Fire; Hot.

Living life

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 23:42:31 -0400

I started the week without glasses because they broke in my trip to Flint for Easter. I have used Scotch tape to hold the lens in place and they look ghetto as fuck.

Immediately after work this morning, I met Amber at her place and we picked up the keys to the new house. We hung out there for a couple hours with her (our?) cat, Torby.

I have a month and a half left in my current apartment. I have already made a video tour for everyone that has not seen my place. Dont feel bad if you haven’t. I am pretty sure Matt is the only one that has. I will upload that video to youtube after I move out.

Redbull: Red, Silver and Blue Editions reviewed (quickie)

Sat, 09 Mar 2013 05:32:36 -0500

None are as good as the original.

Red (Cranberry) - tastes like Cranberry and OJ.

Silver (Lime) - tastes like rotten limes.

Blue (Blueberry) - tastes like a sour blueberry candy. best tasting of the three.

Breaking the rules and my realization that I am a creeper.

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 19:06:08 -0500

Yesterday, I had learned that a girl that attended GVSU sued and won (technically settled) a lawsuit over her inability to keep a guinea pig in her on campus living area. I had previous knowledge of said lawsuit, but thought that she was a fool attempting to get money over something that she signed away once she entered into her housing agreement.

It is common knowledge that those housing agreements specifically state no animals aside from low maintenance fish and service animals. Her argument was that the guinea pig was needed for her depression and was technically a service animal. If that was the case, she should have declared that she had the animal prior to her moving in. Everyone would have been on the same page and it would have never become the big ordeal that it was.

My stance is clear that she in no way deserved anything from this lawsuit. I am reminded of the climax of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, where Wonka calls Charlie out for stealing an Everlasting Gobstopper. This is what I grew up with. This is a moral that was instilled in me very early on. If you are going to break the terms and conditions, you are at fall easy enough to understand.

In a discussion at work, we were trying to find the girl in question on facebook. In a quick search of her name we turn up nothing, which was to be expected. I turned to my amazing googling skills and was actually able to find her. It took longer than I expected and I had to dig deeper than I wanted to, but I did find her. I was turning up a lot of results that were rather similar. The same profile picture was showing up on various internet communities, but were not pointing me in the right direction.

Eventually, I did find an account that was linked to her facebook page. It was mostly friends only, but had enough public information to give it away. The picture that was showing up on the other websites, was not appearing here, but that picture appeared to be rather old.

When I confirmed that this was indeed the correct person, I was rather shocked at a number of things. First of all, she was not an 18 year old freshman, but rather a 29 year old senior. Secondly, she actually grew up in the area and previously attended GRCC. This brings up a multitude of questions, but the one that stands out the most is why would a person from the area (that is damn near thirty) want to live on campus unless it was for personal gain.

I was a little disturbed that I was able to find her, but then again if you ever put anything on the internet, you can never take it back.

Proud Owner of Bluetooth Headphones: A Review Four Years in the Making.

Tue, 20 Nov 2012 16:34:10 -0500

2008 was the followup to an incredible year of my life. I still had a lot of great experiences, but not quite as many as 2007. In 2008 I worked an entire summer at Cedar Point (my last). I had purchased the first generation Macbook Air at the beginning of the year since my Dell was Dying. At the end of the year I purchased an iPod touch with my Cedar Point bonus money. Both devices supported Bluetooth technology and what a better way to move forward into the technological future than by going wireless with my audio needs.

I remember purchasing the Bluetooth headphones specifically for the Macbook Air. I thought it was brilliant. Unfortunately, there was a delay when it came to video watching and I also had some problems with the bluetooth connection dropping out. Fast forward to the end of the summer. After I had purchased my iPod Touch, they had just announced that they were upgrading the software to allow bluetooth connections. This sparked my interest in pairing my iPod Touch with my incredible and by this time dusty headphones.

It wasn’t long before my headphones, my iPod Touch and myself became inseparable. I was and still am a dedicated walker. Wired headphones severely limited my mobility particularly when it came to turning my head to watch for traffic. They were also very inconvenient when it came to going to class. The wrapping of the headphones before class and unwrapping them after class. Walking around a classroom with wired headphones on is almost like playing minesweeper; You never know when an inanimate object was going to grab ahold of your cables and rip the earbuds right out of your ears.

The bluetooth headphones i purchased were the Best Buy store brand Insignia. they were a cheap 15 dollar pair of headphones. Nowadays the same pair can sell for $25. The cushioning tried to come off permanently, but I fixed that with super glue. This was minor flaw, and the headphones have worked great for almost 5 years.

After I moved to Royal Vista my walking completely stopped. I was in the middle of nowhere with nothing to walk to. As such, my iPod Touch stayed on it’s charger the entire time and my bluetooth headphones went back in to retirement. After I moved, I found myself surrounded by places of walking interest, but iPod did not survive Royal Vista. It’s long nights on the the charger got the best of it and the poor little device exploded. Not entirely, but the battery popped the screen away from the components of the device. I now pair the headphones to my phone. I used the headphones with my Droid 2 and now my hand me down HTC Thunderbolt.

Now with the phone technology, I was able to not have to keep digital copies on my device. I now stream everything to my phone using Amazon Cloudplayer. It is phenomenal. I can update my playlists at any time, download songs from the their store or upload my own MP3 files to the Cloud and access them at any time. It truly is the future when you are not physically connected to your device and your playlist is not physically or digitally located on your person.

As a dedicated walker, the bluetooth headphones were the best investment I have ever made, even if this was not my initial reason for buying them. I am able to walk around without the drawbacks of all the wires. Wearing a coat and using my headphones has never been easier. The sound is just like they are physically connected and the battery life is more than satisfactory. A single charge can last between one and two months and the battery still holds a charge.

GoldenEye:007 Reloaded - As far as I am going to go review.

Wed, 19 Sep 2012 04:12:18 -0400

We all remember our first first-person shooter that really stood out. I am one of the many people that fell in love with the genre with GoldenEye on the Nintendo 64. It was a game that truly stood out on the console. GoldenEye on the N64 was developed Rare, eleven months after the N64 was released in America.

At the time, and even still to this day, it is considered one of the greatest video games based on a movie. The re-playability of the game was the highest ever. In addition to the split-screen co-op the game featured a level select that let you choose a specific point in the game as well as a difficulty to play it at. The higher the difficulty; the more damage you took, the more objectives to complete and overall a much more challenging experience. There were time challenges tailored for each level and they were even tied to a specific difficulty. Upon completion of the time challenges, you earned unlockable cheats or multiplayer elements. With these prizes dangling on a string, you wanted to be the very best.

Flash forward thirteen years. In this timespan we: watched a few more 007 titles based on movies release and fail on the Nintendo 64 and Playstation; had a couple of mediocre 007 titles released on the next generation of video game consoles (xbox, Gamecube, PS2) that did not follow any particular movies; and we also had a game released on those same consoles that stole the moniker of GoldenEye to release another flop.

After 13 years of attempted mimicry, GoldenEye saw a rebirth on the Nintendo Wii. I chose not to play this title based on the controls for the Wii console. This was not just a graphic overhaul, it was a new game developed by Activision. It was not until the game released a year later on much friendlier First Person Shooter consoles that I picked up a copy. I actually waited a few months and picked up this game, Halo: CE Anniversary and Metal Gear Solid HD as a buy two get the third free deal. Of the three games that I purchased, I was most excited for GoldenEye.

After returning home with my new old games, I quickly put GoldenEye in. It was incredibly pretty. The first level, The Dam brought back so many memories as the level loaded. I was having a nostalgia attack. Then, just like that, the nostalgia was ripped out of my chest like the ritual that takes place in the Temple of Doom. So much changed, so quickly. I played through the first level and set it aside. I went on to play through Halo: CE anniversary and even take a small break from video games before finally coming back to it.

After returning to the game, I had accepted the fact that this was a new game. It re-imagined the story for both the video game as well as the movie. It took the key points and characters and reworked the aspects to work with a Bond fifteen years (the movie was released in 1995) later. They made the game flow extremely well, by reworking and extending certain parts of the movie to make them fit a video game format. With that regard, I felt like some scenes were taken too far. There were some elements that the game could have done without; Mainly the casualness of Bond as he mingles during the missions was a bit overdone. Sure, 007 is a suave and sophisticated man, but there is no room for that in a First Person Shooter. Another element that I did not agree with was the use of real-time events that had you mashing a certain button in order to “succeed” in an event. Things omitted or changed too much were the character models and complete lack of Boris.

After working past these flaws, I can appreciate the game for what it does. It takes a 15 year old movie and a thirteen year old game, mixes in the newest and most hyped bond of the past thirty years, with a little bit of retooling on the story elements to create a game for a Call of Duty Generation. One aspect that I particularly enjoyed was the use of stealth. I loved it. Silenced weapons were a godsend. If you ran out of ammo for your silenced weapons, you were forced to blow your cover. This made it feel more like 007 than the story.

With the multiplayer of the Nintendo 64 version receiving such high marks, we could only expect the best from this re-imagining. Unfortunately it is too drastically different. The multiplayer maps are no way shape or form identifiable with the original game’s maps. That right there is a deal breaker and that can be seen in the ridiculously low number of online players if there even are any. I have tried to play the game online several times at different times of the day, but have yet to be able to get into a match.

The achievements for the game were quite entertaining. I decided to go for the difficulty and collectibles achievements, but the game really ratcheted up the difficulty towards the end. I have twelve out of the fifty collectibles to fine and I made it through two-thirds of the game on the 007 difficulty with three-fourths of the timed completion achievements. On a much darker note, a solid 37% of the game’s achievements are tied up in multiplayer which no one plays so they are completely lost.

After playing through the game on Agent and making it to the more action intense levels where you are constantly being bombarded and left near death for the majority of the time, I have decided not to finish the game and just move on once and for all. I would like to say that one day, I would like to finish this game on 007 difficulty for the pride in saying that I completed both the Nintendo 64 version and the newer 2012 remake at that difficulty, but that would only be me lying to myself. Newer games that look much better have presented themselves and I still have better older games that I have yet to touch on my list of games to play.

LA Dragnet (2003) : A postmortem review.

Thu, 30 Aug 2012 03:37:40 -0400

I grew up with the classic 1950’s and 60’s Dragnet on every single night. I was too preoccupied with comedies to watch it religiously. I did catch a few episodes and didn’t mind it. Flash forward to June of 2011 and it was a different story. I became obsessed with the show. I even went so far as to purchase a month of Hulu+ so that I could watch all of the seasons. I watched the show on a daily basis, taking in all that it had to offer.

I found out that I had been neglecting a gem my entire life. It was a well balanced show that went beyond the obvious drama that it provided and included subtle humor, some great LA facts and wrapped every episode up nice and neat within 20 minutes. I would describe the show as being a sketch drama. It reminded of Saturday Night Live or The Upright Citizens Brigade except without the comedy. The supporting cast usually featured the same people in different roles and the main characters were often switching departments.

After getting reacquainted with the classic television series I went back and wanted to watch everything Dragnet. I relived the 1980’s film that was a parody starring Dan Aykroyd and Tom Hanks. The movie was much more satisfying with some background. I also rediscovered the fact that there was a 2003 television series that was to breathe new life into the character of Joe Friday. I quickly realized that I had pushed that show so far out of my mind when it initially launched that I forgot it even existed. I went on a major hunt to track down the episodes. After a year of looking I gave up and went on my life expecting to never see it. That was until I was browsing through Hulu one day and noticed LA Dragnet. I must have missed it somehow.

As soon as the I started watching the first episode I was seeing the similarities as well as the differences. Within the first episode I noticed it was much grittier than the classic. It was also well noted that the show was not 40 minutes (an hour with the commercials). It was also easy to pick up on the fact that it was produced by Dick Wolf (Prominent Law & Order Producer). The look and tone of the show made it feel like I was watching Law & Order: Sergeant Friday. That didn’t immediately detract from the overall show, but it was just not what I expected from a show that claimed to be Dragnet.

After finishing up the first season, I had noticed a couple more things that just did not sit well with me. The show was entirely based around Robbery and Homicide. I would have loved to see some contemporary Vice, Bunko or even Traffic cases. I remember the classics having a few Juvenile cases as well, but those did not interest me as much. The sketch group aspect was nonexistent. Actors and Actresses were not making repeat appearances as different witnesses, criminals, or even victims. The revival moved at a much different pace. I felt that there were not nearly enough internal monologues and that some of the most memorable film techniques of the original were omitted. The classic dub over a sequence showing Friday talking to his partner Gannon about something (usually) in the distance was something closely associated with the Classic show.

On the topic of his partner, Gannon was completely omitted. We now had a younger detective that was a little hot headed and streetwise. He was effective as a partner. He was swapped later in the season for a female Latino. I am not sure if the critics and/or audience felt the show was too white, but this change was only the beginning. At the start of the second season, our younger detective was gone. He was replaced by two (different from the initial swap) female Latinos, a big black guy and a hard headed detective. These four new characters would actually take on the task of doing a lot of the leg work for Friday.

This completely takes away from the classic series. Dragnet was about Sergeant Friday and his partner Gannon being all around badasses in multiple departments. They often had very little help from others let alone letting others do all of their interviews and following up on most of their leads. Friday was now, nothing more than a guy that sat back and sorted through all of the evidence and interviews to determine who was the criminal. Another thing that typically led to a conviction at the end of an episode was Friday using non-existant evidence to persuade people to give themselves up. Guilty or not, I do not believe that this is a tactic Classic Friday would use to get a conviction.

Overall the show is intelligent and captivating, but it should not hold the Dragnet name. I might even suggest that the show would have done better without the Dragnet moniker.

Quantum Conundrum: The Xbox Review

Tue, 17 Jul 2012 07:41:33 -0400

This game released on the PC at the end of June. Almost 3 weeks later it got life on xbox live and the Playstation Network. It is a puzzler that was developed by the lead designer of Portal. Like Portal, this game messes with science to bring us obstacles to over come. Instead of creating wormholes, we are messing with gravity as well as the passage of time. The manipulation of these environmental settings is stated as a changing of dimensions.

Altering the dimensions can only be done one at a time, so there is no blending of dimensions. Each one valuable in it’s own right. If you have played Portal 2, you are familiar with the gels that impacted the environment and if you remember correctly, you could only have either the orange or the blue in one particular spot. That didn’t mean that you couldn’t have them side by side and use them in tangent to get the job done. The same rules apply in this game. You might not be able to exist in both dimensions at the same time, but you can use one and then quickly switch to the other. This made you look at the map and wonder not if, but how you were going to do it.

The gameplay felt really nice and smooth for the most part. I did have an issue with a delayed reaction on the jump button. The buttons for changing dimensions were well placed on the triggers and bumpers making them easily accessible and distinguishable. Each dimension was always on the same button when it was available making it easy to remember which button you had to press to get into the next dimension you were looking to use.

The level designs were extremely well thought out. Items placed in the exact locations that they were needed in. Traps being treacherous enough and scattered throughout. I will say that some of the traps and pitfalls were ridiculous simply because of the delayed reaction from the jump button. There were quite a bit of jumps involved and I did often find myself sliding off of important jumps for some unknown reason. This led to a rather long initial playthrough.

Some of the level structures and progression seemed out of place. Some puzzles were too difficult for their position in the grand scheme of the game. One puzzle would take a solid 15 minutes to complete with a convoluted solution and then the next would be straightforward one minute solution. I did have to take several breaks due to the frustration that came from those long challenges.

There was one shining star of a level. It was toward the end of the game called “Choose Wisely.” It made you choose one dimension to start out with, while it dispersed the other three for you to find. It required you to find those other three in order to solve it. There is an achievement for completing this game each of the four ways.

The achievements for the game are pretty standard, but lacking. As of this writing, I have earned 90% of the achievements and that is probably as much as I am going to get. That 90% is made up of a strictly story related 210pts just for finishing the game; 40pts for collectibles; 30pts for never dying on each level; 70ts for interacting with the environment; and finally, 10 pts for a little easter egg after you complete the game.

The two I reckon I will never have the patience for are the ones for meaning the goals of each level based on either time or number of dimension shifts. Each level has a goal for both time and dimension and there are a total of 51 levels. That means there are 102 goals to accomplish. They are tough and there is no incremental achievements. It’s an all or nothing deal. You have to complete all the goals of the respective achievement to earn it. Making people who get 50 out of the 51 go absolutely insane.

On a peculiar note, the game’s save is tied directly to the arcade download (the acutal game itself) so there is no way to transfer a game save to another xbox. I was originally planning on playing it on multiple xboxs at different locations, but soon realized that this was not an option unless I wanted two completely different sets of stats.

Overall it was worth the play. It was a bit expensive at $15, but not entirely unreasonable. The puzzles made me think and the platforming made me frustrated. If you were a fan of Portal, you would probably enjoy. They are not the same game, but similar enough to warrant your curiosity.

Assassin's Creed: The Worst Game I Could Not Stop Playing

Wed, 13 Jun 2012 21:39:00 -0400

I started playing this game in around Christmas 2009. I had one play session and stopped for whatever reason. I recently decided I that I was going to play through it and beat it with ambitions of working my way through the series. After starting the game back up I remembered why I stopped playing it to begin with.

The game is rather frustrating. The mechanics are off. The controls are sloppy. The AI is ridiculous and it is just so repetitive. Throughout the game, you have to complete little side missions before moving on to the main objective. My favorite side objective was collecting a certain number of flags in a time limit (usually 3 minutes). Unfortunately, this did not make the list of repetitive tasks and quickly disappeared from my to do list.

As far as mechanics and controls go, they almost work hand in hand. I tell the controller one thing, and the character does the opposite. Sometimes it is not even the fault of the controls, but rather a fuck up in the coding. More often than not, I was bouncing off environmental objects that I was supposed to be able to grab onto and then falling down and missing multiple ledges on my way down. This wouldn’t be so bad if climbing were easy. I found quite a lot of blunders in the grabbing of ledges. Ledges that were grab-able, but unless I retraced my steps and did something ever-so-slightly differently, I would not be able to grab onto what I should have been able to. Before I realized I had to backtrack and just try again until I got it, I marked somethings down as impossible to climb.

In terms of controls they were all to simple. Simple to the point that they hinder advanced players. The same buttons are used to run, climb and jump. So, I would be running along a building and go to climb another part of it, but simply jump off the side of the building. More common, I would go to climb a ladder and run up the wall next to it, which takes much longer to scale the building. In terms of following my commands for which direction to go, the game had an incredibly difficult time with this. I would tell the character to jump to one ledge and he would wind up jumping completely off the building about 4 stories to a loss of health.

The game encourages stealth kills, but never really goes through the motions of teaching you how to do it. As of this posting, I have not achieved one achievement that was to get 50 stealth kills despite my best efforts. For all I know, I just do not know what a stealth kill actually is.

Assassin’s Creed attempts to be a Sandbox/exploration game, but is deeply rooted into traditional gameplay. They attempt to encourage the exploration aspect by including 480 collectibles (420 flags in the cities and space between cities as well as 60 specific targets to assassinate that are in set locations throughout the game). If you want to include the synchronization points that you have to climb to complete your map as well as the saving of the citizens, you are adding 199 more items to complete (91 climbs and 108 citizens to save) easily putting you at 679 total. In comparison, the GTA IV collectibles total out to be almost half that at 350 (Pigeons, jumps, deliveries, cars, most wanted and vigilante missions).

Overall, I really just wanted to play the game and get into the story. I am going to play Assassin’s Creed II in the coming weeks and see if I want to continue along with the story or not. The story was pretty solid (for a video game no real surprise as to the path it took), but I am hoping to get a better experience out of the next game in the series.

Here is a quick list of what movies I look forward to in 2012

Wed, 02 May 2012 22:06:51 -0400

May 25
Moonrise Kingdom
June 8
Safety Not Guaranteed
Prometheus
June 22
Seeking a friend for the end of the world (222 minutes)
July 3
Amazing Spider-man
July 13
Ted
July 20
The Dark Knight Rises
July 27
Neighborhood Watch
August 3
The Bourne Legacy
Total Recall
August 10
The Campaign
September 21
Dredd
September 28
Looper
October 5
Taken 2
October 12
The Master
November 9
Skyfall (007)
December 21
This is 40
December 25
Django Unchained
The Great Gatsby

PS3: The 4 year old stillborn

Sat, 07 Apr 2012 10:17:00 -0400

About 2 years ago I did a review on the pros and cons to owning a PS3 (linked at the bottom). 2 years after that, the son of a bitch dies. Now, I am going to dive into the Cons of owning a dead PS3.

[Disclaimer: My PS3 was a first generation model and maybe they have changed the way things are, but this is what I am dealing with]

The Disc Drive: You had a new game, blu-ray disc, dvd, cd, media disc or whatever else you can imagine in that thing? Well, it is now property of that dead son of a bitch. There is no emergency release. I take that back, there is, but to access it, you have to open it up. I have lost Bill Murray’s Scrooged until I feel like opening it up.

The Repair: Unlike the 360 repair that is replacing clamps with screws, the most common problem with PS3 is the solder getting too hot and basically removing itself from the board. In addition to the slightly more complicated task at hand, it is also much harder to disassemble a PS3 compared to a 360. And if the solder is not the reason why your PS3 is dead, good luck trying to figure out why it isn’t working.

While we are on the topic of my PS3, it never really got to live. The only game I purchased for it was Uncharted (the original). I played it the night I bought it and it never really captured me. I loaned the PS3 to my brother who purchased Metal Gear 4 for it and that was probably the most gaming that machine ever saw. I used it frequently in the past 2 years as a media center. It played my video files, dvds, blu rays and the occasional streaming service. I never left it running while I was away and I never fell asleep with it on. It was treated with as much respect as my xbox. But alas, it still died of exhaustion even though it was treated with respect and only forced to run low level applications.

Link to original review: http://greenguy424.tumblr.com/post/308370367/ps3-pros-and-cons-after-owning-it-for-two-years

Video Guide to repairing the dead PS3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMG-6rbanlY

Halo CE: Anniversary review/ Wishful thinking for a better tomorrow

Sat, 07 Apr 2012 07:51:00 -0400

I recently acquired the anniversary edition of Halo CE and trucked my way through it. First things first: When it comes to the original game for the original xbox, I was never much of a fan. I didn’t care for the campaign, but loved the LAN multiplayer. The xbox took the ideas of the best selling FPS games on the Nintendo 64 and (in my opinion, to a lesser extent) PS2 and transformed them into a truly next generation idea. Halo could still run the split screen gameplay like it’s forefathers, but also evolved with the technology to allow gameplay with other systems nearby and (unofficially) afar.

Despite my love for the multiplayer, I did get into some serious gaming sessions involving the campaign with my friends. We beat the game co-operatively on Legendary once or twice and numerous other times on the other difficulties. I never was the one leading the pack, but rather following. I was a top notch driver, but never took the initiative on where we were heading next. I never really studied the campaign levels intensely because if I wasn’t playing multiplayer, I was playing something else. With that said about the original, you can now see where my biases are.

I waited a while (approximately 4.5 months) to pick this title up. In the past iterations of the franchise, I had been losing interest exponentially with each release. It got to the point that I have not even played the campaign for Reach (yet). On top of that, I found out that the multiplayer for this game was to be based on the Reach multiplayer and not the original that I loved. Without the multiplayer elements that I grew up loving, I had very little desire to play this updated version. Obviously, I did purchase the game and casually played my way through it once again.

The campaign is just as I remember it. The levels are iconic and essentially ingrained in my gaming blood. The weapons all respond, just as I remember. The enemies, with the exception of the hunters, are just as I remember. For some reason, I feel like the hunters are much easier to fight than before or maybe other games’ enemies have made them just seem weaker. All those factors combined, show that this game certainly achieves the goal that it set out to do. Take a 10 year old game; make it pretty and let others that have not yet experienced the beginning, do so or just let people relish in their nostalgia.

The additions that were made to the campaign were slight, but necessary considering the Halo releases after first. There are now hidden skulls to find that activate upgrades (to you or your campaign enemies). Terminals that help tell that back story of the franchise are well placed and hidden throughout the levels.

The game is a true success story when it comes to breathing life into a game that is almost nothing more than a memory. I haven’t played the multiplayer yet because of my strong disdain for the Reach mechanics and gameplay, but that does not stop me from liking the solo play.

What this game makes me want more than anything is to see an anniversary edition of Halo 2. The thing is though, I want the old multiplayer. Perfect Dark in the Arcade was able to bring to life the old maps that made that game so successful and left gameplay mechanics alone. There was no jump button then and there is no jump button now. It is a welcomed sight at that. If they were to add jetpacks and change the guns for multiplayer, I would be deeply offended. Some things just work the way they were. When you try to do too much (Goldeneye: Reloaded) you lose your initial fanbase.

EDIT: I have sat down and played the Anniversary multiplayer experience (for the most part) and so far so good. I’ve only been able to play 3 maps, but I have not been disappointed.

Pepsi Next: The Review

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 15:19:33 -0400

If you haven’t seen it on tv, the internet, the store or wherever else you might encounter intrusive product placement, Pepsi has launched a cola with half the calories (compared to regular Pepsi).

Here’s the deal: It tastes like they took Pepsi and mixed it with Diet Pepsi. It leaves you with that disgusting aftertaste and unsatisfied.

It contains everything you are supposed to not trust: phenylalanine and high fructose corn syrup. To top it off, the high fructose corn syrup is actually a main ingredient. High fructose corn syrup is second only to carbonated water.

The caffeine count is 28mg per 8oz serving. Diet Pepsi contains 24mg and Pepsi Max contains 46mg per each 8oz serving.

With 40 calories under it’s belt, you might as well just get Pepsi Max, Diet Pepsi or Pepsi One (if that still exists; which I’m pretty sure it does).

Based on my research, It would appear that Pepsi Next is really close to a discontinued product called Pepsi Edge that was around for about a year in Canada. I can see it going the same way here. The product is not a diet, nor is it not a “regular” cola and it really shows.

An open letter to Microsoft specifically the xbox division

Sun, 11 Mar 2012 12:44:39 -0400

I think it would be in your best interest to turn xbox.com into a social networking site dedicated to xbox live members. You implemented the achievement system, but have provided very little in the way of showcasing these with each other.

I would love to be able to go onto xbox.com and see a feed like Facebook displaying what people are playing, what achievements they have recently earned, status updates on what my friends are thinking about the games they are playing and so on.
If someone were to look me up on xbox.com, I would love to be able to proudly display my favorite achievements.
Having a display of 100% completed games
Show what you are currently working on
Provide some future insight by showing games we look forward to playing soon.
Being able to find people currently playing the game that you would like to play would be an excellent addition.
It could integrate already existing features of xbox.com like game ratings

I feel like most social networking sites are on a great decline and now is the time to step it up. This should really be incorporated into the next console launch. If you already have plans for this, I am glad. If not, just think about it.

I can derelick my own balls, thank you very much.

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 03:04:36 -0500

I need to get away from facebook. I can’t do it anymore.

Tonight, I started drinking at 230am… That’s right. Fuck the police.

I’m watching Zoolander for the first time, since it came out. After this, I do believe some Royal Tennebaums is in order. Another movie I haven’t seen in years. That might actually turn this into an Owen Wilson overnighter.

I recently expressed interest in returning to Meijer to my former boss. I submitted an application and am currently awaiting a response.

I have also started to think more about the future.

Can I stay at your place? No Hobo.

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 02:16:00 -0500

I love the references to television and cinema.This album feels like Kill Bill. It should have been released as two separate EPs: One more Violent and the other being more of a emotional experience. While the songs are never unlistenable, only a handful are remarkable. I would definitely say that this is a must listen for anyone. The lyrics remind me of how Kanye incorporates pop culture. Now, that I have said that, I would only give this a 3 out of 5. Even that might be too generous. While the songs are all lyrically sound, it is the presentation that might be lacking. I wanted to love the album, but walk away only liking it.

If you would like to read on I have a track by track breakdown with my feelings on each song.

01 Outside [must listen]

Strong intro to the album. The rhymes are great and the message is greater. I love the chorus, which is quite is quite literally a chorus.

02 Fire Fly

I didn’t personally care for the intro to this song. A few moments later, the rhymes come in and once again the message is great. Not quite as strong as the first track.

03 Bon Fire [lead single: must listen]

Amazing song. There is a reason this song was chosen for the lead single. The chorus is hard as hell. These are the types of rhymes that made me appreciate DonGlover.

04 All the Shine

SLOW INTRO. Song starts almost a minute in. Longest song on the album yet. Not quite up to the strong impact that the first three tracks produced. This definitely feels, like it belongs at the end of the album. SLOW OUTRO. It didn’t seem to linger or hold the album up.

05 Letter Home

Softer song. Shortest song on the album thus far. Possible inspiration from Kanye’s 808 and Heartbreaks. Sounds like it could be an interlude on that album.

06 Heartbeat [must listen]

Softer song. Echo infused lyrics. I love the intro. Hard electronica beat kicks in, a little under a minute in. Hard rhymes follow. This sounds like a summation of the album so far. I think this might be my favorite song so far.

07 Backpackers

I love the intro. DonGlover sounds lazy or at the very least laid back compared to the rest of the album. The end of the song is powerful.

08 L.E.S.

Violins. Wind Chimes. Softness. I could do without this song. I feel like this song is dragging.

09 Hold you Down

Soft but strong intro. This feels like an early Kanye track. Strong beliefs being conveyed on black culture. Love the James Franco drop.

10 Kids (Keep Up)

Xylophone. Michael Jackson sounding chorus. Strong lyrics. Great rhymes. As with Backpackers, the song comes off as laid back.

11 You See Me [must listen]

Fun beat. Beat just got better. Hard sound. Great lyrics (source of the title for this informal review). Fantastic song. Half way through I am declaring this my new favorite song on the album. The rhymes just went Busta speed. Song got exponentially better.

12 Sunrise [must listen]

Strong start. Beat turns weak. Great lyrics. Harsh vocals. Great chorus. “Black Rock like a Lost episode.” Instead of just ending the song, there are some unnecessary female vocals.

13 That Power

Strong intro. Strong vocals. Great lyrics. Spoken words with the beat still going in the background. These words are providing us with a setting for the title of the album. This goes on for the last 4 minutes of the song.

My vote for top 10 movie franchises.

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:38:57 -0500

10 Alien
Ripley is the definition of Badass. She has been there and done that. The series has been a constant up and down rollercoaster, that as of late has been nothing, but down (and not in a good way). The first was boring and slow. Aliens was fast paced, fun, funny and introduced Lance Henriksen as another constant to the series. The third was bleak and fairly unsatisfying. The fourth rejuvenated the series in a way that still amazes me. After that we have had some cross franchise interaction that should have been awesome, but kinda lacked where it should not have.

9 Terminator
Off to a rocky start, thanks to Cameron’s shitty directing ability (in my opinion, he never got any better) this franchise ranks quite low in my list. From T2 on, the franchise has been nothing, but gold. You can mock me for saying that Salvation was good and ridicule me for saying the same thing about the T3 and its’ elderly Terminator, but you can’t tell me they weren’t enjoyable. Salvation was well worth the laughs and T3 was a good old fashioned romp.

8 Matrix
The Matrix series, while they did jam Christianity down my throat and forced us to pay money twice to watch a single sequel (the same way Kill Bill was a single film) it did provide us with a beginning and and an ending. It had phenomenal visuals and decent acting. It provided a connection to the characters that made us care. Simply, it worked.

7 Batman
While Batman had a momentary lapse of lameness with Joel Schumacher, this forgettable part of the batman franchise was able to at least bring to live one of the Greatest soundtracks of all time (see the Batman Forever Soundtrack and be prepared to shit bricks).
http://www.amazon.com/Batman-Forever-Music-Motion-Picture/dp/B000002J4P
Anyway, in the beginning of the Franchise, Tim Burton did a horrible job keeping the major villains alive for repeated encounters with the Dark Knight. It wasn’t until we got to the lesser villains that Schumacher stepped in and started keeping them alive. Nolan’s reboot of the Franchise has been nothing, but phenomenal so far. Let’s hope he keeps it that way even if we did lose Heath along the way.

6 Gremlins
Here we have a very short-lived, but well conceived franchise. The first installment takes place in a small town during Christmas. It is gruesome and brutal featuring puppets. The second however turns on the first and points out all of the flaws that were present. It was a much more humorous escapade that took place in a much fuller environment that was rife for character and setting interaction.

5 Scream
While scream started out as a mere play on other horror films it can be regarded as one of the best franchises ever conceived. The characters are truly what make the series possible. There are so many ups and downs, quirky yet real conversations and never knowing who is behind the mask until the very end all while making sense that just makes the screenwriters for this series some of the best around. Arguably, the best part of the series is giving us the rules of horror movies courtesy of the obsessed movie buff, Randy. Its’ only downside is that it is constantly mocking itself as the sequels are generally movies within movies.

4 Die Hard
One series you cannot hate is Die Hard. McClane has been in a skyscraper, an airport, all across NYC and then the better part of the east coast. All the while fighting ingenious villains portrayed by some of the best actors of the time. Furthermore, the series started off as the most badass Christmas series since Gremlins, but through the violence and profanity, felt it had to disconnect itself with that holiday and shift to a more fitting one like Independence Day.

3 Indiana Jones
I will just come out and say that I did not care too much for Temple. It kinda sucked. It felt too much like one of those “For one pennies a day” commercials involving the Indian children. Even the newer Indiana Jones is considered to be one of my all time favorite movies. Indy is as funny as he is clever, which makes him an overall lovable character. The entire franchise is just a fun and adventurous trip all while pushing the career of Archaeology.

2 Mission Impossible
What needs to be said about Mission Impossible? It has all the fun of a Bond film without the bullshit. Ethan Hunt proves to be the best spy out there and he has been put to the test time and time again. His motives are typically lie along the same lines as Michael Westen in the television series of Burn Notice. He is more or less doing what he does, while not always seeming that way, to be working for the good guys.

1 Back to the Future
While a few plot points did irk me in the concluding chapter, I can safely say this is the greatest series of all time. The remarkable duo of The Doc and Marty work so well together through time on so many levels, it just works. They travel forward and backwards through time creating time travel laws and teach us the ethics of time travel. It is highly quotable with an amazing replay value. It is as fun to watch the 55th time as it was watching it the first.

honorable mentions and what held them back:

Star Wars - The Prequels, the Special Editions. Too much tampering.

George A Romero’s Dead Films - nothing really stringing them together.

Bond - Too many. They either were amazing to watch or unbearable.

The Mummy (Brendan Fraser) - Started off great, but then strayed. I haven’t even seen the one with Jet Li.

Mission Impossible TWO: A review, a decade later.

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 09:10:00 -0500

Upon first viewing of the film back when it was released, I was rather displeased. In my eyes it did not live up to it’s predecessor. I absolutely adored the first film. It was probably my favorite film from the 90’s. It has actually created a certain paradigm to which I hold other action movies to. It was for that reason that after the initial viewing that I wrote it off and set it aside vowing never to watch it again.

Tonight, I decided to take this film off the shelf and put it in to remember why I felt that way. During the film, I realized that this film was not necessarily bad, but rather just not up to par with the first.

First and foremost, I would like to discuss the director, John Woo. He is well known for his technique and style. As per his style, many flips, birds (doves), slow motion sequences and flashbacks. These aspects of the film may have initially turned me off, but they are Mr. Woo’s style and should not be weighed heavily in favor or against the movie overall.

The only characters to carry over from the first are the ones played by Tom Cruise and Ving Rhames. Characters are what define a film and in this case a franchise. Their portrayal differs greatly from the first and third installments. Here, Ving Rhames’ character is reduced to a stereotypical black man boasting about his expensive clothing and gets pissed when they are ruined. Tom Cruise’s character goes through the majority of the film with a stoic, serious face as compared to the other installments in which his emotions dominated his screen presence.

The plot of the film was phenomenal. It probably would have worked much better with a different director attached. I might compare it to Oliver Stone’s film Natural Born Killers; A film that I have tried to like, but simply cannot get past the shitty elements of the style chosen.

Visually the film was remarkable. One particular sequence that comes to mind is when Tom Cruise’s character, Ethan, is in the biolab as per his mission. It was very reminiscent of Kubrick’s 2001. It was just so visually stunning that it set a level for the rest of the film that it just about met.

What did not contribute to the amazing visuals were the pyrotechnics involved. There were too many explosions than any film could use. It was like a Michael Bay film and that is saying a lot considering I have absolutely no respect for him (The Rock is the only film of his worth watching).

In the end, the film is watchable. It was much better than I remember, but it still contained those certain elements that make it difficult to watch. I would like to see the screenplay reused, if only to serve as a reboot for the entire franchise. A reboot that would see an introduction of a new Ethan Hunt.

Song of The Day: 151 - Present

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 06:28:00 -0500

Conan’s Band - Free Bird
Janis Ian - In the Winter
Skindred - Pressure (Acoustic)
Skindred - Bruises
Blue Oyster Cult - Godzilla
The Bird and The Bee - Fcking Boyfriend
Big Friendly Jazz Orchestra - Fables of Faubus
Rage Against the Machine - Killing in the Name
The B-52’s - Rock Lobster
Cedric Bixler Zavala - I’ve Had It
Staind - Mudshovel
She & Him[ish] - Dream a Little Dream of Me
Black Label Society - Stillborn
Living Colour - Cult of Personality
Kenny Rogers - Just Dropped In
Wolfmother - Joker and the Thief
Kanye West - Spaceship
Pink Floyd - Bike
Wolfmother - Pleased to Meet You
Radiohead - Creep
Offspring - She’s Got Issues
Dave Mathews Band - When the World Ends (Oakenfold Remix)
Stephen Lynch - Gay
College Humor - We Didn’t Start the Flame War
Rage Against the Machine - Maggie’s Farm
Tool - Eulogy

Top 3 scenes from Arrested Development

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 19:10:03 -0500

Episode 0122 - Let Em Eat Cake - Gob’s Bees scene

Episode 0204 - Good Grief - Tobias’ John Wayne

Episode 0305 - Mr. F - The Japanese Investors

Taking Woodstock: A Review

Sat, 06 Feb 2010 08:14:18 -0500

After seeing the opening parts of the trailer for this movie, I was very excited. As soon as the trailer ended, I was left in awe that Ang Lee was the director. How could he be the director of this? It looked too good to be directed by him. After watching the film, I soon discovered I was wrong.

The shots of the film are very reminiscent of 70’s filming techniques. Establishing shots are spilt. When they are in a press conference they do not make use of the modern widescreen and instead it looks as though I am watching a DVD from the early years of SNL. One scene that particularly stands out from the rest of the film is the “trip” scene. It looked great.

The characters were empty. The few exceptions are the parents and Dan Fogler’s character. Demetri Martin is usually a pretty empty performer, but that just does not work here especially since he is not being funny. Liev Schreiber, Emile Hirsch and Eugene Levy are fairly bland characters. Each portraying generic versions of their characters.

As for the content of the movie, it really seemed to drag on. Maybe it was the fact that I was not interested in the lead character. Maybe it was the fact that problems were presented and then magically dissolved. Maybe it was the fact that the only good characters had very limited screen presence.

The best parts of the film are the beginning and the end. Specifically, the first 30 minutes and probably the last 20. The beginning is a short, fun adventure that eventually secures the festival. Once the festival starts to form, it gets boring. By the end, a few funny scenes present themselves which makes it a little more pleasant to watch.

Overall the film was a huge disappointment. Ang Lee continues to make bad movies and perpetuate homosexuality in films. Yeah, I said it. Fuck it. I dunt hate homosexuals, but I don’t really want it forced down my throat. Consider it, mind rape. I go in expecting one thing and then get tricked into something else that I did not want at all.