Cooking for Brevitt

Movie Review: King of Kong - A Fistful of Dollars

It didn't take long for me to follow up on my preview post of King of Kong to actually see the movie. Thanks to the Lord of All and MC Winks, the three of us headed over to the Kendall Square theater to check out what might be the greatest documentary on video games ever......ok, ok maybe the only one, but still the best!

In general I thought this was a great little movie. A bit short at 75 minutes or so, but still enough there to get into the story even if you have no idea who Billy Mitchell or Donkey Kong is. Here are the highlights I enjoyed the most:

• 'Daddy - come wipe my butt!'
• The shit-eating grin that Mitchell has on his face ALL the time
• Mitchell's disciples who might be more obsessed with him than the video games
• Funspot - really, you need to go here
• The cast of characters who make up the professional old school video gaming circuit - wow is all I can say
• Steve Wiebe's muscial chops - his drum solo is pretty cool
• How Wiebe mapped out each stage on his DK machine is interesting
• The head ref who founded Twin Galaxies is comedy gold!

Anyway I would say go see this movie if you are into gaming or documentaries. I feel as if you have to have some interest in the subject matter or it just won't sit right with you. the culture here to some people might come off as being a joke, but these people playing these games are serious about accomplishing their goals. Yes it's weird, but can't we say that about pretty much ever hobby or passion?

I Survived PAX 2007

Although the rest of my team still has two more trade shows to hit up in the next two weeks, due to my move to the Durty Durty my last stop for now was the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) up in Seattle. After dodging manicores and foam-core sword wielders at Gen Con the previous week, it was onto video game heaven at PAX.

There are already a ton of reviews on the show from other blogs, so I'll just cut to the parts of the show that I really dug:

• Location - every time I go to Seattle, I like it more. This show was right downtown, near food, shopping, outdoor markets, bars, hotels and Game Works......meaning - it's a perfect spot
• Wil Wheaton - the self proclaimed 'King of the Geeks' had a great speech which hit on censorship, politicians, classic arcade gaming in the 80's, the social aspects of gaming (how can gaming be anti-social when it revolves around getting people together to play games?) and the future of gaming for his generation (those like myself who grew up with the Atari 2600) and the new crop of kids weened on Playstation and Xbox
• Rock Band - I told one of the developers I would happily pay $500 for this....they can't release this fast enough
• Mario Strikers Charged - totally reminds me of when Mario Kart came out. Pure unadulterated fun...it's that plain and simple. This game is a complete blast to play
• Kane and Lynch - they somehow have got the vibe of Heat and plugged it into a FPS style game with tactical aspects as well. This was the first consumer playable demo released, so cool to give it a go - make sure to check it out when you can
• Castle Crashers - ummm, yes! Release this now as well. Love that it's coming direct over XBLA - orange knight FTW!
• Virtual Fighter 5 Arcade Box - oddly enough the local Game Works had this hidden away in a corner. Pretty surprising given this is a big release on the arcade front
• Hawk - no, not the video game, but the American Gladiator. The former NFL player and PhD (yes, he has a PhD from UCLA) was there to promote Haze. Great promotional pull-in to have him there....it worked, unlike their decision to have the game controls hanging above the men's room urinals. Still trying to figure out how I'm supposed to remember what the L2 button does while peeing

I could go on and on, but there are a ton of other sites that have some great PAX coverage, so use the webz and search around. Great show though and with a reported attendance of over 35,000 people - it's clearly shaping up to be THE consumer show in 2008.

Andrew Bawidamann FTW

Although there were tempting goodies galore last week at Gen Con, there was really only one thing that I instantly knew I was buying - the artwork from Andrew Bawidamann. I'm a huge fan of non-traditional artists like Bawidamann and Sam Flores out in San Francisco, so knew as soon as I saw his prints I had to buy at least one.

There were tons of options - tees, prints, stickers, work-shirts and a few other goodies. All of which were in the classic pin-up style that Bawidamann is known for. He had a bit of a sale going on, so ended up with 3 prints for a fair price. Plus, now that I know his website I'm sure I'll be adding some more to the collection.

Go check out his galleries to get an idea of what he is putting together. Or swing by Brevitt's new loft in Atlanta to check them out in person! Here is one of the prints I chose....

Starcraft II, The Lich King & Everything Else

While the Lord of All was eating Onion Donuts and traveling through the space time continuum otherwise known as South Carolina, the one and only Brevitt was at Gen Con getting his goblin on! Ehhh - well, not really, but still even though I was there for work the show was a lot of fun. Although it was cool to check out what was going on in the hobby business, it was great to play some upcoming video game titles. So without further ado - away we go with my thoughts!

• Crysis - I am probably the worst PC FPS player, I just can't get used to using the keyboard and mouse as opposed to a controller, but Crysis is looking to be the game everyone thought it would be. Amazing graphics and killer game play made this a must play at the show. Some elements I really liked:
  • When running/sprinting the screen becomes blurry - think about how your vision changes when  you run....it's never in perfect focus, so this is a cool add
  • Enemies with spotlights can blind you - that's right, if you run into a enemy with a light on his weapon and it is flashed into your eyes, the whole screen is blurred by the light.....meaning, you can't see - just like if it occurred in real life
  • Smart enemies! It's about time that NPC's actually moved as if someone was shooting at them. Instead of standing there, they break into cover or try and flank you with numbers
• Starcraft II - I'm not a big RTS fan either, but I will say Starcraft II is a beautiful game! If you were a fan of the first edition, then this is a must get in once launched. Unit options, controls, sound, game play, enemy AI - everything about this game is very well put together. This is gold Blizzard.....GOLD!
• WoW: The Lich King - Being able to actually play in Northrend was a big surprise for me. I thought they would have trailers and maybe some concept art, but to be able to actually get into one of the zones and battle mobs was pretty cool. There was nothing truly amazing that I saw as it's the same formula as before, but still - great graphic updates, cool quests and all that. I will say that Blizzard is much farther along with The Lich King then many suspected. It took 2-years for Burning Crusade to come out after it was announced. The Lich King was confirmed only one-month ago and already there is a playable demo? Watch out kids...this is coming out sooner than people think.
• Conan - Ehhh.....swords and barbarians in fur shorts. Neat, but didn't really get me jazzed up to make a run at this in the future.
• Tabula Rasa - Ehhh number deuce....not as innovative as I believe people expect it to be. The combat system has the appearance of being a real-time twitch fest, but in reality it's still based on back-end dice rolling.
• PS3 Card Game - Don't remember the name of this, but the concept was pretty cool. You have a deck of cards and a tablet with an overhead camera. Load the game and play your cards against your opponent - standard stuff, but once the reader sees what cards you are playing, the game screen comes to live with actual battles between what is being played. I'm not a CCG player, but neat to see technology like this

Also props to the barbarian guy who made custom foam core swords and axes. Although I think it's kinda funny how you were beating people up with said weaponry, the fact that you had on a bear cloak, coyote leggings and homemade leather shoes the entire show was kinda neat in a WTF way.

Movie Preview: The King of Kong

Another movie preview already...I know crazy talk, but this is one that can't be missed or at least I think so! If you are one of the following, then you have to go check out The King of Kong:

• A child born in the 70's
• Classic arcade freak
• Fan of weirdo movies
• Have been to Funspot

Seriously though, The King of Kong: A Fistful of Dollars is a documentary that showcases a movement or activity that most people probably don't even know exists - competitive classic arcade playing. Think of Pacman, Donkey Kong, Dig-Dug, Tapper, etc. - these are old school games that still live on 25 years after they were released! Don't believe me...head up to NH one fine afternoon and check out Funspot's Classic Arcade. You can play hundreds of classic games all at the same place.

I think this movie will actually do fairly well as the premise is pretty standard: David vs. Goliath, Good vs. Evil, Favorite vs. Underdog - classic American story. In this case it chronicles the battle between Billy Mitchell (the world's best arcade player) versus Steve Wiebe (average Joe from California) in a match of Donkey Kong.

Why you might ask? Well, for close to 20-years Mitchell had held what many believed to be the holy grail of Donkey Kong scores with over 874,000 points scored until out of practically nowhere Wiebe scored 1,000,000 points. It doesn't seem like much, but any record that stands for 20-years is pretty damn impressive and then for it to be broken by an average Joe is even more amazing.

Anyway - seems like geek heaven, but I actually think this looks like a good movie no matter what. Check out the trailer and a bit more of the story over at Billy vs. Steve and decide for yourself.

Joey Altruda & Joe Strummer

Right now I'm about 60% of the way through a great book that I'll do a full review of once I finish. 'Redemption Song: The Ballad of Joe Strummer' follows the life of the music icon and his many travels in life. Strummer died in 2002 and he has always been an interesting character to me, so was really excited when long time friend and journalist Chris Salewicz pulled this together.

Anyway, one of the cool things about the book is learning about who Strummer played with during his non-Clash time. If you were to create a list it would include some of the most influential artists of our time. In a way, it reminds me of Johnny Cash - a troubled star who helped change music.

So even though I thought I was fairly educated on who Strummer has played with, I was totally surprised to see that the one and only Joey Altruda was part of Tupelo Chainsex and Latino Rockabilly War. with Strummer. It's odd - I just never made the connection that Altruda was in Tupelo Chainsex!

You might say....who the f is Joey Altruda, right? Unfortunately like most great musicians in the the genres of music I enjoy - I'm sure most people have never even heard of him. Latin, ska, reggae, rockabilly, rock steady, lounge - everything and more, Altruda has been a part of it.

Trying to dig up a few tracks or videos that you can listen to...so check these out:

• Provocation is a boss tune that is timeless - check that bass line Altruda hits
• El Diablo Ska - mmmm...yes!
• The Late Nite Mash - not sure what this is, but cool to see him walk through how he produced the theme song
• Alipong - listen to this now kidz!

Unfortunately that's about it - it's hard to find anything else out there. If someone does, post it up in the comments. In the meantime, make sure to check out my Pandora station as Altruda is on heavy rotation there.

Movie Preview: Death Sentence

I'm not sure if I've ever done a movie preview before, but let's give this a whirl. Although this month is a bit crazy with work, I'm still pretty excited about a few movies that are out and or coming out pretty soon. One of them is the new Kevin Bacon flick - Death Sentence, which by the way is a great name!

For those that haven't heard anything about the movie, here is my quick take on the premise:

'Bacon's world goes all shades of fucked up when his son is killed in a robbery. His world grows darker after the killer's murder trial is dismissed and he is set free. Once the killer teams back up with his buddies, their next target is Bacon and the rest of his family. Chaos follows as Bacon goes from mild mannered suburban father to bounty hunter.'

Well, at least that's what I get from watching the preview, reading up on the plot, plus my own inside spy I had on the set during filming. What's pretty cool is that this is actually follows the book by the same name from author Brian Garfield which is the direct sequel to Death Wish. For those who don't know, Death Wish was this massive film series starring Charles Bronson.

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to seeing this when it comes out on August 31st. Go check out more info and trailers at the official Death Sentence site.

More Traffic & Tay Zonday Madness!

I have to tell you - I'm still really surprised on how much traffic I'm getting for Tay Zonday and the world's one and only, Chocolate Rain. What started as a simple interest in a whacked out song, really has grown into something quite big. This past weekend I surpassed my previous record of over 2,000 and doubled my daily traffic to over 4,000 on Saturday!

It's only a matter of time before I reach a power level of over 9,000!

But seriously - thanks for all the traffic and more importantly great comments. Like I've said before, I'm not going to post overly racist garbage so keep the good shit coming. I do find it pretty interesting how much debate this one song has stirred. Even if you take away the weirdo repetitive beat and Tay's oddly freaky deep voice - the Chocolate Rain lyrics themselves are pretty impressive. Besides anything that digs up this much debate is always a good thing I believe.

On a lighter note Tay Zonday appeared on Jimmy Kimmel's show last week, kicking off Matt Damon of all people, so he could showcase Chocolate Rain. Check out the clip below....I still believe that his voice is an act - at least partly. During the interview it appears that after he lightens up a bit, his voice moves from super deep to just regular a few times. Also, Tay - try to blink or something man....the staring into the camera is freaking me out, although - if I went from grad student to being on national tv, I'd be pretty freaked out too!

I'm off to go check out Teki Latex some more.....check it!

Portable Pop-Tarts..Oh Man!

Who doesn't love food? Ya you have to eat it to live and all, but come on now - for the most part, the shit tastes pretty good! Well except that sheep face I had at Porrablot which is still giving me the creeps.

A friend of mine in college wanted to become a food photographer which I thought was really odd, but when you think about it: hot sexy pics of fruit and cereal is a real job! On the other end of the food industry are those marketers who are tasked with coming up with the 'cool' new ways to sell the same old food. Yogurt becomes Go-Gurt and healthy became Organic even if there are no real regulations on what Organic means!

Thanks to Lore Sjoberg over at Wired (seriously kid"z, read his shit more often - it's brilliant!) for a fun little article on how marketers are creating new food tricks: Manic Marketers Teach Old Snacks Crazy New Tricks. Let me pull out some of the best tidbits:

• "As I was raised by a hippie mom in the Age of Carob, I encountered much more whole grain than I would have liked."
  • For those that have never tried Carob - please don't! It was a horrible joke pulled on thousands of children whose parents embraced healthier living when that meant eating food that tasted like dirt
• Remember how it used to be so difficult to transport yogurt? When yogurt only came in 50-pound reinforced steel containers that had to be moved using federally regulated yogurt transportation vehicles?
  • Haha - this is great!
• And how many times have you said to yourself, "I would love to leave the house, but that would mean being aw\ay from my beloved Pop-Tarts"? Well, they make Pop-Tarts in portable form now.
  • Anyone know if they make travel containers for Pop-Tarts....maybe that would help here

Good stuff!

Papa's Pizzeria Flash Game

Flash games can be a lot of fun - they are usually fairly simple and a good distraction from work or studying. This isn't Halo 3 or WoW people - it's pure fun. Enter stage left - Papa's Pizzeria from Flipline Studios.

You are delivery boy Roy and you are in charge of the pizza shop today. Take orders, build the pizzas, bake them, cut them in odd shapes and best of all - earn tips!

Easy to use, fun to play and the music reminds me of some random Mario level. Good stuff all around - go check it out.