Not So Random Encounters: Ruminations on Geek Culture

Circulatory Systems!

notsorandomencounters — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 20:58:59 +0000

So, Circulatory Systems, part of the Elephant 6 Collective of musicians, has released a new album and it’s great. It’s like if Goldfrapp’s beats snuck off for a quickie with Muse and My Bloody Valentine. Members of Neutral Milk Hotel and Olivia Tremor Control played on this album as well.

If you want to listen to the full album, it’s streaming on NPR for a couple more days.

-amanda seamus

Adventure Games: So You Want to Be a Hero?

notsorandomencounters — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 02:09:25 +0000

I was a kid in the 90s which in my family meant M*A*S*H* reruns, Night Court, Nickelodeon and Sierra adventure games. I remember sitting on my Dad’s lap while he played old DOS games like Eye of the Beholder and Hexen and being alternately frightened and fascinated by these games about dungeons and adventures. My Dad grew up playing Dungeons & Dragons and listening to Pink Floyd so he thought nothing of exposing me to video games at the age of 4, but my mom would decry the violence in the games my Dad played, worrying that I would be scarred or turn out to be a sociopath (which I didn’t, but I’m still terrified of the green dragons that shoot fire in Hexen by id Software)

Those Green Dragons were dicks.

The point of all this is, I grew up loving old school adventure games, and my favorite was and is Quest for Glory: So You Want to Be a Hero.

The Quest for Glory games were made by Sierra Entertainment, and Quest for Glory 1 was a VGA remake of Hero’s Quest (they had to rename it be cause of copywrite issues). The thing about games in this series and Sierra games of that time is that they all had a clear, crisp, colorful aesthetic with off-color jokes and easy-to-learn gameplay, though some puzzles were quite challenging and obtuse. You can choose to play as a fighter, mage or thief and depending on your class, you have access to different aspects of the game. The story is misleading in its simplicity, and while I will not give anything away, it’s fun and tricky like any good fairy tale. Also, the music is beautiful, they do some great things with MIDI in this game.

Gameplay wise, it’s a point and click interface, with a series of buttons above that you click on to change your cursor so you can interact with the world in different ways, which can lead to hilarious results when you say, click on yourself with the lockpick from your inventory. The thing about these games is when you die, they make fun of you. That doesn’t happen anymore, there are no more mocking text boxes saying things like:

“Unfortunately you push it in too far, causing a cerebral hemmorhage. Guess you should have been practicing on less difficult locks” -When you click the lockpick on yourself.

And people wonder why I tend to have lots of save files… you never know what could happen… you could die from doing something really stupid because the Sierra folks thought it would be funny, and they were right!

If you are interested in checking it out, it’s hosted for free on Abandonia (make sure you get the VGA remake version). Download DOSBBox, which is compatible with both PCs and Macs and allows one to play all of the old Dos games, being essentially an IBM PC.

Sierra made lots of great adventure games like the Kings Quest (Roberta Williams’s magnum opus), Police Quest, and Space Quest series (full of Hitchhiker’s guide jokes). For what it’s worth, Ms Dos and the game it housed, from Jill of the Jungle to Xargon, was and is my NES. I view games like Jazz Jackrabbit in the same way that other kids look at old nintendo games.

This might seem to come out of left field, all this talk of old PC games, but I enjoy going questing, and a game that lets me name my adventuring gent Balsak the Brave is A-Ok by me.

Battling in QFG 1

-amanda seamus

Battlestar Galactica and Current Events (SPOILER ALERT!)

notsorandomencounters — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 14:55:19 +0000

SPOILER ALERT! Just so you know, you should not read this essay until you have finished watching the new BSG series!

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Battlestar Galactica: Socially Conscious Sci-Fi

“All this has happened before, and it will happen again.”

In 1978, a TV series about a war between humans and robots slowly gained cult following. It was a little melodramatic and a little campy, but we liked it. It was Battlestar Galactica, the original series, and it was canceled after only one season. Frak.

Flash forward twenty-five years and most American television is avoiding the elephant in the room: the country has just survived a terrorist attack and is currently at war in Afghanistan and Iraq. Things look a bit grim. This is when producers Ronald Moore and David Eick decided to create a re-imagining of that campy old sci-fi show, Battlestar Galactica. They were faithful to the original premise: Most of humanity has been destroyed in a massive attack by an enemy that has lain dormant for years. Left floating in space, the refugees are an endangered species, with the last Battlestar (an aircraft carrier for space) the only thing between them and the robot Cylons bent on their annihilation. They live in fear of the enemy, many of whom look human, while they search for a new home, a legendary planet called “Earth.”

Sound familiar? Not the part about murderous robots and aircraft carriers in space. The massive terrorist attack, the fear of a foe living next door, feeling lost and paranoid in the wake of the destruction of a world we thought was safe—all this should feel eerily like the past nine years. The writers of Battlestar Galactica intentionally wrote the show to reflect current events. Ron Moore was inspired by September 11th, the Iraq War, and prejudice while reimagining the sci-fi classic. He wanted to use the show as a metaphor for current events, not to draw direct parallels (Cylons= terrorists= BAD), but to raise questions about what was happening in our own very complex world. The result was what Time magazine named “the best show on television.” The Guardian claimed, “it’s the only award-winning drama that dares tackle the war on terror.”

But how exactly does a race of evil robots intent on humankind’s destruction equal the War on Terror? Keep your frakkin’ shirt on. I’m about to tell you.

September 11th

The re-imagined Battlestar Galactica began with a miniseries, where we were introduced to the Twelve Colonies: planets populated by humans and united under a common government. Forty years previous, there was a war between humans and Cylons—the very robots humans had created. The humans won, and the Cylons left for the far end of the known galaxy, where they were ignored as the humans got lazy and drunk on their own success. Compare this societal tranquility to the attitude of Americans before 9/11. Sure, we had gone through minor terrorist attacks before, but at the end of the day, we were invincible and our enemy was out of sight and out of mind.

One fine day, all twelve planets were attacked, swiftly, suddenly, efficiently, in a coordinated nuclear holocaust. It was an act of genocide—most of the human race was killed, and the survivors (50,000 souls) banded together in whatever spaceships were already launched at the time of the attack. Our not-so-merry fleet of refugees is led by the President of the Colonies (former Secretary of Education Laura Roslin), and Bill Adama, Commander of the Galactica, the only Battlestar to survive the attack. At first the survivors feel listless, depressed, frightened of another attack and unsure of what to do next, until Commander Adama gives them a purpose: to find Earth, the long-lost planet of their ancestors. Inspired and hopeful, the fleet sets off, determined to survive. So say we all!

These events are September 11th and the days following it, on a galactic scale: the massive terrorist attack, the panic and fear, followed by the patriotic rallying at the courageous words of our leader. For both the Galactica and America, things are looking up. Then war breaks out.

The War in Iraq

At the end of season two, the stakes have changed for our fleet of scrappy humans. They’ve settled on a planet, dubbed it “New Caprica” after their old capital, and they’re living in a tent city, trying to scratch a living out of the dirt. The Galactica remains in orbit, manned by a skeleton crew. Just when everyone is content to ignore the Cylons and pretend they’re gone for good, guess who comes to dinner…

As we enter season three, the humans are living on Cylon-occupied New Caprica. The Cylons make the rules, and the humans submit or get conveniently “disappeared.” But the Cylons claim it’s all in their best interest; they’re trying to help the humans and move toward a relationship of peace. As long as the humans do as they’re told and don’t make any show of resistance, everyone will be happy. So say we all?

No say we all! Out of the Cylon occupation a resistance force rises. An underground group of human freedom fighters—or are they “insurgents”?—led by former Galactica crew members, is doing their best to run the Cylons out of town. Hoarding weapons, assassinating Cylons, blowing up buildings, suicide bombings… the resistance fighters will do anything they can to keep the Cylons from being in total control. Even when their leader, Colonel Tigh, is imprisoned and tortured for information, they don’t give up.

This is where the plot of our campy little sci-fi show gets uncomfortably controversial. The parallels to the war in Iraq are hard to ignore. On a cursory viewing, it might seem like the Cylons are painted as the US military, while the humans are the Iraqi insurgency. But this can’t be right. The bad guys can’t represent the good guys, the US of A, the most powerful and free country in the world, can they? And the humans can’t stoop to terrorist tactics. They would never form an insurgency to fight for their freedom by whatever means necessary… would they?

These are the questions Moore and Eick encouraged viewers to ask themselves. They were not taking a definite stand on the war in Iraq, merely presenting the situation in a way that would not only entertain fans of the show, but get us to think. Whether BSG’s resistance fighters changed your mind about the War on Terror, or reinforced your beliefs, at least the story got you out of your comfort zone and into a place where conflict is gray, not black and white.

Racial and Religious Prejudice

Part of what made the Cylons of the new BSG so dangerous was that they looked like humans. They could be anyone, and probably were. Compared with the chrome Cylons of the original series (“Toasters”), the “Skin-jobs” were much more dangerous, and full of potential for drama, hand-to-hand combat scenes, and… romance?

Here we hit on a major theme of the show: prejudice, or more specifically, racism. For the humans and Cylons are different races of people, similar in many ways yet separated by religious beliefs, political motivations, and basic biology. These differences cause many of the same side-effects of prejudice we’ve seen in our own world. Racial profiling runs rampant in a fleet where Cylons masquerade as humans, gathering information and setting traps. In the Galactica’s fleet, anyone could be a Cylon, and paranoia, blame, and suspicion run rampant. A similar situation existed after 9/11, with airports sending Middle Eastern passengers through extra security, and hate crimes committed against Muslim Americans.

The prejudice between humans and Cylons is never more apparent than in the relationship between Athena—a Cylon model #8—and Helo, a human Raptor pilot. Their romance, marriage, and child Hera are all reminiscent of a time when “mixed-race marriage” was illegal in some states. Make no mistake, this couple is mixed-race: human and Cylon, they are hunted, abused, imprisoned, kept apart, and ridiculed throughout their relationship. Actress Grace Park, a Southeast Asian, has commented that her on-screen marriage with Tahmoh Penikett (who is half white, half Dene Nation) has had a positive reaction from fans, who say that the relationship is encouraging to mixed-race couples, and not simply because the actors are different ethnicities. Helo and Athena’s daughter Hera, a human/Cylon “half-breed” is feared and revered by human and Cylon alike. Not surprisingly, this child of two peoples plays a pivotal role in the series finale.

The most obvious parallel between the prejudice on BSG and in our world today is religious prejudice. While the humans worship many gods (like the Greek pantheon), the Cylons believe in one true god. It is this difference in religious beliefs which drives the two groups deeper into conflict, which each side claiming to have “God” or “Gods” on their side. Sadly, I don’t think I need to spell this one out in terms of current events.

Election fraud, freedom of the press, a woman’s right to choose, alcoholism, cancer treatment, the right to a trial by jury—Battlestar Galactica doesn’t just deal with the big issues. The show discusses all of these hot topics in one manner or another, whether it be a storyline used as a metaphor for current events, a larger theme of the plot, or a character dealing with a difficult concern. Needless to say, it would take a whole book and plenty of academic research to fully uncover all the socially-aware plotlines in Battlestar Galactica.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. As with any good show, the strength of BSG lies in the characters and their relationships. And what characters they are! They laugh, they cry, they drink themselves silly, sacrifice themselves nobly, and selfishly save their own hides. If you’re tired of generic sci-fi and looking for something to really make you think, watch Battlestar Galactica.

~Jess d’Arbonne

Note from Editors: We’ve all been moving lately and thus updates have been extremely spotty. Also, Amanda Seamus’s laptop died a while ago but she is getting a new one this week sometime so definitely expect more consistent updates when that happens.

The Best Indie Pop Album I have Heard this Year:

notsorandomencounters — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 17:30:50 +0000

…is The Ruminant Band by the band Fruit Bats. I know that Noble Beast by Andrew Bird is a great album and that other albums have come out this year that are equally worthy of note, but I would be a liar if I said I had enjoyed listening to any of them as much as I love The Ruminant Band. This album is consistently great from beginning to end which these days I find rarely in pop albums. It’s like CSNY and Robert Plant in Tangerine had sex and then produced a baby, but it was sickly (oh drugs!) so they left it on a mountain where it was found and raised by the Shins. Listen to the album streaming on spinner.com here.

Or, if you’re lazy and need a taste:

Note: Eric Johnson has been recording under the name Fruit Bats for a number of years and he is a member of the Shins This album is what Wincing the Night Away could have been but better.

-Amanda Seamus

Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Prototype

notsorandomencounters — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 06:04:22 +0000

I could make this a long post about the merits of gliding through a city, stealth kills without a body afterwards and all the various game mechanics that make Prototype everything that Assassin’s Creed could/should have been. I could praise the beautiful rendering of Central Park, the oodles of things to do, the openness of this open-world game that manages to do everything that Grand Theft Auto would like to do gameplay-wise (I’m not referring to the kooky parts of GTA, just the straight-up gameplay).

In other words, I could waste your time with mere words… but I’m not going to. If you like the comic The Boys, the video game Assassin’s Creed (before it got repetitive), Spider Man, or even Max Payne (before it got really weird and repetitive)… You will like this. This is the best game that I have played that has come out this year, and most importantly, it is FUN. I have spent hours today just gliding through the city, getting experience points doing the “plot” and then using said EP to make my character better at flying. This game is unfolding like a delightful apple pie, it is full of layers of delicious and MOST IMPORTANTLY:

If you start a plot mission or an “Event” or anything like that and you decide “Man..I just wann glide some more”, which will happen more than you think it will, all you have to do is go to the menu and click “exit” and then go to “Return to Free Roaming” and you can just bop about to your heart’s content.

Buy Prototype. If you don’t have an XBOX, find someone who does and play Prototype at their house…make sure you don’t break any laws by using the term “someone” loosely. Don’t break and enter or anything.

-Amanda Seamus

PS: One of the songs from the soundtrack sounds like the music from the movie The Fugitive and it’s GREAT.

I ACCEPT Your Contract!

notsorandomencounters — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:50:49 +0000

This has been an epic month and a half in nerdery. Let me see if I can cover the main points. I am on the last case of Apollo Justice and I’m still on the Floating Continent in FF6…mostly because it fills me with unbridled rage and I don’t have enough health potions to move on and I don’t want to have to do it all again by going on the airship and then coming back later. It’s a bit of a quandary. Other than that, work stuff has kept me busy lately, Conor and I are PAing for a certain reality TV show that involves singing other people’s songs. In addition, Buffy is finally no longer on hiatus, I just read the most recent Tales of the Vampires one-off written by Becky Cloonan, Fabio Moon, Gabriel Ba, and Vasilis Lolos and a 5 issue arc by Jane Espenson is supposed to be coming out soon I believe.

In addition, our merry band of miscreants has been watching an anime series called “Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion“. It’s 50ish episodes total divided into 2 seasons and COMPLETELY worth your time. I just finished it last night and I feel great about how it ended. The characters are interesting and consistent, the artwork is decent and though CLAMP did the original character designs they aren’t horrible, and finally and most importantly the writing is really intriguing and subtle. At times it can be extremely over the top, but I found that my feelings regarding many of the main characters vacillated between extreme hatred and overwhelming sympathy.

I recently started playing through Mass Effect, and it’s still too early for me to make a statement on how I feel about the game, but I must admit that the character models are GREAT and I enjoy the conversation tree system a lot. The gameplay is taking a lot of getting used to, I’m not very apt at squad based combat but I’m sure I’ll figure it out. I tend to be a lone, stealthy person and right now Shepherd is bumbling about.

That’s enough rambling, expect something more coherent soon. Also, I would be remiss not to recommend Endless Frontier: Super Robot Taisen OG Saga for the DS. Conor, Terry, and the rest of our merry band have been playing the hell out of it. Personally, I want to pick up Broken Sword but right now I’m reading a book by Herman Hesse named Narziss and Goldmund and before that I reread Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison and East of Eden by John Steinbeck.

-Amanda Seamus

Season One of Dollhouse: Did I Fall Asleep?

notsorandomencounters — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 16:29:08 +0000

Season One of Dollhouse: Did I Fall Asleep?

-Jess d’Arbonne

EDITOR’S WARNING: There be SPOILERS in these here WATERS!

It’s no Buffy or Firefly, and it definitely isn’t Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. Joss Whedon’s new show Dollhouse is something entirely different. Like, really different, right down to the legions of different characters actress Eliza Dushku plays from week to week. It’s also a different kind of show: a sci-fi series masquerading as a primetime thriller.

Despite a dubious start while the show’s creators found their bearings, I found Dollhouse intoxicating from the start. It quickly picked up speed, racing ahead through the plot twists at speeds other shows never even consider for fear of crashing. I soon found myself stationed religiously in front of the tube on Friday nights, more concentrated than a can of orange juice, just waiting for the next secret to be revealed.

Now that it has officially been renewed for a second season (and with good reason), it’s time to wrap our brains around the first season of this unique new show… if we can.

At its core, Dollhouse is about identity. What makes a person who they are? How easy is it to erase that identity and replace it with another? The Dollhouse in the title is a very underground, very illegal organization offering a bizarre, titillating, and morally ambiguous service. The Dolls—or Actives, as they are called—are blank slates, people whose memories have been wiped, allowing them to be imprinted with any personality, any identity the client desires. The Dolls can be anyone and do anything during their limited Engagements with their filthy rich clientele. Want the perfect date to impress your friends at that class reunion? Need a blind person to spy on the religious cult living in your backyard? Looking for a chef to make you the perfect three-cheese omelet you’ve been hankering for all week? The Dollhouse has you covered. Dushku (Angel, Tru Calling) stars as Echo, a Doll whose habit of going off-mission and thinking outside the box gets her into trouble as often as it advances the juicy—sometimes creepy—plot.

Since the principle Dolls Echo, Victor (Enver Gjokaj), and Sierra (Dichen Lachman) have drastically different identities from week to week, each episode is bound to surprise. In a 12-episode season, the show has more shocking twists than a water slide. Assume nothing, and especially don’t think you know who anyone really is.

The routine of Doll mind-wiping is creepy and enthralling. At the end of each Engagement, the Doll very calmly goes back to their handler, “ready for their treatment.” Not a word is spoken about how their current personality is about to come to an abrupt end. After they’re wiped they say with ritual seriousness, “Did I fall asleep?” The Dolls exist in a childlike state between Engagements, perfectly innocent and clueless. Creepy? Exceedingly so. Want to see more? Yes please.

We enter the Dollhouse this season a short time after a mysterious accident, in which a “composite incident” caused a Doll to go rogue, wreaking general mayhem and murder in the Dollhouse before escaping. Alpha remains the mysterious antagonist for the entire season, popping up once every few episodes like a bad rash to muck things up for the Dollhouse according to his own nefarious plans. Defending the Dollhouse against this menace are Adelle Dewitt (Olivia Williams), a cross between the commander-in-chief and the madam, Topher Brink (Fran Kranz) the quirky genius behind the Dollhouse’s technology, and Echo’s handler, protector, and all-around father figure Boyd Langdon (Harry Lennix).

The Dollhouse is faced with another threat in the form of Paul Ballard (Tahmoh Penikett of Battlestar Galactica), a determined FBI agent hot on their trail. Obsessed with finding Caroline, the girl Echo used to be, Ballard believes the Dollhouse to be no better than a slave trade, dealing in murder of the mind, if not the body. Yes, he’s a bit dramatic, but you’ve got to admire the guy’s pluck and tenacity. Our first earth-shattering plot twist comes when it is revealed that both Ballard’s mob contact and his girlfriend Mellie (Miracle Laurie) are Dolls, placed in his life to lead him on a wild goose chase and keep tabs on him.

But the Dollhouse has bigger worries than FBI agents and rogue Dolls. From within the plush confines of the Dollhouse, a threat is growing. Some of the Dolls are becoming self-aware in their childlike state, forming friendships and crushes. Despite Topher’s best efforts at wiping their minds, Victor falls in love with Sierra, and Echo shows an amazing ability to adapt, learn, and remember. While initially seen as a problem, Echo’s growing self-awareness helps to protect the Dollhouse when it is revealed that there is a spy in their midst. Echo not only requests to be imprinted, but snoops out the spy (head of security Laurence Dominic, played by Reed Diamond) and takes him down herself. “I’m not broken,” she declares while pummeling said spy, and we are left to wonder: Is that the imprint talking, or Echo herself?

Things come to a head when Ballard finds the Dollhouse and breaks in, unwittingly helping Alpha in his dastardly plans. And who plays the enemy rogue Doll? None other than Whedon veteran Alan Tudyk (Firefly, Arrested Development), pretending to be the paranoid designer of the Dollhouse before revealing his true identity as the scalpel-wielding evil mastermind. The two-part season finale becomes a race to save a life—Caroline’s life, Echo’s old life, the person she used to be and the soul she can never be separated from… it’s all very existential. Old enemies become allies, secrets are revealed, and the delicate existence of the Dollhouse is thrown into peril! Intrigue and excitement abound!

At the end of the day, Echo saves everyone with a little help from the unlikely team of Boyd and Ballard, and we get season two, so everybody wins.

Visually, Dollhouse is jaw-droppingly beautiful. No expense was spared in constructing the set of the luxurious, feng-shui Dollhouse, and it shows. But besides the décor, the actors provide a delectable menu of eye candy. Seriously, there are an unusual number of uniquely beautiful people in this phenomenal cast. It’s almost unnatural. Whedon’s strength lies in his ensemble casts (just watch Buffy and Serenity), and despite the range of characters each actor plays, together they form a dynamic, fascinating troupe. The Dolls show extraordinary range, playing characters with not only different personalities and life stories, but vastly different nationalities, abilities, and ages. Dushku makes a surprisingly good 50-year-old society woman, and Gjokaj is breathtaking when imprinted with Dominic’s personality: an actor playing a character playing another actor playing a character. How’s that for complex?

Even the non-Doll characters give multi-layered performances. But it’s the relationships between these characters that truly drew me into the show. There’s the father-daughter relationship of trust, pride, and protection between Echo and her handler Boyd, touching for its sincerity and heart-breaking when they are separated. The budding romance of Ballard and Mellie is adorable in the crush stage, and deeply disturbing when he realizes she’s a Doll sent to spy on him. And in a truly gratifying twist, ice queen DeWitt only shows her true vulnerability to Victor’s Roger imprint, whom she engages for a secret rendezvous on her day off.

Getting renewed for a second season was never a sure thing. From day one, there was talk of Dollhouse getting cancelled. For fans of Whedon, the feeling of dread and anticipated disappointment was all too familiar, after his cult series Firefly was cancelled with only 11 of the 14 episodes aired. News of a season two in the works means fans of Dollhouse can breathe a sigh of relief, but we’re not out of the woods yet. Season one moved unusually fast for a plot of only 12 aired episodes. This might have been a sign of the show’s creators preparing for the possibility of cancellation, trying to bring closure to the show after a single season. Since so much was revealed in the first 12 episodes, we have to wonder: What’s left to tell in the Dollhouse’s story?

News of season two is still relatively recent, so there’s a lot of speculation as to what we have to look forward to. Season one left us with a few unanswered questions: Who inside the Dollhouse has been feeding Ballard information? What will happen to Victor as a Doll now that his face is scarred? Will Doctor Saunders stay with the Dollhouse now that her past has been revealed? Have we seen the last of Alpha?

Season one of Dollhouse feels like a roller coaster ride. It starts of slow and unsure of itself, then quickly picks up speed and hurtles its viewers through hairpin turns. By the end you feel breathless and a little frazzled, trying to understand what just happened in front of your eyes. The opening credits is dreamlike and creepy for its watery images and the theme song that sounds more like a lullaby. Though the repeated shots of Echo make it seem like the All Dushku All the Time Show, anyone who sticks with it past the opening will realize that Dollhouse is not just about one woman and her strange quest for identity, but about the cast as a whole, flaws and complex relationships included.

If you’re looking for a healthy dose of ass-kicking and sexual tension, Dollhouse has your prescription. If you like complex interpersonal struggles, thrilling heroics and savory intrigue, come to the Dollhouse. If you’re looking for the guy or gal of your dreams, give the Dollhouse a call. If you want to know how what happens next…wait for season two.

WORDS: 1,615

Hiatus, Shmiatus

notsorandomencounters — Sat, 16 May 2009 15:34:52 +0000

Shmiatus kind of looks like a real word… Anyway, so we fell off the face of the Earth because life stuff happened, college graduation, etc. However, expect updates of the things we’ve been playing/doing geek-wise real soon.

Terry has a review of Code Geas: Lalouche of the Rebellion that’s definitely worth reading in the meantime: CHECK IT. Anyway, thanks for listening CHIL-DREN, this is THREE DOG, WOOOOO!

…and you’re reading Not So Random Encounters.

-Amanda

Kevin Shields has Apparently Been Kidnapped…

notsorandomencounters — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 15:33:34 +0000

Ok not really, but I’ve been listening to the “Second Stage” on NPR, and I can’t help being struck by the thought that Shoe Gazer music is back, at least stylistically a bit. Listening to all of these new bands like The Pros, Papercuts, Loxsly, and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, it’s like they have taken the lovely fuzzy guitar tracks from “Loveless” by My Bloody Valentine and are recording Mates of State/generally twee-ish vocals over them… and it’s great! Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining at all, I just am constantly amused by the cycles music goes through.

Seriously though, NPR Music’s Second Stage is worth listening to, they’re playing lots of unsigned bands that had to record an entire album in the month of Februrary and it’s really great because they didn’t have a million years to doubt themselves, they just recorded and were done because they had to be, and there’s a raw honesty to it that’s great.

What We’re Playing!

notsorandomencounters — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 17:31:44 +0000

This week we’ve got some repeats and some new things happening over at NSRE:

Amanda/Seamus: I’ve been playing mostly Final Fantasy VI Advance (GBA). I’ve never played this game before and I have to say that I have fallen in love! It’s so awesome now that I’m getting the hang of blitzes, I find the random battles actually fun, I enjoy all the side characters and Kefka is a bit of a bastard. It basically has everything I love about Final Fantasy games in it… except Triple Triad, but that’s ok. Locke’s beating up people for clothes and infiltrating places mission was AWESOME and I’m loving Sabin, Cyan and all the rest of the crew. I’m currently on the Phantom Train. Oh YEAH! I also started playing through Oblivion again (XBOX 360).

Conor: seems to be mostly playing RE5 again, he played through it on normal and is now playing through on Easy and then Hard in order to unlock Sheva’s tribal costume as well as to get all the guns with infinite ammo and other fun unlockable things. Also, he and Chelsea were playing Left 4 Dead again recently, trying to conquer Expert mode at last… our newest theory is using two real people and two computer players is best because the computer players see the special infected first and there is less friendly fire.

Jes: Doesn’t really play video games but did an excellent job with that one fight in Kingdom Hearts 2 4 years ago We’re very proud of her.

Expect real updates soon, I’m just trying to do real people things and apply for jobs so that’s been cutting down on my video game intake of late.

-amanda/seamus