The Republic of Thoronia

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So, this is our third annual holiday gift guide, three years running, that’s right! Anyway, what you’ll probably notice is that we’ve combined the best of the year list with the holiday list. Why? Because we’re pretentious like that and figure that if it’s not good enough for the residents of Thoronia it’s not good enough for anyone. Anyway, here are our medium-favorites and our recommendations for who you should buy them for!

MUSIC

1. Nick Cave — Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!
   • Perfect Gift For: Aging rockers who don’t get to hit up the record store’s as much as they used to.
2. Hercules and Love Affair — Hercules and Love Affair
   • Perfect Gift For: People who like to dance in their cars and in their showers, but not in public.
3. Fleet Foxes — Fleet Foxes
   • Perfect Gift For: That brother or sister who really likes mainstream rock and has been teetering on the “indie” fence for a while.
4. Sigur Rós – Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
   • Perfect Gift For: The Aunt that really likes Pete Seeger, that weird whale mating music disc and Tangerine Dream.
     
5. Lindstrøm — Where You Go I Go Too
   • Perfect Gift For: The cousin that’s been a bass-head for so long is brain is numb.

Lost and Found from Long Ago (our favorite old records that were new to us this year)

1. Lucia Pamela — Into Outer Space with Lucia Pamela
   • Perfect Gift For: Your roommate who keeps playing Daniel Johnston records.
2. Magma — 1001 Centigrades
   • Perfect Gift For: The dad or uncle that was really into Yes but never bothered to check out what the French Experimental Prog-Rock scene was like (and who did, really?).
3. Simon & Garfunkel – Complete Columbia Recordings
   • Perfect Gift For: Mom.
4. Tommy James and the Shondells – Travelin’
   • Perfect Gift For: Your friend or family member that won’t shut up about “how great this song is” every time “Crimson and Clover” comes on, but doesn’t actually own any of the bands albums.
5. Byron Lee and Mighty Sparrow — Only a Fool
   • Perfect Gift For: The weird aunt that collects frogs and didgeridoos.

GAMES

GAME OF THE YEAR Metal Gear Solid 4 (PS3)

Perfect Gift For: Anyone with a PS3. Hell, buy them a PS3 so they can play this game.

ROLEPLAYING GAME OF THE YEAR Fallout 3 (PS3/XBOX 360/PC)

Perfect Gift For: The weirdo in the family who is really into 1950s style nostalgia… and nuclear war.

ACTION GAME OF THE YEAR Far Cry 2 (PS3/XBOX 360/PC)

Perfect Gift For: Your brother who could always find new and creative ways to kill ants (he was way passed the whole “magnifying glass trick” on the first day.

PLATFORM GAME OF THE YEAR/MOST CREATIVE GAME OF THE YEAR Little Big Planet (PS3)

Perfect Gift For: Anyone a bit “over” Mario, aspiring game designers and everyone with a heart.

BIGGEST LET DOWN OF THE YEAR Dead Space (PS3/XBOX 360/PC)

Perfect Gift For: People who just love, love, love, love, love horror games… because nobody else is going to think this game was worth a damn.

MULTIPLAYER GAME OF THE YEAR Left 4 Dead (XBOX 360/PC)

Perfect Gift For: Anyone that plays a lot of games online and is looking for a new experience. Or kids that need to make some friends and learn social skills and team work.

SPORTS GAME OF THE YEAR NHL 09 (PS3/XBOX 360)

Perfect Gift For: Any fan of sports games. Even if you don’t like hockey games.

BEST USE THE FPS FORMAT WHILE TRYING SOMETHING NEW GAME OF THE YEAR Mirror’s Edge (PS3/XBOX 360)

Perfect Gift For: The videogamer in the family that has every game, plays every game… chances are they passed on this excellent little innovator.

BEST REMINDER OF HOW FREAKING HARD GAMES USED TO BE Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (PS3/XBOX 360)

Perfect Gift For: Sodomists, adults that have fond memories of Ryu, quarters and painful hours of that one kid just going back and forth across the screen as M. Bison.

BEST GAME ON THE GO Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (DS)

Perfect Gift For: That cousin that owns a DS specifically so he can continue to play new versions of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night on the bus.

BEST GAME TO DUST OFF AND PLAY AGAIN Tossup between: Syndicate and Full Throttle.

Perfect Gifts For: The older gamer who still has his Pentium II with Windows 2000 loaded up.

BOOKS

This year we’ve been living in unemployment, living through Grad School, and living through 40 hour job+Grad School, so the books list is a little shorter than usual…

1. Roberto Bolano — 2666
   • Perfect Gift For: Book lovers who like the feeling of being lost, confused and rewarded.
2. Chuck Klosterman — Downtown Owl
   • Perfect Gift For: The writer in the family who balances fiction writing with feature writing.
3. David Sedaris — When You Are Engulfed In Flames
   • Perfect Gift For: That lovable uncle that listens to This American Life every Sunday afternoon and then tells you about the episode on Monday.
4. Oliver Sacks — Musicophilia
   • Perfect Gift For: The estranged friend who happens to really enjoy music and… neuroscience. You know the friend, the one that can have all the fun stripped out of something and still enjoy the science of it all.
5. Michael Chabon — Maps and Legends
   • Perfect Gift For: The aspiring author of any age.

MOVIES

Yeah, we didn’t have a lot of time for movies this year, so the list is a little… bleh.

1. Wall-E
   • Perfect Gift For: The one person in the family who didn’t already buy this for themselves or for someone else.
2. Funny Games
   • Perfect Gift For: Family members that enjoy it when movies screw with them, use meta techniques and creep the living daylights out of them. See also, Schizopolis.
3. John Adams
   • Perfect Gift For: The history buff will love this movie, and they probably haven’t seen it because we all know that history buff’s tend not to want to spend the extra money a month on HBO.
4. Encounters at the End of the World
   • Perfect Gift For: That strange friend that is super into Antarctica for no apparent reason. See also: The Endurance: Shackleton’s Legendary Antarctic Voyage. Oh, and South, By Ernest Shackleton… and why you’re at it The Birthday Boys, Shackleton, The South Pole by Roald Amundsen…
5. Iron Man
   • Perfect Gift For: Um… um…. nevermind, 90% of America already owns this and its on 100% of the DVD holiday gift guides.

So, here in Thoronia we have been epically busy living life, running things into walls and making stories. So, we’ve been a bit out of date when it comes to our usual selection of reviews on stuff and things, comments about worlds and other various tidbits of information. So, we’ve compiled it all here into one post. Tons of reviews of things, pointless arguments and opinions about random stuff. Why? Because we are well aware that the Republic of Thoronia is your number one place for news and reviews, and you value our opinions far more than everyone else’s. Right? Break!

» Read the rest of this entry «

Happy 4th of July American’s! We don’t celebrate it here in Thoronia, but to those of you in America — may your country be good and strong and keep out of trouble for another year!

• If you’ve ever cheated on you husband or wife, ran over you child’s turtle, or accidently murdered you best friend’s parents, you might still be holding in your little secret, waiting for the perfect time to reveal the truth. Well, I have a proposition for you, tell them your secret right after they sneeze. People are so conditioned to hearing “bless you” or “gesssssooooooonnnnheit” after a sneeze they won’t even notice that you said, “I’msorryIsleptwithyoursister.” They’ll just reply, “thank you.”
• People build robot’s for a variety of reasons. I’m not sure why you’d build one to take all the fun out of air hockey though.
• I love it when companies try to copy Apple. It makes them look so stupid and pathetic — and ends up showcasing that the reason Mac’s are great is because of the extra amount of time they spend to ensure that their UI’s aren’t gaudy. Shit looks more comfortable in Minority Report than it does on a computer. Not that Microsoft has a track record for great UI’s.
• Seeing Wall-E was a great treat, and marks the first theatrical attendence since we were robbed while watching Sunshine. The movie was phenomenal, mostly due to the fact that Disney just didn’t seem to get it. But we did, the audience, oh yeah, we were in on the irony. The facade. The great visuals, endearing story, and simplistic, yet substantial argument against waste and laziness. Yeah, I got it. I’m as smart as a little kid. Oh, and the fact that there was hardly any dialougue for the first hour or so was pretty cool.
• Which reminds me of Andrei Tarkovsky’s Solaris. My favorite movie. You should see it. Stat.
• We’re only eight days from the release of the new iPhone/firmware. I’m not entirely sure why people care more aout the hardware than the software — because it’s the software that has me excited. Don’t forget — the Repulic of Thoronia game is still in development. We are getting closer everyday and we’ll have concept shots up within the week — and hopefully screenshots within a month. Celebrate!
• If you haven’t heard of Wikileaks, or haven’t checked out the site, you really ought to. If nothing else it’s an interesting concept.

Via [Kotaku, Wired, Gizmodo, RoT, Consumerist]

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is absolutely unavoidable right now. I think, and I might be wrong here, but I believe that there is more marketing magic happening with this film then any other I’ve seen recently (yes, including Star Wars). Which is a little strange — I mean, people are going to go see the new Indiana Jones movie. They don’t really need their box of Cheez-Its to tell them to… anyway, here is a list of all the products I’ve noticed so far that offer Indy related goods, or perhaps just have a “collectible” picture for no apparent reason (I’m pretty sure that Indiana Jones didn’t have access to Dr. Pepper throughout his journey’s, but what do I know? Oh, right, I know everything!).

1. Dr. Pepper (cans and 20 oz. bottles, supposedly iPod Nano’s are hidden inside of some of the cans… which seems like, well, you might get hurt trying to get it out!)
2. Cheez-Its
3. Blockbuster (the usual fair of t-shirts, cups and other useless crap)
4. Eggo
5. Pop-Tarts
6. Yogo’s Rollers
7. Smorz
8. Apple Jacks
9. Cocoa Krispies
10. Corn Pops
11. Froot Loops
12. Honey Smacks
13. Pops
14. Mini Swirlz
15. Famous Smos
16. Chips Deluxe
17. Club Crackers (multi grain, reduced fat, original, puffed, puffed multi-grain… you get the idea)
18. Fudge Shoppe (Grasshopper, caramel, deluxe, fudge sticks, fudge stripes, mini fidge stripes, peanut butter)
19. Gripz Chips Deluxe
20. Fruit Loops
21. Frosted Flakes
22. Raisin Bran
23. Zesta
24. Nutri-Grain (apple cinnamon, blueberry, cherry, mixed berry, rasberry, strawberry, strawberry yogurt, vanilla yogurt)
25. Rice Krispies Treats
26. Crunchy Nut Granola Bars
27. Sunshine Krispy
28. Go Tarts
29. Mini-Wheats
30. Raisin Bran Crunch
31. Burger King
32. XBOX 360 (system)
33. Lego’s
34. M&M’s
35. Snickers