I just played... Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

 Featuring more cuts than a movie by an OCD crew.

                I seem to be making a lot of confessions these days, mostly to myself and the wall that I seem to enjoy talking to so much, and I’m continuing the trend here. I have never played a Metal Gear game before, is my confession, and Metal Gear Rising is my first Metal Gear game. And having the boxes stacked as such is much like confessing your love to your school crush on the day of her funeral.

I just played... Transistor

 A sword that is not a sword, with an awesome voice.

                I seem to be following my trend of existential sci-fi even when I don’t go around looking to do so. I am an existential person but I do like to go about occasionally experiencing something rather life-affirming, though a whole lot of the life affirming works plaguing me these days makes me want to do a root canal on myself using a buzz saw, but I suppose I can’t help the world. As the world buckles and heaves out yet another vampire-teenager-supernatural oestrogen centric work, I do turn around and enjoy showing these sci-fi works a fair bit more love, though I’d probably withhold on showing them such love considering that it is not love they are looking for.

I just watched... Bladerunner

 In the future: Indiana Jones became a bounty hunter after tiring of being President

                I find myself reaching a conclusion: Harrison Ford doesn’t play characters, he’s just himself in all the movies that he seems to find himself in. Let’s take a look at all his most iconic roles through adjective-based inquiries. Are they smug? Rogues? Sly? Non-Paragons? Of questionable base morality? Not quite the lover of rules? Now, which role am I talking about? Solo? Jones? How about all? Despite all this I find it amusing how he manages to still fit the role well… or does the role fit him? Oh dear the paradoxes.

I just watched... Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

 And I’m writing this after a long, drawn-out battle with a cockroach… which the cockroach won.

                Like a high school girl at her prom I have a confession to make: Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, which I don’t have a proper short-form for since just calling it ‘Nausicaa’ is going to lead to all kinds of confusion that isn’t going to end well for you, is the second Ghibli and Miyazaki movie I have watched, with the other one being Princess Mononoke. And if I were to summarise my opinion of Princess Mononoke in a single frenzied word it’d be ‘wowzers’. Yes, I enjoyed the movie that much that I had to go beyond the reach of English language and draw out a word from the shadowy nether-reaches to summarise how much I loved it. Needless to say that my expectations rose as quickly as a man leaping to his death from atop the Eiffel tower, in reverse, and sped up 5x times. And thus I went to see the studio and Miyazaki’s first movie with lofty expectations: and spoiler-alert, I now have a man-crush on two Miyazakis.

I just played... Bioshock Infinite

In this reality, much wasted potential.

                I find pineapples rather interesting. How externally they are coarse and sharp, capable of leaving you with cuts to rival that of your average depressed teenager’s wrists; but the inside is something else, soft, sweet and delicious, with only a tinge of prickly fibre to remind you of its exterior. What does this have to do with Bioshock Infinite? Nothing, I just wanted to talk about pineapples for a moment.

I just watched... Baccano!

Yavar Ahmad enjoys talking a lot and writing a lot, without really using his mind.

Italian for 'ruckus' or 'chaos' 

                All in all, I’d have to say that Baccano! is the single most enjoyable thing I have ever experienced, and this enjoyment is boosted even further by the fact that it’s pretty damn re-watchable. It might not be the most incredibly dramatic and hair-in-your-pants-erect suspenseful, but it’s a ridiculously good watch worthy of the time of anyone ready to stomach the violence and capable of not taking an all-scouring eyeglass of extreme seriousness over everything in existence.

I just watched... Pulp Fiction

A ballad of foot massages, metric systems and other stuff.

                Tarantino has always been in a bit of an odd spot for me. If were to spontaneously materialise a list of things that, by all means, I should have experienced because they seem right up my alley then Tarantino would be up on that list, alongside things like Platinum Games and Monty Python. But now, thanks to the perchance of fate I have been able to finally watch Pulp Fiction, which many claim is his magnum opus. Of course, I don’t know if I can agree or disagree with that considering the fact that I just mentioned that is the fact that I haven’t really seen his other movies, with the only other Tarantino movie I’ve seen being Inglorious Basterds, I can’t really pass judgement whether it is HIS magnum opus.

I just watched... Mushishi

How often have you seen human creativity blossom?

                Episodic series are always an oddity when it comes to your personal motivation to watch it. Your mind has a tendency to frolic between extreme motivation to watch another episode and nil motivation to watch anything at all, like a frog hopping around on a pogo stick while overdosing on sugary treats. See, episodic series are akin to movies in the fact that they tend to start off and stop, just like a movie, but in every episode. This leads to a curiously strong dosage of excessive start and stop, as it occurs in every single episode owing to each one holding its own independent story.

I just watched... Grave of the Fireflies

Home Sweet Home

                Now I’m not a very metaphysical man, but if I were to get down and biblical I’d say that I really like the concept of the Seven Sins. Not because of what they are, but because of what they represent in mankind. You see, the catch of the Sins, is that yes, they are sins, but an inescapable truth is that all humans bear the Sins in some shape or form, which places our existence into a somewhat paradoxical plane as we try to avoid the Sins while being unable to change the fact that the Sins exist within us, that we are the Sins.

I am playing... Dark Souls 2 - Impressions thus far

I don’t think I’ve ever been quite so pleased and disappointed by something at the same time.

Still used to this.

                I’ve always been a cynic about many things, but I’m also an optimist about many things. This has always left in a bit of a conundrum about many things, like if something tragic happens I don’t know if I should stand sullenly in a corner going “I knew things weren’t going to end well” or to go on a march declaring “We shall overcome.” I suppose in reality I’m the kind of person who believes that ultimately we are all going to go up in flames and slowly be reduced to ash, but it’ll be more interesting to burn while dancing rather than sitting sullenly in a corner going “I knew this was all going to happen” while my spleen spontaneously combusts.