Obligatory New Years Resolution Post

With 2008's end close at hand, I can only wonder... where was I for most of it? Seriously, I honestly can't tell if this was the longest or shortest year ever. It feels like a lot has happened, but some of it feels like it was so long ago that it couldn't possibly be a part of 2008. Ah well, such is life.

Considering one's New Years resolution is always a rather strenuous ordeal. You know that you should make at least one, but the very fact that you need to make it is detrimental to actually going through with whatever it is you decide on. This year, however, was a fairly obvious decision for me. My New Years resolution is to take at least one step forward. Simple, I know, but it has been the source of a great deal of grief over the past year. Anyhow, enjoy your respective New Years festivities and see you in 2009... if we aren't all destroyed before then. Cheers!

Street Fighter... Evolution?

"Her strength. Her fury. Her vengeance. Will become legend."

No, no, it isn't really called "Street Fighter Evolution." You would, however, be hard pressed not to see striking similarities between this trailer and the recent Dragonball Evolution one. Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li will star everyone's favorite Smallville hottie, though I was always partial to Chloe myself, Kristen Kruek as the title character. The rest of the cast is poorly selected, at best, and this trailer really shows that underwhelming thrill I've seen all too often lately. (Though kudos for casting Liu Kang(Robin Shou) as Chun-Li's mentor) So needless to say, I am not looking forward to this film. I will see it of course, just don't ask me to be happy about it.

And To All... Tons Of Presents!

Merry Christmas and welcome all to The Deaf Rogue's first Christmas post! I don't really have much planned for the day myself, but I hope that all of you got exactly what you wanted and enjoy your day off. Now... here is a little Calvin and Hobbes and a Christmas video that I am sure you will enjoy.

"Screw the yules, I have money!!"

The HAWP Before Chirstmas

"Why aren't there any games about the holidays?"


Just when I was beginning to wonder when I would get my next HAWP. What a nice Christmas gesture from the Birch siblings. Foul-mouthed, mind you. But still nice.

P.S. Major kudos to them for using Vince Guaraldi's "Christmas Time Is Here" from the Charlie Brown Christmas Special. I just love his music, especially during this time of year.

Let The Right One In Impressions

I know that it is kind of late, but I just finished watching this film and I am obligated to praise it. Yes, I enjoyed it that much. This film is in Swedish with English subtitles... in case reading is a put off for you... anyways, read on!

Here is a short synopsis a la Flixster:

"Oskar, a bullied 12-year old, dreams of revenge. He falls in love with Eli, a peculiar girl. She can't stand the sun or food and to come into a room she needs to be invited. Eli gives Oskar the strength to hit back but when he realizes that Eli needs to drink other peoples blood to live he's faced with a choice. How much can love forgive?"

I know what you are thinking: this film sounds a little bit too much like that vampire movie we all love to hate, Twilight. While the two films do share the fact that they are based off of bestselling novels, allow me to be the first to tell you that Let The Right One In is nothing like Twilight. It is dark, chilling, violent, amusing, romantic, and beautiful all at once. This film declines the cheap theatrics that have marred the medium in past years and pushes on with pure, and slowly building, storytelling. While the acting by both of the main characters was excellent, I believe that it is safe to say that Lina Leandersson was the shining gem of the film. She portrayed the dark, lonely, conflicted, and murderous Eli perfectly. She was able to show the two hundred year old cautious and violent vampire while maintaining sad and lonely "girl-ish" (I won't spoil the surprise) Eli underneath it all. Along with this, the cinematography was absolutely fantastic and the music did not detract from that, which can be a common issue nowadays.

I am awarding Let The Right One In a perfect five out of five, as well as a rightful place amongst my favorite films list, because it is the first vampire film, and horror film for that matter, that I have been able to wholly support in ages. I understand that the film shies away from some of the content of the novel, which I will definitely be reading now, but I really want to see what happens next. I can only hope that more of the story is told eventually.

Visit here to view the international trailer for the film and I can only hope that you "get your hands" on it somehow, though the film will be released sometime in March of 2009 I believe.

This Day In Calvin And Hobbes: December 22, 1985

Haha, your fort may be impenetrable, but that means nothing to someone that you have already let inside. Be careful who you trust hmm? There's a funny little lesson for you.

Also, I can not stand boring, and ultimately uneventful, days. They drive me insane.

"New" Final Fantasy XIII And Versus XIII Trailers

For all of you living behind the times, here are the two newest trailers for the upcoming console Final Fantasy games. I must admit, Versus XIII is looking better and better the more I see it, now we just need some game play footage and we'll be set.

Prince Of Persia Impressions

My list of "beats" has drastically increased since I procured a Playstation 3 of my own a few months ago, but I have yet to actually review any of those games. Well now that school is over for the moment I can finally get to it, and what better to start off with than one of this Winter's most anticipated games: Prince of Persia.

The Plus: Firstly, this game is beautiful. The characters, the environment, everything. You will find yourself swiveling the camera around in every new area just to try to take it all in. I know I did. Secondly, the area designs are amazingly well done. The previous Prince of Persia games all had decent level designs, but none of them were as open and creative as the ones you will see in this iteration. This is a very good point for the game as you will find yourself traversing the same areas over and over again in an attempt to collect the world's many light seeds. Thirdly, the musical score is extremely well done, and fitting. This is a major change in the face of the last two games as they had us listening to either overly dramatic rock, or terribly messy mixtures of traditional Arabian music and... more rock. In Prince of Persia the music really fits the environments quite well. It's not overdone at all and it is actually quite epic. You really get that "lost civilization" feel while you're jumping from beam to beam and climbing up and down conveniently viney walls. Fourthly, and finally, are the trophy/achievement systems. This is one of the first games where I believe the little challenges are completely necessary as this game only sports one difficulty, and I really don't think I would be playing it again if it weren't for these little "rewards." Instant replay value.

The Minus: As great as I would like to claim this game to be, Ubisoft made quite a number of mistakes in this newest Prince of Persia addition. Firstly, a lot of the dialogue is quite terrible. The voices are decent, but you will find yourself having to listen to the Prince and Elika droll on so much that it really makes you just want to mute the game all-together and just read the subtitles. I mean for goodness sake, they play a game of I Spy at one point! Secondly, there is no game over screen to be found in this game. When you are about to fall to your death (which happens quite often) or an enemy or boss is about to decapitate you, Elika just uses her magic to save you. Now I am fine with this being outside of boss or enemy fights since the time reversal mechanic is gone, but they could have at least allowed for game overs in said fights. I mean, it is kind of sad that you can leave during a fight with the game unpaused and come back with everything being just like it was. Thirdly, the combat was way too simple. If you force an enemy to a wall or a ledge the game automatically goes into a cut scene where you either oneshot the enemy (for normal battles) or go into a button-mashing QTE (for bosses). This really becomes a hindrance when you try to pull off the big combos. Fourth...ly(?), the mechanics are frustratingly off kilter. You will make so many bad jumps and catches that your head will literally explode. Seriously, it took the doctors over thirty hours of surgery to put my roommate's back together. I was lucky enough to be wearing a toboggan at the time so it didn't take nearly as long for me.

So there you have it, my seventy-five cents. I am awarding Prince of Persia 3.5 stars out of 5 for being so much fun and oh so pretty, but for still needing a lot of work. I am very much looking forward to the next installment.

The Day the Earth Stood Still Impressions

I will be very honest here, this film was not nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be, but it wasn't that great either. It was actually a lot more interesting and entertaining than the original film, but that is not saying too much as the only real reason that the original received its four star rating was because of the fact that it was "ahead of its time." There just wasn't too much that could be done here without diminishing the integrity of the original film.

On the plus side, the acting was decent, Keanu wasn't a terrible choice for the role of Klaatu role because he was playing a character that was actually supposed to be emotionless and a bit confused all of the time, and the story was passable, albeit fairly boring overall.

On the minus side, it really seems as though Jaden Smith is just receiving roles like this due to his parent's popularity, though he played a spoiled brat very well. There were multiple times where I was calling for his character to be beaten by his step mother. Also, the characterization of the American military was a little too exaggerated. I know that we would probably go in armed to the teeth, but I really don't think we'd be that foolishly aggressive.

I am awarding The Day the Earth Stood Still three and a half stars out of five because although it was a decent film, there just wasn't that much to work from to begin with.

**On a side note, the "exclusive" Wolverine trailer that was shown before the film was very very disappointing to me. I thought that it looked far too over-the-top and even kind of cheesy. I really hope that it shapes up before the release.

Hey Ash, Whatcha Playin: Fan Service, Of A Sort

"What hath Ash wrought?"


Another funny episode where Ash and Anthony get the chance to poke fun at... well... the people who poke fun at them. It's really awesome when you are able to turn someone's joke about a joke into an even funnier one. Enjoy.

Dragon Ball... Evolution?

Okay. Okay, okay, okay. You got me Fox. I will admit it. You got me. I thought that you were attempting to make a serious Dragon Ball film that was inspired by the anime series. I thought that you had seriously enlisted Justin Chatwin, Emmy Rossum, and Jamie Chung to play main characters in said film. Now, however, I have come to see that you were just kidding around. Just playing us all for fools. There is no way anyone could think that what you did was a good idea. No possible way. You created the perfect joke.

Alright it has been said... I've admitted it... now please stop with your plans to release this "movie." Please?

Mmm... Cake...

Wow. Just... wow. This is probably one of the coolest things I have ever seen. Not the coolest, mind you, but definitely one of the coolest. I mean, not everyone's dad can be a master engineer and baker, but how awesome would it be if your dad was? You know it would be awesome. Though I do wonder if they were able to eat all of it. It would be such a waste if they didn't. Anyways, feel free to visit here for the full story and a host of pictures.

Imaginary Friends

Imaginary Friends

You say that I am
Empty,
But that is not
True.

I am half
Full.

You tell others that I am
Blind,
But that is a
Lie.

My vision is
Skewed.

You accuse me of being
Fictitious,
But that is mere
Speculation.

I am a waking dream
In your reality.

As real and alive
As anyone else.
So why must you make me so
Imperfect?

Are we not friends?


Copyright © 2008 Jarred Lee

Random Musings

It sure has been a long time since I had a good rant. I suppose now is as good a time as any to do a little "mind cleaning." Firstly, though, I took the opening picture a couple of years ago while I was sitting around on a nice Spring day. I should have been in class though... but it was just so nice outside! You shouldn't be so quick to judge others, you know.

So the last month of the year has finally begun... crazy right? I miss the days when I actually cared about what time of the year it was, you know? Now I just kind of want to get through them all, which is kind of terrifying to me, having the beliefs that I do. I have tried to do more socializing this semester, even going as far as to visit a friend of mine's frat house, but I just can not seem to want to be around a bunch of people that I don't know. It's just not my thing. I am the antisocial guy who hates the fact that he is antisocial. At least I still have that close little circle of friends that never ceases to fill my time with amusement. Now I just need to figure out a way to get them to like doing things outside. It's free, fun, and good for you. Plus, I love the feeling of freedom I get while I am outside. Ah well, maybe next year will be different.

Anyways, have you ever thought of the fact that we live in such a big world? I mean, every person that you have ever met or seen has had some sort of life experience all their own. Every person in every car you have ever passed on the highway, every person that you have ever pushed through at the mall, they have all been alive up to that point. They didn't just appear from nothing for that one brief meeting and then returned to the abyss afterwards. I just find that to be such an amazing thing. I really wish that more people would stop their mindlessness to think about it.

Moving along, what I really want to discuss is the rather vast realization I came to this year while I was in the car with my best friend's fiance on our way to pick up another of my best friends. The world is completely driven by greed. Now I know that sounds cliche, but have you ever really thought out the idea completely? What makes this such a big issue for me is that it is so hard to think about because we have been raised on the idea of compensation. I mean, have you ever considered that everything we pay for could be manufactured for no cost to you, the manufacturer, and everyone in between if it wasn't for the fact that every human involved desires payment? When we see a house being built we wonder how much it is going to cost, correct? We think about the size of the house, what materials it is going to be made out of, what equipment will be needed to modify said materials, and how many workers it is going to take to put it all together.

Have you ever considered that if we lived in a society that didn't have the concept of "compensation" that the house could be built for nothing at all? Just the desire of humans to build a house? If individuals didn't require money for making the equipment and materials used to build the house, the workers didn't require money to put everything together, the land owners didn't require money for using the land, etc., then the house could still be built. Can you fathom that? People today can't seem to even comprehend such a thing. A house, or any structure for that matter, being built without any exchange of currency. But it could happen. There isn't a mystical money god out there that requires money to be spent before anything can get done. It is our own greed that drives that idea.

If I could acquire that proverbial "one wish" I would have to wish for a world that didn't require compensation for their actions and just created for the sake of progress. A Utopian society, I know, but it could work if we weren't bound by the beliefs we have now. This kind of idea would never be able to work in our current world because we have already tasted the sweetness of being paid for our labor. Maybe someday, though. In the meantime, I will be fervently working on that wish I mentioned. You should do a little work too.

Another Fake Zelda Trailer

If you can even call this a fake Zelda trailer. None of you can possibly know how tempted I was to leave "Zelda" out of this title.

Anyways, if you haven't understood what I have said up to this point, this video is awful. Awful dialogue enhanced by awful accents, awful scenes accentuated by awful costumes and makeup, and just plain awful intensified by pure... umm... awfulness. (Yes! That's six times if you count my skillful use of the word awfulness!)

Overextended jokes aside, this video was just plain bad. I could not count how many times they had some random girl appear just to sigh very loudly and then disappear again. I suppose they thought it would be a cool effect or something? Also, why was Shiek wearing a black costume and hugging Link at every possible chance? And not blonde?! Link would have no choice but to believe that he was really a she... that, or a very very gay man. Not because of the not being blonde part of course, but because of the excessant hugging! Lastly, why was Link wearing eye shadow? He looked like a pale, painfully blonde, raccoon. I really wish that people would just stop making these... it was a good laugh once, but that horse has been beaten to its last floating carrot.

P.S. Who was that helping Ganondorf throughout this video? Wormtongue? How did you get here?

Burn After Reading Impressions

I have to say, this film is without a doubt the best movie I have seen in quite some time. Now I will forever be a sucker for black comedy (you should click the link person who I will refrain from naming but who knows who he is), but this film was exceptional even beyond that aspect.

First of all, the acting was absolutely terrific all around, though Frances McDormand was definitely the shining star here. She was of course followed very closely by Mr. John Malkovich, even though I am somewhat biased here because I always enjoy it when John Malkovich gets the chance to play John Malkovich. Secondly, and probably most importantly, was the story's very well organized format. I really enjoyed how each of the characters were shown both together and apart as their individual experiences slowly came together, though I found the scenes where the CIA head was trying to piece the events together a bit too blatant in their satire.

My only gripe with this film was that the ending was far too abrupt. After creating such humorous and interesting characters, I would have liked to see a proper sendoff of the ones who managed to survive all the craziness.

I am awarding Burn After Reading four and a half stars out of five for its dark humor and interesting characters, even if the ending left a little to be desired.

What Are You Watching?

Picture courtesy of here.


So I have recently realized that I am following a fairly ridiculous amount of television shows. I can't say that I am proud of everything that I am watching, cough Smallville cough, but I just find it impossible to give up a show after I start watching it. I'll make the list below, but I am leaving out the anime I am following at the moment because there is a ton of it, and it's all fansubbed anyways. By the by, this list isn't in any specific order and the season given marks the season that I am on.

Smallville (season 8)
Supernatural (season 4)
Heroes (season 3)
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (season 2)
Fringe (season 1)
South Park (season 12)
Nip/Tuck (season 5)
Lost (season 5)
Scrubs (season 8)
Buffy (season 8 even though it is in comic form)
Angel (season 1)
True Blood (season 1)
Big Love (season 1)
Dr. Who ("series" 5)
24 (season 6)
Venture Bros. (season 3)

Another Half-Blood Prince Trailer...

Well, it's that time of the week again! No, not another depressingly boring Heroes episode... no, not mystery meat day at the cafeteria... why, it's time for another HBP trailer of course!

I swear, if they put out any more trailers of this film we are going to start seeing fan cut and paste versions of the entire movie! Sigh... perhaps they are trying to make up for delaying the film almost eight months just because they wanted to fill in the same weekend window that the Dark Knight did? Well I am not satisfied... at all. Hmph!

Quantum Of Solace Impressions

So I saw Quantum Of Solace on its opening night, and I must say that I was fairly disappointed in quite a few respects. This being the case, I will get what I liked about the film out of the way first: the acting. I still find Daniel Craig to be a much more interesting Bond than Pierce Brosnan was and this film did not change that for me. Sure, he doesn't score much in the way of suave, but no one can do that better than Sean Connery anyway so I don't really need to see another actor attempt to reach that level. Craig's Bond is a true action star and I can respect that. Aside from Craig, Judi Dench was excellent yet again as M, Olga Kurylenko played an interesting, and extremely attractive, leading lady, and Mathieu Amalric was a cold, sadistic, Dominic Greene.

Now, the bad. The camera work and editing for this film was absolutely terrible during the action sequences. From the very first scene I knew this was going to be the case because I had trouble following which car Bond was driving in the car chase and there were quite a few times when I thought that he was crushed in a horrific crash. Secondly, I just can not bring myself to accept this film as a true sequel to Casino Royale. A grandiose epilogue, maybe, but certainly not a sequel. The scope of the plot was fairly shallow in comparison to what was suggested in all of the trailers, and the villain was fairly tame as far as Bond villains go. He didn't even really have all that threatening of a master plan. Also, the super secret organization, Quantum, that the film introduced felt more like a teaser for the next film as opposed to an actual factor in this one.

So after everything is said and done, I am giving Quantum Of Solace three stars out of five for its great acting and characters, but shallow plot and convoluted action sequences. Maybe next time Mr. Bond? Maybe next time...

New Watchmen Trailer!

What is this?! A new Watchmen trailer?! And they still have the release date set for March 6th?! Awesome. Simply, awesome. I can not wait to see this movie!

Hey Ash, Whatcha Playin: Left 4 Dead

"Ash and Anthony are going to have to cooperate."


Destructoid continues their biweekly posting of HAWP videos this week with a shout out to Valve's upcoming zombie survival game, Left 4 Dead, which released a PC and Xbox 360 demo a few days ago and has a current full release date of November 18th. This video was considerably more humorous than the last one and I laughed so hard at the part where the camera cuts over to the father and he just says "sup." Anyways, enjoy!

Not Cool Enough To Be Playing Mirrior's Edge In 3D?

Well have no fear! I just read on Kotaku that the independent gaming site Borne Games has just recently released the beta for their 2D version of EA's little jewel. I must say that it is fairly impressive from what I have seen. You can go here and try it out for yourself. Enjoy!

Max Payne Impressions

Arg, I am such a slacker when it comes to things not related to school work! Isn't it supposed to be the other way around? Anyway, wow it has been a long time since I did a movie review! I suppose this review is as good enough as any to start back with because the things wrong with this movie were blatantly apparent.

The first comment that I must make is that this movie was very poorly drawn together. Scenes were just lumped on top of one another without any consideration for transition and time framing. I honestly could not tell if days, weeks, or months passed within this film.

My second complaint about the film is that none of the characters save Max, and possibly the tattoo parlor guy who just so happened to have a doctorate in Norse mythology, were in any way strong. There were various cameos, most of which were unnecessary, and Mila Kunis' character, who would have been seen as the film's "leading lady" under any other circumstances, was shallow at best. According to the movie's description, Kunis was supposed to be playing the role of an assassin who desired to avenge the death of her sister, but nothing she did in the film suggested that she was an assassin at all. A black market dealer, maybe, but definitely not an assassin. I didn't have too much to complain about with the acting, aside from Mark Wahlberg's usual stiffness, though.

Whatever I have said about this film up to this point does not detract in any way from the one thing it had going for it: the visuals. This film was visually stunning and the hallucinogenic sequences were fairly spectacular. The action sequences were spot on with those of the game as well.

So now that everything has been said, it's time for a little doing. I am awarding Max Payne two stars out of five because even though it was visually stunning, it failed in almost every other aspect. This is a great movie if you're with friends, looking to kill some time, and don't mind a few angry glares from the people you have upset with your copious amounts of laughter.

Hey Ash, Whatcha Playin: A Brother In Need

"For once, Ash decides to be helpful."


A new HAWP came out yesterday, but I was too busy finally finishing Folklore to post it. Now I can begin playing Fallout 3 which, according to my roommate and his seventeen hour marathon, will consume the majority of my time for the next few months. Yay college. Anyway, enjoy the video. It was not the funniest one I have seen by any means, but hey, it's Ash!

New Half-Blood Prince Trailer

Two posts in one day? Insane! Anyway, a friend of mine from deviantArt.com brought this to my attention a few minutes ago and I thought I would, in turn, bring it to your attention as well. Remember, the film is still set to release on July 17, 2009. Enjoy.

The First Dragon Ball Reviewer... Didn't Burst Into Flames?

Full version here, excerpt from Kotaku.com below:

" Positives

• Action - I wasn't expecting the action scenes to be as awesome as they were. Simply put the best thing about this movie. The last action scene of Goku vs. Picollo are simply amazing... This fight scene was around 13-15 minutes long. There are other small action scenes that are fun and entertaining with slo mo but nowhere as good as the picollo vs. goku scene.

• James Marsters as Picollo was awesome. He was perfect as picollo... Oh and Picollo transforms into a light greenish color picollo towards the end of the movie.

• Justin Chatwin as Goku. This guy surprised me a lot. I really didn't like him when they casted him as goku but he did a damn good job in the acting department and he nailed the KAMEHAMEHA line.

Negatives
• Story - Dragonball fans will be dissapointed with some of the changes they have made with stories and characters etc... High school setting for the first 22-23 minutes was so not needed but ah well typical hollywood garbage of adding bullshit like that.

• Chow Yun Fat as Master Roshi - I was dissapointed with this. I wanted the fucking perverted roshi who fucking grabs breasts and asses like in the anime but alas all of that is fucking gone. Also he acted like Mr. Kesuke Miyagi. You know what I mean. The lines he spoke were fine but I felt he was uncomfortable in the movie. Very dissapointed.

• Shenron the dragon - Ah another huge dissapointment... FUCK FUCK FUCK you fox. So ya they get all the dragonballs and the dragon appears but the dragon is hiding behind fucking clouds and you only see his shadow. The voice of the dragon was provided by none other than Christopher Sabat who provided the voice for the dragon in the american version of the anime. When the dragon spoke it was chilling but damnit it was hiding behind clouds. One can hope they will fix this but chances of that are very slim."

I know, right now you're probably as shocked by this as I am, but thankfully this fact can be rationally explained. Point the first: the reviewer is a complete amateur. From his overuse of expletives to his neglect of capitalization. (Though neither of those bothered me nearly as much as his replacement of "yeah" with "ya.") Second, he obviously has no idea what the actual Dragon Ball series was like because this movie is not related in anything outside of the names. Thirdly, he spelled "Piccolo" incorrectly, twice. Not to mention that he was pleased with the fact that he turns light green near the end of the movie from his newly albino vampire form. Lastly, he labeled Goku's ape form under the positive category even though he clearly states that Goku transforms into an "8-9 feet tall giant baboon." Correct me if I am wrong here, but wasn't Goku's ape form originally eight to nine stories tall? What, he barely doubles his considerably short size and he's a giant all of a sudden?

Bleh. For as excited as this guy is, I for one have not changed my prediction that this movie will be a disaster. The most I can hope for at this point is that the film will be laughably horrendous as opposed to painfully horrendous.

Free Games Anyone?

Newgrounds.com has always been a good place to go when you're bored in class, at home, or well anywhere. It has long been a safe haven for small time developers to put up their games and movies for the all time low price of not a penny. The downside with anyone being able to upload anything, however, is that you will of course stumble on to your fair share of complete garbage. Well if you're like me and are not interested in getting your hands dirty, here are two games that I have had quite a bit a fun with in the back of Dr. Kennedy's Intro to International Affairs lecture.

Here's a quick note though: Meat Boy is extremely difficult. I mean extremely. If you choose to play it in a public place, then be sure to keep a handle on that temper of yours. You know who you are.

Meat Boy

Hunted Forever

Hey Ash Whatcha Playin?

Yes, kindly say hello to my recent webisode addiction. Destructoid.com isn't a site that I frequent all too often, but as of late I have been going to the site almost hourly to watch their Hey Ash Whatcha Playin? video segments. The videos follow Features Editor Anthony Burch, his little sister Ashly, and their family and friends in crazy "adventures" of gaming, movie, and outright crude humor. You can go here and here to watch all of them as they seem to be the most organised lists. Hey, I know that you might not like them... but well, you should.

Oh, and the sibling duo have a facebook group now as well so join the community if you become a fan.

The Stalker

The Stalker

I creep, I peek.
I see the moments
No one is supposed to see.
I hear the cries
No one is supposed to hear.
I bear the rage
That threatens to consume you,
In silence.

Always in silence.

I sneak, I listen.
I notice the grimace
Hiding behind your smile.
I sift out the hurt
Masked by your laughter.
I observe the scared child
Within your adult shell
From afar.

From so very far away.

I creep, I peek,
I sneak, I listen,
And I love.

But you will never love
Me.

How terribly ironic.


Copyright © 2008 Jarred Lee

Who Loves You?

Sir Ben Kingsley, that's who. A recent post on everyone's favorite Hollywood gossip blog, the defamer, sported this picture of Kingsley looking nice and spiffy for his role in the upcoming Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time film.

The sixty four year-old actor is set to play the film's antagonist, Nizam, and I must say that he seems to be enjoying it. Hopefully this won't turn into every other video game movie that has tried to make it big in the box office. I say this because I enjoyed, for the most part, the recent Prince of Persia trilogy and I already have the new Prince of Persia game, which is due out this December, pre-ordered from Gamestop. Though from what I've already seen of the film's main character, I fear that this will go the way of Super Mario Bros. Ah well, it's not like I didn't already know that Hollywood is trying to systematically destroy everything I've ever liked.

Artist Spotlight #2: Pesare

I know that it has been a while since my last artist spotlight, but Pesare, or Pete Revonkorpi in real life, has had my eye for quite some time now. His use of soft colors and fantastic themes really remind me of those old bedtime stories I used to read as a child. When I finish up with my current poetry series I would love to contact him about permission to use his art in a children's poetry series I am working on. Anyway, here are a few of my favorite pieces from Pesare, but I encourage you to take a look at his full gallery.

Eagle Eye Impressions [Possible Spoilers]

It sure has been a while since I did a movie review. I had to go all the way back to the Dark Knight review I did back in July. Crazy.

Anyway, I'll begin by saying this: Eagle Eye was a pleasant surprise. Sure, people told me it was pretty good before I eventually went to see it. Sure, it topped the box office the week of its release (though it only made 29.1 million). I've never been one to judge purely on what I've been told so I went to see the film last weekend and I must say that I enjoyed it for the most part. Shia LaBeouf did an excellent job and he and Michelle Monaghan had great on screen chemistry. Hell, even Billy Bob Thornton played a great "grumpy" FBI agent. The action sequences in the film were also fairly intense so go ahead and throw that in the "plus" pile as well.

So yes, the acting and action sequences were great, but what kept the movie in its entirety from being just as great was its unbelievability. There were just too many times when I had to shake my head and say "no way." I know that it was just a movie, but I always judge believability in terms of a movie's sphere of logic to avoid being unfair. By the end I felt as though the writer's wrote against the antagonist of the film so drastically that it really broke the character's "personality." Also, the film as a whole felt way too much like 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Fugitive for me to be comfortable saying that it was any way original.

Eagle Eye was not a disappointment because I expected it to be a lot worse, but it still had some major flaws. I grant this film 3 stars out of 5 for having great acting and intense action, but also being too unbelievable and unoriginal.

Nintendo: Unleashed

My thanks to kotaku.com for the coverage of the event.

Pardon the cheesy title, but for all of you who have been following Nintendo's Fall Press Conference, it really shouldn't surprise you that I am quite excited. Nintendo decided to hold their own conference this year in light of the fact that they wouldn't be attending TGS next week. I couldn't really care less because what they revealed at the conference was about two to three steps past amazing. Aside from the huge number of games that would be coming to both the DS and the Wii in the upcoming year, Nintendo officially announced their new version of the DS, the DSi.



I know what you're thinking, "why do we need a new DS? I just bought my Lite!!" Well, the DSi will feature a built in camera, an internet browser, a DSiware "channel", an SD slot (which peaks my interest because I know this feature will be exploited in a matter of days), and two 17% larger screens (they are dropping the GBA slot) among other things. As of now, Nintendo has no plans of bringing the DSi to the states until later 2009 (whatever that means), but Japan is expected to get the new handheld November 1st. Yes, this upcoming November 1st. It's insane.

Also in big news, Nintendo has finally decided to grant us Americans access into their "rewards" program appropriately titled Club Nintendo. Yes, you'll finally be able to take all those cool Nintendo surveys, and register all of your awesome Nintendo products to collect points that will eventually net you "premium" items. All I can say to this announcement is that it is about damn time. Hell, South Africa got access before we did. South Africa.

Anyways, because Kotaku has been awesome enough to provide coverage of the event, I will provide you with links relating to everything I talked about and more. That's right, I am going to extreme lengths to link other sites to text on my own. Yeah, you're welcome.

*Note: The links with asterisks at the end are videos. You should really see them because a lot of the upcoming games look really cool. I only hope that all of them are bound for non-Japanese shores as well.

DSi News

• Nintendo Announces New DS: The Nintendo DSi
  
• First Look At New Nintendo DSi in Action************
• DSi To Hit Europe in Spring 2009
• Let's Compare the DS Lite and the DSi
• Could the DSi Encourage Piracy?
• DSi Not Bound For U.S. Until Well Into Next Year
• Get A Good, Close Look At The DSi
• Close Up With The DSi (Alright, Who's Buying?)
• More About DSi Camera, DSi Sound
  

General Nintendo And Wii News

• Save Wii Games Direct To SD Card
• Nintendo's New Wii Games
• Nintendo Re-Releasing Gamecube Games On Wii
• Club Nintendo Finally Coming Stateside
• Wii Speak Channel Coming Next Month
• Nintendo Promises Increased Wii and DS Supply For The Holidays
• Japan, This Is Your Wii Line Up***********
  

The Darker Side Of Nintendo

Saw this on Kotaku the other day. It was funny at parts, but for the most part I thought it was kind of dull. They tried a little too hard to make it dark and depressing, and the actors really reflect that. Hopefully future episodes will get better.

For more info on these webisodes, and some extra videos if you're interested, feel free to visit their main site. Have fun.

New Half-Blood Prince Photos

I recently learned through the french Potter fansite L'Univers de Harry Potter that over fifty new photos from the not so recently delayed film, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, have been released on the net for the legions of fans to ogle while they wait for the July 2009 release. You can go here for a mega-mashup of all of the photos, or you can go to L'Univers' gallery to scroll through the Potter pics in their original sizes.

Anime Weekend Atlanta

So I went to AWA, that's Anime Weekend Atlanta to all of you non-nerds out there, this past Saturday with two of my roommates and I now realize why I didn't go last year. This was my 4th time going to the con and I still could not for the life of me understand why it's so popular. Now I wouldn't mind if it was a free convention like Momo Con, but paying over $35 for one day of lots of bad cosplay, the same four or five "celebrities," and lackluster panels is a practice that is beyond my understanding. Now my roommates and I were able to get free 3-day passes via my school's anime club, so I of course couldn't pass up the chance to look at overpriced anime merchandise, but otherwise I most definitely would have skipped the con a second time.

I did, however, run into a good friend of mine and his girlfriend and younger sisters while my friends and I judged cosplayers as they passed. (As a side note, the phrase "he who judges twice as harshly burns out twice as quickly" comes to mind at this particular point in time.) They were all dressed up and we had a few laughs, but he and aforementioned girlfriend got burned out around noon, they're new to the convention life so I forgave them, and left shortly after. My friends and I hung around for a few more hours, but after walking around the airplane hangar sized dealer's hall about eight times, a run in with an old girlfriend, and lots of bad cosplay we decided to call it quits. I will probably upload a few pictures once I hook my camera up to my computer, but as for now I leave you to Google-ing some for yourselves. Just note that if you're interested in a con, check online to make sure that it will have interesting panels to attend. Walking around amongst masses of people gets tiring very quickly.

To end with a spot of humor though, I find it quite amusing that a huge baby convention takes place at the same place every year as AWA. I can only imagine what those con-goers must be thinking when they see the massive crowd of cross dressers, sword wielders, and generally unusual individuals. I can only hope that they at least reconsider bringing more lives into this crazy world of ours.

Me, Myself, And A Playstation 3

As some of you may know, I recently purchased an 80 GB Playstation 3 along copies of Call of Duty 4 and Assassin's Creed respectively. Well I received it Tuesday from the post office, in a rather hefty cardboard box, and I must say that I am loving my new little piece of techno-science. It has some really nifty features: wi-fi support, a Blu-ray player as well as a normal DVD player, a highly customizable home menu, an internet browser, and last, but not least, free online support. I plan on greatly expanding my library of games in due time, but I am so addicted to Call of Duty that it will probably be a while before I get anything. Besides, now that my three roommates and I now have three PS3's between us I will probably just grab a game or two of theirs before I reach into my own wallet. Or maybe I'll just mind control them into giving me all of their worldly possessions? Whichever comes first I suppose.

Separate Ways

"Fleeting love." A sudden burst of creativity and inspiration, silly hopes and far away dreams, and then nothing. Nothing but passing memories of happier times. It's such a funny feeling to feel.

Separate Ways

I was so sure
When we said goodbye
That I would be able
To say it again someday.
Was I wrong to hope
For such a thing?

With you gone,
Who will share
My dreary dreams?
My fragile hopes
And wishes
For such an uncertain future?

With you goes
That piece of me.

Riding on this lonely train
With the city lights passing by
Feels like something unnatural.
Something in definitive contrast
To that silly little fantasy
You and I created.

If I had just been
That selfish person you always wanted
You would be sitting beside me now,
But I could never love in that way.
I could never live
So recklessly.

This one last decision
Had to be my own.

I will not sit alone forever,
Someday this train will seat two once more,
But that dream we dreamt together
Will never be dreamt again.
No one else could ever captivate me
The way you did.

Astonishing still it seems
That we were able to dream for so long.
Perhaps that selfish person you desired
Was not so far from the surface?
Yet I could never love from that place,
Or keep you from what you deserved.

I could never live
With that part of me.

So you will have to hold on tightly.


Copyright © 2008 Jarred Lee

"How Come We Play War And Not Peace?"

Yeah, why is that? Aside from the fact that war is a lot more fun, of course. I mean, how would we go about playing peace? Would we just sit in a big circle and whoever moves the least wins? Or maybe whoever the most intimidating player is will just suggest the chance of war and the less intimidating players will bow to their whims? Hmm...

Death Star over San Francisco

Kind of old, but I still enjoy it. You should enjoy it too.

I'd Rather Stay Awake

From Wikipedia

"A nightmare is a dream which causes a strong unpleasant emotional response from the sleeper, typically fear or horror, being in situations of extreme danger, or the sensations of pain, falling, drowning or death. Such dreams can be related to physical causes such as a high fever, turned faced down on a pillow during sleep (most often in the case of drowning nightmares), or psychological ones such as psychological trauma or stress in the sleeper's life, or can have no apparent cause. If a person has experienced a psychologically traumatic situation in life—for example, a person who may have been captured and tortured—the experience may come back to haunt them in their nightmares. Sleepers may waken in a state of distress and be unable to get back to sleep for some time."

Dragon Ball The Movie: Can It Look Worse?

Yes people, another Dragon Ball movie post. Today Kotaku posted up a few screens from the upcoming Dragon Ball movie and I must say that I am shocked. I honestly didn't think I could be more disappointed with what they did with this film but today it was proven that I could, in fact, be more disappointed. Much more disappointed. I mean, can someone please explain to me why King Piccolo looks like some kind of albino vampire? Where is my green?! My green!! Oh, and why is Master Mutaito being played by the black guy from Ghostbusters? Bleh... I'll still be going to see the film of course, just for the fact that I want to personally see it crash and burn, but they could at least spare us some of the pain. Curse you Hollywood and your "idea" of what Americans want. Hit the link below the pictures of "Piccolo" for the full story and a few more photos.





Kotaku post: here

College Life Version 3.0

(I took this picture so I don't want to be bothered by any random admins about it...)

So I started my 3rd year of university this past Monday and I must say that this year, this semester at least, is looking up. My new roommate has a lot more to offer to the room than my last roommate did, he was a huge moocher, and one of my friends is rooming with my other friend across the "hall," our room is set up in a "suite" style which basically means behind an outer door there are two rooms connected by a small hallway and a bathroom. Our gaming power is probably the craziest thing about our current setup though. We have two PS3's, three Xbox 360's, Three Wii's, and two PS2's. Throw a few Nintendo DS's and PSP in the mix and you've got us.

On the actual academic side of things, classes are looking pretty good as well. I'm taking five classes this semester, 15 credit hours, and most of them are based on papers. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays I have Intro To STAC(Science Technology and Culture) from 12:05 to 12:55 and the class is basically about different types of technology and their effect on the modern world. I then follow that with Modern Japan from 1:05 to 1:55 and, as the title suggests, it is basically about Japanese history. The professor of the class is a native Japanese who is extremely nationalistic. He makes sure to remind us about every class how impressive the Japanese people are.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays I have Intro to Film from 12:05 to 1:25, Linguistics from 1:35 to 2:55, and Cognition and Culture from 3:05 to 4:25. Also on Tuesdays my Film class has a showing from 5:00 to 7:00. These classes are all alright, except for the fact that my Linguistics teacher is awful because she has terrible handwriting and refuses to use PowerPoint, and my Coginition and Culture class, which is a high-level Computer Science class that doesn't have any programming, is full of 5th years+, Grad students, and PhD students.

So yeah, this first week we didn't do too much but I don't think it will get too difficult throughout the semester. I'd probably have to say that my most interesting class will be Cognition and Culture as it is purely based on discussion and the topics are very deep. I just wrote a short paper today about how thought isn't limited to those who exist in a social environment. It was a fun write but I won't bore you with the details. Good luck to everyone else out there who just started a new semester. Hopefully you're hanging tough.

My Phone: Mark II

I finally got my new phone yesterday! As stated here, I lost my beloved LG CU500+ while riding a roller coaster in North Carolina. While this phone, the Samsung A737, could never really replace my old one, I had a lot of pictures and important texts saved on it, it is actually really nice. It's a slider phone, as you can tell, and it has a lot of features in the way of personalization.

It is compact and comfortable to hold and talk on, which is always a plus. It has a speaker phone option and sound perception is high in quality on both sides. The large screen is nice as well and the images shown are clear. It has a microSD card slot on the side and also plays MP3s which is great in terms of finding ringtones. While it lacks an external camera button, the camera is easy to get to and the picture quality is quite nice, though a flash ability would have been a nice addition. It also had Ms. Pac Man preloaded on the phone so that was a nice surprise as I have strayed from phone games since the days of Snake on my first phone. Those were good colorless, large pixel, times. Anyways, the interface itself looks great and you can set up a variety of nifty little graphics for entering numbers and such. I haven't finished exploring all of the features just yet, but as I said before I am really enjoying this phone. Now I just have to protect it from various dangers like large bodies of water and coconut bears. You know, the normal stuff.

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune Impressions

Wow it has been a while since I last did an "Impressions" post. Well, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune for the PS3 is a good enough game to break that dry spell with.

I'll begin by saying that I had no intention of playing this game. My new roommate owned it and it looked like an easy time killer. Though during the duration of the game I quickly realized that I was very, very, wrong. Drake's Fortune was not by any means and easy time killer. It was a very difficult time killer. And by very difficult I mean pull your hair out difficult. There were seriously points in this game where I felt like I was walking to my death every time I stepped around a corner. And I was playing on Normal. It was just that much of a ball buster.

That being said, I found this game's difficulty to be it's best point. The challenge it presented was all that really kept me playing. The graphics were what I expected from a PS3 game. Lush environments and well designed mechanics. The game play basically ran like Prince of Persia mixed with Tomb Raider with better voice acting and dialogue than both. (I think they picked up real actors for this one instead of just random interns we usually see in games) You scale conveniently cracked walls and buildings, solve simple puzzles, and shoot hordes of enemies. The story was entertaining enough but it was really just your run of the mill "treasure hunters" plot line filled to the brim with mercenaries, bad puns, car chases, Nazis, evil British old guys, and lots of explosions. Not that any of that stuff is bad, well I'm not too big on bad puns, it's just that the game didn't score too many points in originality.

The real marvel of this game comes to you in the collecting of treasure, 60 hidden trinkets scattered throughout the entirety of the game, and the enemy AI. Seriously, the enemies in this game were amazing. They could set up ambushes, dodge out of the way when you shot at them, take cover and pop out to shoot, and toss grenades that will land at your feet no matter where you are. Not to mention they had the aiming abilities of gods. If you are in their line of sight then they will hit you. Hell, sometimes they'll even hit you if you're not in their line of sight.

So even though your death count will hit somewhere in the hundreds, I know mine did, Drake's Fortune will thrill and chill you to the very end. Though the story and game play could have been a bit more original. I give Uncharted: Drake's Fortune 3.5 stars out of 5 for it's great voice-acting and challenging situations.

Half-Blood Prince Delayed Until Summer 2009

(Title image from here)

Big news Potter fans. As you can tell from the title, the previous release date for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, November 21st, 2008, has been pushed back to July 17th, 2009.

Why the delay you ask? Is it because the film is not yet complete? Is it because the film is tied up in some new controversy? Nope. The film has been pushed back in an attempt by Warner Bros. to "take advantage" of an open weekend in the summer '09 movie schedule. So in essence, the film studio hopes to make more money in the summer than they would have made in the winter. I personally think that this is ridiculous as all the Harry Potter films have been high grossing and I really don't think it will make that big of a difference when it is released. Also, this delay will mean a full two year gap between the previous film, The Order Of The Phoenix, and Half-Blood Prince. I really think this news will(has) upset most of the fans, but in the end they'll still be there on opening night. I know I will. But I definitely won't be wearing my nifty Hufflepuff robes. I can do that much against them at least... but maybe I'll still wear my tie. *cough*