Patrick R

Thanks! Technically Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved's PC port came out in 2007, and that's the version I have, so I'm counting it. I don't have a controller and the Steam version doesn't have achievements* or real leaderboards, so this isn't a good way to play and I'm pretty bad. I think I'll keep it downloaded and sneak games here and there throughout the year, and see if I can get a decent score. Right now my high is 137,950. *When did Steam add achievements to it's service? Was it before or after 2007?

Late to the party, but even using inferior mouse + keyboard controls I am having a blast with this. I love that the quick match times mean that I never really get that stressed out so even when, say, my own teammate accidentally blocks me from scoring, my instinct is more to laugh than to get pissed. There's something to it's chaotic nature (which maybe recedes once you're playing at higher skill levels) that makes missed shots and fuck-ups still totally fun.

I think Dan probably is that bad at singing. I think the trolling part comes from him saying "I'll sing first." EDIT: Also that Rocket League Rubber Match absolutely made me buy a copy of Rocket League. So good!

I like the kind where it's just a picture of worms crawling in an open wound and it says "She Lost 60 Lbs Quick!"

I also ended up playing a VERY low-res (I wanna say it's 370 x 220, might even be smaller) freeware game called Plasma Warrior by Tom Vine. It's a total throwback, with it's early arcade sound effects and inertia-less physics, like Microman, but with lower fidelity and only seven colors. It's too linear to be called a Metroidvania, but Metroid is clearly one of the big inspirations. It's very much an amateur game, but it's an impressive throwback nonetheless. If this was actually an amateur game from 1992 I would believe it. Even the dorky attempts at humor feel more like 80's/early 90's dorky jokes, not 2007 dorky jokes.

House of Psychotic Women is such a great book. If you like it, the podcast Supporting Characters did a great interview with the author.

My new album, Slop, is out. Very lo-fi acoustic music.

Meanwhile, I missed GOTY from Waypoint this year. According to a recent Waypoint Radio episode he really didn't like the GOTY process, but I feel like Waypoint's year-end material swung super hard in the other direction to the point where I couldn't figure out why I was supposed to want to read it. None of the deep critical dives, just cute shit about what character has the best car, or super convoluted justifications to shallowly talk about a genre within the context of a yearbook. What?

I think this is a joke because I did watch long enough to watch the crew fly off again, and I saw no Set It Off-style sex theatrics.

These Glen Morgan episodes are so so wonderful. Some of the best television ever. Too bad he limited himself to 4 episodes.

Saw the Indiana Jones trilogy (Crystal what, now?) in the theater today. It was something else. I wrote reviews for each, but the short take is that Last Crusade is still my least favorite by far, while my relationship with Temple of Doom is very complicated. Raiders review Temple of Doom review (Note: LONG) Last Crusade review

I turned it off shortly after Sulu, who is now gay, gets home after three years in deep space and DOESN'T EVEN KISS HIS PARTNER WHEN HE SEES HIM. Fuckin' cowardly nonsense.

Agreed with your second point. As for the first, all I can say is that Spielberg's daddy thing really grates on me in movies where I don't feel it fits, and it sinks Jurassic Park pretty bad for me. It's a monster movie! I can accept pausing for joy and wonder to show off the CGI dinosaurs for the first time, but the saccharine speeches about flea circuses and Grant learning to be a dad is death. But my local arthouse theater is doing a triple feature of the IJ trilogy tomorrow, so maybe I'll change my mind on Crusade. I like that Jones' desire for approval subverts his badass nature, but also that whole movie has a childish feel to it that puts me off it. Temple of Doom may have an annoying kid character, but Last Crusade feels like it panders to 9 year-olds in a way the other movies don't while still being kid-friendly. It feels like a half-step towards Crystal Skull.

The shorts are also worth seeing, particularly One Week and The High Sign. This year I set out to see every Steven Spielberg film I hadn't seen before. Yesterday I finally concluded with Schindler's List, so now I have The Definitive Final Objective Steven Spielberg Power Rankings. Please note that Jurassic Park is so low only because it kinda sucks, but A.I. is the point in the list where I actually stop liking these movies. 1. Jaws 2. ET 3. Raiders of the Lost Ark 4. Close Encounters of the Third Kind 5. Schindler's List 6. Empire of the Sun 7. Saving Private Ryan 8. Catch Me If You Can 9. The Sugarland Express 10. War Horse 11. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom 12. Duel 13. The Color Purple 14. War of the Worlds 15. Lincoln 16. Bridge of Spies 17. Minority Report 18. 1941 19. Munich 20. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade 21. Jurassic Park 22. Murder by the Book (Columbo episode) 23. The Lost World: Jurassic Park 24. The Adventures of Tin-Tin 25. A.I. 26. The Post 27. The Terminal 28. Something Evil (TV Movie) 29. Amblin' (Student Film) 30. Twilight Zone (his segment only) 31. Always 32. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull 33. Hook 34. BFG 35. Amistad 36. Night Gallery (both his episodes)

X-Files even goes into Navajo words for episode titles. THIS STUFF IS SERIOUS.

I forgot that there was an episode in Season 2 that was just Mulder and Scully looking for an Ed Gein type and Scully gets super upset at seeing desecrated bodies. Chris Carter's teleplays are so didactic, usually have super pretentious voiceover doing a dry deep dive into some aspect of the paranormal (or in this case, abnormal psychology). It always feels like he's trying to prove how smart he is, and in these early seasons he doesn't seem to understand how important humor is to the show's tone. I bet he's the one who made half the episode titles phrases in other languages, so they sound smart and also you can never remember what each episode is about because all you have to go on is a latin phrase that means "Hand of God" or something.

I spent 2016 trolling around bandcamp new releases (mostly on the "lo-fi" tag, which offers a satisfyingly diverse group of genres), and that was pretty much all the new 2016 music I listened to this year, outside of A Giant Dog. I made this mix of songs for people to enjoy or not. A lot of the music featured is experimental, amateurish, and rough around the edges, but maybe you'd still like it. All the songs here are from free releases, I didn't pay for any of it, so it's not piracy of any kind. Also I put some of my music I made this year for Idle Thumbs jams (music and game) in there.

This was the year I started playing Payday 2. I played a lot of Payday 2! I'd still be playing it but I had enough bad experiences where the combination of my low-speed internet and low-powered laptop made getting into and staying in games really hard, and I fell out of the habit. But it was fun. Payday 2 is worth learning and playing. That's the only non-Wizard Jam game I played this year that one could possibly maybe consider a 2016 game.

Oh my God, watching people play Overcooked is so stressful and chaotic. I'm glad it's a game people are enjoying but it seems so anxious to me.

Apparently "I'm a medical doctor" is a big meme among the X-Files Tumblr fandom. I bet if I look some's made a megamix of it on YouTube... YEP! His badassdom seems so forced. I really miss the beleaguered humor of Deep Throat in those scenes. Also, he's the worst character in the history of the Friday the 13th franchise (no small feat!), and as a fan of those movies I may be bringing along some Creighton Duke hatred along with my viewing of this show.

For sure, but that sounds like a different recording altogether. Listen to it and my video back to back. EDIT: I did. The big difference is that shitty "magic star" sound effect that covers the "Let's". In the dozens of hours I sunk into Super Mario 64 as a kid, I never once heard that "Let's" under the magical chimes. But you guys are right, it's Let's a-Go. Clearly the moral here is some sound mixer at Nintendo needs to be fired.

double post

It only sounds like two syllables to me, and faster than one could say "let's go".

I've never played the New Super Mario games, but what the hell does Mario say in Super Mario 64 when you select a quest and enter a level? It always sounds like "Payco" to me. What is "payco"? EDIT: jump to 0:30 in this video. Is he saying Peggle?