Sesame Street Once Upon a Monster: Chasing the Clouds Away

Picture the following: you’re a busy, young, college student. Midterms are happening/approached. You’re in charge of two group projects, where a large percentage of the members show up late to meetings and classes or don’t show up at all. They don’t turn in their work on time, and one person in one of the groups plays the Battlefield 3 Beta during class presentations. You are doing a large chunk of the class project. You start thinking “Argh! I’m so stressed out and angry at my teammates, I could just kill them! ”

Then you think, “Why don’t I kill them" 

“Some of them are my friends, sure, but I only took 4 classes this semester specifically to reduce my stress level. Yet they’re just as high as they were last year! Something has to be done. I’ve seen enough episodes of Dexter to know how to kill people efficiently, enough episodes of Psych, Monk, and Castle to hide my trail, and enough episodes of Mad Man to know how to say witty, awesome lines. Holy shit, I could actually pull this off.”

But that plan is tossed into trash bin the moment you start playing Double Fine’s latest game, “Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster.”

A Few Good Jokes

The Silence of the Lambs: U Mad?

Last year, I took a course in “Story Design and Script Writing”. All the students were required to read through the screenplay for “The Silence of the Lambs” and to watch the film (if we could). I read the screenplay and watched the film. Several times. Something felt off. Rewatching the film and rereading the screenplay did not reveal the secret I was looking for, so I ventured to its Wikipedia page, hoping to find information about the film’s development and reception to understand my feelings. It apparently won numerous Oscars, including the Oscars for Best Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, etc. Why?

I enjoyed the film. (I did!) But what made it so special? What wasn’t I getting? Watching the film one last time before bed, I decided that during this viewing, I would try something interesting: I would attempt to watch the film from Hannibal Lecter’s perspective. And it worked. My mind opened up. I finally understood the brilliance of the film. I accepted the gospel…through my own unique interpretation.

A witty, clever man, down on his luck, must escape to freedom by defeating numerous dimwitted opponents. How didn’t I see it before?

“The Silence of the Lambs” is a comedy, written by Hannibal Lecter himself.

Dragon! Dragon! Rock the Dragon! Dragon Ball Z!

You know what’s fun to do on a Saturday night? Taking a trip down Memory Lane! No, not the bad part of Memory Lane, with bullies punching and cute girls who friendzone you. Not today. I’m taking you to the good part of Memory Lane, with TV shows, video games, and orthodontic headgear. Today, we’re going to one of my favorite spots: Dragon Ball Z

For those of you that didn’t grow up in the 90’s, Dragon Ball Z started off as an anime inspired by the old Journey to the West and ended with muscular monkey men with glowing, golden hair that just keeps growing, destroying solar systems with their fists. Seriously.