Pixels to Polys Hall of Fame - Week 7

I’ll be honest, I was tempted to post this weeks Hall of Fame tomorrow out of protest for last weeks tardiness (Anthony…), but there’s no sense in punishing our three faithful readers by making them wait an extra day just because some negligent person decided to have a life away from this blog…seriously Pixels to Polys is a lifestyle! At any rate, this week Pat explores the emergence of 3D platforming plumber-style, Anthony watches a film starring the man with the coolest voice in Hollywood, and I struggle to do a great album justice after academia brutally had its way with me for an entire week…I don’t want to talk about…Here’s this weeks Hall of Fame

The Game: Super Mario 64

Talk about not only game that was great but was a major force in changing the way we play video games. Super Mario 64 took the proven formula of the Mario franchise and evolved the game from a 2D environment into a free-roaming 3D wonderland with large areas to explore and brand spankin’ new mechanics that for the most part were really enjoyable. Miyamoto had actually developed the concept for a 3D Mario game 5 years prior with “Super Mario FX”, but due to the limitations of the then current system it wasn’t really feasible to release the game at that time. I think he made the right choice in waiting as Super Mario 64 gave Miyamoto and the rest of his development team the time to refine that to create a game with great graphics and levels that grave the user an entirely new way to explore the Mario universe. While there has been some criticism of the free camera movement of the game, and I can’t deny at some points it was a real pain in the ass, but it definitely was cool to have the ability to make the character look where you wanted him to look and also see in that direction if not all around him. This is definitely one of my favorite games and one I think I might have to go back to and try and finish completely. Could be a challenge…

-Pat

The Movie: Rear Window

Rear Window is Alfred Hitchcock’s best film. I’ll hear arguments for Vertigo, but nothing else comes close. The 1954 film takes place almost entirely in the apartment of L.B. Jefferies (James Stewart). Jefferies has just been injured, and he is confined to a wheelchair, trapped in his apartment. We are trapped with him. Our perspective is from his window, and like him, we watch the people in his apartment complex, and they become characters in a silent play as we peep into their lives. There is the lonely woman, a beautiful dancer, a tortured artist, and a mysterious man who may or may not have killed his wife. Hitchcock uses the film to comment on the voyeuristic nature of film, but the movie is exciting at it’s base level. Stewart plays Jefferies as a man obsessed, so much so that he barely notices the affection of his (sorta) girlfriend Lisa Freemont (Grace Kelly). If Grace Kelley isn’t the most beautiful woman to ever walk the Earth than she is without a doubt in the top 5. Even Pixels to Polys can respect a classic.

-Anthony

The Album: Jar of Flies by Alice in Chains

Ok here's a confession: when I judge how great a particular band is, I always look to their slow song; all bands worth listening to can craft a deeply personal slow track. Sure this is a flawed critical approach, and yeah, many will call me a depressing person for thinking this way, but there’s something uniquely transparent about a band that can successfully play an acoustic ballad: a talentless band cannot bullshit a slow song. Alice in Chains is one of those bands that screams to be inducted into any Hall of Fame. As I have said before, AIC may very well be the greatest harmonizing band to ever grace rock n’ roll. Throughout their entire discography Layne Staley and Jerry Cantrell successfully showcased their ability to craft pain stricken and often eerie tracks with their signature complementing vocals. Every AIC album is a gem, but honestly, their 1994 EP Jar of Flies steals the show. Like Led Zeppelin III, my previous music inductee, Jar of Flies was distinguished for its departure from the hard rock sound to a more acoustic sound: the whole album is the bands defining “slow song” that I continually search for when listening to music. Jar of Flies can best be described as haunting, and for those that can get into it, it shows that AIC was not just another Seattle-sound group, but a band that could stand on their own two feet in the pantheon of great rock acts.

-Matt