By Emil
I'll make it quick this time- I promise I won't drag on and on about a platformer. Words of the wise TA. First up. Zuma!
Zuma : Zuma? Who hasn't played this game, you ask? Lots of people, I answer. Including me, until one and half years ago, despite the game being released in 2003. What is it then? You control a statue of a frog. Somewhere in the screen is a hole covered by a yellow skull- leading to this hole is a track (or tracks) that goes out of the screen. On these tracks are balls of different colors. Objective? Not to let the balls down the hole.
How do you do that, then? Well, you're the frog-statue of a Sun God. The frog-statue spits out at the oncoming balls… more balls of various colors. Lining up three consecutive balls (or more) of the same color makes that set burst, and continuing with this ball-bursting activity ultimately ends the stage, when the balls run out. Some of the balls come with symbols, which either explode on a successful burst, or slow down the track for you to recoup losses.
It's a pretty fun game, very casual and very non-resource demanding, and even playable for free on some websites. Gauntlet (Survival) mode is pretty fun. Let me know when you're a full-fledged Sun-God. Maybe we'll have a cup of tea. In our respective homes.
Link: http://www.fatalgame.com/flash-game/zuma/, http://www.popcap.com/games/zuma
Peggle: Peggle? Yes. Peggle. The game with the unicorn of questionable orientation, a fascination of the revered Reggie- something we're all a little concerned about. But, never mind about that. What the fudge is Peggle?
Well. This one also involves shooting balls. From a cannon this time instead of spitting, thank God. Each stage is modelled differently, with pegs scattered all around in various patterns. Around 50 to be exact. Among the scattered blue pegs are 10 orange ones, 2 green ones, and one purple which randomly takes the place of a blue on each shoot- this one's for bonus points. The objective is to hit all the orange pegs. Sounds easy? Not always so. You have to aim properly- once shot it's all about angles. A bucket moves left and right- balls falling in the bucket go back to the pocket. … Hey, that rhymes.
There are ten characters, each one unlocks progressively as you play the adventure mode. Each character has a different power- the unicorn lets you see the trail the ball will travel after you shoot, the dragon turns the ball into a flame that goes through all the pegs instead of bouncing against them, and so on.
Upon completing the adventure mode, the challenge mode unlocks. These are very, very fun. The challenges are ranging from having to hit 20 orange pegs instead 10, or 50 pegs, or finishing the stage with only one ball, or consecutively finishing three stages, and so on. These can be very difficult, but very fun.
Both of these games are playable on low-end computers, being not very new, and both of these games are very addictive. If you find your friends suddenly acquiring a strange fixation for unicorns, you'd best take 'em to the psychiatrist or something. Ignore the signs, and who knows what happens. Reggie now wonders around the streets of Dhaka with solar panels and welding equipments. God help his soul, and forgive ours for not helping him.
By The Anarchist Kitten
Most comedies these days are deceptive in that the previews always have good parts, parts that never follow up with the actual movie and you end up realizing you laughed more at the trailer than at the movie. A lot of filmmakers will always find a way to tug at you like that. The same could have been true off The Hangover. The trailer was a hoot. There possibly couldn't be a way such a relatively unheard of movie could be any good. They probably just mashed up the best scenes in the movie to make it look better in the trailer. Except for the part that they didn't. If you want some good, laugh-out-loud comedy, do yourself a favour, don't watch the trailers or the previews- just go watch the movie.
The trailer is just the tip of the iceberg. To put it mildly, this movie will take a while to make much sense (at least to those that haven't been through similar circumstances), it's that insane. Everyone that has seen the movie, asked, has said the movie is as funny as advertised, male and female alike- so you know it's not a testosterone driven comedy.
The story's about three friends in Vegas who wake up from a night of drunken misadventures with no recollection of what happened, and their fourth friend nowhere to be found- who's set to get married in a couple of hours. The idea isn't original (Dude Who Stole My 'Groom'?) but it generates laughs because the jokes are (example- the village idiot of the movie is sure that he can steal from the casinos by reading cards, because if rain man could do it being a retard, anyone can). Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Justin Bartha, and Zach Galifianakis carry the movie briskly and with real chemistry. Zach Galifianakis, in particular, is brilliant- to quote from the movie, “Who IS this guy?!” There is a very special cameo role much later in the film that absolutely cannot be missed. Specially for boxing fans.
Comedies regarding bachelor parties are in no short supply. But The Hangover deals with the day after and not the day itself, without even flashbacks, leaving a whole lot to our imagination. This is funnier because the plot works backwards. Even though it is a very tired and proven technique, funny is funny.
A very simple reason for The Hangover's success in being genuinely funny is the fact that it achieves a rare balance of character and vulgarity. We laugh at the characters' misfortunes because we like them, we empathize with them, and they are distinctly actualized. Sure they are all stereotypical characters: there is the repressed guy who obeys his girlfriend's every command (Ed Helms); the weird, not-all-there figure who speaks in one liners and naïve absurdities (Zach Galifianakis); and the suave one whose confidence renders him automatically the leader of the group (Bradley Cooper). Consider this a proof of the strengths of these actors that they make their characters endearing and believable, even in the face of the complete absurdity that is this movie.
While this era in film can be argued to be the era of unnecessary sequels, most people will undoubtedly near the end of this movie hoping to see the boys again. And that is truly rare these days.
By Zabir Hasan
As the underground music hype slowly fades away picking a band name has got to be a pretty hard thing to do for the few remaining hard rocking souls. But once set, it will label you and all your actions for the rest of your career. If you get tired of it you won't be able to simply toss it out the window on a dusty desert highway--at least not without repercussions. Music critics agree that this is one way in which a band name is a lot like a sack of kittens. So for the remaining Wannabes this is a little history lesson.
Pearl Jam
The boys in Pearl Jam might have picked “Pearl” because it sounded cool, and added Jam on the end, like musicians do when they're playing around musically. As explained by Eddie Vedder (lead vocals, guitar) himself, stems from how pearls are created. "The name is in reference to the pearl itself ... and the natural process from which a pearl comes from. Basically, taking excrement or waste and turning it into something beautiful." Aside from probably being a retcon, this represents a pretty fundamental misunderstanding of how pearls are made, in that they don't excrete within their body.
Kiss
If you're not familiar with KISS, they are the rock band with the painted faces--sort of like a loud and unsettling body movement. Famously, rumors have circulated that “KISS” stands for "Knights In Satan's Service." The band has consistently denied this however; rightly pointing out that the band isn't comprised of agents of evil so much as ridiculous, ridiculous men. The true story, according to Paul Stanley (vocals and rhythm guitar), is that they chose the name KISS because it "just sounded dangerous and sexy at the same time." But dude! Kissing is generally considered one of the least dangerous activities ever invented.
Chumbawamba
Chumbawamba is a post-punk-anarcho, barely-legal, electro-something band who've been around for decades. But they never bothered anyone until 1997 when they were responsible for the song "Tubthumping" (also known as "I Get Knocked Down") that was incredibly popular. The official explanation for the band name is that it's a meaningless word, a combination of syllables that sort of rhyme. However, in an early interview, band member Danbert Nobacon outlined a slightly more specific origination. In a dream, while needing to take a leak, Nobacon didn't know which door to use in a public toilet because the signs said "Chumba" and "Wamba" instead of "Men" and "Women."
Savage Garden
An Australian pop band, Savage Garden had a brief spell of success in the late 90s when the world's appetite for “Cute love songs". The name itself is a quote from an Anne Rice novel--Anne Rice being famous for her novels about vampires that were popular with guys that listen to Savage Garden.
Green Day
It may have come from the sci-fi movie Soylent Green when they said, "Tuesday is soylent green day." Soylent green was a food produced by a corporation to feed the way overpopulated masses; turns out they were also making it from the masses! Another story is that when the band members dropped out of school to be musicians, their principal said "It'll be a green day in hell before you make anything of yourselves".
Led Zeppelin
They are the infamous British rock band that in the 70s repeatedly and flagrantly rocked the world so damn hard that scientists can still detect residual vibrations in the Earth's mantle to this day.
The phrase "lead balloon" has commonly been used to describe an ill-conceived idea, or one whose failure is both predictable and inevitable. The name then allegedly arose when Keith Moon, after being invited to drum for the band, thought the idea would go over like a "lead zeppelin"--Moon evidently modifying the common phrase after observing that zeppelin's were quite large. Reportedly Jimmy Paige liked the phrase so much; he took it for the band's name. The decision to misspell it was made because they thought Americans would mispronounce the word "lead”.
