What I've been reading/watching/whatever.

Good evening, my dear men and women of the blagosphere, and welcome, to another installment of What Kyle's Been Reading/Watching/Whatever. I'll keep this brief, as I only have the attention span to put down so many words at any given time. As many of you know, I write reviews, and in my opinion, I write damn good ones. Thus, here are my musings on the things I've been doing as of late.

What I've Been Playing.
Only recently, I beat a game that I had absolutely fallen in love with. L.A. Noire, developed by Rockstar games, is a game that takes place in, as the title would suggest, in Los Angeles, specifically during the years immediately following World War 2, as well as the Pacific campaign that went along with it. Crime is running rampant, women are being murdered in broad daylight, illegal surplus morphine has made it onto the streets, and as Cole Phelps, rising star in the LAPD, it's your job to put an end to all of it. Now, there are two ways to describe this game, but the first, and simplest one, hardly does it justice. The first way of describing it is, "It's Grand Theft Auto, except you're a cop." However, I personally prefer The lengthier, and more in-depth way; L.A. Noire is an interesting hybrid of a classic point-and-click detective story, which manages to utilize an extraordinarily detailed facial reconstruction system to create very well-made interrogation sequences, made greater by a stellar cast of semi-recognizable actors, and a third-person action game.Quite frankly, although I seem to be gushing about the game right at this very moment, it is not as perfect as I make it out to be. The body animation has yet to catch up to the faces, resulting in a very awkward juxtaposition between marionette and human being. The interrogation is overly simplistic, and yet simultaneously quite luck-based, in my opinion. (Although I am certainly willing to admit that that judgment may simply arise from my being absolutely shite at reading people's faces.) The clue finding can get a bit repetitive, and can occasionally turn into an irritating version of the game hide-and-seek. However, I found that, when playing through this game, I didn't generally seem to care. I played through the entire game, and remained very attached to the story, and to the character. I'll admit though, the game REALLY grabbed me in the last two or so hours of play, but due to a secret code of honour that I, as a critic, have been sworn to take, I cannot divulge any of its secrets.

On a completely separate note, I have also really started to enjoy, of all things, Shaun White Snowboarding, produced by Ubisoft. Now, I feel bad for liking this game. To be perfectly honest, owning it kind of makes me feel like a douchebag. And yet, I find something uniquely zen about going down a mountain at mind-blowingly high speeds. So, there's that.

Also;

• Skyrim
• Skyrim
  
• Skyrim
• Various illegally downloaded Gameboy Advance games from CoolROM.com. But please, don't tell anyone.

What I'm Listening To.

Recently, I've become absolutely enamored, entranced, and enraptured by a British indie rock band by the name of the Arctic Monkeys. Specifically, I've become addicted to their newest album, Suck It and See, which was released on June 6 of last year. Now, the first thing you really need to know about Suck It and See, is that it projects this beautiful air of nostalgia, of young love, of taking chances, and not having a care for the future. Throughout the album, the music, for the most part, is very light and airy, and yet simultaneously quite firm and present. This, combined with vocals that sound very distant and displaced, results in an almost sad yearning for a time when things were simple, and there was no big, black storm cloud of causality hanging above your head. All-in-all, I beg you check out the Arctic Monkeys. I'm sure you won't regret it.

In other news, there have been a few things released since my last set of reviews that I would love to call attention to. First of all, PROTODOME, the artist responsible for the wonderfully cheerful album BLUENOISE, that I mentioned last time I did this, has come out with a new album, BLUESCREEN. Now, BLUESCREEN is certainly a call-back to BLUENOISE, but it is also vastly different. BLUENOISE marked itself with saccharine-sweet chiptunes (For those of you unfamiliar with the term, I would ask that you check out my personal favourite of the genre, a beautiful combination of chiptune and classical music.), whereas BLUESCREEN, while still staying true to its roots, seems to draw most of its influences from jazz, even including a live saxophone on one of its ten tracks. BLUESCREEN is free to download, and is worth every megabyte.

Lastly, I can't go through this article without first mentioning what I found to be the most exciting, but also the most frustrating musical development of the past few months    The Black Keys, who are quite possibly my favourite band ever, released their new album, El Camino, on December the 6th. This is exciting because, as you already know, I absolutely loved the single they released from the album, Lonely Boy, and I'm happy to say that the rest of the album is just as awesome. However, this is frustrating, because I am not the best music critic, and unable to describe my love for this album in words. So, just get it. That's literally all you need to know.

Also;

• Tree of Knowledge - yogurtbox
• Ravenmark, Scourge of Estellion - Josh Whelchel
• We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank - Modest Mouse
• Rubbber Factory - The Black Keys

                                                              

Well, that's all for today, folks! I promise though, this segment isn't done, not by a long shot. After all, I still have TV, movies, and literature to cover. You see, this article is a two-parter! I'll have the second part up sometime this week or next, but don't worry, it will most definitely get done. (I hope.)

To be continued...