Beating A Dead Horse

When looking over my list of things from 2009 I start to realize that things released in 2009 had little to do with my actual obsessions of the year. Most of the music I listened to in 2009 was not actually released in 2009, same goes for the movies. So I thought I'd make another more random list of things I discovered or rediscovered in 2009. Some of the same rules apply as before, hopefully you haven't heard of them, oh and also, it can't be on the previous list (there were quite a few things on there that really did grab me). Ok, let's begin shall we.

Plants v.s. Zombies: Now how the hell I didn't list this on the previous post is just crazy. This game is one of the best I've ever played. A tower defense game where you plant ... plants to defend your house against zombies. You have only a certain number of seeds available to you and you must balance your strategy around sunlight (which get's tricky at night). If anything, this one had me and the girlfriend discussing strategies on plant selection, sunlight distribution, and tactics against various zombie types, and any game that can do that is a keeper in my book. (Plus this effin song)

Magnolia - Paul Thomas Anderson: Yes, 10 years after this movie was filmed I finally got around to watching it. I liked this so much I rented it again later on during the year. This movie is phenomenal, a story about how lives criss and cross around L.A. and how little decisions of one person can have profound effects on strangers, and how these strangers are connected in surprising ways. Much like Haggis' "Crash", but infinitely better in my opinion.

The Road - Cormac McCarthy: This novel is a masterpiece, McCarthy is a genius, and you should read this book. That is, provided you have the stomach for it. It's very very dark, and hard to digest in big pieces. Take it slow, put it down when you need to (I had to a few times) and you'll find one of the best morality tales ever told.

Picross DS: Oh my did I play this game a lot during the summer months, that is until Scribblenauts came around (which actually caused me to mostly ignore my DS shortly after). This is a cleverly addictive puzzle game very much like sudoku, but in my opinion far far far more fun. I have a thing against sudoku (not that I don't think it's a great game), but that's for a later post.

Jungle of the Midwest Sea - Flatfoot 56: I had a huge thing for Celtic Punk this past year. I decided against listing any Dropkick Murphys or Flogging Molly since you've probably heard of them already. Flatfoot 56 is one of the best groups I found during this obsession. Imagine a Christian Celtic Punk band with more energy than the Dropkick Murphys ever muster, and now imagine that they really effin rock. Don't believe me, check them out here and here.

The Crane Wife - The Decemberists: In 2009 I finally listened to my friend Mike and purchased "Piquaresque," and thus started my obsession with The Decemberists. He'd been pestering me about this for years, and I do mean years, and for good reason. These guys are amazing, if you haven't heard of them pick up any of their albums really, I listed "The Crane Wife" here because it's my favorite, but they're all excellent.

Torchlight: How did I not have this on the last list? This is what I mainly played while studying for my oral exam. I'd study for hours on end, and then go rot my brain on the most colorful and most cartoony diablo clone known to man.

Music From Regions Beyond - Tiger Army: 2009 was for discovering new genres, one of those was Psychobilly, a strange little mixture between punk, rockabilly, and um horror movies I guess? Well this album, from Psychobilly regulars Tiger Army, takes the genre and runs with it in all sorts of directions. Pulling influences from new wave, country, and hell even emo to make a crazy wonderful combination.

Re-Animator: A movie in one of my most favorite genres (the horror comedy), and also based on an H.P. Lovecraft story. The movie is really funny, over the top, and manages to be quite tense (using clever camera work) to make a movie deserving to be listed with the likes of "Evil Dead 2" and "Dead Alive." Plus the ending was fucking perfect.

With Love And Squalor - We Are Scientists: A perfect send off to the whole theme of this blog. We Are Scientists aren't really scientist (nor brothers as it turns out), but they are fine musicians. They remind me of They Might Be Giants in the way they're songs are catchy in such a subliminal way. Check them out, they're fine.

Oh and one last thing:

Braid: If you haven't heard of this game by now you need to check it out. It's a play on the age old mechanics of Mario brothers by giving your hero, Tim, control over time. At first it's controling time, back and forth, but when you come across objects that aren't affected by your manipulations, well then you start seeing how ingenious the puzzles can actually be. Plus another thing where I can say the ending was fucking perfect.

Oh and just look at the art, that tends to be what I always say near the end huh? (The name up there was not changed to protect my anonymity, mainly because thousands of people out there have friends named Mike).