Random question: has anyone played Eternal Sonata?  Is it fun?  Worth playing?  I’m usually not a huge fan of J-RPGs but any game that has Frederick Chopin in a deathbed dreamland fighting monsters with his baton alongside a girl named Polka is intriguing to say the least.

Actually Chopin Eternal Sonata Chopin

Now, here are a few of my favorite things.

Movie: Moulin Rouge!
Honorable Mention: Juno
moulinrougeI didn’t love Moulin Rouge! right away.  I remember seeing it in college in our campus auditorium with several people a few years older than me (Matt Heap, Clare, and Darren maybe?) and feeling like it was a pretty solid movie.  Then, I watched it again.  And a few more times, with the commentary.  I don’t know if it’s the perfect sad love story, the musical numbers, or the frenetic acting through most of the first half of the film, but this is a movie I’ll never turn down.  It makes my lips quiver and my eyes water every time.  In a very different way, Juno makes me laugh and cry and want to have a baby with Michael Cera.  I mean, my wife.

 rockin-the-suburbsAlbum: Ben Folds, Rockin’ the Suburbs
Honorable Mention: They Might Be Giants, The Spine
Although I might not qualify Ben Folds as my favorite artist, Rockin’ the Suburbs is an album that is full of tracks I like and I don’t have to be “in the mood” to listen to it.  And you know, “The Luckiest” holds a bit of sentimental value for me.  Alternatively, The Spine is a really fun album and the only songs I don’t thoroughly enjoy are ironically the two title tracks.

lost-logoTV Show (active): Lost
Honorable Mention: 30 Rock
Lost is nothing short of an amazing show, which has managed to evolve without becoming too pretentious or too silly.  Even through commonly-perceived-weakest season 3, I was engrossed.  It’s an epic story and the fact that there’s a definitive ending date makes it unlike most episodic content we get from our TV.  On the other side of the continuity spectrum is weekly LOLfest 30 Rock.  Any show that makes me regularly laugh on average once every 3 minutes is a qualified success in my book.

TV Show (inactive): Slings and Arrows
Honorable Mention: Arrested Development
slings Two years ago, I had never heard of a Canadian show called Slings and Arrows.  Now, it’s probably my favorite show ever.  Clocking in at only 18 hours of television across three 6-episode seasons, it’s something that can be watched in its entirety in a single weekend.  At times funny and touching, all three seasons are constructed masterfully without a wasted minute on screen.  There’s nothing to do when the final half hour of the series plays other than weep.  All three seasons are on Netflix, so you have no excuse not to watch this show.  I’m also obligated to mention Arrested Development on any list of favorites so I don’t lose my cred.

More tomorrow!