I genuinely have to wonder … what can I learn from the experience or watching Borderlands? Maybe something about video games? Let’s go!
Pop Quiz Hot Shot!
1) The eeeeeevil corporation in Borderlands is called Atlas. Atlas was a Titan who fought against the Gods of Olympus and was condemned to hold up the sky//Earth/whatever. What was the Titan v. God battle officially called in mythology?
2) Absolutely classic movie song in this one with Ace of Spades. Who sang Ace of Spades?
3) A new Borderlands game is actually coming up this year (2025), which is crazy. But … what number game is that? We are talking about the main series only.
4) Cate Blanchet has been nominated five separate times for Best Actress. Screw it, name all of the films.
5) Kevin Hart’s character’s name is Roland. We’ve seen a character named Roland in the Stephen King adaptation, The Dark Tower. Rowland of the Dark Tower though was originally coined in what Shakespeare play?
Bonus NYTimes Listing Question: Obviously this film couldn’t have been on television in the 90s. Cate Blanchett even is barely in any films which could have played then. One of the two films though was Oscar and Lucinda which debuted on January 8th, 1999, going up against this BMT classic:
What is this film?
Answers
1) It was called the Titanomachy. There are other names, but that is the official wikipedia approved name. I also learned that the Titans were the old Gods and they lived on Mount Othrys. Which I had never heard of.
2) That is Motörhead. Shockingly, the initial release of the song didn’t chart at all in the US. I think maybe it wasn’t even released in the US. The reissue managed number 12 on the Billboard Rock charts, which still, feels low. The crazier one is the song How Do You Like Me Now? by The Heavy didn’t even break the top 100, I thought that was a ubiquitous song.
3) This will be Borderline 4. There are actually I guess 12 separate releases, and maybe 11 games, but this is only the fourth of the main series. Tiny Tina is a huge character in the series though, she subtitles two separate games herself.
4) I genuinely think I could have gotten it given enough time. Both Elizabeth films (despite the second qualifying for BMT), Carol, Tar, and Blue Jasmine. She also won in a rare turn by playing a different Academy Award winning actress (Katherine Hepburn, who was nominated 12 times, and weirdly won her last three, which is nuts. She should have won for Long Day’s Journey Into Night).
5) King Lear. It is something that the character of Edgar says while pretending to be insane. And no, it doesn’t seem like it directly influenced the Stephen King book. Instead it influenced a 19th century poem which probably did influence the book. I was shocked when I read it, for real.
Bonus NYTimes Listing Answer: Tear your eyes right out of your head it is so glorious! That’s Event Horizon naturally. Genuinely good movie in my opinion.
Bad Movie Twins 