Day Three Hundred and Sixteen - Lego Marvel Superheroes: Maximum Overload, "You know what? It's not bad."

Despite the fact that The Lego Movie trailers have been looking more and more cute and entertaining, currently available Lego-brand series like Ninjago and Clutch Powers haven't exactly kindled the strongest feelings of confidence within me.

Still, I've been on a Marvel kick lately thanks to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Thor: The Dark World and seeing folks play the video game for Lego Marvel Superheros has kind of intrigued me, so I decided to give Maximum Overload a shot... and, you know what? It's actually pretty cute.

To be sure, it's definitely vanilla and dumbed down, relying on sight gags like Wolverine kebab claws and meta in-jokes like Spiderman's angst runs, but there are quite a few clever moments and never do I feel like the properties are being exploited too much. Sure, there's no way in hell that Lego Loki has the charisma of Tom Hiddleston, nor do Tony and Pepper strike the right chord in their dynamic that I'm familiar with both from the movies and the comics, but Spidey is pretty spot on concerning his quips and it all feels much closer to the current run of Ultimate Spiderman when it comes to the television universes.

I'm also kind of impressed that the female characters aren't sexualized like their comic and movie counterparts. Yeah, it's a little hard to do that sort of thing visually, considering the trapezoidal boxes that comprise all Lego figures (aside from Hulk and Abomination), even if they still have painted on cleavage, but there aren't any written gags that trivialize them as sex objects either and that's something of an accomplishment, I think... even in kid friendly entertainment.

I also like how short it is. Clocking in a twenty-two minutes, it moves quickly from scene to scene, giving Loki time to annoy quite a few parties in the Marvel universe before being easily thwarted by the arrival of his brother, Thor, who can fill in the blanks via first-hand exposition.

Finally, I think I should mention the little gags. Whether it's the red 'Exit' sign in Loki's ice palace or "Code Five, no Six," there are just the right amount of silly jokes and asides that make this tiny commercial for the game (and, let's face it, that's what it is) actually palatable on its own and really rather effective as advertising. I do have the urge to buy the game now that I've seen this short little episode, in the hope that the relatively catchy writing and humor carries over.

If you're looking for anything deep, keep scrolling as there are most assuredly better offerings available on the Instant Stream, even when it comes to comic properties, but for fans of the Marvelverse looking for light fare and parents looking to introduce their younger children to comic book movies, Maximum Overload is right up your alley.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~

Day Three Hundred and Fourteen - TEDTalks: Life Hacks - Jane McGonigal, "Games = Life Well Lived"

Scrolling through the almost endless plethora of documentaries and reality shows that Netflix offers, I was confronted with a very disturbing thought: there is just SO MUCH CRAP out there that it's hard to find something worth watching. Cake Boss, Comic Book Men, Extreme Cheapskates (I shit you not)... I just really, really don't watch to watch these tributes to American Pseudo-Exceptionalism.

Now, don't get me wrong, there are plenty of feature-length documentaries and very entertaining "science" shows that I dig watching. I do love me some Mythbusters and am really intrigued by A Band Called Death... it's just, I didn't want to invest a lot of time today. A half hour is about all I can book and still get my NaNo wordcount in (over 30k and counting, btw, on track to finish this coming Saturday).

So.

Short bursts of informative, possibly inspirational non-fiction programming? TEDTalks. Has to be. And, today, I went to the Life Hacks season of TEDTalks that are available on the Instant Stream and clicked right to episode 2, Jane McGonigal's talk on "The Game That Can Give You 10 Extra Years Of Life."

Intriguing, no?

It turns out that Jane is a game designer by trade, go fig, and that she really thinks (and I agree) that time spent in games actually ISN'T wasted time, lost man-hours or moments of family time. Instead, it's a great way to BE connected to your families and friends, to play your idealized self, and reduce stress at the same time.

But, more than that, you can make a game that can help you live longer.

Jane has a personal story to tell... one of constant pain and mental torment where suicidal thoughts pervaded her waking moments, which were tortured enough as it is due to the aftereffects of Traumatic Brain Injury. In order to combat this morbid thought spiral, she enlisted people she trusted to help make a game out of her recovery. And it worked. It worked so well that she shared this process and, to folks around the globe, her SuperBetter concept helped others not only survive, but thrive during and after their own health trials.

And THIS... is what I LOVE... about TEDTalks.

Where smart, creative people share these relatively small ways to make life BETTER. Kudos to you, Jane McGonigal, in nineteen minutes you managed to make me cry and smile, get my butt into motion (however briefly), thank dear friends for their help and support, and watch a kitten call its mother, all in the interests of better living through games. Thank you.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~

Day Sixty-four - Code Monkies: Episode 1, The Woz, or "It's the little things that make it okay."

It's been a hellabusy day, today, so I really didn't have time to dive into anything of much length or depth. That said, I bit off a semi-palatable chunk of the pixel-art video game series Code Monkies.

Now, let me start off by saying that it's cheese. Unadulterated, non-pasteurized cheese of the stinkiest variety. The opening joke is the jackass of the show humping his computer monitor in order to get it to unfreeze... or pleasure himself, one of the two... or both.

Either way, you know you're in for lowbrow humor of the stupidest, most cliche variety.

Raising Hope, anybody?

So, nominally, the premise of the series is that it centers on a group of video game programmers in the 80's back when graphics were terrible and the first crash was looming.

In addition to being stereotypes and misfits, all of the ensemble cast live in a pixelated world that actually resembles the games they create.

Take the moment where one of the two leads, Jerry, has to jump over a spike pit to get to a company meeting and loses a life using the Megaman death animation.

To be honest, that's the main appeal of the series to me... granted, there's the nostalgia factor of all the old game references, but the magical realism of these characters navigating game levels as just a normal part of their every day lives is just enough surreality to tickle my funny bone... a smidge. I mean, I'm never laughing out loud for any of the show's moments, but they garner more smiles than Family Guy ever seems to.

Really, I think it has to do with the lack of depth. All of the characters are horribly two-dimensional... which I think is the puntastical point. It's cute, but never really goes anywhere... as I'm not a fan of shows where everything ends on the status quo. Sure, that's not the main drive of the series, which is just to sell nostalgic video game one-liners and scat/sex humor, but that's the way I want it.

Since it doesn't deliver on what I want (versus what it really is), it doesn't get more than a passing glance when I'm bored. It's silly and stupid and mildly amusing, but only for when there's nothing else in the queue that's better... which is, thankfully, quite a bit actually.

But, hey... they managed to get Steve Wozniak to guest on the pilot... so... pretty cool for them, eh?

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~