'We're Throwing Science to the Wall Here to See What Sticks'

In 2007 software company Valve released a game called the Orange box. It was a collection of 5 games, and while the whole thing was considered a great value, despite being mostly rehashed content, I kept hearing about one game, Portal, in particular. This game kept getting praise, but was also warned to be 2 hours long. At the time, it was the only game on the Orange Box that interested me, and at a full $60 it seemed a bit steep for me. It was a song that finally made me take the plunge. Two gaming podcasts at IGN, Gamescoop and Podcast Beyond, played the song, "Still Alive" on their podcasts the same week. Let me skip ahead, and say that the song was one of the most clever and funny songs I had heard, but I highly recommend playing Portal before listening to it, as it will mean much more to you after that experience

Just this week Portal 2 was released. Reprising your role as Chelle, you awake after hundreds of years in stasis to find that the Aperture Science labs in a state of extreme disrepair. You are guided by a newly introduced AI, named Wheatley, in an attempt to escape the derelict labs. In an attempt to find an escape pod, he accidentally awakens GlaDOS, the homicidal AI that ran the facility before the indecent in the last game. From that point forward there's an actual force to escape in the game. A few plot twists later, you find yourself exploring the hallways of the original Aperture labs. You're given the opportunity to take in the history of Aperture Science and become acquainted with the founder, Cave Johnson, through a series of charismatic prerecorded messages. The exploration of the forgotten chambers introduces you to a few new features, such as a super bounce gel, and a speed amplifying gel. Eventually you make it back to the current labs and have to devise a plan to survive and set things right, before the building explodes.

I would recommend this game to anyone with even the slightest interest in gaming. There is so much to find in this amazing world, that you'll want to take your time exploring it. There are messages sprawled on walls from test subjects before you as well as fascinating motivational and safety posters covering the scenarios amazingly unique to Aperture Science. The characters in the game are humorous and very three dimensional. The game play is challenging but overall rewarding and quite fun. I play a lot of games, but very rarely do I want to play them again. As soon as I finished Portal 2 I was ready to go back and play through some of my favorite parts again. I can really give it no higher praise.

I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell...

I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell, is a film based on the somewhat autobiographic tale of Tucker Max. If you don't know who Tucker Max is, just know that he's a womanizer who is entirely full of himself. I feel it is important that I say now, that this movie is likely to offend you. As a matter of fact, unless you have the capacity to enjoy over the top offensiveness that I do, it'll be hard to enjoy this movie. With that warning in place, what we're left with is the story of Tucker taking his friend Dan out for his bachelor party. They are joined by their friend Drew, who has a distaste for women since he walked in on his ex-fiance going down on a rap star somewhat akin to Bubba Sparx. The three travel to a strip club out of town where they run into a fair amount of fun and trouble. Tucker's selfish ways lose him Dan's respect, and he has to try and redeem himself if he wants to save his friendship and attend the wedding.

What I like about this movie is witnessing the life of some shameless people. Tucker's attitudea on women are short sighted and selfish, but they're dwarfed by Drew's militant misogyny. Drew is clearly suffering and using his attitude as a defense mechanism, but some of his outlandishly politically incorrect lines had me laugh my ass off. Next to him Tucker seems like a nice guy. I loved the characters in this movie, if for no other reason than I love characters that are good at their core but have such a horrible outward presence. I am also a big fan of the story of the redemption. Both Tucker and Drew have to let down their guard and be truly decent at some point in this movie. The few touching moments aside, this movie is quite fun for the moments that exaggerate how mean spirited these two characters can be, and how the straight man, Dan, and the people they encounter react to it. One side note; Drew is played by Jesse Bradford, who plays Joey in Hackers. which is one of my all time favorite movies.

Harley Poe

I love music. Many different varieties and styles populate my collection. So I am always looking for something new and different, or a group that falls into one of my extremely specific sub-genres that actually makes decent music. My dear friend, and fellow Ponder Coucher, Seth has introduced me to such a group.

Harley Poe, a local Indiana group fronted by former Calibretto singer, Joe Whiteford, is an amazing little horror themed band. There sound is a mix of upbeat punk, ominous organs, and what sounds almost like surfer music. The whole thing is intermingled with clips from old horror films. Needless to say I love it. Specifically I am referring to their album Wretched.Filthy.Ugly. This ten track little gem includes songs about a zombie apocalypse, possession, dating a werewolf, and a chance encounter with a vampiress. All subjects are covered in a upbeat tune, that doesn't spare the gory details. The whole thing is a real treat. I highly recommend the album, and if you find you enjoy it as well as I, you may want to check out Calibretto and a group called Creature Feature for more horror music.

The Books of Kelly Link

I heard about Kelly Link from Bryan Lee O'Malley. He mentioned on his blog (radiomaru.com) that he was reading her book "Magic For Beginners":



He seemed to like it, so I checked it out... and fell in love. Link writes some of the oddest, most intriguing short stories I've ever read.

Here are two more of her books that I've read:



I think she has more, but that's all I've been able to find (at the Indianapolis Public Library).

I recommend them to anyone who likes strangeness. I love strangeness, so, there you go.

The thing I like the most about her stories is how they feel like dreams. They are full of dream logic. Stuff that only makes sense if you don't think about it. Stuff that would not work in real reality is common-place.

The thing I like the least about her stories is that many of them feel like the first chapter of a much longer story. I would love to read the full book, but this is all there is (for now). Sometimes her stories don't really have a "the end" feeling at the end. They just end.

Link writes about lots of interesting things; ghosts, zombies, magic, monsters, wizards, death, fairies, and sex, lots of sex. But not romantic, pornographic, or pleasant sex, it's more anatomy textbook sex. Lots of descriptive, scientific words. Sex stated matter-of-factually. Odd.

If you like odd, short stories, you might love the Books of Kelly Link.

Horrhound Weekend

So I went to my second Horrorhound Weekend this past Saturday. For the uninitiated, Horrorhound is a horror magazine somewhat akin to Fangoria. The Horrorhound week is a horror convention they host in Indiana once or twice a year. They bring in a number of celebrities of the genre, host screenings, have concerts, and sell lots of merchandise. This was my second year. A large amount of the fun for me is just walking the dealer room and looking at the many sights. The dealer room is packed with interesting cosplayers, artwork, independent film makers trying to sell their films, and many of the lesser known celebrities. Amongst the celebrities this were none other than the stars of the Boondock Saints(the 'saints' and Rocco), the ever present Lloyd Kaufman of Troma, and one of my childhood heroes Corey Feldman.





Perhaps the biggest highlight of the show for me was a screening of Tucker & Dale vs. Evil. This little film caught my attention a while back when I happened upon the trailer. I was quite upset to find that it had not yet found a distributor, meaning I had no guarantee that I'd be seeing it anytime soon. The basic premise of the film is that two hillbillies buy a summer house in the middle of the woods. They run into a group of vacationing college kids and a series of misunderstandings lead the college kids to believe that Tucker and Dale are serial killers. When the efforts of the college kids to defend themselves backfire with them inadvertently killing themselves it confuses things immensely.
I enjoyed the film, overall. The characters of Tucker and Dale were well played and felt genuine. The college students felt more generic, lifted from any stock slasher film. That said, they don't need to be anything more for the purposes of this film. Two of the college group are given further development. Allison is the girl who the title characters save from drowning. She ends up being very kind, down to earth, and open minded. It is enough to make you wonder how she ended up with the rest of the group. Then there is Chad; he is the impetus behind the college kids leading the unintentionally suicidal attacks, and it is quite obvious that he's got a screw or two loose from early on. The plot drives itself nicely. It is sufficiently humorous and suspenseful. I found the ending a little predictable, but I can't fault the film for that. I would recommend this movie for any fan of the horror genre, especially those who enjoy humorous satire along the lines of the Evil Dead trilogy or Idle Hands.

Mysterious Skin

I watched a little film last night called Mysterious Skin. This movie is the work of the twisted mind of Greg Araki. Allow me to preface this review with a warning of sorts. Because they pull no punches and don't shy from the offensive, the films of Greg Araki are among my favorites. However, this same fact keeps them from being for everyone. If you are homophobic or easily offended I do not recommend this film.

Mysterious Skin is the story of two boys coping with the same childhood trauma in very different ways. Neil is a gay prostitute that doesn't exercise the sort of caution that his particular profession should require. He lives with his loving but oft absent mother, and has two close friends who both pine for him; Wendy a childhood friend and Eric another teen dealing with being gay in a small town. Brian lives with his mother because he seems to have never completely grown accustomed to the outside world. He is haunted by memories of lost time as a child, and is convinced that the memories he is missing are of his abduction by aliens. He spends his time investigating aliens and his childhood. When a dream leads him to believe he had once been abducted alongside Neil, who was on his little league baseball team, he goes to meet him only to find that he'd missed Neil by mere minutes, as he'd just hopped a bus to go live with Wendy in New York City. Over the next couple of months he befriends Eric and waits for Neil to return home to ask about their childhood trauma.

The story in this film is told quite well trough both Brian and Neil's monologue. Araki paints a vivid picture of this small town and the terrors through which each boy lived. The tone of the film is quite somber at times, but is broken up with just enough humor and concern to keep it balanced. There are quite a few depictions of Neil's intimate encounters; the worst of which are conveyed with explicit and disturbing detail, despite being subjects most people wouldn't even touch. Ultimately it's the relationships and characters that make this film. The friendship Eric forms with Brian is quite refreshing. Wendy's love for Neil despite everything she knows about him really makes here character endearing. Brian's story arch is quite interesting in and of itself. The final interaction between Neil and Brian is fascinating and powerful. I have to say that this film was interesting despite being difficult to watch at times. Overall I enjoyed it, and would watch it again, but it doesn't compare to Araki's other films. If you want to watch an Araki film, I would suggest the Doom Generation or Splendor. The latter is even relatively tame, content wise.

Red State

Mike and I went to see Kevin Smith present his new movie "Red State" about a week ago. I must say, I think it's Kevin's best film. I'm not saying it's my favorite of his films, but I think it's the best over-all. It has the best editing, special effects, acting... or at least the dialogue felt more natural in the characters' mouths than any of his other flicks. Regardless of the political message, I think this was a well-made movie and scarier than any slasher-type horror films.

If you're a fan of Smith's work or just a fan of psychological thrillers (and it doesn't hurt if you don't mind a bit of anti-fundamentalism), this movie is worth a look-see.

Oh, here's the only picture I took if the experience: