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 On 09/02/2020 at 06:54 PM by KnightDriver See More From This User » |
Here are my media picks for 2005. They're not CSI, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Resident Evil 4, Green Day's American Idiot or Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code, but I like what I like.
TV
Robot Chicken
This show was created by Seth Green and Matthew Senreich. Seth was Dr. Evil's son in the Austin Powers movies. I thought Robot Chicken was hilarious, if in one instance, overly violent. It was an episode about violence though, but it still disturbed me. Otherwise, fantastic. Primus does the theme song too. What could be better? Grand Theft Mario was a standout skit, but when I rewatched it, I was kind of shocked by the violence. I guess I've changed a bit.
Film
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
This Aardman Production is a masterpiece of the art of claymation. I was astonished at the various effects they pulled off based on nothing other than clay and stop-motion photography. Plus, it's a great mystery tale. It's funny, smart and technicallly amazing. That's a win cubed.
Game
God of War (PS2)
The sense of scale in this game is great. Kratos is up against the gods themselves and they are mammoth. The gameplay is flawless. It feels so good to swing those chain-blades around and rack up combos for even great destruction. The story is Faustian. Kratos asks Ares, God of War, for survival and victory in exchange for his soul. It is granted and the rest of the game Kratos is trying to get out of the bargain by going up against the gods. You fight endless minions, solve ancient environmental puzzles and go up against deities galore from Greek myth. It's so good.
Music
Destroy All Humans! Soundtrack
I love the music in this series. It's ripped right from Bernard Herrmann's music for films like The Day the Earth Stood Still in the 50s, which is appropriate because that's the setting of this first game. I love the theramin sounds in the music as well - that eerie, electronic, flute-like sound. Gary Schyman did the orchestral work. I've been following him ever since. He also did the Bioshock.series.
Book
1491: New Revelations of The America Before Columbus
I just learned of this documentary based on the book I read back in '05. Charles Mann did a follow up book called 1493 soon after. It's interesting to me to hear myth busting theories like the ones brought out in this book based on the most recent archeology and other science work. What history teaches us is usually very flawed and culturally biased. I like to get underneith that and find the truth. This book seems to open some new doors of perception.
What did you like in entertainment in 2005?
The documentary and book series seems really interesting. I do have some issues with the production values from what I see in the trailer, but the subject is fascinating and worth a look.
You just cost me money cause I read this and remembered I'd like to buy Destroy All Humans! remake.
I own God of War III and God of War 2018 and neither really grabbed me ... but I wonder if I played from the beginning if I'd have a deeper appreciation.
I do like claymation.
I don't like the music much. It's clearly glorifying pre-American society. I want the whole truth. I think the book gives a more balanced view.
Your purchase is now making me rethink waiting for a sale. If I buy it, then who's making who spend money? 
I think my interest started waning after GOD III with all those QTE scenes. I haven't truely enjoyed any in the series after GOD II really.
If it helps, I didn't actually buy Destroy All Humans! yet.
Oh good, because you almost made me buy it at full price. Phew! Dodged a bullet there. Thanks. 
I'm a huge fan of Wallace and Gromit and loved the movie. It's a shame the studio where they made it burned down the day after the movie premiered.
2005 was still a good year for me, as nothing much had changed. My Game of the Year was Psychonauts. Unfortunately, the last half of the next year 2006 wasn't so great. But we'll get to that later.
Did all that clay become solid stone statues in the fire? If so, can I have?
I think that since Wallace and Gromit were made of a special clay called plasticine, it probably didn't dry llke pottery clay would. With plasticine, you have to work fast because the heat from the lights can melt it, so imagine what a fire would do.
Awe, darn.
I don't really have the stomach for violence anymore either. When I was younger, I didn't mind. A lot of American entertainment has a lot of gratuitous violence, and it kind of irks me now.
Me too.
I saw 40 Year Old Virgin with a buddy and Dukes of Hazzard and Revenge of the Sith with girls I was dating. I started seeing my wife later that year. Gaming wise, there was Resident Evil 4, Atelier Iris, Final Fantasy XI Online, and especially Dragon Quest VIII, which my wife and I played together.
DQ VIII is a very close second to GOW. I picked it up on some sale, almost as a whim, and quickly both my friend and I got into it. He managed to get to the end but I burned out at just under a hundred hours of gameplay.
Oh I loved God Of War II. I thought it was a better game than the original because of the controls alone. I do believe I waited a bit until the game dropped in price but still played the hell out of it...and again years later in one of those compilation GOW discs.
2005 was all about the PSP, and CSI for me. I was blown away that on the PSP you could put audio files, and video files to make it an all in one system. Of course the one game I played a ton of was Madden because my previous portable Madden was on the Game Gear and it didn't have real teams.
I have that PS3 GOW collection that has the PSP games as well.
I should really get better use out of my PSP. i never used it for anything other than UMD games.
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