DK Tropical Freeze advice 🏝️ ❄️

🦍 I’ve been meaning to write more here, and I’ve got my eyes on video games at this crazy time of self-quarantine. Before I post my Top 30 list (and articles), a warm up: the Nintendo Switch.

Donkey Kong Country (SNES) is one of my all-time favorites (Top 30, probably higher), so I decided to buy the Switch version of the 2014 “sequel”... Tropical Freeze.

It was on sale on the Nintendo eShop thingy. And holy shit, is it hard. It’s way hard. 🦧 The developers knew this, so they provided some much-needed mercy in spots. Here are some tips for you Switch players:

1. Play as Funky Kong. Don’t even think about playing the classic way.
2. Play. As. Funky. Kong. He hovers! He has more hearts! 
3. Use the alternate controller config. The action went way smoother after I could use X and Y to grab.
4. Play thru once (and beat the game) without worrying about all the secrets.
• Once ready, this GameXplain video will help.
5. Learn how to high-bounce off an enemy.
6. Get all the gold Banana Coins you can. The 1-Ups and bananas don't really matter.

You will get better. There’s so much to unlock here, that the replay value (once you get over the hump) will make the game quite enjoyable.

I really wish I had the advice above when I began! 🍌🍌🍌

Best of the Year 2019: Movie (Oscars edition)

TL;DR: I think Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is hand-crafted to win Tarantino the Best Picture award.

I saw a lot of movies in 2019. In my catching up, I've seen almost all the Best Film nominees. Maybe it was off-year, but I don't feel like there's stand-out classic that just screams to be "the best". I haven't yet seen Marriage Story. I don't think I'll ever see Jojo Rabbit. And Little Women is probably a no-go. Maybe the worst blockbuster was Star Wars IX, but I may post about that psychological tornado later.

I think history will remember Tarantino's Pulp Fiction as his best film, but his magnum opus is probably ...Hollywood. Think about the Academy voters--those Boomers will gobble up the heavy LA nostalgia. Meanwhile, the Gen-Xers will just blindly vote anything Tarantino. It's a shoe-in.

http://www.nombres-animados.net/Letra-O/Oscar/Nombre-animado-Oscar-18.gif

Here's my list of best seven eight of 2019:

• Avengers: Endgame
• Doctor Sleep
• Glass
• Knives Out
• Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
• 1917
• Parasite
• Us

I didn't pick a best. Maybe Parasite? I'd bet Uncut Gems is awesome too, but I haven't yet seen it.

P.S. Joker is good but overrated. If I hadn't seen or heard of King of Comedy I would probably think Joker is the best.

Best of the Year 2019: Song

Instrumentals (no lyrics) aren't included in the list...

Sebadoh
"Celebrate the Void"

Kim Gordon
"Air BnB"

Health
"NC-17"

Ride
"Repetition"

Battles (with Tune-Yards)
"Last Supper on Shasta, Pt 1"

Show Me the Body
"Arcanum"

Joji
"Sanctuary"

UNKLE
"Crucifixion / A Prophet"

The Who
"Ball and Chain"

Best of the decade 2010-2019 (music album)

An absolute metric ton of music comes out in 10 years. For me, what I listened to most (as an album) was Waaves' Afraid of Heights. Here's a list of 25 or so (in reverse alphabetical order):

Movies (and TV seasons) watched in 2019

Starting in 2018, like Steven Soderbergh, I kept track of all the movies (new and old) that I watched over the course of 12 months.

For 2019, here's my list. Looks like there's about 130!