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Stooges on a PSP

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My Three Stooges post got some people thinking about the Stooges and all their shenanigans. I got a note from buttonMasher agentgray pointing me to this site with a link to the Disorder in the Court, the episode we were quoting. It’s in the public domain (its copyrighted expired long ago) so it should be legit. If you want a classic Three Stooges episode on your PSP (or you just want to watch some sweet Stooge action) check this out.

Update: I and should mention that this could also be played on your GBA/DS/GBmicro using the Play-Yan Micro device. After the Metroid Prime Hunters online news and now this, I think I just convinced myself it’s about time to get me a DS. Now I just need to convince the Boss (aka the buttonWife). That’s the tricky part. Of course I’ll have to import a Play Yan, but that’s just a technicality.

Prison Break

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I don’t watch much TV, but when I do I make sure it is quality entertainment. I limit myself to a couple “must see” shows at any given time, and I think I just found a new one – Prisonbreak.

Other than sports, (lots and lots of sports) I don’t watch much TV. My current faves are Arrested Development, 24, Lost, and Monk. (Update: I don’t know how I could forget my love of Food Network. I don’t watch any shows regularly, but my favorite show is Barefoot Contessa)

Like I said, quality entertainment.

Holy Sith!

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I know I may forfeit my claim to geekdom by admitting this, but I saw Star Wars Episode 3 for the first time tonight. (In my defense, having two kids does make it tricky to see movies very often). Don’t think I’m not a Star Wars fanboy, though, because I am. I saw Episodes I and II opening night, saw all the remakes in the theater, and have pretty much all the dialogue from episodes 4-6 memorized. I just never made time for Episode 3, for which I am sorry.

After Attack of the Clones, I thought to myself, “there’s no way Lucas is going to be able to wrap up all those loose ends in a nice neat package in Episode 3. The movie would have to be 4 hours long.” Color me surprised and impressed that he pulled it off. Revenge of the Sith is everything we wanted the first two movies to be. I thought Phantom Menace was okay and AotC was decent but they didn’t live up to what I imagined in my mind’s eye. RotS did. (I know it’s pretentious as a fan to “expect” certain things from a movie, but Star Wars fans don’t exactly abide by such norms.) It had moments that made me cringe but overall it succeeded at what it was – a segue into A New Hope.

I was also impressed with Christensen. His performance in AotC was wooden. I’ve seen two-by-fours with more personality than his Anakin in that movie. In episode 3 his acting seemed much more geniune. Poor Anakin/Vader was a troubled soul. His relationship with Padme seemed strained but everything else he did worked. When Vader’s helmet was lowered and he took his first breaths as “more machine than man,” I felt chills.

And can we all agree that Yoda is one bad mamma-jamma? Is he Lucas’ favorite character or what? Again, chills.

So yeah, I was late to the party but I’m glad I came. Revenge of the Sith made up amply for whatever trespasses Lucas may have comitted in the first two movies. All is well in the Star Wars galaxy.

(Oh, and sorry about the post title. It’s late, I’m tired, and that’s all I got. Sorry)

Why I oughta…

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I disparage Spike TV any chance I get. It’s no secret that I don’t hold the “First Network for Men” in very high regard. (Besides, wouldn’t ESPN hold the title for that?). Anyways, I buzz past Spike TV when I channel surf, stopping only for the occasional Jet Li movie.

Well, that all changed when last Saturday I saw that they were airing The Three Stooges. I love the Three Stooges! I have been watching them for years. When my grandpa went blind (rest his soul) he would only let me watch the Stooges on Saturday mornings because the cartoons would confuse him. I didn’t like it at first, but I grew to love them. Watching my grandpa laugh made it that much better. So I’ve always had a sweet spot for the Stooges. Anytime they’re on TV I’ll be watching them. Your network could have a show about clubbing kittens and baby seals and then host a Three Stooges marathon and I wouldn’t hold the baby animal show against you. A few years ago AMC used to show Three Stooges every evening. Wy wife suffered through them but I loved it. Now I can get them again on Saturday mornings?

I guess Spike TV ain’t all that bad.

Am I a hypocrite?

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Because I eschew all things Harry Potter because of his popularity and pop-culture status but I gladly listen to the latest Gorillaz single on my shiny iPod mini?

Update: Today a buttonmashing.com “Fan” dropped off a copy of the first five Harry Potter books. At first, this was kinda creepy thinking that someone reading the blog knew where I lived. Then, I started parsing through possible suspects (I mean my friends) who knew I write buttonmashing and things started making sense. I have narrowed down the list of suspects but I’m still a little baffled by the “A rose is a rose…” message. Is that a red herring? Is there something deeper to this message than meets the eye? Do I dare “out” the gift giver, risking the possibility of future gifts? Do I claim I hate the Xbox 360 in the hopes I get another parcel?

I thank my “Fan” and I will at least give the first book a try. It can’t hurt, right? I currently reading this, so Harry will have to work his way into my book queue, but I promise I will give him a chance.

And as to Jeremiah’s NCAA 2006 review request, my first impressions will be forthcoming but I need more time before I make any review-like proclamations.

War of the Worlds

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Saw War of the Worlds last night with the buttonWife. She wasn’t sure what to expect and wasn’t keen on seeing this particular movie. As we were walking out she couldn’t stop saying “Wow!” War of the Worlds is an intense, non-stop exercise in making your audience feel sick and helpless. I’m personally not a big Tom Cruise fan but I make exceptions for movies that look too good to pass up. I’m glad I didn’t pass this one up.

It goes without saying that the effects and sound were top-shelf. We’re talking about Speilberg here. I’m only casually acquainted with the source material but what I recall was faithfully represented. The noises those alien tripods make will definitely haunt my nightmares.

I thought this would have more social commentary than it did, but it seemed to shy away from it at times. I didn’t care for Tim Robbins’ side-ways political jab with his little “occupations never work,” comment but I’ll let it slide (if you’ve seen the movie, you’ll know why I’ll let it slide). While WotW surrendered to a few movie cliches it took itself serious enough to work but not overly so. Definitely makes you think about your own mortality and what’s lurking beneath the surface.

I give it a button-mashing thumbs up.

You ever dance with the devil…

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Went and saw Batman Begins tonight and I must agree with the consesus — it’s GOOD. It takes a while to get going but it really hums once the movie finds its pace. I was a little wary of Christian Bale being cast as the next Batman, and at first I thought he looked a little off, but seeing him in the mask, he just looked right. Keaton looked right. Kilmer and Clooney did not (certainly not Clooney).

The casting was great. Gary Oldman is one of my favorite actors and he plays his part so well. Freeman and Caine were great. Neeson was a bit of a stretch, but that is forgivable. People are panning Katie Holmes but I thought there was just enough of her – that is to say not a lot. The guy that plays the Scarecrow was pretty creepy.

I give it a thumbs up. Action was fast and chaotic, not mechanical and choreographed. Nothing felt hokey, it felt real. It was a great movie and a great foundation to who Batman is. Now there is depth to Bruce Wayne’s past, but I’m a little confused. I don’t know the whole Batman mythos but it was my understanding that Jack Napier (aka The Joker) killed Bruce’s parents. Well, that appears to not be the case in Batman Begins. I’m so confused… can anyone clear this up?

Update: Wikipedia sheds some light on the Joe Chill/Jack Napier issue. (Thanks, Amit!)

Law & Order takes on Video Games

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I’m a fan of the Law & Order franchise and I catch most of the Special Victims Unit (SVU) episodes. One thing that makes the series compelling is that the cases they deal with don’t always end up tied up with a happy little bow where the bad guy is caught and the victim can pick up and move on with their lives. Sometimes, the bad guy (or girl) gets away with murder. It something that bugs the heck out of my wife (she needs everything packaged perfectly) but I enjoy it. I don’t enjoy the fact that bad people do bad things and get away with it, I like the fact that life isn’t fair and sometimes really crappy stuff happens. So it was this reason that caused a little trepidation when I heard that tonight’s episode was about some kids doing a crime they have done over and over in a video game. I thought for sure they were going to hammer away the “violent video games make violent kids”. At first it seemed like that was the path they were going to take. It wasn’t looking good.

The officers come across a body of a hooker who’s been hit by a car, beaten and robbed. Det. Stabler’s son recognizes the M.O. as the object of a video game called “Intensity” (*cough* I mean Grand Theft Auto *cough*) where the object is to run people over and beat them up to take their money. Again, I don’t like where this is going.

Long story short, they catch the teenagers who did the crime, and their high-profile, ignorant-as-nails lawyer cooks up a plea of not guilty because they were addicted to video games and couldn’t distinguish right from wrong. My favorite character of the series, Dr. Wong lays the psychiatric smack-down on the lawyer and basically says the narcissistic adrenaline junkies knew exactly what they were doing. When the lawyer asks him if he thinks video games make the kids that play them violent, he basically says “No”. What’s this? They are actually saying the violent video game “Intensity” didn’t drive these kids to do a heinous crime? That they, of their own conscience, ran a girl over because they were sickos, not whacked-out video game players? Astonishing! I can’t believe it, but the “Main Stream Media” (the evil one?) is actually saying violent video games don’t make kids do violent things? I thought this was a no-no! Someone is gonna get it over at NBC! Didn’t they get the memo? But sure enough, there it was, laid bare for all to see. Complete with the guilty verdicts for the two teenagers on the count of 2nd degree murder. Amazing.

Overall, they did a pretty good job of portraying video games in the episode. The don’t just show them off as mindless entertainment and they definitely don’t make it seem like they’re a breeding ground for an army of killers. The company that made the game Intensity also made children’s games. The gamers weren’t nerdy looking teens, although of the game programmers did. I’d have to ding the kids who played the perps. They weren’t convincing gamers. The boy in particular seemed more like a frat gamer than a “real gamner”. But I give them credit, they did a lot of things right. The even had Stabler’s son playing a Tapwave Zodiac at the end of the episode (shameless product placement? Probably. My guess is the kid owns a GBA in real life). I thought the episode was well done, and I applaud the writers from avoiding the knee-jerk reaction of blaming the video game and getting to the root cause — these kids were just plain bad seeds.

Update (2/9/05) – It appears I wasn’t the only one who caught this episode. Andrew at Tales of a Scorched Earth posted his comments here.

Update (2/15/05) – Here are some more comments, by new-to-me Clubberjack. He also made some pretty good points.

game girl advance

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game girl advance:

“1. Willingness to take measured risks – gamers learn this innately long before they get to business school.

2. Different way of interacting with others. For example, less respect for hierarchy and seniority. In game world, anyone can be beaten by a 12-year-old. Gamers tend to respect ability, not seniority.

3. Seriousness about expertise, and being rewarded for that expertise. No matter how many times you fail in a game, if you REALLY want it, you CAN beat it. No doubt a helpful attitude in business.”

Just a quick blurb from game girl advance, commenting on a book called Got Game talking about how video games are training a new generation of business people. I like the three points made, especially the first one. Anyone who played the original Prince of Persia know all about taking measured risks.

Maybe these new business people can have some influence over at Electronic Arts.