Allow me to take a moment to point out how absurd romantic comedies are as a genre. I don't care if I sound old and jaded and bitter. I know why the genre exists. It exists to give women some fleeting hope that some dickless fool will stand in the rain and monologue to her about how life is pointless without her. It is a genre specifically catered to lonely women, meant to make it so they can fill their sorry lives with a millimetre worth of hope that they might not die alone in their apartment some night while eating Cheetos and watching The Bachelorette.
It's going to happen every year. There is no way around it. No matter who you are, or what film genre you appreciate most, some movies are going to disappoint you. The problem is, film is art in the sense that it is subjective, and means different things to different people. So who are we to say one movie is bad and another is good?
Christmas is a very interesting time of year for an adult. No matter what do you or how you best try to recreate the holiday, it just feels like it can never live up the way your mind remembers it from your childhood. The fuzz of nostalgia can cast a beautiful glow on anything in hindsight, but there are things we can do to get ourselves back to those moments, like watching Christmas movies. The right ones can flash us right back to when we were wearing warm pyjamas and shaking the boxes underneath the tree, trying to figure out what might be inside.
Anytime a year ends, we all get the same things from every website. A list of the best movies. A list of the best shows. A list of the best music. A list of the best games. The thing is, none of these damn lists are ever any different from one another. They always pour the same accolades over the same things, no matter what site you're on. Well, as I have told you before, I do things a little differently. When end of the year lists come out, I find myself always asking the same questions. They may be insane, but I still ask them, and I know I am not the only one.
"Shocking" is one of those words that tends to be very subjective, often meaning different things to different people. To me, the very idea of something being shocking is that is pushes you back a bit. It acts as a sort of curve ball, throwing you off your game. The worst shocking moments tend to shock just for the reaction and the best shocking moments are the ones that shift a storyline, or show us an evolution (or de-evolution) of a character that we have grown very used to. A shock should never be used just to be used.
I opened my eyes, took a step forward, and felt waves of excitement rush over me. Dueling melodies from various songs filled the air like wayward ghosts, and I could feel joy radiating from everyone around me. What hit me next were the smells. The aroma of all the delicious carnival foods suddenly flooded my nose, activating my taste buds like open faucets. The sky was a perfect shade of azure, and it was all around us, on all sides, like an ocean would be. Various vendors peddled and pushed their wares on the throngs of masses funneling through the gates of Colombia that fine day. A day I will never forget.
I will tell you this right now. Buying a next generation console when it first comes out is a stupid, fanboy move. The first batch of next generation systems are always pretty much the beta run, even if no one wants to admit it. For proof of this, look to the millions of Xbox 360 users who got the red ring of death. That shit is unforgivable. It really is. You shouldn't fork over hundreds of dollars for something that may very well die on you. The smartest of us wait until the first few bugs have been discovered and worked out.
