19Jul02 (Monthenor): I had a big ol' rant planned out this morning. Of course, me being me, I forgot to write it down. I vaguely recall something about Warcraft III and Harry Potter, although not necessarily in that order.

Frankly, I'm too hot and sticky to think right now. I rented a couple games for PS2 (Dynasty Warriors 3 and Ico) and they're looking a whole lot more appealing than sitting here racking my brain. As long as the comic is up and sorta working, I call it good.

20Jul02 (Monthenor): Now I remember. It's about Eight Legged Freaks. Lemme tell ya, I hate David Arquette very much a lot, but this movie surpassed my every expectation. It's a perfect updated version of all the "giant thing" movies from the 1950s, down to every last detail. And it had Kari Wuhrer, who will continue to be hot well into the next century.

So if you're looking for a humorous sci-fi movie this summer, skip Men in Black II and go to Eight Legged Freaks. It's superior in every way.

And Dynasty Warriors 3 is hard. Or maybe not hard so much as demanding...it's not uncommon to get half an hour into a mission before dying and having to start over. But I shall be triumphant, oh yes...

First off, sorry for the post delay; thanks to gogeek failing to accept ssh connections *clears throat at certain someone*, this got lost in the shuffle.

Be advised: even though Eight Legged Freaks may be better than MIIB, that does not mean it is a "good" movie. It sucks. Horribly. Completely vacuous. Big ole Culver's Peach Fruit Cooler with a chunk of peach obstructing the straw, preventing the sweet, sweet lemon ice from cooling you down on a hot Saturday after you've spent all the money you earned this week. I was wedding shopping. Not for mine, for a cousin's. I got her a great gift. I think she'll love it. If not, I'll keep it, because I love it. ;-)

But I digress. Have you ever noticed that? That I digress a lot, I mean. It's not that I have a short attention span... um, where was I going with this... oh yeah, stream of consciousness diagrams. I never had substantial interest in grammar or linguistics until we started diagramming sentences in junior high. So if you could construct a diagram of my though flow... hm. I guess that's it. I just wanted to share.

OK, back to the movie. When Final Fantasy: The Spirits That Were Pretty But More Wooden Than Woody (Go Pixar Go!) came out, everyone was raving about how digital actors would one day replace those trailer-hording flesh and-blood-losers. Then everyone stretched and yawned after a good sleep in the theater (the Final Fantasy theater, of course), and went back to reality. Then we have movies like Harry Potter, Blade, and the sweet, sweet Spider-Man that, if you squint ever so slightly, convince you those polygon wonders are actually people. Until you get a good look at their face or see them jump. Not even a wizard can make that look good... yet.

Now, the crown jewel in digital characters emerges triumphant... the spiders in Eight Legged Freaks! They were funny (slapstick, prop, and situational), menacing, and sympathetic; I completely understand their desire to inject digestive juices into David Arquette and turn him into an pick-up-line dispensing "ugly bag of mostly water"... well, and acid. Stop macking on Kari, you brow-furrowing freak; she's way out of your league.

Last night Monthenor and I were up until about 2.00 playing Ico for PlayStation 2, AKA The Crazy Bitch game. The crazy bitch (AKA Crazy Bitch Yarda) makes things in the game challenging... as does a lack of a manual and knowledge of all available control options until half way through the game. Swinging on chains is for pansies if you ask me; real horn-headed boys jump and let gravity and the ground have their way with your legs. That's pretty much the list of things that make the game "hard"; it's not meant to ground you into the pavement or make you yank you your hair... it's just pretty. And pretty short; it's for a rental, not an investment.

This game is sooooo damn pretty. Flawless textures, breath-taking vistas, engaging puzzles, a compelling story line, not without its sinister side... yes, it really is that good. When we were stuck by a puzzle or trying to figure out that, yes, it is possible, Ico's just a tight-lipped kid that won't cough up his chain-swinging secrets, we'd just spin the camera around the scene, taking in the view of places we'll never get to because Yarda can barely manage to climb up a ladder, let alone traverse a dark forest... but I digress. Again. Shut up. *sniff*

It also has guts; the story does things that we'd take to be infuriating or merely bad planning in other games. But in Ico, it feels at home... like the game's one-upping us for making fun of Yarda's neutered AI.

Rent Ico. Rent a PS2 with it if you need to. Or drop by the apartment before next Saturday when our copy has to go back. ;-)

21Jul02 (Monthenor): Oops. Maybe I should have told Morgion...these games are from Take 2, so they have to be back by Wednesday at 8PM. So there's your time limit for Ico.

Yeah, you can't expect Blockbuster to stock decent titles like Dynasty Warriors 3 or Ico. I mean damn, they're too busy overstocking new stuff like Headhunter, the game almost nobody is talking about. Seriously, they have like ten copies of a Dreamcast port and NONE of Ico. I'd like to lift that manager by his lapels and shake him like a baby.

So in conclusion, I'll just say that after I put up the last of my GTA3 comics (so far), we'll be having a couple weeks of an Ico theme. I don't care HOW far behind the curve we are on this one, Ico is a timeless classic.