The Rabbit Hole

This is a five-point defense of the players who disliked the ending of Mass Effect 3, so naturally there are A TON OF SPOILERS should you choose to read it. At the risk of becoming, as I worried with my roommate last night, the backlash against the backlash, I still find these arguments lacking. There is exactly one point they raise on which I agreed, but that was a logical error so out of line with the events of the ending that, like or dislike, stands out like a colossal WTF?

I hereby resolve to stop protesting against the backlash. Haters gonna hate, I believe, is the thing the kids say. And who knows? If I play through a second time with Renegade Shepard and like the ending less, I might be among them. Bloody unlikely, but we'll see.

What I'm most contemplating now, though, is a re-play through the whole series, stopping along the way to pick up a couple of the DLC adventures from the first two games that I never played. (Yes, you read that right: there was something branded Mass Effect, a video game no less, that I have not played!) I'm still mightily opposed on grounds of fuck EA and their enforced new-game buying tactics, DLC shouldn't be used as a bribe to get people to pay for your game or prevented from having if you don't, etc., etc. But my high and mighty standards stand weak before my love of these games. I don't expect my willpower to last.

In other video gaming news, has anybody out there played Heavy Rain and can anyone explain to me why the game wouldn't be, like, immediately solved by the protagonist just going to the fucking police in the first place!?!? Even with abusive asshole cop in charge of the investigation! It would be better! moonlightalice and wellgull are watching me go through the story--which I bumped down to easy difficulty because the game play is that much not fun--and we're all in fits about how stupid absolutely everything the hero does is. Every five seconds, I'm hissing Call the poliiiiicccccceeeeeeeee.

The internet wins at life again today:

God of War as an indie comedy works astonishingly well.

I guess I need to find a way to watch last night's Supernatural before tomorrow because people seem positively abuzz about it and I don't wish to be spoiled. Stupid TV pre-empt for a football game!!! Oh well, I was out having delicious Cambodian food with my Hermit Crab friend, who I've not seen since she left for Cambodia which is five months gone now. Good times, and a late shout-out "Happy Birthday!" to her.

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Shorter David Brooks: I'm going to ruin the sensible stuff at the beginning by freaking the fuck out at the end. So if you wanted to try and start liking me, I'd stop reading somewhere in the middle of this column.

Sound the trumpets, folks, I sort of agree with David Brooks. The auto industry bailout: not such a fan, actually. It may be necessary and I'm prepared to concede it, but I am not happy about it and I definitely think it should be micromanaged with the threat of "Use it wisely or go bankrupt." Once he gets into the "HOLY SHIT I JUST SAID 'CZAR' FOR THE FOURTH TIME!!!! COMMIES EVERYWHERE!" part, I stopped paying attention.

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I've noticed this, too. I used to have no will power when I went into Best Buy. Last night, I was in the area of one before dinner and dropped by. Zero interest. In anything. I didn't feel like browsing, I just wandered and left. I can't think of the last DVD I bought for myself--must have been back in the summer some time. (That may not sound like much, but trust me, for me? That's amazing.) Maybe there's just not anything there I want.

But this isn't a new development, and of course the economy is to blame. Whether it's broken your bank or not, you feel poor. And I'm already paying for Netflix, so buying seems hardly an option worth pursuing. Hell, feiran and I managed to break our four-year-long tradition of going to see the latest Saw movies in theaters. Still want to see Quantum of Solace though, so maybe these things aren't entirely dead to me.