Last night, I was finally able to watch The Longest Day. Before, when I wanted to watch this movie, I would find it on at five in the morning (it's a three hour movie) or at least half over. So how did I manage to watch it? I bought the DVD, the two disc version, that just came out.

As for the film, which was made in 1962, it was wonderful. I was surprised at how well the action looked. For a movie that's technically rated G (probably should be a PG movie this day and age), it's pretty violent with lots of people getting killed. It isn't bloody or anything like that. Though the invasions scenes do remind me of Saving Private Ryan with its chaos and confusion. I went into The Longest Day thinking I would love the film but be bothered by its age. I was wrong. The film's age doesn't touch it a bit. It's an amazing film. I so enjoyed that fact that there really isn't one single character. It's an ensemble cast as well as an ensemble story just like the real D-Day. The last war movie I saw that took a similar approach was The Thin Red Line, which is one of my all time favorite films. The Thin Red Line is one of those films I just don't understand why it isn't as talked about as much as The Godfather.

I also picked up a copy of Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence. I lucked up on this one. I have a demo of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. I never got too deep in it for some reason, but what I played, I enjoyed. There is a problem with Snake Eater, though; the camera angle. The camera angle is fixed above the character in Snake Eater. After picking up Subsistence, I went back to the demo of Snake Eater and played it more. The camera angle would have really bothered me. I've put too much time in the early Resident Evil games (and clones) to deal with that kind of camera angle anymore. So, like I said, I got lucky with Subsistence. I thought it was the latest Metal Gear Solid game. It's Snake Eater with really cool extras, online gameplay (a rare thing on the PS2), and Snake Eater with a different camera angle, a "low-angle third-person" view that turns Snake Eater into a completely different game; a much better game.

When I was a kid, I had a Nintendo. Some kids had a dog. I had a Nintendo. I remember buying Metal Gear Solid for the NES and being so excited. I played for ten minutes and died. I kept dying over and over and over. I'd run down the screen and two guards would see me and shoot me. I became so frustrated that I put the game up and didn't play it for a month. I'm serious; a month. Then I played it again and somehow figured out how to sneak past the two guards. Then I sneaked past more guards. Eventually I found a weapon and continued to sneak, and when that failed, I "neutralized" the guards. Metal Gear Solid became one of my favorites on the NES. I'm hoping that Metal Gear Solid 3 becomes one of my favorites on the PS2. I know it won't recapture that magic of the NES, nothing ever does, but there's nothing wrong with it being a good experience in gaming.

Did I mention that I love video games? Other PS2 games you should own include Silent Hill 4 and Resident Evil 4 for the horror, disturbing, and spookiness, Brothers in Arms: The Road to Hill 30 for the best WWII game ever, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time for one of the more fun games with cool story and gameplay that reminded me of the good ole' Tomb Raider days, Final Fantasy X for a cinematic RPG, and God of War for overall great gaming on any console ever. Go buy God of War now.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go read a book. No, seriously. I'm going to read a book because I'm what they call "well rounded".  ¶ 12:23 AM