[Games] Monopoly Streets (PS3)

Monopoly is clearly one of the world's oldest and most well-known games out there. For most people, no childhood could have been completely without have once played the game whether you owned the set yourself or otherwise.

These days Monopoly has evolved into an entire franchise of games based around the core concept including card games and of course video games.

I wasn't expecting to enjoy this game at first - my old childhood was littered with traumatic Monopoly defeats mostly due to more skilled or perhaps just luckier family members. But all it took was a long game night with some friends that I haven't seen in a while to change my mind about things.

I guess part of the reasons that this game sort of works for me is the fact that it aggregates a lot of different Monopoly variants into a single console game. That provides for a respectable amount of flexibility and a lot of versatility for a single title.

But there are still times when the way the dice fall infuriates me to no end. Mr. Monopoly has it in for me, I just know it.

[Books] Star Wars: The Final Prophecy (The New Jedi Order Book 18)

While I don't expect too much from the Star Wars novels as a whole, which are pretty much light reading for me, I wasn't expecting to be this disappointed either. And with The Final Prophecy meant to be the penultimate book of the entire New Jedi Order series of novels, I don't think you can fault me for expecting a lot more than what we ended up with here.

This is a critical moment in the overall story - the moment when things need to be their most hopeful and yet also their most frightening. There needs to be a chance for victory but an even greater risk for defeat. In the same way that the tides seemed to be totally against the Rebels when Endor was discovered to be a lot better defended than expected and the Death Star II was already functional in Return of the Jedi, this needed to be a key moment to set the stage for the final conflict.

Instead, we got a rather confused mess that didn't quite know what to do with itself and an entire living planet in the form of Zonama Sekot that decided to become highly inconsistent in terms of its behavior. And the sentient planet wasn't the only "character" acting rather oddly.

[Movies] The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec (2010)

I admit it's wrong I often think of "foreign movies" to mean "movies that don't come from the US and the Philippines" - you could argue it means I have a US-centric, Western mindset. At the same time though, I don't think of US movies as local - they're just movies. And movies made in the Philippines are "local movies".

Does that even make sense? Anyway.

Foreign movies, as based on the context I provided earlier, tend to be a lot more fun than their US counterparts. Filmmakers have different cultural aesthetics based on what works in their respective countries or regions that gives such movies a unique charm on their own. I can only wonder what foreign movie critics think of the kinds of productions we keep releasing locally year after year.

I feel bad for having delayed watching this movie even though my partner had already acquired a copy some time back. Given it's best seen with subtitles, it was tricky to schedule a time to just sit down and watch it compared to how we normally watch most TV shows and movies - while semi multitasking at our computers or what have you. I know, I know, that's not ideal either, but it's the only way I keep the blog alive with everything else going on in my life.

But enough about that - let's get back to the movie.

[Movies] Beefcake (1998)

Many writers have written many articles about the slow death of the magazine industry in light of the rise of online media. One aspect of this that we don't often think about as a pivotal moment in publishing history is the role that pornography has played in our cultural history - and I suppose it's somewhat ironic that this same industry has been one of those that have best adapted to the shift to online media versus its other print brethren.

I've never directly purchased gay pornographic magazines, but like most teens of the time I was able to see a few magazines through other friends who had some. These days you can download porn for yourself off the internet - sort of eliminating the middle man altogether.

I didn't know what to think when Tobie and I ended up watching this movie at random one afternoon. I had never heard of nor seen any of these "beefcake" magazines back in the day and so I wasn't all that aware of what they represented.

Thus the movie wasn't just entertaining but also quite informative, at least for me.

[Movies] The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984)

I have a soft spot for the Muppets - then again, I'm sure most people do, too. And I am proud of the fact that I've most if not all of the Muppet movies in my lifetime including some of the TV movies like The Frog Prince, which we used to have on a beat up VHS tape.

I've been slowly re-watching the various movies in an effort to help myself disentangle my childhood memories of each movie from the other. Believe me, it's a lot easier than you think to get them all mixed up.

The Muppets Take Manhattan wasn't necessarily my favorite of the first wave of Muppet movies, but it was notable for its introduction of the Muppet Babies into the public consciousness. Now there's a cartoon that I got oddly hooked on to the point that I died to get those silly Happy Meal toys they came out with for cartoon based on the one scene in this movie.

Muppet movies are always rather weird on the comedy spectrum since they generate appeal for the very young and the not quite so young. They're witty and yet campy at the same time, and I suppose that's part of their appeal. And of course, they also have to have major song and dance numbers.

[TV] The Fades: Season 1

I love it when a TV show totally takes you off-guard and surprises you in a great way. That's what watching The Fades was like for me and Tobie.

To be fair, we had little to no idea what the show was about other than it was something new that had just started, which is always a nice time to tune in. The basic synopsis of the show online showed some promise so we took the gamble and watched the pilot. And while it wasn't the strongest pilot in the world, the show presented some very strong potential to be an even greater experience.

I suppose the main draw for us was how a lot of the show's concepts almost felt like something you'd encounter in the types of White Wolf role-playing games that we regularly engage in with friends. They had similar concepts and even similar tropes at work but with a rather interesting story tying everything together.

This show had a much stronger resonance with us even when compared to other British productions like Misfits (which we continue to enjoy as well). And I'm glad that we embarked on this particular 6-episode adventure.

[Blogosphere] Geek Blogs of Interest

For most days of the week, I have some fairly rigid rules about what I post here on the Geeky Guide. For example, book reviews come out of Tuesdays, TV-related posts on Thursdays and LGBT posts on Sundays. But Wednesdays, which started out as my day for tech, have sort of evolved into my free-for-all day. A day when I just talk about almost anything geek-related. Sure any video game reviews come out on Wednesdays alone, but I've also written about a bunch of other stuff.

So for today I thought it might be fun to spread some blog love around for sites that may interest you. And by this I assume that since you keep coming back here, you tend to like certain things. And these blogs are probably related to said things. Or something.

You get the general idea.

First up is a new blog my partner created called Tobie Abad Game Sessions (or TAG Sessions, which is an inside joke between the two of us).

Tobie Abad Game Sessions

The blog was initially an experiment with Blogger's new Dynamic Views, which I've always felt to be Blogger's attempt to appeal more to the Tumblr-loving segment of the blogging community. The views are nicely visual and lend themselves well to blogs like that (unlike the text-heavy Geeky Guide).

Now Tobie has been using the site to document the various games he's run whether they're one-shots, LARPs or full blown chronicles that can last for several months (or even years!) It's almost full history of his gaming activities as best as he can remember them and considering he's been gaming for most of his life, that's a LOT of history in one site.

It's a great place to visit in case you're already into gaming and looking for a GM to run a game for you (Tobie is open to requests) or if you're just curious about tabletop RPGs and want to learn more. Tobie is quite the advocate about tabletop RPGs - I suppose in the same way I'm a lifelong Transformers fan or a major Google nerd.


Another interesting blog to check out is Games and Geekery, which is written by a former classmate of mine and a friend of his.

Games and Geekery

This blog is more about conventional computer gaming, so you can expect a lot of discussions related to currently popular console games, MMORPGs and as of late, a lot of Skyrim.

The blog is more than just reviews though. It features a lot of personal insight on the games themselves and to some extent the culture that builds around the games as a whole. Beyond the fact that I know the primary blogger behind the site, I can honestly say that the site is very well-written and I can understand why he was used to work as an editor for a video games news site. Despite his moving on though, it's nice to see that he continues to write and share his insights on the community at large.

In addition to his blog, you can also follow him on Twitter via the username iamstillwater.


And last, there's AndroidTidBits, which is a quaint little Adroid-centric blog that another online contact of ours writes for.

Android TidBits

The site is pretty straight forward in its approach as an Android-focused news site. they do their best to post the latest news and reviews related to devices utilizing the Android OS, which is a pretty daunting challenge in itself. But it's clear they're pretty determined given how much content they've generated despite having started the site only recently.

So yeah, this is me showing a little support for a friend by posting a link and all. But if you are an Android user, then I'm sure the site will prove useful as part of your regular portfolio of Android news sites.



Do you want to get your site featured on the Geeky Guide? I might be open to that, but you need to have a geeky site first. Send me a link and we can see how things go or engage me in a conversation over on Twitter.

[Books] Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

Back in 2008, I was fortunate enough to get tickets for a staging of the Broadway musical Wicked at the Pantages Theater in Los Angeles. I had long wanted to see the play and finally getting to do so was quite a major moment for me, at least in terms of musicals. I had always known that the musical was based on a book, but for one reason or another I had delayed reading it - even when I had acquired a copy of the book some years back.

Now I never expected the play to be a faithful recreation of the story of the book, but I wasn't expecting just how far away one was from the other. The analogy that works for me at this point is that comparing the two is like comparing Disney's Pocahontas with a historical record of her actual life. This is not to say one is better than the other, but they are definitely two distinct works with two different audiences in mind. Some of the major themes from the book were certainly retained in the musical version, but that still keeps them as pretty different.

It took me a bit longer than expected to finish the book given the rather mature tone and the complex ideas being tossed about, but it was still a rather fulfilling read. While it remains a bit of a challenge to reconcile the characters in the book with their stage-adapted alternates, both are still strong characters in their own right.

[Movies] Rango (2011)

When I had first seen the posters for Rango, I had no idea what it was supposed to be abound. All I could see was this weird chameleon and the promise that Johnny Depp was involved in the project. Not much to go on really, and so I passed on this during its initial theater screening period.

I recently caught up with the movie on video in an effort to finally satisfy my curiosity in terms of what the big deal was supposed to be. And if anything, I was most definitely surprised by the end result. While I had few expectations about what this movie was supposed to be about, I don't think I was quite prepared for what I had either either. This was definitely a movie that surprised me, and mostly in a good way.

But did I like the movie? I'm not 100% clear on that either, I have to admit. That movie was many different things and a lot more complex that what I was expecting from an animated feature. While it does have elements that work for children, there's also a lot more to this movie that what's on the surface, something that is only better appreciated with age.

So maybe I'll form a more solid opinion as I write this review.

[Technicolor Musings] When You're In A Slut Phase...

The Slut Phase.

 It's a weird term that perhaps originated in reference to that period when women try to sleep around prior to marriage. And like most terms that apply to women, this was eventually adopted into the gay community with meaning of its own. And while it can refer to many different things, I think we all have a general understanding of what a slut phase refers to.

By Taekwonweirdo via Flickr.

For purposes of this blog, I thought it might be appropriate to spend some time talking about this potential period in any gay man's life. I'm not saying that we all need to go through it. However I am acknowledging that it seems to happen to a rather significant segment of the pink community at one point in time or another.

And don't pretend that it doesn't happen - we all know it does. You've seen it happen. You have friends who have gone through this period. And heck, maybe you have too.

So let's go over the basics first, shall we?

[Geeky Guide] 2,000 Posts And Counting!

Image via Wikipedia

Today marks another milestone of sorts, especially those of you who really like numbers divisible by 10, 100 or 1,000. This exact entry that you happen to be reading now is officially the 2,000th post to appear on the Geeky Guide. That's quite a LOT of blogging when you think about it, which is pretty cool too.

I could have just let this post go to tomorrow's Technicolor Musings post, however my planned topic is a tad colorful and so I figured it would be best not to mix messages. You'll understand come tomorrow.

So I just wanted to take a moment to thank all of you for your continued support of the site. I know it may not seem like much, but I do value everyone who takes the time to visit the site directly or at the very least skim these posts via Google Reader or whatever RSS application you use.

I hope you continue to enjoy what you find here on the site and hopefully we'll hear more from you in the future. As always, your comments, suggestions and even requests are valued and I've love to hear what you guys and girls have to say.

Stay Geeky!


PS
Oh, and in case you're wondering what Marilyn Monroe has to do with this post, I wouldn't know how to answer you. It was just one of the automatically suggested images provided by Zemanta and seeing it there made me laugh.

So I posted it. It was either this or Donald Duck.

[Movies] Zoolander (2001)

This was another classic case of my partner turning to me and saying, "I can't believe you haven't seen..."

I can't quite explain why I never got around to watching this movie. I suppose it has something to do with my limited tolerance for Ben Stiller comedies, especially in the post There's Something About Mary era. There's just something that rubs me the wrong way about his brand of humor, thus my reluctance to get into this weird satire of the modeling world.

Did I enjoy the movie? Well that's really hard to say. As much as my range of preferred comedy includes the likes of the Mel Brooks movies, somehow this movie just didn't feel all that "smart" enough for me. And I'm not expecting rocket science here, but I do appreciate the odd kind of wit that goes into certain varieties of humor.

While I did find certain bits rather funny, it wasn't quite for me to say that I actually liked this movie nor do I regret not having seen it sooner.

[TV] The Pillars of the Earth

I admit that the Geeky Guide can be rather diverse in its coverage. On the one hand, this is an attempt to be a guide to nearly everything. On the other, it's really just about whatever I happen to watch that triggers these reviews. And obviously, I watch a LOT of stuff.

But everyone does that, right? If you ever tried to document every movie and TV show you've watched, you're not exactly going to come up with a homogeneous list all coming from a single predefined genre, right? You're going to get a pretty wide spread of titles from different studios, covering different stories from different time periods with different actors.

Do you deny it? I doubt that.

Now this TV mini-series came into my life because of my parents, who happened to be watching it during one of my weekend visits home. While I didn't get to start the show at the time, I was intrigued enough by what I had seen to get copies for myself and watch it with Tobie.

Needless to say, we both enjoyed the show a lot, even if it's a tad outside our usual geeky fare. Heck, I haven't even heard of the franchise that this was based on prior to this.

[Personal] Capturing Jason Mraz

Last October 30, my partner Tobie and I managed to have what felt like a one-in-a-lifetime experience to catch Jason Mraz live in concert here in the Philippines. We totally weren't expecting such a stellar concert so soon after the other life-changing experience that was catching Kylie Minogue live just a few months prior. But then this year has felt absolutely surreal at times, so I've learned to stop questioning and just accept how awesome things are.

And as much as I enjoyed just being there in the stadium with all the other fans celebrating Jason Mraz's music, I also wanted to make sure that I semi-documented the night to help mark this amazing event and spread the love along. I'm a tad obsessive in that regard I support given the effort I put into trying to capture these moments so that my partner and I can look back at everything and fondly remember the night.

And this where things get geeky.

Beyond sharing my "documentation" from the night, I also wanted to take time to really give praises to my camera, which is a Panasonic Lumix ZS7 . I had picked up this compact megazoom last year as a birthday treat for myself and I've been quite the happy camper ever since. It takes pretty amazing pictures despite its small size and it helps geeks like me get to document major events where DLSRs are normally forbidden for whatever ridiculous reasons.

[Books] A Game of Thrones

Despite my geekery, I can only read so much content in the time allotted to me by causality. Thus I'm man enough to admit that I had not head about George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series until HBO announced that they were adapting the books into a TV series. Boo me.

But fast forward to the present and it seems everyone is trying to catch up with the books given the success of the HBO television series and its very successful initial run. It's not often that a fantasy series gets so much acclaim, especially in this time when geek shows can be popular one moment and yet not cost-effective the next.

It took me a while to fully immerse myself in the show, but eventually I was hooked and decided to pick up the books shortly thereafter. And I'm glad that I did since they're a whole different level of awesome even when compared with the TV show. In fact, I'd go as far as saying that the two properties of the franchise remain to be distinct and unique experiences. Both may try to tell the same story, but they manage this in dramatically different ways.

This is definitely some of the best fantasy that I' read in recent years - and I can't wait to get started on the next book!

[Movies] Puss in Boots (2011)

Two major CGI movie franchises "officially" ended recently - these being Toy Story and Shrek. It was about time that both movie franchises tie things up given they had already achieved a lot with their existing movies and going beyond that might just ruin the overall image.

Of course for the movie studios involved, ending the main story doesn't mean totally killing these major cash cows. And now we're seeing some of the supporting characters from the franchises starting to get their own features.

This is the first major one to come along - a movie centered entirely around the character of Puss in Boots, who first appeared in Shrek 2. He was an instant favorite among fans although his evolution in the series was a tad limited. To have a whole movie about him alone would seem like a good idea on paper - it would all just come down to actual execution to make this work or not.

We opted not to see this in 3D since that would involve paying more and having the movie lose some its quality given the format shift. While it was clear in some parts where they folks behind the movie were trying to leverage the 3D aspect of things, I didn't feel we had really lost anything in terms of the story.

[Movies] Buffering (2011)

I have to admit, that'a a pretty good poster for the movie. It doesn't necessary match what the movie is really about nor does it feature the lead actors all the prominently (they're the fellows in the background). But hey, it is a witty poster that incorporates a web-style buffering bar and the notion that the boys are naked. The alternate version has them without the bar, revealing they're in their trunks.

A lot of the movies in the LGBT sphere tend to be low-budget, independent productions that struggle to get the attention (and support) that this segment of the industry needs. This was definitely one of those productions that was clearly a labor of love more than an attempt to just make money. And I suppose that leant a somewhat endearing quality to things.

And while the actors aren't particularly hot and the accents were a tad difficult even for me to understand, they folks behind this movie certainly had a plan and knew what they wanted to accomplish. Whether that goal aligns with what a viewer would desire remains to be seen.

[Pink Scene] Support The Golden Gays!

Reposting from Sa Mundo ng Diosa.DIVA:

PinoyG4M and the Akei LGBTIQ Working Group is teaming up to aid the Home for the Golden Gays!

Choose one or both ways to help:

I want to sponsor:
You may donate cash by contacting us below or you may opt to give slippers, colorful shirts, fans, combs, handkerchiefs and/or toiletries. Pledges & donations will be publicly listed but you may request to remain anonymous.

Click here for instructions on how to donate via GCash.

Click here for a list of Internation GCash Remit partners.

I want to volunteer:
Join us for a fun afternoon at the Home!
1:00 - 5:00 PM
November 26 20, 2011 | Saturday
Home for the Golden Gays
#108 David Street corner F.B. Harrison, Pasay City

For more information, visit the event's page on Facebook.

You may also join the conversation in the PG4M forums

Home for the Golden Gays

The Home for the Golden Gays is "a refuge for the elderly and vulnerable gays of Manila. A home for those, who have nowhere else to go, for those whose families have rejected them, and for those who simply want to be in the company of other elderly gays."

PinoyG4M: Straight Talk for Gay Men

PG4M (Pinoy Guys4Men) is an online message board for Filipino and Philippine-based gay and bisexual men. This site aims to provide a venue for conversation and exchange of ideas among its members, providing a venue for friendship, a sense of community, and a sounding board for opinions and concerns of gay men regarding the current issues and trends facing not just the LGBT people, but the society in general.

Contact:
Lanchie Abanco
+63 917 365 9620
lanchie@gmail.com

Akei LGBTIQ Working Group

The LGBTIQ Working Group of Akei considers the status of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersexual & questioning/queer (LGBTIQ) peoples as one of the last great civil issues of our time. In countries around the world, LGBTIQs face issues on multiple fronts--in justice systems, workplaces and even among their peers. Akei plans to concentrate on improving movement tactics, social networks and cultural capital in the LGBTIQ community through harnessing intellectual resources so as to create systemic changes in how LGBTIQ people are treated in society.

Contact:
PJ Salenda
Akei LGBTIQ Working Group
+63 918 942 8513
prsalenda@gmail.com

[Movies] Porco Rosso / Kurenai no Buta (1992)

My adventures in the worlds of Studio Ghibli continues on with me finally sitting down to watch Proco Rosso, a movie that my partner particularly loves. I wasn't quite sure what to expect from this movie, but then again almost every other Ghibli movie has left me feeling some degree of uncertainty going in. It's just one of those things, I suppose.

While I didn't hate this movie, I have to admit I didn't love it quite as much versus the others. Perhaps it's because it didn't feel quite as connected to a larger message like most of Hayao Miyazaki's other stories. Maybe it's because I've never felt a strong affinity for anthropomorphic pigs piloting old propeller-style planes. Whatever.

But it was quite the interesting adventure, regardless of how different it feels versus other Ghibli movies. It's certainly a different brand of adventure - one that potentially has stronger ties to the "real" world more than any other movie. After all, it is set between the two world wars and is quite well situated in Europe.

There's just that bit with the pig.

[TV] Outcasts: Season 1

I'm man enough to admit that I initially got into Outcasts because of Jamie Bamber, as is the right of any other gay Battlestar Galactica geek. He was one of the more notable actors attached to this show and I've generally had a good track record with science fiction shows on British television.

But then Bamber got killed off in the first episode (and we can't even consider this a spoiler anymore) and so I was left with trying to create a personal connection with the rest of the cast and the show as a whole. And that wasn't at all an easy experience to go through.

I'm sure the writers had a rather lofty goal here. They wanted to create a compelling drama set on a distant world where not everything was as it appeared to be. It wasn't supposed to be about gimmicks like alien invaders and such but more about human relationships and how such a drastic transition to another world can change us.

The series had potential somewhere, but it was lost in this long and winding narrative that was hard to keep up with. It's not that there was too much going on or something. It was more like it felt as if there was too little going on and thus it was a struggle to stay awake.

[Games] Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One (PS3)

I've been a fan of the Ratchet & Clank franchise since the very beginning - and this is despite my limited success with platformers. But for one reason or another, this series has always worked for me given its quirky humor, dynamic gameplay and challenging puzzles.

Earlier this year Sony released PlayStation Move Heroes, which got me rather excited since it promised to be a multiplayer platform game featuring some of the PlayStation's most iconic characters, including Ratchet & Clank. How the game turned out to be a bomb given the 2-player co-op involved the second player being strictly limited to being a supporting character / side-kick. Possibly fun, but not quite what I was hoping for.

So when this game came out, I was initially cautious about it. And while the initial reviews weren't unanimously praising the game, at its core it's a multiplayer co-op game, which became the main selling point of the game for me and my partner. While it's not exactly the most complex game genre for sure, we do find it to be a lot of fun and thus we're always on the look-out for local co-op games.

[Comics] A Tribute to Hergé and The Adventures of Tintin

by ¡¡¡!!! via Flickr

A few weeks ago, my partner helped me find a hardcover copy of Tintin in the Congo, one of the rarer Tintin books out there that I had only read about on the web. It cost me quite a pretty penny, I have to admit, but given the intrinsic value of the book, I was more than happy to punish my credit card a bit more that day.

After more than 20 years, my Tintin collection is finally complete. As a Tintin fan most of my life, this is an major moment in my personal history, one that ought to be celebrated in some way. And that's sort of the thinking behind this blog post - just a little tribute to celebrate the brilliance that is Tintin and my love for the franchise.

And with a new animated movie set to come out at the end of this year, it's definitely a great time to be a Tintin fan. So right before the rush and when a whole new generation learns about the brilliance of this character and his amazing adventures, I thought to best to write this post.

[Movies] Batman Year One (2011)

The original Batman: Year One comic book story arc by Frank Miller was an amazing return to the early years of Batman and a chance to catch a glimpse of his early growth as a character. It remains to be an excellent example of comic book writing done right without the need to extensively reboot or change a character to explore his history.

Since then, there have been many other comic books that have tried to apply similar treatment to their characters in the hopes of gaining some of the same success managed by this 4-issue story.

Fast forward to the present and it turns out that DC opted to tackle this classic story as its latest offering as part of the DC Universe Animated Original Movies line of direct-to-video animated movies. While I've often discussed the predominantly negative opinion held of the direct-to-video market, DC has done a pretty impressive job of keeping the level of quality high for these movies whose popular often transcends traditional age brackets for cartoons.

[Technicolor Musings] Gay Geek Short Stories

Earlier this year, I promised myself that I would self-publish a novel on the Kindle Store. While most of my writing interests have been focused on the areas of science fiction and fantasy, I've also tried my hand at a few LGBT-themed stories. I haven't had as much success in that area, but then I've certainly been making progress.

by gwilmore

My self-publishing plans have yet to get anywhere solid though. Real life got in the way given our various theater ventures, our trip to Singapore and all that fun stuff and now it's November and I still have no book ready for publishing. I could just blame life in general. Or I could blame the eternal enemy of any writer - the combination of lack of time and the writer's constant need to re-write.

Finishing is always the biggest challenge of any writer.

So I'm back to trying to think of a way to get myself published, and perhaps a short story collection / anthology may be the more reasonable way to go. While I still want to get a novel published, it'll take a lot more effort and focus compared to what I have available between work, my geeky life with Tobie and my gay life with Tobie. And yes, those aspects can exist together and yet separately as well.

[Movies] Pom Poko / Heisei Tanuki Gassen Ponpoko (1994)

I will always partly regret how late in life I had discovered the wonders of Studio Ghibli animated movies. While I'm not claiming to be old or anything like that, but I do always feel like I'm constantly playing catch-up with the rest of the world in terms of watching each of the Studio Ghibli movies.

Thankfully my partner is fully supportive of my efforts to experience more and more of the wonderful world that is Studio Ghibli, although this was definitely one of the stranger ones I've come across.

Pom Poko relies on the viewer's relative awareness of Japanese folklore with respect to the tanuki, or raccoon dogs. As far as the stories are concerned, they're famous for being mischievous tricksters who often have the ability to transform into different shapes and sizes in order to execute their various pranks and what have you. This ability becomes central to this particular story as they try to protect their lands from, what else, humans.

[TV] Parks and Recreation: Season 2

For many, Parks and Recreation seems like nothing more than a weird clone of The Office, and I can understand why people feel this way. One, it was created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, who both have strong ties to The Office. And truth be known, the show was originally conceived as some sort of a spin-off to the series using the same mockumentary style.

But despite its awkward first season, the show eventually evolved to have a voice of its own - and this is the season where that really happened. This second season makes the first season feel like little more than dress rehearsals for what they managed to accomplish here.

And as someone who watched the first season, I have to admit I wasn't expecting all that much going in. I had only started watching the show because of the praise it had received from many different critics and that kind of a buzz had to be coming from somewhere, right? But whatever it was, I just didn't see it as far as the first season was concerned.

This one really turned things around.

[Cloud Computing] Comparing Dropbox and SugarSync

Image via WikipediaIt's interesting to note the rising popularity of cloud computing solutions as internet access becomes more and more widespread and accessing the web is made simpler and simpler with smartphones and tablet computers. A few years ago it seemed unheard of to rely on a service like Google Docs for all your work documents and now everyone seems to be in a rush to provide a cloud-based solution for almost everything that we used to do on our clunky desktop computers.

One area of particular interest remains to be cloud-based data storage. What started as a modest perk has now become a highly competitive environment with a lot of different players trying compete. I haven't tried out too many of them so far apart from the major players like Dropbox and SugarSync, and this is a pretty good place to start. I used to have a Box.net account back in the day, but that seems like a rather antiquated service compared to the newer players in the market.

Both services are highly similar to one another. They both provide online back-up services and both provide a variety of desktop and mobile applications that help you extend the reach of your virtual storage across multiple devices. So instead of talking what makes them the same, we'll spend more time discussing what makes them different from one another.

[Books] Star Wars: Force Heretic III: Reunion (The New Jedi Order Book 17)

I had been generally complaining about the Force Heretic trilogy of books since I started on the first book in this series. A lot of my discussions focused on how the story seemed to lack substance and the real meat of things had been somehow stretched across the three titles in the hopes of coming up with a longer story. Great for book sales for bad for readers, to be sure.

The only thing that could hope to save this trilogy would have been making sure the ending was satisfying. I know the story goals for this trilogy did not include the end of the way - that's still something further down the road. But it did set out to address a major mystery in the form of Zonoma Sekot - the living planet that had been alluded to in so many prior titles and somehow promised to guarantee the end of the war. And it's not even about completely destroying the enemy somehow - just finding a way to definitively neutralize the Yuuzhan Vong threat and bring an end to the conflict.

And after all that build up, I can't say that I was entirely happy with how things turned out. It wasn't necessarily bad per se, but at the very least I had been hoping for more closure or something. And that totally wasn't what happened at the end of this particular arc.