Yasawas

I'm having a hard time getting excited about much on the horizon and impulse bought another PS2 to build a wee collection for nostalgia purposes and play through some highly-regarded titles I missed originally. Persona 3 is among those and having not played a JRPG since 1999 I wasn't sure I'd like it but it's winning me over, not least with the music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieuZFNz6pGo Also, this is probably the best thing I've heard in a game recently. It's for the final boss in Dark Souls and whereas every other piece in the game is huge, bombastic and orchestral and every other boss fight is preceded by a cut-scene to build up the tension, with this you simply walk through a door into a beautiful piano melody that you hear for maybe 15 seconds before you get your face panned in.

Oh my, buying next on the strength of that alone. I read Infinite Jest earlier in the year on the advice of some guys I play Street Fighter with, of all the places to pick up literary recommendations. I'd never heard of Wallace before which struck me as odd roughly two pages in as it started to dawn on me how the humour and tone were so perfectly up my street it seemed absurd that this author had somehow completely escaped my attention for a little over 31 years. I was in no doubt when I finished it that it's the best novel I've ever read, and I stand by it, and this excited/s me because so much of the media that has really changed the way I've thought about things was stuff I grew up with, or watched in my early 20s or whatever. I read so many books and watch so many movies that fall between 1-4 stars these days that it's reassuring to know there's still something out there that can blow me away, to borrow an overused phrase from 2009 or so. I can't remember much in the way of specific story details but it's been fun to pop into this thread and see the reactions of people who've just finished it, how the length and scope of it just leave you in awe that a writer could somehow fuse so many ludicrous personalities and scenarios, difficult words, huge footnotes and sharp wit into something that works as well as this and is approachable and readable despite the running time. I've enjoyed the rest of the DFW I've read since, too, especially Consider the Lobster and The Pale King although going to The Broom of the System having read Jest first is a very strange experience and I think robs that book of a lot of what probably made it so special back then. I feel compelled to stick this in here as one of my favourite parts of infinite Jest - the footnote where you discover that Wallace created an entire filmography for James O. Incandenza and he wasn't just making up odd titles as he went along. Taken from here, this raised a genuine laugh and some odd looks on the train:

It kind of hit me today when my third 360 died just how much I love SFIV and how I can't wait for it to be prefixed by another S when my first reaction was to start pricing TE sticks for the PS3. £60 for the limited edition at launch (), then £110 for a stick to do it justice and it feels like it was worth it. Never mind I've played 150 hours and I'm still crap, losing to shamefully scrubby Kens every time I pop onto championship mode, I've enjoyed the hell out of it, and if this translation below is halfway accurate then Super can't fail to surpass it for me. You have no idea of how happy I was to discover Chun's U2 isn't a charge move as I'd assumed, the one she has now is so exacting to land online and so punishable upon whiffage that I'd kinda stopped using it at all. (stolen from NeoGAF, translated by SRK) http://shoryuken.com/content.php?r=521-Super-Street-Fighter-4-Final-Build-Notes-from-Arcadia-Gamers-Podcast Woop.

There's a real dearth of Leone BluRay, I don't think any are available in Europe yet. Those films look great as it is, but I'd love to see them in high-def. I missed the chance to see Ran at the cinema last month

Once Upon a Time in the West. That opening ten minutes is the greatest I've ever seen, absolutely masterful, Bronson is too cool for words ("You brought two too many."), Cardinale is timelessly hot and Fonda makes a great villain. Leone at the peak of his powers and a fantastic Morricone score too, even by his standards. Love it. Currently working my way though what I've not seen of IMDb's Top 250 via this handy site, so watching plenty of films at the moment. There were so many considered as classics on that list that I'd never seen I felt compelled to try and watch them all just so I could have an opinion. Watched The Third Man earlier which was astonishingly good and exactly the kind of film I like, never even heard of it before I looked at that list and there are probably loads more like it that I'm equally ignorant of. I just wish Lovefilm were a bit less ponderous when it comes to posting stuff out. Hello btw

Hey now! Recent convert following unanimously positive feedback to your return on rllmuk. Not entirely sure why I never checked it out earlier, but the demise of a 90-minute weekly podcast I used to listen to has left a very convenient gap in my commute for you. Really funny stuff, and great to hear a podcast about games where presenters talk at length about something other than the obvious big releases - Call of Pripyat and Flotilla being two so far I'd never have considered prior to this, but am now very keen on checking out at some point, laptop permitting. So, hello