‘The Last Jedi’ provides new thrills … and a familiar feel

I think I’m done with the business of ranking Star Wars movies.  “The Last Jedi” has done me in.

I could make a pretty compelling argument for this being one of the three best movies in the franchise.

I could also make a pretty great case for it being one of the three worst movies in the series.

It doesn’t make a great deal of sense to me to spend time or energy trying to come up with a proper ranking at this point, especially with it still being so fresh.  There are probably better pursuits a person can engage in.

Such as ranking porg appearances!

Just kidding, but yes I wanted to put some thoughts about the new movie down for posterity.  And its capacity for keeping folks like me unsure about its place within the saga is as good a place to start as any.

Continue reading ‘The Last Jedi’ provides new thrills … and a familiar feel

The best Super NES games of all time

Ranking Super Nintendo games is basically an impossible task. Go through any “best-of” list around the interwebs and you’ll see an absolutely loaded selection of games, featuring some of the true all-time greats.

Looking through the selection of games for other video game systems, I have little doubt this was the greatest console of all time. There’s just so much depth.

So how do you sift through all of that?

After making my own list, I still don’t know.

I do know my inspiration came about in part because of the release of the Super NES Classic, a retro system release (featuring 20 games from the original lineup … and one new one) which I recently read has been outselling “new” consoles like the Switch and Playstation 4.

That it’s resonating in a major way is no surprise to me. I bought one myself!

Read on for a list of 30 reasons why Super Nintendo nostalgia is at an all-time high.

Continue reading The best Super NES games of all time

Some fun holiday videos

Pretty happy with how these both turned out.  First up is a video on the holiday display at the Roosevelt which is an important piece of the Christmas tapestry in New Orleans.

Continue reading Some fun holiday videos

Some Super NES Classic thoughts

If you follow me on social media, you know I recently succumbed to my nostalgia and purchased a Super NES Classic, the retro re-release of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System that originally made its debut in late 1990.

It’s been 27 years? Holy crap, I’m old.

Anyway, this was mostly simpler than you might expect given Nintendo’s notorious supply and demand issues. I woke up a little early and hung out at Target for an hour before they opened. The other people in line were all remarkably friendly and the whole affair was civil and organized.

Props to Target! And props to Cait for waking up early and ferrying the kids to school for me!

So I am now in the process of playing all of the games that come pre-installed on the system. This is a treasure trove of some of the best video games that have appeared anywhere at any time. Instead of listing them here, I’ll offer some of my thoughts on a few of them, as well as the system itself. Later on down the road, I’ll do a ranking of the best games on the original system … after I’ve had a chance to play some of these classics I’d never gotten around to before.

So here goes:

Continue reading Some Super NES Classic thoughts

Top 10 Star Wars Trailers

(Note: This was previously published May 2017. I have edited the rankings to reflect the new trailer released since then.)

A new Star Wars trailer is here!  A new Star Wars trailer is here!

Ahem, excuse my delirium.

Honestly, when “The Last Jedi” teaser trailer dropped, I was perhaps more intrigued than flabbergasted.  As my better half stated, “There’s a lot to unpack there.”  And there always is, which makes the release of any new Star Wars trailer always a fun occasion.

I’m not going to spend a lot of time here analyzing the thing … pretty much any nerd with the ability to pause and an encyclopedic knowledge of Wookiepedia is going to do a better job of that than me anyway.

No, I’m falling back into my comfort zone of rankings.

Here, without further buildup, are my picks for the 10 best trailers (including teasers) in the history of Star Wars. (I will edit this list as new trailers are released.)

Continue reading Top 10 Star Wars Trailers

Let’s do a preseason Top 25!

This is some mix of how I rank the teams now before the 2017 season, and how I see it ending up … which should line up more than it sometimes does in these kinds of lists. Some folks will be like, “I rank Clemson No. 1 because they’re defending champs even though I predict them to lose five times this year.” This is not that … I want this to reflect this year, not last.

Anyway, here’s how I see it.*

* Most of this will be comically inaccurate, but that’s part of the fun. I know this going in.

Continue reading Let’s do a preseason Top 25!

Beignets = Not Overrated

Beignets are lovely.

That’s my stance, and I’m sticking to it.

I think the tendency for New Orleans residents is to reject “touristy” spots, and that’s fine to a point.  When your opinion becomes invalidated due to overwhelming evidence to the contrary, I don’t know that trying to cling to the notion of “touristy = bad” is going to do anyone a whole heck of a lot of good.

Though on second thought, if it keeps the crowds/lines a bit lighter, I’m for it. (More for me!)

Continue reading Beignets = Not Overrated