The Crazies – Timothy Olyphant is the sheriff in a town where the residents are affected by a toxin which turns them into violent psychopaths. Olyphant, along with his wife Radha Mitchell, join up with other unaffected townspeople to fight for survival.

Cop Out – Bruce Willis is a veteran NYPD cop whose rare baseball card is stolen. Since he planned on selling that card to pay for his daughter’s upcoming wedding, he joins up with his partner Tracy Morgan to track down a memorabilia-obsessed gangster. Directed by Kevin Smith.

It’s time once again for everybody’s favorite game of hypotheticals. This time we’re exploring the ladies of everyone’s favorite mind-f*ck Lost. PS – Ladies… feel free to use Jack, Sawyer, Sayid, Locke, Ben, etc… we’re equal-opportunity here @ Shamoozal.

You know the rules, you gotta pick one for each category…. F*ck, Marry, Kill.

Hit the jump for the Choices:

The Informant – Matt Damon is Mark Whitacre. He is high up in ranks at an agricultural company but decides to flip and turn mole in order to give evidence to the FBI about price fixing. The FBI soon find out that Whitacre isn’t the easiest person to deal with due to his bending of facts. Directed by Steven Soderbergh (Ocean’s Trilogy).

The Box – a young couple (Cameron Diaz & James Marsden) receive a visit from a mysterious man (Frank Langella) who presents them with a special box. This box contains a button that when pressed provides the couple with a million dollars but also kills someone, somewhere. The person who dies could be anyone so the couple weighs their options. Directed by Richard Kelly (Donnie Darko).

Everybody’s Fine – Robert Deniro plays a lonely older man who lost his wife. He desperately wants his children to all be together again but a family problem is keeping them from their recent visit. Deniro then travels to each of their houses to see them. They all try to keep the problems with one of their siblings a secret from him. His kids are played by Kate Beckinsale, Sam Rockwell, and Drew Barrymore.

Over the weekend I was interviewed by Karen Demsko of Color the Grayscale and the podcast went live earlier today.

Head on over to here if you’re interested in a somewhat more personal interview than normal. I go into a history of Jacquo the Rabbit, talk a bit about more life outside of Shamoozal including what I do for a living and some of my more terrible experiences, and of course talk a little about games and art as a whole. Plus I also spend half the time stumbling over words, so there is that too. Enjoy!

All the best metal comes from the lands of vikings, I’ll stand by that statement til the day I die. Ensiferum represents some of the best of the best. This track really shows off their range as it breaks down into a ‘Spaghetti Western’ style around the 3:10 mark and then launches into a blazing banjo solo at 6:05. You can find more info about Ensiferum here. I celebrate their entire catalog.

Shutter Island – Shutter Island is a mental institution housing some criminally insane patients. When a psychotic killer disappears from her cell, US Marshals (Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo) are called in to investigate. Also starring Michelle Williams and Ben Kingsley. Based on the novel by Dennis Lehane (Mystic River). Directed by Martin Scorsese (The Departed).

In limited release is the Roman Polanski thriller The Ghost Writer starring Ewan McGregor as a writer who uncovers secrets in the British government. Also Happy Tears about a couple sisters (Parker Posey & Demi Moore) who return home to take care of their father with dementia (Rip Torn). Finally The Good Guy starring Alexis Bledel in a love triangle.

Law Abiding Citizen – A family man (Gerard Butler) witnesses the death of his wife and daughter. When the judicial system fails to bring the men responsible to justice and instead convicts him, he sets out to get revenge on his own. The prosecutor (Jamie Foxx) behind his unjust deal gets involved.

Coco Before Chanel – this is the story of Gabrielle Chanel (Audrey Tautou) in her days before becoming world famous fashion designer Coco Chanel. It shows her early days when she was poor living in an orphanage learning to sew and making some unique designs.

Black Dynamite – Michael Jai White stars as Black Dynamite, an ex-CIA agent who is looking to avenge the death of his brother who was killed by drug dealers, aka THE MAN. He karate chops his way deeper into a conspiracy. A spoof of 1970’s style blaxploitation action films.

This week I present “Used for Glue” by the band Rival Schools from their 2001 album ‘United by Fate’. If that name sounds familiar it might be because of the 1998 Capcom fighter “Rival Schools: United by Fate” for the Playstation. Rival Schools was founded by NYC hardcore legend Walter Schreifels (Gorilla Biscuits, CIV, Quicksand) as a departure into more of an alterna-rock style. This song takes me way way back and makes me want to break out some JNCO’s.

I can’t believe I was 8 years old when Super Mario Brothers 3 was first released on the NES. I had been lucky enough that SMB3 was released around my birthday, and being that my birthday and Christmas was the only time I would get new video games, I knew that this was my one moment to own the game. The fact that this is one of the very few birthday presents that I can recall opening up first thing that morning says something about the game. I remember peeling back the wrapping paper and exposing that bright yellow box. When all the paper was off I looked at that cover of Mario flying in that raccoon suite for a few minutes and the very idea of actually holding onto Mario 3 with my own hands finally struck me. I now possessed Mario 3, and I knew it was good before I even played it.

The build up to Mario 3 was rather incredible. Thinking about it, up to that point Mario 3 had to be one of, if not these most hyped game up to that point. There really wasn’t such a thing as a hyped game in those days. Sure there was licensed stuff that people couldn’t wait to play like Batman and Ninja Turtles, but nothing video gaming could claim as its own that the public was fully aware of. These days its common to find big marketing muscles behind stuff like the latest Halo, Call of Duty, or hell, even New Super Mario Brothers, but at those times it was unprecedented. Heck, Super Mario Brothers 3 essentially had a movie built around it in the form of The Wizard which hit theaters two months before Super Mario 3’s release. Talk about genius marketing. Then there was this commercial, which proved that in 1990, Mario Mania was at one of is heights. I would have said it’s peak, but looking at the sales of games like New Super Mario Brothers Wii, DS, and Mario Kart, the guy has never been stronger.

The Wolfman – Lawrence (Benicio Del Toro) returns to his homeland where his brother has gone missing. Villagers are being killed by some kind of beast. He reunites with his estranged father (Anthony Hopkins) and his brother’s fiancée (Emily Blunt) to search for his brother but is attacked and cursed by the beast.

Valentine’s Day – several stories intertwined together viewing the make ups and break ups of couples and singles on the romantic holiday, Valentines Day. Directed by Garry Marshall (Pretty Woman) and including an all star cast of Julia Roberts, Jamie Foxx, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Alba, Jessica Biel, Bradley Cooper and more.