“Of the Month” Archives: 2008
[ “Of the Month” Archives List ]
December 2008:
Link of the Month:
My Wish List
It’s that time of year again: Time for you to buy things for me for Christmas! BUY THINGS FOR ME! Don’t forget to sort the wish list by PRIORITY. Thanks in advance!
Game of the Month:
Mega Man 9
The original Mega Man series is tied with the Mario Kart series as my all-time favorite series of video games. Imagine my surprise and delight when suddenly out of nowhere Capcom released Mega Man 9 this year… with Mega Man II era graphics and sound effects! So far it’s only available as a WiiWare download (and it only costs ten bucks). Easily the best Mega Man game since Mega Man IV, Mega Man 9 is like a distillation of everything that made those original games so great 20 years ago. It proves you need not have 10,000 polygons per character and photo-realistic lighting effects to have a good game. All you need to have is A GOOD GAME. And it’s frikkin’ difficult, which I appreciated quite a bit. It actually took me several days to beat it! And with downloadable content, there are tonnes of reasons to go back and keep on playing it!
Album of the Month:
Sixpence None the Richer: The Dawn of Grace
I’m kind of a sucker for a good girl-pop/rock band, so I’ve always kinda liked Sixpence None the Richer. Even back when they were much more overtly a Christian band I didn’t find them terribly offensive; it was surprisingly catchy stuff. Leigh Nash has an endearingly quirky voice. Well, now they’ve released a Christmas album, so it’s okay that there are Christian songs on it. Surprisingly, there are only a few standards: Angels We Have Heard on High; O Come, O Come Emmanuel; Silent Night; and Carol of the Bells. The rest of the album is made up of very unusual choices like the old Spanish carol Riu Riu Chiu (in Spanish), the delightfully laconic Christmas Island, and the thoroughly bizarre Some Children See Him, which tells how children of different ethnicities all see Jesus looking like them.
November 2008:
Link of the Month:
Woot!
Woot.com is an online store and community that focuses on selling cool stuff cheap. They sell one item per day until it is sold out or until 11:59pm central time when it is replaced. A new product is released every morning at 12am central time, seven days a week. You can find some insanely cool things for insanely cheap prices.
DVD of the Month:
Pushing Daisies – The Complete First Season
The premise: The protagonist can bring anybody or anything dead back to life with a touch. If he touches it again EVER, then it dies again forever. If he doesn’t touch it again within 60 seconds, though, something of equivalent life value nearby will spontaneously drop dead. A private detective learns this and uses the protagonist to solve murders by having him touch the victims and asking what happened, then touching them again before the 60 seconds elapse. Beyond the premise, though, Pushing Daisies is an absolutely delightful, whimsical, colorful fantasy mixed with romantic comedy and good old-fashioned detective capers. It is an absolute delight and like nothing I’ve ever before seen on TV. A cheery, quirky, Tim Burton-esque romp with quick, snappy dialogue and not a single boring/standard character or situation.
Album of the Month:
Three Ninjas: Live at Studio 7
Aaaah. Good times. Good times. 6 songs performed with special guest Geoff Gibbs (of the Crazy Boy Floyds) on bass live in front of an actual, real-life audience. Includes an improvised “Rap Fight,” the never-before-heard “Going Gay For House” and an astonishing “Beluga Calf” medley! Best of all, this album is a FREE DOWNLOAD over at Three Ninja’s blog, jeffthefish.com
October 2008:
Link of the Month:
Monstrous.com
An aggregate site for all things horror, weird science, paranormal, and cryptozoological in the real world and in popular culture. The Monstropedia sub-section has detailed articles of over 1,500 different monstrous things.
DVD of the Month:
Bill’s Big Pumpkins
A fun, inspiring look at an offbeat corner of American gardening and the dedicated, hard-working, and slightly nutty people who inhabit it. Follow giant-pumpkin grower Bill Foss (he grows giant pumpkins; he’s not a giant himself) as he attempts to grow the biggest pumpkin in Minnesota history.
Album of the Month:
Black Eyes & Neckties: Apprarition!
A local (Bellingham-based) horror-punk-rock band who owe much to the Misfits and Murder City Devils. They rose from th same dirty rock scene that also spawned USS Horsewhip and the Wastelanders. Apparition! is a fierce blend of loud, buzzing guitars, spooky organ lines, pummeling rhythms, gravelly, shouted vocals, and horror-inspired lyrics. It has suitably horror-themed songs such as “Ghosts in Our Clothes,” “Tide of Bones,” “Bloodbath,” and “Dirty From the Grave.” Repeatedly voted the best rock band by readers of What’s-Up Magazine.
September 2008:
Link of the Month:
Garfield Minus Garfield
A fascinating project: Garfield Minus Garfield is a site dedicated to removing Garfield from the Garfield comic strips in order to reveal the existential angst of a certain young Mr. Jon Arbuckle. It is a journey deep into the mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against loneliness and depression in a quiet American suburb.
Book of the Month:
Runaways: Dead End Kids by Joss Whedon
After Brian K. Vaughan left his own creation, the wonderful comic book series Runaways, who could possibly be found to fill his shoes? Well, they did a pretty good job by getting Joss Whedon to do it. His run on Runaways finds the kids desperate to escape from Iron Man and his registration forces. After a couple of bad decisions, they end up running farther than they’ve ever run before. It’s a good story arc, and it gets plenty crazy with dozens of new characters and basically an entirely new setting for the Marvel Universe.
Game of the Month:
Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People
Hey. You. You want to be cool? You want to attract… the ladies? Well, then, young mister, look no further than Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People! Thrill at the hours of pre-recorded dialogue! Kick the Cheat into a clothes dryer over and over again! This point-and-click adventure for PC and Wii will thrill you with its state-of-the-art 3D graphics (they’re CGI!!!!). Made by some of the same people who made recent Sam & Max games, SBCGfAP relies on a lot of the same “logic” in solving various puzzles throughout the course of the game. And fear not: a new episode of this game is going to be released every month for several more months!
August 2008:
Link of the Month:
Pink Tentacle
A nice little blog site that updates with interesting news and strange tidbits of information about those exotic lands across the Pacific Ocean. No, farther north. I mean Asia, idiot.
Book of the Month:
When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris
David Sedaris (Amy’s brother) is a really great essayist, and this is his latest collection. Funny, funny, funny collection.
Album of the Month:
Ballzack: Yeah Indeed
Ballzack, an hilarious bounce rapper from N’Orleans. This album is one of his bounciest to date with lots of great call-and-response, commands (especially in “Wine Candy,” which is basically just a series of commands to do a bunch of different, made-up, food-related dance styles), and full as usual with Ballzack’s special brand of humor. Where most rappers write songs about (A) how good they are with the ladies and (B) how much prowess they have at rapping, Ballzack generally writes songs about (A) how horrible he is with the ladies (there’s a great bit in one song where he tries to do a call and response with an audience and they play along until he tries to get them to say good things about him), and (B) how he can’t really rap worth a damn. The songs are also full of references to specific New Orleans institutions, so they’re a big hit with my Katrina evacuee friends. Yeah, indeed.
July 2008:
Link of the Month:
Star Pirates
This is just a really fun text-based MMORPG. It’s easy to log on, play for a couple of minutes, then log off. Or if you want, you can log on and play for hours. Plus its absolutely free! It has a great sense of community with fleet building and fleet wars. But it’s also a game in which everyone is a pirate, so there is a lot of player-killing and theft, so you gotta think strategically and watch your back. If you want you can use real-world money to purchase advantages in the game (such as regenerating fuel and energy at a must faster rate), but I’ve been playing for a couple of weeks now without spending a dime, so I know first-hand that it’s a great game even if you’re dirt-poor. Like me!
DVD of the Month:
My Boys: The Complete 1st Season
I would never have thought that I’d like this show. It’s about sports writers in Chicago. It’s 100% baseball metaphors. But I just think it’s hilarious. I knew that it was one of my favorite shows on television when they actually had a “douchebag intervention” when one of their friend started acting too “douchy.” These characters are really funny, and actually seem like they’ve known each other for years. Hugs, not drugs.
Album of the Month:
Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head: Glistening Pleasure
This album from a great Seattle-based indy group hasn’t even come out yet, and I’m making it my Album of the Month. I feel justifiably confident that it’s going to kick ass because I’ve heard it. Several songs are available on their MySpace page, and beyond that I’ve seen them live and the show was an absolute hoot. Hoot, I tell you! They’re like a brilliant parody of 1980s, high-energy, synth-rock. With songs like “Beard Lust” and “Me Plus Yr Daughter,” Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head is just awexome. And the band named after it is pretty awexome, too. Be like me and pre-order this album! Support your local awexome!
June 2008:
Link of the Month:
Hulu
A website where you can watch TV online. It has a lot of really great, hard-to-find shows like Andy Barker, P.I., Exosquad, The Time Tunnel, Land of the Giants, She-Spies, etc. It also has recent fare like the new Battlestar Galactica, Ghost Hunters, and even recent episodes of Late Night with Conan O’Brien in case you fall asleep before it comes on. Good quality video with full-screen capability.
Game of the Month:
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
The best of the console Prime series (I haven’t played Hunters yet). Corruption is an enormous game that defies the usual Metroid formula by taking place on several different planets and having your spaceship be a useful game mechanic (besides using it as a save point and to fly between locations, you can use it to pick up objects and also do strafing runs in rooms that are open to the sky). The controls with the Wii remote are fantastic (as long as you have it on Advanced with High Sensitivity) and really feel like a mouse-plus-keyboard control scheme. Missions are surprisingly varied, and it took me upwards of 20 hours to play all the way through it (only getting 81% of items, though I later went back and collected all the ones I missed).
Album of the Month:
Takako Minekawa: Fun 9
Takako Minekawa is part of Shibuya-kei, the same musical genre that produced the Pizzicato Five and Cornelious (whom she would later marry). This 1999 offering from Takako (partially produced by Cornelious) is delightfully eclectic, with vocals layered over jazz/lounge samples and complex, broken electronica beats. It’s really good IDM with really good vocals.
May 2008:
Link of the Month:
TV in Japan
The website that tells you: “This is what TV is like. In Japan.” Often weird, often hilarious, and often starring American film actors hocking strange Japanese products.
Game of the Month:
Mario Kart Wii
Aaah. It’s about durned time. The best video game franchise in the history of history has finally come to the Wii, and thanks to the included Wii Wheel, you have the option of playing it a whole new way. Other than that it’s very similar to the DS version, with 16 new tracks and 16 classic tracks from previous Mario Kart games. Glorious goodness. And they’ve greatly improved the online play—it’s a whole lot of fun, you can play up to 12 opponents from around the world, and you can play until you decide to quit without penalizing yourself or screwing up the people you’re playing with.
DVD of the Month:
Juno
Very close to being the best movie of the year 2007 (only beat out by Grindhouse and Hot Fuzz). A wonderful celebration of wit, intelligence, and honesty. Go read my full review to see why you should own this movie. Plus (in case you don’t trust my tastes) it was Ebert’s favorite movie of 2007.
April 2008:
Link of the Month:
My Wish List
It’s that time of year again: Time for you to buy things for me for my birthday! BUY THINGS FOR ME! Don’t forget to sort the wish list by PRIORITY. And DO NOT buy me Mario Kart Wii (Carrie is getting that for me). Thanks in advance!
DVD of the Month:
Battlestar Galactica Season 3
Here is the of-told story of my relationship with BSG: I watched most of the 1st season and enjoyed it very much. I watched the beginning of the 2nd season, but then I just kinda fell out of habit of watching it, and I kinda forgot about it. When the 3rd season premiered I thought, “I’ll give it another shot.” I was immediately hooked. And to my shock every single episode of Season 3 just kept getting better and better and better and… I don’t know of any other single season of any other television show that had as many “Holy Sh*t” moments as BSG Season 3.
Album of the Month:
Leeni : 8 Bit Heart
Leeni is a local (Seattle-based) woman, who made the wise decision of composing the music for her latest album almost entirely using an old-school, 8-bit Nintendo Gameboy®. She also has a very pretty voice, very soothing and highly reminiscent of someone (exactly whom… I just can’t put my finger on it). The songs tend to be a bit on the long side for my taste (the shortest one is more than 3:30; I like my songs in the 2:00 to 3:00 range), leaving only room for 9 on the entire album, but the Gameboy music is just plain fun and innovatively used, and the songs never grow tiresome. This album is right up my alley and I highly recommend it.
March 2008:
Link of the Month:
Oobject
From the “About Oobject” page: “Oobject is somewhere between a blog and a directory. We pick topics for lists of gadgets . People then suggest items to go into them by tagging things as Oobject in wists. Visitors then vote on items to create something like ‘Billboard charts for gadgets’, voted by everyone. Some of the topics we pick will be standard categories such as ‘top digital SLRs’. These will be constantly updated over time, with new items. Other topics will be quirky and fun, one offs, where we find a particularly interesting topic such as ‘retro soviet gadgets.’ Each day, instead of single blog posts, we will feature a single topic which is new or has been newly updated.”
DVD of the Month:
The Simpsons Movie
It’s really hard to dislike a movie when you’re laughing out loud every couple of seconds. Not only is The Simpsons Movie flat-out one of the funniest movies of the past several years, but it actually does a really good job of feeling like an honest-to-goodness movie and not just a long episode of the TV show.
Album of the Month:
Zero 7: Simple Things
Simple Things is my very favorite downbeat album, and by “downbeat” I don’t mean depressing. I mean that the songs and instrumentals are all mellow and laid back, but they also have an absurdly smoothe groove to them that I find irresistible. Supremely relaxed/groovy/funky bass lines and beats weave under densely layered, hypnotic guitar and synth lines. The vocals are all sung by voices that excellently match the smoothness of it all. It’s sexy stuff. It’s “smooVe” with a capital “V”
February 2008:
Link of the Month:
We The Robots
My new favorite webcomic is about (surprise) robots! Robots who hold dead-end cubicle jobs and despair over their lives, just like real people!
Game of the Month:
Super Mario Galaxy
Man-o-man, I just cannot say enough good things about this game. But the one thing I love even more than the fantastic gameplay, the unbelievable gravity rules, and the sense of epic granduer, is the game’s aesthetics. The game is just gorgeous. And the design of the game’s universe is so incredibly inventive and original. There has never been any game quite like this.
Album of the Month:
Blue Scholars: Bayani
This is the 2nd album by local Seattle Hip-Hop duo Blue Scholars, which consists of Geologic on the mic and Sabzi as MC. Sabzi’s work on this album is truly phenomenal, weaving dense, interesting piano/synth lines with groovy horn sections and straight-up beats. Geologic grooves right along with his own hypnotic, almost monotone style. The lyrics are clever and intelligent and about things more important to life than just bitches and money. I’d really love to see them at a show.
January 2008:
Link of the Month:
The Crime Lounge
A site dedicated to the cool world of crime, thriller, and spy music. 60s spy music is one of my all-time favorite music genres, and this site has hours and hours of it available, all free for downloading. Check out the newly-posted “Definitive Bond Soundtrack Collection.” You have been authorized by Her Majesty’s Secret Service to access these music files…
Game of the Month:
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
All of the fun and none of the frustration of The Wind Waker! This Zelda game for the DS foregoes any traditional notions of play control: this game can be controlled ENTIRELY using the DS stylus! Touch the screen where you want Link to walk. Tap an enemy to attack it. Make slashing motions across the screen to have link swing his sword, or draw quick circles around him to have him do his spin attack! Draw a path on the screen for your boomerang to follow! The thing is, it isn’t just gimmicky; the stylus-based play control is easy, intuitive, and quickly becomes second nature, allowing you to concentrate on the fun of the story and puzzles of probably the best-ever handheld Zelda game of all time!
Album of the Month:
Cocco: Sangrose
Cocco is a female Japanse singer. Sungu Rose, released early in the new millenium, is a powerhouse of lush, rich, dramatic (some might say melodramatic), huge rock ballads. No, not ballads so much as full-on torch songs. With only a couple notable exceptions (the light and airy “Still” and the 80s Grrrl-sounding “Dream’s a Dream.”) these songs seem to scream straight from a tearing heart laid completely bare. It’s a wonderful wall of pure, undiluted, Texas-sized emotion that pours over you in gigantic, crashing waves. But in the end the noise comes almost to envelop you in a strangely comforting warmth. Sorry if that description was a little out there, but there’s no realy way for me to write intellectually about such a raw (though extremely well-produced) album.
