The Perfectly Sane Show – Episode 11
I’m trying to get the show on a more regular schedule and I view this Episode as the new beginning towards that. In this episode we (myself, Reid and special guest Tommy_Arashikage) talk about the latest “big” Sony release, Heavy Rain. We discuss what we like and dislike about the game remaining relatively spoiler free and we also touch on the implications that the success or failure this game may or may not have across the industry. Subscribe to us through iTunes or get it here.
Music in this episode:
Rain – The Cult
Rainmaker – Iron Maiden
E-mail comments (or questions) to pefectlysaneshow@gmail.com or friend us on the IGN Blogs.
How much Sci do you need in Sci Fi?
Leave it to me to find an article about Sci Fi at Tech Republic, but this weekend’s Geekend asks that age old question, “Does the science in science fiction have to be accurate?”
One great example brought up is Starship Troopers’ gigantic alien bugs. Of course bugs can never be that big. It’s physically impossible for them to be giant-sized. But we still loved the movie anyway, right? OK, we didn’t love the movie, but it wasn’t the gigantic bugs that ruined it for us.
My opinion is, it doesn’t matter so much to me if the science is perfectly accurate—as long as you make your Sci Fi interesting to watch (or read, but when you’re talking to me, “reading” is essentially foreign).
I used to watch Star Trek: The Next Generation because the stories had fascinated me. And also, I’m a sucker for Time Travel—a gimmick on which many science fiction shows fall back, simultaneously rewriting their own rules on the topic—but it never bothered me that this stuff isn’t physically possible. I just liked to watch Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise be British and t3h awesomer than James T. Kirk. That, of course, was before I learned that Kirk was très awesomer than Picard and special effects technology (and the 60’s) was what made the show so hokey.
So, how accurate do you think science needs to be in science fiction?
One last thing to consider, for your two cents. Rod Sterling said something like, “science fiction makes the implausible possible, while science fantasy makes the impossible plausible.” Where would you draw the line between implausible and impossible?
My Music Monday – Party Edition
Welcome to My Music Mondays, the basic premise is that each week I will be delving into my music collection and looking at a new artist going somewhat randomly currently but eventually (probably not) from A to Z. I’ll examine why I first started listening to them, my favorite album and my top 10 songs for the artist. As my music collection is pretty extensive and I have a lot of one offs, I have set a qualification to be featured here. That is that I have to have at least two albums of the artist’s music before they can be considered. This week I break from the ordinary scheme though and explore my favorite 80s/90s party music.
I’m a rather reserved dude and I am certainly not a dancer. When tasked with dancing I move like a 95 year old grandma with a walker but when pushed (and really, really intoxicated) I have been known to embarrass myself on a dance floor. The problem with me getting drunk is that while I am a rather reserved gentleman most of the time, once alcohol hits my system I become an entirely different person. I love everyone, think I can dance and often times proclaim myself to be a long dead French dictator, in an awful French accent. I’m serious get me drunk and ask me to say Fantastik (as in the household cleaner).
At one point in my past, the city of Philadelphia had a night club called Polyesters that was a frequent hang out for me. I mostly went there because I liked the fact that the club had three floors and one of them was an 80s / 90s floor where all they played was music I enjoyed. Everything from AC/DC to Young MC hit the turntable and after a six pack of Cranberry and Vodka and a Lemon Drops I would “hit” the dance floor (sometimes face first depending upon how much I had to drink) because I felt the groove. Looking back, those were some great times but sadly they are long gone (like Polyesters) but the music remains. This past Friday I was in a weird mood and I started listening to “Things That Make You Go Hmmmmm…” By C + C Music Factory, which spiraled into “Bust a Move” by Young M.C. and thus the below list was born.
10 Favorite Songs
10. Vanilla Ice’s “Ice Ice Baby”
9. Tone Loc’s “Wild Thing”
8. Digital Underground’s “The Humpty Dance”
7. DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince’s “Boom! Shake the Room”
6. DJ Kool’s “Let Me Clear My Throat”
5. MC Hammer’s “U Can’t Touch This”
4. C + C Music Factory’s “Things That Make You Go Hmmmmm”
3. Sir Mix-A-Lot’s “Baby Got Back”
2. Run DMC and Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way”
1. Young MC’s “Bust a Move”
What are some of your favorite tracks for partying?
I AM THIRTY ONE YEARS OLD
YOU DO NOT NEED TO MAKE SURE I EAT
I should just post a picture to This is Why You’re Fat. It’ll be a picture of my dad.
The Perfectly Sane Show – Episode 10: The Infernocast
In this episode I have no special guests from anywhere, instead I talk for roughly 20 minutes about one game and one game only, Dante’s Inferno.
Music in this episode:
W***es of Babylon – from the Dante’s Inferno soundtrack
Redemption – from the Dante’s Inferno soundtrack
E-mail comments (or questions) to pefectlysaneshow@gmail.com or friend us on the IGN Blogs.
Bacon Turtles
Check this out, from Geekologie.
Though what’s left of the head doesn’t look like it, I’m pretty sure they’re turtles wrapped in bacon.
I don’t know whether I want to eat them, pity them, or take a nap halfway to the finish line.
Animaniacs: Favorite segment?
One of my favorite cartoon shows of the early 90’s, I’d actually try and catch Animaniacs whenever I was home. It wasn’t like its predecessor, Tiny Toon Adventures. It was funny, and smart. There were loads of characters—like Skippy and Slappy, the Goodfeathers, Buttons and Mindy, and of course, Pinky and the Brain—who filled in the supporting cast with their eight-minute stories (or however long they were), wrapping the Warner Brothers Yakko and Wakko, and their sister Dot in their never-ending quest to escape that big guy with the net.
What endeared me to the show wasn’t quite the “educational value” (that Countries song, or whatever other things they did), or the smart humor they sometimes employed (like a Buttons and Mindy episode entirely in French!) but those little minute-long segments. And I don’t know which I liked more, the Wheel of Morality or Good Idea Bad Idea.
After the cut, two clips, compiling a few Wheels of Morality, and a few Good Ideas coupled with their Bad Ideas.
GIANT CRAB OMGWTF
BBQ???
Or… maybe…. cocktail sauce? Who cares, let’s go to Japan, catch one, and fry it up!!!
(via geekologie)
(also via Nessa
Hating As An Artform: Facebook Apps
Facebook apps are getting ridiculous.
Farmville, Petville, Zoo-something, send a TARDIS, click here if you want to high five someone, Snow Ball Fight, etc. They are all ridiculous, and seem to solely be usable as timesinks. Which, in and of itself, is fine. But some of them are actually starting to implement pay strategies (“click here to buy more Pet $$!”), and that’s when, in my mind, the line is crossed from “oh that’s kind of cute” to “oh you can just go to hell.”
The Lovely Bones / Movie Theatres
Went to AMC Neshaminy theater last night to see The Lovely Bones. Based on a novel by Alice Sebold, the film centers around Susie Salmon’s untimely death and how her family copes. Or something like that.
I wouldn’t exactly know because of the assholes three rows in who stumbled in loudly and kept talking throughout the damn movie. It got so bad that we walked out, got passes to see the movie at a later time, and went home.
Burning It Up: Impressions From the Inferno
For the last three days I have spend a solid amount of time tooling around in the depths of Hell, specifically Dante Alighieri’s version of Hell. Visceral Games (Dead Space) has adapted the first part of Dante’s epic poem, The Divine Comedy, into the Christian mythology equivalent of God of War. Adaptations are a tricky monster. On one hand you have the hardcore fans of the source material who will cry foul at the slightest change and on the other you have to consider that adapting something needs to work in the other medium. Stray to far from either and you risk ending up with a mess off a product and a large contingent of angry fans. Not surprisingly, Visceral decided that the hardcore fans of the epic poem were most likely not going buy the game anyway and changed core pieces of the original source to fit their medium.
In the game, Dante is no longer being a poet but rather a Christian Solider (I believe him to be a Templar but I never specifically heard them say as much) who defeats Death. And on his return home finds his wife, Beatrice, dead and follows her soul into the depths of Hell to rescue her from Satan. The core of the story though remains intact. Dante still is on a journey through the circles of Hell, Virgil is still his guide, and Dante still encounters all sorts of horrific imagery. While I can see why some literary types would be upset at the changes to the source material, lets face it the original material does not lend itself well to a game, yet this does.
Some will argue that there was no need to adapt Dante’s work into a video game and they would be correct. However there are a lot of things that do not need to be made, yet still are and some of those things actually don’t suck. Dante’s Inferno is one of those things. The game works on a variety of levels but specifically the most important one, its fun.
Analog T-Shirts
Check these out: a series of t-shirts designed to keep old school alive. There are only two designs there, and in just a couple of colors, but I think they’re pretty cool.
The irony of it is, as the title says, “these tees were made using digital tools,” but I don’t care. I like that red “analog memory card” one. Birthday gift, anyone? You have a few months. 
we’ll be trying out a new theme
Hey everybody,
We’ll be trying out a new theme called F8-Lite, developed by Graph Paper Press. Nik at 2 one 5 turned me on to it and I thought I’d familiarize myself with F8 by trying it out on this site.
If you want to see what else Graph Paper Press has to offer in the way of Wordpress themes, check them out here.
Totally Looks Like
I’m watching the news this morning, since I’m working from home and checking out how bad the roads are, and I realise something.
META!
The Internet is kind of an amazing thing. This afternoon, I ordered a pizza from Pizza Hut. But I didn’t need to speak to anyone at all. It was all handled over the phone!!!!
And here’s something else that’s just crazy! @wheredidjengo ordered Internet through the Internet!
Conclusion:
The Internet transcends all and has now become all.
7 Days Until a Laser Valentine’s Day
No, there aren’t 7 days until a red laser pen fun-filled Valentine’s Day… It’s a different kind of laser. Read here for more details!
my poor xbox 360
I probably don’t have to say anything, because the pictures says it all.
Words or no words.
Valentine’s Day Countdown
Valentine’s Day will be hear in nine days. Love it. Hate it. Whatever your opinion, it’s always fun to get out of the house on Valentine’s Day. Be it to bash cupid with your closest pals or romance your sweetheart, check out this site for a countdown to the biggest Hallmark Holiday of the year. DimpleDate suggests watching Belly Dancing.
Robots + Unicorns
This is one of those games I shouldn’t be caught playing, because it has unicorns, but Spiritonin’s Robot Unicorn Attack is one amazing game.
I mean, sure you play as a unicorn, but it’s a robot unicorn! A robot unicorn that … collects faeries … and busts through crystalline stars … but it’s a robot unicorn that busts through crystalline stars! And it explodes!!!
Best. Drive-Thru. EVER!
After depositing my expense check, Vanessa and I went to Starbucks because she wanted coffee. Me? I could care less this late at night. But, as things go, we got there, and I immediately wanted a grande café mocha, which I eagerly stated to the metal box with the speaker. The most pleasant voice ever responded, asking what Vanessa would like. We ordered her drink and the polite voice gave me the total, asked me to drive around to the window. The voice was so soothing and calm (and at a coffee place, right?) and I felt so relaxed. It was like I was 30,000 feet above sea level and on my way to some place like DTW or SFO. After receiving our coffee, I was disappointed that the barista didn’t thank us for flying with Delta and to gather our belongings before exiting the plane.
But, seriously, when compared to drive-thru windows I had frequented in the past, this one was like Nirvana.
I plan to use a Starbucks drive-thru whenever I can from this point forward. Always and forever.
FACEBOOK! AUTOMATION LABS! OH NO!
This was circulating on Tumblr before I got it from V. Of course, being the lazy chav that I am, I had to look this up to see if it was a legitimate security faux pas on the part of Facebook.
About.com goes on to state:
Here’s the deal. The fact that the names appeared does not mean these people have access to your Facebook account or are up to no good. It just means they’re associated with the company or group name you typed in.
So have no fear, dear readers. The world is a-okay.
