Holiday Special: Staff Wish Lists - K. Selzler

WordsFinest proudly presents this holiday wish list from guest writer Keri. 


This is the time of year that I get out my tiny, foot tall Christmas tree, with tiny ornaments stuffed on the branches and a gold and silver origami ninja star wired to the top. New this year, tiny lights! In my desire to decorate for the holidays and choice to avoid spending money unless it is on gifts, it is pretty likely that I will break out the white paper and scissors to bust out some paper snowflakes.

New Video Game: Disney’s Epic Mickey

I honestly haven’t read any reviews for this game as the release date (last week) snuck up on me. I do think that giving this game to the Wii was a great idea, as Mickey wields a magic paint brush to influence the world around him. The game primarily takes place in the Wasteland where Mickey is trapped; he must use Yen Sid’s (read: sorcerer from Fantasia) paint brush to escape. The paint brush uses either paint (to bring objects into existence) or thinner (to remove objects) to allow the player to make their way through the Wasteland. There is even a special edition controller shaped like a paint brush created for the game. Unlike Disney’s video game involvement in the Kingdom Hearts series, Epic Mickey appears to attempt to return the iconic character to his roots, by making him more devious, curious, and prone to meddle where he shouldn’t. It has been reported that this is the first game in a trilogy. I am excited, as Disney has previously proven that they can have a part in video games that are fun and popular adventures. I honestly just think this game looks good, and its use of the Wii remote as the paint brush appears creative, in a similar vein to Okami. I always enjoy when the Wii gets a new, good game, as they seem few and far between for the most part and I think the console deserves some love.

Series to Watch: Doctor Who (Series 5)

This BBC show has been around since 1963, and played until 1989, when it went on hiatus. It has been revamped, and continued with the first of the new series, which aired in 2005. I have never seen any of the old show, but the new series grabbed me and threw me in the passenger seat of a high-speed, exciting, and fantastic show. I thought Christopher Eccleston gave a fantastic introduction as the Ninth Doctor, and absolutely adored David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor. Admittedly, I have not seen much of Matt Smith, but have heard fantastic things about his portrayal of the Doctor. If you are unfamiliar with Doctor Who, starting with Series One (Christopher Eccleston, the Ninth Doctor) is a good place to begin. The Doctor is a Time Lord, traveling in space and time with companions from Earth. He visits events in the past such as Pompeii, or the building of the Empire State Building. He has also traveled far into the future to places such as the new Earth (year five billion and twenty three). The Doctor is placed in difficult situations where he always strives to save people in danger with creative solutions that are usually last-minute attempts to survive and save innocent bystanders. I need to get caught up in time for the annual Doctor Who Christmas Special and the start of the Eleventh Doctor’s second series.

Home Decoration: Posters from Postertext.com

These awesome posters were recently featured at io9.com, and upon further inspection are even cooler than the io9 article makes them out to be. Essentially, the poster is the entire text of a selected book arranged in an “image” that makes it quite obvious which book it is. I really like the Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland poster but anyone interested should check out the other offerings at postertext.com! There are favorites such as Peter Pan, The Great Gatsby, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, and many more. The best part is that they are adding new books all the time, and have a form so that you can request a book. Right now they are only working on classical lit, but are apparently going to start with contemporary books in the near future.

Enjoy your holidays, everyone!