Top 5: Games to Play with a Significant Other

Valentine's Day is drawing near. Love is in the air, tinged with just a hint of desperation and too much focus on buying cheap gifts and chocolate at the grocery store to assuage a gnawing need for mindless calendar-based consumption... Or maybe it's just time to sit down for a good gaming session with a cute game and a cute person to play it with.

Here's my list for the Top 5 Games to Play with that Someone Special.

5. Guacamelee! 

Colorful, fun, adventurous, co-op, and scratching an itch to beat things up and make chicken jokes. That's what I call a good Valentine's Day game. My husband and I first played it when it was free for a while on the Playstation store, and we found we worked well together in co-op. Work in tandem to explore the cool level designs and melee your way to the top.

4. Diablo 3

Diablo works well as a co-op RPG, especially if one person is a little bit better at not-dying than the other. Team up to fight evil and grind through levels and magical items. The story isn't too intense to follow, and I enjoy the many layers of difficulty to Diablo 3. A no-frills playthrough can evolve into a deeper exploration of the expansions or harder difficulty levels.

3. Guitar Hero/Dance Dance Revolution/any singing or dancing or music game

Games like this work on two levels. For a casual or new relationship, it's just kind of fun to play a somewhat silly motion- or rhythm-based game. For a longer and more committed relationship, it's a good opportunity to relax together for quick game sessions or compete to get the highest score.

2. Super Mario Odyssey! 

Another co-op option, especially if one half of the couple is just a little bit better at platformers or just not dying. Mario is always a crowd pleaser for couples with wide gaps in video game interest. Multi-level difficulty is easy to manage as well. For example, one person might control the magic hat, the other controls the Mario, and we all get to have fun. This is another great game for exploration or just playing in small, manageable chunks.

1. Katamari Forever! 

Really, this could be any Katamari game, but my husband and I especially love passing the controller back and forth to try to get the best time or the highest score on a level. Roll up a big, round katamari ball as the Prince of All Cosmos cleaning up after your somewhat distant and gigantic king dad. I especially love playing this with another person because one of you will get to see all the weird side characters and strange things picked up during the katamari process while the player is focusing on their task. As a bonus, the music is intensely groovy. Sometimes I replay the level just to hear the songs.

Honorable Mentions

• Mario Kart (just don't get too competitive and ruin the evening)
• Pokemon Go (for those romantic, Pokemon-hunting walks)
• Animal Crossing: New Leaf (visit each other's towns!)
• The Wolf Among Us (interactive storytelling and great art style - make decisions together!)
• Stardew Valley (especially multiplayer when it's available, especially if you can get married in the game!)

Top 5: Tips for Attending a Convention

Given that it is currently sort of peak convention season time, I wanted to offer my top five tips for attending one. These can be for first-time convention-goers or even for people who maybe haven't been to a con in a while and need a few reminders.

This list is not specific to cosplaying at a convention. Instead it is aimed more at a casual attendee. I can't offer any advice at this time on wearing body paint for eight-plus hours or keeping a wig on. Maybe that will be in another post.

5.) Draft a Plan (and Be Okay If Things Don't Go Accordingly)

My pre-convention routine regularly includes scouting out the website for a prospective schedule of events for about four weeks. No one has to be as silly as I am about schedules, but it does help to have a rough plan or at least a few key things to focus on seeing. For some people this will be autograph sessions or meet-and-greets with writers, actors, and artists. Some people might want to make sure they see a few specific people on Artist Alley or hit up a few of their favorite merchants who maybe only appear at conventions. I usually center my schedule around panels and longer events, such as the Rocky Horror Picture Show Shadowcast or a costume contest. Having a plan involving times, especially for panels and shows, also allows some wiggle room to plan for standing in line.

That being said, don't have a cow if things don't work out. At my first convention I missed both the showing of Rocky Horror (my Plan A for ending the night) and the big costume contest (my Plan B for ending the night) because we didn't get in line for either early enough. We stood there for nearly an hour before being told there was no more room. Don't get too terribly bummed out about things like that. Sometimes it's more fun to just do general sweeps of the convention floor or even get stuck around a slowly-growing group of related cosplayers who keep getting stopped for pictures.

4.) Scout Out Food Options (and Consider Bringing Your Own Rations)

It can be an adventure just to get into a convention. The ones I've been to are inside huge convention centers with a labyrinth of parking, up escalators, on multiple levels. The last thing anyone wants to do after spending possible hours in a car or maybe just a good half hour to park is leave to get food. Sometimes there isn't an option of leaving for the day. Luckily conventions have a variety of foods to offer in a mall-like food court full of wafting smells and No Face from Spirited Away eating a burrito next to a Power Ranger. Unluckily, that food is ridiculously expensive. I once downright panicked when I ordered some pizza and drinks for three people and immediately started doing math to see if we could afford to eat something that night with my remaining money.

I heartily recommend eating before or after the convention and bringing snacks. My go-to snacks are beef jerky sticks, string cheese, and packs of nuts or trail mix. Anything portable, possibly one-handed-eating-friendly, and survivable in a small bag would be a good idea. I wouldn't even trust a drink from the vending machine to be a reasonable priced, so a water bottle and maybe some of those little drink powder packets might also be a good idea.

3.) Budget Thyself (and Accept Treating Thyself Sometimes)

So the ticket is expensive, parking can be expensive, and the food is expensive. Conventions are also a magical wonderland where I can go buy a sword that I've wanted since I was eight years old. And a copy of Leeloo's multipass from The Fifth Element. And the ancient key from The Mummy. And a new Renaissance Faire outfit. And tiny potion bottles. And art prints. And vintage comic books. And...you see what I mean.

My point is that it's very easy to walk into a convention with enough money for groceries for a week and walk out hoping there's enough soup in the cupboard to sustain basic caloric needs. I highly recommend researching everything down to parking and gas and possibly put everything on a pre-paid card with enough cash to buy the products and/or experiences you want at the convention itself. If you followed the previous tip, you'll be able to grocery-shop or set aside food money ahead of time to avoid the dilemma of "con treasures versus $15 in pizza" in the food court.

Work within a budget but, like the advice for making a plan, leave some wiggle room (or just forgiveness) if there's something incredible, life-changing, and must-have-able in a booth tucked into a corner. It will probably be worth it. Once.

2.) Ask for Photos (and Say Those 3 Magic Words "Please" and "Thank You")

Conventions have become especially well-known for elaborate and enthusiastic cosplay opportunities. This simple rule is all about pictures and interactions with people in costumes:

Don't touch people/props/costumes without permission.
Don't take pictures without permission.

The severity of adhering to these rules depends on the demeanor of the person in costume, of course, but I try to be strict with these sort of things. To be fair, I've also been hit in the face with wings and tripped over a dude's dragging Pyramid Head sword as well. The pictures thing sometimes doesn't make sense to people. "They spent forever making/combining/sourcing/putting on a costume! Don't they want people to take pictures?" They probably do. However, they did put a lot of time, effort, and/or sheer bravery into said costumes and also deserve the opportunity to pose and actually show them off properly. A horrifically-zoomed shot of their back and half of their face from 60-feet away isn't the best way to capture that hard work.

What to do?

Ask. Nicely. I'm still working on it myself (which is why I have probably less than 20 pictures of cosplay from my con experiences), but it's that easy. "Hey, I love your costume! Can please I get a picture? Thank you!" That's the script. A few other observances would be to not bother people in the middle of something (like adjusting or fixing a costume, in mid-conversation with someone else, shepherding children about) or eating. Accept "no" as an answer, but also know that the answer will usually be positive.

1.) Wear Comfortable Shoes (and Be Prepared to Queue)

This is the most vital tip and one I've constantly overlooked despite normally being a practical person. Wear comfortable, practical shoes with arch support. Please. All of the conventions I've gone to were held in places with concrete floors. Ask anyone who works in a warehouse what it's like waking around on concrete floors for ten hours. It sucks and it kills feet plus anything connected to the feet. Going to a convention wearing thin shoes with no arch support (such as my trusty Converse) results in slight stiffness, fatigue, and muscle pain at the end of the day. Amble tiredly back to a hotel room, eat some pizza, fall asleep, and wake up to a new day of sheer hell with extreme stiffness and a deep-seated muscle soreness that ages a person 20 years until it's worked out again.

Please. Comfy shoes. Arch support. Otherwise Day Two of a convention involves stopping by the first steampunk booth to get a spiffy walking stick and hoping for the best.

Bonus: Con Gear

I like bringing my ThinkGeek Bag of Holding - Con Edition, a portable battery bank (Anker usually has good ones on Amazon), a FitBit to count the ridiculous number of steps, my 3DS XL for StreetPass opportunities (and for waiting in long lines), and a water bottle to refill.

Have fun out there!

Top 5: Movies I Could Watch Over and Over and Over Again (Netflix Edition)

There are some movies that function for entertainment in the same way that pasta or a quick sandwich function for hunger; they're there, they're good, and they're familiar. This Top 5 Tuesday list focuses on just a few of the movies I've had on constant rotation ever since I discovered Netflix all the way back in 2010. Sometimes you just need background noise, sleep noise, or something guaranteed to cheer you up.

5.) Machete Maidens Unleashed! (2010)
Even though it doesn't sound like that peaceful or nostalgic a movie, it's one of my favorite documentaries to stream when I need to get some work done or I just need to feel inspired. Machete Maidens follows the short but zany boom in American-made B-movies filmed in the Philippines. Directors, editors, and actors recall the Wild West of rubber monster films as they waded into jungles and dealt with the increasingly restrictive Philippines government to make their movies. It's a tidy, authentic documentary filled with '70s graphics and music to accompany stories of exploitation flicks.

4.) This Filthy World  (2006)
Another subculture non-fiction piece, This Filthy World is part lecture and part stand-up from John Waters, the Pope of Trash himself. His tales of childhood obsession, teenage debauchery, and middle-age discoveries are another good source of inspiration, particularly if one is interested in vaudeville or B-movie directors of the 1950s. I've watched it many times, but I always seem to catch something I missed with an additional viewing.

3.) The Story of Film: An Odyssey (2011-)
Though I suppose this is more of a feature-length miniseries, I'm counting it anyway for the sheer length and the number of time I've at least started watching it. I was thrilled to find this on Netflix after devouring Mark Cousins's book of the same name during my junior year of high school. I'm still not sure how we got such a new book in my high school library, but I'm grateful none the less. Cousins's faithful and extensive visualization of his work with film history is so satisfying to watch; it's just voice, essential clips and contexts, and a few clarifying visuals. Be warned: Cousins's soft, lilting voice can have soporific properties.

2.) The Bad News Bears (I'm not even putting a date, because you know I don't mean the remake)
Yes, I have it on DVD. Yes, it comes on TV quite a bit. Yes, it has a number of ridiculous sequels. I don't care. I'm just happy to have the loping, haphazard soundtrack on in the background of most situations. It's a classic summer kid-centric movie, provided that the kids themselves are swearing, fighting misfits with social issues watched by an alcoholic pool cleaner.

1.) Clue (1985)
This may be considered cheating since I've been watching this movie on television and DVD since the age of twelve or so, but it's even more convenient now that it's on Netflix. Clue may be, at least for me, an example of textbook excellent comedy writing. The timing is so tight, the cast is so together, and everything happens inside one big location to contain it all. Murder mystery! Period piece! The soundtrack! Tim Curry! It's so difficult to beat.

Honorable Mentions

• American Scary, Nightmare in Red White & Blue, or any number of movies about horror movies/horror movie makeup/Ray Harryhausen 
• Anything Monty Python, though all of Flying Circus is gone from Netflix now
• Fat Head and food-themed documentaries

Top 5 Tuesdays: Bands Formed in Film

5.) The Wonders

Ah, That Thing You Do. It was filmed in the grand nostalgic tradition of the '90s, coming out as Britpop bands languished in '60s moddish fashions, the '70s was old enough to be thought on fondly, and nobody knew what sort of catastrophe the new millennium would bring. That Thing You Do embraced the early '60s dream of new rock and roll, creating The Wonders as one of the (badum tsh) forgotten one-hit-wonders of the early Beatles era. The songs will likely worm their way into your head long after the movie is over.

4.) The Pussycats

No, not the cartoon. I'm going with the absurd, live-action film remake of Josie and the Pussycats. The movie retains very little pretense of a fourth wall, allowing a ridiculously self-aware plot to plow though early millennium commercialism and self-satire. The band itself shines with the sort of bubblegum, girl-power pop punk that people tend to list as a "guilty pleasure" as they belt the lyrics in the shower.

3.) The Commitments

Not content to be a mere movie, The Commitments is also a stage show still playing. The rough-and-tumble Dubliners make you want them to succeed all while sucking you in with some excellent funk. Even if it doesn't work out in the end, the music has impressive staying power as more than just an earworm.

2.) Spinal Tap

Not content to be a mere movie, the titular band from This Is Spinal Tap became a real band! With tours and reunion tours popping up through the year, it's difficult to not accept the silly power metal band as an actual musical force.

1.) Blues Brothers

Formed from two ace comedians and on a mission from God, the Blues Brothers were only barely contained by their self-titled movie in the '80s. Dan Akroyd and John Belushi made the band official; their "backup" in the film consisted of real musicians and not actors. Hitting up standards and writing their own music, the band continued to put out material even through the loss of Bushemi later on.

Honorable Mention:

The Soggy-Bottom Boys - That outlaw one-hit-wonder from Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?
The School of Rock - The band made up of classically-trained kids and Jack Black
The Lone Rangers - The hot-sauce-gun-wielding band from Airheads 

Top 5: Steve Buscemi Movies

This week’s Top 5 flirts with my extremely varied and often questionable taste in movies. Steve Buscemi, an incredible and underrated actor, always steals the spotlight for me. Even in a cameo role, his mannerisms always stick out and make the film just that much better. What follows is a list based on a mixture of his role and the value of the film in general.

5.) Armageddon (1998) He’s a driller who gets space dementia! I think this says it all.

4.) Airheads (1994) Quite a ridiculous movie, but sometimes it’s hard to resist the cheese factor. Buscemi plays Rex, the bassist of the up-start band The Lone Rangers who get the bright idea to hijack a radio station with Uzi water guns filled with pepper sauce. As a member of a post-grunge thrash band (or “power slop” as the characters agree), Buscemi is again in a minor yet insanely fun role. It’s a fun movie with loud music and rock and roll winning in the end. “Oedipus” Rex, as he dubs himself, just adds to the party.

3.) Con Air (1997) Buscemi is again cast in a small, yet rather deranged, part. In Con Air, he boards the soon-to-be-rioted prisoner plane as Garland Greene, aka “The Marietta Manger”. The sheer contrast between the convicts going mad with power and this gruesome serial killer sitting mildly is astounding. Buscemi works “creepy" very well, and this is a great example. Though I usually stay miles away from the Jerry Bruckheimer explosions-and-crashes sort of film, Nicholas Cage’s horrible Southern drawl and Steve Buscemi’s calm killer character keep me coming back to this one.

Top 5: Things I Learned in High School

Surprisingly, my high school looks a lot like this. Only, you know, it was less impressionistic.

Ah, high school. It wasn't by any means my "golden years", but it taught me a lot about getting over hang-ups with people, culture, and one-dimensional authority figures. The educational system is indeed "the system" yet raging against it sadly won't make much of a difference unless you convince a thousand others to do it too. Here are five extra-curricular bits I learned in high school:

5.) Pity the popular kids, for they wash up faster than a child star's post-pubescent acting career.

4.) Teachers are entirely human and get treated more like high school students than like average, middle-aged respected professionals. This includes, but is not limited to, being picked on for being "weird", taking on way too many projects and responsibilities, getting dreams stomped on by authority figures, and being thought of and labeled as something they aren't at all like.

3.) Feel awkward eating fried cafeteria food with whatever table will take you while working on writing existential  poetry? Just skip lunch! The library is all yours!

Pictured: My sanctuary envisioned via photography by Ahmet Ertug. 

2.) That horribly feared and anticipated "senior thesis" is actually just a research paper and will likely be one of the easiest things to churn out every few weeks in college.

1.) Always, always, always EJECT Firewires, USB drives, and SD cards before yanking them out of a computer. Every time you don't eject, your technology teacher goes just a tiny bit more insane.

Honorable Mentions:

• Always back up an important assignment in two or more mediums. If it's saved on your computer, put in on a USB drive/email it to yourself as an attachment/email it to yourself copy and pasted in the body/put it on Google Docs/save it as an email draft/put it in cloud storage in other areas (Windows Cloud, Zoho, etc.) and go ahead and print two copies of it anyway, just in case.

• Freaking out about things solves nothing.

• High school is the perfect time to have eighty bazillion hobbies to occupy all that time between getting schoolwork done really early and being able to leave the room when a little chirp tells you so.