While the world is on black squares (for good reasons); My government is totally angry with the mayor of my home city of Amsterdam because she allowed a demonstration against racism at which too many people grouped together not able to keep social distancing rules; My workday was heavy and exhaustive; I had to get some big laughs yesterday evening.

Some of those laughs (out loud I shall add) was caused by me playing poker. I continuously received bad cards, or good cards and a bad flop; While the few times I didn't play a round, I would've won. Very frustrating! But in the end I locked mister frustration up in some far corner of an immensely large cellar, I kept my cool and let the positive vibes run through my veins. The result: LOL all the time while I saw my stack of coins being reduced to the absolute minimum.

Then I thought: Why not switch on the TV and enter zapping mode arena! Zapperdeezapping I crossed this movie called : PIXELS! A movie I've seen before (more than some time ago); I remembered it being a quite funny one. No contemplating was needed: PIXELS its gonna be!

^{imgae: published at IMDB (source)}

Now you may say: Well, a movie with Adam Sandler s*cks. Yea, you would say so, but some movies he stars in, are not that bad. And I can assure you: PIXELS belongs to the better ones. Take 80s games we all know: PacMan, Donkey Kong, Tetris and more of these; Create some out-of-the-ordinary but great graphics and one can't do wrong. They tried though: standard Hollywood story, good and bad, nerds and snobs, ugly meets beautiful. But fortunately the comedians writing the funny parts did an amazing job. Parts of the movie is LOL material for sure. IMDB doesn't think so with 5,5 points out of 10. But check the reviews: All 10's, 9's and 8'2... And a whole bunch of 1's; Nothing in between. And my default goto app Letterbox: well 1 point something out of 5. Thats even worse. Often the ratings from both these apps and services are pretty ok, but with this movie: No Way! Must be GAMED! :)

^{image: published at IMDB (source)}

But MAN! The graphics! Done GREAT! All these arcade games we also had available through these little handheld computers back in the 80s, now in real life in 3D format on the telly. Pixels become cubes in the movie. Shiny, Lighted Cubes! The building blocks for all these great 80s game figures; Coming from the sky; Going everywhere. Manhattan as the playground for a real life PacMan game, with ghosts and all. A massive Ape playing the role of the bad Donkey Kong smashing his barrels everywhere. Definitely an 8 out of 10! Hmmmm when writing all of this; Almost in LOL mode again; I would even say: 9 out of 10... But ok, that maybe not too objective, therefore I settle with an 8. The movie overall: well, ok, a good 7. The story not so great, a 4, but some of the jokes will easily forgive the not so good parts of the movie. LOL mode for sure! And when it doesn't work for you, I doubt you like comedy hahaha

I do wonder if the movie is interesting for those who didn't live the 80s? For those who didn't play these games when they where a big hit? Before these games we had Pong, the earliest of the earliest game we could play at home packed in a gigantic computer box. Well, not so gigantic, but that box as big as a desktop computer was able to play Pong only. A game with five lines marking the tennis court; Two sliders marking the players; And a dot marking the tennis ball. PacMan and Donkey Kong, invented less than a decade later, was gazillion steps forward! That alone makes these games what they are: Some of the greatest ever made.

Something Peculiar

Since midday yesterday I was plagued by a Queen strike. "We Will Rock You" spooked through my conscious part all the time. Even in video sessions I was in with my colleagues trying to get things aligned and agreed; During my Poker games; During dinner; When zapping... And then, when I was watching PIXELS... "We will We Will Rock You.... We Will We will Rock You...."

Seriously?

Yes, seriously! Pffffff I think I have to push one of the questions I want to find an answer for, higher up the todo list: "Is all of this coincidence, or are we part of some gigantic plan?" Anyway, regardless the answer, it is kinda fun when realising a song that I don't particular like, appears in my brain, settles itself very deeply and tightly, pushes itself through any other thoughts I had, and then BAM: my speakers are pushing the sounds without me controlling it... Ok ok, I don't have scientific proof I was not in control. Maybe I'm in control? Who knows? Hahahaha... Yea, who knows. The planning team maybe? Or some of us would say the planner himself (I would say 'itself' since why would the planner be a he... the planner could also be a she... or an it... or all at the same time)?

End Note

And you know what makes me LOL as well? After more than 3 years curating all sort of music related posts, finally a special corner is created where Personal Stories and Music come together. Everybody has these stories; So why not check it out and share some of yours?

NJOY another Beautiful Day

a HIVE original
_{all images by edje unless stated otherwise}

_{qsounds music & story library | A...K | L...Z |}
^{hive curator for curie / c-squared / c-cubed}