Left 4 Dead, with its bare bones premise (get from point A to point B alive) is a kick in the pants to the ever-increasing monotony of the shooter world. The tension of the random and occasionally overbearing encounters makes me feel alive and brings out a visceral reaction that I haven’t had towards a game in a long time. I can easily say it was highly worth the wait.

Earlier this week my wife and I discovered that occasionally a TV can live up to the massive amounts of hype poured over it: Mad Men. The show is set in the world of the Madison Avenue advertising industry in the late 50’s/early 60’s and drew out an “Oh my I LOVE THIS” in the first five minutes of the first episode. We’re only three episodes in but we have the second disc of the first season chilling at home drawing us towards it’s cigarette smoke-filled and scotch-soaked haze.

That’s about it for me this week. What’cha Been Up To?

HOLY CRAP I’ve actually been playing something! Fable II has been monopolizing my gaming time just as the first one did when that came out oh so long ago. This sequel is more like an improved version of the first one which is completely fine with me. There’s more to do and what you choose has a more lasting and real affect on the world. I find myself splitting time with doing primary quests and just messing around. It’s become somewhat of a mini game to see how many wives I can accumulate but that quickly becomes a bit much to handle, much like what happens in real life. I’ll probably talk a bit more about it on the next BitCast.

Last night the wife, our friend and I went on a Friday Night Lights season 3 binge. I’ve been accumulating the episodes since this new season began and this was the first time we watched any of them. If you’ve never seen the show you might think you have to be a big football fan to enjoy it which really isn’t the case. The show really revolves around the characters and their relationships living in a football-obsessed town. The relatively unknown cast know their characters really well and that helps to let yourself get absorbed into their world.

This week in music has been filled with binging on The Decemberists since I’m going to their show tonight in Philly. They’re a very unique band in terms of sound and lyrics. I’ve often described them as “colonial”, like they should have been making music in the American Revolution period. Really they should be a really pretentious band but they’re melodies and hooks make them very welcoming.

That’s about the size of it for, What’cha Been Up To?

I haven’t been able to get back to Fable II since the other morning with the Phillies in the World Series and all but I plan on spending a bunch of time with it ASAP. The games have run late and eaten up all of what is usually my late night gaming time. I have been able to dabble in a few smaller games like Peggle Nights and World Of Goo. There’s something a bit off about Peggle Nights to me, like the level design this time around is sort of “cheap” in a way that’s designed to make you fail. I can’t really put my finger on it but something just feels off. World of Goo is a great time as those of you who heard Dan talk about it on the most recent BitCast. I’ve also been missing out on all the zombie fun in WoW, I’ll have to make time for that as well.

Last week the wife and I saw Nick And Norah’s Infinite Playlist which was a fun little movie. It’s the sort of film that really appeals to me since it has music as a central part of the characters and a story that takes place all in one night. Kat Dennings has eyes that you just want to dive in to and Michael Cera brings his wonderfully crafted awkwardness to another role (it’s his one note trick, but damn it’s a good one). Naturally the soundtrack kicks ass too.

About two years ago a coworker gave me a copy of The Who’s Quadrophenia album and for some reason I never listened to it. Probably because I’m not the biggest Who fan on Earth since a lot of their stuff strikes me as somewhat corny and inconsistent. I’m a big fan of most of Who’s Next and some of their early stuff but I wasn’t prepared for Quadrophenia, that album kicks a whole shit ton of ass. It’s exactly the way I want The Who to sound all the time.

That’s about the size of it for me, What’cha Been Up To?