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.
There are people that hate boss fights in gaming, but I am not one of them. I love them. There are certain games I remember specifically FOR the boss fights. There's something great about the idea that I had proverbially trudged miles and miles to have to prove my meddle, and that is often just what a good boss fight does. It proves that you have learned the skills necessary to successfully traverse the virtual world you are in.
The first time I sat down to watch a French horror movie, it was a film called Switchblade Romance (which would later get the name change High Tension for American Audiences), and it fucking floored me. It was, in a word, relentless. The movie pretty much gut-punched you in the first ten minutes, and never allowed you the chance to catch your breath again. While I have some definite issues with the ending of that movie (as most rational people do), there is no arguing that it opened the door for horror fans to sit up and take notice of the French.
French actor Vincent Cassel is the man. In a perfect world, I could start and end this article with that one sentence. Alas, I need to convince all of you as well, so that is just what I am here to do. When people think amazing actors, it seems there are a handful of performers that most people seem to agree on. Even if some of his recent choices have not been up to snuff, Brad Pitt seems to be an actor most seem to enjoy and appreciate. Very few would argue that Daniel Day-Lewis is not a genius of modern film. Robert Downey Jr. is the underdog who fought his way back from the very edge of the abyss to become even MORE popular then he was before his descent. Kevin Spacey may seem to be vanishing from the limelight, but in the late 90's, very few actors could touch what he was doing. Hell, even unkempt guys like Sam Rockwell seem like they rarely fail. But what about those great actors who seem to fall between the cracks?
Oh no, Grand Theft Auto V has no women as leads in it, yet has three MEN I can switch between willingly. That is SO sexist! Oh, and Franklin gets treated differently in the game because he is black, that is SO messed up!
Can we all take a moment of silence for Walter White? I would say that it is fitting for all the entertainment and amazement that the character brought into our lives, weekly. Truth is, now that Breaking Bad is over, there is a bit of a void, and I think we can all feel it. Nothing about that show felt like a show. It felt like an hour long weekly movie and after a while, it was hard not to feel a connection with those characters.
Most people do not associate Grand Theft Auto with tears. For the most part, people look at is as an apocalyptic (just in the sense that some of us kill everything in sight) sandbox where anything is possible, and nothing is too absurd to try at least once. For the most part, I would agree with them.
