I saw Pacific Rim and it was amazing (spoiler free)

I was totally looking forward to seeing Pacific Rim. Pacific Rim promised giant robots fighting giant monsters, with the budget and the creative direction that such an awesome premise deserves. I watched it with my wife, who was at least as excited to see it as I was, which is really saying something. But since we had built up the movie to such a ridiculous degree, could it possibly live up to our expectations?

The answer is a 25-story-tall "YES."

Pacific Rim looks amazing and I can't wait to see it

I have been geeking out about the upcoming movie Pacific Rim ever since I first heard of it If you haven't yet, you owe it to yourself (and your inner 12-year-old) to watch some of the Pacific Rim trailers on Apple's iTunes Movie Trailers site. Pacific Rim features giant robots fighting to save the world from giant monsters, and it is directed by Guillermo del Toro, so you know those giant robots and monsters will look great. Best of all, Pacific Rim comes out this week!

With the movie so close to release, my geek-out level is approaching dangerous levels, so I thought it might help stabilize my inner fanboy to talk about my expectations. To keep things simple, I will use an approach that my 12-year-old self would have approved of, and split my thoughts into things that are awesome and things that are dumb.

1000 is a badass series of animations you can help fund on Kickstarter

Imagine a vibrant, urban fantasy world featuring magic, demons, vampires, dragons, and more. It sounds like the premise to a great pen-and-paper roleplaying game, comic book, or video game, and maybe some day it will be! But first, 1000 will be a series of 90-second animations... if it succeeds in its Kickstarter. This project looks like the start of a creative and exciting new setting, and the fact that it's on Kickstarter means that anyone can help it become a reality. You can learn more about the project by visiting their page on Kickstarter.

Things that make me frustrated with video games (and why I shouldn't let them)

Nobody wants to be this guy
(If you don't know who this is, look up "angry german kid" on Youtube, but turn down your speakers first)

Normally I love playing video games, but there are times when they make me very frustrated. The scary thing about frustration is, you're often not aware of how frustrated you are or how you're displaying that level of frustration. Recently I was playing a stage in Double Fine's Brütal Legend and, though I didn't feel like I was exceptionally frustrated (I certainly wasn't swearing, shouting, or pounding the keyboard like the angry German kid), it was unpleasant and frightening to my wife. That got me thinking about the reasons I get frustrated, and the ways in which I can get over them and enjoy the game without losing my cool.