Video Game Review: "Catherine" - Atlus

Yes, I thought I'd get into reviewing video games.

In a land of sequels, prequels, big budgets, tired old IPs and identical new IPs, one wonders where all the creativity has gone. Certainly not to the next Call of Duty, where all they need is a few more guns and maps to call it a new game, and definitely not the indie game scene, where most of its inspiration seems to come from age-old fads resurrected. What the industry really needs once in a while is a kick in its side from something so staggeringly strange and wonderful that it's almost impossible not to love.

Enter Catherine, the new title from Japanese developer Atlus, who are behind the Megami Tensei and Trauma Center IPs. These people certainly specialize in the weird and creative, and Catherine has only that in common with their other titles, nay, other video games in general.

Book Progress 2.0

I'm kind of going on hiatus from the book for now. I'm still thinking of ideas and writing them down, developing character ideas in my head and all that good stuff, but now written progress other than that is being made. Unfortunately, since college and homework are taking so much of my time lately, I haven't had time to make any progress. Plus, I'm at the point where I'm creating all the little incidentals for Job, like "What's your favorite color?" and "What scares you the most?" That second one might not be so incidental (muahahaha!). Anyway, they're my least favorite part of creating characters, and often it leaves me stumped for the importance. Big things, I can do; little things, finer details, not so much. I'm about 70% done with Job, though, and I think I'll do the other main character next. Well, not so much a main character but an important one nonetheless.

I'll probably pick it back up during the winter holiday while I'm thinking of what I want to take during the Spring semester and preparing ever more for attending a four-year college next fall. You might not see many more progress reports until then, so... until then!

Review: MGMT - Oracular Spectacular

MGMT came from practically nowhere in 2007 to release an album that would become immensely popular and would go on to become one of the greatest albums of the past decade. It's really hard not to have heard at some point one of the songs from this album.

Letting you know in advance...

I received birthday gifts today, many of which are CD album LP's by various artists, including Oracular Spectacular - MGMT, Return to Cookie Mountain - TV on the Radio, 18 - Moby, System of a Down, Transmissions from the Satellite Heart - The Flaming Lips, LIFTED, Or The Story is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground - Bright Eyes, and Pet Sounds - Beach Boys. I will likely be reviewing all of them except the very last one mentioned. I might even start doing video game reviews and do the games I got, L.A. Loire and Catherine. (Yes, I got Catherine. You got a problem with that?) Just thought I'd let you know what to expect in the coming weeks.

Songs I'm Obsessed With: "Knocked Up" by Kings of Leon

Happy Labor Day, everyday people! I'm sure you're not actually reading this and are instead having fun with your not working, but hey, let's take a look at a great song just for kicks.

Long before Kings of Leon were the band known for mega-hits like "Use Somebody" and "Sex On Fire," they, well, weren't really known. Before they were very commercially successful, they had a very different musical style. It was harder, it was heavier and it was more soulful. Not that they aren't good now, they were just different back then, like how The Flaming Lips were different after Clouds Taste Metallic.

Review: The Dissent of Man by Bad Religion

Maybe you noticed how pleasant most of my reviews tend to be, how they try their hardest to look for something decent to hear and to convey to the reader (like I'm With You or Enter the Wu-Tang). If you didn't notice, I certainly did. Fortunately, I happen to have a particularly hateful review of Bad Religion's The Dissent of Man. Here, I can't even reach my minimum of three decent songs because it's all total crap. It's a little short by my current review standards, but that's because I wrote it a while ago, and I didn't really have much to say anyway. I mention reviews for Dookie by Green Day and From Under the Cork Tree by Fall Out Boy, which I would be happy to share if you wanted to see them.

Please enjoy.

It was my birthday yesterday.

Just thought I'd mention that.