Media Glutton, March 11, 2008

I suck in an stupid amount of media all day every day. Pretty much the only time I'm focusing on one thing at a time is when I'm ether writing or reading a book. The rest of the time I'm watching TV and simultaneously either surfing the Web or playing a game on my Nintendo DS. And if I'm at my desk doing some more focused browsing than I usually have a podcast of some sort going on in the background. When I'm driving somewhere or working out at the gym then I'm definitely listening to an audiobook or yet another podcast. I guess when I'm playing a video game on either my X-Box 360 or my Wii I'm mostly doing that and that alone, but not always. Sometimes I've yet again got those ipod headphones on. Here's a real confession: I keep a set of dockable speakers in my bathroom so I can listen to podcasts or audiobooks while I'm in the shower.

I confess all this insane over-stimulation as my bona-fides to be a media critic of sorts. Not only do I produce the written word to make a living, I also consume everything else as a way of life. Hence the title, Media Glutton. The idea here is to each week go over whatever recent events in media have caught my eye, including books, movies, games, TV, comics, internet everything, podcasts, and anything else I can jam in here. So, my prelude complete, let's get started.

This weekend was a weird but exciting media melange for me. Let's start with the movies, or rather movie. I decided to forgo the a-historical historic epic 10,000 BC as I haven't liked one of director Roland EmmerichRoland Emmerich's films yet. He makes big, exciting-looking flicks that leave me cold at best, angry and foaming at the mouth at worst. A friend saw it with her kids and she enjoyed it a lot on a pure cheeseball, dumb action movie level, and I'll gladly stipulate that it probably works on this level. I however, ran right out and saw The Bank Job along with (judging by it's meager box office returns) about six other people in the country. This movie was everything I love in a film. First of all it's a heist flick, a genre I love (indeed, my Geek Mafia books are inspired by movies just like this). It's got great writing, actors at the top of their game, and a wonderfully complex, nasty soul. This was a black joy for me from start to finish. Go, see it. Now.

Then there was the big, exciting game release, which somehow totally snuck up on me. My brother and I stopped by our local Game Stop to pick up something new once he finished Devil May Cry 4 and lo and behold, we saw that Smash Brothers Brawl was releasing that night at midnight for the Wii. This was very exciting news indeed. Smash Brothers Brawl is the third Nintendo Smash Brothers release, and each of its predecessors have been awesome, totally fun games. My brother and I played hours and hours and days and weeks of Smash Brothers on the Game Cube back in 1999-2000, and this release for the Wii has been delayed and delayed again. We both purchased copies then and there, but we couldn't come back and get them until midnight.

We decided to make an evening of it and came back to the neighborhood around ten that night to get some drinks and check out some punk bands that were playing at a nearby bar (including the amazing Whole Wheat Bread - check 'em out). We wandered by the Game Stop first to check out the scene, and there were fifty or so people already in line, most of them gathered around the storefront window watching a Smash Brothers tournament in action. They were mostly teens and younger, with some indulgent parents in tow. We didn't stick around but headed over to the bars, and were amazed to see the Girls Gone Wild bus parked in front of a local bar not a five minute walk from the cartoon-violence wholesomeness we'd just seen. We thought about going in just because of the blessed cognitive dissonance of it all, but there was a cover charge and neither of us wanted to give any money towards the cretinous, nasty fellow who owns GGW. So we saw some punk instead.

We got back at 12:15 and the doors were open, people were buying games. We were last in line, but it moved fast and it was a fun scene to see. I especially loved the moment when a boy of about 12 came bounding out of the door game in hand, and crossed the parking lot in a series of leaps towards his parent's car shouting "I'M SO GLAD I DRANK COFFEE!" We picked up our games and sped to my house, pausing only long enough to fill up on caffeine at 7-11 on the way.

The game is pretty much awesome as advertised, and the addition of things like making your own levels and playing online is great. It's kid of annoying that some of the new characters like Sonic the Hedgehog and Snake from Metalgear are unlock able only, so we didn't get a chance to play with them. Still, I began with my first game with my traditional declaration of "I'm Link!" and everything was great from there.

The weekend ended on a bittersweet note for me - my favorite TV series of all time came to a close. I'm far from the only person to say it, but I'm one of the first, having declared it almost since day 1 of season 1, but The Wire is one of, if not the best television series of all time. The fact that it never received a single Emmy nomination is proof positive that the Emmies are in fact ridiculous and irrelevant. The series finale wrapped everything up perfectly, and left me in a weird state of exultation and depression. The first four seasons are out on DVD and you should absolutely start buying/renting them immediately.

Be warned though, they ruin other, lesser forms of TV for you. I watched the series premiere of Fox's new legal drama Canterbury's Law last night, which has been described by some as "House with lawyers." It's pretty clearly trying to be just that and it's really, really not. Watching this predictable, lazy, phony feeling legal drama after watching The Wire is like driving in a school zone after racing along on the autobahn. Slow, easy, and safe. I won't be tuning in again, much like The Wire drove e from Law and Order, CSI, and other equally insipid cop shows. Not that I miss them. As you can see, there's plenty of other media out there to keep me busy...