Gaming Thursday

This past week has been a week of XBOX Live Arcade titles for me. The first game I picked up is a remake of an NES classic and the second an "art nouveau" type game all about hidden meaning. Both of them are completely fantastic games, but in two totally different ways.

Bionic Commando: Rearmed is a remake of the Nintendo classic called (oddly enough) Bionic Commando. Some say that it is one of the best games on the NES, but I can neither confirm nor deny this, since I never played the original. The remake at least, is great. It's definitely got that old school difficulty that can be so frustrating and yet (for the most part) it sucks me in and makes me want to keep trying (at least until I bought Braid, but more on that later).

The gameplay takes a bit to get used to mainly just because you can't jump at all and really have to learn to use the bionic arm (I forgot to tell you - the hook for the game is that you are a commando with a bionic arm, hence the name) toe get aroudn efficiently and even though I'm a few hours into the game already, I still haven't gotten the hang of the arm and I fall to my death pretty consistently. Maybe it's just me, but I'm more forgiving to these sort of classic titles for their difficulty, if only because I know that when I die, 90% of the time it was my own fault. I have no crappy camera or wonky controls to blame my death on, because both work just fine. On the other hand, enemies can be a bit cheap and you do get hit a ton by stray bullets flying around you if you try to move too fast, but I think it's just that I need to learn to go slowly and methodically through this rather than trying to blast through. Simply put, for ten bucks, this game is a serious steal.

Speaking of great deals, you can also download Braid on XBLA for only 5 bucks more, but holy cow is it a great experience. Although it's only about 5 hours long (on the first play through - subsequent times are shorter, obviously), it is a fantastic thinking man's game. While Bionic Commando is a straight action title, Braid is definitely a lot harder to define. I guess the closest I can put it is a 2D puzzle platformer - like Portal, only side-scrolling. For those of you who may not have experience Portal, let me just gush over what is probably one of the best (if not the best) games of 2007 (and not just because of the awesome song at the end). The only major difference (outside of that whole 2D/3D thing) between the two games is the humor. Portal was filled with smart ass robotic comments, but Braid is completely serious, even dark.

Both the story and the gameplay for Braid are a little hard to define, the story much moreso (I beat it on Tuesday and still don't really know what it is about). Basically, what I understand is that you are Time and you are trying to track down your Princess. There really is a ton more than that and a megaton twist at the end, but I really can't say much more without spoiling and I can't do it justice anyway. So instead, I'll just tell you to play it - no seriously, go play Braid.

The gameplay is basically a series of logic puzzles strung together to collect puzzle pieces. That's actually it... but while it sounds simple, these little pieces can be trickly little devils to get. Even though they can be extremely difficult (at times, some are really easy), it makes the game so much more rewarding when you finally figure out that little bit that you were missing to grab that piece. The creator of the game (Jonathan Blow) says not to use walkthroughs or FAQs to get through the game, and I actually agree. Normally when I get stuck on a game, I shoot off to gamefaqs.com for help, but I held out here and holy crap do I feel good. The harder puzzles in the game can take bunches of messing around to get or even just time away from the game. Seriously, I went to bed on Monday after a particularly difficult part, only to wake up to have the answer come to me. Speaking of time, the hook for Braid is time-twising. Kind of like Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, only a bit more in depth and completely crucial to the gameplay. It seemed to make the game a bit easier to take for me, since deaths and mistakes are only temporary and easily reversed and tried again.

I know I'm starting to ramble about this game, but it really is that good. Between these two games, I've now played some of the best games in a really long time. If you've got a 360, I think there really is no excuse for you not to get at least one of these fine titles.... now if only I could get paid for these endorsements....

World News Wednesday

Here is your link, and here we go!

This week's article is very difficult to write about because I'm not exactly sure that there is a clear cut answer to the question. For one thing, I highly doubt that the "legal age" to buy alcohol really is the issue here. Since the article is focused on this specific point to the issue, we'll try to stay focused on it and look at both sides and maybe even find a solution (although I doubt it).

One of the big points for lowering the legal age to buy alcohol is the idea that so many other things happen when a kid hits 18 (voting, draft, smoking, etc.) that adding in alcohol would seem to be a logical step. A quote in the article is one I've heard a number of times... "If you're old enough to die for your country, you are old enough to drink in your country" (or however they end it). I'll admit that there is logic to this argument, but I'd rather use it backwards to flip the draft age so that 18 year olds don't go dying. Aside from that, it is a decent point. If the government somehow (I have no idea how) judges that when a kid hits 18, they are an adult who can choose to die in battle or from lung and mouth cancer and yet can't relax with a cheap wine cooler after a hard day working at McDonald's (sorry, cheap jab), it just seems to be an odd boundary.

Another point pushed by this camp is the "forbidden fruit" idea wherein underage kids drink so much because it is something that is rebellious and that if it were legal, the amount of young binge drinkers would drop. While there might be some validity in this argument, I'm not too sure how well it holds up. For one, it's more of a responsibility/maturity issue than a legal one, young kids have no problem getting ahold of alcohol as is, so making it easier to procure is kind of a solution to a non-problem.

On the other side of the argument are those who think that the legal age needs to remain the same and responsibility needs to be held to (at least in the article) college campuses and "of age" people to monitor and keep people from this binge drinking phenomenon (if you will). The problem I find with this argument is that it is what is allegedly already in place and seems to not quite work. The problem is deciding who exactly would be responsible. While the kids may indeed be at college, I don't think it is the college's job to watch kids and keep them "straight."

The answer that I can come up with is twofold. One is obvious, the other is pretty twisted and more than likely won't work. The first is to educate and raise kids right. Help them to learn that drinking (like everything) is best done in moderation. It's not something that is wrong and it's a fine thing to do (drink, that is) but it's something that can get out of control very easily and therefore boundaries need to be learned early on in order that overconsumption becomes the rarity and not (as it seems to be reported) the norm.

The second of my answers is the twisted one and deals with colleges: make them completely dry. That means not just a slap on the wrist, but full suspension/expulsion for drinkers. Yeah, it's really harsh and alcohol/drinking is supposedly a huge part of the college experience, but if we are expecting people to go to college in order to learn and not party, take away the party. I know this idea will never work, but it is also part of my whole theory that college is way too much of an emphasis in our culture as is. Kids are nearly forced to go and good jobs require some sort of higher education so we kind of bring this culture upon ourselves rather than providing alternate ways to get into the workforce.

Okay, I know that my second theory needs a lot of work and would probably never really work, so what needs fixing? What are other solutions? Should the legal age actually be dropped to 18?

Bookish Tuesday

I mentioned something about it last week when I was talking about the Harry Potter books, how things changed from the books to the movies, and how the movies kind of change how you picture the books in your head. In that vein, I thought we'd take today and talk about the age-old question, why is the book always better than the movie?

The simple answer for this is: because it was written as a book, not as a movie. Book authors choose their medium because it was what they thought was best to express the story they wanted told. By choosing books, authors aren't constrained by the limit of sight and sound. Instead they allow the imagination to work and fill out pieces of the space within the story. A book also allows for greater detail, because they don't have to worry about going overbudget building the next ginormous set.

Books also allow for time to get sucked into the story. This happens in movies, I'll admit, but because a good book can rarely be read in 3 hours or less, they provide more of a chance for the reader to develop a relationship with the characters and the book as a whole so that the reader oftentimes feels like they are part of the story, observing it all happen within their mind. Not to say that good movies can't suck you in, I'm just saying that books offer more of an opportunity for this.

The opposite of this original theory also comes true. Novelizations of movies that are created for the sake of cashing in are never as good as the original piece. Just like the author of an original book, the director/creators of a movie chose film because they felt that it had some sort of draw that set it apart from another medium. Neither is necessarily a better way to telling a story, but when a piece of art is created within a specific medium, it tends to thrive best within that home turf. Do you agree?

Movie Monday

Today's Movie Monday might get a little bit cluttered, but I'll try to keep everything contained so that it is easy enough for you to understand. Let's start off with new releases in theaters this past weekend.

I tried to see both Tropic Thunder and Star Wars: The Clone Wars, but thanks to a wonderful misunderstanding, which I still blame on fandango, we missed Clone Wars last night. That's okay, I think, if only because Tropic Thunder was really good. I realized that (particularly for comedies) I really need to quit watching trailers because it always seems to ruin some of the good parts by knowing the punchline to the set-up. That being said, there were some great surprises in the movie that kept me laughing. The movie starts up with trailers for upcoming movies for Stiller, Black, and Downey's and I still think that they were one of the best parts of the whole experience (Downey's movie in particular). Tom Cruise has now lost some of his Scientology creepiness thanks to his awesome role in this movie, which is always a good thing. My main gripe with the flick is that the comedy seems a little forced at times, particularly with Jack Black's character. The other thing isn't really a gripe, but has to do with all the negative attention due to the use of the "R-word." It didn't really hurt the experience, but everytime I heard it, I felt those stupid propagandists nagging me and telling me not to laugh or enjoy that part. Neither of these is really a dealbreaker, and I found that Tropic Thunder (while maybe not as good as Pineapple Express) is definitely one of the funniest movies I have seen in a good while.

Leaving the theaters for a moment, a couple guys and I watched Layer Cake this week. Supposedly, this was the film that got Daniel Craig picked to be the new Bond for Casino Royale, and I can definitely see it. It's a good movie (made by the guy who made Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrells which I loved), but I don't really see how it could have secured Craig as Bond, if only for the reason that Mr. XXXX (his name in the movie) doesn't really like guns and gets his butt handed to him throughout the story. On the other hand, his character is very cool and calculated which lends to the Bond character quite well. On the whole, it was quite a good movie, and I'll give it my recommendation.

Lastly, as I mentioned last week we were going through the Harry Potter films. We finished up with Order of the Phoenix just in time for the announcement that Half-Blood Prince is being moved from a November release to sometime in July of 2009. I think that (as with the books) Goblet of Fire is still my favorite movie but that I think they do keep on getting better and better as the kids become more accustomed to acting and the characters they are playing (it also can't hurt that they know all the outcomes now). To put it quickly, the first two movies aren't exactly good, three is better, four is the best, and five is right in between three and four. How would you rank them?

And that's that. I'll see you tomorrow for Bookish Tuesday, where I will scramble to think of another great book seeing that I haven't turned a page of either of the books on my dresser in two weeks.

Soapbox Saturday: Rachel

My friend Maria made a simple, yet well-said tweet today. And I started thinking, "Whose idea was it to include raisins in a cookie?"

Cookies contain sugar, flour, a little salt, and some optional items such as chocolate or butterscotch chips. I see no reason to bring fruit into the mix. I don't put raisins in my oatmeal, so I dang sure don't want them in my oatmeal cookies.

Cookies make me feel like a kid - young, careless, free. As a kid, I ate cookies without regard to how they will look on my hips or whether they'll cause diabetes. A great-tasting sugar high was in my sights and that's all that mattered.

Raisins are for old people. They're only one step removed from prunes if you ask me. People eat them to stay regular - what does that have to do with cookies? I denounce the odd juxtaposition of stinky, old, good-for-you raisins floating in my platter of chocolate, peanutbutter, or butterscotch. Who invited the old people anyway? Do you party with your granny? Then don't party with raisins.

Now you may be thinking, "But I like the taste of raisins." Good for you. Buy those cute little boxes with the sunshine lady on the front and have at it. But stay away from my cookies.

I must admit raisins aren't the end of the world. Even Maria shows that you can simply eat around them. But that's like ignoring a problem and hoping it will go away. Then again, I wouldn't waste a good cookie either, and I've been known to eat around a few raisins myself. It's like seeing a bad opening band at a concert. You have to put up with the raisins to get to the good stuff.

Religion Friday

Sunday School is an interesting thing to me. I know that it can be a great thing for churchgoers of all ages, but I haven't exactly had any fantastic experiences on my own. Maybe its nothing to do with the structure and everything to do with me, but I doubt that... I'm awesome. So, what I think we need to do is work out what Sunday School might should be.

Early Sunday School lessons for little kids I find to be really good. They get to spend time just reading and learning the stories of the Bible. I think it's a great idea for young kids to just learn these stories as a foundation for their life in faith. However, as the kids get older teachers begin to add in their own theology to the stories and morality lessons, I start to have issues. It's not that I think kids need to learn this morality on their own, but I don't really think that teacher's own theological theories should be presented as fact... especially to kids who are impressionable (like me).

Once kids get into middle and high school, they begin to have questions about their faith and I find that to be a really good thing. The problem lies in people giving straight answers without providing any sort of alternate thought (this doesn't just lie with Sunday School teachers). It's not that we should dodge questions, but answers need to be given with the caveat that it may not be the right answer, but it is just what you believe yourself. I know it is a very hard to do this, if only because when you discover your own answers they are right for you, but it may not be the same thing that someone else believes and when a child/youth is told that something is the only answer and they hear something new, what is new is automatically seen as wrong.

This was a hard thing for me to get over and took quite a transformative time within college to work out my own answers. That is why I think that we should use Sunday School (particularly during youth ages) as a time for questons and discussions, and not just a lecture/lesson. Even though discussions may have everyone on the same side of the issue, it leaves teachers a chance to nudge and prod the kids to find out why they believe what they do. A lot of it seems to come down to what their parents believe they take as their own, and is never questioned as to whether it fits in with their beliefs (or even that of their faith).

I know this has morphed from a discussion of Sunday School to something about the formation of beliefs, but I think they are part of the same thing. I really think that Sunday School is a fantastic place for people to learn about their faith and the faiths of those who they worship with. It's also a really great place for a discussion of these beliefs so that everyone has a chance to hear other's beliefs and accept them, even if they don't quite fit with you.

Okay, now that Religion Friday is over and you've made it this far, it is time to introduce the next phase of the blog.... Soapbox Saturdays! You know what is so great about Soapbox Saturdays? You get to write them! That's right, you can write a post as an argument against something I've written or just something new that you want to write about. All you have to do is e-mail it to me (length is not an issue, it can be short or long - whatever you want). So start sending 'em in! Tomorrow's post is brought to you by Rachel, so I hope you all give her more respect than me and not skip over the post, but actually read it all. Until then!

Gaming Thursday

So, last week was all about my love for cooperation in gaming and here I am about to talk about a game where comptetition is the only thing. Soul Calibur 4 is a fighting game (yes, that is the name of the genre, and it is exactly what it sounds like) and I actually really like it. Outside of Smash Bros., Soul Calibur 2 was the only fighting game that I bought for the last generation of consoles (I got it on Gamecube if you must know), and unless Street Fighter IV makes a massive impression on me, it looks like SC4 may be my only fighting game for this generation too (again, not counting Smash Bros.).

I'm not exactly the best at fighting games, so while I know that there is a ton of combat depth to be found in this game, I currently haven't progressed much past random button mashing yet. But, even with that said, it's still a really fun game to play. To me, the best thing about the Soul Calibur series are the characters. I bought 2 because you can play as Link, and here in 4 the special characters are Yoda (for 360, Vader for PS3) and the Force Apprentice (from the upcoming Force Unleashed Star Wars game). Aside from him being incredibly cheap (he can't be thrown), Yoda is a blast to be. He plays just like the Yoda you see in Episodes 2 and 3, where he bounces around fighting Dooku and Palpatine. The Apprentice is still a little cheap (although not nearly as much as Yoda), but I can't help playing as him because his moveset is so great and he is such a BA. Outside of the special characters, I really like Maxi (with the nunchucks) and the zombie pirate Cervantes (for obvious reasons). The only thing is that I really need to nail down who I want to be so that I can actually get better at being them, rather than just fooling around.

My only real problem with the game lies there... I'm not good at it, and to be good at it will take time and practice. It's the same problem that I mentioned last week about shooters. You've got to put too much time in to be really competitive at any sort of level. That's why I just play against my brother when we don't really have time to do a longer game, but still want to get a couple of matches in. The other problem has nothing to do with the game. It's just that a game like this really needs one of these, and I really can't justify 60 bucks (the same price as the game) for a game stick that I would only use for a couple of games. And yet, every time I see that Arcade Stick... I want it bad, because playing a game like this on a regular controller pad just doesn't cut it and is actually a bit difficult.

I'm just being nitpicky here, the game is really good and it's tons of fun to play.

Oh, and by the way, I really don't like Mario Kart Wii and I regret buying it. It's going to Gamestop soon and I'm going to get some MS points to get Braid and Castle Crashers on Xbox Live Arcade. Speaking of, I got Bionic Commando: Rearmed yesterday, so look out for that next week (unless I get Braid first, because I really liked that demo).

World News Wednesday

I thought about doing something on the Olympics, but I think it's been well covered throughout the media. Instead, I thought we would read on about the problem with social networking and student-teacher relationships. Click here for your article.

Now, this article (like our previous discussion on Marijuana) isn't really all that clear cut. Sure, a vast majority of these teachers who keep a facebook or MySpace site are just on it for their own stuff, and when kids find it, all they want to do is seem cool by being friends with their teacher. The problem (as is quite obvious), lies within that percentage of teachers who either don't understand boundaries correctly or those that are just predatory and took to the job "because of the easy availability of kids." Should we err on the side of caution and ensure that kids can't have this out of school contact with their teachers? Let's look at each side.

The first side is that allowing teachers and students to have these relationships through social networking sites allows them the chance to build more trust between the two parties and could even help with student's grades and their willingness to learn. It also could help with cases of abuse (not between the student and teacher, although it would provide evidence for court cases - that's a good thing) because as the teacher gains the student's trust, they can become more open to things that are happening outside of the walls of the school. Aside from this little trust thing, it gives the students that one more way to feel like they are part of the community. By being "friends" with other students and teachers, the networking provides them this opportunity to see that they belong.

On the other side of the coin comes the abuses of all of the points mentioned above. Teacher's sites and comments can be taken out of context and used to destroy careers and lives. Relationships can become much more than they were originally intended, leading to legal troubles (we won't get into the ethics of love between a 30 year old teacher and a 15 year old student, because I don't really know the answer to that). There is also the point that relationships need to be fostered in person, and not through stupid online "networking."

Basically, I think that although there are ways to look at each side of the issue, but I really don't think that a complete ban of networking between the students and teachers to be a real solution to the problem. Truth be told, even if we take these steps, predators will find their way through. The real solution comes from us being a tightnit community with not only our own children, but those in our churches and neighborhoods. This way, odd behavior and trouble can be spotted and stopped before things get out of hand.

Until tomorrow, wherein we shall discover the amazingness of button mashing in Soul Calibur 4.

Bookish Tuesday

Quick, name two things that are awesome. Zombies you say? I think I heard comics from somewhere in the back. Zombies and comics actually make the perfect match. First up, because I have to make a throwaway mention to the fantastic cover art, the Marvel Zombies comics are decent. The plot is funny and the art is really good, but there is really no substance beyond that. The zombie comic I'm here to takl about is one that I've been behind for about 2 or 3 years now: The Walking Dead.

All of the best zombie stories aren't just about zombies. The zombies are just a backdrop for the artist to build a canvas to tell the story of humans and the way they respond to fear or catastrophe, and The Walking Dead is extremely good at this. Yeah, there are some really great scenes of zombies getting their heads chopped off and people getting all eaten up, but the true strength of the series is the characters.

The story revolves around Rick, who was a police officer in a small Georgia town (yay) when he was shot and fell into a coma. When Rick wakes up, the dead have risen and his hospital and town have been overrun by zombies. Rick then leaves to head to Atlanta to (hopefully) find his wife and son. What follows is a fantastically well written survival story, not just of Rick, but of the people he encounters. They are constantly facing trouble within the pages, but this rarely comes from the zombies (at least later on). The survivors are forced to learn how to create their own society in a post-apocalyptic world, and the author (Robert Kirkman) does a great job in pulling all the difficulties together. Also, seeing as this is a comic, I cannot neglect the wonderful art style. The entire series is done in beautiful black and white that perfectly matches the mood of the writing.

Since I don't have a comic shop around here, I've been getting the series as it comes out in collected trade form and I'm up through Volume 8, so that's what I'm currently talking about. The series does a great job of changing everything each few issues (I don't want to spoil everything, since I think it would be a good idea for everyone who likes zombies to go ahead and pick this up). Pretty much all I'm trying to say here is that if you like zombies, this is some of the best stuff out there (outside of the two Max Brooks books - which will be discussed at some point soon, I should think), and you should be reading it.

Movie Monday

So, after a number of failed attempts, I finally got to see Pineapple Express on Sunday evening. I was quite excited before I even saw the movie, and I'll say that it did live up to expectations, although not much more. The comedy was great, it was well written, and the action was actually really good. My only issue with the movie was how straightforward it was. There were a couple points in the movie that looked like something different was going to happen and I got really excited, only to have my hopes dashed when they took the same old route. Not that this detracted from the film in any way, it just knocked it down from being that much better. Also, the humor in the movie isn't as raunchy as the other movies in the "Apatow library," which was surprising, and made the movie easier for Katie to enjoy as well. Basically, the movie was really really good, and it makes me all the more excited for Tropic Thunder this week, which is allegedly funnier.

Aside from Pineapple Express, I've been re-watching the Harry Potter movies with Matt, and I must say that the first movie really isn't that good. It's not bad either, but when you get to Prisoner of Azkaban, you look back at the first two and see how bland and almost lifeless they were. A lot of it comes from the kids growing up and becoming better actors, but it also comes from the change in directors and themes. It happened in the books as well. As the series continues, the books become darker and the plots get deeper and more interesting (as do the movies). We've only watched through Prisoner, so I'll be sure to update more thoughts as we continue through.

Religion Friday

This may seem like a cop out, but I had a long day. Read this article. The article is very well written and does a great job discussing a (at times) difficult topic. I will try to give more of my own thoughts on this later tonight or tomorrow, but no guarantees.

Gaming Thursday

So, I was planning on doing a new game today, but since it won't come in until tomorrow, I'll be doing Soul Calibur 4 next week. Now, instead of being able to discuss a hardcore fighting game, I decided that I would do a little discussion of the awesomeness of co-op (particularly online co-op) in video games.

You see, I never really got into the whole Halo thing, or really the online FPS gaming in general all that much. There is something annoying to me about playing a game and just dying over and over again because you are either really good at the game and spend hours playing (other people) or just like to play a little bit here and there and be a waste of game space (me). On a similar note however, I really do love playing games with other people (see Rock Band), and it makes game time all the more fun when you get to run through Liberty City on the back of a motorcycle driven by someone else yelling "Crazy Dogggz for life!" without having to worry about that one camping sniper hitting you in the back of the head just when you feel good.

Thanks to the wonders of technology, this wonderful thing of online co-op has allowed my brother and I to finally get back to playing games like we used to back in our room at home. We recently finished playing through Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, which really isn't that amazing of a game, but when you get to play it through with someone else and make up stupid stories about your characters and what they would really be saying in the game, makes it priceless. For this reason, he and I have now aligned our schedules of game buying to ensure that we both get the same games at the same time to be able to play through together. If a game doesn't have an online component, it automatically goes back a notch on my list.

Not to say there aren't some fantastic single player experiences (I loved Half-Life 2 and the Zelda series), but as I said before there is just something about being able to play through a game with someone else that makes it infinitely more enjoyable.

World News Wednesday

Here is your story for this week.

So, I found this one to be quite a bit more interesting than our story from last week (although last week's was admittedly pretty good). Anyway, I find there to be some huge implications that can come from this story.

I mean, think about it, scientists were thinking that there were only 50,000 of these gorillas left, and then all of a sudden someone walks into the middle of a swamp and finds over double the number of what is thought to be left... in just one location. We already know that there are millions of things in the deep ocean that we've never seen, and now this discovery opens up the possibility of how much we could be missing on land.

To me, the biggest prospect of all this is that maybe we'll find all the dragons that are left in the world (although most were probably killed during the Middle Ages, when it was fashionable to slay big beasties). I know, this almost feeds into the "Creation Science" idea (which is complete bunk, in my opinion), but I find it fascinating that there is so much out there that we don't know about. This could lead into a whole God discussion, but I will steer away from that for the moment, since we have a full day on that subject each week.

Before I ramble too much on about things that don't relate, I'll let this stay a short post since I'm getting distracted and not making too much sense. Until tomorrow!

Bookish Tuesday

I was having a bit of a time figuring out what book to talk about. I just finished a couple of graphic novels and am in the middle of two books right now. One of those books, I have discussed at some length before (H2G2), but I can always talk about how much I love Douglas Adams. But, rather than me going on about my love for Hitchhiker's Guide, I'll go ahead and gush about my other book.

To preface this, I really don't much like all that many nonfiction books (at least that I've seen/read). However, there is something I really like about Bill Bryson's writing style that really sucks me in and keeps me interested in things, even if I don't really understand. The first Bryson book I read is titled A Walk in the Woods and is one of the big inspirations for a book that a friend and I are currently working on (which in turn is one of the main reasons I've been updating this blog). Anyway, I've been currently reading Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything, and while it hasn't yet inspired a book idea, it's still a fine read.

The book (so far) is about hte history of scientific discoveries and achievements in the world, from paleontology to the splitting of the atom. Perhaps I really like Bryson so much because he likes to go off on tangents easily, and I know how that is (I do it all the time, in case you haven't noticed). Also, the book makes me feel smarter (at least while I'm reading, I forget everything about 20 minutes after putting the book down). He does a great job of taking some really complex scientific theories and notions and dumbing them down just enough for me to understand. I'm sure someone who really understands physics and such might argue that he may be butchering things, but since I don't know the difference, I don't really care all that much.

All in all, I must say (if you couldn't tell) that I am highly enjoying Bryson's work and will be looking up more of his library to read as soon as I get the chance. Stay tuned tomorrow for some ape talk in World News (yeah, I cheated a little and found a story today).

P.S. In case you didn't know, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is amazing (I couldn't resist).

Movie Monday: Mummy and More

For my group's weekly movie, we went and saw the new Mummy flick, and it's exactly what you think it would be: cheezy, predictable, and fun. I have to admit that I really like Brendan Fraser, so no matter what, I knew I'd have to at least like the movie. The plot isn't anything to write home about and neither are the effects really, but I wasn't expecting anything but a simple summer popcorn movie and I got exactly what I expected. Basically, it's worth your time if you want to see it, but if you have any doubts, just wait for DVD.

Wait, don't go away yet. I'm not done. I also watched the always fantastic Toy Story yesterday afternoon (just for kicks), and it is still a fantastic movie. Fun side note: Joss Whedon (of the amazing Firefly and Buffy fame) worked on the screen play. Also, the movie is actually even better than I remembered, and I knew it was great.

Last week, I watched Southland Tales... that's all I will say about that. I also got Katie to watch The Departed with me, and I was quite surprised that she liked it, even with all the violence.

And finally, I went with a couple of friends to see Hellboy 2 again (they missed the first time I went). As one told me during the movie: this would make a great TV series. The movie is a blast to watch, but I found myself agreeing. Rather than having to fit all their plots and development into 2 hour blocks, Hellboy would be a really fun show on the telly. Also, for those who have seen the wonderful Princess Mononoke (mentioned in this blog nearly 2 years ago), the big forest elemental is definitely a nod to the big forest god there. I must recommend Mononoke over Hellboy, but Hellboy was definitely a fun ride (much better than Mummy). Either way, I'd better wrap up here before I get into every little thing I watched last week. See you tomorrow for the lovely book talk (I don't know what it will be about yet, so it will be a surprise to me too).

P.S. I just have to say that I've been watching Spaced again, since I got it on DVD, and it's one of my favorite shows! Go watch!

Religion Friday

I was trying to find the article up on Yahoo! News' Opinion page from Wednesday, but I can't find the link. Anyway, the piece was about the American flag within the church and the separation of church and state. I don't remember the details, but the writer was making a lot of points that I completely agree with, although I don't think she ever said what I wanted, so I decided I should.

First of all, the American (or any country's flag) really has no reason being inside of the church. I know that sounds harsh, but as the church's body, we are supposed to be a worldwide family that is connected through our belief and when you add in patriotism, you automatically put yourself aside from people outside of your specific country. It seems to be particularly a problem here in the U.S., where religion is placed into the spotlight within the public as a kind of spectacle. I mean, you have arguments about Barack Obama's religion, James Dobson's reluctant (not quite) approval of John McCain, Televangelists, Megachurches, and so on. These big religion "talking points" do a great job of dividing the Christian faith over stupid trivial issues that really have no meaning. Sure, politics and our next president is important, but it really should do nothing to change the church or our worship.

I got a little off subject there, but when an object, such as the flag is placed into the church, it (whether subconciously or not) gives it a place in our worship that people begin to connect with their faith, no matter how little it truly does add in. It also brings to mind a wonderful experience that my wife and I had in a church. You see, neither of us are exactly patriotic and even less so when it comes to interrupting my worship of God, so when we were at a church that was saying the Pledge of Allegiance (yeah, to the flag, not to God) we were a little upset. Instead of standing with my hand over my heart and facing the flag, I kind of remained seated and read my bible (yes, I know in retrospect, I should have at least stood so we didn't get caught). Anyway what happened was that we "upset some of the members of the congregation" and were (in so many words) kind of kicked out of the church (it was quite a bit more political than that, but suffice to say, we don't really feel welcome there anymore.

Again, that is a little beside the point, but you can see how bringing patriotism into the church can bring more than you would really want. I know that we all bring some sort of baggage into our worship, but what is the point in adding more to that? Why add something that could needlessly hurt others in the middle of what is supposed to be something focused completely on God? I'm not sure, but I do know that I really don't think that a country's flag belongs within our sanctuary.

Have a great weekend, drop me a line to let me know what you thought. I'm going to see The Mummy tonight and will probably have impressions up for my Movie Monday post. Thanks to all who are leaving comments. Oh, Tim... the Wii version of Rock Band is just the same, but if you have a 360 or PS3, I highly recommend those, if only for the fact that Downloadable Content is so important for this game (also, if you are ever in the LaGrange Area you -or anyone else- is more than welcome to come play with me).

Gaming Thursday - Rock Band

We bought Rock Band back in the beginning of January of this year, and while it technically may not be a new game, I find it new nearly every week, since Harmonix has been so wonderful about releasing so many new songs. Since I bought the game, I have probably spent another 50 bucks or so expanding my setlist and it truly gives the game some serious staying power.

For those not in the know, Rock Band 2 is coming out this September, and there is a huge upside for this. Not only will I be able to create a band that can do the World Tour mode online, but you will be able to take all of your downloaded content and (nearly) all of the songs from the first disc and play them on Rock Band 2! For a game that I have already invested over $200 in, I'm not ashamed to say that I'll be ready for more as it comes.

Aside from all these little things, there has also been a cultural upside to me playing this game. It's sad to hear, but yes, I never really knew The Who, Boston, or Sabbath before getting into this game, and it has really expanded my horizons. Quite depressing, I know, but there is something about playing along on a fake plastic guitar that really gets you into music that you previously ignored or just wrote off as dumb.

Sadly, I was too busy today to really work out a thesis for this post, so I know it is rambling, but I just wanted to give my love to the one game on 360 that I play practically every day since I bought it.

World News Wednesdays

I thought the Religion days were going to be my hardest day. I have written up three separate posts before I started this one. Unlike Religion where I feel as though I have some idea of what I want to say, but don't know how to put it down, here I have no idea what exactly to do. So, since I'm pretty good at giving my opinion and thoughts, no matter how valid they are or whether you agree or not, I've decided I'll go to a news website and pick a story and then just discuss.

Today's item comes to us courtesy of Cnn.com: New Pot Penalties.

To be perfectly honest, I am neither for nor against the legalization of marijuana. Yes, I've heard the argument made for both sides, but neither really has a truly engaging point for me. However, as this story talks about, knocking out penalties for people in possession of small amounts of marijuana is actually not a bad idea. I read Police reports every single day (it's part of my job), and you would be surprised at how many people are arrested for "Possession of Marijuana - less than one ounce."

It already sounds like I'm taking the side of legal pot, but I'm not (quite). Like it is being said in the article, Marijuana use should be under the same sort of regulations as alcohol and therefore use (and abuse) of the substance should be monitored. Also, by not focusing on small count arrests that rarely lead to anything but a small fine or community service, agents can focus more on finding where the drugs come from and putting a stop to it. Or, if it is made legal, they can not even worry about finding it and focus on finding the 900 million meth labs in my area that (as far as my knowledge goes) does quite a bit more damage than the green leaf.

So, on further thought, maybe I am a little more on the side of legalization of marijuana. Heck, if it's legal, they can tax the mess out of it and maybe put some money towards finding alternative fuels so that we aren't all dependant on fossil fuels (that is a whole other discussion that I'm sure we shall get to at some point, but it's discussed to death everywhere, so I'm steering clear).

And, there is our first World News Wednesday. Although it wasn't really World News, it worked. See you tomorrow for some gameage.

Bookish Tuesday - Ender's Game

Yeah, I know I'm incredibly late to the game here, but I finally read Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game a couple weeks back, and I will admit it is quite good. As a piece of science fiction that looks at an incredibly accurate vision of the future of technology (I must say, I was astounded at how much Card was able to predict 30 years ago), this book is amazing. The story itself is also quite good also, telling the story of Ender as he progresses from a 6 year old child sent to a military training installation in space all the way to the war itself.

Without revealing too much, the book does a good job of questioning the ethics of war and space colonization, although at times it almost feels like its being beaten into the ground (not often, but there were times). The only major gripe I had with the book is that the end was a little to hokey. It does a great job wrapping things up and answering questions, but I didn't quite feel that they happened naturally as if they were almost tacked on to make sure that when the sequel was ready all the information was set. Speaking of the sequel, it is sitting on my dresser, but I doubt I will read it for quite a while. It's not that I don't want to read more about Card's universe he created, but... how do I put this.... it wasn't written by Douglas Adams. That about explains it.

As part of proof that we have all run out of new ideas, Ender's Game is now being repackaged as a comic book, a new video game, and (although in production hell, as far as I know) a movie. With that, I'm moving on to a subject that I don't have time to talk about at length right here, but will definitely be a recurring theme, I have to say that while I do like some adaptations and such, books are normally created to be books (same with movies, games, comics, tv shows, etc.). When Douglas Adams adapted H2G2 from the radio drama to the books, he knew that it had to be different. He knew that things that worked in radio weren't meant to work in books and vice versa. Same with his adaptation to the small screen and (although I'm not exactly sure how much of his script was used) to the big screen.

It's not that I think books can't be adapted to film, but they always seem to lose some magic in the transition. Your imagination and mental pictures are replaced by whatever the directer/screenwriter chose to see. It's now hard to think about Harry Potter without picturing Daniel Radcliffe or Gandalf without seeing Ian McKellan. They both have done wonderful jobs portraying the characters, but it still holds your mind back from seeing something different.

That little bit is just chapter one of what I'm sure will be an ongoing saga about transitions between media. To return to the original point of the post, Ender's Game is great, really great. The only problem with it is that it wasn't Douglas Adams.

Movie Monday: Step Brothers

Saturday night I was able to trick Katie and a couple of friends into seeing Step Brothers. I say "trick" because none of them claimed to know that it was rated R and were surprised by the fact that we were all carded going into the theater. To be honest, I wasn't really expecting that much over it either. Of the reviews I had read, yeah, it was supposed to be raunchy, but I haven't had my ticket stub checked going into a theater since Star Wars Episode 3.

To put it simply, Step Brothers is funny. Very funny. Of course, this completely depends on your sense of humor, and I'm pretty sure that if you've seen the previews you know whether you are interested or not. That said, unlike other movies, the best parts are nowhere near the previews. Sure, those parts are silly, but the best parts of the movie are when they are able to take an idea and completely let loose. There is also something to say about the writing, Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly are exactly like two 9/10-year-old boys, and that is what makes the movie so funny. They throw temper tantrums, have tree houses, practice karate in the garage, and are completely dumb.

Let's face facts here. As I've said before, you know whether or not you want to see this movie, and I'm almost positive that my little review here isn't going to change any minds, so if you've seen it, let me know what you thought. And if you haven't, let's hear why you aren't seeing it. Are you against it? Do you think it looks dumb? Can't afford another movie ticket and would rather see Tropic Thunder? All good reasons, but I just want to know (I know I would have rather seen X-Files, but I got shot down).

And that's that. See you on the morrow.

Religion Friday!

This has been the hardest post for me to get started. I don't really know how I want to do these Friday posts. You see, for me, thinking and pondering God and Faith are easy. There are limitless ideas and philosophies about this God character that my mind can easily hop into that. However, when it comes to expressing these particular thoughts as words (whether through writing or verbally), I never know what to say and wind up just being frustrated and mostly saying nothing (just ask my wife).
So, when I was discussing my ideas for the five blog days, my brother suggested God for a day. I balked immediately at the subject, trying to take movies and tv and put them into two separate days or take comics and make them separate from books. Really I was just turning my fears of being able to do justice to the subject of faith into complaints, so I tried to say that I didn't want to alienate people; but, my brother made a great point. He said that if God was a large part of my life (moreso than fleeting dumb things like movies and games), and I'm not afraid to give semi-controversial statements there (Transformers sucks, btw) then why can't I just give my thoughts on something a bit more important to me. Now, I must confess, I just paraphrased a bit there, it may not be exactly what he said, but it's what I got out of it, and that's what really matters here.
What is it that makes it so hard for me to write about God (now anyway, if you look through old posts, I'm pretty sure I had no problem)? Is it because I get so upset about people trying to confine God into a catchphrases and bumper sticker theology that I'm worried that I'll wind up doing the same? Definitely. Or, is it the fact that I don't like to be wrong and want to spend my time searching for answers rather than taking time to discuss things I've already found? Well, that too.
Basically, what it comes down to is the fact that I don't know, and because I don't know, I'm hesitant to say anything for fear that I am wrong. But, you see, the thing about the subject of God is that (aside from a few key basic things I think we can all agree on), no one really knows the exact answer. Sure, we can theorize and conject our ideas about what this means or what someone was saying here in the Bible or whatever, but no one actually knows.
For that reason, I shall do my best to put my actual thoughts down here. Not just what I think people want to read, but what I truly think and believe. I mean, if I can gush about video games and movies that other people think are dumb without a second thought. I should be able to do that here.
I know that this wasn't really as much about Religion or God as it is about my own dealings therein, but then again, isn't that exactly what our Faith winds up being?

Gaming Thursday - Final Fantasy 4 or Why Paladins Rock My World

So, I was working on this post earlier today and had a good page and a half of notes down in my little journal, however I left that journal at work and am now going on pure memory! Anyway, today is the first Video Game Thursday, and in an effort to stay with this weeks mega release,( I've decided to talk about Final Fantasy 4. Now, just to let you know, this isn't a review in any way (I actually haven't played it in years, and although I'd like to pick up this DS iteration, I probably won't be able to for a little while). Also, these will more than likely not remain current with games as they come out, since I can't afford to buy new games each week, but I'll do my best to have it a mixture between reminiscing about past games, reviews of current games, and news about upcoming games. For an awesome, non-personal look at the Final Fantasy games, I highly recommend you check out this series of videos. I will embed their look at Final Fantasy 4 at the end for your enjoyment.

So, in all my Super Nintendo days, my RPG focus tended towards Earthbound and Final Fantasy 6, so I don't really remember playing FF4 until my college years when I got hooked on emulation. I must confess, I don't think I've ever finished playing through Final Fantasy 4, but it has left quite an impression on me in one way. You see, you begin the game as Cecil the Dark Knight. He's all cool and moody and really powerful, but conflicted about his role.

There comes a point in the game where you are guided to a temple where Cecil must confront himself in order to find the light within. After a particularly difficult battle with yourself(at least as far as I remember), you come out a changed man - transformed from a Dark Knight to.... a Paladin! As anyone who has played World of Warcraft, Diablo, D&D, or any similar sort of game with me knows, Paladins are pretty much my favorite all around class, and I think it comes back to this game. Even though Cecil isn't exactly all that powerful as a Paladin, something about playing through the first few hours of the game as a semi-bad guy, only to come to a point where you make this change into good really stuck with me. I've come to really like the idea of the holy warrior character (particularly because I like to be able to keep my health up... I'm kind of OCD about that). So, Cecil receives a cheer from me for inspiring my love of Paladins!

The game plays pretty much like a regular SNES Final Fantasy (which isn't a bad thing at all), so I don't remember much else aside from the twin magicians Polum and Palum (I think), and the fact that I'd love to get the 3d remake for DS here as soon as I can. I had other points that I had meant to hit in this post, but I completely forgot them along with my journal at work. Next week's gaming post will likely be better, if only because it will be about a game that I know a lot better than Final Fantasy 4. And since I couldn't do the game justice, here is the GameTrailers Retrospective on FF4 for your enjoyment:



Until tomorrow!

The New (and Hopefully Improved) Blog

First of all, for those of you who are shocked (and delighted) that I have made two posts in two days, I have decided to give this blog some good attention in order to help me with my writing skills and to hopefully keep you entertained. What I am hoping to do is to update the blog 4-5 days a week, with each day taking a theme. Right now I have Mondays for Movies/TV, Tuesdays for Books, Wednesdays for World/News, Thursdays for Games, and Fridays for God. So, if this were real, you would be tuning in today to see my thoughts/opinions on what's going on in the world.

Not every post will be the epic that yesterday's was (that was seriously draining, and required hours of Rock Band therapy), but I do hope to craft each post to be both thoughtful and thought provoking. I doubt that I will be able to do it each time, but I would like you to join with me to help make it better by submitting thoughts, praises, and criticisms. I would really like this to be something that helps me to become a better writer and be able to transfer these skills into writing other things.

I have briefly considered adding Google AdSense so that I might be able to take in some revenue off of the site, but until I get going at a good clip and trust myself enough to do this regularly, I'll hold off.

So, spread the word!!! Get people to read for me, I would love to be able to get comments from a wide variety of ages and peoples, so let a friend or two know. Give them a sample of a previous entry you liked and get 'em hooked.

Tomorrow, the gig shall begin for real with the first Game Thursday, in which I will talk about Square Enix... particularly Final Fantasy 4, which came out on DS this Tuesday (although, I'm warning you now, it will more than likely devolve into me talking about Final Fantasy 6, because I can't help it). See you then!

A Different Sort of Review

Before I go into my special Dark Knight review, I must request that, if you don't know what Psychonauts is, to click here. Did you read it? I hope so, because for my take on Dark Knight, I shall present it as a build of Psychonauts, as in separated into different levels so that it is not just a rehash of every other review of Dark Knight that is out there, but instead we shall examine the minds of the characters and see where their flaws lie (one of the great themes of the film) and also how awesome it would be to see it presented in one of my favorite games ever (yeah, I know its a last generation game, but wouldn't it be so awesome if Double Fine made DLC with extra levels to play through?) One more thing before we begin... there will be spoilers ahead, so if you are just here for a recommendation, I say go see Dark Knight, but if you want to go a little further with me, read on (quick note, these levels aren't in any particular order, they are just coming as I think of them)...

Bruce Wayne/Batman's Level - Yeah, I know they could be two separate levels, but for the sake of time, I'll do it as one.
As Razz enters into this level, it becomes apparent that Bruce's mind is a reproduction of Wayne Manor, large and sprawling. Of course, when you enter into the main foyer, it's beautiful and expansive, and everything is decorated with pictures of Gotham City... and bats, because these are things that are constantly parts of Bruce's mind, they permanently etched into places all throughout the mansion.
The first wing that you are granted entry to is one of Bruce's playboy personality. The colors are bright, and the figments (little collectibles within the game) are represented by champagne glasses, expensive cars, tuxedos and such. The main issue in this wing of the manor is the fact that it is a huge piece of the manor, and yet you can tell that it is neglected, Bruce dislikes this part of his mind, and although it is clearly in use quite often, the rest of the mansion does it's best to shut this part out and keep it there just for show. As you work your way through that wing, you encounter Bruce's representation of himself within and must convince him that although this part of him may seem to be a waste, it is in fact a very important part that he must learn to use more to fight justice, rather than relying on his alter-ego.
Speaking of that alter-ego, once you can convince Bruce of the importance and neccessity of actually being Bruce, you can move on to the Batman wing of the Mansion. Here, things are dark, and the figments are represented by Bat gadgets, weapons, and the occasional criminal. Within this wing, you learn of Bruce's obsessions. He hinges his entire being on this "hero" that he has created. So much so that the only way to pull Bruce out of this part of his mind before it can be sucked into the massive vortex of obsession in the middle (yeah, I forgot to mention it earlier, because I just made it up) is by finding Rachel in the mansion. For some reason, it's not the promise of a safer Gotham, or even a happy life that can make him willing to give up the mask, the only thing that he finds bright is Rachel. His cravings for her attention and approval are represented by secret rooms that are easy to find because the doors are constantly left partially open with rays of light coming from the cracks. Inside these rooms, the walls are covered with memories of Bruce and Rachel throughout their times together, both as adults and as children.
Once you beat the level, you think that somehow Bruce's mind will be changed and guided to something of a balance between his desire for justice as Batman, and his ability to help bring justice as Bruce Wayne as well. However, as in the movie, Bruce is unable to separate this desire from his very being, and as you leave his mind, everything that you had changed to help him, slowly begins to revert back to the state that it once was.

Rachel's Level -
Rachel's level is similarly divided as Bruce's. However as much as her love for Bruce is represented in her mind, it is clear that while it was once at the forefront, it has been taken over by Harvey. Figments are represented here by posters for Harvey's campaign, lawyer accessories, and the occasional bat. Unlike Bruce's mind, which is closed off into the (albeit large) mansion, Rachel's psyche is represented as the grounds around the mansion, where holes that were once wells and trees prohibit too much wandering. Her mind is fixated (like that of Bruce's and later Harvey's) on justice and peace. Although, her's is brightly lit with hope from the future (hey, I don't know how to represent it in the game, I'm just writing it, not making it). Her level will have the feel of a 2D platformer... very linear and lots of jumping, with you travelling through the grounds of the Wayne Manor, with flashes of Harvey and Bruces' faces appearing randomly throughout. As you reach the end of the level, you catch up to Rachel who is standing in front of a fork in the path with Bruce on one side and Harvey on the other, and although I'd like to say you get a choice between them, you don't. Rachel smiles at Bruce and tells him something sweet before she walks off with Harvey. As you stand next to Bruce and watch the other two walk off into a beautiful forest, you see a bolt of lightning strike the forest, and are ejected from her mind as it begins to erupt into flames.

Harvey's Level -
Yeah, I know I wasn't going to do these in order, but when you arrive at Harvey and enter into his mind, it is while he is in the hospital after Rachel's death and his rebirth as Two-Face. Razz will be confronted here again by duality (see, there's a theme), this time it is completely obvious. As you enter into Harvey's mind, you find it represented as a huge courthouse. The level alternates between darkness and light at complete random, and the level structure is completely frustrating, because everything is guided by chance. Places that are safe will randomly be turned against you, but not at any particular point in the level, just whenever it feels like it - it's like the level in Psychonauts where you can adjust the play to good or bad, except here you have no control, again, it is random (kind of like his flipping a coin). The problem with the level is that although you feel the animosity in the darkness, it is completely sane. The level is well structured, with nothing out of the ordinary, figments here are represented by coins (that's all, just lots of coins). The goal of the level is to bring both parts of Harvey together, one represented as a whole Harvey in a white suit and, the other a fully burned Harvey in a charred suit (yeah, I know its obvious, but sometimes you just have to go with the easy answer). Anyway, the level ends when the Harveys come together and find that the balance between his light and dark is able to be brought together by the random element found in chance. When the Harveys are brought together, they turn to you and flip a coin, if it comes up good, you finish the level, and if it comes up on the charred side, you die and are forced to do the entire level over again (told you it was frustrating).

Jim Gordon's Level -
Jim's level is represented as the Gotham Police Department. Like all the others within the movie/game Jim's duality is between his job and his love for his family, which is represented in part by his figments, which are his wife and two kids shown at different stages in their lives that he could potentially be missing. Your goal here is to clear out the Department so that Jim can finally find his way home and be with the people he loves. You begin the level on the roof next to the Bat-signal and Jim's representation is covered by the shadows and as you clear different stages of the Department, you can come back to see Jim and find the shadows receding. It's a fairly straightforward level, with criminals and crooked cops haunting the entire place. The hook to the level (and also a sometimes frustrating piece of gameplay) is that Jim is never safe or satisfied. Each time you leave him to clear out different places, you will find him to have wandered off from the last place you left him in order to get more done or to help clear another area on his own. When the level ends, you exit the Police Department and guide Jim home to be with his wife and children, only to hear his phone ring, as you are floating out of his mind.

Finally, The Joker's Level -
Unlike every other level where there is some semblance of structure (and even that theme of duality), the Joker's level is complete chaos. It is represented by the whole of Gotham City in all its urban glory (in fact, now that I think of it, it might even be the hub world of the game). However, it is also structured kind of like The Milkman Conspiracy level in Psychonauts or parts of Super Mario Galaxy, where your perspective is constantly shifting as you walk vertically up walls as they turn into the floor beneath you. The figments here are represented by different knives and cutting tools, as well as various guns and weaponry, and as you "progress" through the city, the Joker's mind will constantly test your choices and humanity's choices, forcing you at points to choose who is more important to save. Also, unlike in the movie, within the Joker's mind humanity is not as kind and forgiving as they turn out in the movie and as people are given the choice as to save themselves or to keep others alive, they will consistently choose themselves, and you will be sidetracked as often as possible in order to try to help those who have been elected to die by others. As you make it to the Joker's representation of himself, you find that he has no issues within his mind and that this chaos is exactly what he desires it to be. Something that he finds exciting because it is unable to be predicted or controlled (just like Harvey's chance). After you get a chance to talk with him wherein he tells you all of this, the level ends as you are pulled from his mind to his maniacal laughter and explosions ringing throughout the city.

That is about all I can think of for the moment, I know I skipped over Alfred and Lucius, but it would be kind of repetetive to go over their own themes of duality through the movie. Basically, the movie is a great representation of this theme (and also of lies and hope -odd matches, huh?). So, I hope you enjoyed this blog post, and I shall be back (hopefully soon), with some more stuff.

P.S. Psychonauts is awesome, and you should play it.

Hancock and such

So, we (my constant summer movie group of 08) went to see Hancock last night and I've got to tell you, it was a great ride.... for about the first hour.

Not that the movie was bad at all. Will Smith did a great job portraying Hancock as this huge jackass of a superhero, Jason Bateman was also quite good as the PR rep, but the problem lies with the story. For the first hour of the movie, we focus on Hancock and his complete inability to relate to the people he's around, and that's exactly how I wanted the movie to stay. It was engaging to watch him turn from a self-centered prick of a superhero into a decent kind of guy but right when they have a chance to take this story to the next level, the writers decide to turn it into something completely different (although not in anyway unexpected). Without giving anything away (because unlike The Happening, I still think it was worth seeing), the movie turns from a really great character study into just another regular superhero movie. Not that it's a bad thing, but when you are setting up a really great premise for the first hour of the movie, only to take that away for the climax and resolution, it really seems cheap.

To sum it all up, it's a good movie that had serious potential to be great, but just got pulled back by its dumb script choices.

On the other hand, the next two weeks are going to have some (hopefully) reallly awesome comic/superhero movies with Hellboy2 dropping next Friday and The Dark Knight a week later.

And by the way, I saw both Wanted and Wall-E last weekend and both were very good, but for completely different reasons. If you really like violent, sometimes vulgar awesomeness, definitely check out Wall-E and if you need a sweet and cute family movie, Wanted is the one for you.

And on the subject of Wanted, the director is a Russian guy who has made 2 really cool movies (with the third part of the trilogy coming soon to America from what I've heard) called Night Watch and Day Watch. They are really slick vampire-type movies that I really recommend people check out.

Peace out.

For the podcast

http://conniedarko.blogspot.com/2007/09/bringing-back-memories.html

Here is the post from last year that I mention in this week's Afterburners

The Happening

So, as part of my summer movie binging, over the past two weeks, I saw Iron Man for my 3rd time, You Don't Mess with the Zohan (which just barely deserves to be mentioned), The Happening, and The Incredible Hulk. For the moment, let's dive into The Happening, and hopefully we'll return to the Hulk on a day sometime in the near future. By necessity, this discussion will include spoilers for the movie, so if you feel like you still want to see it and don't want anything ruined (which, before you get started, I would recommend you read this, just because the main spoiler can change your mind about paying 8 bucks to see this).

The movie starts out quite intriguingly, with people all over Central Park randomly committing suicide. It's a great start to the movie and gets you really excited about finding out what is happening to everyone. The problem is that from there, everything starts to go downhill and never really picks itself back up.

You see, when faced with an unknown attacker that can kill people without you ever seeing, it can be genuinely freaky. This allows the first 30 minutes of the movie to be quite good (aside from the characters/writing, but more on that later). However, after those 30 minutes, you hear the "theory" as to what is causing this. Now, it would have been fine if there were multiple theories proposed to bring in a sort of guessing game as to what is happening, but M. Night doesn't do that. He gives you a crazy guy who puts forth a theory that is never really argued with and winds up being true (which makes sense, since nothing is ever brought up to the contrary).

The problem with this, is that "the happening" is caused by... are you ready? Plants. Yes, plants. The plants are mad at humans for being so evil and they decide to release toxins into the air to protect them from us, and these toxins force humans to kill themselves. So, what I was hoping to be an initial alien invasion (that was my hope from the previews and such), turns out to be a big political statement about us treating the environment better so that it doesn't get pissed off and kill us all off using airborne toxins.

This leaves the suspense in the movie to our main characters running from.... the wind. There is seriously a scene in the movie that focuses on the wind rustling through tree branches and tall grass, while ominous music plays loudly and the characters are forced to run ahead of the wind. Yeah, it's dumb.

But, the problems don't really end with the plot. I could have forgiven the plot if the characters were good, but they were all wooden, one-dimensional pieces. Marky Mark is a good actor, Zooey Deschanel is a good actor, John Leguizamo is a good actor.... but when they aren't given a good script, every time they talk on screen is annoying. Zooey's character in particular bothered the crap out of me, because there really was no point for her and Marky Mark to be fighting, and yet their marriage is "on the rocks," without any real explanation, and what we do wind up seeing, could have been written by a middle schooler with dating problems. Sorry, that sentence wasn't structured very well. Anyway, it leaves the whole movie feeling very empty character-wise and since I found no true depth or real emotion to any of the main characters, it made it all that much harder to empathize and try to pay attention to their problems.

My final gripe with the movie lies with the "R" rating. The commercials all hype up the fact that this is M. Night's first "R" film, and yes this cut should be rated "R" for the violence that is shown, but I honestly think they should have stayed at PG-13 because after the initial death scenes, the later gore in the movie is just violence for the sake of violence. In my opinion, I found the deaths that happened off screen to be far more chilling than the random deaths that get shown. There is a point in the movie where you just hear gunshots, and you know that all of the members of a group are picking up a gun and committing suicide, but you never have to see any of it, and the silence followed by a loud pop followed again by silence, actually gave me goosebumps. Whereas, another part of the movie, a guy walks up to a riding lawnmower and then lays in front of it in order to kill himself nearly made me laugh out loud. I can understand that they were trying to go for a more hardcore suspense/horror audience, but when the script just puts in these moments so that they can show off violence and gore, it just doesn't do it for me.

So, to put all of this together, The Happening was a huge disappointment for me. I went in hoping for M. Night to climb back into good graces after the problems of Lady in the Water, but he just didn't make it. Although, I'll give him credit... there was no huge twist in the movie.

INDY!!!!!

So, it's actually two days later than I thought, but it's a long weekend, so who can blame me?
Anyway, here it is. I'll give it to you straight up... Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is great. Yeah, I said it. It's a great movie, and a really good Indiana Jones movie. Not quite as good as the original trilogy, but it certainly fits in with the feeling of the other three. Now, my only gripes come from the fact that George Lucas obviously wanted his hands in the film a bit too much. Without ruining anything for those who haven't seen yet, all I have to say is monkeys and prairie dogs. Where I swore I read something months ago from Steven Spielberg saying how much they would use practical effects and keep away from CGI, it became apparent from the first 20 seconds of the movie that Lucas disagreed with this. Now, I admit that certain parts of the movie do require CGI effects, but others could have been cut completely (the two mentioned above are my biggest complaints). Aside from that, IJatKotCS (nice acronym, dontcha think?) was a great ride. The movie moves along smoothly and never even really hit a slow point for me. Then again, I could just be biased because of my crushes on both Harrison Ford and Shia LeBeouf, but I find that highly unlikely, because my taste in movies is so perfect that I never fail in finding the best out there.
Overall, the first time I saw Crystal Skull, it was a B+, but after going again, I move my score up to an A- because it felt even better going back to the world of Indy the second time.
Now... if only Prince Caspian had been good, this summer would have been 3 for 3 (Iron Man was great).
Godspeed

BLOGWAR

As I post for the first time in forever, I must let you know that Jody Dunn and I are now at (blog)War. I will be updating this weekend after I've seen Indy for the second time with my final thoughts. But, I just had to put this up so that I could stick it to Senor Dunn.

Podcast contest

Episode 4 of the podcast is up at the usual place. So, here is a place where you can leave your answers for the contest. Take up comment space or drop me an e-mail.

Podcasting again

Episode 2 is out. Same place as last time. Listen and enjoy. I should be updating this blog coming up soon, I have a few ideas brewing, but nothing concrete enough to write about. All of my rambling has gone into the podcast. Make sure to spread the word about the podcast and drop me a line with any comments or queries.

The first Podcast is up

Trey and I finally kept to our word and made our podcast. If you want to listen/download it, head on over to web.mac.com/treyhockman and click on podcast on the top. Take a listen and let me know what you think. Hopefully we'll have a full site up soon enough and have boards/more posts. Enjoy!
PS again that is http://web.mac.com/treyhockman

Bringing back memories

I have decided that it's time for the Disney cartoon series of my youth to be remade as feature films, just like Transformers and the upcoming G.I. Joe and Voltron. I also know that the best way for these to make a crap-ton of money is to make them a hard R and rip off previously successful movies, and for that reason all of these will sound familiar and cheezy (but that is the point). So hold on to your hats for the upcoming amazing releases of:
Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers-
The tone is turned down into a gritty crime drama. Monty is found dead from some poisoned swiss. Zipper is the only witness, but before Chip and Dale get a chance to talk to him, he is found hanging from the rafters. As Fat Cat is the only other obvious suspect, the duo (with random appearances by Gadget) chases him down, only to find him absolved of the crime, he claims that all his dastardly deeds were just a game of "cat and mouse" with them. As the plot continues to twist and turn, more and more characters wind up dead, and the big reveal at the end is that Dale did it all (did you not see that coming? I mean just look at his shirt, it totally screams homicidal maniac). The film ends with Chip bringing his cackling partner (or are they brothers too? I never know) to justice and walks away with Gadget, hoping for a brighter future.
Gummi Bears-
A full on epic on the scale of the LotR trilogy. The bears have been forced out of their forest home by an incoming invasion of the ogres, led by the evil Duke Igthorn. In turn, they are forced to recruit an army of mismatched animals and humans to fight back. Mixed in with the amazing epic battles, the movie takes a hard turn and addresses the bears' addiction to gummi juice, as they go through withdrawals (since they lack the ingredients to fuel their drug-based battle lust) they are forced into learning to battle sober. When Grammi Bear dies from lack of juice (her addiction was so powerful), they begin the huge climactic battle, complete with cavalry and dragons. Of course they win the battle and save the forest and return to their drug-filled lives.
TaleSpin-
Taking a page from Han Solo and Malcolm Reynolds, Baloo is turned into a gruff and charming smuggler. Set during WW2 (as it seemed to be anyway), the Air Pirates are now Nazis, and Baloo and Kit are sent on a job to deliver secret plans to Allied men behind enemy lines. Halfway through the movie, on their way to the drop point, the Sea Duck is shot down, and Baloo is forced to leave a crippled Kit at and an ally-friendly farm house and deliver the plans alone and to exact extreme revenge. Fighting his way through scores of Nazis (funny side note, my notes for this blog read scores of Zombies, I guess zombies and Nazis are interchangable), armed only with his trusty pistol and cunning, he delivers the plans and helps the Allied forces to destroy a plant that produces Super Nazis. At the climax, Baloo gets into a gruesome and yet incredibly awesome and violent knife fight with one of the final Super Nazis, only to have it end with Baloo jamming his knife upwards through the Nazi's jaw into its brain and saying something really witty. The movie ends with and obvious allusion to a sequel as a Super Nazi rises from the ashes of the burned plant and begins to walk towards the camera (this might even happen in the middle of the credits for extra surprise-ness).
Darkwing Duck-
(I had the hardest time trying to figure out how to do this one). But about 20 minutes into the movie, Darkwing gets imprisoned for his vigilantism after being revealed by super-cop GizmoDuck. While there, a la Rorschach in Watchmen, all his previous foes do their best to return the pain that Darkwing so lovingly dished out to them, only to be thwarted again and again by his genius. Years pass and harden Darkwing into a bitter duck (told in a montage, of course), when Launchpad McQuack, who has been working with lawyers on an insanity angle, finally gets a break and gets Darkwing released into his care. Once out, they plot against GizmoDuck (who we learn to be a corrupt cop at the top of the local mob organization) and the rest of the movie is Darkwing creating a new costume and hitting Gizmo where it hurts, ending with a huge showdown on the roof of Gizmo's penthouse in the driving rain. The final scene is Gizmo lying in a pool of his own blood and oil, having been impaled on a beach chair, and Darkwing walking off into the night, leaving a trail of evidence for the cops to put Gizmo behind bars for a good long time.
DuckTales (whooo!, sorry, couldn't resist)-
Even though they've already had one amazing movie - The Treasure of the Lost Lamp (no seriously, it was really good - even though I haven't seen it in years), which almost put them out of this blog, I decided against it, since I got a really good idea for their movie - yes, you are correct, a heist flick (just like the remade Ocean's 11 and Italian Job). The plot is that Srooge's money have been lost through a phony legal suit with Flintheart Glomgold and he and the McDuck family is forced into poverty. However, under the tech guidance of Huey, Dewey, and Louie and the sexy charm of Webby, they are able to crack Flintheart's uncrackable security system and safe, and just when you think everything is going wrong with the plan it turns out that all the "missteps" we see are really part of the plan and Scrooge walks off with this money intact and the movie ends with the greedy bastard swimming back through his gold coins.

Yeah, I know that it's not that good, but it felt good to write it, I hope you enjoyed it.
Godspeed

7 months

It has been 7 months with nary a word from this site. I've been busy, Katie and I bought a house and got a little kitten (her name is Our Mrs. Reynolds, for all you Firefly fans out there). Aside from all that, I haven't thought of much to write about, I've been meeting a bunch of new friends on WoW from all over the US, and it's pretty dang cool to know that I am playing with people thousands of miles away. I even got mentioned in someone's blog! How cool is that?
Anyway, I'm working on deciding what to do with this blog. Should I keep it up with this sort of stuff (as in what's been going on), or focus on features (like my top lists, reviews, and random nonsense). What do you guys think? If anyone is actually still reading this, let me know!
Godspeed

What Class is Jesus?

As I was in church today, we read a certain scripture that caused me to wonder.... if Jesus was in World of Warcraft, what class would he be? Let me refer you to the scripture that was read today:
Luke 4: 29 - 30 (I'll quote from the NIV, since that is what is sitting in front of me) "They got up, drove him [Jesus] out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built in order to throw him down the cliff. But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way." Now, obviously, here Jesus is displaying either the Rogue talent - Vanish, or the high Mage level talent - Invisibility, because he is able to basically disengage himself from combat and reduce the aggro of the mobs surrounding him to zero, resetting them to their place. However, Jesus cannot be limited to just these two classes, because we hear often of the stories of his healings, and neither Rogues nor Mages can heal very well, unless they are using bandages. And for that reason, I will now break it down into paragraphs for each class and make a case. Then we can decide once and for all what World of Warcraft class Jesus is (because I know you all have been wondering).
Mage - Well, as mentioned above, if Jesus were to be a mage, he would have to be at least level 68, to be able to learn Invisibility. Mages are also a cloth-wearing class, and we know that Jesus wore a cloth robe (more than likely with +intellect and +spirit), but his sandals were more than likely leather which could pose a problem here. Although, he could just wear some cloth ones and make do. Also, the Arcane Intellect and Arcane Brilliance spells that grant a boost in Intellect on party members is likely one of Jesus' favorite, since he tried to use it often on his disciples to get them to understand his parables. One COULD argue that Jesus used Blink to get away from the mob back in Galilee, but I find that argument faulty, because Blink does not have an aggro reducing aspect to it. Another argument for Mages is the fact that Jesus was able to feed the five thousand, and since we all know that Mages are only good for conjuring food and water for their group, this is definitely a big plus. The only huge problem that Mages face in their campaign to claim Jesus as their own is the Resurrection. One could argue that Jesus had a Warlock in his party during the last days who gave him a Soulstone, that allowed him to Rez, but I find fault in that, because I think that Jesus' Resurrection was of his own accord, and therefore couldn't have been brought about by someone else (unless it was the Holy Spirit who cast it on him as Ben points out). Anyway, that's the case for Mages.
Shaman - Shammies, on the other hand, do have the ability to resurrect themselves, and they have the ability to heal as well, which gives it already two advantages over the above mentioned Mages. Plus, A Shammie can resurrect others, which gives them a major point in that it can explain the resurrection of Lazarus. Also, they can wear both cloth and leather (as well as chain, but I don't think Jesus wore any chain mail), so that gets his outfit rounded out easily. However, to my knowledge, I don't know of any talent or spell that Shammies have that could reduce the threat level of the mobs and allow Jesus to walk away unharmed in the story presented above. But, Shammies do have some sort of elemental control, which would help in the case of Jesus rebuking the winds and the waves. The only problems I can forsee with Shammies is the use of totems for some of their spells. As much as I have scoured the Gospels over the years, I have not found any mention to Jesus using a totem when healing any of the many people throughout his ministry. Although, it must be said that the totems are used for Healing over Time spells, and it is true that most of Jesus' heals were instant, there are a few that require time (as in the case of the blind man who had to wash himself in the pool of Siloam). The other problem with Shammies would have to be the fact that Jesus was a Human (ok, ok, half God, half Man, but for all intents and purposes, his race was clearly Human in form), and the Shaman class is not available for Humans, but I think this to be a minor flaw in the argument, because Jesus can pick whatever class he wants.
Warlock - Now before you get all uppity on me for even mentioning that Jesus could have been a Lock, I advise that you remember that this is all written in humor, and if you can't handle it, please navigate to a safer website like www.family.org and have fun on your own. The case for Locks, in my opinion is a flimsy one anyway. The only thing that they have going for them is the Soulstone, which Jesus could have cast on himself, that and the fact that it is a cloth class just like Mages. Aside from this, there seems to be nothing else going for it, since it is not a healing class (at least not one that doesn't require afflicting pain to others in order to heal). If I am missing anything here, please make sure to let me know in the comments section below, because I think I'm going to have to end here.
Druid - I would have to say that Jesus would be a Resto Druid, due to all the Healing abilities mentioned earlier. Jesus would not use the shapeshifting abilities, because it would have been unnecessary to his goals. The only major hurdle for Druids is similar to that of Shammies and is therefore thrown out - the fact that Humans cannot pick this class. Sad to say, but I can't think of anything that would separate Druids from Shammies in this battle, and since Shammies also have the elemental control, I think it does give them the slight edge (even over the nature abilities of Druids, which could explain the withering of the fig tree, but I find that to be minor, since most classes could easily cause enough damage to the tree to cause it to wilt).
Paladin - He would definitely be a Holy specced Pally, but there is little here to support this class above the other healing classes (which brings a tear to my eye, as this is my home class). The one thing that can be said here is the Blessings that Pallies can bestow upon others. The Blessings of Wisdom, Light, and Salvation come to mind first off, for the obvious reasons. Sadly, I cannot think of any other reasons to support this class as Jesus'.
Priest - A Holy specced Priest on the other hand, brings us into one of the most famous of all Jesus' miracles - the ability to walk on water. A Priest-only spell, this is a huge argument for this class. This added to the Healing abilities (all mentioned in the Shammy paragraph), gives the Priest a big run for the top. Plus, the Prayers that can be given to party members and to the Priest himself gives it one more big push as it is mentioned multiple times throughout the Gospels of Jesus' love to pray. However, when we look back to the story that brought up this whole subject, I can't find a talent/spell that takes a Priest out of combat and allows them to walk unnoticed through mobs.... although they do have Divine Shield, this wouldn't allow them to go unnoticed.
Rogue - Definitely a Subtlety specced Rogue. Jesus has the ability to Shadowstep behind everyone mentally in all of his parables in order to get the jump on them so that they never really know where he is going to be next. Added to this the leather wearing, and the aforementioned Vanish ability gives Rogues a pretty strong run for Jesus.... However, the inability to recreate any of the healings without the use of bandages does bring a big detraction to the class.
Warrior - Aside from the Protection aspect of Wars, I can't really find much to give them a good run for Jesus. Am I missing anything?
Hunter - Same with Wars, I only find the affinity to nature an aspect that could bring any validity to a Hunter's run.
And there you have it. Am I missing anything for any of the classes? Seeing as how I've only really played a Pally, Rogue and Mage, I probably am missing a lot of talents or spells from each class, so feel free to add anything to the comments section and I can update as information comes in.
For those of you who have been waiting for a real blog to come in, sorry. Christmas was a good time spent with both Katie and my families and we got to go to Medieval Times, which was SPECTACULAR! Then, we came back home, and went back to work, and nothing happened until Burning Crusade came out, and since then I have been spending what time I can on the wonderful grind to lvl 70 (currently 2 bars from 66). Anyway, I thought about doing another few top ten lists of 06, but I haven't really decided yet. If you want to see those, just let me know and I'll get to work on it. Anyhoo, that's all I've got. Godspeed.