Backlog Blitz: Genesis, Week Six, "Ex-Mutants? More Like...Yeah, I Got Nothing."

It has been a hectic, tiring, ugly week. So let's talk about hectic, tiring, ugly video games! This can't possibly contribute to my spiraling depression and desire to take a long walk off a short pier! No siree! Hahahahahahahahaha ha ha... ha...... ha.......... haaaa......

Backlog Blitz: Genesis, Week Four, "Oh Captain, My Captain..."

It's been a pretty good week. Not great--there are still a lot of problems in my world--but things are going well. So that means I have more time to play old games. Here are some. Only a couple are good. Unfortunately.

Semi-Timely Revue: Dark Souls III

First off, I am a huge Dark Souls fanboy, so this is totally biased. (See the blog header). Seriously--Gothic, Lovecraftian, dark fantasy action RPG? Right up my collective alleys. So let's talk about the third game in that series. (Bloodborne is technically separate).

Right away, this game is gorgeous. GORGEOUS. I'm using screenshots from it as my desktop background for the foreseeable future. Fromsoft have a dedication to little details that make their worlds feel lived-in, and that shines through. Even just the fact that your clothes and face get muddy and bloody--yes, I know, many games do that--feels...right.

Last Month's Books: "She Walks In Shadows, Among Flowers From the Moon and Other Lunacies"

It has been a long last few weeks. That said, things are starting to come back to a semblance of normalcy. Still, though, I'm falling behind on my reading again. These are the most recent books I've read, and they're from weeks ago. Anyway. Let's talk about them. 

Last Month's Games: "Killer Is Dead, Gods Will Be Watching, and the Devil May Cry"

I said it once, and I'll say it again. Next month, my game reviews are going to be Saint's Row IV and Dark Souls III. Nothing else. I may have a slight obsession. (I'm on NG++ already)... But for this month, here you go...

Last Month's Books: "Once There Was a Blogger Who Tried to Write a Book"

So I finally got around to writing reviews for my recent lunchtime reads. Let's run through some of them (I always leave a backlog because I'm not stupid). Also, I don't know exactly what's in a Dark and Stormy but it tastes delish. So I'd better hurry before my words go all skrownky. 

Last Month's Games: "Decidedly Undecided"

Oh hey. Next month's reviews are going to be two games: Dark Souls III and Saints Row IV. Both great games in their own way. Really really loving Dark Souls III. Just beat the first Lord of Cinder, and pushing for the next one tonight. Ohhhhh yeah. Yeah. WOO. Let's talk about games.

Last Month's Books: "I Hated, Hated, Hated Some of These Books"

I tried going on a low-carb diet. For someone who centers most meals around carbohydrates--rice, tortillas, popcorn, potatoes--it was hellish. I am not going to stay on a low-carb diet. But I AM going to eat more meat and veg, and fewer carbs. Oh, and no sugar and a drastic decrease in caffeine. That should help a lot. What does this have to do with books? Bugger if I know. Let's talk about books.

Last Month's Games: "Guns Don't Work Like That"

I, uh, need to read some books, or watch some movies, or something. I'm a bit low in the book and movie review department. Anyway. My eyes hurt. I think I'm straining them by staring at a screen too much. No, really. Anyway. Anyway. Anyway. Anyway. *hits record player* Let's talk about video games. 

Last Month's Games: "A Satchelful of Disappointment"

It has been quite a long week. For example, I couldn't wear my contacts today because my eyes were bothering. Got home this afternoon and put my contacts in again--I had them on inside-out. I didn't even know that was possible. Seriously. Did you know that contacts have a right and wrong side? I didn't... Anyway. I played games this month. Here are some of them. Not all. Just some. Some 41. 

Last Month's Books: "A Coven of Dreams"

Very short introduction today, as I've places to go and things to see. Had a good week, hope my car gets fixed tomorrow, looking forward to Dark Souls III, looking forward to Salt and Sanctuary, enjoying Not A Hero. Tallyho!

Last Month's Games; "Games I Should Have Liked But Didn't"

Another week, another week's pay. Or however that saying goes. I don't really care. It was a pretty solid week, all things considered. Worked, wrote, read, played games, slept, repeated. I could live like this. Let's talk about games. Most of them I should have liked but didn't. One I should have liked and did. 

Last Month's Books: "The Marriage of Stellar and Subpar"

I haven't had much time to read this month, so I'm rationing book reviews from last month out a bit. Padding things, see. It's a viable review tactic. Totally. Hopefully next week will be calmer. In other news, I hate business-class phone systems and the issues they have. 

Last Month's Games: "The DOOM Which Came To Gotham"

Last month I played quite a few games. I didn't really like any of them. So sad. Let's tear them to shreds. Except for Nidhogg. Nidhogg was great. Anyway, I have Vanilla Coke in my fridge, and tomorrow's Saturday and I'm on-call, so... I don't really know where I'm going with this, honestly. It's been The Longest Week. I've been playing Darkest Dungeon instead of writing. I'm a terrible author. 

Last Month's Movies: "Someone Else?"

Thank goodness I pre-write these. Some nights I get home and can barely stay awake long enough to write the intro and copy-paste the review. Tonight is one of those nights... On an unrelated note, I really want to buy a PS4, and though I have the money for it, still feel guilty about even considering it. Very torn.

Last Month's Games: "50/50. I'll Take It."

It's Friday night, so my only goals are getting this posted as quickly as possible, heating up some burritos, and playing video games. So let's talk about games I played in the last month. (Some, at least. I'm trying to build a backlog here). Then I can play random games off my Steam library. (Waiting for my budget to allow me to buy DarkMaus, which is basically mouse-themed top-down Dark Souls and thus the coolest thing ever).

Untimely Revue: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Season 1

Welcome to the first episode of Untimely Reviews here on Cthulhu Wept! I've done this before elsewhere, but it's time to do it here. Anyway, the target today is Avatar: The Last Airbender, Season One. Letsago!

You know, the first time I tried to watch Avatar: The Last Airbender, I couldn't even finish the first episode. Something just didn't jive with me. Whether that was my expectations going in, where I was in life, or just me having a bad day, I don't know. What I do know is that I've really enjoyed watching the first season (I'm around half-way through season two, and I need to pick it back up). What follows is based on my notes as I watched, organized roughly into sections, with some overlap in spots.

Review: THE LIGHT IS THE DARKNESS, Laird Barron

It took me quite a while to formulate my thoughts on Laird Barron’s Lovecraftian-by-way-of-Robert E. Howard novel “The Light is the Darkness.” This was primarily because I try to find good sides of anything I read. (Yes, even Twilight, which had an interesting idea regarding vampirism—if you WANT to be a vampire, you don’t lose control. It’s a mishandled, throwaway line in an awful series, but it IS a bright spot.) Let’s just say it was difficult with Barron.

See, the problem with Barron is that he tries too hard. His writing seems like that of a very excited child who’s been given permission to play with big kid toys. He’s tinkering in Lovecraft’s sandbox (Lovecraft’s antipersonnel-mine-laden sandbox), and he’s so glad to be there that he wants to mention every single Lovecraftian idea Lovecraft, Howard, and every similar writer afterwards has invented. Because I am a singularly boring man, I spent some time picking through the book, finding every Mythos organization or Elder God Barron namedrops.

5/4/13 Reviews: WHY LORD WHY?

Hello, world. Welcome to the first review collection here at Geekery and Madness. Below, you will find short little dissections of whatever I've managed to read/watch/whatever over the last week (a little more, since my internet was down.) And for those who are new to my reviewing style, there are three "grades": Yeh, Meh, and Neh. Yeh is for things I enjoyed wholeheartedly. Meh is for things that were okay, but nothing special, things that could have reached Yeh status, but had one too many flaws. Neh, obviously, is bad. As in, don't waste your time bad. Sometimes other ratings will show up, but those are the main three. Now! On to reviewing!