Happy Holidays From The Brog

Oh that Krampus always causing a ruckus

As I sit here wrapping the final gifts, infested with flu-like symptoms, imbibing both wine and Theraflu. I'm reminded of several things: 1) no matter how hard I try, my allergy to alcohol will continue being my Achilles' Heel to a life of drunkatude. 2) I've never felt luckier to have met and made connections to you great people on the internet. Your tweets and inboxed links haven't gone unnoticed. Sidenote: some of that s**t is straight-up weird and has resulted in a record number of blocks and reports. So, yeah, there's that.

What was I getting at with this? Oh yeah, 3) I'm not a rich guy, or even moderately "balling." I spent a fair amount [okay, all] of my spending money on my mom and little sister this holiday. At the same time, I'm not trying to go in debt or make a material statement as to my status in life. I got lucky with this friend group. They only expect me to be me. It was super-unfortunate I couldn't get everyone at least a joke/gag gift, but this post will have to suffice.

Below you'll find links to art, articles, and videos that I hold very dear. Some are to be taken in jest, others not-so-much. Thanks for the support.

And don't let Krampus poke you.

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IBE 2011 Thoughts...

Friends on my facebook page are probably annoyed of my constant postings of this past weekend's IBE festivities. Full disclosure: All video you see here in this post is property of The Notorious IBE and they deserve full credit for their production value.

With that out of the way, time to share. I've recently gotten the dancing itch again. I've been dancing for a little over 10 years [which is peanuts compared to most established bboys and other dancers]. Everyday, after work, I go to practice. For the past year, or so, I've been trying to practice more. It initially was to maintain my girlish figure and to keep some sort of playful balance in my life. It also didn't help that I took a three year sabbatical and my form was a bit, well, crap.

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EVO 2011 -- What Does It Feels Like To Throw A Fireball For $10,000

As of me typing this little entry, we are about a week out from the events that transpired at this year's EVO. A great deal of joy and surprise was had by all that were interested. For those who filled up my Twitter feed with, "What's an EVO?" Go here for the full history.

There seems to be something strange happening in the fighting game community. The level of recognition and genuine interest has been hard-fought over the past decade. Within that time, fighting game makers: Namco, Capcom, Aksys, have helped and hurt the culture. There was an obvious feeling of rushed games or just too many to play at one time. Games around the turn of the millennium were having a renaissance genre-wide. During the era of Third Strike, Marvel vs. Capcom 2 and Guilty Gear, there were so many iterations of fighting games, it was almost like, Guitar Hero.

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Thor Is The New Crocodile Dundee Minus The Knife

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Audio Files: Marteria - Second Bedroom [German]

Look at this as, this site further echoing the point that good music and great music videos are still being made. Unfortunately we don't have the heyday of Muchmusic or MTV circa early 90s to point us in the direction of non-U.S. videos, but props to Marteria [no, not Materia]. 

I don't have much I can say about Marteria/Marsimoto or Peter Fox, because I'm still super new to this music. I'm not gonna bulls**t a faux knowledge base. But I will say, according Marteria's wiki, not much is really known about such a popular rapper. So feel free to fill me in on the history. "Danke", in advance.

Aside: There are actual portions of the video that were shot over a time-lapse. Meaning, there were moments while shooting where the subject had to stand absolutely still for an extended period of time. Tough stuff to shoot.

Below are translated lyrics:

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Battle: L.A. Review -- The 1950's Called, They Want Their Aliens Back

Not a screen shot from the film, but an image of the audience post-viewing it.

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Rango Review -- Dull, Dry, Totally Worth It

Futurism and the surreal meet in fevered dreams, in Rango.

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Sucker Punch Review -- Ass & Tits The Video Game

Meet Emily Browning. She plays Baby Doll in Sucker Punch and is absolutely riveting -- as an avatar of how not to portray a female protagonist in an action film.

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2011 Goes To The Movies

As I pull myself out of my writing, terrorist cave, I check my e-mail [as most writing terrorist do]. I see requests to review more movies. I hear your calls [/egoboosting]. Recognize that there is another life going on outside of this 'brog' I run and I see and hear about most of the movies many of you have requested I review.

Take a look at the trailer above. You see a lot of things in common right? Man hellbent on it's on destruction. Hot ladies running or at least looking like they plan on running as soon as 'the big one' [whatever it may be] hits. Let's not forget waiting for a magical hero or solution to come along to fix all of our dire problems.

I've once considered copying and pasting an old review and using the "Find" function on my browser to plug in the odds and ends that didn't fit. Thinking, "Does anyone really care to read a review about Transformers 2: Electric Boogaloo?"

Well it turns out you do. It's appreciated. However, after looking at the above trailer, you'll have to excuse me if it's a little tough to get in front of a glowing box and furiously type away. Don't worry, more is coming, but I just want you to understand what I'm dealing with here. 

The Last Year Of The PSP

My last article saw a lot of activity due to disregard of its first sentence, so I’ll put the most important message in the second. I am deeply envious of PSP owners. Furthermore, I hope they continue supporting such a quality platform. With that said, the impending announcements of both the Playstation Phone and the PSP 2 in 2011 should solidify Sony’s fate in the handheld arena.

By now you’ve seen the NPD sales for November and have heard the always trustworthy predictions of market analyst, Michael Pachter. At this point in this current gaming generation, Sony’s brand is at a point of no return (no fiscal pun intended). The writing is on the wall for the companies that control the direction of both consoles and handhelds. As a byproduct, this coming year will be the last year Sony’s PSP platform(s) stand a chance of making a grand impression on consumers outside of Japan.

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