The Queue

Hm… I’m sure something comes after that. Well, anyway, it’s probably not important. Let’s talk about games.

As I write this, it’s about to hit 2:00 a.m. — I can’t sleep, but I’m at least watching one of my all-time favorites and go-to “can’t sleep” movies, Annihilation. If you’ve never seen it, it’s a SciFi Horror film from the same folks who made Devs and Ex Machina. It’s incredibly good and one of those movies I feel went more under the radar than it deserves. If SciFi Horror is even remotely something that interests you, go check it out!

But before you do… let’s have ourselves a Queue!

Maggie Baird is a writer, an actress, and a songwriter and singer. So it’s a bit reductive of me to call her ‘Billie Eilish’s mom’ like that, but the song lyric demanded it. So, to be clear, she’s written and performed a movie soundtrack, won multiple awards, and has an impressive IMDB page. She also does a great job providing the voice for Samara, who is objectively both welcoming and terrifying.

Samara is one of my favorite squadmates in ME2, especially on this Vanguard playthrough because we can combo biotic almost anything to death, and she’s actually just a really cool person, if somewhat tragic. I’m still amazed anyone ever picks Morinth over her, but I guess some people really just want to be killed by a vampire Asari.

One of the most common questions you get as a professional freelancer is how you can stay motivated. I have to confess I’ve been having some trouble with this lately — I always tend to get a little sluggish at this point in the year due to the lack of sun, but the general, you know, everything right now has made this winter especially trying. I do tend to do better with staying disciplined and in a routine rather than trying to work up the motivation, because I usually don’t want to do anything. However, I’ve found a little lifehack lately that really cuts through that 2:45 brain fog.

It’s coffee. The lifehack for staying awake is another cup of coffee.

This is The Queue, where you ask us questions and we answer just as soon as we’re done brewing this cuppa. Yes, another. Don’t judge me.

It’s a musical kind of Queue today. Of course, all of mine have music, so I guess this is just your average Monday!

While I warm up the band, it’s time for — The Queue!

Whether it’s the Suicide Mission music from the suicide mission at the end of the game, or the music from the Overlord DLC, or even the music from the final confrontation with the Shadow Broker, Mass Effect 2 had by leaps and bounds the best music in the series and possibly one of the best scores of any video game. It just manages to perfectly encapsulate the emotion of the scenes you’re playing through. Honestly, I’m almost enjoying listening to the game as much if not more than I am playing it. One of the best things about it is the way certain themes and motifs come back in different ways throughout the score, and I’m finding new ones as I listen to it.

Anyway, it’s Queue time. It’s very dramatic from my end due to the music, so imagine yourself as an action hero as I answer your question.

I’ll be honest, I don’t quite understand where this one came from — but that won’t stop me from using it in a Queue title! (Unless it’s, like, actually mean-spirited or something.)

Anyhow, it’s Thursday and we’re here to Queue what we Queue best: The Queue.

Demolition Man suffers from the same self-satisfied smugness that a lot of 90’s era satirical comedy does.  It posits the radical idea that gasp people in the future will be different and act differently! And they might thing swearing in public or eating meat is bad so really they’re going to be complete wimps who can’t stop one guy from running amok. It even has Dennis Leary in it as a brave freedom fighter holding out against the tyranny of social politeness gone too far. So in that regard, it fails pretty hard at predicting where we were heading as a country.

But the San Angeles of the movie’s 2032 — a mega-city consisting of Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, and San Diego all smushed together — does have some cool satirical moments. One is that, in the future, every restaurant is Taco Bell — not that every restaurant serves Taco Bell’s brand of ‘Mexican’ food, and yes the italics are on purpose, but that every restaurant from the quirky breakfast diner down the street to the fanciest French-Hawaiian fusion bistro are all owned and operated by Taco Bell. There is but one restaurant conglomerate in 2032, and it’s Taco Bell.

I can’t stop thinking about this in the wake of Microsoft’s planned acquisition of Activision Blizzard. By 2032, everything might be owned by Amazoisneysoftoogle. Or, heck, maybe Taco Bell? Who knows anymore?

As I gear up for a Tuesday where there’s a lot of small things happening to attend to but nothing major, so I’m a little overwhelmed but I can muscle through, I am reminded, once again, that I am a jinx and of course more things will explode today.

This is The Queue, where you ask us questions and we answer just as soon as we figure out what in the (pirate ghost) is going on.

Well after my guild’s second kill of Dormazain Mythic for our bench — it’s officially break time until the next tier comes out! Time to kick back on a beach sipping drinks with tiny umbrellas in them and putting my feet up. I liked the tier pretty well overall, although I do think that Kel’Thuzad is a fight that works better on paper than he did in actual practice. Fighting the same encounter three times in a row before killing it for a final fourth time didn’t hold up as a super fun fight in the long run.

Onward to the Sepulcher!

While I try and flag down a bartender for another margarita, it’s time for — the Queue.