really know what else I could add about him. If you haven't read anything by him make sure to try to find something. If you don't want to read anything longer dig up the short story collections Smoke and Mirrors or Fragile Things. Both of these come with comments on the creation of the stories themselves. Something I find hugely interesting.
Terry Pratchett
I just read his new Making Money and I just have to put him on this list. His books are so... Readable. They're not overly complicated or heavy to read (like some of the authors I've mentioned earlier) but instead they're full of humour and references you either get or not get or just don't care about. I also think that his novels are getting better with each one. The early ones parodied fantasy clichés but nowadays there's so much more "commentary" on all kinds of aspects of today's world. All put into a world with a very different world view of our own.
I also recommend all three Science of Discworld books, which are popular science books with a lot of interesting facts in them.
Philip K. Dick
I have to mention some author who isn't alive anymore. And Dick seems as good a fit as anyone. His stories of strangeness are hard not to like. The always present old-school "mindfuck" and paranoia. With everything from Do Android Dream of Electric Sheep to Time Out of Joint to The Man in the High Castle.
I also love how an author whose books often seem very "unfilmable" has had so many movie adaptions. (It seems every year there is at least one)
Hal Duncan
Vellum. I read this last month. It completely blew my mind. I just read it and I had no idea what was going on but on some level it all made sense but thinking about it made my head hurt. Thankfully the font changed occasionally so you could kinda tell where you were.
K.J. Bishop
The Etched City, when I got that book I judged it by its cover. It had a nice cover and it felt like I wanted that book. It was a good choice and it told a story about how everyone is the center of their own world but how sometimes these world may collide. Or at least that's what it was about in the end. Before that it was a fairly regular story. Or two. Or depending on who was the narrator at the time.
George R.R. Martin
Basically his Song of Ice and Fire is the only book series I really care about nowadays when I'm trying to stay away from anything longer than one book. (They used to be able to put all stuff into a 300 page book. Why do they fifteen tomes of 600 page books nowadays? I blame Tolkien and his followers) But A Song of Ice and Fire has all that political intrigue and "realism" to it combined with characters that really face some of the most unpleasant things I can think of but hopefully pulling through.
I've recently watched the HBO series Rome and I can find a lot of similarities. Scheming and backstabbing combined with the occasional battle. It is never wrong. Never ever wrong. (and HBO has apparently gotten the rights to make a Song of Ice and Fire into a TV-series so here's to hoping they do it right)
Before this mammoth fantasy series though, Martin also has a huge backlog of great stories that deserves to be brought up.
9 authors and a lot more books. I'm sure there's a bunch of others to recommend as well so I leave the tenth spot open. It's all mostly SF so if you don't generally like that genre my recommendations probably won't get you too far. However even so a lot of these authors offer some pretty unique insight into things. And if you like to read books but basically just dismiss SF as "children's literature" or "lame spaceship battles and women in tight suits" (my father got a great book for Christmas. "Great Balls of Fire an Illustrated History of Sex in Science Fiction" where all the important aspects of male baggy space suits and female skintight space suits were explored) you could give some of these a try as well.
China Miéville
British author of a couple of books and some short stories (some of which you should be able to find online) His first novel King Rat is a retelling of the Pied Piper of Hamelin in modern London. His following novels have been set in a fantasy world that is really quite interesting and... well weird. It's a bit steampunky but with a fair amount of magic and strange "fantasy" races. All with the gritty realism you expect from punk.
I recommend. Even though it can be pretty heavy to read at times.
Jeff VanderMeer
His collection A City of Saints and Madmen made a really huge impression on me when I read it. A couple of stories all set in the same city but told in very different ways. All the stories have been published individually but together they create a whole that is very interesting as you notice how different things combine.
Shriek - An Afterword is another novel set in the same "world" and is basically an afterword. It is treated like a "found" manuscript and has scribbled notes on the side from another person who is commenting on the manuscript. Add to that that there's also a fictional editor who has chosen to put it together and who has an afterword with comments on what he edited from the manuscript.
You just don't know where the fiction ends and reality begins.
Cory Doctorow
I haven't read a whole lot from him. Only Someone comes to town, someone leaves town, but it's a wonderfully strange story that combines the hugely weird (the main character's mother is a washing machine and father is a mountain) with the apparently normal. It handles it pretty well and by the end of it you don't wonder at all about how the hell that washing machine could be a mother. It's just obvious.
He's also a big "free culture" proponent and occasionally reads his fiction on his podcast (craphound.com) or release them to read for free on the internet under Creative Commons licenses. (Try to find "When Sysadmins Ruled the World" a very interesting take on the apocalypse.)
Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman is old in the game and has written a bunch of really stellar novels. And comic books. And Screenplays. And nearly anything else that can be written. I don't really know what else I could add about him. If you haven't read anything by him make sure to try to find something. If you don't want to read anything longer dig up the short story collections Smoke and Mirrors or Fragile Things. Both of these come with comments on the creation of the stories themselves. Something I find hugely interesting.
Terry Pratchett
I just read his new Making Money and I just have to put him on this list. His books are so... Readable. They're not overly complicated or heavy to read (like some of the authors I've mentioned earlier) but instead they're full of humour and references you either get or not get or just don't care about. I also think that his novels are getting better with each one. The early ones parodied fantasy clichés but nowadays there's so much more "commentary" on all kinds of aspects of today's world. All put into a world with a very different world view of our own.
I also recommend all three Science of Discworld books, which are popular science books with a lot of interesting facts in them.
Philip K. Dick
I have to mention some author who isn't alive anymore. And Dick seems as good a fit as anyone. His stories of strangeness are hard not to like. The always present old-school "mindfuck" and paranoia. With everything from Do Android Dream of Electric Sheep to Time Out of Joint to The Man in the High Castle.
I also love how an author whose books often seem very "unfilmable" has had so many movie adaptions. (It seems every year there is at least one)
Hal Duncan
Vellum. I read this last month. It completely blew my mind. I just read it and I had no idea what was going on but on some level it all made sense but thinking about it made my head hurt. Thankfully the font changed occasionally so you could kinda tell where you were.
K.J. Bishop
The Etched City, when I got that book I judged it by its cover. It had a nice cover and it felt like I wanted that book. It was a good choice and it told a story about how everyone is the center of their own world but how sometimes these world may collide. Or at least that's what it was about in the end. Before that it was a fairly regular story. Or two. Or depending on who was the narrator at the time.
George R.R. Martin
Basically his Song of Ice and Fire is the only book series I really care about nowadays when I'm trying to stay away from anything longer than one book. (They used to be able to put all stuff into a 300 page book. Why do they fifteen tomes of 600 page books nowadays? I blame Tolkien and his followers) But A Song of Ice and Fire has all that political intrigue and "realism" to it combined with characters that really face some of the most unpleasant things I can think of but hopefully pulling through.
I've recently watched the HBO series Rome and I can find a lot of similarities. Scheming and backstabbing combined with the occasional battle. It is never wrong. Never ever wrong. (and HBO has apparently gotten the rights to make a Song of Ice and Fire into a TV-series so here's to hoping they do it right)
Before this mammoth fantasy series though, Martin also has a huge backlog of great stories that deserves to be brought up.
9 authors and a lot more books. I'm sure there's a bunch of others to recommend as well so I leave the tenth spot open. It's all mostly SF so if you don't generally like that genre my recommendations probably won't get you too far. However even so a lot of these authors offer some pretty unique insight into things. And if you like to read books but basically just dismiss SF as "children's literature" or "lame spaceship battles and women in tight suits" (my father got a great book for Christmas. "Great Balls of Fire an Illustrated History of Sex in Science Fiction" where all the important aspects of male baggy space suits and female skintight space suits were explored) you could give some of these a try as well.
Games that are popular but you haven't played
I haven't played any MMO. Not that I dislike MMOs I just know that I would easily be hooked on any MMO and wouldn't be able to let go.
Other than that Any Xbox/Xbox 360 or PS3 exclusive. I haven't played most PS2 games either. I've never played on a Sega console either so no Sonic games (not even those not on Sega consoles)
Recently I've caught up with some of the games I've missed. Most notably Half-Life 2 (with the Orange Box) and GTA3 (and its sequel San Andreas).
I've stayed away from most RPGs too. Both Japanese and Western. I haven't played games like KoToR, Oblivion (or any of the predecessors) or Random-Japanese-RPG-everyone-raves-about (they all sound the same to me).
However whenever I've missed a certain game I've mostly felt that I've played a game similar enough to be able to dismiss it (most FPS share certain things for example).
Other than that Any Xbox/Xbox 360 or PS3 exclusive. I haven't played most PS2 games either. I've never played on a Sega console either so no Sonic games (not even those not on Sega consoles)
Recently I've caught up with some of the games I've missed. Most notably Half-Life 2 (with the Orange Box) and GTA3 (and its sequel San Andreas).
I've stayed away from most RPGs too. Both Japanese and Western. I haven't played games like KoToR, Oblivion (or any of the predecessors) or Random-Japanese-RPG-everyone-raves-about (they all sound the same to me).
However whenever I've missed a certain game I've mostly felt that I've played a game similar enough to be able to dismiss it (most FPS share certain things for example).
Top Ten Topic: Nintendo DS
1. Elite Beat Agents
The only game that has me in tears on two occasions. EVERY BLOODY TIME! It's weird that an otherwise lighthearted fun and weird game has me consistently in tears. It's awesome.
2. Meteos
A puzzler that can kill lesser men.
I also have an SD card with a bunch of games but honestly I just feel like mentioning these two because they are a bit above everything else I've played on the DS so far.
The only game that has me in tears on two occasions. EVERY BLOODY TIME! It's weird that an otherwise lighthearted fun and weird game has me consistently in tears. It's awesome.
2. Meteos
A puzzler that can kill lesser men.
I also have an SD card with a bunch of games but honestly I just feel like mentioning these two because they are a bit above everything else I've played on the DS so far.
Favorite books you read this year?
Probably Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
I didn't read as much as I should this year though. Instead of reading on the train I nowadays just listen to podcasts.
But over the past week I've been reading a book called Vellum by Hal Duncan. It's just amazingly weird.
http://notesfromthegeekshow.blogspot.com/2006/05/writings-on-vellum.html
Just this quote from one of the reviews I've checked out (the awesome but nowadays discontinued Emerald City):
"There is, you may be interested to know, a plot of sorts, but it is not plot as we know it. The focus chops back and fore between scenes that may involve the same characters in different universes, or different incarnations of the same characters at different times in the same universe. Vellum does not do linear. Time in the Vellum is not like that."
"(...) you will find a literary sensibility, a desire to take the very foundations of genre literature and re-shape them in geometries so alien than most fans will go mad if they look at them too closely. Vellum is the most audaciously ambitious book that I have read in a long time."
I didn't read as much as I should this year though. Instead of reading on the train I nowadays just listen to podcasts.
But over the past week I've been reading a book called Vellum by Hal Duncan. It's just amazingly weird.
http://notesfromthegeekshow.blogspot.com/2006/05/writings-on-vellum.html
Just this quote from one of the reviews I've checked out (the awesome but nowadays discontinued Emerald City):
"There is, you may be interested to know, a plot of sorts, but it is not plot as we know it. The focus chops back and fore between scenes that may involve the same characters in different universes, or different incarnations of the same characters at different times in the same universe. Vellum does not do linear. Time in the Vellum is not like that."
"(...) you will find a literary sensibility, a desire to take the very foundations of genre literature and re-shape them in geometries so alien than most fans will go mad if they look at them too closely. Vellum is the most audaciously ambitious book that I have read in a long time."
Top Ten Topic: Movies of 2007
1. Stardust
Neil Gaiman's story adapted into a wonderful fantasy film that plays with the cliches and is nicely witty. I loved the source material and I love this as well. It's also a very sentimental story in that while it plays with the standards it also very much follows them with respect.
A modern fairy-tale.
2. Tali-Ihantala 1944
A war movie about the decisive battle at Tali-Ihantala, released to coincide with Finland's 90th birthday it's a film not about individuals but about the actual battle. Basically a dramatization of historical events with many people named in passing and dying just as fast.
There's also two guys I graduated school with in it with speaking parts :D
As a true nationalist I could not not watch this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPiaYpqPwvo Teaser
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9IEQYlpFlQ Trailer
3. Sunshine
An SF-movie about how the sun is dying with true "Sense of Wonder" included in the package. It derails a bit towards the end but that doesn't stop it from having really awesome Science Fiction moments. It feels real. And it looks awesome. And the cast delivers. Nothing not to like.
4. The Golden Compass
It delievered. The special effects were stunning, with all the scenery and all that. A good movie in my book.
5. Live Free or Die Hard
Die Hard returns and it returns just the way it should. Old-school action at its best and it doesn't try to be anything but either.
6. Hot Fuzz
Hot Fuzz didn't come to cinemas until way after it had had a DVD release (and rip) out elsewhere. Thus I didn't get to experience it in the cinemas. It's a good film. But I hate the distributors in this country.
7. 28 Weeks Later...
Zombies. In London. With Americans. It has a bunch of plotholes and generally sucks at times. But the opening scene is just THAT good. And I really want more Robert Carlyle. He should be in more movies I watch.
8. Death at a Funeral
Lovely dark comedy.
9. Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds' End
Apparently this sucked in many people's opinion. Me it had from the opening. Sure it was slow and weird at times but any movies that starts with a song is good in my book.
10. Shoot 'em Up
This is a senseless movie. But damn. It's just so fun.
Mentions:
Grindhouse
Grindhouse was split in my country and although both movies delievered I won't put them on any list because the split sucks big time.
The Bridge to Terabithia
A wonderful children's story of the sort that they just don't do anymore.
The Simpsons Movie
Barely didn't make it. It's definitely an 11th placer.
Movies I haven't yet seen but that could possibly get somewhere on the list:
-No Country for Old Men
I'm not a huge Coen fan but I've heard nothing but good about this and I have a feeling it might just be that good.
-I Am Legend
Looks nice.
-3:10 to Yuna
-Hitman
Apparently it sucks but the trailer looks so awesome I feel really bad for not being able to watch this yet. Mostly because our buggery distributors decided to postpone it by two weeks and therefore not allowing me the time to watch it. GOddamn pieces of shit.
-Beowulf
-Black Book
A war film from Verhoeven. I saw it on DVD here now and I'm going to buy it eventually. It looks like a really nice WW2 drama thing. I love those.
-Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium
The trailer looks great but I don't think it has a release date over here yet.
-Sweeney Todd
I love Tim Burton, no matter what other people say.
Overall I think it was a fairly poor year this year. Many decent movies around and many blockbuster sequels but nothing really awesome.
Neil Gaiman's story adapted into a wonderful fantasy film that plays with the cliches and is nicely witty. I loved the source material and I love this as well. It's also a very sentimental story in that while it plays with the standards it also very much follows them with respect.
A modern fairy-tale.
2. Tali-Ihantala 1944
A war movie about the decisive battle at Tali-Ihantala, released to coincide with Finland's 90th birthday it's a film not about individuals but about the actual battle. Basically a dramatization of historical events with many people named in passing and dying just as fast.
There's also two guys I graduated school with in it with speaking parts :D
As a true nationalist I could not not watch this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPiaYpqPwvo Teaser
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9IEQYlpFlQ Trailer
3. Sunshine
An SF-movie about how the sun is dying with true "Sense of Wonder" included in the package. It derails a bit towards the end but that doesn't stop it from having really awesome Science Fiction moments. It feels real. And it looks awesome. And the cast delivers. Nothing not to like.
4. The Golden Compass
It delievered. The special effects were stunning, with all the scenery and all that. A good movie in my book.
5. Live Free or Die Hard
Die Hard returns and it returns just the way it should. Old-school action at its best and it doesn't try to be anything but either.
6. Hot Fuzz
Hot Fuzz didn't come to cinemas until way after it had had a DVD release (and rip) out elsewhere. Thus I didn't get to experience it in the cinemas. It's a good film. But I hate the distributors in this country.
7. 28 Weeks Later...
Zombies. In London. With Americans. It has a bunch of plotholes and generally sucks at times. But the opening scene is just THAT good. And I really want more Robert Carlyle. He should be in more movies I watch.
8. Death at a Funeral
Lovely dark comedy.
9. Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds' End
Apparently this sucked in many people's opinion. Me it had from the opening. Sure it was slow and weird at times but any movies that starts with a song is good in my book.
10. Shoot 'em Up
This is a senseless movie. But damn. It's just so fun.
Mentions:
Grindhouse
Grindhouse was split in my country and although both movies delievered I won't put them on any list because the split sucks big time.
The Bridge to Terabithia
A wonderful children's story of the sort that they just don't do anymore.
The Simpsons Movie
Barely didn't make it. It's definitely an 11th placer.
Movies I haven't yet seen but that could possibly get somewhere on the list:
-No Country for Old Men
I'm not a huge Coen fan but I've heard nothing but good about this and I have a feeling it might just be that good.
-I Am Legend
Looks nice.
-3:10 to Yuna
-Hitman
Apparently it sucks but the trailer looks so awesome I feel really bad for not being able to watch this yet. Mostly because our buggery distributors decided to postpone it by two weeks and therefore not allowing me the time to watch it. GOddamn pieces of shit.
-Beowulf
-Black Book
A war film from Verhoeven. I saw it on DVD here now and I'm going to buy it eventually. It looks like a really nice WW2 drama thing. I love those.
-Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium
The trailer looks great but I don't think it has a release date over here yet.
-Sweeney Todd
I love Tim Burton, no matter what other people say.
Overall I think it was a fairly poor year this year. Many decent movies around and many blockbuster sequels but nothing really awesome.
Top Ten Topic: Playstation 1, 2 and 3!
There are only three games for the PS1 that I've ever finished. Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII and Resident Evil: Nemesis. My only longer experience with a PS2 game is a couple of DDR games. I don't think I'm reallyall that qualified to make a list.
Resident Evil is pretty awesome though. But RE2 I got on my N64, RE1 I got the GC remake (Though I played the director's cut on PS1 a couple of times)
But no real list from me on this.
Resident Evil is pretty awesome though. But RE2 I got on my N64, RE1 I got the GC remake (Though I played the director's cut on PS1 a couple of times)
But no real list from me on this.
Links Topic
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/
Rock, Paper, Shotgun is probably the best gaming site at the moment. Set in UK it provides great commentary and a very good perspective on numerous things in gaming. I only found it recently but it's a page I go back to a lot. It doesn't get a whole lot more balanced and "true" than this.
Rock, Paper, Shotgun is probably the best gaming site at the moment. Set in UK it provides great commentary and a very good perspective on numerous things in gaming. I only found it recently but it's a page I go back to a lot. It doesn't get a whole lot more balanced and "true" than this.
Top Ten Topics: Movies!
Man, I've made so many top 10 movie lists but every time I get the opportunity to do a new one I can't find the old ones to reference. Well at least the top is always the same, but below that there's just so much good shit. Actually the top 9 is set but I tend to compress the top 9 into two.
1. Star Wars
Star Wars is one of those films that have defined my life. I would not be who I am without Star Wars. I've watched Star Wars since before I went to school and I queued overnight to get tickets to the last Star Wars film. I don't really care how shit the new trilogy is. Star Wars is and will always be hella-cool to me. And top 1.
2. The Lord of the Rings
The only contender against Star Wars really. A film I was looking forward to for many years and when I saw it it didn't fill my expectations. Instead it exceeded them. The films truly are better than the books in almost everything. For the last film I thought "this will make or break if this is better than Star Wars or not". After seeing it I was on the Lord of the Rings side for a while. But eventually nostalgia just won me over and Star Wars remained on top position.
My favorite scene? "Fireworks Gandalf!" brings a tear to my eye every time.
3-10.
Various good movies.
I'll try to do this list as good non-american/hollywood movies. Just for fun. Possibly I'll try to make it non-English too.
3. Jean-Pierre Jeunet films
Alright, he's made a lot and out of the meagre non-English films I've watched his films would probably take up a fair amount. Amélie is awesome A Very Long Engagement is also awesome. City of Lost Children and Delicatessen also rank very highly to me.
4. Der Untergang
Hitler's Last Days. Awesome movie where they actually lifted the swastika ban in Germany to be able to shoot. Deeply touching in showing that Hitler really was a human being while still showing his derangeness and the people surrounding him.
5. Joyeux Noël (Merry Christmas)
The famous early Chrismas of the first world war. Where the soldiers took a break during Christmas to share stories and play a game of football. Now I'm a big war movie fan (as seen by this list so far: A Very Long Engagement, Der Utnergang and this) and this is the aspect of war I'm most interested in (again as seen by this list). The people who are in war from all sides. A great movie to watch now when Christmas is approaching. Just invite the whole family to movie evening and share the Christmas spirit :D
6. Battle Royale
I borrowed this from an army buddy while I was in the army and was awestruck. It had so many layers and was so lovingly awesome that it made a bunch of my "must see" lists. My favorite scene is the instruction video, where the lovely contrast is most apparent.
7. Pan's Labyrinth
Haha, again war era. I guess that's all I really watch. 1940s Spain about a kid and her fantasy world and about fascists and guerilla. The film greatly combines the fantastic with the real without ever having them interact. Something I find very intriguing. It doesn't hurt that the visuals are stunning as well.
8. Ronja the Robber's Daughter
A Swedish fantasy movie based on the novel by Astrid Lindgren. It's a children's story about two clans of bandits in a fortress somewhere and their feud. This is all seen through the eyes of the child Ronja and her adventures with a boy from the other side and all that regular stuff that tends to come from these kinds of stories. It's nicely shot with beautiful landscapes and as it usually is with Lindgren, all the characters feel very much real.
9. Asterix & Obelix, Mission Cleopatra
I guess I should really have the original Versus Ceasar here but I just get a buttload more laughs out of Mission Cleopatra. Asterix, Obelix and Miraculix set out to Egypt to help Cleopatra build a palace and loads of movie parodies ensue. Of course, instead of doing them poorly like Insert Movie # this one pulls it off wonderfully with all the references. I would also like to mention the new Asterix & Obelix at the Olympics which is coming out soon and the teaser trailer is just awesome. If you search you can find it on youtube (it's distributed by Pathé)
10. Vidocq
I didn't really know what to put here but then I remembered that Vidocq is a pretty interesting movie. Shot completely digitally about 19th century France in something that is half fantasy and half detective story. I'm not entirely sure if it ended up fantastical or if it was scientific in the end. But it's a great movie that I heartily recommend.
Honorable mentions (movies I thought of but couldn't find a spot for):
-Night Watch (the Russian vampireesque movie. It has a sequel (Day Watch) but apparently it's dubbed in English almost everywhere. I hope I can find a proper copy eventually)
-Le Visiteurs (The first French movie I watched and enjoyed. Before that I just thought dismissively about French films that they always had to be weird. But this was a comedy true and proper and finally something that wasn't so damn arty.)
-Sophie Scholl: The Final Days (Story about a person in the German resistance during World War 2. Very well made, a movie that is essentially an interrogation movie. Still kept me at my toes througout)
-Brotherhood of the Wolf (Fantasyesque story with cool fighting coreography, very similar to Vidocq in many ways and could easily have replaced that on the list. Both would not have fit in in any way though.)
1. Star Wars
Star Wars is one of those films that have defined my life. I would not be who I am without Star Wars. I've watched Star Wars since before I went to school and I queued overnight to get tickets to the last Star Wars film. I don't really care how shit the new trilogy is. Star Wars is and will always be hella-cool to me. And top 1.
2. The Lord of the Rings
The only contender against Star Wars really. A film I was looking forward to for many years and when I saw it it didn't fill my expectations. Instead it exceeded them. The films truly are better than the books in almost everything. For the last film I thought "this will make or break if this is better than Star Wars or not". After seeing it I was on the Lord of the Rings side for a while. But eventually nostalgia just won me over and Star Wars remained on top position.
My favorite scene? "Fireworks Gandalf!" brings a tear to my eye every time.
3-10.
Various good movies.
I'll try to do this list as good non-american/hollywood movies. Just for fun. Possibly I'll try to make it non-English too.
3. Jean-Pierre Jeunet films
Alright, he's made a lot and out of the meagre non-English films I've watched his films would probably take up a fair amount. Amélie is awesome A Very Long Engagement is also awesome. City of Lost Children and Delicatessen also rank very highly to me.
4. Der Untergang
Hitler's Last Days. Awesome movie where they actually lifted the swastika ban in Germany to be able to shoot. Deeply touching in showing that Hitler really was a human being while still showing his derangeness and the people surrounding him.
5. Joyeux Noël (Merry Christmas)
The famous early Chrismas of the first world war. Where the soldiers took a break during Christmas to share stories and play a game of football. Now I'm a big war movie fan (as seen by this list so far: A Very Long Engagement, Der Utnergang and this) and this is the aspect of war I'm most interested in (again as seen by this list). The people who are in war from all sides. A great movie to watch now when Christmas is approaching. Just invite the whole family to movie evening and share the Christmas spirit :D
6. Battle Royale
I borrowed this from an army buddy while I was in the army and was awestruck. It had so many layers and was so lovingly awesome that it made a bunch of my "must see" lists. My favorite scene is the instruction video, where the lovely contrast is most apparent.
7. Pan's Labyrinth
Haha, again war era. I guess that's all I really watch. 1940s Spain about a kid and her fantasy world and about fascists and guerilla. The film greatly combines the fantastic with the real without ever having them interact. Something I find very intriguing. It doesn't hurt that the visuals are stunning as well.
8. Ronja the Robber's Daughter
A Swedish fantasy movie based on the novel by Astrid Lindgren. It's a children's story about two clans of bandits in a fortress somewhere and their feud. This is all seen through the eyes of the child Ronja and her adventures with a boy from the other side and all that regular stuff that tends to come from these kinds of stories. It's nicely shot with beautiful landscapes and as it usually is with Lindgren, all the characters feel very much real.
9. Asterix & Obelix, Mission Cleopatra
I guess I should really have the original Versus Ceasar here but I just get a buttload more laughs out of Mission Cleopatra. Asterix, Obelix and Miraculix set out to Egypt to help Cleopatra build a palace and loads of movie parodies ensue. Of course, instead of doing them poorly like Insert Movie # this one pulls it off wonderfully with all the references. I would also like to mention the new Asterix & Obelix at the Olympics which is coming out soon and the teaser trailer is just awesome. If you search you can find it on youtube (it's distributed by Pathé)
10. Vidocq
I didn't really know what to put here but then I remembered that Vidocq is a pretty interesting movie. Shot completely digitally about 19th century France in something that is half fantasy and half detective story. I'm not entirely sure if it ended up fantastical or if it was scientific in the end. But it's a great movie that I heartily recommend.
Honorable mentions (movies I thought of but couldn't find a spot for):
-Night Watch (the Russian vampireesque movie. It has a sequel (Day Watch) but apparently it's dubbed in English almost everywhere. I hope I can find a proper copy eventually)
-Le Visiteurs (The first French movie I watched and enjoyed. Before that I just thought dismissively about French films that they always had to be weird. But this was a comedy true and proper and finally something that wasn't so damn arty.)
-Sophie Scholl: The Final Days (Story about a person in the German resistance during World War 2. Very well made, a movie that is essentially an interrogation movie. Still kept me at my toes througout)
-Brotherhood of the Wolf (Fantasyesque story with cool fighting coreography, very similar to Vidocq in many ways and could easily have replaced that on the list. Both would not have fit in in any way though.)
Top Ten Topic: Top 10 PC GAMES - hijacked!!
PC is probably my main gaming platform and over the years I've played so many awesome games on it that it's hard to keep track of, but I'll throw in some kind of list. I think I won't include any RPGs since the list of the awesome RPGs are in my "RPGs you've beaten" list. (repeated here for you: Fallout (1&2), Planescape Torment, Arcanum, Vampire Bloodlines)
10. Commandos 2
Commandos 2 is a nice little game. The engine is wonderful and whenever I play it I just feel like "What would an RPG look like in this?". Other than that it is also challenging (at least until you 'get' how to exploit the game to win) and it provided me with hours of challenge and fun. It desreves to be on the list a bit at least.
9. Deus Ex
Deus Ex was my first encounter with proper storytelling in FPSes. My experiences before that was Perfect Dark and Medal of Honour. This game combined player skill with player character skill and had many interesting features which I quickly took to heart as I wandered around being bad-ass in seomthing I thought was a fairly non-linear environment. (It turned out on the second playthrough that it really was everything but)
8. Battlefield 1942 (with FinnWars mod)
BF1942 was basically my first experience with online shooters. I had only recently starte playing around with single players shooters and had at most played a lan game or two with very few players. Playing BF online was tough but with the FinnWars mod that was a complete conversion with Soviet vs Finland and with weapons that usually did one hit kills.
I was loving it. Running around as the Soviets (because everyone wanted to be Finn so I went with Soviet) shooting people on well-crafted maps. Mortar fire, trench warfare. It was very static defensive most of the time but I just love that because it meant slow moving and killing people at a distance. I had great fun. I love the mod.
7. Silent Storm (and other squad based tactical games)
I'll put in Silent Storm because I feel that it is the game that is the most developed and organic of the bunch I've played. Sure I haven't played a whole lot (Fallout Tactics and Jagged Alliance 2) but this is a genre I'd like to see more cool stuff in. It feels a lot like a board game in its turn based goodness and there are few things more satisfying than setting up a couple of squadmembers sneaking around some enemies then popping up all at once to put some burst firey goodness into the chest of unsuspecting enemies.
Silent Storm has the added value that anything can be destroyed and it's very satsifying to set an explosive charge on a bearing pillar of an enemy house and see it crumble before your eyes, taking many enemies with it.
6. Day of the Tentacle
I played this before I got a computer at a relative's house and I just loved it. This game will basically represent the whole Adventure Game genre. A genre that died at about the same time as I got a computer (Discworld 2 and Blade Runner were released about then, two highly recommended adventure games too). Day of the tentacle has such a lovely humour and quirky graphics and all kinds of good stuff.
5. Football Manager 2006 (or actually Championship Manager 97/98)
My first meeting with manager games was a two week demo of some strange manager game and I just looked at it in awe. Managing a team and not having to play the actual games, just give tactical advice and buy and sell players. Awesome. I got the old Championship Manager and to be honest I was never too good. But over several seasons I managed to get a third division team (Scarborough)up to the second division and it was great. The players got personalities they didn't really have and there was loyalty to the team while trying to keep the balance sheet good and proper. My biggest moment was a cup semi-final vs Manchester United that I won with my then second division team.
Now a bunch of years later I bought Football Manager 2006 for cheap mostly for my little brother but management games are just so much fun. Or at least football management. I tried an Ice Hockey manager but the fact that there's so much more to keep track of in terms of players on the ice (all those lines) the players didn't develop the same kind of personality and also I think the interface was a bit sucky... But I'd love a good Ice Hockey manager, that would just be golden.
4. Worms 2 (& Worms Armageddon... And any other worms really)
I first played Worms 2 at a friend's place and... I don't really know how to describe it. It was insanely cool basically. It still is even though it's been a while since I played it (I tried some on the whole GW #worms thing, but I just love Worms hotseat more...). I remember downloading bunches of sound packs and even making my own and just having a fun time all around. I later got Worms Armageddon too, where I actually played through the single player campaign and had my first attempts at online play.
3. Total War (Medieval Mostly, and Medieval II of course)
Total War was a series I wasn't sure about. I mostly bough it by mistake since it was a "buy three pay for two" and I didn't know what my third game would be when I had two in my hands. But I had heard some stuff about Total War even though I was tired of RTSes that were Command & Conquer clones or just had that build army-attack base thing going on. I couldn't really understand what Total War was about except that they said it was an RTS and I said "RTSes suck".
Damn I was wrong. Total War really captured the battles in cool and it had a decent campaign mode too. After playing Shogun and feeling it a bit limited I bought Medieval and it opened up new horizons. Then I downloaded (tssk tssk) Rome and saw that it too was pretty cool (But I wasn't interested in Roman battle era thingies.). And yeah. Medieval II improved on plenty of aspects. I've had it for a while, playing an English campaign completely and messing around with some other nationalities. There's enough game there for me to be happy for a while.
2. Civilization 3 (&2 & Alpha Centauri)
Civ 2 was one of my first computer games. I wasted plenty of time on it but lost it in a hard drive crash at some time. Fortunately there was Alpha Centauri which was Civ with an SF theme. A really good SF theme no less. Alpha Centauri is a setting that has some serious potential and a couple of years ago I found a comic book set in it and apparently there was some other stuff created too (I also found a GURPS sourcebook which I had to have).
Well I got Civ3 which had culture. And I like culture. It also improved on a lot of other things. To great shame I haven't yet tried Civ4 but I hear that it has improved on a lot of things and changed around bits and pieces to make the game flow better. Eventually I will try it and hopefully I'll fall in love.
1. The Orange Box
Okay. I had never tried Half-Life or Half-Life 2 before getting the Orange Box. To me the box was basically too good to pass up when thinking about it from that perspective. 50€ for five games? Count me in. All the games are high-quality. Half-Life 2 is apparently a bit outdated but to me it doesn't feel that way (I guess I just don't play a lot of current games), it's the most varied, exciting and well-crafted FPS I've ever played. It has so much game in it that it is hard to believe. And none of the areas feel wrong either. There's horror, action, tactics, blowing up shit. Everything is basically there. I bet some games do individual aspects better but damn if HL2 doesn't put it all together in a package that can hardly be beat.
Combine this with the best game of the year: Portal. Which is all the awesomeness of a short story in game format. and Team Fortress, which is just a fun multiplayer shooter so far away from my regular BF2142 that they can happily exist side by side.
This should win nearly everything.
This list probaly isn't ordered correctly. And there is plenty of stuff I'm missing out on that is awesome. Mostly small indie stuff or free stuff. But what can you do? Dwarf Fortress and Liberal Crime Squad are two awesome ASCII games. Space Empires (and later nowadays the similar and still great Galactic Civilizations) is a great "Civ in space". A strategy game that deserves some mention is also Hearts of Iron, that is just massively epic in ways that I couldn't understand at first.
You can probably tell quite about about what kind of gamer I am by this list.
10. Commandos 2
Commandos 2 is a nice little game. The engine is wonderful and whenever I play it I just feel like "What would an RPG look like in this?". Other than that it is also challenging (at least until you 'get' how to exploit the game to win) and it provided me with hours of challenge and fun. It desreves to be on the list a bit at least.
9. Deus Ex
Deus Ex was my first encounter with proper storytelling in FPSes. My experiences before that was Perfect Dark and Medal of Honour. This game combined player skill with player character skill and had many interesting features which I quickly took to heart as I wandered around being bad-ass in seomthing I thought was a fairly non-linear environment. (It turned out on the second playthrough that it really was everything but)
8. Battlefield 1942 (with FinnWars mod)
BF1942 was basically my first experience with online shooters. I had only recently starte playing around with single players shooters and had at most played a lan game or two with very few players. Playing BF online was tough but with the FinnWars mod that was a complete conversion with Soviet vs Finland and with weapons that usually did one hit kills.
I was loving it. Running around as the Soviets (because everyone wanted to be Finn so I went with Soviet) shooting people on well-crafted maps. Mortar fire, trench warfare. It was very static defensive most of the time but I just love that because it meant slow moving and killing people at a distance. I had great fun. I love the mod.
7. Silent Storm (and other squad based tactical games)
I'll put in Silent Storm because I feel that it is the game that is the most developed and organic of the bunch I've played. Sure I haven't played a whole lot (Fallout Tactics and Jagged Alliance 2) but this is a genre I'd like to see more cool stuff in. It feels a lot like a board game in its turn based goodness and there are few things more satisfying than setting up a couple of squadmembers sneaking around some enemies then popping up all at once to put some burst firey goodness into the chest of unsuspecting enemies.
Silent Storm has the added value that anything can be destroyed and it's very satsifying to set an explosive charge on a bearing pillar of an enemy house and see it crumble before your eyes, taking many enemies with it.
6. Day of the Tentacle
I played this before I got a computer at a relative's house and I just loved it. This game will basically represent the whole Adventure Game genre. A genre that died at about the same time as I got a computer (Discworld 2 and Blade Runner were released about then, two highly recommended adventure games too). Day of the tentacle has such a lovely humour and quirky graphics and all kinds of good stuff.
5. Football Manager 2006 (or actually Championship Manager 97/98)
My first meeting with manager games was a two week demo of some strange manager game and I just looked at it in awe. Managing a team and not having to play the actual games, just give tactical advice and buy and sell players. Awesome. I got the old Championship Manager and to be honest I was never too good. But over several seasons I managed to get a third division team (Scarborough)up to the second division and it was great. The players got personalities they didn't really have and there was loyalty to the team while trying to keep the balance sheet good and proper. My biggest moment was a cup semi-final vs Manchester United that I won with my then second division team.
Now a bunch of years later I bought Football Manager 2006 for cheap mostly for my little brother but management games are just so much fun. Or at least football management. I tried an Ice Hockey manager but the fact that there's so much more to keep track of in terms of players on the ice (all those lines) the players didn't develop the same kind of personality and also I think the interface was a bit sucky... But I'd love a good Ice Hockey manager, that would just be golden.
4. Worms 2 (& Worms Armageddon... And any other worms really)
I first played Worms 2 at a friend's place and... I don't really know how to describe it. It was insanely cool basically. It still is even though it's been a while since I played it (I tried some on the whole GW #worms thing, but I just love Worms hotseat more...). I remember downloading bunches of sound packs and even making my own and just having a fun time all around. I later got Worms Armageddon too, where I actually played through the single player campaign and had my first attempts at online play.
3. Total War (Medieval Mostly, and Medieval II of course)
Total War was a series I wasn't sure about. I mostly bough it by mistake since it was a "buy three pay for two" and I didn't know what my third game would be when I had two in my hands. But I had heard some stuff about Total War even though I was tired of RTSes that were Command & Conquer clones or just had that build army-attack base thing going on. I couldn't really understand what Total War was about except that they said it was an RTS and I said "RTSes suck".
Damn I was wrong. Total War really captured the battles in cool and it had a decent campaign mode too. After playing Shogun and feeling it a bit limited I bought Medieval and it opened up new horizons. Then I downloaded (tssk tssk) Rome and saw that it too was pretty cool (But I wasn't interested in Roman battle era thingies.). And yeah. Medieval II improved on plenty of aspects. I've had it for a while, playing an English campaign completely and messing around with some other nationalities. There's enough game there for me to be happy for a while.
2. Civilization 3 (&2 & Alpha Centauri)
Civ 2 was one of my first computer games. I wasted plenty of time on it but lost it in a hard drive crash at some time. Fortunately there was Alpha Centauri which was Civ with an SF theme. A really good SF theme no less. Alpha Centauri is a setting that has some serious potential and a couple of years ago I found a comic book set in it and apparently there was some other stuff created too (I also found a GURPS sourcebook which I had to have).
Well I got Civ3 which had culture. And I like culture. It also improved on a lot of other things. To great shame I haven't yet tried Civ4 but I hear that it has improved on a lot of things and changed around bits and pieces to make the game flow better. Eventually I will try it and hopefully I'll fall in love.
1. The Orange Box
Okay. I had never tried Half-Life or Half-Life 2 before getting the Orange Box. To me the box was basically too good to pass up when thinking about it from that perspective. 50€ for five games? Count me in. All the games are high-quality. Half-Life 2 is apparently a bit outdated but to me it doesn't feel that way (I guess I just don't play a lot of current games), it's the most varied, exciting and well-crafted FPS I've ever played. It has so much game in it that it is hard to believe. And none of the areas feel wrong either. There's horror, action, tactics, blowing up shit. Everything is basically there. I bet some games do individual aspects better but damn if HL2 doesn't put it all together in a package that can hardly be beat.
Combine this with the best game of the year: Portal. Which is all the awesomeness of a short story in game format. and Team Fortress, which is just a fun multiplayer shooter so far away from my regular BF2142 that they can happily exist side by side.
This should win nearly everything.
This list probaly isn't ordered correctly. And there is plenty of stuff I'm missing out on that is awesome. Mostly small indie stuff or free stuff. But what can you do? Dwarf Fortress and Liberal Crime Squad are two awesome ASCII games. Space Empires (and later nowadays the similar and still great Galactic Civilizations) is a great "Civ in space". A strategy game that deserves some mention is also Hearts of Iron, that is just massively epic in ways that I couldn't understand at first.
You can probably tell quite about about what kind of gamer I am by this list.
Games - Tester
Games - Other
