I. Love. The. Hunger. Games. I’m reading them again for the second time. Today I was on the train reading Mockingjay and the girl next to me was reading it too and I was thinking about how excited I am for her that she’s reading it. So many people I know have read them and today I realized why.

I’m not even going to pretend that I’m saying something awesome and profound here, but I did figure it out. Katniss is a girl. The fantasy stories that are the hollywood favorites all have male heroes. Specifically, I’m going Star Wars & Lord of the Rings. The dudes I know LOVE these stories. They aren’t the stories of men who were born to be heroes. They are stories of nerdy young men who probably would have stayed inside playing video games forever if their aunt and uncle hadn’t been barbecued at the front door. They are stories of guys with height limitations that just held on tight enough and saved the world.

They are heroes. Reluctant heroes. That’s what makes these heroes so appealing, something could happen at any moment and turn a regular person into a hero. One day you’re eating your second breakfast and the next thing you know there are dwarves in your living room singing 85 stanzas of the most mundane song ever.

So just like you, guy who identifies with Legolas Greenleaf or Luke Skywalker or Elijah Wood, I identify with Katniss Everdeen.

Do I know how to shoot arrows? No. I did it once in junior high and had huge bruises on my forearms and complained that the target was too far away. Do I really in my heart of hearts think that I would be the one who could fight to the death to save humanity? No. If the world ‘ends’ tomorrow and someone writes a book about it in the very far future that follows the hero arch, I’m not in it. I’m not the hero. I might be mentioned once in passing in something like ‘and then there was Hawkes Klein in the kitchen canning beets’ which is much more my style.

I am just a girl who is damn proud of the hero.

Katniss never 100% embraces her fate. She doesn’t become any more excited about her new role as the books go on, she wouldn’t allow herself a ‘happily ever after’ she’s seen too much. Would she give it all up to be able to go back to her old life? I don’t think so. I think the entire time she understands that there is no going back and that even though it’s going to be difficult for her and for well, everyone, that she has to press on.

The thing is I needed a girl hero. I needed a big sister (do I think I would volunteer were my siblings taken away to be killed, yes) to look up to and be excited for and proud of. She’s pretty but only by accident and she doesn’t ever want to be thought of as anything but someone who would do anything for her family. She knows she’s not the smartest person in the arena, she’s not the best trained and she’s not the strongest. Her circumstances made her extraordinary.

The last woman I can think of in Young Adult lit that could be considered hero-ish is Hermione, because she reads and is awesome. Is Bella Swan a hero? Oh. Hell. No. Fairy tale princesses? No. Whoever Liv Tyler was in LOTR? No. Is Lisbeth Salander a hero? Not really.

I hope I’m just missing some. The women that I know and respect love The Hunger Games, I think it’s because there’s a love for the type of hero Katniss represents in all of us.

Who are your female literary heroes?

When you have the product on, the straps prop the tray up, making it into a desk that goes where you go. You can adjust the tray’s angle by adjusting the upper straps. The tray itself has grip liner covering it to keep things from sliding all over. The upper straps have a velcro strap around them to keep stuff from falling when you lean forward.

After adjusting the straps for the first time, I found the straps to stay where they’re put without having to readjust them each time you put the Connect-A-Desk on. Before I received it, that was my initial concern, considering that applying weight could theoretically loosen the straps. However, this isn’t the case.

In addition, the top straps can be moved so they prop the tray from either the top, or the sides. For me, it’s better to have the tray propped up from the front, because when the straps are on the sides, the top of the tray can fall down.

I don’t use my iPad without a physical keyboard such as the ZAGGmate, because I am so not a fan of the iPad’s on-screen keyboard. Products like the ZAGGmate turn the iPad into a touchscreen laptop almost. While not necessarily designed for physically challenged individuals like myself, the Connect-A-Desk does let anyone carry things like a laptop, tablet, or clipboard around without their hands.

Even though I have the straps prop up the tray from the top, I move them so they are on either side of my iPad so it can’t move unless I move it myself. With the straps like that, the iPad is very secure. So, I’ve went from worrying about if my iPad was going to fall when I moved my chair, to not even thinking about it.

Would I recommend the Connect-A-Desk? In a heartbeat, regardless of whether you’re physically challenged or not. You don’t need to be sitting at a desk to use your laptop or iPad, or to write. For me, that is a wonderful feeling, and with a price-tag of $34.99, it’s a drop in the bucket compared to other solutions.

ThinkGeek specializes in geek products, such as mini USB monitors, roll-up keyboards, and humping-dog USB flash drives. In addition, they have a “Security & Spy Stuff” section that has stuff like video-watches and hidden flash drives. They even carry t-shirts and edible stuff like wasabi gumballs and energy drinks. They gave me these products for review, and I would like to sincerely thank them for doing so.

P4 is set in 2011 rural Japan, where a high school student moves to the fictional town of Inaba to live with his uncle and cousin, while his parents work abroad. At school, rumor has begun to spread about a mysterious TV program, called Mayonaka TV (or as it was translated in the English dub of the game, the Midnight Channel). Rumor has it that watching a switched-off television set on rainy midnights will reveal a person’s soul-mate. However, days after the young man’s first viewing, unexplained murders begin to take place in the quiet town, where bodies are found dangling from television antennas and their cause of death unknown. He soon discovers he can enter the TV. What will he find?

Persona 4 The Animation, the acronym for which is universally P4A, premiered on Wednesday, 2011.10.06 with 3 channels airing the episode, one channel per night (the 6th on MBS, the 7th on TBS — no, not the American TBS, and the 12th on CBC). Due to Trinity Soul, there was skepticism regarding P4A. To help address fans’ concerns, beginning several months before the series premiere, roughly a dozen (I honestly lost count) trailers were released, each showing events from the game animated, with several trailers being released on important dates from the story, featuring that night’s Mayonaka TV. All the trailers told fans that P4A would follow the game’s story, unlike Trinity Soul.

I was really hoping P4A would be simulcasted, so I could watch it. To my dismay, there was no news about this… That is, until about a week or so before the premiere, when it was announced that the series was licensed for North American distribution by Sentai Filmworks, and that The Anime Network would be simulcasting the show every Thursday at 3PM EST (meaning we get the TBS airing). For a few weeks, around 3PM, The Anime Network’s site went wonky, which leads me to believe that a lot of people went there to watch P4A, causing server issues. This was a good thing, because the show’s popular, but it was still frustrating. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you look at it, the wonky-ness has since gone away.

Most of the music in the anime is from the game. In fact, the opening theme (OP) of episode 1, “Pursuing My True Self” was the opening theme of the game. This helped connect the anime to the game. The more recent episodes are introducing new music. The music was composed by franchise veteran, Meguro Shoji. The series’s OP, “Sky’s the limit” is performed by Hirata Shihoko, who did the vocal tracks for the game’s soundtrack, and the ending theme (ED), “Beauty of Destiny” is performed by Hirata and Lotus Juice, who is best known from the Persona 3 soundtracks. Lotus Juice also wrote the lyrics for both the OP and ED.

Character designs stay true to the game. They are pretty faithful to those of Soejima Shigenori. Also, the majority of the original Japanese voice cast from the game returned to reprise their respective roles in P4A. I personally verified this by playing the Japanese version of the game. So far, the only character whose voice is different is the gas station attendant in episode 1. While it was licensed before its Japanese premiere, there is no word on whether or not the game’s English voice cast will return, like their Japanese counterparts. Not as of the writing of this post at least.

Now that the facts are out of the way, let’s move on to my thoughts on the series. In MegaTen games, the main character is nameless and is named by the player. In its manga (Japanese comic), Persona 4‘s main character was named Seta Souji. For the anime however, it was changed to Narukami Yu. Personally, I’m not sure how I feel about the name change, but it is what it is.

I’m really glad that the original voice cast returned for the anime, because that makes it all the more authentic. The dialogue is very similar, if not the same in some parts, as that in the game. Narukami’s dialogue, while minimal compared to other characters, is very well done and at times, it is one of the dialogue options that you can choose, in the game.

The series can’t be an exact adaptation, so there are some differences. Some of these changes are good, while others notsomuch, not that they’re necessarily bad. One such example is that certain parts of the story are told much much better in the anime than in the game. Case in point, episode 4. We never experience the flashbacks that are in this episode, and in my opinion, the flashbacks make the episode more powerful.

The fights in the show are very well done, although they play out a lot differently than their counterparts. The major battles are much more emotional, and Personae stay out when summoned, whereas in the game where they go back into the character after taking action (either attacking or using magic). My only nitpick about this is that in the anime, the characters don’t fight Shadows (the blanket term for the monsters in Persona 3 and 4) themselves. They just use their Personae to do so. Then again, fighting Shadows with gollf clubs and such would look strange in the anime.

As someone who has played the game, the overall pacing of the series (especially the first 4 episodes) feels rushed, because stuff that takes us a while to do in the game, happens quickly. However, that is not to say that I don’t understand it. As just a viewer, I admit that it is a good pace so they can fit the story into 25 episodes, which according to The Anime Network, is how long P4A is scheduled to run. That said, I’m very curious to see which of the game’s multiple endings the series uses.

To break the series up from just fighting Shadows and such, there are episodes that focus on Social Link characters. In the game, S. Links are one way for you to get more powerful Personae. While this remains true in the show, that aspect isn’t as central. These, what I call “S. Link episodes” are more to show Narukami and other characters becoming friends, hanging out or what-have-you. These episodes can be anywhere from serious to funny, and while yes, they are basically just filler episodes, they’re also a good way to spread the story out.

My main concern with P4A is that the overall timing of the series seems too convenient. My reasoning is that in 2012, Persona 4 The Golden (basically Persona 4 Portable) and Persona 4 The Ultimate in Mayonaka Arena (a fighting game) will be released, for the PlayStation Vita, and the PS3/360 respectively. The complete run of P4A will take the series into 2012, so while I’m glad we got P4A, I can’t help but to think that this is just to help hype those games. I’m hoping I’m wrong, but considering how the world works…

Would I recommend watching Persona 4 The Animation? Absolutely. It doesn’t matter if you’ve played the game, or want to but just can’t commit to a 50+ hour game, you’re given all you need to understand.

Persona 4 The Animation is produced by AIC ASTA, distributed by Aniplex, and simulcasted every Thursday at 3PM EST, on The Anime Network. Registration may be required later, but it is free.

I first came across these cases while window shopping. When it came apparent that I was going to purchase an iPad for my job, I took a look at them again. While still window shopping, I noticed some potential problems with both cases, but were my initial assumptions correct, or are these cases actually good?

Both of these products have some similarities. They both double as carrying cases for your iPad, and they have Bluetooth keyboards built in. The keyboards are charged by micro-USB, which is becoming more and more universal. They also have pretty insane battery life — about a week of constant use per charge. Also, in both cases your iPad can stand/be propped up. At the top of the keyboards, where the F-keys are, there are iPad function keys, like Home, Search, Play, Volume, etc.. With the keyboards being Bluetooth, they can be used with other devices, not just iPads. The cases actually came a couple days before I purchased my iPad, so for my initial testing, I used them with both my phone and my PS3, and both worked perfectly.

The similarities end there however. Now, let’s continue on to the differences. First the ZAGGmate Aluminum iPad Keyboard Case.

Please note that ThinkGeek was out of the ZAGGmate case for iPad 2, so my iPad is a little loose in the case, and I can’t comment on how well it works as a carrying case. It is made by ZAGG, a company best known for producing accessories, the invisibleSHIELD screen protectors, and such. The outside of the case is aluminum which helps protect your iPad from being damaged if dropped. The case features a pull-out back-stand for your iPad to rest against while you use the keyboard. The power switch for the keyboard is inside the case, just above the keyboard. The interior of the case around the keyboard is covered by rubber to help protect both the keyboard and the iPad. The keys themselves feel like ones that you would find on a laptop. The only real problem I have is that the arrow keys are arranged strangely — left and right are next to each other, next to right is down, and above down is up. This makes moving the cursor just as confusing as it sounds.

Like with much of the products that ThinkGeek sells, I’m unable to find a brand name or manufacturer for the Bluetooth Keyboard Case for iPad, which I’ll call “the BKC,” henceforth. The case is designed like a book, helping to protect your iPad, which slides into the front cover. The case itself is mostly leather, while the keyboard is covered in rubber, making it waterproof. The power button for the keyboard is located on the right-side of the case. Right above the keyboard, there is a lip that runs the length of the keyboard. To prop your iPad up in the BKC, you pull the iPad sleeve, which pivots, towards you and rest the bottom on the lip. When you’re done using your iPad, The BKC folds into a nice leather portfolio that looks like a notebook. I only have 2 issues with this case: 1) While propped up, the iPad doesn’t feel all that stable, like it can fall off the lip; and 2) the rubber covering on the keyboard makes it really awkward to type on. These were also my initial assumptions about this case.

Overall, my initial assumptions were indeed correct, but only in regards to the BKC. My initial assumption/concern about the ZAGGmate — that the keyboard was too close to the bottom — turned out to not be a concern, after all. Would I recommend these products? The short answer is yes, but the more lengthy answer is if you are only doing minimal-to-light typing on your iPad, get the BKC. If you’re doing extensive writing however, I would highly recommend the ZAGGmate, because it makes your iPad feel more like a laptop. So much so, that I’ve only gone on my actual computer, maybe 4 days since I got my iPad. Also, this review was typed up exclusively on my iPad using the ZAGGmate, while I mostly use the BKC as a keyboard for my PS3.

As of the writing of this review, the Bluetooth Keyboard Case for iPad, and the ZAGGmate Aluminum iPad Keyboard Case retail for $59.99 and $99.99 USD respectively on ThinkGeek. While the ZAGGmate case is more expensive, I think the overall convenience and functionality justifies spending that extra $40.

ThinkGeek specializes in geek products, such as mini USB monitors, roll-up keyboards, and humping-dog USB flash drives. In addition, they have a “Security & Spy Stuff” section that has stuff like video-watches and hidden flash drives. They even carry t-shirts and edible stuff like wasabi gumballs and energy drinks. They gave me these products for review, and I would like to sincerely thank them for doing so.

Bunraku is a difficult movie to categorize, but if I had to, I’d call it a Western/Martial Arts film. I don’t know if I would call it an “all-star cast,” but it definitely is star-studded. The film stars Josh Hartnett, Demi Moore, Sugata Shun, Woody Harrelson, Ron Perlman, Kevin McKidd, and GACKT.

In a future where firearms are banned, a mysterious drifter (Hartnett) arrives in a strange town ruled by the ruthless Nicola (Perlman) and his army of thugs, headed by nine deadly assassins, which is topped by the vicious Killer #2 (McKidd). The drifter is soon forced to trust a young samurai (GACKT) looking to restore his family’s honor, and the local bartender (Harrelson) who has been secretly awaiting a dream team to help overthrow Nicola’s regime.

The title of the movie comes from a 400-year-old form of Japanese puppet theater. This actually plays a huge part in how the movie is presented. A prime example of this is the sets – They’re mostly computer-generated, and look over-the-top, giving them the illusion of being set-pieces that you’d find in a stage play. This helps to recreate the feeling that you’re watching a play, rather than a movie. This also limits what can happen in one particular scene, giving the movie a faster sense of timing.

The first scene is an absolutely amazingly choreographed fight sequence that plays more like a dance than anything else. What’s really interesting is that no fight is quite the same. In some, it’s nitty gritty, and in others it’s just fun to watch.

One thing I really enjoyed was how they handled subtitles. Although the movie is mostly in English, there are still a couple scenes with Japanese dialogue. With that said, instead of doing subtitles the traditional way — In the middle of the screen at the bottom — Bunraku does them in comic book text boxes. This helps to immerse the audience in the film’s unique world and atmosphere.

The most interesting aspect of the film though is its cinematography. From turning the normal way phone conversations are shown to scene transitions that make your head spin. This film’s director chooses to explore a completely over stylized approach, and somehow makes it work.

The music in the film was done by Terrance Blanchard. It’s dramatic when it needs to be, and at times, big-band-esque, but during fight sequences, it reminds me of the 1960s Batman series, where (almost) every impact makes a musical note. In my opinion, it helps to accentuate the picture’s theatrical sensibility.

While predictable at times the movie’s incredible sense of style carries it through. I recommend this movie if you’re looking for something with unique visuals, and can stand an almost-cliche plot. The DVD also contains a commentary audio track featuring Guy Moshe and Kevin McKidd.

4 out of 5 stars.

Bunraku was written and directed by Guy Moshe, based on a story by Boaz Davidson, and is rated R. The film stars Josh Hartnett, Woody Harrelson, GACKT, Sugata Shun, Kevin McKidd, Ron Perlman, and Demi Moore. It was produced by Snoot Entertainment, Bergman Productions, and Picturesque Films. It was distributed in theaters by ARC Entertainment and XLrator Media.

I was given a DVD copy for review by ARC Entertainment, and I would like to sincerely thank them for doing so.

Yeah, I said it.  I didn’t want it to come to this.  Attempts were made to will this feeling away, but they were useless in the face of this monstrosity.

Ringer, the new prime-time series that puts Mrs. Gellar back on the small screen, is a blindingly shiny un-nuanced faux-noir, weighted down by soggy affect.  Yes… SOGGY.

The show revolves around twin sisters Bridget and Siobhan (both played by Gellar), who’ve been estranged for the last six years.  Bridget is a recovering addict and ex-stripper.  And the smudgy eyeliner tells us that she’s still a hot mess of a lady.  She’s also on the run from the mob after witnessing a murder.  She seems pretty calm about it though, even when she flees to see her twin sister, Siobhan.  Siobhan (pronounced: shuh-VAHN) is a Park Avenue wife, and has probably never stripped because she wears her hair in a chignon (see above photo).  The sisters seem to be repairing their broken relationship until Siobhan mysteriously disappears overboard, during a boat trip.  Bridget panics, mostly by rubbing her temples, before she decides to pose as her sister. She soon discovers Siobhan’s seemingly perfect life is full of secrets.

I wanted to love it.  But I don’t.  I cringe.

In interviews, Gellar’s been describing this show as a cross between Dynasty and Twin Peaks, which only make me think she watched some version of Twin Peaks made for people who like Twin Peaks, but wish it was awful.

She’s also been relaying how arduous it is to play twins:

“The joke is that I’m playing five characters,” Gellar explains. “I play Siobhan and Bridget present day, both women in flashback, and then ‘Shivette,’ which is when Bridget is pretending to be Siobhan.”

Yeah… It’s weird (and a touch self-congratulatory), because if you ever took Character Acting According to Sarah, you’d learn that you actually become another person, just by changing your hair.  It’s a crutch that more or less disappears after the pilot episode, leaving Gellar flailing whenever she’s forced to… you know, act; not exactly Primal Fear, you know what I’m saying.

Since her time on Buffy the Vampire Slayer  –it remains, not just her best work, but great work, by anyone’s standard— Gellar’s acting has devolved into a parade of monotone detachment.  There are still glimmers of that promise she displayed on Buffy, mostly when a scene demands some sort of heightened emotion, but she struggles with naturalism and remains painfully unconvincing when engaged in mundane tasks – like picking up a phone… or sleeping.  It is particularly problematic when your show hinges on a case of mistaken identity, a setup that lives and dies by the attention paid to its details.  Tasked with playing two sisters who are, on paper, as different as can be, Gellar does exactly nothing to distinguish their characters.  Bridget and Siobhan are really just Gellar, pretending she has range… via her hair.

This may be why the writers of Ringer have completely squandered the opportunity to capitalize on this device.  Any potential moments of authentic suspense (Will she give herself away?  Answer: No, because everyone around her is an idiot) are abandoned in favor of annoying and explain-y dialogue, which solely serves to deliver information and nothing else.  It would have been nice to learn of Siobhan’s less-than-adored status within her circle by seeing that discomfort play out on screen, rather than having someone walk up to Bridget (as Siobhan) and pronounce, “You’re in a good mood.  That’s unusual.”  Really?  Shut.  Up.

None of this matters, of course.  The show is doing fairly well, ratings-wise, which hardly gives Gellar the motivation to start behaving like a human.   But it’s a bummer for people like me.

I will defend her work on Buffy until the day I die; it was a magical perfect storm that played to all her strengths and somehow rendered her weaknesses invisible.

But Ringer does neither.

There are no women in it.

I googled “Moneyball women” and what I get is even more disturbing. The movie producer and the studio head are both women. It’s not a secret that there are more men in Hollywood. We all remember that it took until 2008 for a woman to win “Best Director” at the Oscars. It’s frustrating enough that women have such a hard time breaking the movie-making glass ceiling. Then I hear statements like this regarding the challenges of getting the movie made, I can’t help but feel like we’re always one step forward and two steps back.

Doubling-down, another female specialty, Horovitz would argue. “It’s a fact of our species that women have to turn a no into a yes more often than men do,” she says. “Do you think my husband wanted to get married or have children?

uh what? You married someone who didn’t want to get married and had kids with someone who didn’t want to have kids? I can’t. That’s such a frustrating stereotype of a married couple.  It’s such a frustrating stereotype of a woman. I absolutely refuse to accept that women should accept that we get told ‘no’ more often. Like it’s something we should just laugh off? Oh dear me, silly world, always putting women last.

Others, like Laura Baudo Sillerman at Women’s Voices for Change hit the nail on the head:

Admittedly, it’s a true story that doesn’t lend itself to a big part for a woman, but it takes place in 2002. Is it really possible that the scene of the high-heeled, mature secretary arriving with two trays of coffee — one for Billy Beane, the modern general manager, and the other for John Henry, a supposedly progressive team owner — actually happened? And was this scene necessary? Was Beane’s relationship with his own secretary (again a mature woman) truly limited to barking the names of people to whom he wanted calls placed (and, oh yes, asking if the coffee was made)? Couldn’t the beautiful and gifted Robin Wright have been given more than just one scene during which she was restricted to indicating her loyalty to her supercilious second husband?

When this very pleasant very enjoyable film was finished (seriously, I liked it a lot) I wasn’t fixating on the number of women. I don’t love doing that, but when it’s this unequal and this over the top I feel like it creeps up on me and I cannot remain passive about it. Everything was amplified when this flashed across the screen:

Written by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin

JCPE and I both yelled “Ahhhhh THAT’s WHY it was so good! Goddamit Aaron Sorkin another great movie! Best screenwriter of all time!”

Then I started thinking almost exactly what Laura Baudo Sillerman said above… why can’t I remember more than three women characters? Why don’t I know their names?

See? Similarly why can’t I remember any women who weren’t crazy girlfriends or sluts from Social Network while I’m at it? You can argue that there weren’t that many women who were involved in the making of Facebook, but there have to be stories out there where genders are at the very least equally represented. I started thinking when will we start telling those stories?

Now I’ve let it sit for 24 hours and I’ve gone from sort of ok with it to actually angry about it. I believe that Aaron Sorkin is the best screenwriter of all time. I believe that whatever the future holds for the planet earth that it 100% will include people performing Aaron Sorkin scenes for hundreds of years. The West Wing is our Hamlet, The Social Network is our Macbeth. I’m not mad at Aaron Sorkin for being a man, I’m grateful that he’s a writer, it’s no exaggeration when I say that his work has changed my life. I am mad at Aaron Sorkin for not putting his money where his mouth is.

What makes me upset is this:

This made me cry when I saw it. He makes a point to say to his daughter that “smart girls have more fun, and you’re one of them!” That’s awesome, great dad stuff Aaron!

Now please, please write another strong woman. There isn’t a women I know who wouldn’t say she looks up to CJ Cregg.You have the talent and the power to create something truly remarkable for the next generation of women.

Seriously:

I’m upset with you, Aaron Sorkin. I don’t think that it’s unreasonable to ask the person who is the best at their craft to please take a moment to write us a strong female-lead movie. True stories of strong women DO exist, you have the talent to bring these stories to life in a way that no one else has.  Do it for me, do it for the women who became interested in politics because of CJ. Do it for the women who became television producers because of Dana Whitaker. Do it for your daughter.

Atlus is one of, if not my favorite publisher. They are best known for releasing the Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and Trauma Center franchises in North America. With so many unique titles in its bag, it’s safe to say that while you never know just what expect from Atlus, you can rest assured that it will be unlike any game you’ve played before. True to this, Catherine is yet another unique game, but being unique isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Catherine tells the tale of 32-year-old Vincent Brooks. Vincent and his girlfriend, Katherine have been together for several years. Thing is, she’s now talking about long-term commitment, something that Vincent doesn’t really want. It is around this time that Vincent begins having strange nightmares, and that perfectly healthy young men are starting to be found dead. Vincent frequently meets his friends after work at bar called Stray Sheep. One such night, he’s approached by beautiful bombshell named Catherine. Next thing he knows, he’s laying in bed the next morning with Catherine next to him. What did he do last night?

The “Sheep” theme is one of the things central to Catherine.

Catherine is an adult adventure/puzzle-platformer/survival horror game, the story of which is told in 3 parts – cut-scenes, night-time and Vincent’s nightmares. There are two types of cut-scenes – those are use the in-game graphic engine, and animated cut-scenes. The animated cut-scenes were done by Studio 4°C. Studio 4°C is best known Stateside for their work in such projects as the new ThunderCats series (which is awesome, I might add), The Animatrix (“Kid’s Story”), Batman: Gotham Knight (“Have I Got A Story For You” & “Working Through Pain”), and Linkin Park’s “Breaking the Habit” music video. On the other hand, much like with the Persona 3 and 4 games, Catherine’s in-game graphics are cel-shaded, giving the game an anime ascetic.

Your nights consist of hanging out and drinking with your friends at Stray Sheep, and navigating through your nightmares. While in Stray Sheep, you can meet and talk to other characters, all of whom are dealing with their own issues. You can also drink various alcoholic beverages, and work on your climbing skills by playing an arcade game called Rapunzel. You might not think they would, but every one of these things will help you in the nightmares. For example, the people you meet in Stray Sheep will appear in your nightmares, but as sheep with distinguishing features so the player can make the connection. In fact, to the other characters, everyone else is sheep except that character. Getting drunk will increase your movement speed, and your practice in Rapunzel with help you.

“With what?”

Each of Vincent’s nightmares have him climbing a Stage (or section) in a tower of blocks. These Stages have varying numbers of floors. However, it is not as easy as it sounds. As time passes, more and more blocks fall from the bottom, so you have to climb before you fall to your death. Obstacles, such as gaps and other sheep will try to impede your progress up too. You need to push and pull blocks to make it up each floor, so you will need to figure out how to use the blocks to make stairs and cover gaps. Your nightmares can be hell, if you’re not careful, because not only are there gaps and sheep to slow you down, but there are also trap blocks and a boss. However, there are also special blocks, like ice that makes you slide and a trampoline that bounces you up.

Don’t worry too much though. In-between each of the floors, you can save your game, talk to sheep to find out different techniques to help you climb and buy items with coins you discover while climbing. Before you proceed to the next level, you have to answer a question which is asked by a mysterious voice. Your answer to these questions will affect the outcome of the story, but I’ll get to that later.

The last floor of each night/Stage has you being chased by bosses that will kill you if you’re too slow. As the story progresses, the bosses get weirder and weirder. These bosses also have abilities to slow you down, such as making a group of blocks immovable and causing ice to fall and knock you down a few blocks.

As the nights pass, you ill be able to learn about the other characters while at Stray Sheep. Every one of them have their own issues, and you’ll learn more and more about them, each night. Also, like I previously mentioned, you’ll come across many of these same characters in your nightmares, but as sheep. None of the characters make the connection about who the sheep really are.

Catherine‘s replay value is quite high. Like the Shin Megami Tensei and Persona titles, Catherine also has a morality/choice system. Some of Vincent’s dialogue, actions and choices impact the outcome of the game. There are several different endings that you can obtain depending on the choices you made in-game. There are also several other modes to play, including Babel Mode, which features four large stages that can be played with up to two players, and; VS Colosseum, which lets two players simultaneously play a stage in order to reach the top first..

As far as the voice-acting goes, Catherine’s cast is pretty solid with several well-known actors, some returning to work on another Atlus game. Among these are Troy Baker, Laura Bailey, Michelle Ruff, Liam O’Brien, Travis Willingham, Yuri Lowenthal, Erin Fitzgerald, and Kirk Thornton. The mouth movements in the cutscenes were redone from the Japanese version to match the English dialogue.

The music was done by Meguro Shoji, Tsuchiya Kenichi, and Kitajoh Atsushi. Meguro and Tsuchiya have worked together prior to this, most notably on the Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne soundtrack. Kitajoh has also worked with Meguro before, notably on the soundtrack for the Nintendo Wii game, Trauma Team. The soundtrack varies in genres and styles. The game’s opening, “YO’ is performed by L-VOKAL and is hip-hop oriented, while the in-game music is more pop, easy-listening, rock, suspenseful, and orchestral. In addition to all that, there are arrangements of classical compositions. Catherine’s soundtrack has given my friends and I a new-found appreciation for classical music.

Art Direction is by Soejima Shigenori. As such, character designs look similar to those of the Persona 3 and Persona 4 games. In fact, as I mentioned in an previous article, Vincent made his first appearance as a cameo in Persona 3 Portable.

Over all, Catherine is a fantastic game that is very unique and unlike any you’ve played previously. It’s a puzzle game that is downright erotic at times, without relying too heavily on sex, although there is a good bit of nudity in the game. I highly recommend it because unlike most of today’s games, it forces you to think, or you’re unable to proceed.

Catherine was developed by Gamebryo and Criware and published by Atlus in Japan, and Atlus USA in North America. It was released in North America on 2011.07.26 for both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. As of this writing, both retail for $59.99 USD new, and are rated M for mature.

I LOVE Christmas music! I spend the week before Thanksgiving getting my holiday playlist all set up and this year was no exception. I’m pretty easy to figure out musically… I like the hits. I like to have fun listening to music, I like to sing along. I like to cry sometimes to “Jolene” or “I’ll never get over you getting over me” but for the most part I like FUN.

So I knew I’d want to get the Justin Bieber album. Oh. The. Biebs. I’m old-er than a teenager but not old-old so I think I’m in a good position to appreciate The Biebs for being fun. I have neither a teenage or a ‘I wasted my life’ crush on him. I just really like the part where Ludacris says ‘But I really wanna see her on the weekend’ in ‘Baby!’

What I’m saying is. I’m easy to please.

[Just.... one teeny tiny rant-like thing before I start. I typed in 'J...u...s...t' into Itunes and it auto brought up Justin Bieber, as the #1 Justin. Justin Timberlake was #2!!! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD TIMBERLAKE! I GET IT I know you want to act blah blah blah just ugh come on and make some music!]

For the most part Under the Mistletoe is awesome. It takes a little to get used to the fact that there are some new Christmas songs. I always think that’s a little strange, there are so many standards I’m totally ok with you just covering all of them and not creating anything new. But, if I was in charge of music we wouldn’t have All I want for Christmas is you. Which, Bieber covers… it’s…. ok. Not great, I don’t 100% believe Mariah Carey did anything besides mail in a cd of her original and maybe some glitter, but it’s fine.

Hits:

Like I said, I like the hits. The first single off the album is Mistletoe and every time it comes on I gravitate to the middle of the room and start singing. I can’t even help it. I already know the words. ie: in the time it took me to find this video and get the code I was rocking back and forth singing ‘Shorty with you! oooooh shorty with you!!’ what?! I know, it’s awesome.

There are also some pretty amazing collaborations. For ‘Traditional’ songs Bieber and Usher sing a beautiful rendition of The Christmas Song. Busta Rhymes and Beiber’s impression of a British rapper do Drummer Boy. Yeah, Busta! Where has he been and is that place jail? Didn’t everyone making a video of his get arrested once? Is that where he was? I’m cool with it, I’m glad he’s back.

Beiber teams up with Boyz II Men for Fa La La and his Santa Coming to Town is amazing. Your holiday dance party is all set!

Misses:

I’m an old fashioned girl. As in, I lived with my husband for three years before we got married but I would NEVER have brought him home for Christmas until we lived together! Is not being with your boyfriend and girlfriend a big deal in High School? What kind of kids are worried about the person they love not showing up for the holidays? Am I missing some sort of custody nuance because my parents got divorced when I was 20? I always thought that songs about missing Christmas were to make salesman dads feel better about their lives.

There’s A LOT of ‘oh my girlfriend isn’t here I wish I could cuddle all night long’ in this album. To that I say WHERE ARE YOUR PARENTS!!! If my teenager thinks that he can have his girlfriend sleep over on Christmas Eve he has another thing coming (unless she’s an orphan, I’m not a monster). Christmas Eve is the worst of these offenders. He says “It feels like Valentines Day!” No.

Most Jackson 5-y:

I know the kid is young (although not young enough not to take paternity tests for quickies backstage with strangers…) but Someday at Christmas is so Jackson 5 that I had to double take.

Most Religious:

This year is the year of Religious Tolerance! For me. I know the world is a mess, but I’ve become so chill with the world’s religions I want to sing them a song of peace and love in a very secular way. It’s new for me, and honestly it feels awesome. Pray is the most religious of all the songs on the album, but it’s nice. If you want to pray for people to have a better life, I think that’s really nice and good for you! There’s also a beautiful Silent Night.

Conclusion:

You should get this. Grab your nearest crush and dance near the tree! You only get a month of this cheer don’t let the fact that it’s The Biebs stop you from enjoying it. It’s Christmas everything is fine!

Happy Holidays Poptenners!!

Love,

HK

I bought it on Itunes but you can get it on Amazon HERE.

Skills: Everybody has some, although they vary from person to person. Some people are good at writing, while others are good at drawing or music. Before, people who could not do something either were out of luck, or they learned how to do it. However, thanks to technology, anyone can do anything they want. People can publish books on their own or make their own songs using Vocaloid. Now software called ComiPo! has been released to assist people who want to create comics, and now it’s in English.

ComiPo! is described as being “aimed at consumers who want to create manga (or Japanese comics), but who lack drawing skills.” With the software, users can create their own manga with pre-created 3D characters and settings. It features character models, more than 100 poses as well as expressions, background images, items, sound effects in both English and Japanese and word balloons. In addition, users can also import their own images and use those as backgrounds, as well as create their own custom characters by mix and matching presets.

The Japanese version of ComiPo! was released in December of 2010. The English version has all the features of the Japanese version.

The interface of ComiPo! is fairly straight-forward. At the top, you have your usual File, Edit, etc etc. On the left side, you have categories for the character models, background images, items, sound effects. and word balloons (henceforth “assets”). In these categories, not only do you have the models, images, and such, but you also have drop-down menus for even more options, like classroom backgrounds or night sky ones. To use any object, you just drag and drop it into a panel. The assets are 3D-based, so you can rotate and resize them anyway you want. Background images are automatically set behind the other assets. In addition to all these assets, ComiPo! also has speed lines for dramatic shots, and stylized alphabets.

On the right-hand side, you have your expression and pose options. Like with the assets, the poses and expressions are categorized by position or gesture and mood. Also on the right side is the text input field for text bubbles and your panel/layer pane. Much like in Photoshop, in this pane, you can move assets forward or backwards behind the characters. To use poses and expressions, you just click on the ones you want.

As I previously mentioned, you can create your own custom characters by mix and matching various preset options, such as gender, eyes, hair and clothes. When you put everything together, you have near endless possibilities for your manga. Also, before anyone asks, the characters and poses are all tame, so unfortunately no, you can’t do hentai (or sex comics).

However, that is not to say that ComiPo! is perfect. There are a few things that I think could be better. Among these is the fact that the options for a custom character are limited, especially the male hairstyles. There are no longer styles, and only ponytails that you add on. Another thing that I believe should be improved is the poses. I think that having the ability to mix and match them (ie: Arms from Pose A, legs from Pose J) and better customization options would offer users more flexibility to create the characters and comics they want.

Programs like ComiPo! won’t replace manual instruments – such as pencils or a guitar – to create art, but it is very helpful for people unable to draw.. You can create some fantastic looking manga using it, and it’s easy to use. Would I recommend the software? Even though there are things that could be improved, I’d say yes, because not only does it cut down on time actually drawing comics, all you really need are an idea, a mouse and a keyboard, which can be a big plus for physically challenged individuals.

The English version of ComiPo! was released on 2011.09.15, retails for US$49.95 and is available on Crunchyroll, Comradz and Comipo.biz. It’s only available for Windows computers — Sorry Mac-heads. It is developed by ComiPo LLP. which was founded in 2010 to plan and develop the ComiPo! software. Several big names are involved with ComiPo LLP, and the software is currently being used by a popular video game company for development on a new project. I was given the license key by ComiPo LLP to review the English version of ComiPo! and I would like to sincerely thank them for doing so.

*sorry, I couldn’t embed videos for all…

10. Dunya & Desie (ThreeDoubleYou)

This film is based on a Dutch television series about two best friends from different cultures.  Its wonderfully quirky prop-based title sequence is the work of Balder Westein of ThreeDoubleYou, based in Amsterdam.  Westein’s use of objects brings the audience into the film in a way that is immediately personal and helps establish the story with intimate details, even before we’ve seen a single frame of the film.  I already want to know if they’re still friends!

9. BreadCrumbs (Satan’s Pearl Horses)

This is such a beautiful use of illustration and imagery.  The film follows a group of filmmakers through the woods who come across two mysterious Hansel-and-Gretel-type kids.  Creeeepy.

*Upon seeing the trailer, this might be one of the aforementioned overshadowing title sequences

8. Playgrounds (Oncesize)

This piece opened Holland’s Playgrounds Festival.  It’s an amazing use of photography to create really subtle and sophisticated 3D imaging.  No movie, but it makes me totally want to hang with the Dutch.

7. Ex Drummer (Koen Mortier)

Amazing mix of reverse photography and use of props.  The action in this opening sequence Belgian film gives us great insight into these characters, three friends searching for a new drummer for their local band, and portends something violent and dark in their future.  Am I right???  I must find out.

6. Earthwork (Stan Herd)

Crop-titles for a documentary about the inventor of crop art!  FTW.  Kudos for visual cohesion, and for making me want to know all about this crazy-specific vocation.  LOVE.

5. Saippuaprines (Fake Graphics)

A comedy from Finland about a soap opera writer who falls in love with the star.  The title sequence is a 3D rendering a script, with fun and vibrant effects that make the whole thing come to life.

4. 7 Miljonärer (Fake Graphics)

It’s not just cause this is a Swedish film (Go Sweden!).  This sequence is the opening for a comedy about people fighting over a huge inheritance and the use of monopoly paraphernalia is especially inspired.  Little details sprinkled throughout are made clear only after you watch the film.  So… yeah, now I want to see it.

3. Splice (Kook Ewo)

I’m including this opening sequence, even though it makes my skin itchy, because it’s super disturbing.  I actually meant to see this movie way back when it first came out because the trailer rocked my face off and Sarah Polley is fantastic.  But the title designers knocked me over again… by grossing me out.

2. Ça Se Soigne? (Deubal)

Oh, the French!  How they make such wonderful whimsical things that sing with romance and delight.  This animated title sequence is truly captivating and full of imagination.  The build-up is so organic and fluid, it just takes you for a ride… a ride filled with joy and whimsy.

1. Pocko/Magma (Captive)

This is freaking adorable.  This was created for an exhibition of customized Russian Matryoshka dolls.  “An uncompromised homage to the title sequence of Dr. No,” it’s also so cute I can’t stand it.

I received the Lilliput UM-70/C/T USB Touch Screen Monitor, which comes with the monitor itself, the power cord, the manual, and a driver CD for Windows 98 users. Everything is fairly straight-forward. You plug the power cord into the monitor then plug it into your computer via USB and install the drivers, which you can conveniently get at ThinkGeek. The power cord unfortunately consumes 2 USB ports, one for the display itself, and the other for power.

The monitor is 7”, is a little thicker than a regular CD jewel case, and has a move-able leg so you can stand it up. It can also be orientated in Portrait (vertical) and Landscape (horizontal) mode, each allowing for more but different screen size, although the resolution is locked at 480×800 and 800×480 respectively. You can also adjust the brightness. Unfortunately, I’m unable to use the Touch functionally because it isn’t supported by my operating system (Windows 7 64-bit) yet.

However, that does not take away from the monitor’s main use: being an extra monitor. It extends your main monitor so you have more space. Right now, I’m using it for my instant messages. My computer, PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3 are all hooked into my TV. With the Lilliput, I can watch TV or play games and still see my IMs. I leave my IM window as the active window so I can type without switching TV modes. Before I had to switch back and forth to see my messages. It’s awesome!

Also, because it registers as a small monitor, you can set it up to extend any part of your main monitor that you’d like — Top, middle, bottom, or in-between. That is an interesting option. You have to set it up via your computer’s Control Panel, but I like it. However, I’m having trouble with my web browser extending past the Lilliput’s screen, even when maximized. The side-to-side scroll bar doesn’t show up. It is due to this fact that I do not use the Lilliput for my web browser.

All in all, even with the OS incompatibility issue, the Lilliput Mini USB Monitor is an amazing product. It has come in handy on a number of occasions. I have shown people stuff while still gaming, and because I use it for IMs, I can still see and talk to my girlfriend. Would I recommend this product? Oh, absolutely! At the writing of this review, the Lilliput Mini USB Monitor retails on ThinkGeek for $99.99 USD. The price isn’t bad for a portable monitor.

ThinkGeek specializes in geek products, such as mini USB monitors, roll-up keyboards, and humping-dog USB flash drives. In addition, they have a “Security & Spy Stuff” section that has stuff like video-watches and hidden flash drives. They even carry t-shirts and edible stuff like wasabi gumballs(?! o.o) and energy drinks. They gave me this product for review, and I would like to sincerely thank them for doing so.

These are my thoughts on the newest Power Rangers series, Power Rangers Samurai.

And here’s a good comparison video of Shinkenger and Power Rangers Samurai. Please keep in mind that the morphed fighting is from Shinkenger just with English dialogue.

Here’s a continuation of the above video, that features Mega Mode and the Zords

When you get the Digital Voice Recorder, you get; the Voice Recorder itself; earbuds; an external microphone; a line-in wire; a phone-jack cord; an AC adapter; and the manual. Maybe they forgot to send it, but I didn’t get an USB male-to-female wire, which is used to connect the Voice Recorder to the AC adapter. Luckily, I had one laying around however.

The wires are all pretty straight forward. You can plug the earbuds in and listen to your recordings; use the external mic to amplify your recording; use line-in to record straight from a computer or other audio device, and; use the phone-jack cord to record phone calls (but, please, check your local laws regarding recording of phone conversations).

The Voice Recorder itself looks like an USB flash drive, although it is a little big bulkier. The function buttons — On/Off, Play/Pause, Next, Previous, Menu, Record, Volume Up, and Volume Down — are on either side of the unit, with a display screen on the front, and an internal mic on the top along with the external mic and headphone jacks.

The Voice Recorder is also multi-functional. In addition to its titular function, it can also act as an USB flash drive, MP3 player, and FM radio, although the last one is optional and not in the unit I received. There are also a bunch of other settings and features, such as a hearing aid function. You can add or remove audio files from the device by plugging it into a computer, like you would with any flash drive.

It comes with 2GB of memory built in. It also has 3 recording modes (LP, SP, and HP, which remind me of VCR recording modes). LP is for recording long things, SP is “good quality” with Voice Activated recording, and HP is “high quality” recording. You can choose which mode you record in by pressing Previous or Next and pressing the Menu button.

Each of the modes record in a specific format: LP records in ACT, SP in WAV, and HP in MP3. Depending on the recording mode you use, you can record anywhere from 34 hours (with HP) to 560 (with LP). Not that I use it, but you also get software to convert ACT files to WAV format.

The only drawback I can think of is the horrendously low bitrates, although that may be because I’m an audiophile. In LP mode, the Voice Recorder records in 8 kbps (or kilobits per second), in SP, it records at 32 kbps, and 128 kbps in HP, I’m sorry, but that’s too low for me. They could at least bump the HP bitrate up to 192 if not higher, rather than 128.

I tested the Voice Recorder at Anime North, over the Memorial Day weekend, recording panels and such, and overall, the recordings came out decent, although the volume was low because I recorded them with only the internal mic. I haven’t had a chance to test the external mic, but considering how good the recording are with the internal mic, I don’t see any problems.

I would recommend the USB Digital Voice Recorder for the unit’s size, the memory capacity, and overall quality, even though it’s lower than what I’d personally prefer. The price-point is another plus. At the writing of this review, the USB Digital Voice Recorder retails on ThinkGeek for $49.99 USD. The price isn’t bad for a Voice Recorder, flash drive and MP3 player combined into one device.

ThinkGeek specializes in geek products, such as mini USB monitors, roll-up keyboards, and humping-dog USB flash drives. In addition, they have a “Security & Spy Stuff” section that has stuff like video-watches and hidden flash drives. They even carry t-shirts and edible stuff like wasabi gumballs(?! o.o) and energy drinks. They gave me this product for review, and I would like to sincerely thank them for doing so.

10. Max

Have you ever wondered what America would look like if the South won the Civil War? Or if Al Gore had become U.S. President in 2000, rather than George W. Bush? That very sort of “what if” question hovers over the plot of  Max starring John Cusack as a Munich art dealer and Noah Taylor as Adolf Hitler. Hitler was actually a painter, and this movie highlights a fictional relationship between him and the art dealer played by Cusack.

9. Modigliani

Most people know that Andy Garcia played an Italian mafiaso in Godfather Three, but his talents for playing an Italian in a film did not end there. He does an admirable job playing the painter Amadeo Modigliani in this movie. I think the best parts are the ones that focus attention on Modigliani’s rivalry/friendship with Picasso.

8. Lust for Life

You can bet that when Van Gogh died, he had no idea he’d be as revered as he is today. Nor could he have guessed that the man who would play in a movie  about his life would be nominated for one of film’s highest honors. Kirk Douglas plays Vincent Van Gogh in Lust for Life. He certainly looked the part and he played the artist so well that his performance garnered him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in 1956. The above scene takes place when Paul Gauguin (played by Anthony Quinn) comes to live with Van Gogh in the South of France. The volatility of Van Gogh and the eventual demise of Gauguin’s stay in the South of France with Van Gogh is summed up well in this scene. I love the moment when Gauguin smells the pot in which Van Gogh has been cooking their meal.

7. Downtown 81

Downtown 81 is an urban fairytale starring Jean-Michel Basquiat playing a character much like himself. It’s a really interesting period piece about downtown NY in the 80s and well worth watching. But one note: if the sound seems off, it’s for good reason: the audio was damaged and the film had to be re-dubbed. Because Basquiat died, the filmmakers asked poet Saul Williams to do a voice over of the lead character’s lines.

6. Waking Life

I suppose this film could be classified in a lot of ways. Experimental, philsophical narrative. Spaced out, stream-of-consciousness film essay.  Mindscape movie making… Whatever you call Waking Life, I think it was pretty breakthrough when it came out in 2001. Even if you were to watch only one scene, you can gain something from it. I’ve embedded A.O. Scott’s astute analysis of the film for the NY Times.

5. American Splendor

I LOVE this movie. And though I’m not sure the late, great Harvey Pekar would call himself an artist, I’m going to anyway. Plus, Robert Crumb is an important character in the film, so there. When I watched it, I thought immediately of Henry Miller, given how much the American author may have liked Pekar’s stance that ordinary life is pretty complex stuff. Paul Giamatti does a terrific job playing the curmudgeonly Pekar and the interaction of animated illustrations and regular film making in the movie is great.

4. My Left Foot

In this movie, Daniel Day-Lewis plays Christy Brown, an Irish painter, poet and author who had cerebral palsy. I’m always impressed by Day-Lewis and the roles he takes on for his films. For me, he’s one of those actors that engages a character, learns the script and comes out on the other side of the camera as another person. This film is a prime example of that.

3. Girl with a Pearl Earring

Before he played a king with a speech impediment, Colin Firth was Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer in Girl with a Pearl Earring. There are only 34 known paintings by Vermeer in the world and one quite accurate part of this film is that Vermeer was a famously slow painter. He took a painstaking amount of time on each of his compositions, which is partially the reason why so few of his works exist. In real life, the man who was Vermeer’s patron was a pious man and not the vulgar womanizer depicted in the movie. And it’s likely that the model the title painting is based on was one of Vermeer’s daughters, rather than a maid who worked in his house. The actual painting called Girl with a Pearl Earring by Vermeer is at the Mauritshuis Gallery in the Hague. But in case you can’t make it to the Netherlands and happen to live in NY, a similar Vermeer is on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

2. Pollock

Jackson Pollock’s drip paintings are famously symbolic of American Modern Art in the mid-20th Century. This film chronicles the prodigious drinking, the haphazard dripping, the notorious womanizing and the incredible work that made Pollock one of the titans of Abstract Expressionism. Ed Harris does an exceptional job playing Pollock (and man does he ever look like the painter) and Marcia Gay Harden, who plays Pollock’s wife, the painter Lee Krasner, won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her work in the film.

1. Basquiat

Soho was a very different place in the mid-80s than it is today. I happen to like Basquiat’s work a ton, which is part of the reason I’ve seen this movie about 25 times. But I’m a big fan of Jeffrey Wright too. Wright plays Basquiat, the graffiti writer turned art world darling. The star-studded cast includes Gary Oldman, Bencio Del Toro, Dennis Hopper, Parker Posey and David Bowie as Andy Warhol. The film was directed by the painter Julien Schnabel, who knew Basquiat when they were both NYC based painters in the 80s. Funny enough, the character that is meant to be Schnabel appears to be the most level headed character in the film…

I will start this by saying that it is completely unnecessary to compare Tony Kushner’s Angels in America with Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart.  But because both are being performed right now in New York, and I’ve seen them nearly back to back, it’s impossible not to compare.

Angels in America, while a triumph of stylistic writing in epic form within the constructs of six hours of stage traffic, exists in a hermetically sealed past, inexplicably inapplicable to today.  I was struck by this fact (even before seeing Normal Heart) as I expected to be completely bowled over by finally seeing the entire thing performed live on stage.  This was especially the case after the abundance of love showered on the revival in the papers.

Needless to say, I was disappointed.  The show was clunky, without a natural rhythm or flow, which is a shame when working with the beautiful words of Kushner that, when they find that rhythm, can make for an incomparable night of theater.  Was it the actors’ faults?  No, all good in their roles, some better than others (I have yet to understand the desire to cast Zoe Kazan who has two modes, vacant and moody vacant).  Was it the set?  That definitely didn’t help.  It was a cluttered mess on stage in which video projections were often cast over the entirety of the set, so you’d see these fragments of recognizable things both three and two dimensional.  It was actually nauseating in the end.

So is it possible that it really is the play itself?  Indeed it is.  It just didn’t move me.  Aspects still get me, watching a man struggle to admit that he’s gay, watching another man run away from the inevitable death of his lover.  But all of this is rendered with a fourth wall very much in the way of me actually feeling anything for these characters, and most of the time, that fourth wall is in dating the show, so much of a moment that has passed.

Which brings us to The Normal Heart, which transfixed me for the two and a half hours with minimal staging, an extremely strong cast, but more than anything a play very much about the beginning of the AIDS epidemic that still managed to speak directly to me and to a sad reality facing my generation.  In a world of AZT, the cocktail and a multitude of ways to keep the devastating affects of HIV and AIDS at bay, this play amazingly cut through all of it, getting on an extremely well constructed soapbox to plead with the modern man to be aware that the epidemic still exists.

Through the incredible weaving together of statistics and horrifying anecdotes, the panic of an unknown disease killing off a community is rendered in armrest gripping speeches and devastating moments in the life of Ned Weekes.  There are so many constructs used in this show that could in turn be used against it (multiple endings within scenes, unrealistic polemics that don’t do a thing for plot), but they all serve the greater good of shaking you to your core while definitely inducing tears.

But more than anything, unlike Angels, here is a play that was speaking to me, grappling with a world that I still very much live in, as sad and crazy as that may seem.  The protagonist is constantly trying to understand what the gay community truly is, and attempting to define it against the simple stock suggestion of people that have sex and lots of it, eschewing this notion of free love that, in his mind, defined a generation.  Most nights I find myself NOT at a club or bar looking for the next trick and think, do I really belong to the gay community? Much of what has defined the community that I exist in doesn’t entirely gel with who I am, which is completely fine.  But to see that rendered as a debate on stage is thrilling, especially when it is the very fact of what defines my community that likely kept AIDS from being a hot button topic until four years had elapsed and too many had died for it to be ignored.

Like I said at the top, there’s no reason to truly compare these pieces, they have different goals at the end of the day.  However, I can absolutely tell you that I would gladly plop down another Broadway ticket price to see Normal Heart whereas I will be saying no thank you to another six hours of beautiful writing that seems to push the issue into the recent past as opposed to create a thrilling and heartbreaking search for answers that very much continues today.

I’m a sucker for chick rock. Hot girls who get behind a microphone and take control also have the profound ability to take control of my ears. I grew up in a household of No Doubt, Alanis Morrissette, Sheryl Crow, Dido, Paula Cole, Tracy Chapman and Astrid Gilberto doing The Girl from Ipanema at dinner parties. I currently have some contemporary babes on heavy rotation—PJ Harvey, Cults, and Lykke Li. But only Lykke Li’s record has ten songs on it. So let’s list the best songs to the worst.

1. Unrequited Love

What? A slow jam takes the cake? You might think: this entire record is full of hard-hitting Swedish wood-bangers– so why put one of the two quiet songs in the lead? But there it is. The song is an unavoidable landmark on the album. It slows you down and pulls you very deep under. The unidentifiable clapping that starts the piece calls back to Paul McCartney’s mysterious foot tapping (maybe it was tentacle slapping?) on Blackbird. Lykke gets to display her voice in full here—and her ability to harmonize with it. In the end, it’s wonderfully constructed piece of dark pop with a country-western vibe. Welcome to America, Lykke!

2. I Follow Rivers

Swedish music is a strange thing. It’s funded by the government and it usually manages to evoke the feeling of darkness Swedish people have to deal with daily. Of course ABBA was the darkest of them all—(The Knife is a close second). Lykke Li manages to strike a balance between the darkness of a Swedish winter and the summery beauty of the nation’s inhabitants. The electric sounds that start the song speak to the darkness, while the marry-go-round Cardigans-style jumpiness retains some of those blonde haired, blue-eyed genetics.

3. Youth Knows No Pain

The opening song on the album is a banger. The yawning harmonies in the chorus are extremely captivating and the listener instantly knows what’s going on. Yeah, this is definitely not Katy Perry singing about creaming her jeans and sucking lollipops. Clocking in at 3:00, the song is the shortest on the record, but it makes good use of the organ and Lykke’s too-cool-to-date-anyone voice. Usually “getting down” implies dancing or doing it—for Lykke it’s all part of a dark ritual (for me, that’s also what dancing is). So cool.

4. Silent My Song

It’s the last song on the album! Song number ten! It begins as a dystopian horn-blow fest and doesn’t go far beyond that. The darkness in the background is battled by an army of harmonizing Lykkes—like some remixed scene from Metropolis. The dramatic pauses in the choruses are downright chilling—and the momentum is never lost. A song like this puts Lykke in an experimental field, a place where so many Lady Gagas and Katy Perrys would love to be with their ‘high-art’ stage costumes. Lykke doesn’t need a costume—the umph is in her craft. A haunting end to a ten-song album.

5. Love out of Lust

A little too fleshed out to be a slow jam in the vein of “Unrequited Love”, but the tenderness is there. The delicate whistling in the background of the chorus almost sounds like high-pitched Mariah Carey screaming. Instead of booty, it gives the song a woodsy depth. The end is pure sex—Lykke crooning “love out of lust” is a powerful and debilitating aphrodisiac.

6. Sadness Is a Blessing

A true ballad here. It would be higher up if I didn’t hate the chorus so much. It’s only because I have no idea what having “sadness as a boyfriend” is like. Does anyone? Is sadness anyone’s boyfriend? Who’s dating Paul Giamatti?

7. I Know Places

I Know Places is an ambitious make-out song and the longest song on the record. Be warned: it’s one guitar and one voice. The last couple of minutes turn into a very dreamy instrumental section. One could use the break and subsequent instrumental section to heighten a make out sesh. Or maybe you will take your partner one base further. Either way you better hurry up, because once you get to the next track, Jerome, nothing’s happening.

8. Get Some

While Get Some is one of the more recognizable songs on the record, it’s also one of the easiest. The beat is entrancing, and the vibrato guitars are aptly vintage, but the construction falls flat. It’s a decent pick up from the emotional devastation of Unrequited Love, but it gets repetitive and annoying very fast.

9. Jerome

It’s disappointing to have a hook-less song in the heat of a hook-heavy album. Jerome kind of sounds like all the rest, save some great keyboard work. But thank god there’s this up-tempo thing sandwiched between the two heaviest songs! Without it I might be too scared to buy the next album!

10. Rich Kid Blues

It’s also sad to hear such a transcendental pop artist come crashing back down to earth under the weight of bad lyrics. Rich Kid Blues is as snotty as the title suggests. It’s about trouble in bed, smoke acting as babies, etc. Most of all it’s about having the Rich Kid Blues, something I imagine Ke$ha and Paris Hilton go to a support group for. Lykke’s cool drawl is transformed into a drunken party slur here—and it veers the album off course. Maybe it’s just my attitude towards women in general—when they aren’t in the recording studio or on stage making amazing music they should be thinking about making more music and ways of making their music better. Don’t party. Don’t be a spoiled brat.

There you have it. Not a GIANT landmark album, but a nice Swedish pallet cleanser before The Knife comes back to stab us all in the hearts. That being said, a Swedish pallet cleanser is often a mouthful of pickled herring. Lykke Li’s album is like pickled herring: it’s potent, jarred or canned, preferably eaten on a walking tour of an island in the Finnish archipelagos in the two hours of daylight. I think it’ll stay around a while in my mouth. Maybe I’ll floss a bone out between some teeth next week. And all my friends will know that I had it. Because it will be on my breath. This metaphor is falling apart. Unrequited Love is good.

The original Persona 3 (P3) was released in Japan on 2006.07.13, and in North America on 2007.08.14 for PlayStation 2 (PS2). Persona 3 FES, also for PS2, was released in Japan on 2007.04.19, and in North America on 2008.04.22. Does P3P go with the flow, or should it have been left on the PS2?

A teenager who was orphaned as a young child returns to the city of their childhood. Shortly after transferring to their new high school, they’re attacked by Shadows— creatures that feed on the minds of their victims. The teenager soon discovers that they share a special ability with other students at school. From the fellow students, the teenager learns of the “Dark Hour,” a hidden time that exists between one day and the next, swarming with Shadows. The teenager joins the Special Extracurricular Execution Squad (SEES), and with their new friends, confronts the threat of the Shadows.

While P3P is a PSP version of FES, this isn’t a straight port. P3P’s graphics are a little downgraded from its console brethren, but that was to be expected as this is a hand-held version, and some things were added, while others were removed. Unfortunately, what was removed was things that help to make P3 and FES so great. These being animated cut-scenes, and (specifically in FES‘s case) The Answer.

(Note: To make it easier on everyone, when referring to P3, FES and P3P, I’ll call them “P3’s Company,” which yes, is a play on the title of the TV show Three’s Company.)

Events that were originally animated now play out with (mostly-)still portraits (the eyes blink but that’s it), and dialogue boxes, although they are still fully-voiced. The removal of the animated cut-scenes is a shame in my opinion, because events don’t have that impact without being animated.

The Answer is a second part of the story that was created specifically for FES, as a thank you to the Japanese fans who made P3 such a hit. It’s about as long as the the first part/P3, which is called The Journey, in FES. The Answer has a whole other dungeon, and gives closure to the story.

The cast of “P3’s Company” is so large that it has a multitude of characters, with each one being so varied from the others that it’s unlikely you’ll find 2 alike. Their personalities are very unique — from the head-strong Mitsuru and the aggressive Akihiko, to the goofball Junpei.

There are a number of things new to P3P, mostly minor but some are significant to the story. The main thing that was added is the option to play as P3P‘s exclusive female protagonist, rather than the PS2 versions’ male protagonist.

(Note: While both protagonists are nameless and named by the player, I’m going to call them by their most-canon, but unofficial names. In the manga, the male protagonist is named Minato, while the majority of the P3 community has dubbed P3P‘s female protagonist, Hamuko.)

The game is split into 2 sections, daytime and night. During the day, you go to school, hang out with your friends, do stuff normal teenagers do. At night, however, you explore a mysterious dungeon called Tartarus. Both sections play almost exactly like their PS2 counterparts, with the main difference being that now instead of moving Minato or Hamuko, you move a blue or pink cursor respectively, when not exploring Tartarus.

A typical day in the P3 (and P4 for that matter) universe is unlike in most other RPGs. Whereas in other RPGs, you just control the main character at certain times throughout the day, in “P3’s Company,” you control them, pretty much the whole day. You go to school, can attend clubs, make friends and lovers. Hell, you can even pee! You have an absurd amount of freedom for a RPG.

By hanging out with your friends, you build and strengthen Social Links (S. Links). These S. Links are the emotional ties you have with others, and they are also an integral way of obtaining more powerful Persona. Minato and Hamuko have their own S. Links, with different people. Each S. Link has a specific Arcana tied to it. These Arcana are of tarot’s Major Arcana, and are: The Fool, the Magician, the Priestess, the Empress, the Emperor, the Hierophant, the Lovers, the Chariot, Justice, the Hermit, Wheel of Fortune, Strength, the Hanged Man, Death, Temperance, the Devil, the Tower, the Star, the Moon, the Sun, Judgment, and the World. The Arcana plays a vital role in “P3’s Company.”

There are certain S. Links that you can’t build unless you have a high enough level in one of 3 stats: Academics, Charm and Courage. There are a number of ways to raise these stats. For example, to raise your Academics, you need to study and do well on exams (yes, you take exams); to raise your Courage, you can watch horror movies; and to raise your Charm, you can go to a cafe or whisper an answer when your friend is called on in class.

On the other hand, exploring Tartarus is pretty much your standard RPG fare. You move your party throughout the towering structure which changes day-by-day, as you explore it. Each of the floors is littered with Shadows wandering, with powerful Boss Shadows after so many floors. Shadows are visible while exploring, so you can try to avoid them, or you can try to sneak up on them and land a blow, which grants your party first strike in battle. However, Shadows can sneak up and do the same, so be careful. As with other RPGs, defeating enemies will give you Experience Points (EXP). As your EXP grows, you become stronger (or level up), as do your Persona.

P3P’s battle system is really an amalgamation of P3’s and P4’s battle systems. At first glance, it looks like every other turn-based RPG’s battle system. You have the usual command set of Attack, Magic, Item, and so on, but as I’ve previously mentioned in my SMT post, you can’t just attack blindly. That will land you in a world of hurt.

Almost every enemy has a weakness and a strength. Exploiting a weakness (let’s say you’re fighting an enemy that uses fire. Its weakness would be ice. So you’d use an ice-based attack) gives that character an extra attack. So keep exploiting weaknesses. However, if you use an attack an enemy is strong against (ie: you use a fire-based attack against that same enemy), you get one of 3 adverse effects: 1) the enemy will absorb the attack and regain health, 2) it will repel it back at you, or 3) it will nullify it altogether.

In “P3’s Company,” when you hit the weakness of an opponent that you’re fighting, you’ll knock it down. If you knock down every opponent, you’ll be granted a chance to perform an All-Out Attack, which is basically your party ganging up and beating the crap out of the opponent(s).

“P3’s Company” is a little controversial, in regards to how you use such skills. To do so, a party member puts a gun-shaped device, called an Evoker, to their head and pulls the trigger, momentarily releasing their Persona, which uses said skill. An Evoker is a symbol used to ‘kill off’ your old self, to free your true mind, your Persona.

By default, you only control Minato or Hamuko in battle, but in P3P, you can now control your party members yourself (direct commands) which was first an option in P4. Also taken from P4 is party members’ ability to take a blow for you (see: they’ll run and act like a shield).

“P3’s Company” features what Gabby and I call “semi-learning AI.” If a party member uses an attack and it doesn’t work, they announce that to the rest of the party and no one else uses that attack. The same goes for hitting a weakness. If a member uses an attack that hits a weakness, they remember it and continue to exploit it. However, P3P‘s AI was seemingly reverted back to P3’s — Instead of knocking multiple Shadows down, like in FES, that party member who hit the weakness, will hit the exploited enemy. That said, you can switch from AI-control to direct commands, and go for an All-Out Attack, yourself.

You obtain new Persona two ways: By winning them in Shuffle Time, a post-battle mini-game where you choose a face-down card, or by fusing 2 or more Persona you already have, in the Velvet Room, a room that only Minato and Hamuko can see and enter.

Persona are also categorized into Arcana. The strength of your S. Links comes into play during Persona fusion. For example, let’s say you’re fusing 2 into a Persona of the Lovers Arcana. If your Lovers S. Link is strong, that new Persona will receive a hefty amount of extra EXP, but if that S. Link has not been built when you fused that Persona, it will receive no extra EXP.

“P3’s Company’ has a lot of replay value. Once you beat it, you have the ability to start a New Game+ (NG+), which carries your level, stats, money and inventory over to a new game. You can also do a NG+ with the other protagonist, ie: Say you beat the game with Minato, you can do your NG+ with Hamuko instead, and vice-versa.

All of P3 and FES’s voice cast returns in P3P with 2 new additions: Laura Bailey to voice Hamuko, and an unconfirmed voice actor as Theodore, P3P’s exclusive male attendant in the Velvet Room (I can’t find any solid proof that confirms or dismisses it is who we think it is).

To be honest, the battle system as well as the voice cast are 2 of the things that have kept me so engrossed in the P3 games. Atlus knows what’s good.

There are number of small things added to P3P, including generally not-loved stuff like needing to pay to be healed and needing items to do what were originally dual-Persona attacks (The former doesn’t bother me, because that’s how it is in other SMT games). However, there are a few Easter Eggs, like a cameo from a mysterious man named Vincent, who is one of the main characters of the upcoming Xbox 360 and PS3 game, Catherine.

The music was composed by series veteran, Meguro Shoji, with Fujita Mayumi coming on for the soundtrack for Hamuko’s version, along with the returning Lotus Juice. Most, if not all of the original P3 soundtrack is present in Minato’s side. Along with its PS2 versions’, P3P’s soundtrack is pretty varied between rock, pop and hip-hop. Kawamura Yumi and Lotus Juice do a great job on their tracks, as does Fujita Mayumi. P3P‘s theme song, Soul Phrase (above) is performed by Kita Shuuhei, who performed Breakin’ through, the first opening theme of Persona: Trinity Soul.

“P3’s Company” is one instance where character designs were done by someone other than Kaneko Kazuma. In the case of the Persona 3 and Persona 4 games, they were done by Soejima Shigenori. While not quite as good as Kaneko’s, Soejima does a great job.

P3P is a game that once you get into it, it will not let you go. On just P3P, I’ve put in about 70 hours, and I’ve played it til my PSPgo’s battery died on a number of occasions. This is even with my 120+ hours on P3 and FES as well. Even if you’ve played P3 and/or FES and know the story, I still recommend you play P3P, if just for Hamuko’s version.

Rating: **** 1/2 (4.5 Stars)

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable was developed by Atlus, and published by Atlus USA. It was released on 2010.07.05 as both a physical retail version on UMD disc, as well as a digital download on the PlayStation Network. As of this writing, both retail for $39.99 USD new, and are rated M for mature.