For the past couple of days I have spent most of my free time immersed in Gearbox’s Borderlands on the PC, which is a statement that reflects well for Borderlands. There is a lot that I like about this game. I like the eccentric characters and their caricatured designs. I like the funny little descriptions that sometimes accompany rare weapons. I like the tongue-in-cheek flavor that is imbued into the writing and the world. I love the Diablo series, and Borderlands really caters to those who enjoy watching their character grow more powerful and hunting for ever better items. Borderlands took those compulsive elements found in Diablo and packaged it into an FPS experience. The result? Fun and addicting.
Now, about some flaws of Borderlands. The enemy variety is lacking. At level thirteen I am still fighting the same kind of monsters as when I was level one. Sure, I may be fighting level twelve raiders now instead of level one bandits, but they are the same type of enemies with essentially the same nature of behaviour and attacks; they are just simply stronger versions. I do not like the checkpoint saving system, which is clearly a consequence of the game being simultaneously developed for the PC and consoles. However, Gearbox should have added the ability for players to save anywhere for the PC version. I found the dialogue sometimes tries too hard to be funny or exciting, when the situation really isn’t. Also there are a few bugs here and there, such as quest/description text not scrolling, and weapons detail text only being able to display four lines despite the fact that the weapon itself can have more modifiers than what is shown. The fix for that, by the way, is detailed and found here at the Borderlands forums.

“I’ve decided not to do it. (brief astonished silence) It’s not that I can’t do it. I just won’t.” That female coworker sure got told!
Well, the second episode was even better than the first. There is a big irony in Tatsuya Taguchi’s, the patient in this second episode, illness. The penis is a, if not the, defining characteristic of a man. Subsequently anything phallic, especially the erect penis, could be a symbol of or associated with masculinity. Tatsuya Taguchi suffers from a permanent erection, but instead of being dominant or strong-willed, he meekly bends over literally to hide his erection, and figuratively to the requests and misfortunes that befall on him. It is only when he loses his erection that he truly stands up (pun intended) like a real man, gaining the confidence and defiance to reject the unfairly demanding requests of his female coworker.
I also thought the picture of him and his wife that he holds so dearly, going into motion showing him standing up and moving away from her, was powerfully symbolic of him finally moving on with his life. That profound moment was greatly aided by the music.

After four episodes, the first story is over. The tragically maligned Ever Laughing Witch’s love for someone in the future, and he, given reason to live after falling for her. After his death they watch the setting sun together in the afterlife. Love transcends time and space, doesn’t it? An overtly romantic message one can take away from this tale. Anyway, most of the members of the Armed Librarians were simply side characters so far, except for the acting director Hamyuts Meseta, who received most of the screentime. I find it kind of cute that despite all her badassery, she knows how to sew. Looks like the next story arc will shine some spotlight on Volken, whose whining, insecurity, and angst have not make him very likable.

Well, after watching Kuuchuu Buranko’s first episode, the show was almost just what I expected. Almost. With liberal use of bright psychedelic colors, character inexplicably turning into animals or different forms, and real life footage mixed with animation, this anime is a little more weirder than I thought. One of the big pluses is that the show is involved with the topic of psychology, specifically of mental illness, which is the most interesting area of psychology to me. To see the doctor, Irabu Ichiro, diagnose and treat the various cases of abnormal psychology is, and going to be, very entertaining in many ways. Kuuchuu Buranko has an unique presentation, quirky humor (I find Fukuichi suddenly appearing to lecture and particularly his animation, amusing), deals with a cerebral subject matter, and on top of all that good stuff, occasionally educational too. This just might be a praiseworthy title in this dismal anime season.

Yesterday night I saw Zombieland. I have not seen a zombie comedy film since Shawn of the Dead. The former is not quite as funny or iconic as the latter, but there is a big portion of laughs to be had. I use the word “portion” because the movie is not all about humour, because about halfway through Zombieland a love plot arises. Unfortunately this subplot is rather banal. There is the usual building of trust and candid dialogues between the boy and the girl. Eventually it involves the main character, Columbus, to face his greatest fear to save the damsel in distress and rescue the girl. How did he do it? A few seconds and two whacks with a mallet. Highly underwhelming. It is as if the romantic plot was written into the movie to give it a more substantial development, as well as creating an easy place for the movie to end (main character gets the girl, the end, despite the fact that the whole country is still a zombie infested wasteland…). Otherwise, Zombieland would be little more than jokes and zombie slaying, not that there is anything wrong with that. Actually, I think the movie would have been better had it simply focused on that, just like Shawn of the Dead did. As for the characters, Tallahassee stood out above the rest, as he was both funnier and deeper than the rest of the characters combined. Although Zombieland’s potential was limited by the inclusion of a pedestrian love story, the humor comes frequent and strong enough to be worth a watch.