On Forgetting 9/11

Talk to most people and they'll tell you where they were on September 11. they'll tell you where they were when the first plane hit, where they were when the first one came down and where they were when they heard one crashed in the field in Pennsylvania. Maybe they were at work, maybe dropping kids off at school, maybe the woke up to it or or were about to go to sleep before it. But they can all tell you where they were.

Tuesday was the eleventh anniversary of that tragic day. The ceremony was held at Ground Zero of course and it was televised but all the major networks both in America and abroad. Vigils were held, tears were shed and silence was given. But while attention was definitely given, it seems in a way that now that were past ten years the scar seems to not only be healing but disappearing. And that's good but it could hold dangerous repercussions.

Tuesday the Today Show on NBC aired coverage of the September 11 memorial through its Today show. However unlike other networks it was not the sole focus. At the precise moment of silence, when the first plane hit, NBC wasn't airing the memorial like CBS, CNN or even Fox. No they were doing an interview, it wasn't with a victim, or a soldier, or even a politician. It was with Kris Jenner.

If you don't know Kris Jenner, she's the mother of the now for some reason famous Kardashian sisters, as well as starring on their show. She was on the Today show to talk about how they just wrapped up filming Season 7 of Keeping up with the Kardashians and her recent boob job. Just a couple of blocks away the President and thousands of others grieved for the murders by extreme religious psychopaths. Do you see a problem. NBC made a truly heinous decision here, but one has to ask why?

Simple, because people are getting over the grief of 9/11. There coming to terms with it and deciding that, yes they should be remembered but it shouldn't be the only the thing to think about that day, afterall other things are happening in the world: what about the jobs report, what about the escalating civil war in Syria, what about Kris Jenner's new breasts! NBC simply delivers what they think people want (which includes not wanting to see the paralympics), and this mantra is followed by others. The New York Times didn't have anything about the ceremony on the cover. It can be good to move on from tragedy, it helps the recovery process for everyone from the normal man on the street to the families of the victims. It also helps the Muslim community because as your grief goes down than your anger and wishes of revenge against what you perceive as the enemy goes down as well. So they're definitely good things about moving on.

But the dark side of that coin is stark. If you forget 9/11, you'll never remember 9/11 and the lessons that must be learned. Because 9/11 must always be remembered. If you think of yourself again as the impenetrable nation, as the Achilles of the world, than this will only happen again. If you stop airing the ceremony to talk about a woman's silicon implants that hurts the country plain and simple. Stop shame on you NBC but remember, NBC is simply the painter who paints whatever you desire.

The Best of 2012 (so far): The Rest

So I pinpointed what I thought of what I thought were the best games, movies and TV series of the year. For some there were some surprising omissions and for others I didn't talk about other pieces of entertainment like literature, comics and music. So this for those people.

First off new albums that I loved this year, include Metric's Synthetica, Marilyn Manson's Born Villain, the new Bruce Springsteen, Van Halen and Beach Boys albums. In terms of comics, buy Saga. It is amazing, if a comic that combines Star Wars and Game of Thrones doesn't catch your interest nothing will . China Mieville's books are currently disliked by myself but his work on turning the formerly shitty 70s Dial H concept into a deeply bizarre piece of science fiction/fantasy blend. Also from DC Earth two is a fun book that is better than the actual Justice League book (I'm only buying until the Shazam backup becomes its own book). From Marvel the first issue of the new Hawkeye series caught my interest, and the new Captain Marvel series is another one to pick up as you pick up the Marvel NOW reload thing. Finally if you ever wanted a political drama mix with Close Encounters than buy Saucer County.

Books are a bit harder for me. Not because I don't read quite the opposite, I read much buts usually catch-up of reading recently critically acclaimed books from years past or reading/re-reading the classics for example I'm reading Ben Hur again instead of 50 Shades of Porn. But books I've read this year that I love include the fun Arabian influenced fantasy novel Throne of the Crescent Moon, the hilarious SF comedy Redshirts, the gripping thriller Gone Girl, Hilary Mantel's awesome new historical fantasy Bring Up the Bodies, and Martin Amis' wonderful new book Lionel Asbo.

Now on to why certain things didn't make my list first up being film. The Hunger Games isn't on my list because while I don't hate it, and I think its not a bad movie, it didn't really grab me perhaps because of the lack of violent detail the books certainly had. The Dictator was very funny at times, but nothing came close to Borat or even Bruno and it was full of painfully unfunny tropes. Men in Black 3 was a terrible, terrible movie and I hope and pray they don't try to make a fourth. Prometheus was a movie that I liked but definitely thinks its a lot smarter than it is and is plagued with plot holes. The Amazing Spider Man might actually the second best Spider Man movie but that doesn't raise it above being just good.

In terms of new TV shows obviously there wasn't a lot of great, but that's standard before the fall releases the deluge from the big 4 networks. A lot of friends of mine were disappointed with the death of Alcatraz, but I thought it was an awful idea and execution of a TV show with sub par writing and a terrible hook with prisoners popping up. Smash wasn't a bad show, its first season was mediocre at parts by I think it has the making of being a pretty good show. House of Lies seemed to go back and forth between episodes in being very funny and painfully unfunny, so I'm mixed or maybe that's just me wanting Don Cheadle to do more movies. Touch was good at showing how capable an actor Kiefer Sutherland is outside of Jack Bauer, but didn't really hook me so I stopped watching. Finally I was very excited with the return of Dallas, and I liked its return but it needs to bump up the writing because this show could be just as great as the original but for now is a sub-par imitation .

Finally video games and here only two need to be addressed Fez, Diablo III and Max Payne 3. First off Fez,  Fez is a good game however I don't think its a great game or the next Braid or Limbo. Its gameplay mechanic is fun and intriguing but its full of pretention of greatness. Like puzzles that involve morse code or barcode scanning. Still not bad just not a favorite. Max Payne 3 is fun but contains serious problems in the story and character department. First of all while nihilism is fine for a character its important to have moments of enjoyment to balance it something that Max Payne does not receive in 3. I'd actually like to get into this with more detail at a later date so more on this than. Diablo III isn't a bad game either but to put it bluntly I never had much fun with it. Maybe I'm simply bored of the dungeon crawler or the was annoyed by paper thin random dungeon mechanic. I don't know why I didn't like it as much as so many others but I definetly knew not to put it on my list.

The Best of 2012 (so Far): Video Games

Everyone knows that the games industry releases its best and brightest in the fall, leaving the months of January through August to have a couple of big hits, lots of indie games and sports simulators. So the games that end up on this list fall directly in to this camp, I mean I have 3 downloadable games on a best of the year (so far) list. You never see a downloadable game win best of the year. But I guess that's better to highlight them here before all the big sequel heavy fall season.

The Walking Dead
Yes, as of today not all the episodes have been released but each chapter can be bought as a separate game so shut up. Yes a point and click adventure game is one of the best I've played this year, but its been a while since I've played a branching story line in a game with choices this tough. Based on similarly grey TV series and excellent comic book series , this game has re invigorated my interest in the point and click genre and the concept of episodic games. This game has some of the best writing of the year and the most interesting characters. The puzzles sometimes leave a little to be desired in challenge but the story just sucks you in like water going down the plughole.

Spelunky
Funny how much XBLA kicked ass this year outside of the actual Summer of Arcade which was full of games that ranged from sadly mediocre (Deadlight), to annoying (Hybrid) and obvious cash grab (Tony Hawk). But right outside that lay the super fun but extremely difficult lay Spelunky, the XBLA version of Demon's Souls. Spelunky is like a retro throwback to the days of gem collection, cavern exploration and controller throwing difficulty. Yes Spelunky is a wonderful little game that will kill you as you try to survive but also search for treasures, although if you die its back to the beginning of the game although its almost always your fault not the game's. Its a game that rewards careful planning, exploration and patience.

Mass Effect 3
The only real blockbuster to be released so far this year, Mass Effect 3 is fantastic from start to finish. Yes I said to finish because the ending is good people, it fits perfectly. If you didn't like it fine but remember the whole game is the ending of the series not just the last five minutes. And what an ending it is. I can't yet call it the best game in the series because of the equally fantastic quality of the Mass Effect 2. But the shooting is tighter than its ever been, the story&writing are fantastic, it's full of tragic, exciting, and breathtaking moments. It's just a fantastic game that demands to be replayed by importing different saves just to see how much the story and moments can change.

Journey
So far this is my favorite game of the year, possibly one of my favorite games in a couple of years. Game after game, year after year Thatgamecompany has been pumping out some fine examples of artistic games that understand the importance of theme, beauty and fun. But if one problem had to picked from there previous games flOw and flower it was that it created an interesting and emotional narrative. Journey fixes this problem by revolutionizing co op, play in Joseph Campbell play-set, look better than dozens of 60 dollar games and cause myself to experience some of the broadest emotions a video game has ever done so. So yeah that's where the bars at for game of the year.

Spec Ops: The Line
I want to tell you what makes Spec Ops The Line one of the best games of the year (so far), but I can't. I can't because what makes this game a revolutionary experience I'd have to talk about the story, which would be spoiling one fucking emotionally deadening story. Lets say that I thought I knew this game when I started playing, that it would be a Gears/CoD rip off with sand. But no, no it is not. This game uses its narrative to really say something about war, PTSD and the nature of video games as a whole. Its multi layered, grim as hell, deeply thematic, the adjectives stretch on to the horizon. Its just a game that you must play if you care about the concept of games as an artistic statement, or you love games that care about melding gameplay with story. This and Journey are games that simply must be played.

Okay so this special recommendation goes to recent Sleeping Dogs. The game has problem in its story and shooting, but this is one fun open world game that mixes the best of GTA and Yakuza, with some solid graphics and writing thats definitely worth playing.

The Best of 2012 (so far): Television

At first this list was incredibly difficult to write because simply of the mass of good shows out there right now, Game of Thrones, Walking Dead, Mad Men, Community, The Borgias, Parks & Recreation all deserve a spot on here but a thought came to me at the last second, that people already know about those shows, and it would be more productive to point out instead the best new shows of 2012. Further note however is that this sadly omits British, Japanese and other foreign television because I simply haven't looked at some of there most recent critically acclaimed shows. So onward

Girls
Wow just wow. I heard about Girls, or more specifically the backlash against Girls when it premiered, and I have to say that in terms of marketing that's a great way to attract viewers. So I watched the first episode and I was hooked. Lena Durham knows how to make a funny TV show. But not just a funny show, a funny show with depth and insights into the female experience of the twenty-something years. Its been a long time since I've seen a TV comedy worth writing a university paper on, perhaps since Arrested Development. Girls really deserves to be viewed by even more people because without it, well be trapped in a world where the best female comedy representation will be 2 Broke Girls and Whitney.

Awake
The tragedy of the year so far for me is the excellent psychological cop drama Awake. I mean here's a show that plays with my head like a (good) Stephen King novel. But while the acting is amazing, the premise sucks you in immediately and the concept of solving crimes by jumping between a real and fake reality is just, for a lack of a better word awesome, the show must be looked at as a casualty. Awake is now gone, because not enough people watched it, meaning I blame you. No Awake just should never have been put on NBC, it should have been on Showtime or HBO, or its own feature film. Now the story is forever unfinished but the amazing first (and only) season still deserves to be watched. Lets make this a Firefly.

Veep
I'm a big, big fan of Armando Iannucci's British political comedy and swear-fest, The Thick of It so now that he's turning his eyes to the office of the vice president, you now have one more reason to watch his stuff. Veep is very, very funny. Not as funny or insightful as The Thick of It, but Julia Louise-Dreyfus and the rest of the cast makes this show infinitely watchable. Political comedies seem to be a rarity this side of the pond, and all the rarest examples need to be gobbled while we got them. Plus you'll never see another show where the Vice President shits herself. Veep is getting a second season and I'll definitely be tuning in to it just to hear all those amazingly creative swears. And Mike, because Mike is fucking hilarious.

Magic City
I don't actually love this show like how I love Veep or Girls but that doesn't mean Magic City is bad. Magic City probably was the easiest pitch ever, The Sopranos + Mad Men, and its first season is very much like Mad Men in many ways. However the show plays with the corruption and mafia intimidation in Miami circa 1959 in a novel way and the show has plenty of good actors playing good characters. But the show sometimes feels a little too much like a copycat of Mad Men, so I hope the second season carves out its own identity and tightens up the plotting. This could be a really great crime drama for Starz, so here's my tip of the hat to them as they head for there second season.

The Newsroom
Me and the Newsroom had a fun ride. I actually stopped watching after episode two because it started to show colors of extreme liberalism that occasionally turned me off the creator, Aaron Sorkin's previous show The West Wing. Now while I am in no way a conservative, extreme liberalism can turn me off because it thinks that its so fucking perfect for every situation. I was told however to keep watching. I did and now I'm in love with this show. The show actually used its liberalism as a plot point and apologize for it later on in the season. Yes the show is presenting the perfect news anchor and news show but it's a great show for revealing the ugly undercurrents of American tragedies, best done perhaps by actually talking about real events. I would recommend the show tune up in making me care about more than only the main players but that's really the only critique I have for the fantastic show. This has been a good year for HBO.

Special Mention: While I haven't seen every episode of Gravity falls I can tell you I hope this gets more of a following because this a funny show thanks to ever imaginative and clever writing and a great pair of performances by Jason Ritter and Kristen Schaal .