It has been a long time coming, but here is the download version of Shamoozal Radio #29 from earlier this month. To be honest it’s been a while since the podcast so I don’t remember the full details of everything we went over, but I do know there is more about our plans for the rest of the year, like our upcoming NES Marathon and my trip to MAG Fest, along with a brand new game from Jim in which we need to figure out which of his Trenton stories is the false one. There is a large Nerd News segment along with our Whore Daddies and Clutches. Buckle up and cherish this one because this is our final podcast for the 2009!

RSS Feed
Subscribe to Shamoozal Radio with iTunes

I don’t know about anyone else, but not only is Thanksgiving a time to meet up with family and friends and eat plenty of food, it’s also a time where I get to play plenty of games. For me, there isn’t much better than vegging out on a Thanksgiving day and playing lots of games before and after the festivities. In fact, several of my favorite moments in gaming history are tied to the holiday.

Maybe it’s sad that I remember this but I remember playing Ocarina of Time on Thanksgiving day and loving it to pieces. This was around the time in my life where I had my first job and Ocarina was one of the first games I bought with my own hard earned money. I remember pretty clearly spending the day running through the belly of Lord Jabu-Jabu and capping off the night with a trip through the Forest Temple, which is probably my favorite dungeon of any Zelda game ever. Looking up the date, it’s hard to believe that was over 10 years ago. Time sure is flying.

I also remember two years later spending my Thanksgiving night playing tons of Final Fantasy 9 on the original PSX. I had to be in at work on Black Friday by 4 AM, so I thought maybe it would be easier if I tried to stay awake the whole night instead of going to sleep and waking up early. I played FF9 for hours that night until it was finally time to go into work, in which I completely regretting staying awake about 2 hours into my shift. That was one heck of a day, that’s for sure.

Don’t let the title fool you. I am a fan of the Thanksgiving holiday. I just think it is greatly overlooked in this day and age. Christmas comes as soon as October sometimes according to department stores, TV commercials, and radio stations. Everyone forgets a great family holiday that isn’t overshadowed by presents and greediness. Thanksgiving is just about getting together as a family, throwing back some cold ones, and stuffing your face. The only thing to worry about is making sure your turkey is cooked right. There isn’t a need for presents or even that much money to be spent. Now I know there’s history behind the actual holiday, just like Christmas is about the birth of Jesus. But lets be real, to most people it’s more about what you do as a family tradition. I’m not bashing Christmas, I actually love Christmas. I love it in December. Not October which is Halloween month for me. Or November which is Thanksgiving month. I look forward to my Mom’s cooking and spending time with the family just shootin’ the breeze.

Fantastic Mr. Fox – Angry farmers are sick of sharing their chickens with a sly fox so they look to get rid of their opponent and his family. Stop motion animation from writer/director Wes Anderson. Voices by George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, and many more. Based on the children’s book by Roald Dahl.

Old Dogs – Robin Williams plays a successful businessman whose world is rocked when a former lover comes back into his life to introduce him to his twin sons. When he finds himself in charge of the boys, he enlists his best friend and colleague, played by John Travolta, to co-parent. From the director of Wild Hogs.

I have been wanting to write about Uncharted 2: Among Thieves since I finished it well over a month ago. The thing that sucks about putting stuff off like writing thoughts on a game that you finished a while back is that you start to forget certain aspects about it. I’m always against typing up some sort of review coming hot off a game because many times you lose perspective. With a game like Uncharted, it’s easy to get lost in all the glitz and glam since the game plays out like an incredible roller coaster ride. What isn’t there to like about an intense hour long train ride sequence, you know?

So here I am, attempting to write about Uncharted 2 yet again. I haven’t touched the game since I finished it, which sucks because I wanted to at least try out some of the online stuff, and I do have every intention of playing it again on a harder difficulty setting. Unfortunately it’s been so long since I played the game that the whole experience kind of feels like a blur now. I know I loved it, and I know I can’t wait to play through it again, so I guess that is the biggest stamp of approval I can give the game.

If I were to sit here and type up a normal review of the game, it would literally echo what I wrote about the first game. Uncharted is fantastic, Naughtydog has some of the most capable writers, animators and designers of any company out there. The tech in this game is impressive as heck, and the fact that Nate’s character model looks light years better than his old one still sort of blows my mind. So much has already been said about Uncharted 2 elsewhere that I feel like I don’t really have anything new to bring to the table, so why not complain about some of it? I don’t really see anyone complaining about anything from it, because there honestly isn’t much.

Angels & Demons – Tom Hanks returns as Robert Langdon, a Harvard symbologist who once again has to race against time to solve a puzzle with religious undertones. The Illuminati, a secret society, is putting in motion a terrorist attack that could destroy the Vatican. Adapted from the Dan Brown novel. Directed by Ron Howard.

Funny People – George Simmons (Adam Sandler) is a stand-up comedian who learns he has a terminal illness. He then has a desire to form a genuine friendship with a relatively new performer (Seth Rogen) who he takes under his wing. Also he tries getting the girl that got away (Leslie Mann) even though she’s married to a crazy Australian (Eric Bana). The third film directed by Judd Apatow.

Four Christmases – A married couple (Vince Vaughn & Reese Witherspoon) must attend four Christmases due to both sets of their parents being divorced. They must do it all in one day while keeping their sanity due to the dysfunctional relationships. Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek, Jon Voight, Jon Favreau, and more also star.

Well it’s getting close to that time of the year again when the Shamoozal crew gets together to raise a few bucks for charity by sitting around and playing a bunch of NES games live over the internet. Last year we had two marathons, one during the summer and another at the end of the year, so while this is our “Second Annual” Marathon, it’s really our third charity drive.

The action starts December 12th and will go on from about 12pm to 12am est. The actual charity we’ll be donating too is actually still up in the air, so if you have a charity you’d like to support, why not suggest it to us? As of now details of the event are sort of scarce, but I promise you’ll be hearing much more about this in the next two weeks. I’ll of course have a video to help promote the event, and I’ll dive into more stuff like the games we’ll be playing, prizes to be won, ect. Just think of this as a “Save the Date” type of deal for now.

Please look forward to it!

Being a long time fan of the Ninja Turtles, I was not only shocked to find out that I had no idea about a brand new feature length cartoon that was in the works, but was already being aired on TV the moment I learned about it. The premise of the new cartoon is to celebrate 25 years worth of Ninja Turtles legacy in an hour and a half, and celebrate it they do.

The idea is that the Ninja Turtles from 2003 end up in the same dimension as the Ninja Turtles from the original 1987 cartoon series. Eventually, the 8 Turtles even meet up with their black and white comic book counter parts. Along with all the different versions of the Turtles are also different versions of Shredder, April, and Splinter along with classic characters like Krang, Bebop and Rocksteady.

I only caught the final 20 minutes of the show on Saturday morning, but as it turns out CW Kids will be airing it over the next three weekends, so I already set the DVR for next weeks showing. From what I saw, I had some mixed feelings, but generally I loved the idea of it. Of course the story your standard Saturday morning cartoon nonsense, but then again, I guess Saturday morning nonsense is what I loved so much about the Turtles back in the day.

The Twilight Saga: New Moon – Bella’s blood is shed in front of Edward’s family causing them all to go crazy. So they decide to leave the town to protect her. While they are gone, Bella starts living recklessly in order to get the feeling that Edward is still around. All the while she is being comforted by Jacob who turns out to be from a family of werewolves.

Planet 51 – an astronaut lands on a planet inhabited by extra terrestrials but since he invaded their home, he is considered the alien. He befriends a young resident who helps him evade capture so he can find his spaceship and return home to Earth. Animated film featuring voices of Dwayne Johnson, Seann William Scott, Jessica Biel, and others.

Star Trek – the origin story of James Kirk (Chris Pine), Spock (Zachary Quinto), and the rest of the crew of the USS Enterprise. They are assembled from the Star Fleet Academy and put up against a renegade Romulan, Nero (Eric Bana) who is destroying planets and Federation ships. Directed by JJ Abrams. Written by Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman.

Bruno – Sacha Baron Cohen once again takes on a different persona. This time he portrays Bruno, the flamboyantly gay Austrian fashion reporter who tries to fit in with Americans by adaptaing to their lifestyle. Based on Cohen’s character from Da Ali G Show. Directed by Larry Charles (Borat).

My Sister’s Keeper – Abigail Breslin is looking to earn emancipation from her parents, Cameron Diaz and Jason Patric. Until now they have relied on Breslin to help keep their leukemia stricken other daughter alive but Breslin no longer wants to give up her life for the other girl. Directed by Nick Cassavetes (The Notebook).