From Pixels to Polys Hall of Fame - Week 5

Just when you thought the weekend was never going to get here. Pixels to Polys is here to kick start your weekend off right. As always offering you our top three picks for the week to be added to the halls of glory and possibly your Netflix/Gamefly queue. This week Matt explores the joys of chuckin' bombs and controllers, Anthony listens to a depressing album of electric jazz, and I decide its time to take a day off. Enjoy the weekend kids.

The Game: Mega Man II

Mega Man II is one of those games that miraculously seems to climb Top 100 game lists as the years go on…kind of like the Blade Runner climbing movie lists. Unlike Blade Runner, however, I won’t be satisfied until it ends up in the Top 5. Hope I’m not sounding like a grizzled old man, but most games these days are planned out for years with full support from huge gaming corporations; they offer a relatively easy challenge, convoluted play control, and enough cut scenes to induce suicide. Not worth remembering. Back in the day, however, II was different. Mega Man II was a labor of love, made afterhours without pay due to the poor sales of the first title. It’s extra attention shows. I actually don’t know where to begin praising this game; the list could go on for days. Without question there hasn’t been a game made in the past 10 years that could stand toe to toe with II. It’s damn near flawless. Impeccable play control, decent NES graphics, and the best soundtrack of that generation, Mega Man II had it all. But of all the things to praise Mega Man II for, I find its unrepentant love of difficulty the most worthy. I dare you to play this game without throwing a controller, it's just not possible. In the end, the blue bomber has earned its place in the pantheon of great games: Mega Man II is God.

-Matt

The Album: Radiohead - Kid A

The constant need to change and grow throughout a career is typically a contentious issue among fans of that band. Like Metallica’s move from thrash and speed metal to hook-laden-hard rock, as a band changes they will inevitably face backlash from fans screaming sellout. Try and imagine Radiohead, returning in 2000 after a 3 year hiatus after the release of art-rock classic OK Computer, arguably the greatest album of the 90’s. A sequel to the guitar rock of OK Computer must have seemed assured, but the opening track “Everything In It’s Right Place” plays up the strange electronic and jazz stylings that comprise the bulk of Kid A. From the beautiful and haunting “How to Disappear Completely” to the driving electronic beats of “Idiotique,” Kid A is less about the individual tracks than the album in it’s entirety. Radiohead released no singles from the album, but it still was their first to debut at the top of US sales charts. The fact that lead-singer Thom Yorke said that the album is partly about “the generation that will inherit the earth after we’ve wiped it out” is indicative of how cheery the music is. Like all great albums it is depressing. Like all great albums it gets better with each listen. It is challenging, rewarding, fascinating music.

-Anthony

The Movie: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

This is the quintessential movie to cutting away from the day. While it's an old flick starring Matthew Broderick when he is seemingly not old enough to grow a stache, and I think he still struggles with that, it is one of those oldies that has to be seen and appreciated.
What better way to spend a day than to skip school and involve your obsessively pessimistic best friend as well as your girlfriend. Throw in some very devious methods for getting around the administration and not only hoodwinking them about your own absence but getting them to release your compatriots to take off in a “borrowed” 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California.
The flick is filled with everything the ultimate hooky day would be. Messing with the system, driving around in an amazing car, going to a ball game, and add in the fact that your dodging an over zealous principle who knows that something is going on, but is never quite there enough to prove it. With the added fact the Ferris turns out to be a jokester genius; turning what seems to be every failed attempt to enjoy the day to the fullest into something even more grand than he originally planned. Of course there are some hiccups that come up along the way, but it wouldn’t be exciting if everything went according to plan…

-Pat