Features

Laura Jane Grace Isn't Going to Ruin Against Me, She's Going to Reinvigorate Them
Morning Glory's Recent Tour Felt Like a Symbolic Farewell to Ezra Kire's Past, Invitation to his Future
Handling Hecklers with MC Chris: An Exploration in Putting Up With or Putting a Stop to Bullshit

Recent Reviews:  To the Moon | Huebrix | Minus the Bear | Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD | Awesomenauts | The Real McKenzies | Breton | Suzanne Ciani

Subscribe to our Podcasts: Sophist Radio | Unoriginal Soundtracks | Shuffled

December 30, 2010

Tom's Top 5 Movies of 2010


2010 was quite a year for me. I have a select few directors that I follow with great passion and it seems that the fates conspired to give me a film from each of them this year. I can be quite biased, and have no problem admitting this, so these directors tend to get glowing reviews from me despite any faults. They have yet to make a movie that I consider less than stellar but that is mostly because everything they do has an affect on me. Here is my (slightly spoilerish) list of totally biased favorites.

December 29, 2010

Unoriginal Soundtracks Podcast: Max Payne (series) Edition


Every other Wednesday I share a playlist of songs tangentially related to a single game or series. Songs about alien sex for Mass Effect, songs about world leaders for Civilization, and so on. Searching for random terms on Spotify is a great way to discover new music and rediscover old classics.

Before they paid homage to thriller novels and paranormal TV-serials with Alan Wake, Remedy's Max Payne did the same for comic books and noir cinema. This episode takes a look at the series' past and future through new wave, rock, ska, and hip hop.

December 28, 2010

Movie Review: Black Swan


There are people in the world who are exceedingly good at what they do. Some strive for perfection in such a complete way that every other part of their life suffers for it. The devotion to any activity that requires near-absolute daily focus and attention must take a toll on a person, be it physical or mental. Black Swan devotes almost all of its attention to the mental repercussions on a ballet dancer, Nina Sayers, and it strives for perfection just as she does. It comes very close.

December 27, 2010

Video Round-Up: Best of 2010 Edition, Part IV

Video Round-Up is a weekly post collecting an assortment of videos from around the web. Whether they be music videos, creative viral marketing, just plain cool, or just plain ridiculous, they will all be found on Video Round-Up.

Looking through a year's worth of Video Round-Ups is a nostalgic and exciting experience. Alex and I posted many topical videos, more than enough cat clips, plenty of excellent music, hilarious spoofs, art profiles, and so on. I may be one of the few who pays attention to the Round-Ups, and even I forgot many great videos embedded here in 2010. So, as you read the fourth installment of our Best Of Edition, remember that I left out many, many videos that are worth your time. Go back through the archives and enjoy! (Roman numerals for importance.)

Sophist Radio Episode 37: Lesbian Christmas


In this holiday-season-inspired episode, the Sophist crew: James, Harold, and Aaron, attempt to explain their feelings about Christmas. Is it really the most wonderful time of the year, or just an excuse for gifts and falsely nice actions. Those question and more are answered. This being a video game podcast and all, the guys also manage to squeeze in talk about Bit Trip Fate, Beat Hazard, Revenge of the Titans, Uplink, Enslaved, and Digital: A Love Story. To cap things off the Sophist Crew takes a stab at summing up 2010 in games. What games left a lasting impression and what games missed their marks? All that and more, in a podcast so popular that the one and only Doogie Howser stole a joke from it to use in front of millions of people.

December 23, 2010

2010: The Year I Fell in Love with Vinyl


It all started with some found records in my basement, a wanted ad on craigslist, and a birthday present.

I was helping my mom move from our hometown of Huntington, on Long Island, to Houston Texas. While going through the many things in our dungeon of a basement I found a bunch of really great records. I asked if they were hers and she said no, so I assumed them to be the last owners of our small three bedroom rental house. I decided to call my dad in Seattle about the find and told him all the great albums that were left behind. “What makes you think they aren’t mine?” he asked.

After finding out they were my dads I felt a little better about taking them along with me up to school. I'd always been interested in vinyl and had wanted to give it a try, but I needed a push in the right direction. These found records were the catalyst to my love affair of searching, finding, buying, and listening to vinyl records.

December 22, 2010

Shuffled: Wonderful Discoveries Edition


Every other Wednesday I hit the shuffle button on my 90 gigabytes of music and post the results. I might have to justify some of the stuff in my library, but hopefully it will help inform you of new music -- Or at least be entertaining.


In this edition of Shuffled we've stumbled upon a bunch of music that I originally stumbled upon in interesting ways, only to be pleasantly surprised. I'm really enjoying this feature now that I've taken to telling personal stories instead of trying to regurgitate random factoids about the band. Are you? Would you like this feature more as a podcast? You know, in case I ever wanted to do that. Let me know, and enjoy the music.

December 21, 2010

Video Round-Up: Best of 2010 Edition Part 3

Video Round-Up is a weekly post collecting an assortment of videos from around the web. Whether they be music videos, creative viral marketing, just plain cool, or just plain ridiculous, they will all be found on Video Round-Up.

Once again, I'm pulling out old videos from Video Round-Ups throughout the year. If you missed it, then enjoy! If you saw and loved it, then enjoy again! This week we have some fascinating art, some confusing ridiculous...art (?), a meme-orgy, and music worthy of the "Best of 2010" label that I still haven't gotten around to buying.

December 20, 2010

Chris' Top 5 TV Shows of 2010


I am pleased that the quality of American television—the production, the budget, the writing, the innovation—is ever rising. 2010 has had an array of quality shows. Here are my five favorites of the year.

December 17, 2010

Insufficient Funds: The Pod F. Tompkast

Insufficient Funds is a weekly post in which we feature a free, or very close to it, piece of media that you can enjoy without overdrafting your bank account. So if you're low on funds, stay tuned to Cerebral Pop every Friday morning.

Back on August 1st, comedian Paul F. Tompkins decided to pile onto the top of the growing comedian-hosted podcast heap. He had guested on numerous shows before that point, from Jordan Jesse Go, to Comedy Death-Ray Radio, and Stop Podcasting Yourself -- but rather than completely yank the styles of those shows, he created something all his own. The Pod F. Tompkast was born.

Harold's Most Important Games of 2010


2010 was a very strange year in gaming, with the two high definition console makers (Sony and Microsoft) deciding to chase the motion control bandwagon as it speeds past hardcore gamers and right into the comfortable realm of soccer moms and old folks home. The selections of games available for the typical gamer were at an all time low.

I personally found myself digging deep into the bargain bins and Gamefly queue in order to find games that perked my interests. This year three games in particular strike a chord with me and I would like to highlight them here, in a little something I call “ Harold’s Most Important Games of 2010."

December 16, 2010

Jon's Top 5 TV Shows of 2010


2010 has been a big year for television. With many shows continuing excellent runs, running into their final seasons, and coming to unexpected ends, the landscape for what to expect from this mainstream media has been constantly changing. Despite ever-flowing tidal forces in the industry, some shows have handily floated to the top. Without further ado, here are my top five television shows that have personally led to my most active watching schedule in recent years.

December 15, 2010

Chris' Top 5 iPhone Apps of 2010


As my iPhone 3G struggles to remain relevant with its below average guts—and has, for that same reason, kept me from buying Plants vs. Zombies—I still have had great fun with all the apps I've found. This holiday season marks my first year with a smart phone. In that year, here is what I have enjoyed the most.

Unoriginal Soundtracks Podcast: The Darkness Edition


Every other Wednesday I share a playlist of songs tangentially related to a single game or series. Songs about alien sex for Mass Effect, songs about world leaders for Civilization, and so on. Searching for random terms on Spotify is a great way to discover new music and rediscover old classics.

Set in New York City and Hell, the Darkness inspires some far-flung musical choices. Blues and soul comes from the USA, hip hop from Sweden, calypso from Trinidad, an organ ballad from Britain, and something that defies description from Denmark.

December 14, 2010

2010: The Year with the Dragon Tattoo


It wasn't until October of last year -- when I gave a copy of the series' first book to my mother as a birthday present -- that I became familiar with Stieg Larsson's 'Millenium' trilogy.

After she told me about "some Swedish crime writer" who had become a phenomenon in Europe -- and whose books were just starting to gain great success in our country, Mexico -- a quick Google search on the topic led me to an interesting article on The Washington Post's website. Reading it left me with no doubt regarding which book I had to get her. Listening to her talk about the book afterwards left me with no doubt about getting a copy for myself.

December 13, 2010

Video Round-Up: Best of 2010 Edition, Part 2

 Video Round-Up is a weekly post collecting an assortment of videos from around the web. Whether they be music videos, creative viral marketing, just plain cool, or just plain ridiculous, they will all be found on Video Round-Up.

Continuing the end-of-the-year retrospective, here are four of my favorite videos of the year that we featured on Cerebral Pop. There might also be a bonus.

Game Review: Hoard (PSN)


Hoard's concept is different than what people might expect going in. When one hears it's a tabletop game about dragons waging battle against one another, they probably assume it's a game played with 40-sided die in a basement. Fear not faithful gamer, it is not a game that requires 23-hour gaming sessions and an endless supply of Mountain Dew paired with cheese doodles. It's actually a very fun, arcadey, pick-up-and-play type of game. It also happens to pack plenty of depth for those looking for it.

December 10, 2010

A Look Back at the Comics of 2010


2010 has been an incredible year for comics. We’ve seen history-changing, epic comic events, old favorites dying off, and some favorites making their return. From film adaptations to cable television series, comics have had a major impact on pop culture in 2010.

For someone like me who really started paying attention to comics just last year, 2010 has made it incredibly exciting and fun to read comics. What follows are some of my favorite highlights in comics from the past year.

December 09, 2010

Jon's Best of Netflix 2010


If you're at all familiar with my weekly Netflix Minute feature, you probably know that I love watching films on Netflix's Instant View service. I started writing these articles as a way to let people know a little more about the diamonds in the rough on a service they might not even know they have. However, Instant View has come a long way since the summer of 2010, offering plenty of genuinely excellent movie and television experiences without too much looking. As a result, I thought I'd highlight some of the titles that have truly made Netflix one of my favorite things of the past year.

December 08, 2010

Shuffled: Growing Up With Music Edition

Every other Wednesday I hit the shuffle button on my 90 gigabytes of music and post the results. I might have to justify some of the stuff in my library, but hopefully it will help inform you of new music -- Or at least be entertaining.

This edition of Shuffled reveals some of my history with music. How extremely late to the party I was, why I was that late to the party, and how punk came to be my first musical love. I've come to the conclusion that the blurbs I write in Shuffled should be about my personal experiences and stories I have surrounding the music in my library. There are a few stories in here you might find funny, but I also hope they tell you a little bit more about all the music I hold in the highest regard. Now, forget this serious crap and be entertained by the music and stories within!

Movie Review: Burlesque


I'm not exactly an expert on burlesque shows but this is what I think I understand: the shows involve an artful and entertaining striptease -- a carefully choreographed routine designed to tease and titillate. Routines also sometimes involve satirical or slapstick comedy. When I saw previews for Burlesque and saw that it was starring both Cher and Christina Aguilera, I was pretty sure that the "art form" would have some liberties taken with it. As portrayed in the movie, this burlesque looks like the 1940's version of MTV. Flashing lights, loud music, ill-conceived lip synching and plenty of scantily-clad women who neither strip nor tease.

December 07, 2010

Music Wrap-Up Special: The Best Music of 2010

The Music Wrap-Up is a monthly summary of my favorite and other notable new releases. Having trouble keeping up with all the new music? Need some music suggestions? Then the Music Wrap-Up is for you. And please support these musicians as that's the reason I'm featuring them in the first place.

The Music Wrap-Up forces me to keep up with new music every month so that I can share it with you. Without it I'd probably miss a lot of great albums. Some of the music I listen to a handful of times, pick out the songs I like the most, write them up in that month's Wrap-Up, and then never return to the CD again. Not because I disliked them, just because they didn't stick with me for some reason.

Other releases though, those stick with me all year long and well into the future. There's no doubt that if I'm still listening to it at the end of the year, it was one of my favorite albums of the year. So I've collected all that I hold most dear in this special edition of the Music Wrap-Up. While I never put anything in the other Wrap-Ups that I don't recommend, I extra recommend all of these releases. Seriously, buy these.

December 06, 2010

Video Round-Up: Best of 2010 Edition, Part 1

Video Round-Up is a weekly post collecting an assortment of videos from around the web. Whether they be music videos, creative viral marketing, just plain cool, or just plain ridiculous, they will all be found on Video Round-Up.

As part of Cerebral Pop's end of the year content, Chris and I are going to take a look back at some of our favorite videos that we featured in the Video Round-Up in 2010. If you watched them already, consider it a fond look back. If not, then they're new to you! Also, it provides us an opportunity to write about videos each other picked out, so you'll have new descriptions to read! Yay!

Sophist Radio Episode 36: Conad the Dildonian


In another jammed-packed episode, the Sophist Radio crew share their thoughts on Rock Band 3, which leads into a spirited dissuasion of the death and possible rebirth of the music-game genre. The relative ease of Kirby’s Epic Yarn, and games such as Professor Layton, Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, and Corporation Inc. are also discussed. Along the way, the guys manage to rename one of the hosts and decry the very idea of homeopathic medicine. Wrapping things up is a hearty discussion of games that would translate well into movies -- obviously, everyone's favorite video-game-movie director Uwe Boll is not on the table.

December 02, 2010

Netflix Minute: The Girlfriend Experience

Netflix Minute is a weekly feature highlighting a title from Netflix's catalog of instant view films. If you want to spend a night snuggled up with a bag of popcorn and don't want to drive to the video store, this is for you.

Steven Soderbergh is a pretty prolific director. He knows what he wants to do and he gets it done. With a large stable of solid, popular actors clearly willing to work on his projects, Soderbergh dominates the mainstream at will while still commanding relative unknowns in small films you may have never heard of. In the case of The Girlfriend Experience, he caught a little flak for blurring the line between the two, seemingly casting an adult film actress as a means to sensationalize what would otherwise be an art-house project.

December 01, 2010

I Punish Myself (in Games)


For the last three weeks, I have spent the majority of my game time playing Super Meat Boy, Trials HD, and 'Splosion Man. If you're unfamiliar with any of them, know that they are all 2D quasi-difficult-to-screaming-brutal XBLA games that test players' patience and provide a deceptively harmless question at their foundations: Can you just make it to the end?

If you play these games, you won't remain deceived for long. You soon realize that the early tutorial levels have only the loosest connection to the developers' intentions when they made the games: you learn the controls there, but, immediately after, the level design ramps up in complexity, sinister trickery, nearly impassable sequences, and high death counts. My muffled screams of frustration playing these games might indicate that I do indeed punish myself in games. But why?

November Music Wrap-Up

The Music Wrap-Up is a monthly summary of my favorite and other notable new releases. Having trouble keeping up with all the new music? Need some music suggestions? Then the Music Wrap-Up is for you. And please support these musicians as that's the reason I'm featuring them in the first place.

As we approach the end of the year, we grow ever closer to the always awesome spring music-release season. But until then there's still some good stuff coming out. From well worn but classic performers like Elvis Costello and Brian Eno, to pop punk mainstays like The Queers and Smoke or Fire. It's a slim month, and December will be even slimmer, but you should probably be spending it with family, right? For now, though, sneak away for a little bit and enjoy the music of November.

Unoriginal Soundtracks Podcast: Fallout New Vegas Edition

Every other Wednesday I share a playlist of songs tangentially related to a single game or series. Songs about alien sex for Mass Effect, songs about world leaders for Civilization, and so on. Searching for random terms on Spotify is a great way to discover new music and rediscover old classics.

Songs about destruction, betrayal, and the ghosts of Las Vegas make up this episode of Unoriginal Soundtracks. The end of the world and an unscheduled stop in Nevada makes the premise of Fallout: New Vegas.

November 30, 2010

Video Round-Up: Water & Fire Edition

 Video Round-Up is a weekly post collecting an assortment of videos from around the web. Whether they be music videos, creative viral marketing, just plain cool, or just plain ridiculous, they will all be found on Video Round-Up.

We have the makings of a quality Round-Up this week: HD trailers, well produced video game parodies, knowledge, and the most wonderfully adorable kitten video in the world. Let's see if I can underhype this post anymore within.

November 25, 2010

Netflix Minute: Justice League Crisis on Two Earths

Netflix Minute is a weekly feature highlighting a title from Netflix's catalog of instant view films. If you want to spend a night snuggled up with a bag of popcorn and don't want to drive to the video store, this is for you.

In recent years, DC Comics has been on a direct-to-DVD animated film spree under the name of "DC Universe Animated Original Movies". Some of the films haven't been too impressive, but it's generally agreed upon that they've gotten better as the effort has pushed on. Earlier this year, DC Comics and Warner Premiere released the seventh in the series, loosely based on Grant Morrison's JLA Earth 2 graphic novel. Titled Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, it focuses on an alternate universe where what seems like familiar superheroes aren't what they seem.

November 22, 2010

Movie/Gig Review: Sun Araw vs. Fellini's Satyricon


Sun Araw (not to be confused with space-cultist/jazz-band leader Sun Ra) is on the trippy side of the one-person-who-sounds-like-a-full-band genre. His new album On Patrol is full of tape-delayed guitar, wobbly bass, and underwater vocals. It's relaxed and strange like dub music, but moody and sparse like an ambient film soundtrack.

It's no regular gig that I'm reviewing here though.

He (and one friend) experimented for the first time in Bristol, UK's Arnolfini art house accompanying a film live. The movie was Federico Fellini's decadent, bloody Satyricon (edited). It was well received in 1969, and is considered a classic.

Video Round-Up: Bernie is Talented Edition

Video Round-Up is a weekly post collecting an assortment of videos from around the web. Whether they be music videos, creative viral marketing, just plain cool, or just plain ridiculous, they will all be found on Video Round-Up.

In this edition of the Video Round-Up, I've featured some unbelievably creative people with an immense amount of talent...and some that have started a stupid new dance trend, but let's ignore them for now. From some amazingly talented animators and their beautiful graduation production project, to a skilled pianist and his experimentation, there's plenty of creativity and talent on showcase here.

November 19, 2010

Insufficient Funds: Girl Talk's All Day

Insufficient Funds is a weekly post in which we feature a free, or very close to it, piece of media that you can enjoy without overdrafting your bank account. So if you're low on funds, stay tuned to Cerebral Pop every Friday morning.

I've listened to the last few Girl Talk albums, and while I thoroughly enjoyed them, I was under the impression that I was missing something. Turns out I was wrong. There is no reason to think about his odd mash-ups as anything more than a lot of fun. So, you'll be happy to know that his newest album is entirely free online.

Like I said, it's not that I don't enjoy listening to the weird mixes he puts together, I just think they fall short of becoming another that can stand on their own. Apparently, that's cool with other people, so I'm cool with it to and can now concentrate on just having fun with it. I just can't help but wonder if he'd make each song into it's own individual, highly-specialized remix, if that would elevate them to a level where you could enjoy them like you would all the rest of your favorite music.

November 18, 2010

Movie Review: Morning Glory


There's something truly refreshing about a modern comedic film that isn't either targeted solely to the 16-21 demographic or can be classified a romantic-comedy (possibly starring someone like Katherine Heigl). Furthermore, there's something refreshing about a comedy that has real, mounting stakes that propel the plot forward in an organic way. Somehow, all of these things came together in a film that wasn't really on my radar due to a somewhat unimpressive trailer, namely Morning Glory.

November 17, 2010

Unoriginal Soundtracks Podcast: Enslaved Edition


Every other Wednesday I share a playlist of songs tangentially related to a single game or series. Songs about alien sex for Mass Effect, songs about world leaders for Civilization, and so on. Searching for random terms on Spotify is a great way to discover new music and rediscover old classics.

This week, discover incredible vocal jazz, paranoid hip hop about fighting robots, and angular synth-rock asking if you've really got a chance. It's the Enslaved edition of Unoriginal Soundtracks.

November 16, 2010

GWAR: Fostering a Positive and Friendly Fanbase?


As Sawborg Destructo jammed Bonesnapper's own sword into his chest, the creature began spewing green blood out into the audience. The stream seemed to be concentrated directly on my face for what seemed like an unnaturally long amount of time. Once it had moved on, I realized my contact was off to the side of my eye so I stumbled to the bathroom.

My once white shirt was completely green and red, along with my beard, hair, and eyebrows. A preppy-looking guy told me I was looking good, and I joked that it was the new fashion trend. I forced the dried, red-dyed contact lens back to the center of my eye in the mirror and as I turned the preppy guy remarked, "You better get back out there, man!" I walked back into the crowd, and ran through the center of the mosh pit, up to the front; Ready to endure even more.

A Proposition 19 Playlist


I was going to post this earlier, but then I got high. Better late than never, though, right? As we all know, Proposition 19 (the proposed legalization of marijuana in California) was, unfortunately, not passed. It was, however, pretty close to being passed. The running joke is that people got too high and forgot to vote. I honestly thought it would get through. I mean, it's practically legal there anyway. Soon my fellow weed smokers... soon.

But, in honor of the near victory, I'm putting together a bunch of songs that have to do with all things marijuana. Included is a song about climbing up a huge weed stalk, as well as Prop. 19's adopted theme-song by the late, great Peter Tosh. If you don't smoke, don't worry, you'll enjoy these songs anyway. Just sit back, spark whatever you got (or not), and enjoy.

November 15, 2010

Video Round-Up: New Generation Edition

 Video Round-Up is a weekly post collecting an assortment of videos from around the web. Whether they be music videos, creative viral marketing, just plain cool, or just plain ridiculous, they will all be found on Video Round-Up.

You've seen the Kinect, but you haven't seen what the Kinect sees. You've played The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, but you haven't played the new hotness. You've seen Mario rescue the princess, but you haven't heard him flip his lid. You've seen Inception, but you haven't seen the process used on a daily basis.

Sophist Radio Episode 35: Wizards, Pornos, and Cannibalistic Fetuses


With the new format -- having no format at all -- firmly in place, the Sophist Radio crew have spirited conversations about Fable 3 and Product No. 5. The guys also manage a fun and in depth discussion on the current state of the Sonic franchise, promoted by the discovery of a game called Sonic Fan Remix. Along the way the silliness of the word "wizard" comes up, and the gang closes out the show with a look at how 2010 may be the worst year for gaming in a long time. Who is to blame? Motion control? Shooters? Tune in to find out everyone's thoughts.

November 12, 2010

Insufficient Funds: 9 Beet Stretch


Insufficient Funds is a weekly post in which we feature a free, or very close to it, piece of media that you can enjoy without overdrafting your bank account. So if you're low on funds, stay tuned to Cerebral Pop every Friday morning.
 
9 Beet Stretch is a playful title for a more mesmeric experience. Norwegian Leif Inge took Beethoven's 9th symphony (Ode to Joy and so forth), and stretched out the piece (which is somewhere between sixty and ninety minutes) to last twenty-four hours. You might, by reading that, have an idea of how it sounds. On the other hand, whatever is playing in your mind, it's slower than that.

Featured on WNYC's Radiolab, Inge was making his rounds in America with 9 Beet Stretch, after staying in Europe for several years. This episode of Radiolab followed listeners to an art house in California, where the piece was played in full, from 1AM to 1AM. The room was full of pillows and people who tried to describe the experience of listening to 9 Beet Stretch. The answers are amusing (if potentially nebulous), and I encourage you to check it out, if our earlier IF entry about the podcast hasn't already swayed you.

November 11, 2010

Netflix Minute: The Negotiator

Netflix Minute is a weekly feature highlighting a title from Netflix's catalog of instant view films. If you want to spend a night snuggled up with a bag of popcorn and don't want to drive to the video store, this is for you.

F. Gary Gray is a director who originally came from the world of music videos, much like several other of his contemporaries like Michael Bay, Spike Jonze, and David Fincher. This enclave of camera talent has its ups and downs, both of which can often be attributed to the style that uniquely springs from telling a story in less than five minutes. Gray, in particular, suffered a decisive failure recently with his 2009 film Law Abiding Citizen, pummeled due to overwhelming violence and more importantly, an unbelievable plot that would require divine intervention to take place in the real world.

I can hardly blame him for being attracted to the script, however, as there's something inherently attractive about a well-planned scheme played out on screen by the genius who created it. That concept builds the perfect foundation for quite a few heist movies, which show the thieves barely managing to steal something under the most tricky lock and key. While Law Abiding Citizen failed to impress, F. Gary Gray did manage to hit this concept just right on his first attempt in 1998's The Negotiator.

November 10, 2010

Shuffled: Side Project Trumping Edition

Every other Wednesday I hit the shuffle button on my 90 gigabytes of music and post the results. I might have to justify some of the stuff in my library, but hopefully it will help inform you of new music -- Or at least be entertaining.

For all of the times that I write descriptions like, "I've barely listened to this at all. I really should listen to it more." -- this is actually a randomly-created playlist I can really sink my teeth into. There's some old theatrical rock from the 80s, some punk that I listen to in a completely different context than I'm sure it was written for, and two side project bands that I probably like more than the original bands they spawned from. If you only listen to one song on this edition of Shuffled, at least make it the fourth. Now, HAVE AT IT!

November 09, 2010

Found: CAPTCHArt

Found: Ridiculous and/or funny and/or awesome website/picture on the Internet. Please comment on post to verify ownership/hilarity/awesomeness.

We've all experienced the anti-robot security questions, asking us to type in two ridiculous words that usually have nothing to do with each other. Well, CAPTCHArt.com takes these security questions and turns them into hilarious pictures or comic strips. It is updated daily and anyone can submit their own using a random generator for their inspiration. Some are pure genius and I have found myself laughing out loud on plenty of occasions -- which is rare for something so simple. I posted some of my favorites after the jump.

November 08, 2010

Video Round-Up: Goodbye to Politics Edition

Video Round-Up is a weekly post collecting an assortment of videos from around the web. Whether they be music videos, creative viral marketing, just plain cool, or just plain ridiculous, they will all be found on Video Round-Up.

Aaaah, the political season is over. Finally we can watch TV without suffering through a commercial break full of campaign ads. To help bid adieu to those suffocating ads, I've decided to start things off with a video that showcases just how badly all of that pep and drive can turn out when you get a little over-zealous in that campaign. It should help us segue nicely out of politics and into ridiculousness -- albeit in a slightly scary way.

November 06, 2010

Game Review: Super Meat Boy


Super Meat Boy is difficult—punishing, in fact. The gameplay in this sequel to the flash smash success offers a simple mechanic: try, die, and repeat. However, this brutal celebration of trial and astronomical errors has recreated classic 2D platforming fun, and rises to the top of downloadable titles this season.

Dr. Fetus is still capturing, releasing, losing, and recapturing Bandage Girl in this sequel, and with that skeleton of a story, you dive into instant high-speed platforming. In the beginning, the scope may seem small: you start out with five visible worlds with twenty levels each. But you quickly learn the ways to access more than twice as many levels—each original level (in the light world) has a much more difficult counterpart in the dark world.

November 05, 2010

Insufficient Funds: Give Up, Robot 1 and 2

Insufficient Funds is a weekly post in which we feature a free, or very close to it, piece of media that you can enjoy without overdrafting your bank account. So if you're low on funds, stay tuned to Cerebral Pop every Friday morning.

I don't play many Internet games. I usually get bored or frustrated and all too easily navigate away from the page. But after the first few stages of Give Up, Robot from Adult Swim games, I was hooked.

You play as a charming little robot with a grappling hook, being watched over by a God-like computer -- much in the vein of Portal. This head computer wants nothing more than your death. He actually tells you that he loves you when you indeed die -- and believe me, you will die... many times. The game is just hard, and you may want to quit, but provides enough fun that you'll want to see it to the end. The encouragement of the head computer telling you to give up after you complete a stage is another reason to push on through.

November 04, 2010

Game Review: Costume Quest


Double Fine is widely heralded as delivering some of the most charming and witty games ever released, and is generally regarded amongst many game enthusiasts as one of the best publishers around. Still, after some mixed reviews of Brutal Legend -- their last game -- some may have been wary of Costume Quest. I'll just start off by saying, while I do have some gripes of the game, it easily charms it's way out of them.

The downloadable sector really helps the game conquer annoyances that might have made it a chore to finish if it was a much longer, disc-based game. A sort of RPG-light would best describe the structure surrounding the game, but they've made attempts at tweaking the old-school, RPG formula to better suit their needs.

Netflix Minute: The Crazies

Netflix Minute is a weekly feature highlighting a title from Netflix's catalog of instant view films. If you want to spend a night snuggled up with a bag of popcorn and don't want to drive to the video store, this is for you.

I should admit something right away... I'm not a big fan of horror movies. It's not as though I don't respect them for a lack of cinematic value or anything pretentious like that; I simply don't really like to feel scared. There are exceptions to this rule as there are with any broad matter of opinion, in this case the offenders are zombie films. There's a fundamental dynamic of humanity that's questioned in such films, asking the viewer how they might react in such a hopeless situation when it's difficult to know who to trust. In recent years, the archetypal zombie flick has been gently altered in key ways, often adding some complexity to the barebones "reanimation + flesh eating" formula by means of viral outbreaks and such. One such attempt at altering the classic formula was made in Breck Eisner's latest, The Crazies.

November 03, 2010

Unoriginal Soundtracks Podcast: Red Dead Redemption Edition

Every other Wednesday I share a playlist of songs tangentially related to a single game or series. Songs about alien sex for Mass Effect, songs about world leaders for Civilization, and so on. Searching for random terms on Spotify is a great way to discover new music and rediscover old classics.

Things are a little different this week as I'm piloting a podcast version of this playlist. The same mix of obscure and classic music is present, along with my carefully-researched anecdotes. The same painstaking attention to track order is there. The difference? You now have less text to read, and the playlist isn't influenced by the dictates record labels give YouTube.

Tell me what you think of the new format in the comments below. If you've got room for a bi-weekly, half-hour music/games podcast in your life then perhaps you'll see Unoriginal Soundtracks in iTunes soon.

November 02, 2010

Video Round-Up: Halloween, Oh Wait Edition

Video Round-Up is a weekly post collecting an assortment of videos from around the web. Whether they be music videos, creative viral marketing, just plain cool, or just plain ridiculous, they will all be found on Video Round-Up.
 
Yes, it seems we are just in time to celebrate Halloween--nope, nix that. At any rate, I hope you enjoyed your Halloween celebrations; that is, I hope you weren't stuck answering the door every time you sat down and read two sentences of that classic scary story you've been meaning to read so that you couldn't finish it until the bell rang signaling the new month, and you missed Ray Barnholt's live stream of a playthrough of Ghouls & Ghosts, and you couldn't find time to watch a scary movie because while you didn't like handing out candy to trick-or-treaters you didn't want to be a Scruge and turn off your porch light, nor could you find a spooky game to play through to try and get into the spirit of the holiday and no one called you because they had responsibilities on Monday morning and--

Sorry.