Personally, I find it difficult to select a video game to review. Do I choose the latest and greatest AAA titles? On the one hand, you’ve probably heard of them and are eager to learn more. On the other hand, you’ve almost definitely read a review by a more eloquent, professional and studly reviewer already. Plus, brand new big-name titles are expensive, and I’m a college student. So instead, each game I choose to review is one that I think will surprise you, defying your expectations and treating you to something you’ve not seen before. Of course, they’ve had that very effect on me.
Why would a person say that they like a movie?
A few mornings ago, I awoke yearning for the real deal breakfast, one that included a large stack of fluffy, cinnamon-y slabs of French toast or maybe light, puffy pancakes drizzled — or even better, dripping — with real maple syrup. I had dreamt of this breakfast throughout interterm, a period bereft of pancakes, waffles and French toast.
The release of Blink-182’s latest EP “Dogs Eating Dogs” on Dec. 18 marked the band’s second release since their reunion in 2009. Although they reunited in 2009, they didn’t come out with “Neighborhoods” until 2011, which meant that fans weren’t quick to hold their breath in anticipation of new material any time soon. “Dogs Eating Dogs” should by no means be considered to be the stopgap that most EPs are, however.
In the past few months, men and women across the U.S. have been debating guns. President Obama and his administration have called for tighter controls on the sale of certain types of firearms, while activist groups like the NRA have invoked the Second Amendment and shifted the blame from the widespread accessibility of guns to widespread violence in the media — specifically, in video games. Rather than butt heads with the NRA, the Obama administration has conceded the point.
In what is probably not a good start to 2013, I am breaking two of my own rules for film reviews in writing about “Amour.” First, I read other film critics’ reviews halfway through drafting. Still baffled and frustrated, I then decided to frankly tell you that I don’t know what to think of it.
Survival films allure us with a scenario that is thankfully distant yet palpably visceral. Civilization absent, society invisible, norms abandoned, life threatened and despair the fabric of everyday existence, the dire circumstances that a survivor faces grip the audience with suspense. Yet the true charm of survival films lies not in our imagination of these harsh circumstances, where we, too, hold our breath when the protagonist dives underwater to escape from a sinking ship or clasp our armrests when he clings on to the only mast that will keep him from being devoured by iron waves.
