Music Review: Super Ponybeat

Before I review this music album, I have a confession to make. I am a Brony. For those of you who are unaware of the term, a Brony is a person, usually male and in their teens or 20s, who watches the TV show “My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.” You may gasp, you may ask, “But isn’t that a show for little girls?!” Yes. Yes it is. The whole purpose of the Brony movement is to prove that just because something is marketed to a certain audience doesn’t mean a completely different audience that has nothing in common with the first group can’t enjoy it as well. It’s about shedding off the limitations of stereotypes and what is considered “right” and “wrong” for someone to do. Me, I just love the characters, and the story, and the animation… pretty much everything about it. But I digress. As the fanbase for a show grows, it only becomes natural that those fans become more and more involved with the show on an independent scale, which is where the album for this week’s review originated from T. Stebbins, entitled “Super Ponybeat.”

Friday Night Retro: The Lion King

Disney certainly has quite a relationship with animals, in many different ways. Sometimes, they can talk. Sometimes, they help the protagonist clean a house. Other times, animals will take center stage. When they do, Disney will be pushing the message of the wonders of nature, while wooing us with wonderful art and scenery. They give us equal amounts of laughter, awe, and sadness, as we learn the tough reality of life. No movie better exemplifies this than Disney’s The Lion King.

Friday Night Retro: Mario Party

Within the seemingly endless number of videogame and videogame sequels popping up this year, it’s nice to fall back on familiar classics that everyone knows. And easily the most recognizable videogame character is Mario, that pudgy Italian plumber that’s always one step behind his eternal rival Bowser and his lovely lady Princess Peach. He is Nintendo’s poster-character, and is synonymous with old-school gaming. He has aged quite a bit better than most of his 8-bit friends like Sonic, but we all remember and love him during his early years. Nintendo has always been about multiplayer games, and so it’s no surprise that their most famous franchise has dozens of games designed specifically for party play, even one that literally calls itself that: Mario Party.

Friday Night Retro: The Powerpuff Girls

Cartoon Network was my deity while growing up. The sheer number of animated television series they had during the 90’s was amazing, and I enjoyed watching nearly all of them. While some of the shows annoyed me to the point where I wanted to punch my TV – like Ed, Edd, n Eddy – the vast majority of these shows were entertaining to watch, and had such personality than more recent television series can’t seem to match. Whether it was merely an explosion of animated talent or that today’s writers adhere to stereotypes, sacrificing quality for ratings, I do not know, but I can certainly thank Cartoon Network for the show The Powerpuff Girls.

Friday Night Retro: Fiddler on the Roof

Growing up, many of the things to which I was exposed was as a direct result of my parents rather than what was popular at the time. When other kids were watching Power Rangers, I was watching Monty Python. When they were listening to N’Sync, I was listening to The Beatles. And by far, one of the more memorable movie/musicals I recall from my childhood was the epic tale of The Fiddler On The Roof. The tragic story of a Jewish family in the small Russian town of Anatevka, as the main character, Tevye, struggles to hold onto the traditions of his faith in a rapidly changing world around the turn of the 20^th century, from his daughters to the oppressive regime of the Russian Tsar. Phenomenal casting and a wonderful script combine to create an experience that is difficult to forget.

Maniacal Monday: Darth Tyranus, from Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones

While all villains terrify us, not every villain is of the sort that haunts the deepest, darkest corner of your nightmares. Some bad guys are more refined, possessing elegance about them, a certain presence that changes who they are. More often than not, these villains are of noble background, corrupted by the world around them into doing evil things in order to fix what they see as flaws in society. Sometimes they are aware of their Evilness, sometimes they aren’t, but the way they act about their actions, one would think that they were playing nothing more than a game, where the pieces are people, and the rules are undetermined. It is into this niche of villain that this week’s character, Darth Tyranus, finds himself.

Friday Night Retro: Pokémon: The First Movie

The Pokémon game franchise has been one of the most successful of our generation. Go up to any early-20s, late teenager and say the word Pokémon, and it will be recognized. (If they don’t recognize it, pity them, for they had no childhood) Whether they grew up with 151 Pokémon or 649, few are the children who don’t recall the adorable game about enslaving… I mean, catching… various monsters that exist in the Pokémon world, from the adorable Togepi to the terrifying Onix. So popular is the series, that it has spawned not only an abundance of videogame spinoffs and sequels, but also highly successful anime and movie franchises, both of which center around the eternally youthful Ash Ketchum, whose dream is to become a Pokémon Master. So secure was the company in the longevity of their franchise, they actually entitled the first movie Pokémon: The First Movie, so without further ado, let’s jump right into the wonderful world of Pokémon.

Summer to Autumn

Summer
Warm, sunny days
The disgusting smell of sunblock
The sun beating down from overhead
Fun-filled days spent in the surf at the beach
Frolicking endlessly with friends and family, old and new
But soon, the weather grows colder and less bright
The trees and plants lose their vibrant colors
The skies turn gray and dull
As the season pass
Autumn

Maniacal Monday: The Overlord, from the Overlord game series

We all love villains. Whether they are a sleazy, nasty slimeball or a sophisticated supervillain, everyone secretly adores bad guys because we somehow find a way to feel for whatever plight has led them to become evil, and their initiative in trying to make the world a better place, even if their methods and ultimate goal are not what we would consider “better.” And while many books exist that examine events from the viewpoint of villains, coming across a tale where you ARE the villain is very rare. Enter the Overlord, the stereotypical fairy-tale villain, and protagonist of the Overlord game series.

Friday Night Retro: Bomberman 64

The transition from the old 2-dimensional games of the arcade days to the new 3-dimensional game systems in the ‘90s was rough on a lot of game franchises. While some series, like Final Fantasy, adapted without sacrificing its identity, not every game was so lucky, and this led to quite a few game franchises to fail. The Bomberman series was of the few that managed to hang on through the transition, and though the games have recently become nothing more than a throwback to its 2-d days of fame, it managed to churn out two rather decent games for the Nintendo 64 game system, the first of which was Bomberman 64. It was a game I spent endless hours trying to beat, but never managed to finish, due to some fatal flaws in the gameplay mechanisms, but more on that later.

Maniacal Monday: Artemis Fowl II, from Artemis Fowl

The literary world is home to some of the greatest villains of all time. Aside from the fact that it is the oldest media, dating back since our origins in caves, the fact that books are not constrained by time limits allows a more in-depth look at everything that’s going on. This is especially true for villains, as the increased space allows for even more room with which to develop their character, backstory, and reason for becoming evil, which enhances their villain-ness exponentially. By getting to know the character, it’s possible to either love them or hate them depending on their reasons for doing evil things, again allowed by the fact that you have more time to get to know them. Sometimes you might even find “villains” in the role of protagonist, and one of my favorite books that demonstrates this duality is the villain Artemis Fowl II, from Artemis Fowl.

Friday Night Retro: Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog

I am possibly one of the youngest people that can still recall looking forward to Saturday Morning Cartoons, before the advent of the DVR. Getting up early on the weekend seems blasphemous to me now, but back then, nothing beat the feeling of getting out of bed just to lay down on the couch for a few uninterrupted hours of cartoon watching. Those Saturday time slots were gold for kids and TV shows alike, the foundation of a lot of quality nostalgia. However, not all nostalgia is perfect, and one show that stands out today as less than great is the infamous show, “The Adventures of Sonic The Hedgehog.”

Music Reviews

As you may have noticed in my previous reviews, I tend to focus a lot on the figuratively quiet influence of music upon the audience. Though most people don’t often recognize or focus on music in games or movies, as their primary concern is with the plot, auditory perception is possibly the most important element of any form of entertainment. The plot, the gameplay, the characters, they all count for nothing if the sounds that accompany them are abrasive and make you wish you could rip your eardrums out of your head. So I have decided to review music on this blog as well – though I don’t think I’m going to change the title of my blog; too much work. While this won’t be a regular segment like Friday Night Retro or Maniacal Monday, as I don’t wish to overburden myself with the shadow of college looming just around the corner, I will be doing my best to review a soundtrack or music album at least every other week, and keep you guessing about which day it gets published. 

This Week: NiGHTS: Lucid Dreaming, an OverClocked Remix Album.

Maniacal Monday: Darth Maul, from Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace

Star Wars is highly regarded as the Holy Grail of the entire Science Fiction genre. George Lucas created a highly diverse universe, populated with countless worlds, species, and technologies, while also managing to throw a healthy dose of fantasy in the mix. It has even become self-sustaining, as the Star Wars series has expanded far beyond the 6 movies that Lucas created as numerous writers have written novels from millennia before the story to millennia after. And out of these stories, many evil villains have arisen. From the original movies, however, the villain that stood out most to me was the evil Zabrak Sith, Darth Maul.

Friday Night Retro: Aladdin

Just like many, if not all, children in the past generation or so, I was exposed to quite a lot of Disney films in my youth. Though riddled with historical inaccuracies and quite a few offensive moments, Disney remains one of the most recognizable brand names in the world, and deservedly so, as Walt Disney and his company were the masters of entertainment from their conception. And of the many masterpieces that Disney has created, one of my favorites would have to be Aladdin, that Arabian classic.

Maniacal Monday: The Shadow, From Amnesia: The Dark Descent

Winner of the "Scariest Game Ever" Award

Few things are more frightening to the human psyche than darkness, though we truly fear the unknown which lurks inside the darkness rather than the darkness itself. It stands to reason, then, that the most frightening villain of all is one that we cannot see, and that is truly the case for The Shadow from the game “Amnesia: The Dark Descent.” This is, without a doubt, one of the scariest games I have ever played, period, and this is a direct result of the effect of The Shadow on both the character and the player. Why is this villain so terrifying? Read on to find out.

Maniacal Monday

If there is one thing upon which we can all agree, it’s that bad guys are evil. They do evil things for evil reasons, (and sometimes no reason at all) and it’s up to the protagonist of the story to stop them. And though we cheer when good inevitably triumphs, we’d all be lying to ourselves if we didn’t admit that there were times when we were rooting for the bad guy. Let’s face it; villains are usually much more interesting characters than heroes. Villains have motives, they have selfish desires, and we can relate to them in a way, whereas heroes seem to exist for the sole purpose of defeating the bad guy and restoring peace and balance to the world. So, in honor of these baddies, I am proud to announce a new weekly segment: Maniacal Monday! Where we will honor the best of the worst, and find out just what makes them tick. 

This Monday: The Shadow, from Amnesia: The Dark Descent

Friday Night Retro: Star Fox 64

Look, the action's exploding!

Star Fox 64 was one of the best games of the 64-bit era, and certainly has a special place in my heart. In many ways, it pushed the boundaries on what home-console video games could do, from its revolutionary Rumble Pak, to multiple gameplay paths, and the immense amount of voice-acting dialogue. My father and I wasted hundreds of hours discovering everything about it, and was actually probably better at the game than I was, though I’ll never admit it to him. Let’s not waste any more time, and jump right in.