Frankenstein

Halloween, that time of year when the days are short, the leaves are orange, and the kids are excited. A time when we celebrate fear and the macabre rather than run from it. Children make their costumes for trick-or-treating. Zealous residents adorn their houses with ghoulish decorations that would make neighbors call the police any other time of year. And the TV stations flood the airwaves with films about ghosts.
Halloween is steeped with tradition, and I could go into the history itself. But I’m going to talk about a more “modern” (term used loosely) custom that comes associated with the day. When you thing of a monster movie or monster story, you probably think of one of two things: either a giant monster, or humanoid monster. Both kinds have had their fair share of fan favorites over the years, and rightfully so. Godzilla, King Kong, and more recently Cloverfield have decimated our cities, while zombies and vampires (not the sparkly kind) have chilled our bones.
In honor of Halloween, I’d like to talk about arguably the most famous spook story in the latter category. One that has been passed on for almost two centuries, and is till one of the most recognizable horror icons. The story of Frankenstein.

Thirteen Games I'd Play If I Owned the Other Consoles (in no particular order.)

My video game console of choice? The Nintendo Wii. I love my Wii and all the games for it. I have an absolute blast when playing it and wouldn't trade it for any of the other consoles. I have nothing against the other consoles, I just don't have hundreds of dollars laying around to go buy them and start a library of games for each one. Since I actively engage in gamer culture, it's impossible not to know about the vast selection of successful and beloved games for the others, many of which look like they'd be right down my alley. So, I've decided to compile a list of games for the Playstation 3 and X-Box 360 that I would play if I owned either of those consoles.

A couple things to note here. The favorite genre out there right now is the FPS. I don't mind FPS games, they're fun, but I don't hold them in the same regard that some people do. WarRock and The Conduit are plenty enough for me, and I really have no desire to play Gears of War, Halo, Call of Duty, Fallout, or whatever else. There are a couple shooters on this list, but they appeal to me for a different reason that I'll discuss when I get to them.

Adam Reviews an Anime: K-On!

I don’t watch a lot of anime. The main reason is because, well, I don’t care much for television. I don’t really like to watch TV that much. The extent of my TV watching usually consists of finding some background noise while I surf the web or something that feels more productive than watching TV but really isn’t. Keep in mind that anime isn’t exactly widely available on basic cable, either. So in order for me to watch anime, I have to actually put effort into finding it somewhere on the internet and sitting down and watching it. Given my indifference-at-best attitude toward television in general, I’m sure you can start to understand why.

Adam's Top Five Foods of Summer

You know what one of my favorite things to do? Eat. I love to eat. Eating is probably one of my favorite activities. I know, that sentence probably makes me sound really fat, especially since I'm a game nerd as well, but no. I actually exercise a lot and I am in decent shape. In fact, that's all the more reason to eat.
Now that summer is here in my home of the beautiful upstate New York, it got me thinking about all the summer foods. BBQs, cook outs, ice cream parlors, and all the great yummy treats that start to come out this time of year. Now, keep in mind that these foods are foods typically associated with summer in my neck of the woods. Furthermore, it has a lot to do with my personal opinion. I'm a very picky eater, and there are a lot of foods that I just plain don't like. So without further ado, here are my top five foods of summer.

Missed Connection--The guy who ate my shield--m4?

You probably don't remember me. I was the little guy in light purple with the white sword. You were waddling back and forth between a couple wizzrobes next to the block on the left (you know, the one that opens the door if you push it?)

I just want to let you know, I hate you.

When I was in the room, did you notice the shield I was carrying? Of course you did, because YOU ATE IT. Do you know how much I had to save up to buy that thing? 130 rupees. It took me forever to save up that much cash! Sure, 130 isn't that much, but to a guy who already stupidly got all the hidden rupees from the moblins and spent them all, it took me quite a while. Just wandering around, killing all the enemies I could, hoping they would drop some loot. It took me forever!

Feeling sad? Why not cheer yourself up with a Cute-splosion!

It's an explosion, of Cuteness!

Crash Bandicoot: The Downfall of a Hero

I originally posted this as a comment to another blog, a review of Crash Bandicoot Warped by Serperoth (here: http://www.screwattack.com/node/23317) but got so carried away that it was no longer just a comment and I decided to make it it's own blog post.

If you're not familiar with Crash Bandicoot, it was (unfortunately, still is, as you'll read later) a series of platform games. The main character was the titular Crash, an anthropomorphic Bandicoot who platformed his way through his jungle island home to thwart the evil mad scientist, Dr. Neo Cortex. The first four games were developed by Naughty Dog for the original Playstation. Though it was never official, Crash was widely considered to be the Playstation's mascot and the answer to Nintendo's Mario. After the fourth game in the series, however, Naughty Dog made a vital mistake and gave the license away, ultimately leading to Crash's downfall.