Ted: Live-action Family Guy with a Teddy Bear

Take Family Guy, make it live-action, add a teddy bear, and you get the somewhat intriguing movie known as Ted.

Pokemon Project 6/29/12: The Final Tally

Surprise surprise.  I made my way through all the Pokemon generations, and the Generation 2 games (Gold, Silver, and Crystal) came out on top.  See below for the final rankings and explanations.

Jack's Fav Musicians #5: Eminem

I consider Eminem to be the best rapper of all time, hands down.  To be fair though, I have really grown to hate rap.  I know I'll come off like a cranky old bastard when I say this, but I think that contemporary rap is just plain shitty.  I look at the popularity of "rappers" like Mac Miller and Wiz Khalifa, two people who I consider to have caused more harm to the world than Saddam Hussein, and I seriously doubt the ability of my generation to ever make a positive impact on our planet.  When rappers aren't talking about beating up vaginas or spending all their money, they make attempts at being "serious" by rapping about the oppressors and how the political machine is geared against African-Americans, even though rap artists are obviously the cream of the intellectual crop here in America.

Eminem is another monster entirely.  Whether he's rapping about admiring the pubescent Olsen twins, creating a fictional character to tell a story about his new-found fame, or going into graphic detail about killing his wife, his lyrics are always high-quality and clever.  He's actually interesting and unique; every white rapper since Eminem's debut has tried and failed miserably to capture his essence and mystique.  He doesn't view his troubled past and family life as a badge of pride that enables him to do whatever he wants; he discusses it honestly and openly as a means of elevating his art.

Jack's Favorite Musicians

I'll be doing a bit of a series over the next week or so where I profile my favorite bands and musicians.  Basically, in each profile, I'll explain a bit about why I like the musical act and what their influence has been on me and the people around me.  I'll also include a list of my 10 favorite songs by that act, as well as a ranking of their albums, and even a list of their 5 worst songs, if I find it appropriate.  I heavily encourage debate on these profiles.

I will do a total of 5 profiles, going in order from my fifth-favorite act to my all-time favorite.  I also plan on releasing a list of my five least favorite musical acts.

Pokemon Project Update: 3/19/2012

Hello everyone!  I have made great progress in my quest to replay and rank all five generations of Pokemon video games.  I have beaten Gold and Sapphire, and I will soon start Platinum.

Gold was pretty easy, as usual.  I'm always surprised by how easy the Generation 2 games' (Gold, Silver, and Crystal) main storyline is to progress through.  The highest level Pokemon you face in the Elite Four is Lance's level 50 Dragonite, which can be easily defeated with a well-placed Ice Punch.  The Kanto gym leaders may be a notch above the Johto gym leaders, but the Johto gym leaders weren't much to begin with.  The last Kanto gym leader, Blue, has some Pokemon in the mid-to-high 50's, but they're nothing to be afraid of.  Of course, one realizes how misleading the whole game is when you reach the end of Mount Silver and face the high 70's team of Red.

Sapphire was as usual.  The main storyline is somewhat compelling, with the environmental well-being of the Pokemon world at stake.  But none of the battles were particularly challenging, and the Elite Four is fairly mediocre.  There's not even the promise of some premium endgame content to keep you going, the way that you could gain access to Kanto after defeating the Elite Four of Johto in Generation 2.

Oh well.  I'm pretty pumped to play Platinum again.  I know a lot of people hate on the newer Pokemon games, but I've always really enjoyed them.  Platinum especially, because the main storyline is long and epic, with the very concepts of time and space at stake of being unraveled completely, and the battles are interesting.  But we'll see.

The Pokemon Project

My obsession with the Pokemon video games didn't stop when I got out of elementary school, or when I hit puberty, or when I turned 18.  I still play those games every so often, and I enjoy even more in my old(?) age.  When I was cleaning out my room a couple months ago, I came across a bunch of copies of the older games in the series (Blue, Gold, Sapphire, etc.) and I was thrilled beyond belief.  I thought these games had been lost forever!

More recently, I got into a debate with a friend about which generation of games was the best.  For the non-Pokemon masters out there, the term "generation" in this context refers to a certain set of games.  Red, Blue, and Yellow versions belong to Generation 1.  Gold, Silver, and Crystal belong to Generation 2.  Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, FireRed, and LeafGreen belong to Generation 3.  Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, HeartGold, and SoulSilver belong to Generation 4.  And Black and White, the latest releases, belong to Generation 5.  (It should be noted that FireRed and LeafGreen are remakes of Red, Blue, and Yellow, while HeartGold and SoulSilver are remakes of Gold, Silver, and Crystal.)  My friend seemed rather adamant about sticking to the classic Generation 1 games, while I made a passionate case for the superiority of Generations 2 and 5.  We both seemed to agree that Generation 3 falls rather flat, and that Generation 4 has its highs and lows.

It was then that I decided to replay the old games.  Why not?  It's been over 5 years since I had played a Generation 1 game, and I don't replay the Generation 3 games nearly as much as the others.  Maybe I'm forgetting something, or maybe I'm missing something about the games.  I embarked on a quest:  replay one game from each generation (excluding the remakes), and record my final thoughts so that I can more definitively decide which generation is the best.  I conquered Blue version over the weekend and am currently progressing through Gold at a rapid rate.  Next on the list is Sapphire version, followed by Platinum and White.  I'll keep you updated!