Another Random Music Reviewer

Sony


   It's great to see even a console I'm not particularly a fan of get up on it's feet and get the ball rolling. The PS3 had a pretty mediocre launch and it took a while for it to come into it's own, and Sony hopes to improve their image further with this year's E3.

   Screw it it's been a long time since I saw the show, I just started this draft and I'll just list what I liked and disliked.

Liked

-Twisted Metal
-3D
-Killzone 3
-Partnership with EA
-Portal 2 is on the PS3
-Gabe Newell forgiving his previous negativity towards the system
-Playstation Move's library being a bridge between hardcore and casual
-Increase in PSP support
-Sony beginning Microsoft's tactic of exclusive downloadable content.
-Overall wholesome performance, nothing over the top

Disliked

-The amount of hardware that Sony has, the PS3, PSP, Playstation move. When they showed videos skimming over all of this, it's more cluttered that 9 year old boy's bedroom.
-The stuff needed for Playstation move, a camera, the controllers, etc. This sure works, but it's also somewhat impractical and expensive if you want more people playing on the same console.
-A lot of awesome stuff was announced, but in the end, the conference sort of dragged.

Somewhat furious as a fan of Valve.

   When Gabe Newell came on stage and claimed that the PS3 version of Portal 2 will be the best console version of the game with Steamworks features. Now, I am fine with that but by claiming that added content through Steamworks won't be found on other consoles (aka, the Xbox 360), it caused me speculation that content won't come to the 360. It was a dastardly way to partner with Sony, since downloadable content is popular on the Xbox. I would be ok with Gabe stating that this content will only be on PS3 and Steam, but suggesting it's only possible on Steamworks is pure BS. If Gabe ever clears the air about this and just says something along the lines of "screw you Xbots, you bought the wrong console for Portal" because of exclusive content through Steamworks, I will a little better. Irony

Nintendo


   I haven't been a huge fan of Nintendo in a while, I used to own a Wii but a few months after it launched I bought a 360 and eventually sold it because I lost interest. I'm more a fan of their history than what is currently out, and even though I don't see Nintendo doing anything special enough to get me to buy their motion sensing home console again, this press conference was incredibly solid and was filled with announcements that simultaneously promise innovation while showing the world a return to form to what made their past consoles the classics they are. Nintendo fans truly have more to be excited over than they have since the Wii launched.

   The conference started with a bang, a new Zelda adventure, Skyward Sword was officially announced with a new trailer and "gameplay". I'm not entirely sure what I thought about the new look as the art style was a cross between Wind Waker and Twilight Princess. Wind Waker may still be the best use of cell shading in a videogame to this day (I fully understand games like TF2, Crackdown, and Borderlands out there) and I loved Twilight Princess's dark and more realistic aesthetic, and crossing these two isn't the sum of it's parts. Then again most every new Zelda game pulls out a new art style, so this is no different. The gameplay demonstration was really too bad. It was filled with technical difficulties, and imprecise showing of the motion controls. I'm not a fanboy of my own console, the 360, but I can defend Nintendo and say it was just interference. This is supposed to use Wii Motion Plus, and hopefully for the fans' sake Skyward Sword will use it to truly add to the experience. Twilight Princess's use of the normal motion controls was essentially tacked on with extra polish, so hopefully this one will enhance the item implementation.

   As said, I'm a fan of Nintendo's history and I feel the best part of the conference was the announced re-imaginations of some of their classic titles. What hardcore gamer doesn't think a completely re-worked Goldeneye 007, the shooter that made shooters possible on consoles, is neat on any platform. Same goes for the new Donkey Kong Country made by Retro Studios, the people that made Metroid Prime. There was a new Kirby title announced that not only had a superb art style, but as with the other games mentioned, it is a return to form. It's great to see Nintendo continuing the retro revival when they started with New Super Mario Bros, hopefully they will keep this up.

   Of course there were the inevitable casual games. I'm personally glad to see "Wii Party" instead of a new Mario Party since the most recent Mario Party wasn't as critically upbeat as fans are about the N64 iterations. Yes it will be as Reggie claimed it to be another "bridge title" but if your into the industry you may realize that there are a ton of subpar casual games on Wii, and hopefully Wii Party will flush those out. Mario Sports Mix may have a weird name but hopefully it will overshadow some who are disappointed over a lack of a new Mario Party. Sure these titles are inevitable, but I like it when Nintendo puts out their games when developers doing similar genres are rushing their products.

   Finally, Nintendo 3DS.  Prepare for a revolution. It wasn't a surprise that the 3DS was going to be shown at the conference but it sure left a mark. I dislike 3D in theaters. For me, the glasses take away from the image of movie franchises and it adds something between you and the movie. It's just isn't a "pure" experience.  Who knows what magic Nintendo cooked up in the making of the new hardware but it was pulled off, and as IGN has reported, it seems this isn't a gimmick. It gets better, this isn't just a DS with an added effect, there is a ton of added horsepower to make the graphics much cleaner, an analog nub, and two cameras to produce 3D photos. My personal favorite is watching 3D movies on the new DS, no longer will I have to look stupid to get an unnecessary effect.

   For me, I'm not exited for it because of the hardware, Nintendo has sold me by the line up of games. Yes, it is too bad Nintendo didn't give a more solid list of the games at the press conference but by the launch of 3DS we will have a good library unlike how I had to wait a few months for Wario Ware and Nintendogs for the triple A titles. Nintendogs + Cats, remakes of Star Fox 64 and Ocarina of Time, a new Mario Kart, Kingdom Hearts, Kid Icarus; the list goes on. This is where Nintendo outdid themselves and the best example of how they can treat their longtime fans. When you guys shine Nintendo, you guys shine.

   I haven't been this excited for an E3 in a while. I glossed over most of it and mainly listened to announcements for Modern Warfare, the Halo series, and Beatles: Rock Band but otherwise didn't pay much attention to other announcements. Sure I looked at Natal but otherwise wasn't as interested in E3 2009. This year has a truly impressive line up for all the major console developers. Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony all have equally impressive software to show off.

   Now keep in mind, I am just a student, I am not actually at E3, most all of my information was taken from IGN, Gamespot, and other gaming journalists. I am just looking at these games being played, not playing them personally, so my impressions are limited. Also, the Xbox 360 is my current console I play games on, but I refuse to talk Nintendo and Sony with bias, I have been affiliated with their platforms in the past. However I was able to watch the press conferences on G4. This is where I shall start my limited coverage, starting with Microsoft's, then Nintendo's, and last but not least Sony's.

Microsoft


   Unlike the other two press conferences, I didn't see as much as a full on assault in terms of headlines, game announcements, etc. This one did the things that were as expected nothing more nothing less. There were trailers and demos for their major franchises, a little bit of third party footage in the form of Call of Duty Black Ops but the trailer for Metal Gear Solid Rising got me seriously awe-inspired. The exclusives were awesome, Gears of War 3 and Fable III will be hits, I was not expecting space combat in Halo: Reach which is great considering there haven't been a lot of great dogfighting games recently, but the partnership with Crytek possibly pleased me the most.

   I have a thing about a large amount of franchises rather than new IP's. Yes, it's always awesome to see a great game improved upon, but seeing a trailer for a new game that no one is expecting is always exciting. Crytek's upcoming "Codename: Kingdoms" seems reminiscent of the film and comic book 300, so it'll be bloody, and it if it's what I expect it to be, we'll be looking at Microsoft's answer to God of War. I wanted a new IP and they certainly delivered something. Considering this is Crytek I want them to push the console to a point before it melts and it to tech demo for the capabilities of what the console still has on offer with an otherwise very solid gameplay system and great replay value.

   Now Microsoft wants to challenge competitors with motion controls, and they sure seem to know how to make gamers skeptical about the recently retitled Kinect. For one, I am thoroughly impressed by the hardware, seeing how it tracks the body as a skeleton instead of just a controller in your hand will be way more interesting than the wiimote and Playstation Move. Now I mean that the hardware is more interesting but the games shown and how they presented them was not what I hoped for. Games like Kinect Adventures and Kinect Sports disappointed not because they were more kid friendly but they did not seem to use the camera the way I want to see it used. I want to see games that have zero canned animations whatsoever, and these two games in particular probably did use the hardware to a great extent, however the character the demonstrators were controlling didn't exhibit actions that were exactly what the person was doing. These two games themselves just don't look like they will go down in the classic status of something like Wii Sports.

   What I wanted to see more of was Kinectimals, which is something of an answer to Nintedogs as a pet simulator. The game it's self could end up being pretty good, but with all due respect they shouldn't have had a child demonstrate it. Since it's the hardcore fans like me who are watching the conference, a young girl playing with an adorable tiger sends a message to Microsoft's core fanbase that Kinect isn't what we want. Still -guilty pleasure alert- , if Kinectimals ends up about as good as Nintendogs, I'll be interested. Then gameplay for Joy Ride was shown, and the demonstrator just sounded like she was acting having fun whereas I want to hear a person going in depth about the game. Considering the competition for kart racers will be between this, Modnation Racers, and the Mario Kart Series, Joy Ride better do something special beyond the use of Kinect. Unfortunately the game that was shown off that was probably the best use of the peripheral was of a game I'm not interested in at all. Dance Central from Harmonix had the characters on screen actually matching the player one to one. It looked fantastic and will be a noticeable step up from Dance Dance Revolution, however dancing isn't my thing. Then there was the fitness game from Ubisoft, which too was what it was, did it well, but it still won't be on my radar. I think I'll start jogging thank you very much.

   Microsoft is trying to push "controller free gaming" but it wasn't good enough. By directing the attention towards the casual market they forgot a few things. I personally like the Wii games for what they are, hell Wii sports is pretty damn good, but in comparison, some of these games looked too fluffy and less appealing than those on Wii. Speaking of that, Nintendo has Mario and I didn't see a true Killer App Kinect launch title. Kinect Sports and Adventures looked more like alternatives to Wii Party games than something they pushed to be bigger and better. Considering this is the casual market, Microsoft will have to bundle Kinect with future consoles and at a price well below 400 dollars or better, the standard 300 to be the most competitive. Even then consumers could buy a Nintendo DS with Mario Kart and Nintendogs over Kinect's alternatives. It's a double edged sword, but with great use of the tech from Turn 10's Forza 4 and navigating the Dashboard using the camera is a great first step towards the computers from Minority Report. I have a feeling that like the 360's launch, Kinect will start slow but eventually there will be titles that create a bigger fanbase.

   I would not consider Kinect a failure, we have already seen the tech demos, now it's time for the developers to use it. There will be those that take advantage of it's capabilities and those that don't, and since there will be 3 consoles with motion controls, competition will breed innovation. Kinect was not the disappointment, there were others. Microsoft did nothing to preview the summer of arcade. The arcade is great because we get new titles to let us relax before the holiday season, and there was nothing to help that anticipation. They gave a list afterwards, but I want to be anticipated with great announcements and demonstrations for Monday Night Combat and Castlevania that would build up hype. Next, Crackdown 2 was only mentioned, there was no new footage, trailer, or demonstration. I could only imagine how awesome a live demo of four player co-op, the new toys, and all that great over the top action would've been shown on stage. Finally, because Rare left Nintendo to work with Microsoft, I want to see new and interesting titles. These guys were the developers of classics: Goldeneye, Banjo-Kazooie, Perfect Dark, and Conker. Yes they have recently released updated ports of some of their N64 games to XBLA and made the intriguing Viva Pinata games, but they did not show what was to be a classic. Kinect Sports has the Rare charm to an extent, but it's an alternative to something that is more or less a classic, not something truly creative.

   The conference was good, but as I said before it was not a full on assault. The Halo: Reach demo was cool, but it would've been fantastic to see the firefight reveal at that time rather than later with and ending that with a statement claiming the Halo series will once again be the most feature rich shooter available. Gears of War 3 was just a gameplay demo, not much in the way of explanation, and no new trailer. I truly feel if there was more on Crackdown, a more unique rare title, details on what is a solid line up on the downloadable titles, and great assurance that Kinect will have games for Microsofts core audience, this press conference could've end up better at being more well rounded than their competition.

   Now I will wrap this up the way Microsoft did, with the new console. It looks awesome. All of the new improvements, a 250 gig hard drive, a quieter fan than the washing machine inside the current consoles, built in wifi and a sexy new look all at a retail price of 299.99, just superb. It is to bad they didn't hint at reveal before the press conference to warn retailers in advance (we don't want the Sega Saturn all over again) nor did they give pricing for an inevitable pack in with Kinect, but look at it, it's sexy. Definitely the most visually appealing console on the market as of now.

In what ways have you surprised yourself this semester on your blog?

   Having homework be blog posts completely re-envisioned my thoughts of school and showed I had more potential than I could ever imagine. In my previous school years, I was never much of a student who worked at home, my concentration so much of the time just didn't allow me to do much of anything. Often times when I would get home I would start working and the only productivity that resulted was one or two finished questions, and end up with a lot of lost time staring at the table, some days it would be hours lost. Now when I blog I have zero worry of completing an assignment. I was able to get A's by being stress free about English during the first half of school and would purposely procrastinate until a few hours before the deadline because I knew I had the capacity to write a fairly quality article in less than half an hour. With all honesty, near all these posts were a product of waiting until Friday night and spending an hour at the most typing something up in one sitting. The previous midterm final, the monthly review for "Lies My Teacher Told Me", all done with a relative degree of laziness. I never enjoyed English anywhere near as much as this in a long time, and found out I could do something like this for a career, possibly even being a journalist.

   Back on my midterm final I explained how I enjoy looking up articles on websites focusing on the entertainment industry, whether it be reviews or announcements based on Music, Movies, and Gaming. I wanted to see myself working as a journalist for one of these sites, but I was always put off by the length of certain articles. Not anymore. I am coming to realize that I can have the capacity to write at the high standards I find in the articles I read online. A few weeks ago I went into detail about the Halo: Reach Multiplayer Beta in a fashion similar to that of a preview on Gamespot or IGN, and as much as I have a ways to go before I'm at their level, I feel I am already on that road. That ten paragraph behemoth too, was a product of just sitting down and writing out all the necessary details I could, since when your talking about a video game, its not hard to go into detail.

   Outside of experience, I am limited by a few things that keep me from writing the quality I want. The biggest problem is since it takes out of my personal life, there are other things I want to do on my spare time. For the most part I'm just sitting down, and typing up something with relative clarity and meets the required number of words. I am not merely sitting at an office where I have some pressure on me and must focus on a single article, in other words a controlled situation. At home it's a different beast, I procrastinate until the last minute to create pressure and type something up with relative clarity and meets the required number of words. As much as that works to get credit as a school assignment, it doesn't exactly help create a review that is 100% professional and credible. My Bioshock 2 review for instance was very rushed since I had more thoughts than I had allowed myself time to include in my review effectively. I wanted to go into great detail about the story, gameplay, and multiplayer, but it ended up about a single paragraph for each of those three elements. In the end I tried cramming in as much detail as possible and sounded sloppy reading it over because I had so many thoughts about it. I find it crazy that I actually believe I could write at that quality I want in a more professional environment.

   Finally, reviewing music specifically and making that sound credible was harder than I sometimes say it is. Trying to say what it was I liked about an album ends up with me putting words onto the paper whether it sounds good or below average. Try listening to an album and try explaining what it is you like about it. Getting around explaining thoughts on an album must be more detailed than just saying "This album is amazing!", "Meh it's ok", "Man, I love this album, it puts me in a good mood" or, "Its so angry, and that's what makes it awesome!" The irony about reviewing is that on some level, opinion is arguably out of the question, you must say it has this, it has that, what it's like. This is made more difficult because there isn't a good enough way to explain what it sounds like. Think about it, you can hum the rhythm to the main riff of Black Sabbath's Iron Man, but there's no way to type that and not seem like an idiot. I do my best of saying what makes the album what it is but explaining how a certain album has more or less of an impact on the culture requires being a really good writer, the writing must be spot on with the limited amount of space to type with to make the comments interesting and more understandable.

   You can see this with the two allmusic.com reviews of Black Sabbath albums. I have only reviewed an artist's latest album, and since these rock acts aren't exactly in their prime I haven't been able to give them major praise, so my writing has been closer to the second link.

Review of Black Sabbath's "Paranoid"

Review of Black Sabbath's "Never Say Die!"

   Just thinking about my posts critically like this is may be the biggest surprise this over the school year. I have been told on many occasions that my writing is almost professional and my parents have said they weren't anywhere near as good at my age but those kind of comments detract from my what I think of all of this, a work in progress. Maybe it's pessimistic but I find it's a great reflection on my maturity. Sure, in reality this is just tedious homework to get a weekly grade on, but mentally I've found that some may find it a little more worthwhile being on the internet, but I find it relatable on a level beyond the fact it's just happens to be on a computer.

Final Score: 5/5
                                                                                                                                                                       

   Two weeks ago I told about my opinions for this marvelous betage. It was a great first look that overall went very smoothly, outside of servers melting at launch and the jaded, conservative Halo 3 players ranting against the changes at Bungie.net, they are so silly. After the message saying its over, reverting back to Halo 3 has been sad, but not impossible. Moving around the map without the help of a jetpack or sprint is not as fun and less unpredictable since going after the power weapons doesn't involve quicker map controlling. Speaking of lack of armor abilities, the use of equipment just had me say "what were they thinking", they aren't terribly fun and getting in the right situation to use them just results in me conserving them for the right moment that just never came. In terms of weapons, halo 3 still has a great arsenal but after playing with the one from Reach, you can really see there was a lot of fluff when we finished the fight. Yes, dual wielding was cool back then but really the only pair of single handed weapons I consistently used were a pair of plasma rifles, but the plasma repeater's powerful rate of fire and feel to it does away with that pair. "Well Tim, what about the Battle Rifle, the three round burst was awesome?" Your damn right it was awesome, but after playing Reach, using one of my personal favorite videogame weapons is clunky but still overpowered as a mid-range weapon. As it seems it won't make an appearance in Reach the only thing I'll miss is the fact of having A three round burst firearm, besides the Halo 3 BR wasn't quite as cool as Halo 2's

   Now to what I didn't talk about in the last impressions of the beta, its on to Invasion and Generator Defense, and they are awesome. Most online shooters are just random shootouts and not so much cinematic, Invasion tries to take a step in the cinematic direction. Invasion is broken up into 3 phases, in the first, elites make their way up to a broken UNSC frigate and capture one of two territories. In the second, that frigate becomes a spawn point for the elites and shield doors open up so they can push towards the refinery and capture one of two more territories, which opens up a safe holding a data core, which in the final phase elites carry it to a drop off zone. This is all while spartans attempt to defend against their enemies and hold their ground, vehicles spawn for their side, and more loadouts become available. Its so different from all the other gametypes since it actually acts like its part of the Halo mythos, spartans actually duke it out against their covenant counterparts and it reminds me a lot of the Star Wars battlefront series in that two sides play differently, players choose how they want to play with different loadouts and vehicles can be used similarly. Less interesting but still just about as fun is Invasion Slayer, which focuses on the killing of each side rather than finishing objectives. What makes it interesting is that like normal Invasion, there are basically no weapons on the map and players have to choose different loadouts as the game progresses, but there are territories to be controlled, which results in a weapon and/or vehicle spawn for the side who captures it.

   Then theres Generator Defense, which like Invasion, is an attack/defense gametype that goes out of its way to make it feel part of the Halo universe. Both sides have five different loadouts from the beginning and shortly after the game starts, UNSC weapon pods are dropped from the skies to deliver a healthy dose of human power weapons. Its really nice to see weapons appear on the map this way as opposed to them just lying in the classic Halo matches. Elites make there way towards the Spartan's base and destroy all three generators. The catch is that spartans can lock the generators, where the generator is invulnerable for a limited amount of time, in theory forcing the attackers to fend off the defenders before they can do this. Expect this gametype to be much improved by the finished products release as its currently prone to exploitation. Spartans could have an extra edge and the generators could be more durable, but even then they have annoying tricks up their sleeve even when they lose. Generators can be locked an infinite number of times and even when an elite is attacking it, so you could be meleeing it with an energy sword, and a spartan can walk up to the generator and blatantly lock it before killing the attacker. And more repetitive, generator Bravo on the map overlook is placed inside thee base, where spartans tend to camp with the shotgun, turning into a slow slog as elites eventually defeat the spartans and take out the structure rather than doing so with an interesting firefight.

   Now, generator defense being part of "network test 1", the playlist was put under stressed conditions, and yes there were irregularities but even that gave me a sign of hope. There was lag, but stereotypical lag with slow framerates rather than players teleporting everywhere and severely harming the experience. Seeing that this was under "stressed conditions" with the game being pushed to its limits, I was surprised that games could be smoothed out easily. I was never really frustrated with it, it was annoying but it shows that by the retail game's launch, the networking will be unparalleled when its set to work as efficiently as possible.

  Comic book movies are a recent trend that I've really come to like. After Spiderman in 2002, they just seemed to keep coming with seemingly every major Marvel series getting a big screen debut while others like The Dark Knight, Watchmen, and 300 break new ground, becoming truly special. Critically, a lot of them were a hit or miss affair but the ironic part about most of these modern film adaptations of the flashy panels are that few of them actually capture the look and feel of a printed graphic novel about how an ordinary person rises to fame in a cheesy outfit. When I saw my first preview for Kick Ass in theaters a few months ago, I thought it was going to be a another stupid comedy with bad taste. Nothing prepared me for seeing a five out of five score for this new IP on IGN, but it turns out they were right, Kick Ass is one of the best things to happen to the film industry in a while and is the best example I can use to prove film making is in fact an art form.

   Dave Lizewski is an ordinary High School kid, kind of a nerd, loves comic books, and not very good with the ladies. One day he asks why nobody tries to be a hero like the ones in comic books and orders a green costume on the internet to disguise himself as a vigilante. After beating up a few thugs, he quickly becomes an internet sensation and takes the name of "Kick Ass". Later he meets up with Batman-like Big Daddy and pre-teen hit girl and team up in a "we will work with you but we're still better than you" kind of way, and the organized crime fighting goes on from there. I could spoil the entire film for you, and you wouldn't care when you see the film because there will be no surprises considering you know the superhero story ark; someone rises to fame, kicks some ass, gets the girl, and later makes a tough decision.

   The story it's self is solid but that is beside the genius of the film if you're looking for something under the surface, there is actually an insane amount of substance, especially if you know the influences. First off the art style is both subtle and ridiculously detailed. The environments have a color saturation thats not supposed to look life-like and gives a great comic book feel. From what I hear, sets in movies are meticulously lighted, but this may be the first movie that emphasizes the color palette, and I have zero complaints with it. So it's meant to look like a comic book and thats it? Wrong. The actual idiosyncrasies of the characters and elements of the story are nothing short of genius. The most obvious is how it makes the main character the know it all about comics and builds upon that well but its the genius duo of Big Daddy and her daughter Hit Girl who stand out. You will understand that Big Daddy is Nicolas Cages' best role as he prepares Hit Girl to show no pain by shooting at her daughter while she wears a bullet proof vest, only to be rewarded with a trip to the ice cream store. Then there are other where Big Daddy advises Kick Ass on "the real way" to exit a building without getting noticed that are great, humorous nods to comic book cliches. I also liked the head of the mob's son who is the polar opposite of Kick Ass in moments where he shows aspiration to be the villain rather than the good guy, flailing a pistol around lazily as he pretends to talk mob things on the phone.

   I'm also going to dedicate to the use of profanity in this movie, I don't exactly want to encourage film makers to use it, but the way this movie handles it is done so much better than how recent comedies pack in poorly included f-bombs and talk of women's' genitalia to gain an R-rating. If you have skimmed through a few comic books, you may notice a lot of four letter words in certain comic book series, this film does to. I was reminded of the graphic novel Wanted in this way, which is funny because the writer of Wanted, Mark Millar worked on the comic for Kick-Ass, and his twisted vision of bloody action, brief sexuality, and other things just plain wrong shine through. Speaking of just plain wrong, Hit Girl is a character parents may go to the Supreme Court in order to censor. She swears, slices and dices through baddys, and does seemingly everything before it's considered illegal, and she is ten years old. But as strange as this is, I like the persona because its another comic book nod, there are some really twisted and cheesy characters in comic books, just look at MODOK, and he was #100 on IGN's top 100 comic book villains, and I didn't continue to see further weirdness.

   I was stuck on whether or not to give Kick Ass a five out of five. On one hand it has so many little details that anyone with a slight taste in comic books (and to a lesser extent comic book movies) can notice and find very smart, but on the other those concepts may be alien to certain viewers who only care about superhero movies as an excuse to see a guy beat up some dudes. I did have an issue with the music as it did fall a little flat, there wasn't much of an epic score, it just didn't add anything, except one moment with Joan Jett's "Bad Reputation". But here is to my first perfect score, no bland soundtrack could get in the way of how entertained I was throughout the entire movie. There was never any drab filler, everything about it felt like it had a point and each environment and scene looked like it came right off the panels. If you thought this was a comedy, think not, this is an amazing superhero movie with a take on comic book lore that I'm amazed hasn't been done before and ranks right up there with Dark Knight, Watchmen, and Spiderman 2.

5/5

But seriously, look up who MODOK is

Lies My Teacher Told Me

   Lies my teacher told me is a book that aims, or at least seems to aim at discrediting High School history textbooks. I'm not the biggest history buff out there, but it may be my favorite class, so I checked this book out for an interesting interpretation of a subject I love so much. The book's slogan is "Everything your American History Book Got Wrong", but so far I have felt the ways it shows this isn't as good as I had hoped.

   For starters, I found the book tended to ramble, which wouldn't have been as bad a thing if the amount of general topics wasn't so limited. Each chapter tends to start with begin with the subject of the chapter's title, outside of the first, it doesn't feel as focused and with little over ten chapters, it gets way too specific on the topic and towards the end of the second, I couldn't help but skip through the rest. Since there is so much to write about on say, the chapter "The Importance of Christopher Columbus", it gives you a sense that the topics could've been a book in it's own, chapters could've been more general and in this case, along the lines of "The Lies of the New World Exploration". Of the first three chapters, the first "Handicapped By History" explained the process of hero making, which was the most interesting considering Helen Keller is considered a role model but is never mentioned as the socialist she became and If Woodrow Wilson is such a "hero", why is it omitted that he was a white supremacist? But problems arise when it the otherwise great writing eventually became Helen Keller, Helen Keller, Helen Keller, then Woodrow Wilson, Woodrow Wilson, Woodrow Wilson. It becomes very wordy, and because there aren't enough examples, just a ton of specifics for each example, it takes away from the enormity of what the Author is trying to prove.

   This is a shame because it hampers the great writing that I mentioned before. I write up my debates for my history class, and I could really see how well certain passages can be use for one. I love how it rapidly discredits the opposing side. Here is a passage from the beginning of "Red Eyes"

   "There is not one Indian in the whole of this country who would not cringe in anguish and frustration because of these textbooks. There is not one Indian child who has not come home in shame and tears.
- Rupert Castro

   Historically, American Indians have been the most lied about subset of our population. That's why Michael Dorris said that in learning about Native Americans "One does not start from point zero, but from minus ten." High school students start from below zero because of their textbooks, which unapologetically present Native Americans through white eyes. Today" textbooks should do better especcially since what historians call Indian history (though really it is interracial) has flowered in the last twenty years, and the information on which new textbooks might be based currently rests on library shelves."

   Then it goes on (and on) from there, and what to the rapid discrediting of the textbooks, but the whole "Whitewashed" version of history concept isn't used or mentioned enough, which after reading a few pages it just starts preaching to the converted and the strong start to each chapter wears off. Especially if your not too good of a reader like myself, it becomes awkward reading "The Truth of Thanksgiving", then somehow transitioning to something about the black plague, which could've been a great one or two sentence example, but the specifics are just too much.

   Overall the attention to detail is positive, but it overshadows its self as a 300 plus page book.

All Quiet on the Western Front
By Erich Maria Remarque 

  All Quiet on the Western Front is a fantastic book, so good it was banned in Nazi Germany, so you know it's "controversial". Anyhow, it's a classic war novel that is so effective considering how straightforward it is.

How would you describe the author's style of writing?
  
   Remarque's style is very engrossing, the perspective is first person through the eyes of fictional Paul Baumer, but what makes it interesting is he acts as more of a spectator than an active participant in the action. It's like watching scenes from a war movie in literature form. This perspective works because that's really what much of the book is, one long list of really graphic scenes on the front lines. Roughly the first hundred and forty pages don't have many memorable moments, especially if you've been stripped of the concept of morality by seeing the D-Day sequence of Saving Private Ryan like I have, it's a sequence of artillery strikes, taking cover, watching your fellow soldiers perish, repeat. That is a condescending viewpoint, but the book was very sneaky at tugging on the reader's senses; after grasping the tedium of the trench warfare, the book throws some recruits into the mix, seeing how inexperienced they are and reading about their deaths really bring a contrast that shocks the senses.

   Pg 130 " They get killed simply because they can't tell shrapnel from a high explosive, they are mown down because they are listening anxiously to the roar of the big coal-boxes falling in the rear, and miss the light, piping whistle of the low spreading daisy-cutters. They flock together like sheep instead of scattering, and even he wounded are shot down like hares by the airmen."

Pg 131 "Between five and ten recruits fall to every old hand. A surprise gas-attack carries out a lot of them. They have not yet learned what to do. We have found one dug-out full of them, with blue heads and black lips."

    The final one hundred pages of All Quite is where the narrative truly reaches it's climax. It's really hard to pick out any major quotes, this entire section is one huge assault on morality. After Paul's depressing leave, he along with his surviving class mates return to the front but this time the action plays out wildly different. Before all the battle sequences weren't very personal by making Paul more of a spectator and detailing the scale and brutality of it all, and this is the first time where I noticed Paul to truly shock the reader with his actions. To gain information on the enemy forces, he crawls through no man's land and moves into a shell hole. When the enemy moves forward to attack, Paul stabs the French soldier and subsequently feels pain and sorrow. The story never felt as emotional up to this point

" "I will write to your wife," I say hastily to the dead man, "I will write to her, she must hear it from me, I will tell her everything I have told you, she shall not suffer, I will help her and your parents too, and your child"

"Irresolutely I take the wallet in my hand. It Slips out of my hand and falls open... There are portraits of a woman and a little girl, small amateur photographs taken against an ivy-clad wall. Along with them are letters. I take them out and try to read them. Most of it I do not understand, it is hard to decipher and I scarcely know any French. But each word I translate pierces me like a shot in the chest; like a stab in the chest"

   In chapter ten the pace is changed again, and this is where any reader can truly prove the book isn't for the faint of heart. Paul and Kropp are transported by train to a Catholic hospital where the most torturous moments of the book take place.

"A new convoy arrives. Our room gets two blind men. One of them is a very youthful musician. The sisters never have a knife with them when they feed him; he has already snatched one from a sister. But in spite of this caution there is an incident. In the evening, while he is being fed, the sister is called away, and leaves the plate with the fork on his table. He gropes for the fork, seizes it and drives it with all his force against his heart, then he snatches up a shoe and strikes with it against the handle as hard as he can. ...The blunt prongs had already penetrated deep. He abuses us all night so that no one can go to sleep."

"Day after day goes by with pain and fear, groans and death gurgles. Even the death room is no use use anymore, it is too small; fellows die during the night in our room. The go even faster than the sisters can cope with them" 

   Passages like these define the last few chapters of All Quiet, I experienced something I don't regularly feel reading, I was glued to the book finishing it through to the bitter end. This is the read that further convinced me to dodge any possible draft.

   I love a good movie about rock and roll, a few months ago I was blown away by It Might Get Loud, School of Rock with Jack Black still gives me laughs, and the classic rockumentary Spinal Tap will go on to eleven as long as heavy metal exists, forever. Now enter The Runaways, the story of Joan Jett's first band. This isn't just a documentary, it's a true scripted featuring Kirsten Stewart as Joan Jett and Dakota Fanning as Cherie, the lead singer, great they both acted in Twilight.

  But you know what, forget about that, and not just because Kirsten Stewart acted in the surprisingly immaculate Adventureland, The Runaways may be about an all girl hard rock band but it's anything but a full on chick flick. This details the at times bleakness of fame and tensions between the band on the road. The movie's main conflict is between the band's manager, who is suffice to say a total ass and complete douchebag.

This movie does what rock 'n' roll films don't do very often, making you feel like your in their lifestyle. If you remember how well Notorious did at transporting you into the lifestyle of it's musicians, whereas in Notorious there was rapping and selling crack, Runaways there's rocking out along with underage smoking and drinking; pick your poison. The Runaways does feel a lot like Notorious in the sense of showing the rise, fall, and controversies surrounding famous musicians but like Biggie's tale and like it, it doesn't come without it's inconsistencies.

  For one the whole tough girl thing gets a little stale after the first 30 minutes or so, but once the story hits the road, it's not much of a problem anymore, but it doesn't excuse the occasional awkwardness in the beginning, once you see Joan's reaction when her guitar teacher tells her girls don't play electric guitars, you'll know what I'm talking about. What really takes a hit is the emotion, or often lack-thereof. Cherie from the beginning has major problems with her family, but it never really gives you much impact. It may be a somewhat dry film, but the overall vibe the film brings saves it from being just ok.

3.5/5

   The second one hundred pages of All Quiet goes off in it's repeated fashion for about forty pages. Bombardments continue and the inexperience of recruits still perfectly contrast with the main characters' survival.

Pg 130 " They get killed simply because they can't tell shrapnel from a high explosive, they are mown down because they are listening anxiously to the roar of the big coal-boxes falling in the rear, and miss the light, piping whistle of the low spreading daisy-cutters. They flock together like sheep instead of scattering, and even he wounded are shot down like hares by the airmen."

Pg 131 "Between five and ten recruits fall to every old hand. A surprise gas-attack carries out a lot of them. They have not yet learned what to do. We have found one dug-out full of them, with blue heads and black lips."

   There are many instances like these throughout the book that break the thought that every day in the trenches is just like another day at the office. After plowing through scenes where the main characters take cover under hours of heavy bombardment, the deaths of recruits symbolize what this book does so well.

   Chapter seven takes the soldiers out of the trenches, but even with this break you get a sense that everything in Baumer's perspective is in relates to the battlefield. Even with a kiss with a French girl he meets, he feels like she is a girl on a recruiting poster and is destined to win her. With his seventeen days on leave, he returns to his home but the horrors of war can't escape him. With this chapter through page 198, the book did well translating from the trenches to a "peaceful" environment, but the only problem with it was before there was no real need to soak in the story and detail, I was able to skim through the first one hundred pages considering the story's stripped down nature. Once I read through chapter seven my first time, I didn't even take in that it was taking place at a depot with the first paragraph. I was especcially confused when Paul and others found the group of french girls, however this would only be a problem with certain readers, some like myself will take advantage of the lack of real story and treat it like a massive set of quotes while others will fully immerse themselves in the text.

    All quite on the western front has numerously been dubbed "the greatest war novel of all time" and as a classic, it holds up.The story is about a fictional soldier, Paul Baumer, who signed up with his classmates in the German army during world war 1. Story is a lose term for this book, it has superb narrative but the system of events is stripped down. This isn't meant to explain any specific battle or real event, but how the book is told makes it so well regarded.

   This is a perfectly minimalistic read, as it does so much with so little. Some may find the first person narrative not very believable as Baumer acts as a spectator more than a regular participant in the action. By doing this however, it creates a feeling of a loss of humanity as this book is near exclusively meant to see the horrors of war on more levels than just the descriptions. The book is simply scenario after scenario but what it does is keep giving you awful realities (that to this day may be overshadowed by films like Saving Private Ryan) one after another, which I developed a sense of normality for eventually. Every now and then this concept breaks when recruits just can't take it anymore and crack under the stress. Once you find this, you will find an amazing contrast and heartbreak.

   Reading this book can be done in different ways. Because of the book's stripped down nature and lack of much story, I was able to skim through and soak in the detail. There isn't much need to know all of the characters by heart since they eventually tend to blend together, but there is a sense of comradeship. No matter, you will be transported from where you are reading, straight to the front lines, if you carefully read through it, you can truly be in the eyes of the character, but if you skim through it like I did, it can be treated as if it's one long, horrific flashback.

   Every few months or so there's always a conspiracy filled, secret undercover operation action flick and since 2002 we've seen Matt Damon as Jason Bourne in the well received Bourne films. Matt Damon returns with the director of supremacy and ultimatum to deliver what's essentially a repackaged and re-skinned Bourne film, and judging by the last film in that trilogy, it's just as gripping but now with more controversy.

   Green Zone is set in Baghdad during the Iraq War before Bush's not so well received "Mission Accomplished" "announcement", where warrant officer Roy Miller (Matt Damon) and fellow marines are charged with finding the alleged weapons of mass destruction. The movie starts out with a bang, where Miller and company are in hostile territory searching an area supposedly containing WMD's. Miller expects the intel to be off as he explains this to be the third empty, outside of the terrorists, site he's inspected and so the story snowballs with the conspiracies as he digs into evidence. This idea of a soldier digging into the evidence sounds obscure, but this isn't a campy spy flick, Miller goes back and forth talking to the reporters and journalists to his superiors all while giving you a pretty damn good unpleasant sites of our own dark side. Just remember that there is no "based on a true story" label, but the ideas it brings out about false evidence for the war work well.

   So it's an anti Iraq War film about the fact we couldn't find nukes in Iraq, and does enhance the truth a bit but so much of what the eventual truth is, is very believable and as said it's a Bourne film. If you watch it, it goes through the motions. I deeply enjoyed how it played out, it's not the most action packed film ever made but it's really cool. There were some minor complaints, but they couldn't have been very avoidable. For one, I know Miller is the main character but it isn't entirely believable how he's the only one willing to understand that the three sites he hit up were frauds. In contrast the other major characters are his superior officers and journalists, who have a hard time getting the ideas through their thick skulls and they do a good job of representing the ignorance this war was full of. One other character however, Freddy, an Iraqi civilian who eventually assists as a translator, is also a great character but without spoiling anything, towards the the end he serves as an excuse to keep evidence from getting out and feels forced and exaggerated, a serious "thats all they could think of?" moment. Otherwise, if you liked the Bourne series, this is more of the same and arguably better, some will find the fiction is too hard on the war, but the fiction matches up well with the events that did actually happen.

4.5/5

   Once again I'm a guitar player, and I play on a Mexican made 1972 Telecaster Deluxe reissue, it's a great guitar, I love the look, how it plays, but I feel I could make some changes.

   1972 truly was a magical year for the telecaster, launching fender into the humbucking market. Don't get me wrong, single coil twang is fun, but there are those who want a little more rock out of the tele. I am a fan of the Deluxe model, I wanted les paul style control, two volume knobs, two tone knobs and a 3-way toggle switch, but les pauls, Gibson or otherwise don't feel great in my hands, they're just a little too much for me. I'm a huge fan of Gibson's history and all, but this Buber famous model is so balky, fenders are how I roll from the woods, the neck, their look, and body shape. This is what the company did with the 1972 models, make a gibson les paul and go all Japanese and make it their own, hell they even hired Seth Lover to design the pickups for them. It all adds up to an interesting line of models ranging from a les paul esque deluxe, the equally slick single coil equipped custom, a jazzy thinline, and the rare and great addition of the strat vibrato'd deluxes.

   This is all well and good, but the reissue has it's criticisms. The one I've seen most are the pickups. Many have said that swapping the potentiameters to 500ks or 1megs really bring the guitar's sound to life by removing the mud, but there are also actual pickup issues, not just the pots. From what I've read, the pickups give off a sound that resembles single coils, like the actual telecasters. That in theory is cool and unique, but what's the point if theres the custom model that actually has a single coil in the bridge position, so was it really that hard to consider putting ballsy humbuckers in there making it more gibson-esque, besides single coils are fun but the sound of these don't match up. The result is just not as good as what it somewhat resembles, and I've always felt some chords starting on the low E string aren't very fun. What's worse in the fact that it's a reissue, they put the pickups in larger than normal covers, so if you want to swap them, its going to be tricky. I could also say how I would've thought the pickgaurd going around the entire bottom horn would've looked even more slick and the hardtail bridge looks a little boring, a stop-tail or a wider marketing of those with with vibratos, and at least for the deluxe an option for rosewood fingerboards along with maple, come on.

   It sounds like a huge rant, but to be honest its so minor when after i put the strap on and start rocking some riffs, and I intend to make those riffs sound even better. As stated putting new pickups in is going to be tricky, so I ordered an entirely new pickguard with suitable holes for new humbuckers from Terrapin Guitars. That, and after debating for months on what pickups I should get, going from the Dimarzio super distortion, then to an endless amount of Seymour Duncans, the pearly gates, 59s, and others, I settled on a Sh-11 custom custom in the bridge position, and an alnico ii pro in the neck. I hope to gain a really great hard rock sound through this as I've always liked humbuckers in an alder body, its not even the weight of the guitar, it sounds very natural whereas mahogany is a little too dark for my taste. Just a few hours ago I took it to my local guitar tech and teacher, I'll see the results probably by tomorrow.

   "Shutter Island is without a doubt the first great mainstream film of the new decade that even the inconsistencies in the beginning are made understandable by its twists."

   Shutter Island starts off as US Marshalls Edward Daniels (Lianardo Dicaprio) and Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) are on a ship headed to Shutter Island, a mental hospital for the criminally insane. Their job their is to find a escaped convict who the on edge guards have said to have "vanished straight through the walls", and the conspiracies add up and add up from there. If you've been watching the previews, this is hardly the crux of the story, there are a bunch of twists and turns that do what a plot twist should do, answer questions that you wouldn't think of answering.

   As far as how everything fits together, there really aren't that many complaints, I was heavily set back in the beginning though. When the pair showed up at the facility the movie felt like it was trying too hard, the music was overly dramatic and the one on one dialogue between Dicaprio and Ruffalo was somewhat weak. That and during the investigation of the missing inmate didn't feel like as big a mystery as it should have been, it became obvious too quickly who in the facility were suspects, the suspicions would've been hidden better. However this is pretty minor,  the story quickly picks up once storms prevent the two from leaving by ferry, Edward's intentions shine through his dreams and hallucinations, and those shocking visions are at times the highlights of Shutter Island. The pacing becomes superb, the setting is fantastic and there is barely any cheese after the first fifteen minutes.

   This is not a stripped down scare fest, this is a true psychological thriller. As Edward's horrific visions of fighting in World War II among other scenes of death, and hallucinations of his dead wife occur, the conspiracies of the facility seem to come closer to reality; it feels fresh as most filmmakers don't go with this type of storytelling. This does lead to one possible complaint, the major plot twist is closer to the two and a half hour running time and might have worked out for the better if it were just a little earlier. This twist has you rethinking everything about every character and many scenes of the film, but it is a lot of information to grasp, maybe too much. This is also a little awkward because it doesn't end some of the thoughts the viewer might have had anger towards the facility as it's compared to Edward's memories of Nazi concentration camps. On the other hand, it makes multiple viewings very satisfying seeing the setting in an entirely different mindset.

   Shutter Island is without a doubt the first great mainstream film of the new decade that even the inconsistencies in the beginning are made understandable by its twists. The acting is great, the story flows well, and even though it's not the scariest movie out there, it feels the psychological thriller vibe. Realizing it's based off a book of the same name, you will tell it probably made more sense as a novel, but that can't stop an inevitable cult following. You will beg for more, that second or third viewing will be very enticing.

4.5/ 5

   Now it's time to be serious, the original Bioshock was a masterpiece on too many levels, It didn't need multiplayer, modern gameplay elements like a rebounding health system, or a realistic weapon swapping system, it was a clearly half life inspired entirely story experience, but does the sequel with Marin over the original's Boston bring back that wow factor? The original's ending made it pretty damn hard to make a sequel for the lack of a enemy the player would love to hate. Fans of Bioshock may treat the original as just a standalone experience that should not be added to, but the way I've been hearing the developers treating the story, I became excited, however as many may have expected it is bumpy, bittersweet road, but a fun one at that.

  The new story begins ten years after the original, putting you in the role of Big Daddy searching for your former little sister, that and there's a new main enemy, Sofia Lamb who replaces Andrew Ryan. To say the least it is no where near as strong as the original and feels like a side story instead of a sequel. The concept i feel is attractive, and the opening cinematic has a shock factor, but the rest feels more like finish this mission, go to the next area, repeat. This is mainly because in the original, the 110% perfectly executed character Atlas drove you threw the story and made you emotionally attached to finishing the game, but in the sequel after spending the first half hour or so with returning Bridgette Tenenbaum, she hands the radio over to Sinclair, he is a very average character. As a businessman, I could understand his role of advisor by treating the Little Sisters as large ADAM sources instead of children, but even at that I would have liked to hear Sinclair and Tenenbaum arguing about the morality of the player's choices. He isn't a very good commentator, he just gives objectives. That and the patented Bioshock plot twist just isn't as powerful and feels more oh, rather than mindbending.

  At least the original gameplay is as fun as ever, you have the perfectly simplistic gunplay, plasmids, and a healthy dose of irrational freaks to test them on. The gameplay feels the same but the additions like the ability to dual wield a gun and plasmids, oh and believe it or not, and actual quick reacting melee attack. Hacking is one of my favorite improvements because in the original I enjoyed practically owning an area by going around hacking security cameras and turrets which at times did the work for me, but the mini game involved in the hacking became tiresome and took me out of the action, it never felt right being in combat and immediately going into the mini game. Now its governed by a golf swing meeter reminiscent of Gears of War reloading, it's balanced and doesn't take you out the action while still allowing you to rule a certain area. Its all fun fun but something about all the big daddy gear is cool but the big daddy versions of certain toys feel like cosmetic upgrades rather than a bump in functionality; the rivet gun is essentially the pistol, and the heavy machine gun is basically thee tommy gun. The main differences from last games armory are the hack tool and the drill, the hack tool is great, using the new hacking mechanic after firing a dart at a machine while the gatling gun isn't exactly a replacement for the wrench because of the halo style melee, so it's deadly but requires searching around for drill fuel which becomes nagging with regular use.

   The original Bioshock was a strictly single player singleplayer experience, so it sounds odd for the new installment to have multiplayer but the multiplayer is fun. It feels like the original but with some streamlining, which is very welcome and I enjoyed running around Rapture throwing fire at enemies and finishing them off with a machine gun clip. What I really enjoyed about it was how it just can't be frustrating, it doesn't require much experience, matches rarely came out with one player or team dominating others, and just kept me playing. It's also cool how there's some story elements by unlocking audio logs for your character but the limited amount of characters to play is annoying and the masks don't disguise the fact that there are multiple players using the same skin on one map. What also bugs me that for the first few levels, you won't be seeing many players using very similar loadouts, usually involving the machine gun and incinerate. As long as there are going to be people playing for a while, this could be enough to get players getting enough matches to max out the call of duty style leveling system, Its very worthy of Bioshock fans.

   Bioshock 2 is an awkward release, without the impact of the story, it feels like the gameplay trys to overcome it though it doesn't negate a dry "lets just finish this" campaign. Its fun, but as a game its not average in the least but  in comparison to the original its nothing more than fan material.

4.25