Monday, February 28, 2011

Jeff Gordon and Superman

Now I am not a big comic buff but I think that Superman attaching himself to Jeff Gordon just sounds silly. It'd be like if a T-1000 joined up with an organization helping the homeless. It just sounds like something from a bad fanfiction.

But the comic I am talking about is real. It is called Superman & Jeff Gordon First Issue: The Race is On! I am forgoing my usual review style since I am probably going to miss about a million things.

What is the comic about? Jeff Gordon has refused to be sponsored by by Lex Luthor. Luthor gets so pissed off at Gordon that he sends Metallo to beat Gordon in a race. You hear that sound? That's your sanity dying. Hope you didn't need that.

For those that don't know who Metallo is, the comic explains him as one of Superman's most feared enemies. Why is Luthor doing this? Why, Superman has to fight someone in the comic.

Something you might be wondering is why the comic was made. At the end of the comic Gordon shows Superman/Clark Kent his new car. Well, for those that don't know about racing, sometimes drivers will have their cars painted in a different way than normal. In this comic's case: showing a Superman Returns logo.

This raises any interesting point: If the Superman movies exist in this timeline, why doesn't Jeff Gordon (or anyone else) realize that Clark Kent is Superman.

Of course you can tell me to be quiet about that point. The reason being: Was anyone expecting this comic to make sense?

Subeta Zombie Event 2011 Part 3

I leave for a week and a lot of stuff happens! A new character (Ecks), the possibility of a revolt, and I am actually REALLY enjoying this event!
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Saturday, February 26, 2011

If you had a time machine, what date would you travel to?

Probably sometime in the future when there are colonies on Mars =D

Ask me anything

Friday, February 25, 2011

One Year Anniversary Blog Post

It is a good day. It is my One Year Anniversary of serious blogging. A year ago I decided to post my first YouTube video and later I did blog posts. Though I really did start video reviewing things before that starting with The Host by Stephenie Meyer. I reviewed some good things, some bad things, and some things that really left an impact on me.

In this one year I have changed my setup. I have gotten a symbol, changed my blog, and other things. Some things were changed because people wanted them changed, but mostly things were changed because I wanted them changed.

I want to thank my friend Retsam who has supported me from day one. He has supported me in not just my blogging ventures but in my personal life. He is a good friend.
I also want to thank Zack who does the symbol for me. That symbol wasn’t supposed to be as big as it is now (talked about it in a video). He is also a very kind and understanding friend.

For those that wonder if I know about TGWTG (www.thatguywiththeglasses.com) since I don’t mention them or do any of their jokes: my purpose for that is that I’m being my own internet personality. I’m not part of TGWTG so I want to be known as my own person. I don’t mind some people that make references to TGWTG but it’s not always needed.

In place of these TGWTG references I make Terminator references. I have even made videos about the series and my opening (as of this blog post) is made up of Terminator clips. In December I did a series of articles about the Terminator series and I was very happy to do them.

Going back to thanking people:

I want to thank Crysy for being a very good supporter. While she hasn’t helped with my blogging she is still a great friend.

I also want to thank Jessica for being my oldest friend. She has stuck with my craziness throughout all these years.

What can you expect from me this coming year? I want to one day do a review on all of the Terminator movies starting with The Terminators (an Aslyum film). The Host Rant will continue and what comes after that? I am thinking of doing a rant series on my most hated movie, as of now: Tideland.

I want to thank everyone for their support and here is to another great year of blogging!

One Year Anniversary Video

This is for all my loyal fans.
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Friday, February 18, 2011

Black Swan (2010)

I was prepared for this movie to amaze me but this movie managed to thoroughly mind eff me. It is a beautiful masterpiece.

Title: Black Swan

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Starring: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, and Vincent Cassel

Rated: R

Released: 2010

Rating: 5/5

Basic Plot: Nina Sayers gets the role as the Swan Queen in Swan Lake and slowly loses her mind as she starts to fit the role of the Black Swan.

Symbolism
There is probably a ton of symbolism in this movie but I will keep this simple. The whole movie revolves around Nina slowly losing her mind and becoming the Black Swan. While her actions and hallucinations become darker there are a few parts where she imagines herself becoming a black swan. At one point her legs start to become the legs of a bird and at another point her feet become webbed.

Knowledge About Swan Lake
Some of you might be wondering if you need to know anything about Swan Lake when going to see Black Swan. The truth is that you don't. I went in knowing nothing about the ballet but came out knowing a little about it. All you need to know about the play to understand the movie is explained in the movie itself.

Nina Sayers
This is the person whose eyes you see the movie through. She goes crazy and what she sees is what you see. What does this mean? When she sees a hallucination you'll see it too like it's fact. Nina goes insane due to pressure of the part of the Swan Queen. However, it appears she was going slightly insane before she got the part. Her overbearing mother might be part of the problem.

Lily
Lily is Nina's dark half. It is through Lily that Nina learns how to be a Black Swan. My favorite line in the movie comes from her: You had a lesbian fantasy about me? Was I good?

Lesbian Sex Scene
Could I call myself a reviewer if I didn't talk about this? Yes, Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis do have a sex scene together. This is, however, not the only instance of sex used (though there are no other sex scenes). Portman plays with herself a time or two. But the sex scene with Portman and Kunis is the biggest sex thing that happens on screen.

Music
I assume that the music is from Swan Lake and has some significance. Since I don't know that much about Swan Lake I can't tell. What I can tell is that it's very pleasing to the ears.

Final Thoughts
This is just an amazing film. It left me spell bounded. There is so much to look at in this movie and it would seem to be a good idea to see this movie more than once. For those of you wanting a movie night with your parents with this...that might not be a good idea. While this isn't a porno, it does have strong sexual themes to it. Depending on who you are going with, it might get awkward at points. If you find people you can go with where you won't feel awkward, it is still a very dark film. This is not a happy go lucky film. It punches you, beats you up, and leaves you to die. But, if you enjoy that type of film, go and see it! I know I will probably see it again!

The Dresden Files: Fool Moon (Part 1)

In this part of my The Dresden Files: Fool Moon by Jim Butcher I look at the series, the plot, and the different types of werewolves in this book.

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Subeta Zombie Event 2011 Part 2

The Zombie Events continues with a real cure being released. I give advice about the candy hearts, pastries, and the cure.
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Thursday, February 17, 2011

Wii Fit Plus: Rhythm Boxing

I start off my Wii Fit Plus review series talking about Rhythm Boxing. I talk about the different levels, some tricks, and finally rate this mini-game.
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Subeta Zombie Event 2011 Part 1

This Zombie Event starts on the right foot with some new features!
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Wednesday, February 16, 2011

jashycam 9

In this video I talk about TSCC Virtual Season, something Brian got me, and the Zombie Event (2011) on Subeta.
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The Green: Waking Up Part 2 (Ad)



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The song is "Anthem of the Angels" by Breaking Benjamin.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

The Green: Waking Up Part 2

I lay on my bed and the only thing I did was think. The previous day had only been about testing me. The other months had also been about tests. I couldn't imagine a life without all the tests. The only payoff I found was that I was turning into a little athlete.


I lifted my right arm and it looked muscular. Well, more muscular than the scientists. And they were scientists and didn't exercise much. Turning my arm over I looked at the back of my hand. It hadn't really concerned me, but now I noticed it more.


It looked like there was a scar and it was in the shape of a crescent moon. The difference was that it was just one thin line. I looked at it some more and then realized something. I got out of my bed and turned on the light. In this better light, the room had a soft glow to it when the main light was off, I realized I had seen the symbol before.


True, the last time I had seen this symbol was on some of the folders the scientists had carried. But it didn't strike me as important and more as a coincidence. The symbol on the folders had been accompanied with an eye behind it. That made the similarities end with a shape.


I turned the light off and lay in my bed again. I tried to put away questions about the scar on my hand. They were questions that were a 'conspiracy theory'. I had to prepare for another day full of tests, anyways.


* * *

I ate my breakfast. Well, not really a breakfast as the scientists talked about. They said breakfast was bacon and eggs. They also mentioned something called pancakes. Pancakes sounded tasty and I wanted to try one of them someday. But my breakfast was different. It was a white and brown mush that had a very bland flavor. My drink was blue and was supposed to be healthy.


I was eating alone in a cafeteria where one or two scientists were seated at the opposite side of the room. I swear they were observing me. I didn't know why my eating habits would be so important, but I guess they were.


As I chewed some of the 'food' I thought about escaping. Escape would mean I could have pancakes and the rest of what a breakfast should be. But it also seemed useless. I was being taken care of here. Why should I cause so much pain to the people that were supporting me?


After I left the cafeteria I went to the testing area. More specifically, the main testing room. It was bland, just like the rest of the building, but it felt like home to me. The only person I saw there was Makija. Usually I only saw other scientists and it was a rare day that I would even catch a glimpse of Makija.


"How do you like the facilities?" Makija asked. "I do think that maybe you'd like to see the rest of the world."


"It is fine here." I told him.


"You are being polite. I think it is time for us to release you. Maybe one day you will decide to return, but, for now, I think it is fair for you to roam free."


This was a very odd conversation. Makija didn't usually sound comforting or kind. This offer, then, wasn't an offer: it was a demand.


"I do want to see the world." I lied to Makija and he led me to a room. I was in that room for what seemed like eons. I can barely remember what went on in that room. I just know that it was painful and there were voices, oh so many voices. I wished that they would be quiet.


Finally they were all quiet and I sat up. There was one lone scientist in the room. I rubbed my head and was glad I wasn't dead. For a moment I had believed Makija was going to kill me.


As I left the building, I squinted when the sun hit my eyes. It felt like the first time I had glimpsed real sunlight. But that couldn't be, I wasn't a child. As my eyes adjusted I turned around and saw the building wasn't by any other buildings. It was remote. I walked down the desert street and felt maybe Makija had decided to kill me. Just in a longer and more painful way.
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Monday, February 14, 2011

Odd Fanfiction Pairings

I stay away from fanfiction the majority of the time. Why? Because most people will either be in their own little world and others will just not get what the characters are really about. One thing about fanfiction, that I know without reading that much, is the pairings. Now some pairings are cannon or make some sense. But the good majority of pairings put two people together that wouldn't go together.

Here are a few that I have encountered:


Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter or Hermione Granger (from the Harry Potter series)

Love him or hate him (I hate), Draco Malfoy is all about pure bloods and the return of Voldemort. Even when Malfoy realizes that the Dark Arts aren't what he thought they were, he doesn't go over to the good side.

Harry Potter is the savior of the wizarding world. He is the opposite of Malfoy. Nothing in the books seem to suggest that they would become a couple. But I don't mind it that much and tend to laugh it off.

Hermione Granger was born from two muggles (non-wizards). A crude word to describe her would be mudblood. As I stated before, Malfoy is about pure bloods and hates mudbloods and blood traitors with a passion. The fact of Hermione being a mudblood alone keeps Malfoy away from her. It just seems like their relationship would be too much of a stretch.


Sarah Connor and Derek Reese (from the Terminator series, TSCC)

This is one pairing I agree with. I watched Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and saw so many little things. Their relationship, though, seems to be full of harassing the other. Sarah Connor doesn't trust many people and so their relationship wasn't in full swing because of that. Plus the fact that Derek is Kyle's brother and Derek isn't Kyle.

One of the first things that Derek says to Sarah is that she looks good. Derek is a soldier of the Resistance and one of the best. He doesn't just take orders, he gives them.

Sadly Derek died and so a possible romantic relationship between the two was gone. For those necrophiliacs out there: he was burned and turned into ashes before being buried.

Sarah Connor and Cameron (from the Terminator series, TSCC)
Sarah Connor is against machines and she hates them (another similarity she shares with Derek Reese). In Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles she only stands Cameron because she protects them. When Cameron's chip gets damaged she has no qualms about killing her. The only one against destroying Cameron is John Connor.

So Sarah Connor is not a very good match for Cameron. Something that people seem to miss about this pairing is that Cameron is, above all else, a machine. Yes, she seems to grow more human but her way of thinking is completely different from ours. The only reason, I think, that Cameron likes John is because she was sent on a mission to infiltrate and part of that programming probably came back to bite her in the ass (stop thinking about biting Summer Glau's ass! ). And even Cameron admits that her programming to kill him is still there.

For those that like femslash (what I assume means two girls getting it on) I can get the pairing. Two good looking women getting it on. The only problem comes with making Cameron have too much human emotions. In one fanfic I read she gets oversensitive physical feelings and that turns her into a lesbian.

So those are my opinions on some of the pairings that I have come across. Will I read more fanfiction? Probably not. Please don't send me fanfiction.

Hope everyone is having a great Valentine's Day!

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Monday, February 7, 2011

The Roommate (2011)

I went into this movie with the intention of seeing a crappy, cheesey, slasher movie. So I KNEW that this was going to be bad but I could never imagine how painful it would be.

Title: The Roommate

Director: Christian A. Christiansen

Starring: Minka Kelly, Leighton Meester and Cam Gigandet

Rated: PG-13

Released: 2011

Rating: 1/5

Basic Plot: Sara Matthews (Minka Kelly) gets Rebecca (Leighton Meester) as a roommate. Rebecca's initial kind demeanor pulls back to reveal a psycho. (Yes, my Basic Plot is way more exciting than the actual movie)

Filler
Now sometimes filler can be a good thing. It can include some funny scenes. But that's just it, it's supposed to be filler. Not the entire movie. The majority of this movie moves slower than 2001: A Space Odyssey in a coma. I expected a movie full of cheap thrills. What I didn't expect was such a boring and filler filled movie.

One Death Moved Me
That death was Cuddles, the kitten that Sara rescues. Cuddles was so adorable I just knew that he was going to die. When he died (in a dryer, his death was not shown but you saw him being put in) it was so sad. What does it say when your movie's only good death scene is the death scene involving a character with no dialogue or development.

Got to Love Those Lesbians
There is a brief lesbian scene. Now before you go flocking to the theaters for that one piece, it is only a brief kissing scene. It is so brief and not erotic (I had a guy's opinion for that) that it doesn't really count. They had to try to throw that in and failed.

Sex Scene
When the sex scene came up I was glad. Because you can't mess up a sex scene. All I wanted was two people doing each other. What I got was a scene so disturbing that it wasn't erotic in the least bit. For one thing, you couldn't really see them getting it on in that much detail. For another thing, this scene was juxtaposed with Rebecca having phone sex with Sara's ex-boyfriend Jason (who does not realize it is not Sara he's having phone sex with) who is looking at the picture of Sara and her dead sister.

Low Body Count
I was expecting a decent body count. But all I got were two deaths (and that's counting Cuddles). Remember the filler I mentioned earlier? If there was less filler there could've probably been a better body count.

When Strange Things Happen...
Over the course of the movie Cuddles dies, Sara's pervy teacher is apprehended, Sara's friend Irene goes silent, and Sara's party friend stops talking to Sara. Through all of this Sara does not think something is up with Rebecca. Especially when things point to her roommate. It takes her forever to find out about Rebecca and, even then, Sara does not contact the police. Heck, doesn't even contact her RA.

Wikipedia
Listen, I know that Wikipedia can be used when trying to find out about something. No problem with that. But when you have your characters doing serious research in a movie, it's not a good idea to show them looking at Wikipedia for information. I could not take their research that seriously when it was shown that's where they were looking.


Final Thoughts

This was a horrible, godawful movie. Was it a movie you could at least laugh at? Yes, but you will still feel like your brain is trying to escape. In short, wait for a rental AT MOST. It does have good laughs to be had, but it is still a painfully boring movie to watch. It's not the worst movie I have watched and the only reason it gets a 1/5 is because there were a few good scenes. But they were very few and inbetween.

Friday, February 4, 2011

Dead Space: The Marker's Plan

I have not played Dead Space or Dead Space 2 but I have watched a Let's Play of the second one and watched my half-brother play the first Dead Space. I also have watched a Let's Play of Dead Space: Extraction. So I have been able to keep up with plot points and characters. My new favorite of the characters being Ellie from Dead Space 2.

A huge part of the Dead Space franchise is the Marker. It is the thing that turns people into space zombies. I mean: necromorphs. And in Dead Space 2 it is revealed that the Marker is part of an alien invasion plan.

There are three ways it affects people:
1.) It'll turn them into necromorphs at which point they'll start killing anything in sight.

2.) It'll send out a signal to 'smart people' that will make them 'hear' how to make a Marker. It may also cause these types to go totally psychotic. Sometimes both.

3.) It'll have no effect. Sometimes these people can provide protection from the Marker's signal and sometimes they don't (the latter is up to debate as it seems Ellie isn't affected by the Marker but doesn't keep Stross from going absolutely bat-shit insane).

In Dead Space 2 it is revealed that Isaac Clarke (after the events in the first Dead Space) helped build Markers (but he wasn't entirely sane when he did so) and so the Marker needed Clarke to converge with the Marker. However, throughout Dead Space 2, Clarke is constantly being attacked by necromorphs.

Couldn't the Marker control its creatures enough to not attack the person it needs to converge with it? Where is the logic in that. I don't get it. I really don't. I know in the game itself, you need enemies to attack. But, when looked at from a logical point of view, it doesn't make sense.

I don't expect this plot point to be solved and, really, it's just a small part. But it really stuck out at me.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Taken (2008)

My Dad talked about this movie a lot and so I finally got down to watch it. I was prepared for it to be kick-ass but, wow. It blew my mind!

Title: Taken

Director: Pierre Morel

Starring: Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, and Famke Janssen

Rated: Unrated (Theatrical in the USA was PG-13)

Released: 2008

Rating: 4.5/5

Basic Plot: Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) has to go after Kim (Maggie Grace), his daughter, who has be kidnapped and taken into Human Trafficking.


Lesson of the Movie

Whatever you do, don't piss off Liam Neeson. You will NOT survive. He kills around 35 people in order to rescue his daughter. His character of Bryan Mills does not just have the drive to rescue his daughter, he has the skills necessary. Some of the things he does aren't just brute strength, they require skill and thinking. When he threatens the guy who kidnapped his daughter, you know that the caller just made a serious mistake.

No Weakness
Even though Liam Neeson kicks a lot of ass in this movie, I was still somewhat disappointed that it never felt he was in any danger except in a few instances. I would've liked the fights to feel more threatening, though making his kick-ass lower would probably end up ruining more of the film.

Kim Getting Taken
I was flinching when she got taken. The most disturbing parts were when Bryan told his daughter she was about to be taken and when he listened back to her final scream before she was taken. The atmosphere at this part was great. I really loved the tension.

Human Trafficking
This movie discusses this as it's a big reason for the plot. By the end of the movie the whole trade isn't dissolved or discussed (it ends with Kim about to take voice lessons by the singer). But, in my opinion, Human Trafficking was just a reason for the plot but the whole movie is really about a father's love for his daughter. So having the ending reflect that fit the tone of the movie.

Final Thoughts
I watched the Unrated Version (the International Cut) and enjoyed this. I wouldn't recommend watching this movie in a mixed setting. This movie does get graphic at times and you should be forewarned of that. Plus it get uncomfortably tense in a few instances. For everyone who makes that venture, you're in for one hell of a ride!

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